CHAPTER 6: FATED RIVALS
Now that the cavalry battle has concluded, Hatsume is looking over the damage done to her inventions. Excited by the chance to work on them all over again, she just sat there with a smile. That's when Midoriya walked up to her and said.
"Sorry about your boots and the jet-pack, when this is over, I can come by the support studio and help you repair them if you'd like."
Hatsume just then felt warm, and her face gained a small blush. Noticing this Midoriya asked.
"Hey, you're looking warm are you hot? Would you like something to drink?"
Hatsume turned around now with her back facing Izuku she replied.
"No, I'm fine just happy my babies weren't completely destroyed."
Midoriya then said with a smile
"OK, good to know I'll see you later and good luck in the next round."
Izuku walked off leaving Hatsume puzzled with an unfamiliar feeling plaguing her mind. When Midoriya made his way through the crowd of the other participants, Todoroki pulled him to the side and asked to meet privately to discuss something. He agreed then went to talk with Uraraka, when she was in his site someone congratulated him.
"Nice job securing your victory, that must be one powerful quirk you have there."
Midoriya turned around to see the purple-haired boy who was standing outside of class 1-A a couple weeks ago. Right before he responded to Shinso someone snuck up on Midoriya then covered his mouth.
"Don't say anything to that guy."
From out the corner of Midoriya's eye he could see it was Ojiro who stopped him from talking. Seeing this Shinso smirked as he walked away, Ojiro then said come with me. Present Mike's voice came on the loudspeaker to announce the match ups for the last event. The one-on-one fights were usually how the sports festival would conclude and one of the most anticipated parts of the day. In a secluded hallway away from prying eyes, Izuku finds himself standing across from Shoto who requested this talk. Midoriya broke the ice first.
"So, what is this about? I'm pretty sure we established that you don't like me so."
Todoroki finally spoke
"I have to apologize to you"
This caught Izuku by surprise, but he stayed silent to see where this was going.
"Back there when I realized you swapped out the head bands, I almost let my anger get to me and I started to use my flames. I swore I would never use them in spite of my father. Do you know what a quirk marriage is?"
Once Todoroki filled Midoriya in on his past he used this gap in the conversation to say something.
"I understand where you're coming from, but one thing doesn't make sense to me."
Todoroki curious about his next words looked on patiently
"It's clear that you want nothing to do with your father's rivalry with All Might, but you decided to take the frustrations that you have for him out on everyone else. That's not a healthy way to go about things."
Todoroki was perplexed by the green-haired boys reply but before he could say anything else Midoriya started walking off while saying.
"If that's the way you want to live your life holding on to all that anger towards your father is fine with me, but it's just going to hinder you in the end. Just because your father is a jerk who uses fire doesn't make you a jerk because you have similar abilities."
As the boy exited the tunnel Todoroki couldn't help but think hard at his words before walking off. While heading to get himself something to eat, Midoriya came across Bakugo hiding in a nearby corner. When he walked pass him, he said.
"I guess that's your thing now huh, waiting for people in hidden locations. Did you hear everything you needed or were you looking for more?"
The blonde didn't respond do to him never expecting to be seen, Midoriya kept his pace to the lunch hall. Some people decided to rest before the last round and others would prepare as best they could. Now that the matches have been decided the first match between Shinso and Midoriya was underway. As Izuku walked out of the student's box he looked to see if Yaoyorozu was going to wish him luck at least but she wasn't around. Uraraka seeing Midoriya with a face of slight disappointment said while giving him a thumbs up.
"Good Luck Deku."
He smiled then took off towards the ring, as the two students approached the audience chanted words of encouragement and showed much excitement. This overwhelming feeling of being in a tournament for survival was an odd sensation, but fear never entered his mind. Now that they had entered the ring and they were both introduced Midnight announced.
"Let the first match begin."
Izuku got into a fighting stance while Shinso started going through with his plan.
"What did that monkey tell you earlier? Did he tell you how weak he was and how he couldn't cut it in the competition anymore? Geez, he just kept going on and on about his pride it made me want to throw up."
His words upset Izuku and made him forget about his conversation with Ojiro, Midoriya then said.
"Don't talk about my classm."
