Hope you guys enjoy this one! I know right? Two quick updates?! Well the next one is already at 9k too! guess I'm on a roll! LOL
I've been wanting to do something like this one for AGES, but about midway through it actually evolved since I had a very similar idea and the two fit really well together.
Oh, and before I get started, I just want to quickly mention; I know Kendō has orange hair in canon. Minor change but I made her a full redhead in this one!
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"That's not a look that should be on the Symbol of Peace's face..."
Toshinori's scowl deepened at his colleague's words even as he took the cup of tea from her, despite her commiserating and frankly miserable tone. "How can I do anything but frown right now?" He gazed at the rows of students on the field below them, "When I know four more students should be standing there proudly, showing their stuff at the Festival." He clenched his fists ineffectually. Never had he felt his age the way he had when he'd been told that a student had perished. Never had he felt like more of a failure than when three more promising students had quit, the reality of the industry finally entering their minds. Making them understand that it wasn't just fame and popularity and interviews. Sometimes he cursed the path he had taken, which had resulted in the Heroics Industry becoming more Industry than Heroics.
Mere weeks ago, classes A and B of the Hero Course had gone off for joint training at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. All Might was supposed to have been there, training the next generation and showing them how to save lives and hearts. Instead, he'd blown his time limit stopping minor crimes and doing rescues other Heroes could have handled on the way to work. Instead of being with his classes, he'd been resting in the faculty lounge. Instead of learning how to rescue, the Heroes of tomorrow had needed rescuing, and he hadn't been there.
Several students had quit Heroics entirely because of his idiocy. A couple more had been injured because of his idiocy. And one had paid the ultimate price… all because of his idiocy.
"We were all caught with our pants down." Nemuri sighed next to him, sipping at her tea. Due to the more somber atmosphere, Ectoplasm and Cementoss were down there instead of her, as it should have been. She wondered if that was the right move. She could be overly… much… but she felt that maybe that was what they needed right now.
Toshinori's Quirk weighed heavy on him. He practically could hear the former bearers telling him that he'd held on to it for too long. It was why he hadn't argued against holding the festival. If he didn't find a successor here in the next three days… no doubt he would have to go with Mirai's suggestion of passing it to young Mirio. Something he didn't want to do. Every holder of One For All had passed it on to the one person they felt most deserved it. None of them had just….handed it away to keep it alive.
He sat back as the student they'd elected to speak gave a short speech. It was Kendō, a wonderful young lady and class 1-B's president. He was thankful they'd taken that role from Bakugo. He was a bit too passionate, and this wasn't the time for inflamed words.
He watched as they all prepared themselves, and the sounding gun was fired. His eyes widened as two students shot out from the throng of students, a green-haired boy and a brunette young lady. They made it to the Crush and past it before any others, and avoided the wave of ice from young Todoroki that froze many right to the floor. He watched the screens with renewed interest. Why did he not recognize either of them?
The two burst from the tight tunnel and noticeably laid eyes on the waiting Villain bots of the Robo Inferno. The boy grew a gigantic smirk, the likes of which told Toshinori that he would be enjoying this. And enjoy it he did, blitzing forward so fast his form blurred from view before he sliced right through the robot with his bare hands! Toshinori blinked, wondering how in the hell this kid was slipping his mind. He had to be in the Hero Course, right?
The brunette had an intense look on her face as she also blurred forward, drop-kicking the bot she targeted and hitting it so hard it blew back like a cannonball, a visible contrail following its path as it flew. It took out several more robots that the verdette had left behind, before stopping cold on the armor of a zero pointer. Neither of the two had missed a beat and continued running. The first zero pointer threw a fist forward, its own contrails forming around the mammoth limb. The verdette grinned madly before his hands seemed to glow with some blue energy, making visible patterns in the air as he took a noticeable martial arts stance. Toshinori's eyes widened as he parried the blow from the gigantic machine, visibly and audibly denting the steel and throwing it off balance.
The girl followed up beautifully. She was engulfed in a pink glow before she blitzed forward faster than the eye could see. She rammed into the zero pointer so hard it lifted off its tracks and fell flat on its back. "My word! Who are those two?!" He exclaimed in shock. A pang hit him, as he wondered if maybe young Mineta would still be alive if those two had been in the USJ with the rest of them. He didn't think any Villain short of Shigaraki, Kurogiri, or that Nōmu could have done a thing to either of them.
"I… I think I recognize the brunette!" Nemuri breathed in shock, pulling out her U.A. handheld and looking through the information, "Yes, I found her! Her name is Uraraka Ochako and she…" She stopped, eyes widening as she stared back at the screens, "She missed the final Heroics slot by one point! How's that possible?!"
He pulled out his own and split his attention between the action on the screen and her focus shots from the entrance exam. "Her style is completely different! What in the world?"
"You're right! During the Entrance Exam, she exclusively used her Zero Gravity Quirk to lift the Villain bots into the sky before dropping them. She showed zero martial skill back then." Nemuri smirked and playfully licked her lips, "Seems like failing by a single point lit a fire in her, doesn't it?"
"What about the boy?" He asked, even as he listened to Present Mic freaking out over the two unknown dark horses making the Obstacle Race look easy. The blonde evidently didn't have time to take his eyes off the race.
"I… don't see him in the Heroics applicants." Nemuri mumbled, even as she continued to scroll.
'Not in the Heroics applicants?' He thought to himself, before expanding his search to all first years. The two had passed the Robo Inferno and left the machines in their dust, a visibly fuming Bakugo and Todoroki making good time behind them. They reached The Fall and didn't even slow down. Uraraka had a pink glow flow through her before she leapt, floating across the chasm at speed. The verdette had merely leapt about halfway to the first platform before landing on one of the ropes and running across it. He repeated the process from each platform, sometimes making it from one to the other in a single bound, while other times he aimed for a rope and continued on foot.
He finally found the boy as they made it to the minefield, and he took his eyes from the event which was clearly all but over to read it, "Found him. Midoriya Izuku." He commented to Nemuri, who hastened to search as well, "Saitama Middle School. He tried to apply to the heroics course but…" his breath caught in his throat and the device slipped from numb fingers and landed in his lap as he turned sunken eyes to the two gleefully hugging after having crossed the finish line together.
Nemuri finished his words for him, wonder and disbelief suffusing her voice, "B-But…." She looked gobsmacked as she looked from the device to the student and back at the device, jaw unhinged.
As Todoroki and Bakugo arrived neck and neck for a bitter third place photo finish, the verdette flashed Bakugo a very rude gesture. Clearly the two had history because the blonde exploded, and it was only the quick reaction of Todoroki that stopped a fight from breaking out.
Nemuri turned to him, "Toshinori?"
"Yeah?" The word fell from his lips.
She pointed at the field, "What the fuck?"
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As the Cavalry Battle Progressed, All Might's incredulity rose with every moment in tune with Present Mic's freaking out. He and Nemuri were – to his knowledge – the only two who knew. Mic was just going on about underdogs and rising up, while Shōta played the straight man, as always when paired with his school friend. Nemuri was fidgeting and licking her chops as she eyed the two-man-team trouncing the competition. They'd had the ten million split between them, having joined hands before crossing the finish line, so each of them had five million. Of course, in the end it still amounted to one headband with ten, but the distinction had been made.
And during the Cavalry Battle, the two had joined up and declined any other members, claiming it would ruin their flow. Instead, Ochako had put on the headband and leapt up onto his shoulders to sit with his head between her legs, showing an obvious, intimate familiarity between the two. Nemuri had squealed when she saw it. Both had obviously not minded a word of the whispers surrounding them, and had merely smirked at the competition. Confidence poured out of every pore. And those smiles. It was if they knew in their bones they couldn't lose.
And they went out and proved it. Every team had been gunning for them, not only because of their points but the fact that they were total dark horses. Students from the General Classes who were not only beating but embarrassing the Heroics Course. Bakugo and Todoroki had nearly been rabid, with Bakugo leaping from his horse and flying straight at Midoriya the second the match had started. Ochako had giggled playfully before pushing off his head into the air as Izuku took another martial arts stance. Bakugo had been yelling loudly enough for both of his teachers to hear him call Midoriya, "DEKU!"
The verdette had dodged the blonde easily, his hands once again seemingly to glow with an inner light as he blew Bakugo's explosion apart with the wind from his hands. The shocked look on the blonde's face couldn't have been faked even as he soared past Izuku and ignited his hands to reverse course and turn back around for another go. He'd eaten a brutal kick right to the chops from Midoriya for his trouble and had been sent sailing away.
By rule, Ectoplasm had been forced to pause the timer to check on Bakugo. The boy had looked punch-drunk for a moment and struggled to get to his feet. He'd been just shy of being pulled from the Festival and examined when he got his feet under him and furiously spat out a tooth. Also by rule, he surrendered his headband mulishly and rejoined his horses. The match had been restarted and the first team to take the headband from the clone kept it.
Despite his near concussion, Katsuki had furiously rushed his horses forward and managed to snag the headband back, blowing up Tokoyami's Dark Shadow in the process. As Todoroki sent a wave of ice at first place, Izuku leapt into the air and Ochako floated them casually out of danger.
