Chapter 2

In this AU version of this awesome anime, The Matchup brackets for the Tournament were instead paired as this,

Mina Ashido vs. Yuga Aoyama

Fumikage Tokoyami vs. Momo Yaoyorozu

Ibara Shiozaki vs. Denki Kaminari

Katsuki Bakugo vs. Ochaco Uraraka

2nd bracket

Izuku Midoriya vs. Hitoshi Shinso

Eijiro Kirishima vs. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Tenya Ida vs. Mei Hatsume

Shoto Todoroki vs. Hanta Sero

I rewrote this chapter, because honestly I didn't really like how the original version turned out. I felt like, it was pretty poorly structured and I just feel like I didn't put my all into it. I was sorta being self indulgent by having Kaachan Vs Deku Round 2 so early, and I decided I'll save that little gem for later. I'm sorry about that but I'll try and make it up further down the line, but hopefully you guys enjoy the rewrite of this chapter.

The battle between the bubbly Ochaco Uraraka and the Hotheaded Katsuki Bakugo had ended with Katsuki triumphant, as many had expected. But it didn't make the result any less devastating for Ochaco.

As Midoriya made his way down the hallway, he couldn't bring himself to imagine the sorrow she must have felt. The sadness she must be feeling.

Against one of the two strongest people in her class, Uraraka had put up a great fight against her more experienced and combat oriented opponent, but was ultimately bested in the end.

Ochaco Uraraka had probably been his closest friend (and to be honest first real friend ) in eleven years, ever since his diagnosis as quirkless. She was so warm and kind, just so helpful . Despite not knowing each other for very long , they had go along well in the past couple month from the Zero-Pointer, to the Training Match, and the U.S.J, as a result they had grown rather close.

But he saw the raw determination on her face when she told him the origin of hero aspirations. How important it was to her to she wanted to help her parents, and the joy at being given the chance to further that goal.

And he saw the look when she failed, the sadness coupled with look of pure exhaustion and sorrow she felt must've broken her heart. It almost physically hurt him to see her fail.

Is that why he stood up to Bakugo like he did?

When he insinuated that she wasn't even capable of fighting without his help, he just shot back at him with a tone of voice that truly surprised him, no trace of his usual stutter or nervousness, but just oozed with confidence in his statement and a tint of anger.

Seeing Uraraka collapse it... it broke his heart to see his dear friend fail in her match.

Sniff ,Sniff.

Was... was she...crying?

His eyes widened as his hand rested on the doorknob. No way could he just leave her like this, he needed to help her. Steeling himself, the boy walked forward and opened the door to comfort his friend. And the sight was something that upset him greatly, she's was fighting back tears, an action he was very experienced with.

He knew how she must feel right now the shame, the self loathing over one of your failures. He needed to end that here and now. "Ur-Uraraka are y-you alright?" Deku wanted to slap himself in the face. How stupid a question was that?! Of course she wasn't okay, what was wrong with him?!

The rosy colored cheek girl turned her head to the boy who made his presence known. Izuku Midoriya, or rather "Deku" as she called him was here. They probably knew each other the best out of everyone in their Class. She also knew he was probably the nicest person she had ever met, if not awfully shy and just a bit weird acting at times.

"H-sniff hey, D-deku." She stuttered as she fought a losing battle to hold back her tears.

"Uraraka I-I know you must feel sad right know, but you were amazing. I mean you were up against Kaachan and you almost beat him in the end, I mean it was lot better then I did against him during combat training." Midoriya reassured her to the best of his abilities.

"B-but I-I still failed D-d-deku. If I went further, I-I-I would've had more chances, to impress the pros. I j-j-just want to help my Mom and Dad as soon as p-p-possible. And I wasn't strong enough to do that" The Infinity Girl was losing the battle to keep her tears in as, they began to flow down her cheeks.

He knew what she meant by that, her parents weren't in a good place financially, and impressing the pros viewing the Sports Festival was a big step towards her goal in helping them. And he admired and respected that about her so much. And that's exactly why he needed to help her right now.

"Uraraka listen to me. you are strong.I mean I only just reached my starting line, but look at you, you're amazing. Kaachan is as strong as they come, but you're really strong too, I-I mean you went toe to toe against him and nearly came out on top, so I'm sure you impressed plenty of people. And you still have two more chances remember? You can't let this bring you down, with As long as we remember to do our best, to be Plus Ultra, we can always get stronger. So that we always win no matter who we're up against. Together!" He was just speaking from his heart, words he truly believed to help make his friend feel better, with raw conviction in his tone.

Raising his eyes from his feet he saw her tears had stopped falling, as she looked at him stunned at the raw emotion in his speech.

