The sun beat down on the field, shining over the concrete stage that had been set up for the tournament as Izuku stepped out of the cool shadows of the entrance tunnel, his opponent mimicking him on the other side of the stadium.
"First out!" Mic's voice echoed through the air, "The powerhouse fuelled by the blood of his enemies! The resident Vampire of 1-A! Izuku Midoriya!"
Izuku flinched at the announcement, looking around as the crowd cheered for him.
"And his opponent! The dark horse of this competition!" Mic continued, "All the way from General Education! Hitoshi Shinso!"
The crowd cheered again, though Izuku could swear he heard some boos coming from the student section of the stands, making him look at the purple-haired boy in confusion.
"Alright!" Midnight shouted as she stood on the raised platform just beside the stage, "Here are the rules! First to get knocked unconscious, surrender, or leave the combat area loses! Quirks are allowed! Do you understand?"
"Yes," the two teens nodded as they spoke, staring each other down as Izuku felt the blood in his stomach begin to bubble.
"Then, without further ado!" the woman shouted, lifting her whip and swinging it down, "BEGIN!"
"You must feel so lucky, having such a flashy quirk," Shinso grinned as he spoke, "I bet you got all the right kind of attention in middle school."
"Huh?" Izuku blinked, staring at the other teen in confusion, "No? I was qui-."
His words cut off as his mind went blank, the other teen just grinning wider as he pointed at the Vampire.
"Walk off stage," Shinso ordered, his eye twitching as his quirk strained, Izuku remaining still, "What? Hey! Listen to my order! Walk off stage!"
"What are you trying to do, kid?" Midnight asked as she looked between the motionless Izuku and the stunned Shinso, "Are you using your quirk? I thought we'd get some more youthful action out of this fight."
"Out…" the word cut through the air despite being barely a whisper, making both the Pro and student freeze as they looked at the teen at the other end of the stage, "Get…out…"
Shinso gasped as his head pulsed with pain, a warm trickle running down his chin as he fell to his knees.
"W-what are you doing?!" he shouted staring at Izuku as the other boy began to sway, slowly lifting one foot, "How are you resisting my quirk? Why are you not listening to me?"
Shinso gasped again as the pain lanced through his skull, the edges of his vision going dark as he looked up at the approaching teen. Once green eyes shifted through a kaleidoscope of colours in the shadows beneath his hair, a vicious hunger the likes of which Hitoshi had never seen shining in their depths as he continued to walk towards him. More blood spilled from the purple-haired boy's nose as his eyes began to roll back in his head, before he managed to utter a final sentence.
"What the fuck…are you?!"
"And Hitoshi Shinso is unconscious!" Midnight yelled as the teen collapsed onto the hard concrete, Izuku staggering as he seemed to come to, looking around in confusion, "The winner is Izuku Midoriya!"
"Huh?" the teen blinked as he looked down at his unconscious opponent, "What? But…how?"
"Don't know, kid," Midnight shrugged, "You resisted his quirk somehow, and I guess the backlash was too much?"
"Oh…" Izuku muttered as he felt his stomach rumble, the familiar hunger building again as he realised that he had no more blood, "What? But I drank a fresh bag right before I came out?"
"Hey, earth to Midoriya," Midnight called as the medic bots picked up Shinso, "Clear the field, would you? We need to move on to the next fight!"
"O-oh! O-of course, sorry!" Izuku gasped as he hurried off the stage.
Izuku tapped the tip of his pencil against the page, staring blankly down at the field as the next fight started.
"Are you alright, kero?" the question made him jump, looking over at Tsuyu as she sat beside him, "You haven't taken any notes yet."
"Oh, uhm…just a little distracted," Izuku chuckled weakly, "You, uhm…you didn't happen to see what happened in the last match, did you?"
"You mean your fight against the Gen Ed guy?" Ochako asked, settling into her seat on his other side, "Yeah. He just sort of…fell over? What happened?"
"I…I don't really know," Izuku shook his head, "It was weird. My mind went blank, then… Then I woke up, I guess?"
"Weird, kero," Tsuyu hummed, looking back down at the field, Kaminari grinning stupidly as he was bound up in vines, "Ah, it looks like the fight is finished."
"Huh?" Izuku blinked, "Wait! But I wasn't paying attention! What happened?!"
The two girls giggled as he stared up at the main screen, mumbling to himself as it played a short recap of the fight.
"And next is the coolest cat in the house," Mic called over the speakers, "The ice cool hotty! Shoto Todoroki!"
"Huh?" Izuku blinked as he looked down at the field, his eyes going wide as he saw the deep scowl on the two-toned teen's face, "Uhm…Tsuyu, you said you were affected by the cold, right?"
"Call me Tsu, and yes, kero," she nodded, "I go into torpor if I get too cold too quickly."
"And against him, the boy who smiles in the face of danger! Despite his quirk, he doesn't get stuck up on anything! Hanta Sero!"
"Then it might be a good idea for you to go inside for this fight," the teen said, getting up from his seat and pushing the girl up the stairs towards the exit.
"Huh?" She blinked, "Why, kero?"
"Todoroki-kun," Izuku said frantically as Midnight explained the rules, "He looks…angry."
"BEGIN!"