As they landed, Toshinori tore his attention from the match and picked his phone back up. He read on. 'Midoriya attended his early education here in Musutafu up until he was seven. There were several visits to the school nurse for bruises and even mild burns, with several visits from his mother Inko. The father was never around.' His eyes narrowed as he opened up Bakugo's file, frowning more when he saw the boy also had studied in Musutafu. The same school too. He didn't have to have an Intelligence Quirk to read between the lines.
He went back to Midoriya's file which was much more complete past the boy's seventh birthday, 'The family of two moved over to the Saitama Prefecture after that, entering the best school in the vicinity with his grades. He was an exemplary student in every educational subject, but always struggled in physical subjects. He had no more nurse visits, but several teachers noted that he was a bit of a loner. While none of the children bullied him physically in Saitama to best knowledge, he also had no friends. All of that changed when he was eight years old. Midoriya gradually started doing better and better in gym classes and started outpacing all of his fellow students. As he grew older, he started getting into fights a lot more often. He stood out too much. Older students from other schools in the prefecture learned of his reputation and tried to bully him. While he remained kind and respectful to any who showed him the same courtesy, and was generally a sweet young boy, the second someone was nasty to him he flipped a switch and returned fire a hundred-fold.'
"It's over!" Nemuri cheered, "They won again! No one even got a fingertip on that headband."
As the winning teams celebrated and Ectoplasm revealed the final event, Toshinori only had eyes for the verdette. He really didn't know what to think. So he did what he did best; he stood up, "I think I'd like to have a word with him." He said as the lunch break was called.
Nemuri smirked, "I think I'd like a word with both of them."
"Down girl." Toshinori deadpanned as he walked off.
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Izuku kept his smirk on his face as he eyed the competition. He was paying attention to Ochako of course, but damn if replaying his kick to Bakugo's teeth in his mind didn't feel good. "Ne, ne, do you think we've done well enough to make it into the Hero Course already, Izu-kun?"
"We crushed it in both events, so I say we damn well better be in already." Izuku smirked at her, "You ready for your match?"
"Hmmm…" Ochako looked back at the board listing the tournament, smiling again when she saw they were on the opposite sides of the bracket, "Honenuki-san huh? What was his Quirk again?"
"He seemed to liquify the ground." Izuku replied immediately. "Perhaps a quicksand Quirk?"
She hummed, "Shame. I'm probably his worst matchup, aren't I?" She eyed the board again, "You got Monoma-san, huh? Who was he?"
"Blonde idiot who kept mouthing off and pissed off Bakagō." Izuku replied, the brunette stifling her snicker, "He showed off three different Quirks. I'm guessing a copy Quirk." As the two continued to talk shop, Todoroki and Bakugō fumed nearby. In the stands, Toshinori glowered, having not been able to find Midoriya during lunch or the recreational games. "Looks like it's starting. Knock em dead!" He grinned, enjoying the little 'eep' from his girlfriend when he gave her a light spank.
He ignored the gawking from his actions as well as the smoldering glare from her as well as the whispered, "I'll get you for that, Izu." She blushed minutely, 'And didn't you have enough during the break?' She thought to herself as she walked onto the stage. Izuku and the rest of the competitors went to the special viewing area just for them.
Ectoplasm was the referee and he announced the match, "The first match of the first round is Uraraka Ochako against Honenuki Jūzō! BEGIN!"
Ochako was smiling cheerfully as Ectoplasm chopped his hand down. Honenuki bowed to her lightly, and she returned it with a nod of her head. "You two were awesome in the previous rounds." He said softly, "But you stuck together the entire time. Wonder how good you are when you're separated, Uraraka-san!"
"You'll have to find out!" She replied cheerfully.
"Then let's get to it!" He stomped his foot, and the stone tiles in front of him started to liquify, a line of strange-looking ground racing forward towards Ochako, ready to trap her like quicksand. Her smile widened as she crossed her arms and tapped herself with one of her cute little fingerpads. She no longer needed to do it, but it would probably look cool. The quicksand-like effect reached under her… and did absolutely nothing. She giggled at the dumbstruck look on his face as she casually paced forward, ignoring his Quirk entirely. "Why are you not sinking?" He asked in shock.
"Gravity and me are friends. Wasn't always the case though. Used to make me want to hurl if I used it for too long." She said cheerfully as she stepped on solid ground, "Sorry, looks like you got a bad matchup, Honenuki-san."
"Tch." He stopped using his Quirk, and had to hope his size would be enough to win him the match physically. The students had not been paying attention to the first event. He raced forward, but even as he did so, he started to sweat. Her smile never left her face.
He reached out for her and she grabbed his hand with an impossibly strong grip. She whirled around and hip-checked him, throwing him over her shoulder and straight out of the ring. Her Quirk was active, so he never landed, instead impacting the stands. "Sorry Honenuki-san, better luck next time." She bowed again as she was declared the winner. The stands erupted in cheering and goggling in equal measure, with the goggling increasing in volume when one person pointed out Honenuki was a recommended student.
The next couple matches were rather amusing. Yaoyorozu Momo casually deployed a lightning rod which absorbed all of Kaminari Denki's electricity, leaving him a drooling idiot. Ochako nearly laughed herself sick as the tall girl gently walked the blonde over to the edge. Tokage Setsuna displayed the awesome ability of the Bara Bara no Mi – and Ochako refused to call it anything else – to casually trip Iida Tenya and jump onto his back. The stronger student had been unable to find leverage and had slid right out of the ring with the other class's recommended student on his back, using him as a sled. Ashido Mina had displayed awesome acrobatics and slick movements against Itsuka Kendō, but just hadn't been able to beat back the better martial artist. Mina had used her Quirk for mobility, but hadn't wanted to hurt the other girl so she hadn't actually flung any Acid around. Likewise, Itsuka had seemed to accept the unspoken challenge and hadn't used her Quirk from what they could see. Sero Hanta lost to Shiozaki Ibara, her Quirk proving superior to his in both offense and defense. Bakugō made short work of Tokoyami. Bad luck there, really. His Quirk did not work well in daylight, and Bakugō's explosions had made its weakness even worse. Kirishima Eijirō had put up a valiant effort against Todoroki Shōto, but it just had not been enough against his amazing Quirk.
Finally, Izuku stood in the ring facing Monoma Neito. "Let's have a good match!" He called out cheerfully, correctly predicting the response he'd get.
"As if!" Monoma scoffed, "Bad enough we got 1-B losing matches to 1-A. I'll crush you and prove the last two events were flukes, General Studies." He turned entirely metallic and rushed forward, heavy footsteps clanging on the stone tiles.
Izuku took his stance with a grin, "Jeez, aren't you just a ball of sunshine." He closed his fist and hammered it into Monoma's outstretched arm, throwing him entirely off balance and even spinning him around in the air a half dozen times.
As Monoma landed, he smirked, "Didn't feel a thing! And thanks for your… Quirk?" he trailed off as his fingertips brushed Izuku's hand and felt nothing. It was like he was a void, "Wha-"
Izuku's fist interrupted him, crashing into his cheek and blowing a shockwave past the blonde's steely head. Monoma's vision wavered and Izuku doubled and tripled before him as he started to sway. "Hope that steel is tougher than your cheek felt!" Izuku grinned madly as he unloaded blow after blow on the blonde, his fists audibly crunching through the defensive Quirk. Monoma couldn't even put up his fists to defend and Izuku spun and kicked him in the chest. A shockwave blew out from the point of contact, sending the blonde flying backwards faster than most people could see. He crashed into the stands which cracked and shattered, throwing up a plume of dust and stone. The crowd screamed and some used their Quirks to defend themselves, but no one was hurt at all. Just dirty. When the smoke cleared, Monoma was back to normal, visibly battered with heavy bruising and a bloody nose, and fell forward from his indent in the stands onto the ground below.
The crowd was silent as Izuku grinned wolfishly. And while some were obviously concerned at how badly the boy had been beaten, most in the stand just ate it up, starting to cheer for not the dark horse, but one of the obvious favorites of the entire tournament.
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The second round of the tournament started with a surprise. "To simulate the element of surprise in Hero work and the fact that evil never sleeps, the second round will be done in reverse order!" The crowd erupted in murmurs as Izuku realized that meant he didn't even need to leave the stage. "Trial by fire, huh?" He grinned as he eyed a furious looking Todoroki walking onto the stage. 'Damn, what happened to him?' He blinked in confusion. In any case, Shōto took up his spot at the other end of the ring.
"Start!" Ectoplasm shouted out, chopping his arm.
"Let's have a good match, Todoroki-kun." Izuku tried a peace offering, as per usual.
Shōto glared at- no…. no, he glared past him, "Sorry about this."
And then there was ice.
The entire stadium was utterly silent in utter shock. Shōto had created a glacier. A full on, bigger-than-the-stadium glacier. Icy spikes rose past the top, poking out from the stadium. A chill immediately started drifting into the stands. Izuku himself was practically buried in it, his arms by his sides covered up to mid-forearm, "That's a bit overkill, don't you think?" He forced out.
"Midoriya, can you move?" Ectoplasm asked him, half of his body frozen too.
Izuku forced his teeth to stop chattering, "Whether I can or not doesn't matter!" He growled, before steadying his breathing and starting to strain his arms, "If I can't move, then I'll just break the obstacle in front of me!" He roared out, the ice at the thinnest portion cracking and then shattering. His right arm was freed, and his left came a moment later. With a roar, he raised his hands and pounded them on the ice, cracking it. He raised them again, and slammed them into the ice again, shocking Todoroki as it shattered and Izuku pulled himself free, panting. He grinned savagely at Todoroki, "You're going to need more than that to stop me!" The stadium erupted. Practically everyone was on their feet and screaming themselves hoarse.