Thinking he had weirded her out, he quickly attempted to rectify his mistake, "U-uh, I-I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you f-f-feel uncomfortable or anything, I-I-I was just trying to-"

Izuku was so preoccupied with his words, he didn't notice Uraraka approaching him, and was quite (though) pleasantly surprised as the Gravity Girl near tackling him with a vice like grip, effectively shutting him up.

"G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Girl, me h-h-h-hugging, so t-t-ight." The young man was so overcome with emotion, but despite the difficulty moving his arms which went stiff as ram rods, as he robotically move his arms to return the hug, as his face went so red, it would make a lobster jealous.

Her arms were rapped around him so tight she threatened to crack a rib as she soaked his shirt, not that he dared to show it. I mean a GIRL was hugging him, and not just any girl it was Ochaco Uraraka, his best friend (Not to mention it was a GIRL hugging him), the first girl he ever really talked to, the girl he kind of liked... AS A FRIEND! Of course just as a friend! Nothing more! Honest!

"T-thanks Deku!" she uttered into his shirt, as her tears returned full force.

He had absolutely zero experience with comforting the opposite gender (apart from his mother), so he didn't exactly know how rate himself. But maybe, just maybe... he had done a good job. And the hug felt nice, so maybe it was okay if he enjoyed it a little.

As Uraraka brought her head up their eyes met, their respective blushes increased tenfold as they realized what they were actually doing and, were suddenly overcome with embarrassment, as the hugging duo separated, they quickly turned their backs to each other with beet red faces.

"So.. Ur-"

"ALL RIGHT THE STAGE IS FINALLY REPAIRED, TIME TO HEAT THINGS UP!"

The sudden announcement made them jump as the Leafy Haired boy realized his match would start soon.

"Aw I'm sorry Deku I took up your time, and you didn't have anytime."

"No it's okay" He reassured as he made his way to leave., "This was better then that, I'm just glad you feel better."

"Good luck, I'll be rooting for you to win Deku!" She encouraged with a wide smile and a fist extended.

"Thank You! And I promise I'll do my best !"

XXXXX

And what's this it seems Midoriya has stopped moving!

Or not. Maybe he'll just lose.

His opponent for this match was one Hitoshi Shinso of General Studies, the only competitor of that course to make it this far, who clearly had an axe to grind with students in the hero course. He had (in his own words) declared war on them personally for the Sports Festival. Not only that, but he was sure he had seen him once or twice before around his class right before school started. Another thing he couldn't help but pick up on about Shinso was he seemed a bit more... bulked up compared to the other General Course students.

And then he went and yelled like an idiot.

Was he just stupid?! Ojiro WARNED him, he specifically told him not to utter a word against his Purple haired foe, the one thing he shouldn't do, and foolishly he let his emotions get the better of him!

"Now, turn around and walk out of the ring, like a good little hero." He ordered in a mocking tone.

"Must be nice to be blessed with such a heroic quirk, huh? I wasn't as lucky as you were, because of my quirk I've always had a big disadvantage, so I won't have it as easy as you when it comes to reaching my goal. Though it's not like you would understand that." The General Studies Student lectured, with a disinterested tone.

Complying with his temporary commander's orders, Midoriya body turned tail as he made his way to the edge of the ring.

xxxxx

Above in the Commenters' box, the Erasure Hero narrowed his eyes at the scene unfolding before him. "Shinso, it seems you haven't completely let go of you're resentment at those in the Hero Course. Though it has been notably toned down." He had heard from his students, that he had "declared war" on them for their spots. However it's not as though the boy's feelings weren't understandable. The U.A Entrance exam was something he considered as the height of Irrationality, if a Student didn't possess straight forward, battle suited quirk they were all but guaranteed to fail.

After all he had barely passed the Entrance Exam himself as a teenager.

xxx

"I can't lose here! C'mon, C'mon body MOVE!" He tried doing anything, and everything he could to force his body to listen to him , but it was no use, he was going completely on Autopilot.

"NO, NO, NO!" He couldn't lose like this, not after all the people who helped him get to this point. So many people had put their faith in him to reach this point. All Might's entrustment of his Quirk, his Mom's support of his dream, Ojiro's and Uraraka's faith and words of encouragement, he couldn't just let it all be for naught.

"Don't give up, win this fight!"

They're right he couldn't just give up he- Wait, who said that?! It sounded... like a feminine voice in his ear, speaking those words.

He looked ahead of himself to see a dark shadowy figures in the Arena entrance. There were what about eight maybe nine of them. All of their eyes shined with a brilliant gold light, as they stood in front of them. And If he didn't know any better he'd say that one of those figures looked like... All Might?! The Silhouttes suddenly flashed in a bright rainbow of lights, as they rushed forward to him.