The shout was barely out of the woman's mouth before the massive glacier had formed, Izuku gasping as the shock of frigid air hit him on the back, slamming the door closed just behind Tsuyu as he got her out of the way. The girl looked back at him through the small window in the door, before her eyes went wide and she hurried off, Izuku letting out a cold breath as he turned to look at the massive pillar of ice that now loomed over the stands.
"How am I supposed to help that, Sire?"
It took almost half an hour to clear the stage, the next round finally able to get underway as the two combatants walked out on the field.
"A spirit of darkness versus a ghost in plain sight!" Mic shouted, "It's Fumikage Tokoyami versus Tooru Hagakure!"
"And BEGIN!" Midnight shouted, the girl immediately throwing off her top and pants, kicking one of her shoes at the bird-headed boy's face.
Dark Shadow batted the item away, then paused, looking at the apparently empty stage.
"Uhm…" Midnight said, "Hagakure? Are you still on the stage? Leaving the ring means you forfeit."
"Hey! I'm still here!" the voice came from just beside Tokoyami, the teen jerking to the side as something hit him, Dark Shadow rushing at the spot, apparently colliding with something as he wrapped his arms around the invisible form, before dropping it outside the ring.
"Ow!" the empty air called as the grass compacted beneath it, "Damn, you got me."
"Uh…Hagakure appears to be out of the ring!" Midnight called, "Tokoyami wins!"
Hagakure quickly collected her discarded uniform as the boy walked off stage, his head fluffed up as Dark Shadow made suggestive motions beside him.
The next match was easily as strange as the last, with the two opponents coming out wearing a plethora of support equipment. It took a moment, but the pink-haired girl managed to convince Midnight that she had given the 1-B student the gear on purpose. The match started soon after, with the Support student basically using the spinning boy as a showcase of her inventions. The girl simply laughed and talked about her "babies" before finally stepping out of the ring with a self-satisfied look on her face, leaving the 1-B student kneeling in the centre of the ring.
The next match saw Ashido and Kirishima going up against each other. They started the match with a friendly wave and smile, before the boy charged at the girl, just barely dodging around the thrown globs of acid. Smoke rose from Kirishima's hardened skin wherever the acid managed to splash on him, the teen seeming willing to weather the pain as he continued to rush in.
The fight ended suddenly, Kirishima slipping on a patch of acid and sliding directly into the startled Ashido, hardening his body as he crashed into her. The two lay on the ground for a moment, before Kirishima leapt off Ashido, a bright blush in his face, the girl sitting up and rubbing her ankle, before surrendering. The crowd cheered as Kirishima stepped forwards, offering the pink-skinned girl a hand, and helping her off stage towards the nurse's office, his face almost the same shade as his hair.
"Well, I'm next," Ochako said, nodding to Yaoyorozu as they both stood, "Wish me luck!"
"Do your best, Ochako," Izuku smiled at her, looking away from his notebook for a moment before immediately going back, not seeing the bright blush that covered the brunette's cheeks.
"Do you think she can win, kero?" Tsuyu asked as the two girls hurried off, "I mean, Yaoyorozu is a recommendation student."
"I wouldn't count Ochako out just yet," Izuku muttered as he continued to write, "Her quirk is good for disabling her opponents as long as she can touch them. Yaoyorozu may have an extremely versatile quirk, but only if she has the time to use it."
"Of course you'd support your girlfriend," Kaminari laughed, shocking the green-haired teen out of his mumbling.
"S-she's not my g-girlfriend!" Izuku squeaked as the rest of the class laughed.
"Next up, the queen of creation, Momo Yaoyorozu!" Mic shouted over the speakers, "And don't let this pretty face fool you! This space girl has a quirk that's out of this world! Ochako Uraraka!"
"Remember, ladies," Midnight called as the two girls stood on the stage, "We want a good clean fight! Now, begin!"
Yaoyorozu immediately started forming a heavy set of manacles around her ankles, the leg of her pants tearing as a thick chain fell from her calf, a long staff shooting from her hand at the same time. Ochako simply charged in, crouching low as she held her hands out in an attempt to touch the other girl. Yaoyorozu swung her staff, trying to strike Ochako, blinking as the brunette dove under the strike, sliding along the floor to grab the manacles at her feet, before reaching up and grabbing a hold of Yaoyorozu's legs.
The taller girl squeaked as she felt her gravity vanish, before being picked up and thrown towards the edge of the ring, desperately pulling her jacket open as a heavy anchor started to form from her back. She was a moment too late, however, Ochako releasing her the instant she passed over the edge, causing her to fall to the grass, the anchor collapsing next to her.
"Dammit," Yaoyorozu sniffed, trying to hide the tears in her eyes as he staggered to her feet, blinking as she felt the shadow pass over her, looking up to see a concerned Ochako.
"Are you okay?" the brunette asked, "You fell quite far. You didn't land on that anchor, did you?"
"N-no," Yaoyorozu shook her head, wiping her eyes, "I'm fine. Just…just a little disappointed."
"Oh, sorry," Ochako said softly, before perking up, "But hey! You still put up a good fight! The manacles were a really good idea!"
"Yes, I added the chain so I would have extra safety if you managed to touch them," Yaoyorozu nodded, "Though it seems that your quirk can affect things that are in contact with each other as well."
"Huh?" Ochako blinked as she stared down at Yaoyorozu, "It can?"
Up in the stands, Tsuyu got up from her seat, moving towards the exit as the angry blonde did the same.