Shōto growled lowly, "You're just delaying the inevitable!" He snarled, stomping his foot and sending another wave forward, this time smaller and more controlled.
Izuku dodged and rolled out of the way, racing forwards. He had to abort and dodge back as another wave of ice erupted from the dual-hair-colored boy, but wasn't fast enough to dodge the second hidden wave Shōto had arced with his hand. The ice slammed into Izuku from the side and drew a pained gasp from him as it pounded him into the tiles. "Stay down. You won't win." He said coldly. The crowd quieted, waiting with bated breath to see what would happen next.
Izuku was again frozen, this time on his hands and knees to the arena. He growled, "Who the hell are you to say that?!" He roared as he forced himself to try to stand. Shōto's eyes bugged open as the ice cracked, but this time didn't stay idle and allow his opponent to just get free. He put his hand on the ground and another wave of ice covered the old layer, reinforcing it.
Ectoplasm sighed, "The winner is-"
"NO HE ISN'T!" Izuku screamed as the ice cracked again. Before Shōto's disbelieving eyes, the ice erupted with Izuku standing tall. Giant chunks of ice were blown off the ring and dug trenches in the grass. And Izuku himself? There was a light shimmer around him. Something that could be mistaken for a mirage. But it was there.
"Tch!" Shōto snarled as he sent another large wave of ice at his opponent.
"This is getting old, Todoroki-kun!" Izuku raised his fist and punched the ice. It cracked, but didn't break and crashed into him, forcing him back. He rolled on his back and got back to his feet.
"I'll just push you out of the ring then!" Shōto yelled back, raising his voice for the first time in a while. A five-meter-tall cube of ice with jagged spikes on top formed and covered the entire length of the ring, before sliding forward rapidly towards Izuku.
"Any wall you put in front of me, I'll shatter!" The verdette yelled back, running forward and punching the solid chunk of ice. A much bigger crater formed in it this time and it slowed to a crawl, but Shōto was ready. It rapidly filled in with more ice even as he gasped out a steamy breath from the sheer cold his own body was feeling. It continued pushing forward, picking up speed as it slid. Again, Izuku's fist crashed into it, again and again. "Your little ice cube is nothing compared to the boulders I crushed in my training!" The verdette was getting forced back to the edge of the ring by the massive, self-healing and growing glacier. But every hole he put in it got bigger and bigger, and his own body was looking like it was starting to steam. His blood was boiling in his veins. Finally, his feet hit the very edge of the ring… and then he stopped. "I will NOT LOSE!" This time there could be no mistaking it for a mirage. It was almost like ethereal green fire was starting to surround him, pulsing rhythmically with an audible sound.
His hands flashed as he hit the glacier again and again…and it got forced back.
Shōto could hardly move his right side. He looked like he was covered in ice himself, though only on the right side. His fingers and toes felt numb and his heart was beating wildly. Icy sweat dripped down his brow. He couldn't believe his eyes.
Izuku forced himself from the edge and planted his feet, cracking the concrete below him. With a roar of exertion, he threw his fist forward. The overgrown ice cube exploded. A trench was carved straight through it as chunks blew apart in every direction. Izuku grinned madly as he saw the utterly flabbergasted look on Shōto's face through the glittering caused by the tiny ice crystals floating in the air. "Thanks for making me stronger, Todoroki-kun! The real fight starts now!" Chunks of ice that hit his aura flashed to steam immediately.
The crowd ERUPTED. In the stands, Toshinori frantically closed his eyes and ignored Nemuri squealing next to him as he checked himself for One For All. Ochako was INUNDATED by the other Heroics students shouting questions at her, causing her to frantically wave her hands in a warding motion and tell them her Quirk wasn't Super Hearing, unknowingly quoting All Might during his first class.
"What even is your Quirk?! What the hell are you?!" Shōto lost the mental battle.
"I'm the one who will surpass All Might!" He roared out, and the world went silent as they beheld his smile, "I'm the one that Villains are going to run and hide from!" Izuku yelled again, "I'm the one that will be the greatest Hero, and not you nor anyone else is going to stop me!"
The stands exploded again, with the entire crowd starting to shout his name. Bakugo exploded.
Even as he said so, he was evaluating his own body. His boiling blood was fighting his icy cold skin. He could feel his fist quake from exertion. He knew he had to finish this soon. He wasn't sure how long he could keep it up. If it had been a sheer physical contest it would have presented no issue. But the sheer cold engulfing the stadium sapped a man's strength. Izuku bent his knees and blasted forward, crushing the ring beneath him as he crossed the distance to Todoroki in the blink of an eye. "GET AWAY!" Todoroki broke his one rule in utter panic, his left side erupting in flames and forcing Izuku to abort his charge.
"What the hell?!" Izuku yelped indignantly, "This whole time you had fire too? You think you're going to beat me half-assing it!" He growled, a furious look on his face. The haze around him vanished.
The warmth felt amazing on his near-frostbitten body, but the words made him immediately snuff them out. Shōto snarled near-rabidly, "I don't need this fire to win here! I'll never win using his Quirk!" He stomped on the ground and created not another massive iceberg, but a spiked ball of ice which rushed forward and then exploded, essentially turning into a giant, icy fragmentation grenade.
Izuku had a look of anger on his face as he took his stance. He mentally thanked Todoroki, because the flames had warmed him up too. His hands no longer felt as stiff, "Water Stream Encampment!" He said, before his arms blurred and what appeared to be a dome with flashing blue streaks appeared around him. The shards of ice hit the dome and were obliterated. "Stop holding BACK, Todoroki!" He yelled, "Why aren't you using your flames! I can see the ice building up on you again!"
"I'll never use those cursed flames for combat!" Shōto yelled back, "NEVER!"
Izuku moved from his place, dodging every attempt to stop him before landing a punishing blow on Shōto's stomach, "Then why are you even here?!" He yelled before his fist crashing into the boy's jaw, throwing spittle from his lips, "Aren't you here to be a Hero?!" Another crushing blow landed, "You're insulting every single student who gave it their all to be here!" He grabbed Todoroki by the collar and threw him over his shoulder to the middle of the ring. The boy slid on his ice before coming to a stop, groaning in pain. He struggled to get to his feet.
The crowd had grown silent, wanting to listen to the drama unfolding.
"DID HE PUT YOU UP TO THIS?!" He finally roared after stumbling and finally managing to get back up.
"I don't know who you're talking about AND I DON'T CARE!" Izuku screamed back, "And no one else is going to care what your issues are or who they're with when you let someone you could have saved die!"
The crowd heard every word, and Shōto balked as the murmuring rose, not just from the crowd but his classmates as well. Censure started to enter his ears as he clenched his hands in frustration. Even with that, he still refused to use his flames, merely attacking half-heartedly with his ice in another massive glacier as doubt started to creep in.
'Damn it, even my fists will give out if I keep punching these damn things!' Izuku thought to himself in frustration, 'I never got this to work before. Let's hope I'm strong enough NOW!' He changed his stance, curling his pinky and ring fingers in while clawing his thumb and other two fingers. Unlike the blue aura of before, this one seemed to be more red. As if his blood was steaming around him. Once more, he thanked his lucky stars for that brief burst of fire, because he was sure his fingers would have been too stiff to even try this otherwise. "Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist!" He yelled, thrusting his arm forward and twisting his hand as he leapt at the iceberg. A whirlwind erupted from his attack, cutting straight into the ice in an ever-expanding circle. "YES!" he cheered as he jabbed his fingers into the smallest of the cutouts of ice. The massive cylinder of ice slid forward and erupted from the other side, revealing a perfect cylindrical cut in the ice. The missing section of which he was still holding over his head. "HAVE THIS BACK!" He yelled, throwing the pillar of ice right back at Shōto.
"What the- HOW STRONG ARE YOU?!" Shōto yelled in frustration. Cursing, he dodged out of the way.
"You could have easily melted that instead of dodging!" Izuku landed, "And it would have cost you less energy! Use your Quirk, damn it! We're all giving it our all here except you! I won't accept a victory against someone half-assing it!"
Shōto's teeth ground inside his jaw, "You have no idea what he put us through! What he put mom through! I won't use his damned Quirk!" He was quieter this time, so his voice didn't carry.
"What are you talking about; his Quirk? IT'S YOUR QUIRK! DO YOU WANT TO BE A HERO OR NOT?!" Izuku exploded at him, and Shōto choked.
Izuku's words brought back a memory he had repressed. Of his mother's kind words, before her breakdown. "Damn you!" Flames exploded from his left side, "You crazy bastard! Do you want to win or not?!"
"SHOOOOOOOOOTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Endeavor erupted up in the stands. He was saying something but both Izuku and Shōto totally ignored him.
Izuku's grin became a full-on slasher smile as he retook his usual stance, "Of course I do! And I'll prove it now!"
Shōto threw his left arm forward, a firestorm erupting and blasting out at Izuku. Wild grin still on his face, he took off running and leapt, using one of the broken glaciers to bounce off of and closed in with Shōto. The dual-natured buy was clearly unused to fighting with his flames, and he was running on fumes now. Izuku despite all the punishment of the fight still seemed fresh…somehow.
