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Leizcio bursts forward using a small amount of his speed. He's been saving up his energy for this battle. But Bakugo isn't someone who's easily fooled. He was analyzing Leizcio's fights and used his knowledge to immediately blast his surroundings to keep him off.

Backing up quickly, Leizcio stood as the smoke calmed down and Bakugo was flying towards him with an explosion aimed at his face. Leizcio speeds up and dodges it and grabs hold of Bakugo's leg.

Mustering his strength Leizcio slams Bakugo down into the ground with his might knocking him down. Before Leizcio could send down electricity to Bakugo, explosions hit his face forcing him to back off. It was already clear from the start, but Leizcio wasn't going all out, something was hindering him.

"Esperanza lands a solid hit on Bakugo, but quickly fends him off with his explosions!"

Whatever it was that was making Leizcio hold back was not any good and that pissed Bakugo the hell off.

"WHY AREN'T YOU GOING FASTER?!" Bakugo yelled at Leizcio. He knew about that stunt he pulled back at the USJ, saving him from the Nomu. It feels like Leizcio is just looking down on him, deeming him unworthy to see his true speeds.

Leizcio just kept quiet, his mind wasn't in the right space right now. He can't help but feel the eyes of his father's judgment weighing him down. But he still has to fight through it.

Leizcio decides to go on the offense and rushes Bakugo, landing a few hits before he could react with an explosion, knocking Leizcio back. It immediately switches and Bakugo propels himself towards Leizcio, but as soon as he sees Leizcio make the smallest movement towards him, he launches himself upward, aiming his palms down to the ground.

Leizcio notices that Bakugo had immediately lifted himself up and before he could back out of the trap, He feels a large blast hit him down. While Leizcio might be fast, Bakugo's explosions are nearly instant. He's knocked down to the floor and Bakugo immediately lands himself on Leizcio.

"What's this? Bakugo managed to trick Esperanza and knock him down! Has he won the match?"

Before Bakugo could mutter a word, Leizcio took a note out of Kaminari's moveset and released his energy with his body as best he could, hoping that it'd somehow work. Soon as he felt the energy leave his body, Bakugo got electrocuted and was the one that had fallen. Knowing he can't pull an Iida and drag him out of the stage, Leizcio does the next best thing he can think of.

He starts throwing rapid punches all over Bakugo as much as he could to weaken him and make him slower. And while he was able to do so, it also left an undesired side effect. Bakugo was building up more sweat and he was getting angrier with each attack Leizcio throws.

"Esperanza quickly shook him off and returned the favor! The match isn't over yet!"

Bakugo was now seething with rage, Leizcio is just dodging all of his attacks and just hitting him with light ones instead. Is he not worth fighting a true high-speed Leizcio?

"WHY WON'T YOU GO FULL SPEED AGAINST ME?!" He yelled with explosions coming from his palms ready to throw another attack.

"I JUST CANT ALRIGHT?!" Leizcio yelled, his mind swelling around trying to handle everything right now. It's a miracle that he's able to fight off Bakugo with all this fog in his mind. But with each growing second, the fight falls into Bakugo's favor more and more, and Leizcio is barely able to adapt to his near-instant explosions.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS, I'M GOING TO EARN 1ST PLACE NO MATTER WHAT!" Bakugo said as he propelled himself into the air.

There was not a single thing that Leizcio could do, his quirk isn't exactly fit to fight in the air and Bakugo was closing in on him like a missile. He thought maybe he could use his wind funnel move but that wouldn't be enough to offset the momentum Bakugo is carrying with his explosions propelling him. Leizcio looks up at Bakugo coming at him, bracing for impact. Each second that passes by, Leizcio's mind begins to clear as he just stops thinking and lets go for a bit. He made it this far into the tournament, it's more than enough. In a desperate attempt, he makes a dash for the other side of the stage. But alas, it's too late as Bakugo's Howitzer blows up.

"Adding momentum and rotation to his attack, Bakugo becomes a human projectile destroying the stage!"

As the smoke clears, Bakugo looks ahead with a smirk, seeing his victory but also feeling a sense of dissatisfaction as Leizcio was holding back.

"But wait! Esperanza is still on the stage on the other side!"

Looking behind him, Bakugo sees Leizcio standing in confusion as to how he managed to pull whatever he did off. Now Bakugo was getting riled up and Leizcio is now even more confused as to what is happening.

"Finally decided to show me that full power of yours?!"

Leizcio didn't have the time to answer as Bakugo flew right at him, barely dodging his flurry of explosions. Whatever Leizcio pulled off drained a lot of his energy and he was running on fumes. When it happened, he just felt free and his mind was empty for those small and brief moments.

