Chapter 13: Street Smarts!
Summary:
The teams are assembled, and now the second round of the U.A. Sports Festival can begin!
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku looked at the groups that had formed among the first years who qualified.
Momo was leading her group, with Tenya, Ibara, and Pony supporting her. Eijiro had apparently won at janken, and so was supporting Toru alongside Mina and Setsuna. Tetsutetsu, in turn, had joined Kyoka and Denki in supporting Itsuka. Koda and Kodai joined in supporting Komori.
A few had made inter-class teams. Fumikage, Reiko, and Kuroiro were joined by the massive form of Shoji, who was using the membranes between his massive arms to shield his teammates. Shishida had partly transformed, and was on all fours serving as a steed for the Gen Ed girl, class 1-E's representative Chikuchi Togeike.
Todoroki had convinced Monoma, Kamakiri, and Rin to join him. Shoda, 1-B's shortest boy now that Mineta had been expelled, was teamed with their tallest, Bondo, whose head looked like a glue dispenser, along with Awase, a rough looking boy with a headband. Another boy Izuku recognized from the entrance exam, Aoyama, posed extravagantly, being held up by a boy with tape dispensers for elbows, Sero, a huge guy with big lips, Sato, and a boy with a tail, Ojiro. The last team from 1-B consisted of two normal-looking guys, Kaibara and Tsuburaba, along with the skull-faced Honenuki and Fukidashi, who had a speech bubble for a head.
Rounding off the teams, Shinso was sitting on the shoulders of the pompadour-guy, whose name was Akira Fuki. Fuki looked up at Shinso with a feral grin and said, "We got this, buddy!" To which Shinso countered with a smile of his own.
Izuku was disturbed by how much that smile reminded him of Aizawa's.
Of course, all eyes were on him and his team, with their coveted ten million point headband. Well, ten million, three hundred and twenty points, when you included Ochako, Mei, and Tsuyu's points, but that addition was honestly a little patronizing.
As they got into position, Mei prepped her babies. It turned out, once they described the plan, that Mei, in fact, had four drones, not simply the one. "You needed to be more specific," was the only response she had.
When Midnight cracked her whip to signal the beginning of the games, Team Asui began with Mei and Ochako clinging onto Izuku's legs, and Izuku leaping into the air with Full Cowl, before switching to Float.
Once they did, Izuku began to dodge several blasts from the teams. Tsuyu took the headband and gave it to Mei and Ochako. A minute later, all four of Mei's orb shaped drones sped across the field.
"And in a move no one expected, Team Asui has abandoned their ten million point headband, leaving them without a single point!" Present Mic shouted.
"By doing so, Team Asui has taken most of the pressure off of them," Eraserhead said. "It remains to be seen whether or not that will be useful when the headband is inevitably claimed."
"Let's see which of our classmates remembers your Battle Trial, ribbit," Tsuyu said as she looked at the scene before them. Laser beams, hardened scales, ice shards, horns, strands of tape, and Setsuna's body parts were all shot after the drones. Their AI was allowing them to dodge the blasts expertly.
Of course, while the four drones all seemed to be the ones holding their headband, the truth was it was floating by itself, all on its lonesome, thanks to Ochako's Quirk. Izuku was impressed at the control it took to leave it floating at that height, rather than having it simply leave Earth's orbit.
"All right, Mei, keep an eye on your babies and the prize. We'll keep an eye on the competition," Izuku said, as he led the group in flight across the battlefield.
Team Todoroki was the most aggressive. Their initial headband was on the lower end with 375 points, but his teammates were a well oiled machine. Todoroki himself was a complete powerhouse. Kamakiri was fantastic at close quarters combat with his blades, Rin's scales made him excel at both defense and long range offense, while Monoma was a wild card, either copying his teammates' Quirks to shore up a needed component, or copying his opponents' Quirks to meet any disadvantage.