Of course, he was hurting too. But when had adversity stopped him before? He landed and with crushing strength, broke the entire ring beneath them, throwing Shōto totally off balance. He panicked and tried to swing his right arm to summon another glacier, but the back of Izuku's hand knocked it away, "Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist!" He yelled, the blue aura surrounding his fist erupting. He slammed his hand into his opponent's face, breaking his nose. His next blow landed in his sternum, emptying his lungs of air. Hit after hit landed, leaving Shōto just one giant bruise. With one final blow from both hands – looking almost like he was trying to fire a hadōken – Shōto was sent flying backwards and out of the ring. His body shot backwards until he crashed into the grass and ragdolled a few times before he rolled to a stop.
Izuku stumbled as exhaustion caught up, but he caught himself. He raised his fist and pumped it into the air. The stands almost blew him over with a solid wall of sound as they started to cheer! As he laughed in elation, he couldn't help but think it was a good thing he had gone first this round. If they had pulled it in round three he would have been pissed, since he might not have had enough in the tank for Bakugo. "…Damn, I'm starving!" he walked off the stage and finally allowed himself to slump against the wall once he was out of sight in the hallways. "Damn if that Todoroki isn't strong. If he had gone all out from the start I might not have made it!"
"Of course, you would have!" His girlfriend's bubbly, warm voice lifted his spirits. She grabbed him in a tight hug, "I wasn't scared for even a second! You've always overcome everything anyone has thrown at you. Oh my god you're freezing!"
He chuckled, "Please, you were vibrating in your seat in worry, weren't you?"
"NO!" She protested, but the wobble in her voice gave her away, "Okay maybe a little! He had you iced to the floor!~" He laughed, pulling her in for a deep kiss. She smiled when she broke away, "Come on you human food disposal unit. Let's get some food in you!"
-]|[-
Earlier in the stands:
"Excuse me, Uraraka-chan, right?" The pink young lady named Mina tapped her on the shoulder.
"Ah, yes?" Ochako said cheerfully, "Sorry, I don't quite know your name."
"Ashido Mina." She introduced herself cheerfully, "Nice to meet you! You should come sit with us! You're definitely a shoe-in for the hero course!"
Ochako giggled, "Jumping the gun much?" But she obliged, moving with the hero student over to their section of the stands. It wasn't as if she felt any solidarity with her class after all. It wasn't that they were beneath her notice or anything…. they were just kind of jerks who spent more time feeling sorry for themselves than actually improving. She smiled inwardly, 'Boy are they all in for a shock later today. Especially that jerk Shinsō. I'm kinda glad he didn't make it past the Cavalry Battle. Maybe now he'll actually shape up.'
"Hey guys! Let's give a nice big Hero Course welcome to Ochako-chan!" Mina cheered once they entered the stands.
Ochako smiled warmly at all of the words of encouragement and welcome she received, noting idly that several people were missing. "Thanks for having me everyone!"
"Man, you manhandled Honenuki." One of the green-haired girls gave her a high-five, "I'm Setsuna! I think I can speak for all of us when I ask what your quirk is."
Ochako giggled, "Well, if you had asked me six months ago, I would have given you a totally different answer." She held up her palm and showed off her cute little fingerpads, "Until I started training with Izuku after failing the entrance exam, I called my Quirk Zero Gravity. Anything I touched with these pads would become totally weightless."
"Oh, but once you met that cutie you learned otherwise?" Setsuna asked, elbowing her playfully. Mina did the same from the other side, wagging her eyebrows for good measure.
"Izu-kun is AMAZING at analyzing Quirks because of how far outside the box he can make himself think. He doesn't get everything right, obviously. And this one time he got it so wrong I just HAD to smack him. But when he's right, he's right." Ochako laughed, "I had totally been underutilizing it. Honestly, I was shocked when I realized just how wrong the Quirk councilors were about it."
"Oh, how so, Ochako-chan?" A rather cute girl with long green hair tied into a bow behind her asked, "My name is Asui Tsuyu. Please call me Tsu."
"Nice to meet you Tsu! Well, the most important thing was HOW my quirk functioned." Ochako told her, "He asked me a simple question that I just… didn't have an answer for. 'Where does the weight go?' It was something I had never really thought of." She chuckled, "I felt pretty dumb afterwards, because with our experiments I actually learned how to eliminate a weakness of mine. I always found it strange that I could lift tons without much strain, but making myself weightless made me super nauseous. The doctors and my parents and even I thought it was just motion sickness, but medicine didn't do anything to counter it. It turns out that my Quirk takes an object's mass and uses my body to transform it into energy. Since my body recognized it as foreign, it just dispersed it into the air automatically. When I cancelled my Quirk's effects, the invisible energy would just rush back into the object. But when I used it on myself, it would STAY inside my body because it was MY mass. It would just float inside me and wreak havoc on my inner ear and core, causing me to lose my lunch." She grinned, "Once I became conscious of the specifics, I learned how to not only just disperse the energy like normal, but also manipulate it. So I became able to pump more energy in and make the same object more massive, and now I just barely started learning how to take more energy than there is mass. Izu-kun basically fangirled when he realized I could do things from that old game Mass Effect with my Quirk, so that's what I renamed it to."
"Holy shit! All that from a simple question?" Mina asked in shock.
"Yep!" Ochako smiled a little smugly.
"How did you two meet?" Yaoyorozu Momo - returning from her 'fight' with Kaminari - asked her sweetly.
Ochako's blush marks deepened a tiny bit when she laid eyes on her. 'Holy crap, she's gorgeous!' She thought to herself, "Well, we met after the entrance exam. I was pretty depressed because I think I knew that I hadn't done well enough, so I was moping. He saw me and tried to cheer me up, and it just kind of took off from there."
"Speaking of which!" Setsuna cut in and pointed down to the ring, where Izuku had just annihilated the class jerk Monoma in just a couple hits, "What the FUCK? How did HE miss the cutoff?!"
The quiet Kodai Yui pointed out, "The steel Quirk Monoma copied from Tetsu is incredibly tough… and he just punched through it."
"He's so awesome… and hot." The other shy girl Kinoko breathed out, before clapping her hands to her mouth and looking apologetically to Ochako.
Ochako giggled, "You think he's hot? He hasn't even taken his shirt off yet." The girls around her seemed to collectively suffer from brain freeze, and Ochako playfully leered at Kinoko, "And you're not bad yourself, cutie." The other brunette went scarlet.
"Ohohoho!" Mina laughed ominously, "Little bi-curious are we?"
"Nope." Ochako smirked at her, "I only dated girls before Izuku, so full homo. Guess there was just never a good guy in my previous schools." The rest of them froze, with Kinoko going nearly incandescent.
"Damn." Setsuna laughed, "She really just killed half the race."
"What a vulgar conversation." Momo chimed in, though the dusting of red on her cheeks betrayed her, "Oh my, it looks like he'll have to fight back to back. And against Todoroki too."
Tsuyu winced, "My worst nemesis. Kero, kero. That ice of his would have me hibernating in seconds." She shook her head as she watched Todoroki slowly exiting from one of the entrances onto the field, "You never answered our question by the way. How did he miss the cutoff? I can't imagine him getting strong enough to dent a zero pointer's arm in just five months. Kero."
"That..." Ochako smirked again, "Would be spoilers." NOW everyone was super interested, "Sit tight ladies. You are not ready."
Any response was cut off as the temperature dropped like a stone. Their vision filled with ice. "..." Everyone stared open-mouthed at the pillars of frost peeking out of the top of the stadium.
"Holy shit!" Mina cried out.
"Tsu?!" Ochako immediately noticed that the froggy girl had started shivering incessantly. She immediately moved over without thinking and hugged the girl. Tsu immediately snuggled closer for the warmth, and Momo got on her other side, shivering as well and having created a blanket with her Quirk. The three snuggled together to keep their classmate warm.
"Kero, thank you, Momo-chan, Ochako-chan."
Itsuka shook her head, "How do we compete with that?" She turned her head over to Ochako, "Sorry girl. Your boyfriend did great!"
Ochako merely smiled, though the bead of sweat dripping down her forehead betrayed her nervousness. "Why're you talking like it's over?"
"Hate to say it," Setsuna winced, "But he's froze-" Izuku broke an arm out and used it to free himself, stepping from his frozen prison wearing an evil grin. "..." Her mouth remained open, while a massive blush rose up on her cheeks, "You lucky bitch."
They watched as Izuku was again frozen, this time on his hands and knees with a massive layer of ice holding him down. And yet again, with nothing but sheer determination and strength, broke the ice above him with a roar of exertion. And then the gradual push back from the massive glacier, with him visibly and noticeably hitting it harder and harder until it finally shattered into thousands of little pieces.
"Girl!" Mina screamed, "I reiterate; WHAT THE FUCK!" She pointed down at the ring, practically vibrating in her seat.
And then came his declaration, and Tsu - lacking her filter as usual - ribbitted, "Kero, kero, kero… He could crush me any day."
"TSU!" Momo yelped beside her as Ochako started to laugh, before getting overwhelmed as the rest of the girls started to hound her.
"No, seriously?! What IS his Quirk!?" Was the general cry.
"My Quirk isn't super hearing! And I'm not telling! Nyeeeeh!" She stuck her tongue out and laughed once it quieted down a little bit.