"Got you" Shinso said
"Now walk out of the ring so I can secure my win."
Midoriya had no control over his body then started walking but, in his mind, he was experiencing something new. Izuku found himself inside his mind in front of a table shaped like a star, it had eight points with a chair next to each one of them. They were all labeled one through eight and three of the seats were empty. The empty seats were marked two, three and eight. There was a bald-headed man with goggles sitting at the section marked five who spoke first.
"Hey Kid, long time no see, how are you doing?"
Midoriya then replied
"Hey, I remember you you're Daigoro Banjo…wait."
Izuku then looked down to see that this time he had a mouth he could use to communicate, last time this happened he only had a portion of his head which allowed him to see but that was pretty much it. Now that he's returned, he had the top half of his body, but he was missing his legs. The woman sitting in the chair marked seven said something to the puzzled boy.
"I know you're wondering where the rest of you are but look at it like this. You are a physical manifestation of how much One for All you can control. Since you mastered fifty percent of it, you get just fifty percent of your body. At least it was the top half and not the bottom one. That would make this conversation very awkward don't you agree?"
The boy shook his head and agreed with the statement. Everyone then started introducing themselves, In the chair marked by a one the man spoke.
"I'm Yoichi Shigaraki"
Next was the man in the fourth chair
"I'm Hikage Shinomori"
The man in the fifth chair then said
"We've already met of course."
The sixth then replied
"I'm En"
Not expecting his introduction to be that short Izuku waved before the next person spoke
"I'm Nana Shimura and I'm who passed the quirk on to your master Toshinori."
Izuku's eyes widened at that statement before he said.
"He's mentioned you to me before but."
That's when he was cut off by Nana saying.
"Look kid we'll have plenty of time to get acquainted but your gonna loose this match if we don't do something to help. We have a lot to tell you later, but we'll be guiding you for now on and helping you master your new powers. Stay vigilant because we'll be talking real soon."
The audience cried out as they saw this competition's leader appear to be defeated so easily in the first round of the one-on-one fights. His classmates were confused and shouting for him to stop walking and fight back. That's when all of a sudden Midoriya's hand moved causing an intense wind pressure to rattle the ring along with a nearby section of the stadium. This woke Midoriya up and out of Shinso's trance, seeing this made the purple-haired boy panic. He then said
"How did you do that? No one has ever broken out of my brain control."
Disorientated by what just happened everything came back to Midoriya, and he turned around to his opponent. Now getting a grasp of the situation he darted at Shinso without a second thought. Shinso swung but missed as Midoriya ducked out of the way of his punch, Shinso then tried to kick the boy but he missed again. Midoriya then swept Shinso's legs from under him then kicked him out of the ring, Shinso flew on to the ground landing out of bounds. Midnight then yelled out.
"It looked like Midoriya was going to lose this one, but he turned it around and is now going on to the next round."
Feeling defeated in more ways than just one Shinso stood up and then said.
"It must be nice having such a powerful and likeable quirk, no one thinks you're a villain when you tell them about it."
Midoriya raised an eyebrow before he jumped down to where Shinso was to reply.
"You think getting to where I am today was easy? You have no idea what I went through to gain control over my quirk, how could you possibly understand?"
Midoriya then shook his head in frustration
"Look up there"
Midoriya then pointed to his teacher Mr. Aizawa up in the announcer booth before saying.
"That man has no physical enhancement quirk whatsoever and yet he is regarded as one of the most feared underground pro heroes. Do you think he got that way from comparing himself to everyone else or was it him working hard at mastering his quirk to become a great hero."
His words silenced the purple-haired boy and made him really think about how he'd been blaming everyone else for his short comings. Midoriya then walked off and spoke
"Maybe I could help you train in the future if you'd like to but, either way I'll catch you later."
The green-haired boy then walked back to his classes section and Shinso just stood there thinking to himself.
"Who is this guy? And why would he want to help me after what I did? Could he really be that nice or is it all an act?"
He was so confused and had a lot of thinking to do after all of this new information. Izuku bumped into All Might in the hall on his way back to his seat
"You did it kid, it was touch and go in the beginning there, but you won in the end."