"Team Yanagi has the best chance of taking our headband out of the air, but Team Aoyama and Team Momo are definitely runners up," Izuku said. "Let's hunt!" And he dove down to meet his opponents.
The first target chosen was Team Kaibara. Mei was able to detect the shields of Solid Air that Tsuburaba set around them, allowing Tsuyu to snatch the headband from between Kaibara's spinning limbs. Izuku dove out of the way of Fukidashi shouting "KABOOM!" and sending an explosion their way. Mei countered by shooting Team Kaibara with her capture gun, encasing them in a net.
Danger Sense kept him from flying directly into a strand of tape that was aiming straight for them, then to dodge a laser. Tsuyu snuck in a tongue strike, stealing the headband off of Aoyama right as the Frenchman curled inwards when his stomach failed him.
The event became a blur as the four of them were perfectly in sync, the Bonds combining with Danger Sense to give him perfect awareness of the area and his teammates. It was actually quite fun!
At least, it was until Ochako yelled in his head, "Incoming!" and several projectiles flew at him at once. He had to dodge draconic scales, Setsuna's hands, arrows made from the word "THOK!", flying horns, and…
"Did Momo just make a missile launcher?!" Nana said in disbelief as several rockets honed in on him.
"I love this girl! I'd love her more if she wasn't screwing us over, though!" Daigoro half cheered, half yelped.
Izuku tried to dodge, and when he couldn't, he flicked his finger to deflect the incoming attack. Unfortunately, an explosion from Momo's missiles hit him, and he barely had enough time to reorient himself on the ground.
At that point, Team Yaoyorozu made their move, Ibara's vines ensnaring the ten million point headband. As Present Mic announced it, Team Todoroki sent out a wave of ice to ensnare the feet of his fellow competitors.
Izuku managed to leap upwards just in time to avoid letting his team get caught in the trap. Tenya, however, managed to send the team dashing forwards, Pony using her horns to lift herself and Ibara, letting Tenya's Engines work with less resistance.
Team Todoroki took off at full speed towards Team Yaoyorozu, in time to hear Tenya cry out "Recipro Burst!" and take off at full speeds, leaving them in the dust. And, as they could see the ten million points evading him, Todoroki felt a pull around his neck. Tsuyu stole the headbands off of his neck and Team Asui flew off to follow Team Yaoyorozu.
All of a sudden, a MASSIVE glacier formed from Todoroki.
"We shouldn'ta did that," Daigoro mentioned as they caught up to Team Yaoyorozu. Tenya was losing steam from his engines and Pony seemed to be throwing fewer horns around. Ibara still had her vines up, but they weren't as vibrant as before.
As Momo began to glow to create something, the incoming ice overtook them. Izuku managed to go straight up right as Tsu took the ten million point headband from Ibara.
As soon as she did so, Team Todoroki surged forward, Monoma somehow using flames to propel them across the ice that Todoroki was making. Scales flew to distract them in midair as the team surged forward.
And, like a well oiled machine, Ochako gave Tsu a high five as she leapt into midair, throwing the headbands around, leaving the groups to attempt to collect them. Izuku, for his part, soared directly towards Team Todoroki, flying towards Todoroki's left side, the side that Izuku had noticed didn't produce ice...
And, for the briefest moment, he felt the blaze as that side of Todoroki lit on fire. In a blink, it was gone.
Izuku didn't care. With Mei hyperfocused on the appropriate headband, he zipped over and grabbed it, as Tsu grabbed onto his leg with her tongue and returned to her spot as her teammates' rider. Team Todoroki and the rest made a mad dash for the headbands hovering slightly off the ground, snagging what they could before the buzzer went off.
"And that's time, everyone!" Present Mic called out. "In first place, after a roller coaster of points gained and lost, is Team Asui. While touch and go for a while, they managed to regain their ten million point headband!" Tsuyu, Izuku, Ochako, and Mei's images were placed on the scoreboard, next to the number 10,000,320.