"Okay." Itsuka sat and started to think, "It had to be something about growth. Or maybe turning damage into power."
"Good idea." Momo replied, "No doubt his Quirk has to be along those lines. Maybe even literally? I've noticed that blue glow around his hands when he uses that martial art sometimes."
"What about that green aura? It looked like fire was surrounding him?" Reiko mumbled, and Itsuka froze.
"W-Wait! Flame like aura? It was green too?" She stuttered as she whirled to Reiko.
"Yes." Reiko nodded, "I could barely see it. I thought I was seeing things. It looked like a heat haze around him at first."
Itsuka shook her head rapidly, "N-no, I must be mistaken. There's no way."
Ibara looked at her in concern, "What has you so frazzled, my friend?"
Itsuka shook her head again, "Nothing. Don't worry about it." She looked down, not seeing anything special from Izuku right now, beyond his extreme abilities, "Just an old legend..." She muttered.
Mina was scratching her chin, but stopped as she saw the going-ons in the ring, "But we DEFINITELY saw his hands glow blue right? What was up with that?! There were contrails made of blue light and everything! Is THAT his Quirk?"
"Hehehehe!" Ochako said cheerfully, "That glow comes with the art. I can't really do it on command, but he did teach me some moves. Only ever got it to work once and it was a fluke."
Mina grabbed at her hair, "It's killing me here! I gotta know!"
"Wait he has fire too?!" Ochako echoed Izuku's statement. She clenched her fists, something Tsu felt since they were close together. Ochako mumbled, "Damn it…. some jerks have all the luck!" Momo and Tsu were both close enough to hear her, despite the low volume, and looked at her a bit strangely. Why was she mad about Todoroki's fire? That sounded personal! Her quirk was amazing!
"Oh wow, your boy down there has issues." Setsuna commented lightly, referring to the 1-A girls. But it was clear from her expression she wasn't very amused.
Mina scowled, "Jeez, he may be hot, but his attitude is really getting on my nerves."
"Who is he referring to?" Momo asked, tapping her chin.
"Kero, do you think it may be Endeavor himself?" Tsu asked curiously.
Itsuka winced, "Oh...Oh jeez. I hope you're wrong there, Tsu, otherwise that's a PR nightmare waiting to happen."
"It makes sense." Setsuna had redacted her scowl, now looking worried, "Endeavor never has been very... personable."
"You're not wrong, but that's a stretch to go from that to him being responsible for Todoroki's issues." Momo replied quietly.
Kinoko piped up, still a wee bit red from earlier, "But his Quirk is fire, and Todoroki is refusing to use his own fire. I hate to say it, but it makes sense."
"DUDE!" Setsuna gaped as Izuku used an entirely different martial art to this time cut the glacier and heft out a massive pillar of ice before chucking it at Todoroki. The rest of the girls goggled as well.
"He did it!" Ochako jumped up and cheered, "He never got that to work before!"
"Kero!" Tsu was bright red.
She didn't get a chance to speak up, because Setsuna cut in again, "So my bisexual friend!" She casually threw her arm around Ochako, "What's a girl gotta do to get a piece of that?"
"SETSUNA!" Momo, Itsuka, and Ibara all yelled at her, scandalized.
"Begone, THOT!"
Ochako smirked and grabbed Setsuna's chin, pulling her down and making the brash girl blush brilliantly and take a breath, thinking her new friend was going to kiss her. The rest of the girls watched in shock as Ochako grinned and pulled back, "Wouldn't you like to know, Se~tsu~na?" Ochako giggled at the gobsmacked look on her face, having turned the tables on her.
"OCHAKO?!" A new wave of yelps came from the more innocent girls.
"This has become a bastion of sin." Ibara clapped her hands and prayed, "O Lord, forgive my friends."
"Oh!" Mina cheered up, "He's using it! Looks like your boy got to him, Ochako!"
"He's good at that." Ochako smiled smugly, "That's Izu-kun for you. I think it's over now. I'm going to go meet up with him. Nice meeting you all!"
"You have a match coming up, Ochako!" Mina called after her playfully, "Don't take too long with your celebration!"
"MINA!" Momo yelped again.
"What?" Mina asked innocently, before faking a gasp, "Oh my! Lewd thoughts from our class rep?!" Momo turned as scarlet as her hero costume, clapping her hands to her face in embarrassment.
Ochako turned back and gave her a smoldering look, "You're right. We'd need another hour break just for a quickie."
Half of the girls choked, and Mina turned a beautiful lavender color, "Bullshit!"
Ochako merely laughed as she disappeared and ran down the steps to meet with her Izuku.
-]|[-
The next match was Ibara vs Bakugō. In the stands, Izuku and Ochako stood side by side, ready to watch. They hadn't returned to the Heroics Stands, mostly due to the massive amount of food they were carrying. Several of the plates were held in orbit around them as Ochako used the opportunity to train a bit, Izuku's chopsticks blurring to the point he looked like he had eight arms. Ochako had a happy smile on her face as she snacked on some of the items, still a little hungry herself. Nothing heavy though.
He kept a close eye on the match as Ectoplasm started it, and let out a heavy snort. Ochako turned to him curiously, "What is it?"
"Eight years and that idiot still starts with a right hook." Izuku snorted, "For someone with his battle sense, that's kinda pathetic."
They watched as Ibara turned, her hair growing into massive snake-like thorn-covered vines and forming a wall behind her. Katsuki's explosion ineffectually burned some of the layers away but did nothing to the deeper layers.
"Such a destructive Quirk." Ibara commented, "Perhaps it is time someone washed you of your sins, Bakugō." Her hair exploded outwards, writhing and grasping for purchase on her opponent.
Ochako giggled as Katsuki used his explosions to rapidly fly himself backwards, before prepping a far larger explosion to incinerate the vines. Together they may have been impossibly strong and capable of resisting, but alone they weren't enough. She shook her head, "If Setsuna didn't just make a tentacle hentai joke I'll be extremely surprised."
Izuku spurted some of his drink out, dribbling it down his chin, "Made a friend, have we?" He smiled at her, "But what a dirty mind! From MY innocent little Chako?"
"And who made me this way?" She leered back, before shaking her head, "And yeah, the 1-A and B girls are all super nice. You'll like them too, I think. But Ibara-chan is making a mistake, isn't she?"
"She's letting the idiot sweat." Izuku confirmed with a nod, "The more he sweats the bigger his blasts are. And no matter how much I hate him now; I still acknowledge he's a great fighter. This won't last long."
Indeed, Katsuki's explosions were getting bigger and using less stamina each time. Ibara had a look of worry on her face as her shield got blown up more and more each time he hit at it, and she couldn't get her vines close. She formed another huge shield, this time blocking the view. She broke it off and sent another mass into the ground, starting to feel her mouth dry up as she dehydrated from all of the vines she'd had to grow in quick succession.
The vines broke out of the ground the second her shield was gone, and quickly wrapped Katsuki up like a mummy. The blonde bomber roared in anger, struggling to free himself. "It's over. You can't win with the blessings of the Lord on my side." Ibara said, directing her vines down to the grass outside the ring.
"Don't UNDERESTIMATE ME VINE BITCH!" Katsuki roared, detonating every drop of sweat he had currently stored in his shirt. The entire mass of vines erupted, green masses flying everywhere. Ibara screamed in shock as Katsuki rocketed back to the ring and at her. Before she could move, he bodily tackled her, tumbling on the ring with her and ending the match by flinging her off the ring.
"She did better than I thought." Izuku chuckled, "She almost won."
"Could she have?" Ochako asked curiously.
"If her Quirk works the way I think it does, maybe." Izuku replied, a bit of an evil grin on his face, "She could have drained him of fluids once he was trussed up."
"Ewwwww!" Ochako made a face, and Izuku blinked.
"Not like that!" He yelled at her, "I meant the sweat!"
"So did I! With her hair?!" Ochako yelled back, "Gross!"
Izuku facepalmed.
-]|[-
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to go without your Quirk, babe?" Setsuna grinned cheekily as she stared down her best friend.
"Against you?" Itsuka smirked, brushing her red hair lazily, "Not a chance."
"Worth a shot!" Setsuna laughed, before splitting into hundreds of little pieces. The crowd roared in surprise as she displayed the sheer amount of control she had over her body, everything from fists to kicks flying at the redhead like little missiles.
But Itsuka was unconcerned, merely taking a breath and dropping into her Karate stance. Her body was far tougher than her friend's. Itsuka could see Setsuna wincing every time she blocked one of her blows, and she was still untouched. Her awareness was also great, as she dodged even blows from her blind spot. This was partially just skill and instinct and partially just familiarity with her best friend's tactics. She laughed, "Time to stop playing, Suna-chan!" She called out, getting a curse from her friend as the tornado of limbs increased in speed, trying to stop her.
It was futile. A golden glow erupted from her and exploded, blinding the crowds and forcing Setsuna back. Itsuka was smiling cheekily as she stood in the ring, now five times her height and completely golden. Everything about her was golden, from her uniform to her hair to her now-exposed six pack. She had grown not just in height but in size too, looking like an Amazonian goddess.
...
In the stands, Ochako and Izuku were staring in surprise, "Dude!" Ochako cried out, "First the Bara Bara now we got Buddha in here?! That's not fair! And she's SO HOT!"
Izuku chuckled, "Don't suppose you want to let me have a go with her?"