Midoriya scratched the back of his head sheepishly while thanking All Might, he dawned a more serious look before he said.
"Can we talk somewhere in private? something happened with One for All."
Once the second match ended Sero didn't like all the attention he was getting for losing his match so quickly. After making it back to his seat, Midoriya caught the tail end of Kaminari's loss to Shiozaki. Once he took his seat, he was able to catch what turned out to be a presentation orchestrated by Hatsume. She used her match with Iida to show off her inventions to all the pros in the stands and inadvertently humiliate Iida in the process. Aoyoma's match with Ashido was one sided after she melted his belt which led to Yaoyorozu's match with Tokoyami. When the match began Tokoyami immediately sent Dark Shadow in after Momo, but she dodged out of the way and created a bo staff. She used it to beat the creature back, but he was proving to be formidable. Switching tactics, she created a shield to defend her as she made her way towards Tokoyami.
Dark shadow then started attacking relentlessly slamming his fist into the shield over and over again. The pain from his attack started weakening Momo's grip on the shield, his next attack ended up shattering the shield leaving Yaoyorozu wide open. She went to create another one to block the next attack, but it was too late. Tokoyami had managed to knock his opponent out of the ring and Momo lost her match. When she looked up Tokoyami had his hand stuck out towards her offering to help her stand. She took it then the two bowed to one another before leaving the ring. Although she didn't show it this loss affected Yaoyorozu, having felt like she was a disappointment she entered the tunnel looking for a quiet place to sob. That's when she came across someone, she had been mad at for over a week now. Midoriya eyeing his friend coming down the hall noticed that she was about to walk past him, he then spoke.
"I don't know if you're aware of this or not but I'm proud of you."
She stopped walking and turned to the boy. Izuku slowly caught up to where she was.
"You did great out there even though Tokoyami won, you displayed your talents with immense skill. You probably feel like you could've done more but you shouldn't put that much pressure on yourself. It's a dangerous way of thinking and it could do more harm than good. I know you'll get em next year so just remember it's only been a few months since school started and we've accomplished a lot. I know you want to be by yourself right now, so I'll go and by the way I'm sorry about what I said."
Momo then focused hard on what the boy said next.
"I know my statement came off really bad but for my training I had to literally pull a semi-truck without using my quirk, then run a hundred kilometers back-to-back. I never meant to imply you couldn't do that too I just didn't want you to get hurt that's all."
Midoriya then left Momo alone so she could be by herself as she planned but she was stuck on the boy's words he left her with. In the next match watching Kirishima and Tetsu Tetsu punching each other became a bit redundant until they knocked one another out cold. This led to a match no one saw coming and at the same time no one wanted to miss. When Uraraka entered the ring to face Bakugo, Midoriya couldn't help but fear for his friend because the explosive user was ruthless at times. In the end Uraraka had Bakugo in a corner but his raw power shattered any hopes of her winning their match. Present Mike then said.
"The first fight for the second round is going to be intense, we have the one-shot king himself the son of the number two hero Shoto Todoroki. Who'll be taking on the lean green fighting machine who came out of nowhere this year attempting to steal the show Izuku Midoriya."
The crowd erupted in applause cheering for both competitors as they entered onto the fighting stage. You could feel the animosity in the air and neither one was going to back down. Midnight then said
"Are both competitors ready?"
The two got into their respective stances before the hero cracked her whip signaling the fight to start, Todoroki took no chances and created the largest ice structure he could manage capturing Midoriya in it. The crowd grew silent believing that was it for the green-haired boy. Midnight then looked over to the ice looking for any signs of the other boy, but it was too dense to tell, she went to call the match when suddenly the front half of the mountain exploded shooting ice everywhere and temporarily blinding the audience as Midoriya came shooting out the fog like a bullet aiming for Todoroki. The One for All user was just a few feet from the half-hot half-cold teen which left him with no choice but the block. Although he was able to defend the punch was too powerful and it sent him careening into a wall of ice. The crowd roared at this amazing feat of strength and speed, Izuku on the other hand was trying his best to not show how cold he really was. Talking to himself in his head hoping for a response from one of the vestiges of One for All.
"I could really use a heat quirk if one of you guys has one right about now."