"In second place, we have a surprise victory with Team Shinso, who stealthily took one thousand, three hundred and forty points!" Shinso's tired face and Fuki's determined face joined, next to a glowing 1,340.
"In third place, we have Team Yaoyorozu, scoring one thousand, one hundred and fifty points!" Momo, Tenya, Ibara, and Pony all appeared with next to the number 1,150.
"In fourth place, we have Team Todoroki, who earned one thousand and ninety five points!" Todoroki glared at the number 1,095 like it spat on him, as did Kamakiri. Rin seemed to be hyping himself up for showing himself off in the third round. Monoma, unsurprisingly, looked smug.
"And, since Team Shinso has only two members, we'll also include two members of the fifth place team, Team Hagakure, the only other team with points remaining, keeping their initial four hundred point headband!" Present Mic concluded, showing Mina, Setsuna, Eijiro, and the blank spot for Toru next to the comparatively low 400.
Eijiro grinned, "Well, guess we have to decide who goes in. I suppose I'll-"
"Kiri, if you're going to say something like, 'I'll do the manly thing by bowing out,' you've got another thing coming, mister!" Mina countered. "You earned our win by blocking out everyone who came close to taking the headband from Toru! You'd better be one of the two we send up there or I'll… I'll… I'll dissolve your hair!"
Eijiro looked shocked, "You wouldn't…"
"And I'll destroy your products too!" Mina said vindictively.
"Please, I beg you…" Eijiro said, knees knocking.
"Well, if you want to keep being my horn buddy, then you'd better get your butt on that tournament bracket!" Mina said authoritatively.
"You win!" Eijiro said, caving.
Grinning like a loon, Setsuna said, "Just for that, I'm letting you go too."
"Don't YOU start with me, either, Set-chan!" Mina said.
"Look," Toru played the mediator, "I'm definitely out. My Quirk doesn't do shit for a tournament. As for our second member, how about you two play janken for it? You both deserve a shot and if you try to argue who deserves it more, we'll be here until the sun swallows the Earth."
Rolling their eyes, the two commenced. Mina managed to win, and stomped off with Eijiro to inform Midnight of their decision for the next round.
"Izu-kun?" Ochako asked her boyfriend. "Was that what I think it was?"
"It depends," Izuku countered. "Do you think it was ammunition to use next time she teases us?"
"Well, if we're wrong, we're wrong together," Ochako grinned.
"Midoriya, we need to talk," an unfamiliar voice came from Izuku's right. He turned to see Todoroki looking at him intensely.
Izuku blinked, then said, "If you insist. Let's talk." He made a gesture for him to start.
"Not here, obviously," Todoroki replied.
Izuku shook his head, "Look, I don't know you. We've interacted once before today, and this is the first time I've heard you speak. And endangering my friends back during the obstacle race didn't endear you to me. Not to mention, I've had bad experiences with this sort of thing in the past."
Todoroki looked at him, and his gaze turned from sharp to sympathetic. "Ah, right. I apologize…"
Izuku turned on his way, until he felt a metallic poke on his shoulder. He turned to see that it was one of Kyoka's jacks. The girl looked at him with a pale expression.
Izuku tilted his head in confusion as he approached her.
Kyoka leaned in and said in a low tone, "Green, I don't know exactly what his deal is, but I just heard him whisper, 'I forgot that Bakugou was his Endeavor.'"
Izuku's eyes widened with shock as the implications set in. "Thank you so much," he whispered back as he sped back to Todoroki. The taller boy blinked in surprise.
"One of my classmates convinced me," Izuku said as he looked around. "Let's just try to be quick."
Todoroki nodded, leading them away, until they reached a small alcove. When they were alone, Todoroki looked at him, "I do appreciate you agreeing to this."
"To be fair, I'm only doing this because one of them overheard you saying comparing Endeavor to Bakugou," Izuku said, his protective instincts blazing inside him.