"I want a go with her!" Ochako laughed, "You could grate cheese on those abs!"
"I meant a fight, you thirsty little-!" Izuku cut himself off with a grumble, knowing before she even turned to smirk at him that she was fucking with him. "Where did my sweet, innocent little Chako go?"
"You killed her like four months ago." She laughed, "And hell no, I want to win this too, Izu-kun!" She laughed at his indignant face.
…
Setsuna gathered herself up and grumbled down in the ring, "Stupid Buddha Quirk." She pouted and started to whine, "Come on babe, that's overkill."
Itsuka shrugged, and her voice had an odd reverbing quality, "No kill like it!" She replied with amusement, before holding a palm out.
"Fuck!" Setsuna leapt back as Itsuka thrust her palm forward. The ground she had been standing on exploded, a visible shockwave throwing up a plume of smoke. "Stupid overpowered Quirk!" She whined as she took the loss, stepping outside the ring of her own volition.
-]|[-
"Too bad for Setsuna-chan. She sure got to show off though!" Ochako was a little sad, but she knew one of them had to lose.
"Very cool quirk, but she lacks physical power." Izuku commented, "She has an amazing Quirk, but that shortcoming is something she needs to take care of if she's expecting to be a front-line combatant. Would likely be smarter to focus more on stealth or control like Best Jeanist."
Ochako stretched, "Looks like I'm up next! Wish me luck?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him. He gathered her up and pressed her against the wall, drawing a moan from her as they kissed, and he ground into her. And just before it was getting good, he abruptly pulled away, leaving her a little light-headed. "Yo-" She growled as she wiped her mouth and stomped away, "I'll get you for that!"
"Promises! Promises!"
…
"Good luck, Momo-chan." Ochako called out.
"Are you okay, Ochako-chan?" Momo asked curiously, "You look a little flustered."
"Oh, I'm just fine." Ochako replied airily, "I'm good to go, at any rate."
"If you're sure." The beautiful heiress bowed, "Good luck to you too." She bit her lip, 'Not that I think you'll need it.' Despite the brunette having given Momo basically everything on her Quirk in the stands, Momo still didn't have the foggiest idea about how to beat the her. If she got close, Ochako could just remove her mass and send her flying into the stands. Staying at range would be difficult too. She had been one of the few who had been able to see Ochako blitz the zero pointer and she had moved far faster than even Iida could. Still, she at least had some ideas… She just hoped they would work.
"BEGIN!"
Momo's gym top bulged and ripped open, depositing a baseball cannon onto the ground with a car battery already attached. Much to her chagrin, Ochako grinned and wolf-whistled at her instead of… well… being afraid of her cannon. Momo blushed to her ears. Whether Ochako was legitimately into her or was just trying to get into her head didn't matter. It was definitely working. Momo fired her cannon, and it started spitting out baseballs hard enough to bruise extremely quickly, with three down range at Ochako before the girl even moved. 'Left or right?' Momo thought to herself, ready to adjust the cannon at a moment's notice to track her target. Her jaw dropped.
Rather than move out of the way as expected, Ochako calmly held up a hand that was sparkling pink. A bright pink, completely translucent shield appeared in front of her, ricocheting all of the baseballs away from her. "Nice try, Momo-chan." She started advancing.
Momo cursed to herself and kept firing the canon, but popped smoke grenades out of her tummy and ignited them. The grenades immediately started spewing smoke, hiding Momo from view. The mature young lady immediately made herself a gas mask with heat-vision goggles as well and put it on, sighing in relief as she breathed fresh air and was able to see her opponent easily. She circled around in the smoke, seeing clearly the rectangular shield and trying to get around it. She made herself a net gun as she did so, trying her hardest to be as quiet as possible despite the raucous cheering likely masking her noise anyway.
She burst from the smoke and aimed quickly, firing her net. Ochako looked surprised and Momo was elated to see that look on her face… but only for a second. Ochako was enveloped in pink and then before Momo could realize what happened, she was five feet in front of where she had been. The net sailed harmlessly by, and the smirk on Ochako's face as she turned to her told Momo all she needed to know. She'd been had.
Ochako glowed pink again, and Momo blinked, before gasping. Ochako was gone! "Nothing personal, Mo." She let out a little scream of fear, whirling around with a staff forming, but Ochako giggled and tapped her with her hands. Momo immediately felt gravity leave her and she started floating and spinning like a top. It was incredibly disorientating, and she hoped she wouldn't be sick all over Ochako. That would be mortifying. Ochako grabbed her leg, "Well aren't you the cutest piñata!" Ochako giggled as Momo moaned, hiding her face.
"I couldn't do anything…" Momo mumbling, holding back tears of frustration and getting a surprised frown out of Ochako.
As Ectoplasm ended the match and Ochako put Momo down, the heiress tried to hold out her hand for a shake. Ochako pulled her into a surprise hug instead, "You did great, Mo. Don't let yourself think you didn't."
"B-but-"
"No buts! That strategy would have taken down a bunch of the competition." Ochako didn't let her get a word in edgewise. She let her go and grabbed her hand, leading her back into the stands, "You Hero students may have been practicing Heroics, but me and Izu-kun have done nothing these past five months but practice combat and tactics specifically for today. And like I told you earlier, Izuku is a genius at breaking down Quirks. We even have a game where I give him a random group of Pro Heroes and he breaks down exactly what that team could create to take down a Villain any one of them could not defeat solo." Momo's eyes widened in surprise, "We've been preparing for months, okay? There's no shame in losing to one of us. You did excellently against me! You knew nothing about my Quirk except the basics and still were able to come up with a plan against me. "
Momo took a deep breath, "T-thank you, Ochako." She swallowed her pride, "What could I have done better?" She asked her new friend.
"Guns." Ochako deadpanned, and Momo recoiled in shock, "I could still have blocked them, but while my shield absorbs kinetic energy, it doesn't recharge me. If you had made a minigun you could have had me so exhausted I couldn't move."
"B-but this is a competition! I didn't want to hurt you or worse!" Momo yelped, wondering if Ochako was insane.
Ochako burst out laughing, "Hey, you asked! Short of that there wasn't much you could have done to stop me. Not with my ability to move so fast I can trick people into thinking I teleport."
"Y-you weren't!?" Momo gasped in shock.
"Nope!" Ochako laughed, "I've been trying! But haven't managed to Blink through something yet. Instead I make myself have negative mass - which is HARD to do by the way. I can just barely make myself have a fraction of a 'gram' of negative mass - and then I launch myself. This makes me move extremely quickly, and eventually when I have an actual protective Hero costume 'quickly' will hopefully be more 'relativistically,' if you catch my drift."
"...Your Quirk is TERRIFYING." Momo squeaked out after a few seconds, looking blue, "Please do NOT move in percentages of the speed of light."
"Nyeeeehhh!" Ochako refused and then laughed at the look on her new friend's face. "Come on! Let's go find a good seat! I want to see Izuku kick Captain Explodo's ass!" She pulled her along, making the taller girl stumble and blush when she realized they were still holding hands.
"Wah! Ochako! I can walk! Let's just go sit with the other girls!" Momo cried as Ochako energetically dragged her along.
-]|[-
Izuku had his hands in his pockets as he stared at his opponent. He had a smirk on his face as he took in the blonde's apoplectically angry expression, "Yo, Kacchan!" He called, watching as a vein pulsed on his forehead.
"Deku, you bastard!" Katsuki ground out.
"Bastard? My parents were happily married, as you well know." Izuku shot back airily.
"You son of a bitch!" Katsuki snarled, "Was it fun, having a laugh behind my back?"
"Oh, I'm not sure what you're talking about." Izuku fauxly expressed confusion.
"You know damn well, bastard!" Katsuki yelled, some spittle outright flying from his mouth. "What even IS your Quirk, huuuuuuh!?" The audience noise dropped to a low murmur, everyone wanting to listen to this. Especially since the two clearly had some history.
"My Quirk?" Izuku tasted the word, before scratching his fluffy hair, "My Quirk huh? You know it was funny coming from everyone else, but from you?" He was no longer smiling and was glaring at his old friend and bully, "You know exactly what my Quirk is, you dumb fucking bitch. You bullied me endlessly for it, after all. Even ran me out of school if you recall." The stadium was shocked silent.
"W-what?" Katsuki went cold. But not because Izuku had not kept quiet and just aired their dirty laundry for the entire stadium to hear. Not because he could already hear the censure coming from everyone, a low rumble of disgust with the Heroics Courses leading it. No, he started coldly sweating for an entirely different reason, "No. NO! NO! YOU'RE LYING MOTHERFUCKER! LYING!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
"THAT'S RIGHT, KACCHAN!" He spread his arms out, "I'M STILL Quirkless! JUST AS I ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!" The sheer liberation he felt in shocking the world into silence was something someone could get drunk off of.
And then the din rose. Words and screams of disbelief coming from every part of the stands, "THAT'S BULLSHIT! WE SAW EVERY FIGHT YOU WERE IN! THERE'S NO WAY!" The stands drew up into an uproar, and Izuku could only drink it in.
Izuku laughed, "It's true! Why else was I not in the Heroics Course?! Why am I participating today from General Ed?! Or are you saying someone could get this good in just five months after choking in the Entrance Exams?"