But he received no response, feeling like he lost the connection he went back to focusing on the fight. Pain radiated along Shoto's side from the impact into the ice and his forearms were still sore from defending that attack. This put a huge pressure on the boy seeing as though he won't be able to keep up with his speed. He then thought.
"I need a way to slow him down because if he gets close it's over for me."
The hetero-chromatic teen then shot walls of ice at Midoriya trying to knock him off balance, this made Midoriya have to dodge consistently while looking for an opening on his opponent. When Midoriya leapt into the air Shoto took advantage of one of his blinds spots and tried attacking him from behind. He used his ice to freeze one of his legs but before it could capture the rest of him, he was able to get away. He landed on the leg that wasn't encased in ice, but his danger sense went off almost immediately. Todoroki was able to sneak up on the One for All user and land a hit of his own, but Midoriya turned around and return the blow. Midoriya used the leg encased in ice to kick Todoroki in the face freeing his leg in the process. Now that both teens were down Midnight called out.
"Both fighters are down, and it looks like maybe out for."
That's when both boys started moving and standing to their feet, Midoriya had a bruise on his face from the hit landed by
Todoroki along with some numbness from the ice on his shoulders and arm. He was able to shatter the ice with a punch, but he was still a little disorientated, Todoroki on the other hand had frost covering the right side of his body. His head was ringing from the kick it received and he was sore all over, he was brought back to focus from his opponent's words.
"I still don't understand why you're limiting yourself, you're endangering your life to prove a point to your father. Look at you! you're trembling Todoroki."
Shoto responded
"Stop trying to make me like him, I don't need his fire."
Midoriya replied
"You idiot! Endeavor is not in this ring right now, YOU ARE! So how could it be his fire when it belongs to you."
His words dug up a memory that was buried deep in Shoto's subconscious, this realization sparked a new light inside of him. What happened next shocked the entire stadium, immense flames came shooting out of Todoroki's left side. Audience members all the way in the top row could feel the heat as it protruded from his arm, this made Midoriya smile that he was able to get his classmate to throwaway his poor way of thinking. When Todoroki saw this, he said.
"I wouldn't be smiling if I were you, helping your opponent is gonna be the reason you lost this fight."
Izuku increased his output of One for All to Fifty percent knowing that the next attack coming was going to be a powerful one. He got into a fighting stance then said.
"Like I said earlier I'll never back down to you or anyone for that matter so bring it on."
Present Mike then shouted
"These two are going all out now we'll see if Todoroki's flames will cook his opponent or will Midoriya's might put an end to Todoroki's show of power."
Todoroki then shot a glacier of ice at Midoriya who in turn blitz the attack entirely as he made his approach, when he got closer Todoroki thought to himself.
"I see why everyone follows him now, Thank you Midoriya."
He then released his flames which started a chemical reaction when the cool air got heated so quickly causing a huge explosion. Midnight and Cementoss were too late in stopping the pair and the attack sent them both flying away from the ring. The crowd was in shock especially the class 1-A students, Denki said.
"That's so unfair, how do you compete with something like that."
Shoji replied
"I didn't know these two were capable of this."
Bakugo tried not to seem impressed, but he was unaware of what his classmate's full capabilities are. He focused on the match solely looking for weaknesses to exploit. As the debris settled and everyone could finally see what was left of the ring, we found Midoriya standing near the edge of the stage with the top half of his P.E. uniform burned off and breathing heavily. Todoroki was spotted on the ground outside of the ring knocked out cold. Midnight announced signaling a winner.
"Shoto Todoroki is out of the ring, Izuku Midoriya is going on to the next round."
Applause flooded the stadium as Izuku went to the side of his opponent, he waited there until the medical robots came to pick him up and he followed them to the nurse's office. Momo sat in amazement at the display in front of her but once she saw how damaged Midoriya looked she grew concerned. When the match came to its conclusion her face lit up in excitement when she saw her friend standing in victory. His words started replaying in her head as she looked at his bruises.
"I'm proud of you, I didn't want you getting hurt. I know you're strong."