Todoroki looked surprised, "Well, I'm sure you, of all people, know the pressure of being the child of a top hero-"
"Wait, what?" That comment derailed anything else Izuku may have been thinking.
Todoroki blinked, "You're All Might's son. I mean, obviously it's been kept secret from the press, but-"
"Not this again ," Izuku interrupted, palm hitting his face as the vestiges laughed. "I'm not All Might's son. Not biologically, anyway. He trained me after saving me from a villain because we have similar Quirks. The biggest similarity being that we thought we were Quirkless until our last year of middle school."
Todoroki looked shocked by that revelation, "All Might thought…" He shook his head, "It doesn't matter. So the rumors aren't fully true, but you still have an analogous relationship with All Might-"
"This isn't about me right now," Izuku said.
"It is," Todoroki responded. "Because currently, you've been making things worse for me."
Izuku looked at him like he said the sky was plaid, "What."
"Endeavor has not been pleased with the trajectory of my first year at U.A.," Todoroki said. "The news that All Might had taken a teaching position was a blow to him. Compounding this, the villain attack at the USJ occurred, placing your class under media scrutiny. While the media has been speculative, top Heroes have their own sources, and your involvement in the altercation, including disposing of one of the major villains singlehandedly, was revealed to him. Then, word came to him that we fought in our classes' joint sparring session, and that I lost…"
And, all of a sudden, things became clearer. He wondered if this was what All Might saw that day at Dagobah Beach when Izuku finally confessed to his awful relationship with Bakugou.
"Todoroki," Izuku said, trying to be comforting while he felt utterly furious, "What is your father doing to you?"
"He… he…" And suddenly everything came pouring out. That Endeavor, the perpetual runner-up, could never find a way to close the gap between himself and All Might. He came up with the idea of producing a child who could overtake All Might the way he never could.
All of Endeavor's crimes came to light. Effectively buying a woman to breed like he was trying to produce a show dog. Neglecting children deemed unsuitable for his needs. Causing the death of his oldest son, who wouldn't accept his status as a failure and trained in secret until he literally burned out. Denying his youngest son anything resembling a childhood, brutally training him from the moment he could walk. Driving his wife to the brink, up to the point that she threw boiling water on the left side of her son's face, the side that took after her husband…
Tears spilled down Izuku's face, but his expression was livid.
"This can't continue," Izuku said firmly.
"It won't change," Todoroki said, stating an immutable fact. "He's the Number Two Hero. He hasn't experienced consequences yet and likely never will. I have my own way of taking my revenge on him. I never use my left side, the flames I inherited from him. I only broke my vow once, unconsciously, against you in the cavalry battle. I will not falter again."
Izuku boggled at that, "If you don't think things can change, why did you tell me all of this?"
"Well, I initially merely wished to ensure you knew that my father had cast you in All Might's role for his attempts to live vicariously through me," Todoroki said. "And to let you know there was no intended insult when I only used my right half against you. Your speech got under my skin, I'll admit, but the only way I can move forward is if I can crush you without using anything that bastard gave me.
"As for the rest, it wasn't planned. I suppose that after learning about your history with Bakugou, I felt a certain… kinship, I suppose? With someone who was tormented throughout his childhood by someone with a fiery Quirk who was constantly called heroic by people who you had no choice but to trust," Todoroki said calmly. "Truthfully, it was… nice to get that off my chest."
"I'm not going to let him get away with this," Izuku said.
Todoroki looked sad, "I've heard people say that before. I recommend you abandon that line of thought, lest you want your Hero career to end before it begins. I'll see you in the ring, Midoriya. No hard feelings."
He walked away, as Izuku felt everything he just learned weigh down on him like a ton of bricks.
"So, we're killing Endeavor," came the rarely heard voice of the third host of One for All.
"Damn fucking straight we are!" the second host added. "Listen, Nine, you absolutely cannot let him live when he pulls shit like that. We are NOT going to let that sort of shit slide."
I'm not going to kill him, Izuku thought.