Air was sucked out from every pair of lungs in the stadium, sans a couple. And then a new voice rang in, "Ahahaha! What a lovely show you've put on for us today, Midoriya-kun!" It was Nezu, the UA Principal! He walked out onto the field with his own microphone in hand, leaping a fantastic distance to land on a podium that had risen out of the field for this occasion, "And I can confirm that every word he stated was true! After he applied for Heroics, I decided to interview him personally. He had exemplary grades, and yet was one of the extremely rare applicants we get every couple years who was Quirkless. Such applications always fascinate me personally. As some of you may know, I have been one of the main proponents for changing some of our more…. restrictive laws. No matter what you see from young Midoriya-kun today, I can personally confirm none of it is due to any Quirk. We had our very own Recovery Girl test him after I saw what he could do. He displayed zero Alpha Factors. Not minimal Alpha Factors. Zero. He is as Quirkless as can be!"
The stadium couldn't breathe.
Nezu had a very Nezu look in his eyes, "And as you may or may not know, the letter of the law states that no Academy of Heroics may accept an application for Heroics from a student with no Quirk. You humans always find the silliest things to throw in each other's paths." He smirked, "Of course, these idiotic, discriminatory laws say nothing about a transfer into Heroics from a worthy student. That's entirely up to the school in question. So, keep shaking the world, Midoriya-kun, and you just may find yourself where you wish to be!"
Katsuki looked like he was nearly foaming at the mouth. There was no way. This had to be a fucking JOKE! How the fuck did that damn Deku get the fucking PRINCIPAL in on his fucking shitty scheme?! No Quirk? After all the bullshit he'd been pulling all damn DAY?! "D-D-D" He couldn't even get the name out he was so angry, "DEEEEEEKKKKKKKKUUUUUUUUUU!" He exploded forward, the match having long been started before they started their trash talking. He rushed his hated rival with the greatest speed he'd ever forced from his Quirk, "If you want to keep fucking playing around then I'll fucking beat the truth out of you!"
-]|[-
"Well someone looks excited!" Mina said cheerfully, "You two were so totally awesome!" She pumped her fist into the air.
"Thank you, Mina-chan." Momo replied, smiling at the pinkette.
"Why wouldn't I be excited, Mina-chan?" Ochako grinned, "I've been looking forward to this moment for months."
Ibara smiled peacefully, "You and Midoriya-san have performed admirably all day." Her smile brightened even more, "I look forward to welcoming you as a classmate, Ochako-san."
Ochako giggled, "Thank you, Ibara-chan, but I wasn't actually referring to the Sports Festival."
"….You weren't?" The vine-haired girl blinked in surprise.
"Nooooope!" Ochako giggled some more, before turning to the ring, "I felt so disappointed when the exams ended. I knew I hadn't done well enough. Especially the way the zero pointer trapped me. No one came to help, either. If U.A. allowed their robots to go wild, I probably would have died. I doubted myself, and the entire world looked gray. I didn't have a backup for U.A. No other plans… And I doubted myself so much that I was close to just… giving up and going to work construction for my parents. My Quirk would have helped them immensely, and it's what I always would have been doing if they hadn't encouraged me to follow my dreams."
The mood was somber, and even the more bombastic of the girls looked sad, "Kero…Ochako-chan…" Tsuyu croaked lowly.
Ochako smiled, "I think Izu must have sensed my mood. Or maybe a star was shining on me that day. We could have never met one another. If I had been a few minutes later or earlier leaving the school… But we did, cuz he started talking to me and cheered me up. Walked me to the station, just trying to make me smile. Managed to get me to open up about how afraid I was that I hadn't done well enough, and that I had blown my chance at getting in." She stared at him as he walked out, looking far more focused than she had ever seen him. "I still remember what he told me that day, "Life's not fair. It'll throw obstacle after obstacle at you and try to make you fail. To make you fall. But you gotta keep your feet under you or you roll with the punches and get back to your feet. The only way life wins is if you give up." Thinking back, it definitely felt rude and like he was throwing it back in my face, but he wasn't. It was what I needed to hear. He offered to train with me, and it was the best decision I ever made." Her smile widened but it was not a happy smile. It looked outright venomous as Katsuki Bakugō came out of the other end of the stadium.
"I don't get it…" Pony looked confused, "Why Izzy talking like that? His Quirk super strong! He amazing!" Her Japanese still wasn't the strongest, but she had been improving massively throughout the semester.
Kyōka nodded as well, "Way you just described him makes me think of someone with a really weak Quirk! And we still don't know what it even IS or why he didn't make it in!"
Ochako laughed darkly, "You're about to find out." She clenched a fist, "Like I said…I've been waiting for this for months."
The other girls shut up, realizing Ochako hadn't taken her eyes off the ring ever since the two had walked in. So, they shut up, and listened. Listened as the blonde insulted her boyfriend with a demeaning nickname, listened as Izuku revealed their classmate's bullying tendencies, much to their disgust. Listened with bated breath as Izuku appeared to be ready to explain his Quirk much to the horror of Katsuki… and then listened, feeling as if they had been punched in the chest as Izuku shocked the world.
"THAT'S BULLSHIT! DID YOU SEE THE SHIT HE DID!?" Several of the girls leapt out of their seats in shock.
"Yep!" Ochako chuckled darkly, "And I also saw his official rejection letter. He had it framed."
And then Nezu stepped onto the field and confirmed every word, "Oh holy fuck." Setsuna and Mina – the two loudest and most boisterous – felt their legs turn into jelly as they sank into their seats.
"N-no way!" Itsuka, normally calm and bright, looked shocked out of her mind, "There's no way! It's just a myth!" She sounded a little hysterical, "Something they told martial arts students to make them try harder in class! Legends from the Pre-Quirk era!"
Ochako didn't look at her but she grinned happily, "Oh, and just what's a myth, I~tsu~ka~chan?"
"Holy shit he IS! He's using Ki! It's REAL!?" She couldn't have looked more shocked or elated if she tried. Ochako laughed.
-]|[-
Izuku took a deep breath as he assumed his stance, rolling his eyes as Katsuki charged at him. He could have dodged easily, but that wasn't what he wanted. His hand flashed out and smashed into Katsuki's wrist, the explosion blowing his sleeve off and singeing his skin. Katsuki was thrown off balance before a hard fist crashed into his sternum, launching him backwards and nearly rolling him off the ring. "C'mon, Kacchan!" He taunted the blonde, "Almost a decade since we've seen each other, and you still lead with that right hook. Aren't you supposed to be the best?!"
"What?!" Katsuki managed to gasp out.
"And next you're going to say, "Deku, you think you can read my fucking moves?" Aren't ya?" Izuku pointed a finger at him, a smirk wide on his lips.
"Deku, you think you can read my fucki- GRK!?" Katsuki choked on his words as his eyes bulged, turning red with rage.
Several people in the stands burst out laughing and a particularly loud voice was heard saying, "HOLY SHIT I LOVE THIS KID!"
Izuku wiped the smirk from his face as Katsuki leapt to his feet. He took his Water stance, "I should thank you; you know!" He called at his enemy, "If it wasn't for you, I would have been stuck in Aldera until we graduated. Maybe I really would have been the Deku you tried to make me." He smiled again, nastily, "So thank you, Kacchan! Thank you for bullying me to the point Mom moved us away! I wouldn't be here today if you HADN'T!" He rushed forward, moving far faster than Katsuki had expected, and hammered his fist into Katsuki's nose. The blonde gasped in pain as it broke, but adrenaline and pain were excellent for sweating! Even as he staggered back, his left arm came up, explosions crackling. A large blast engulfed Izuku, engulfing him in a smoke cloud.
Katsuki growled and set his nose as best he could, coughing out some blood. Izuku stood with his arms shielding his face, his gym shirt in tatters. He ripped the rest of it off, exposing his absolutely lean but ripped torso and the fact that that the explosion hadn't affected him in the slightest beyond some singing. The both of them totally ignored the catcalling and wolf-whistles from the stands, "That's it, Kacchan! Keep fighting! Keep making me stronger!" The green fire around him was back, pulsating weakly but visibly. "But you're going to need bigger blasts than that!"
"FUCK YOU!" Katsuki leapt back into the fray, his arms alight with explosions boosting his attack power. "FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU, DEKUUUUU!" He punched again and again, throwing wild fists with no semblance of strategy beyond hurting the bastard making a mockery of him and his pride. Each blast was bigger than the last, with a cloud of smoke engulfing the entire ring and growing bigger with every boom. The people in the stands couldn't even see them anymore.
And then they stopped, with the flashes of explosions - the only things they could see through the haze - stopping as well. "HYAAA!" Izuku's voice cried out, and the entire smoke was blasted away from his body, clearing it nearly instantly. His aura raged chaotically around him before sinking back in. He stomped his foot and rushed forward; this time covered in some light wounds but not badly hurt. Katsuki readied another explosion but Izuku parried his blow so hard he spun, his wrist limp. His other hand flashed and moved quicker than most of the onlookers could see, crashing into his opponent's chin and damn near flipping the boy.
There was a glazed look in Katsuki's eyes, and he looked stunned. His back landing on the floor was enough to shock the air out of him, and he quickly rolled back despite his gasping for breath to avoid a heel drop. And it was a good thing he did, because Izuku cracked the entire ring width wise, separating it into his half and Katsuki's half. The people in the stadium were going totally wild.