Whatever it was it granted his mind a brief moment of clarity, enough for him to force a small burst of wind pressure from his hand, just enough to jolst him awake.

"OHHH! MIDORIYA STOP HIMSELF IN THE NICK OF TIME!"

" What the hell was that?! I was the activated One For All, one who moved my hand, but I didn't moved my hand, it was something else! Wait could it've been-"

"No way. That shouldn't be possible! How the hell did you do that?!" Shinso angrily demanded, with a ferocious glare.

"Not now Izuku, fight now, figure it out later." He thought as he turned back to his opponent.

Ignoring his opponent, Deku launched himself forward and with a simple Full Cowl powered shove, launched him out of the Arena.

"A BIT ANTICLIMATIC BUT HEY A WIN'S A WIN! MIDORIYA ADVANCES TO THE NEXT ROUND!"

Even though he had the match was his win, the Greenhead couldn't help but feel a little bad as well. He felt a strange kinship with his opponent do their similarities r, both had unfavorable circumstances in their respective journeys to become heroes. And he knew the jealously of those with amazing quirks, before he met All Might he felt exactly the same. Shinso had called him lucky, and he was right he was lucky, lucky to have people who encouraged him.

As the two opponents stood facing each other, Deku's curiosity got the best of him as he called out to the retreating form of his opponent, "If you don't mind me asking, why do you wanna be a hero Shinso?" The boy looked up surprised to hear the question, if this had been the three months ago, he would've ignored him. But he wasn't the same as he was then.

Remembering what he told him about letting go of his resentment, he decided to answer. "You can't fight the things your heart longs for. Remember anyone who impresses the Faculty enough will be transferred, keep that in mind. And even if I didn't succeed this time, I'll keep training hard, I'll still become a hero, and I'll still surpass every single one of you!" He declared passionately.

The boy responded, before being unexpectedly brainwashed again.

"Usually when people talk to me, they are on guard. You better keep you're guard up, and make sure you don't make me look bad." He finished with a smirk.

"Unbeknownst to anyone underneath his bandages, Aizawa looked down at the purple haired youth with narrowed eyes. ""You shouldn't be discouraged Shinso, even if you couldn't use IT yet, you did well. You'll get your chance to prove yourself very soon, especially after this performance."

XXXXX

The vast majority of the Tournament rounds progressed smoothly. Ashido emerged Victorious over Aoyama, by melting through his defenses... Literally. As well as an uppercut that wasn't too shabby.

Tokoyami's overwhelming defeat of Yaoyorozu, was by far the quickest victory. By rapidly attacking the recommended student, he prevented her from concentrating on her quirk, and forced her out of bounds.

Shiozaki wrapped up (AN: get it?) her match against Kaminari quickly and efficiently, due to her vines being shockingly (AN:Get it? Again) effective against his electrifcation.

Kirishima and Tetsutetsu's brawl was fought to a double knock out, as their manly spirits proved equal to another. For a tie breaker, the duo arm wrestled, before Kirishima took the win.

As for Ida he actually thought Hatsume wanted a fair fight. To put in bluntly, he was her play thing, for the entirety of the match, before purposely ringing herself out, after completing the sole purpose of showing off her inventions.

And last not least the final match, Sero... the poor bastard never stood a chance.

Now it was time for the next match, and the winner here would take the the third slot in the semi finals.

"And Now for our Third match of the second round, We've got the manly fighter made of Stone Eijiro Kirishima vs the surprise ringer Izuku Midoriya!"

NOW START!

Firing up Full Cowling, he launched himself forward reeling his fist back and landing a right hook to the face. Only to feel pain in return.

God he felt like he punched a brick wall. Which... is actually what he did in a sense.

"Sorry Midoriya! But that ain't gonna work on me!" The spiky Redhead exclaimed with a pumped fist. Midoriya backed away narrowly avoiding a blow to the face, and shaking his hand. His opponent was more than capable of tanking his enhanced blows thanks to his quick. Plus... it kind of hurt punching him. However Kirishima was in a similar predicament, Midoriya's superior Mobility granted him an advantage of his own, being able to easily evade his blows.

A stalemate.

"Hey Eraser, I guess this is we just found out what happens when an Unstoppable force meets an Immovable Object!"

"I hardly compare these two to that paradox."

As Midoriya contemplated his next move he began to think this through ,"His Hardening quirk seems so simple, yet it's so effective. Even still, the way he's fighting me, he's trying to finish this as quickly as he can, so that has to mean he can't keep it up for long, just like Tetsutesu. So either I just keep barraging him with attacks, keep my distance, or..."