Bakugo was keeping him on the defensive, Leizcio was able to adapt to his explosions but they were hitting faster and faster and Leizcio's decrease of speed was just too much. Bakugo was able to land quite a few explosions but it wasn't enough to keep Leizcio down.

"Even though Esperanza pulled off a miracle, can he pull another and win this match?"

Quickly propelling himself up like a rocket, Bakugo aims his palms towards the stage, whatever he was about to do it was the end move. Leizcio doesn't know how to pull off the move from before, and his body is already giving out. He braces for impact as Bakugo throws an explosion that covers the entire stage.

The explosion creates an extreme gust of wind and Leizcio feels the power of it all as he is sent flying, hitting the wall of the stadium.

"Bakugo is the winner! He'll be moving on into the finals!" Midnight exclaims as the crowds cheer Bakugo on.

Leizcio is still conscious, barely waking to see what just happened. Taking a second to settle back in, he begins walking back to the stands. As he made it back, he sat back in his seat, and while he did lose, he felt a strange sense of bliss in that small moment he just didn't think.

"You did great out there Esperanza!" Ojiro said patting Leizcio on the back happy for him.

"Thanks Ojiro!" Leizcio said with a smile on his face. He might've lost, but he fared much better than he thought against Bakugo. Still, he had another fight for 3rd place against Iida so he could still have a chance.

"Leizcio you did amazing!" Ochaco says shaking Leizcio by his shoulders. He didn't win, but he sure as hell put up a fight more than everyone Bakugo has faced thus far in the tournament. Leizcio had his moments and put Bakugo on the defensive sometimes throughout the match.

"ThAnKs OcHacO, buT pLeaSe sToP ShAkinG me!" Leizcio shakily said trying his best not to get dizzy from all of that.

She calms down and lets go of Leizcio, giving him a second to recover. Even though he took quite a beating back down there, he's doing fine surprisingly so. The smile on his face said so, he felt a sense of pride and confidence in himself. But there was a small question that was on Leizcio's mind.

"Wait, where's Iida?" Leizcio questioned realizing that he wasn't anywhere around when he came back.

"A villain got his brother so he left to go see him." Midoriya explains with a look of worry on his face.

"I see." Looking down at his lap, Leizcio is concerned, but hoping that Iida's brother is going to be okay.

With the finals starting, Leizcio takes a look around the stadium and sees that Mashito and that Hisako girl was no longer there. He feels a bit better no longer feeling a pair of eyes watching his every movement.

The final match between Todoroki and Bakugo begins. Todoroki unleashes a large ice wall encaging him. But Bakugo uses his explosion to dig his way out of it. He immediately leaps at Todoroki and throws him, nearly tossing him out of bounds but Todoroki saves himself with a ramp of ice. He manages to get ahold of Bakugo but simply throws him instead of getting in a hit.

There's a standoff between the two, Bakugo clearly enraged that Todoroki isn't using his fire on him. But as he's about to use his fire, Bakugo explodes his way into the air, ready to throw down another Howitzer Impact. But Todoroki hesitates and his fire goes out, and a large explosion blankets the stage. As the smoke clears, Todoroki lays fainted on the ice as Bakugo has won the match. But he wasn't satisfied clearly, Bakugo walked over to Todorki grasping him from his shirt, but is quickly put to sleep by Midnight's quirk.

Leizcio was a bit unsurpised with Bakugo's behavior but it was an amazing match to say the least. He was then told to go follow Todoroki to go onto wherever the podium was which for some reason was underground. His friends congratulated him as he left, ready to be up there.

"Esperanza, are you ready for this?" Todoroki asked him calmly as they were about to get onto the podiums. Leizcio was doing his best trying to ignore the fact that Bakugo was held down by restraints.

"I think so, good job though Todoroki you did well." Leizcio told him, still trying to ignore the angry pomeranian on the number 1 podium.

"Thank you, but you also felt that pressure didn't you?"

Todoroki wasn't the only one who felt the overbearing presence of his father. While Mashito might not be high ranking like Endeavour, but he's still in the top 20, still pretty high regardless. Wasn't too hard for Todoroki to connect the dots that Leizcio and Mashito are related.

"Yes, they just want us to be another them don't they?" There was no point in lying to him, they both have a similar case. Endeavor creating Todoroki to make a kid powerful enough to overthrow All Might for him. Mashito creating Leizcio to have his legacy live on. The two didn't ask to be made for those reasons, they wanted a loving and somewhat normal family. But they ended up with a dysfunctional one.