She thought to herself how things would've turned out for her if she took on that attack like he did? She thought about what type of training it would take to survive a blast like that then she looked at him again. Admiration filled her heart and soul for the green-haired boy and now that the match was over, she wanted to check on him. When she made it to the nurses office, she discovered that Hatsume was there with measuring tape and a notepad touching her friend.
She didn't know why but seeing this made her feel uneasy. Midoriya then spotted Momo staring then said to her.
"Yaoyorozu, is everything OK?"
Momo nodded her head before saying.
"Yes, I just wanted to make sure that you were fine, but it seems like you're busy I'll come back later."
Hatsume then interrupted her by saying.
"No need I have all the measurements I've come for."
Hatsume then walked off leaving the two by themselves. Izuku broke the silence
"So, how are you doing?"
Momo raised an eyebrow to that then said.
"I should be asking you that, after getting hit with Todoroki's fire I'm surprised you weren't burnt up."
Midoriya chuckled at that scratching the back of his head and put his finger to his chin.
"I knew that his fire was coming so I made sure once he released his flames, I was close enough that I could land an attack. Unfortunately, I was still hit by some of his fire, but it paid off in the end."
Yaoyorozu didn't know whether to call that genius or just plain stupid, so she just shook her head and spoke.
"Only you would think running into a flamethrower sounded like a good idea."
They both laughed at that then Momo asked.
"When did Uraraka and Iida get so close? I see them together a lot lately."
Midoriya responded
"They've gotten closer every day since the entrance exam from what I've noticed."
Yaoyorozu was about to say something before they both heard Todoroki who was recovering one bed over started to wake up. He grunted as he sat up then looked over to his classmates, Midoriya then spoke.
"How are you feeling?"
Todoroki responded
"Not bad considering everything that happened."
Midoriya then hopped down from the bed and walked over to Todoroki before extending his fist towards him. Todoroki looked at the boy's fist then back at him before he heard.
"I look forward to our rematch."
This made Shoto grin then return the fist bump before saying.
"Yeah, me too."
While this was going on Tokoyami had defeated Ashido in the current match which led to Iida facing Midoriya in the next round but when Iida took off full speed running at Midoriya. The green-haired boy took advantage of his opponent's speed and as soon as he got near him, he jumped directly above Iida. This caught Iida off guard because before he could turn around, he was hit in the back from one of Izuku's Delaware smashes using his momentum to carry him right out of the ring. Feeling embarrassed after his lost Iida couldn't help but smile when his friend said.
"I saw your strategy coming that's how I was able to counter it so quickly, I believe with a little versatility you'll be an unstoppable rival in the future."
The two shook hands and made their way back to the seats. It was a one-sided fight as Bakugo used his explosions to wear down dark shadow causing Tokoyami to submit which put Bakugo up against Midoriya in the last round. Present Mike said.
"These two have made it all the way to the finals and are gonna go all out I'm sure of it."
Looking up in the stands seeing his friends cheer him on made Izuku think of how far he's come. Just a year ago he was training in hopes on making it into U.A., now he's standing in an arena that he watched for years on T.V. as a finalist in the U.A. sports festival. He couldn't ask for much more, his opponent on the other hand was excited for a whole other reason. Bakugo was stretching and limbering up, internally he could not wait to finally have a chance to defeat his former friend. The two boys met in the middle of the ring and locked eyes, neither braking contact until midnight told them so. Uraraka tried to focus on the match, but she was concerned about Iida who had to leave do to a family emergency. Yaoyorozu who was sitting beside her saw this then put a hand on her shoulder and said.
"I'm pretty sure he'll be OK, no need to worry about something you can't control."
This made Ochacco smile and put her focus back on the match. As Midnight started to announce the start of the fight Bakugo said.
"You're finally gonna pay for everything you've done to me, and my win will be broadcasted to the world."
Hearing this Midoriya didn't say a word and just kept focusing on his opponent, Midnight then said.
"BEGIN!"