"Honestly, you're fucked in the head, kid," Two spat.
You misunderstand me. Killing him would be too easy. We're going to ruin him. We're going to make sure that the power he adores so much won't help him. We're going to turn the world against him. And we are going to make him live with the consequences, Izuku thought, fury running colder than any amount of Todoroki's ice ever could.
There was a pause.
"Okay, Chief, just for that, he's getting Fa Jin the second he's able," Three said approvingly.
"I'm still not fully convinced," Two said, but his tone made it seem like there wouldn't be much more convincing needed.
Fa Jin? Isn't that the martial arts technique for explosively releasing energy? Izuku said, Quirk nerd side taking over.
"Yeah, I could build up and store kinetic energy, then release it all in a single strike," Three stated.
And it fits perfectly with my cover story, Izuku said, thrilled. I appreciate the information.
"Just concentrate on winning this thing and then humiliating that flaming dog turd," Three stated before Izuku felt the two vigilantes return to ignoring him
Izuku sighed as he walked along, only for him to realize something. "Toru-chan, I know you're there."
He heard a sigh, "The bond gave it away, huh?"
"Well, it did now. I was distracted before," Izuku said, in perhaps the biggest understatement he'd ever given.
"I just didn't trust him alone with you," Toru said quietly.
The best thing about the bond with Toru was that he was better able to sense where she was. He put a hand on her shoulder (trying not to think about how she was naked at the moment), looked into her eyes, and smiled, "Thank you. That means so much to me."
"What are we going to do about this, Izu-kun?" Toru sobbed. "We can't just let this keep happening to him, but we also can't stop it ourselves."
Izuku's expression hardened, "The last time I was in a situation like this I was on the receiving end…" And he realized, "Nezu. He took care of it last time. If there's anyone who can handle this, it's him."
He took out his cell phone, thankful that Nezu gave him a means of contacting him if something happened, only to have it ring before he even unlocked it.
He answered, and the principal said, "Midoriya, I've already begun the move against Endeavor."
"You have?" Izuku was shocked.
"I had a few inklings of his behavior. Unfortunately, I don't intuitively know how human relationships work, so I didn't think twice about how he chose his mate," Nezu explained.
"What is intuitive, then? A eusocial colony ruled by a queen?" Izuku stated.
"Huh, you landed on the naked mole-rat. Good guess. Wrong, though!" Nezu stated. "In all seriousness, I do have to thank you. The youngest Todoroki's statement will be a very useful tool in the investigation. Thanks to single-party recording consent laws, it's admissible in court, and it leads us to the next step. I've already sent it to the Desutaru Agency."
Izuku visibly relaxed, "That's a load off my mind. Thank you, sir."
"If you want to help me with a different conundrum I'm working on, then if Ryukyu offers you an internship, please take it," Nezu stated.
Izuku wasn't sure exactly why Nezu made that request, but he was wary, "I'll consider it, sir."
"If not, Fatgum and Sir Nighteye would be acceptable substitutes," Nezu added chipperly.
"I need to get lunch before the tournament, sir," Izuku said, fear growing.
"Of course. Take care, Midoriya," Nezu said, hanging up.
"What happened, Izu-kun?" Toru asked.
"Good news, we've got Nezu on the case, and given that my former abusers are in jail at the moment, I'm thinking we have a good chance that Endeavor is screwed," Izuku said.
"And the bad news?" Toru asked.
"The devil is a small white-furred mammal of indeterminate species, and I may have accidentally made a deal with him," Izuku said. Toru giggled as they made their way to the cafeteria.
Despite the unease the earlier conversation dealt him, Izuku managed to finish his lunch extremely quickly. Turns out he really needed the calories and his nerves weren't going to stop that from happening. He was trying to maintain calm when the first matches for the third round tournament were revealed.