"They do, but, Midoriya is right, it is my power, I don't have to be another him." Todoroki contemplated looking at his left arm, Leizcio still trying his best to ignore Bakugo in the back. But there was a small smile on Leizcio's face. The Todoroki he talked to in the beginning of the festival was fading, finding a bit of freedom.

"You don't have to be Todoroki, but let's get on our podiums shall we?"

As the two went on their podium, the floor opened and there was smoke and confetti surrounding them, revealing the three of them on their respective podiums. Course, everyone was kinda concerned with Bakugo but also not exactly surprising.

"Now we will award the medals! The presentation of the medals will, of course, be by this man–

–Our very own hero, All Might!"

"- I have brought the medals here!"

Midnight accidentally spoke over All Might, but they quickly brushed over it.

"Now then, All MIght, please present the medals, starting with third place."

As All Might approached Leizcio, he bowed down his head, ready to receive the medal from the number one hero himself.

"Young Esperanza, congratulations. You did great against Bakugo, but remember, you shouldn't rely on your quirk for everything, speed won't always win the battle."

"Thank you All Might for the advice."

Leizcio looked down at his medal, smirking at it. Sure it might not be first place, but to be able to get this far, something he never thought he would, it just makes it all the more satisfying. He felt a whole lot of happiness. Sure he had some rough bumps throughout the festival, but in the end it worked out.

As All Might was giving, well trying to give Bakugo his medal, Leizcio took a quick look over to his friends, and he could see Ochaco and Ojiro cheering him on. Leizcio isn't trying to cry right now, not on television. But seeing his friends remind him how much better his life has gotten. A great quirk that he manifested and having friends with him? Past him wouldn't believe him, but yet here he stands.

The Boos of the crowd booing All Might for not saying Plus Ultra derailed Leizcio's train of thought. But with that brought the end of the festival, Leizcio joined the rest of his classmates as they went back to their classes. But first, Kaminari has something in mind.

"Good job elec-bro!" Kaminari said as he hooked in Leizcio with his arm, taking a picture of them as well as the others in the back.

"Hah, thanks Kaminari. What was up with that?"

"I don't wanna forget the time my friend got 3rd place in our first sports festival!" Kaminari exclaimed giving Leizcio a light punch to his shoulder.

UA really was something else. It's been a long time since Leizcio had moments like these, much less with friends. It feels good to have something that makes him happy after all the stuff that he's had to deal with.

As everyone made it back into class, Aizawa went up to give a small announcement before school was over for the day.

"Good work. There will be no school tomorrow or the day after. I'm sure the pro heroes who watched the sports festival will want to recruit you, but we'll consolidate everything and announce it when you get back. So rest well and look forward to that."

"Yes sir!"

With that, their small time to rest had begun, the sports festival had come to a close and some well deserved rest was rewarded to the students. Wondering if he could ask Lavania for those two days off, Leizcio begins to think of what he should do during those two days to keep himself occupied. Maybe he could work on that one support gear project? Or he could try baking something new at the cafe, it's been a while since he made a new recipe. Or maybe-

"Esperanza can I talk to you?"

Looking to his left, it was Yaoyorozu.

"Of course Yaoyorozu, what's up?"

"I wanted to thank you for what you said back in the sports festival, you helped me realize that I still have a lot to learn but to be proud of where I am now."

"Oh it's no problem! And thank you for your encouragement!"

"Of course Esperanza, I'll see you back in class soon." Yaoyorozu said as she walked towards the exit of the school. But Leizcio got an idea, imagining a small Ochaco on his side, he's gonna go ask her if she wants to drop by the cafe, it'd be nice to have someone else come to the cafe, and it gives him something to do with his free time during those two days.

"Wait Yaoyorozu!"

"Yes Esperanza?"

"Are you free tomorrow? I was thinking that maybe you'd want to come over to my cafe and just relax after all of this?"

"I don't believe I have anything to do tomorrow either so that should be fine, what time works for you?" Yaoyorozu asked as she pulled out her phone.

"I think like around noon would be best? Mostly because the amount of customers slows down by then." Leizcio said as Yaoyorozu gave him his number to have.

"Sounds good then Esperanza, I'll text you when I get there. See you tomorrow then!" Yaoyorozu said as she waved bye to him.

"See you!"

Leizcio put the number into his contacts and was glad that he's getting to know another one of his friends now. Beginning to walk over to the exit, he checks his backpack to make sure he didn't forget anything.

"Okay nice, I didn't forget anything. Time to hea-"

Leizcio is knocked out by a hit to the head and falls down to the ground. A dark figure appears to grab him and carry him somewhere.

Chapter 21

END