Katsuki quickly backpedaled, hating to admit that he needed to get some space and hating the fact that DEKU was making him retreat. How the fuck did useless fucking DEKU force him to reveal his newest move?! But before he could prepare, Izuku shocked the shit out of him.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Izuku roared and stomped on the ring, a foot from where it had been broken.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Not a single person in the stands could remain silent as the other half of the ring started rising upright as if it was a giant book being closed. The floor became a wall that the shocked-out-of-his-gourd Katsuki was forced up against, and Izuku leapt up, engulfed by his aura again.
Izuku closed in on his enemy who panicked and just raised his arms to shield himself. It was all he could do; bar create an explosion and hope it forced Deku away. It didn't, "Ora!" Izuku roared and punched through the blast and into Katsuki's sternum, "Ora!" As the blonde's arms dropped unconsciously from the air again being forced from his lungs to protect his midsection, Izuku rocked his face with another punch, "ORAORAORAORA!" Again, and again, Izuku landed hit after hit wherever he wanted, his opponent powerless to defend himself. And with a final blow - a spinning back kick - he beat Katsuki though the three-foot-thick concrete ring floor and sent him crashing into the grass, utterly defeated. The boy's body dug a trench into the turf, and stopped near the wall. Medical robots immediately raced to him and gathered him up, rushing him to the infirmary.
As for the ring? It teetered for a moment before falling back as well, crashing into the stadium grass and causing a very minor quake to rock through the stadium. As Izuku landed and stared at Katsuki disappearing into the stands, he clenched a fist. The brutalized boy looked bad, and despite the fact that he'd finally gotten back at his childhood tormentor…
He didn't feel good about it at all.
-]|[-
Ochako couldn't find her boyfriend afterwards, and was extremely worried. But she didn't have time to worry about it, because her match with Itsuka Kendō was coming right up. It only took fifteen minutes for Cementoss to remake the ring from the pieces, and Ochako had spent that entire time looking for Izuku instead of preparing, only for him to be a ghost. She hoped she wouldn't regret that.
As she stared at the redhead, they both offered each other hesitant smiles, "That...that was a match, huh?" Itsuka mumbled weakly.
Ochako rubbed the back of her head, "I...don't think Izu-kun was happy about that win at all. That was very…unlike him."
"I'll take your word for it." Itsuka took a deep breath, "I suppose I can understand being all rage'd up. I doubt what we heard during the match was all he went through."
"You don't know the half of it." Ochako confirmed sadly, "But we have our own match now, so we should focus up."
"Yeah… Good luck, Ochako-chan."
"You too, Tsuka-chan." Ochako took a deep breath, wondering if she should just Charge her opponent before she could take on her Buddha form.
She didn't get a chance. As soon as the match started, Itsuka immediately flashed up to Buddha form, "I won't underestimate you like the others, Ochako-chan!" Itsuka called out, her voice reverberating as the Amazonian Goddess made a return. If Ochako wasn't fighting her she may have been drooling at the closeup of those abs. Itsuka was really sexy. Now wasn't the time to admire them though! "IMPACT SHOCKWAVE!" Itsuka yelled, her massive hand flying towards Ochako.
"BARRIER!" Ochako yelled back and jumped up, tucking herself into a ball while a pink barrier surrounded her in a sphere. The explosion destroyed a circular portion of the ring, annihilating the concrete. Itsuka was forced back in shock, taking a few stumbling steps backwards and having to windmill her arms to regain her balance as her attack backfired.
Ochako's bubble burst and she blinked back onto the ring, her hair matted with sweat, "Holy crap, you hit hard!" She gasped out, sucking in air.
"I can't believe you were able to take that!" Itsuka was goggling at her new friend.
"My turn!" Ochako cried, her pink aura engulfing her right hand before she fired it forward. Itsuka crossed her arms and grunted as she was forced to take a step back, but was able to get her feet under her quickly, "Tch, too big huh?" She growled, "Try this then!" She used her power to levitate bits of the broken ring before flinging them at Itsuka, who batted them out of the way.
"The first power hit harder!" Itsuka called, raising her right palm to her head and readying another Impact Shockwave.
"They weren't supposed to be stronger!" Ochako called, her entire body getting engulfed. To her eyes, she almost turned into the pink glow, before ramming into the Golden Itsuka's chest. To everyone else's eyes, one moment she was on the ring, and the other Itsuka was flying backwards while gasping for breath. The giant girl landed on the grass with a mighty quake, with Ochako on top of her. Ochako was called the winner, seeing as how none of her body was touching the grass while Itsuka was all over it. The stadium erupted with cheers.
"GRK!" Itsuka choked, sucking in a deep breath for air as Ochako just lay between her giant boobs. "H-holy shit, girl! What was that!?"
"Mimblewimble..." The exhausted Ochako snuggled into her friend, "I'ma pass out now, kay?"
Itsuka blushed as she shrank down, Ochako whining as she lost her comfy pillows. Itsuka managed to get to her feet and bridal carried Ochako into the stands with a heavy blush on her face.
-]|[-
Ochako stood in front of Izuku on the repaired ring. They'd gotten a half hour break to allow the two finalists some rest as well as to fix the ring. The stands were almost vibrating with energy over the two dark horses of the entire tournament making it all the way to the finals to face one another. "You okay?" She asked her boyfriend, "I haven't seen you since before your match. And you look tired."
Izuku sighed wanly, "Revenge didn't feel anywhere near as good as I thought." He replied to his beautiful girlfriend. He thought back to the match, the ending, and what came after.
"It was very unlike you, love." She whispered back, not letting her voice carry.
"Yeah." Izuku agreed, "I hope I was able to make amends." He had gone to the infirmary after the match, where Recovery Girl was frantically stabilizing his… his victim. Recovery Girl had nearly forced him out, but he'd ignored her. He had charged some of his Ki and fired it at Katsuki, infusing him with some of his energy. After that, Recovery Girl had been able to use her Quirk on him, putting him out of danger.
Katsuki's parents had been rushing in as he'd left, but hadn't been able to say a word to him after he'd said a quiet "sorry" to them and rushed past.
Ochako smiled in understanding, "You shared some Ki, didn't you? You going to be good for our fight?"
Izuku took his stance, "You better believe it!"
"I won't go easy babe! I wanna win too!" Ochako started with a Throw, surprising the hell out of Izuku who had never seen her ability move that fast before.
Izuku gasped in shock as it hit him in the chest, launching him out of the ring. He bit back a grin as he realized even after all the training they did, she still managed to keep something secret from him, 'She held back when she used it against Kendo! Clever girl!'
The rest of the stands gasped in surprise as Ochako seemingly won anticlimactically with one move. Even she looked shocked at that.
Ectoplasm was silent for a moment, before saying, "Midoriya-kun is out of the ri-"
"Am I?" Izuku grinned as he interrupted the Hero. He was engulfed in his Ki aura again, and as Ectoplasm made a clone to check him, Ochako's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.
Ectoplasm's clone dropped down and inspected his feet, and his eyes bulged behind his mask. Before the clone could say a word, Izuku floated upwards, smirking madly. He was flying.
"..." Ochako shook her head as the dead silent stands took in the sight, "...I think I hate Ki, Izu!" She stomped her foot cutely, cheeks puffed out. Both of her arms lit up as she flung twin lances of pink energy at her boyfriend, who dodged them both easily, flying back down to his girlfriend and kicking her. She formed a barrier quickly and he bounced off it, landing back on the ring.
She leapt at him, looking not to remove his gravity with her fingers but to crush him with it. He gently redirected her hands with his Water stance, before trying to grab her to take her down. But she had only been feinting, her entire body engulfed in pink which exploded outwards in a massive eruption of energy. Izuku hissed as he bounced away, flipping back and sliding nearly to the edge of the ring. As soon as that happened, Ochako Charged him.
But Izuku hadn't been idle and had released his Ki, roaring! The Kiai rebuffed Ochako's Charge, preventing her from making contact and forcing her back. She cried out as she was forced back and bounced off of the ring. She tried to roll back onto her feet, but her boyfriend straddled her before she could. His hands flashed out and held her arms above her head, and Ochako was just too exhausted to force him off. She struggled for a moment, before it became clear it was over. She let out a sigh, "You win, love."
"Uraraka-chan has forfeited! Midoriya WINS!" Ectoplasm called out. And as Izuku helped his girlfriend up and she happily raised his fist into the air, the stadium absolutely erupted in noise.
And all around the world, the Quirkless sobbed in liberation.
-]|[-
Miles away in the Aichi Prefecture, a man sat in darkness inside Deika City. Where the television he had been watching the Sports Festival on once sat, there was now only a ruined hole. The man with the pointed, hooked nose seethed in his extremely fancy chair, only one thought running through his mind.
Midoriya Izuku must die.
-]|[-
That's a wrap! Hope you all enjoyed it! My betas have told me they LOVED how much of a middle finger this was to the MHA setting and people's obsession with Quirks. And this is setting up the Meta Liberation Army to have MASSIVE hateboner for Izuku, seeing as how his very existence is a "fuck you" to their ideology.
Originally it was JUST supposed to be Garou, but then we were talking over on my discord (Discord . gg / 3ZwnRbh) after I rewatched DBS: Broly and I was getting an idea to use Ki in a fic and then I was like: Okay no, they're the same fic.
The next one SHOULD (Fingers crossed) be the Bakubro fic I've been promising for a while. It's already at 9k.
Let me know how you guys liked it!