The two boys launched at each other Bakugo using his explosions and Midoriya using thirty percent of One for All. They collided and locked hands with each other trying to push the other back. That's when Izuku's hands started to heat up and he was feeling pain. Knowing what his opponent was trying to do, he jumped up planting his feet into Bakugo's chest using him as a springboard to avoid the blast. After the explosion went off the two retreated to opposite sides of the ring nursing their wounds, Izuku's hands were burned and Katsuki felt like he might have a broken rib, but it wasn't going to stop them from going on. While Bakugo took his time recovering Midoriya ripped off strips of his shirt to make bandages for his hands. Once he was done, he activated his quirk and dashed at his foe, seeing this Bakugo did the same but at the last second, he changed direction with a precise blast. Once out of the green heads sight he let off a huge explosion landing a hit on the boy, or so he thought. When the dust cleared his foe was nowhere to be seen which made him look up. He spotted the green-haired boy coming his direction attempting to land a axe-kick on him but narrowly missed. When Midoriya hit the ground, he rolled out of the way from another oncoming explosion and returned fire with a Delaware smash knocking Bakugo back. Seeing this as an opening Midoriya darted towards the boy trying to finish the fight when Bakugo blinded him with a new move.
"Stun Grenade"
As he yelled those words a sun like glow illuminated from his palms blinding anyone who made direct eye contact with it. While Midoriya was temporarily blinded Bakugo used this time to land a series of blows that brought his opponent to his knees. As he towered over him striking him with countless punches he said.
"You're nothing but a weakling, the scum that I scrape off of my boots. Just pathetic."
Just when he was gonna say another word Midoriya jabbed Bakugo so hard in the face that he flew back holding his entire head. With his eyes still closed the greenhead stood to his feet, his nose was bloody, and lip was busted with a swollen left eye. Even though he looked worse for wear, he was standing as if nothing was wrong. Bakugo was in agonizing pain from his foes attack but made it to his feet. Midoriya got into his fighting stance and awaited the blonde's next move. When Bakugo jumped into the air and tried hitting Midoriya with his attack, the boy dodged out of the way and landed a counter blow to his ribs. Bakugo would continuously swing and miss while his opponent was dodging and landing counter strikes. Frustrated with this Bakugo set off an explosion in his hand then said.
"Stop running from me and fight. You say you're not scared but you're always running away. I'll never respect a worm that has to blindside his opponent then runs like a coward."
This resonated with Midoriya and made him really think about his former friend's words.
"So Kacchan really feels cheated that I landed a punch on him when we were kids and he's held on to that ever since."
This gave the One for All user an idea that would satisfy everyone. The boy then spoke.
"Ok, then let's see what you got. I'm coming at you with everything I have then."
Bakugo replied with
"Fine but don't blame me when I blast you into pieces as a result."
Midoriya then charged up One for All causing shock waves to emanate from his body shaking the ring and part of the stadium. Seeing this Bakugo leapt into the air propelling himself with explosions in a circular motion, this turned him into a human tornado ready to attack. As the two ran at each other the crowd was on the edge of their seats not knowing who the victor would be, Midoriya then yelled
"DETROIT SMASH"
While Bakugo at the same time said
"HOWITZER IMPACT"
The attacks collided causing a huge explosion of debris, smoke and wind. The arena grew silent awaiting the results of the blast. When the dust started to settle you could clearly see Bakugo standing in the ring, but his opponent was nowhere to be found. Once more of the smoke dispersed everyone gasped as they saw Izuku laying outside of the ring unconscious on his back. Seeing this Midnight made the announcement.
"Izuku Midoriya is out of bounds. Katsuki Bakugo is the Winner of the U.A. sports festival."
The crowd went crazy, and the stadium rang out in applause for the blonde boy. Bakugo then stuck his hands out in victory while saying.
"I told you I was better than you, you're still just a weak nerd. I'm the best, that's right me, I'm the!"
As he celebrated a voice followed by the sound of clapping came out of nowhere. He looked over to see his former friend standing their outside of the rings looking at him with a smile on his face. Midoriya then spoke.
"Congratulations, and you were right I shouldn't have sucker punched you back then, I should've faced you like a man. So, I decided I'll pay you back by losing this match, now were even."
The green-haired boy then turned around and started walking towards the nearest exit leaving Bakugo fuming from this revelation.
"Get back here and face me you damn nerd. Finish the fight don't cheat me out of an."
That's when Midnight's quirk filled the stage causing the boy to pass out mid-sentence and land on the ground.
END OF CHAPTER 6