Kirishima didn't have a tenth of his mobility, so he could use that to his advantage.

Dashing forward, All Might's Protege quickly landed a punch to his opponent , before quickly avoiding the incoming counterattack and came back swinging with a barrage of punches to his midsection

"Oh what's this?! Seems like Midoriya's doubling down on his attacks!"

A roundhouse kick to Kirishima's side sending him skidding back. As he raced forward his attack was blocked, and he quickly used his momentum to cartwheel of hisopponent landing on his opposite side, just inside the white line indicating a ring out.

Seizing his opportunity Kirishima launched a Red Counter to his foe's head.

"Sorry Midoriya but it's over!" Launching his fist forward to put an end to things, the green haired boy acted quickly using a One For All dodged the blow before using his enhanced strength, launching his classmate over his shoulder and just over the white line, "You're right it is over!".

"Kirishima is out of bounds! Midoriya wins the match! And there we have it folks! Midoriya advances to the semi-finals!"

Feeling disappointed in his lack of manliness, Kirishima rolled over on his side to get back up only to see Midoriya offering him his hand, in a moment parallel to his arm wrestling match with TetsuTetsu he accepted it with a grin.

"You really are strong Kirishima, if I hadn't use that shoulder toss you would've had me."

" Thanks, but Midoriya I've gotta say you've really gotten stronger. It's so manly ! I'll do my learn from you're example and make sure I match it!" The Chivalrous Red Head said with comical tears in his eyes.

The Green cinnamon roll simply returned it with a smile.

XXXX

As the duo made their way back to the seats, a certain blonde was trying to bore a hole in the back of Deku's head.

"Oh yeah, you totally fell for that move too, right?"

"Fuck off, you Pikachu rip off!"

"Little shit! He's trying to win, and he isn't even hiding it! And Spikey hair was dumb enough to fall for it." Bakugo fumed with a clenched fist.

The short tempered blonde had already snagged a spot in the semi finals (after Bird boy defeated Raccoon eyes, in all of five seconds), by besting the Vine Girl from that Class of. That damn quirk was pain in the ass, but with enough explosions he manged to force her out of the ring.

The fight also had a more subdued audience then his last fight. Not a single person in the audience , not even the pros, were brave enough to risk yet another Eraser Head tongue lashing.

XXX

Making his way back to his sea, our favorite Green Head spotted his bespectled friend making his way to the exit. As they crossed paths, Ida quickly congratulated his friend with a handshake, "Well done, Midoriya! Turning the tables, as always I see!"

"Thanks. So were you able to reach your brother, I'm sure he's proud of you for getting so far."

"Well, I tried calling but he didn't pick up, so he must still be on duty." The walking car engine replied, just a bit dejectidly.

"But it's better this way, because when we talk, maybe I'll tell him as the champion of the festival."

OK! NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE FINAL MATCH OF THE 2ND ROUND!

"And I'll be waiting for you in Semi-Finals." He replied with a smile adorning his features.

"And Ida..." The blue haired boy turned back" I'm challenging you too!" He challenged his friend's earlier declaration, with a smile that was returned.

XXXX

Sadly it was not meant to be.

The bout was short, but a very close match indeed. With Recipro Burst as his secret weapon, it looked as if Ida would triumph, however he made a fatal mistake ,which was forgetting that while his teammate's specialty were wide ranging area attacks, he also dabbled in percsionas well, which quickly froze over his mufflers, preventing him from using his quirk before, immobilizing him in ice.

" THERE YOU HAVE IT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Fumikage Tokoyami, Katsuki Bakugo, Izuku Midoriya , and Shoto Todoroki are the final four!"

And with that the final four were decided with the next match being Bakugo's explosions vs Tokoyomi's Dark shadow. It turns out Tokoyami's seemingly unbeatable quirk, had quite the achilles' heel, bright light, and Katsuki Bakguo was definitely one to capitalize on such weaknesses. The shame was that the resident of perpetual darkness's defeat was contributed more to a bad match-up then actual lack of strength or skill. Now it was time for the 2nd Semi-Final match. One that Class-A had been waiting for.

Midoriya wasn't completely sure he could best the Number Two hero's son, but he would do his best, as he had a promise to keep.

And also keep in mind, Deku won't be needing surgery because this was NOWHERE near the level of physical trauma he put himself through in canon.

.Also I hoped you enjoyed the rewrite of this chapter, I truly believe the writing and pacing of the story played out better in this version but once again any reviews would be greatly appreciated to help me improve on what I'm lacking.

I really do hope I did a good job with the Uraraka and Deku interaction back there, but once again any criticism would be appreciated.

I just ask you be tough, but fair with them.