Izuku Midoriya vs. Neito Monoma
Mei Hatsume vs. Akira Fuki
Tenya Iida vs. Ibara Shiozaki
Hitoshi Shinso vs. Momo Yaoyorozu
Pony Tsunotori vs. Shoto Todoroki
Togaru Kamakiri vs. Eijiro Kirishima
Ochako Uraraka vs. Hiryu Rin
Tsuyu Asui vs. Mina Ashido.
As the matches were displayed, Monoma stood up and began to laugh uproariously, "Well, my comrades-in-arms, it's time for the world to see the true superiority of 1-B over the false idols of 1-A! I'll put down that arrogant glory hog Midoriya, and with luck, the dais will be filled with naught but 1-B!"
"Do you think he listens to what he says, ribbit?" Tsuyu asked.
"Guy's projecting so hard he could work in a movie theater," Denki said.
Kyoka turned to him disbelievingly, "I'm almost angry at how clever that was. How do you constantly act like an idiot and get such atrocious grades but still manage to come up with lines like that?!"
"Talent?" Denki offered lamely, as Kyoka rolled her eyes.
"In any case, I think the asshat's just psyching himself up," Setsuna said as the eye and ear she had floating past reattached to her head. "His knees were knocking."
"Oh, definitely," Kyoka said, "I can hear his heartbeat from here. It's like a jackhammer."
Izuku stretched and got up, "All right, everyone. Plus Ultra! I hope to see you at the top!" As several of his classmates cheered, Izuku left for his waiting room.
As he did, he passed by Mei, working on several of her babies, hoping to get them into fighting shape in time for her battle. She was currently sprucing up one of the drones still working after the cavalry battle.
Izuku stopped. He had an inkling of her upcoming plan, and decided to check in, "Mei-chan?"
Mei turned her head, "Yeah, Izuku?"
"Whatever you're planning to do with Fuki-san, maybe make sure he's on board with it?" Izuku offered.
Mei blinked, "You sure? He'll get to move on, I'll get to show off my babies, it's a win-win!"
"Yeah, but his goals and yours are different," Izuku said. "His goal isn't just winning, it's proving he belongs in the Hero course. If he gets a win like that, it might make him look bad, like he only progressed because you let him. That could actually hurt his chances…"
Mei's fingers stopped as she considered it, "Huh…"
"Let's put it this way, what if you had to show a group of investors your babies, and I just wanted to help, so I used my Quirk to make it look like they were better than they actually were, and the investors found out. Do you think they'd consider you a good inventor after that? And how would you feel about me if I pulled that stunt?"
As pure rage filled Mei's face, Izuku could feel the bond between them fray, almost to the point of being severed, before Mei seemed to remember that this was a purely hypothetical situation. She shook her head, and punched Izuku in the arm, "That's for making me even think about that!"
"Sorry," Izuku apologized.
"All right, I'll talk to Missile Hair about my plans and see if he wants to work something out," Mei said, putting her tools away and picking up the drone.
She stopped, turned around, and said, "You'd really go that far to see me succeed?"
"Wait, what?" Izuku asked.
"You would sincerely pull something like that to help me," Mei stated. Apparently that was information the bond provided. And to Mei, that was a huge deal.
"Well, I'd prefer not to do something immoral, and I wouldn't do something like that without your permission…" Izuku trailed off.
Mei absorbed this, then nodded and walked off.
"We'll have to talk to them all tonight and start teaching them how to do the mind filtration," Yoichi said.
Izuku nodded to himself as he walked rather quickly to his match. He was half-expecting to hear his Quirk's "DING!" right then and there.
"Welcome, everyone, to the main event!" Present Mic shouted. "For the first battle of the third round tournament, we have our two competitors. On one side, we have 1-A's class representative. He's flown to first place in both previous events, can he continue to soar, or will he crash and burn? It's Izuku Midoriya!"
The cheers were deafening. Izuku shyly smiled as he made his way to the arena.
"And on the other side, we have 1-B's ultimate wild card. He's Mister Steal-Your-Quirk, the cool copycat that always lands on his feet. Everyone throw up your hands for Neito Monoma!"
The cheers were definitely less than Izuku's, but more than the cheers 1-B received at their reveal. It didn't stop Monoma's eye from twitching as he maintained his smirk.
Izuku decided that, if anything, he could try and smooth things over, "Let's have a good match, Monoma-kun!" he cheerfully said, smiling as he did.
"Hmmph, we'll see how good you'll find it when I send you packing, 1-A scum," Monoma scoffed.
Well, the attempt was made, Izuku thought, taking a combat stance. When the crack of Midnight's whip began the brawl, Izuku felt Danger Sense flare as Monoma surged forward. His uniform sleeves ripped as he grew additional arms from his body, and they began to rapidly spin.
"Guess his is the drill that will pierce the heavens," Yoichi muttered.
"Do you have to quote ancient shit right now?!" Daigoro shouted.
As Izuku dodged out of the way, he began to fly upwards, but Monoma exhaled, forming a circular air wall in his direction, blocking his escape route.
"And Monoma is using the Quirks of his classmates who didn't make it into the third round! Mezo Shoji's Dupli-Arms is giving him access to several super-strong arms, and Sen Kaibara's Gyrate makes those hits hurt even worse! And to prevent Midoriya from flying out of range, he's using Kosei Tsuburaba's Solid Air to wall him in! Unless he wants to imitate a bird hitting a window, Midoriya needs to stay grounded!" Present Mic called out.
Huh, that means that Monoma's Quirk allows him to showcase the prowess of his classmates as well, and possibly earn them attention from Pro Heroes for internships! Izuku thought as he dodged blow after blow, green lightning crackling over him. That means that he really can show off Class 1-B! Of course, I can't just let him do that… Every Quirk has its downsides. The fact that he's not using other Quirks like Shishida's Beast or Shoda's Twin Impact means that three's likely his limit. The fact that he's going all out without stopping means that there's likely a time limit as well. I just need to wait out the clock then…
"You know, I can hear you," Monoma called out. Izuku noticed that one of the arms ended in a large ear rather than a hand.
"I really need to stop doing that," Izuku frowned as he leapt out of the way. One of the arms ending in a mouth exhaled a wall of air at him.
"I don't know if the fact that you're clever as well as strong makes stealing the spotlight easier to swallow or harder," Monoma said as Izuku smashed through the Solid Air, "Not to mention that you keep running rather than fighting."
Izuku dodged another blow, "Not sure if you'll try and copy my Quirk. It's touch based, correct?"
Monoma let out a smile that was almost genuine, "Indeed. Don't want to share?"
"More like I'm looking out for you," Izuku said, "First time I used my Quirk, I had to be extremely careful not to break myself, and I still ended up shattering my legs and right arm in the process." He then flicked his finger, hoping the air pressure would blow Monoma away.
Monoma exhaled to let out a shield of air, "I'll take that into consideration."
Of course, that was the point that the shields disappeared. Shortly thereafter, his arms stopped spinning, and finally, the extra arms fell off, disintegrating as they did so. Monoma hissed in frustration.
"Do you concede, or do you want to go Plus Ultra?" Izuku asked.
"I'm not going to let you get your way!" Monoma cried out, as Izuku rushed towards him, Full Cowl up. Monoma managed to dodge out of the way and, to Izuku's horror, he grabbed Izuku's bare arm.
"Aha! And now, your Quirk is mi- It's a blank. I'm getting a blank. What the hell kind of Quirk do you even have?!" Monoma cried out.
"It looks like Monoma's attempt to copy Midoriya's Quirk failed!" Present Mic cried out.
"Makes sense," Eraserhead commented. "Midoriya's Quirk is an energy stockpile. He named it Decade Force because it manifested ten years late."
Monoma blinked, "Oh. Errors have been made."
That statement became distressingly true as, within seconds, Izuku picked him up and hurled him out of the arena at top speed.