The first round closed with Bakugou defeating Uraraka.

The first match of the second round, then…

"AND NOW FOR THIS GO-ROUND OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL! BOTH COMPETITORS ARE AT THE TOP OF THEIR CLASS, AND THE WORLD AIN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE BOTH OF THEM. TODOROKI VS MIDORIYA!"

Todoroki, my fellow student under recommendations, facing off with that unexpectedly strong competitor Midoriya. While the odds were not in the latter's favor…he often had a trick or two up his sleeve.

"START!"

Todoroki began with a full blast of ice straight at Midoriya. With the snap of a finger, Midoriya unleashed a pretty staggering amount of energy, smashing straight though the ice and blasting Todoroki back hard enough that if he hadn't set up an ice barrier behind himself, he would have indeed been blasted out of the ring. Midoriya's finger, from where we sat, was clearly broken.

"OH! HE BROKE RIGHT THROUGH!" came Present Mic's cry.

Yes, but he can't keep that up forever. He's only got a few more chances left.

Once more - a smash, and the ice destroyed and blasted to bits, and another finger of Midoriya's broken.

"AND THERE GOES ANOTHER!" cried Mic.

Midoriya was trembling in pain now, and Todoroki didn't seemed to be slowing down at all.

He blasted off at Midoriya again. And once again Midoriya blasted backwards.

"Damn, they started already?" cried Kirishima as he joined us in the stands.

"Oh, Kirishima! Heard you advanced to the second round!" said Kaminari.

"That's right. And next up it's you against me, Bakugou," he grinned.

"I'll freaking kill you," snarled the latter.

"Hah, just try it. Though actually, both you an Todoroki can just blast out super huge range attacks willy-nilly, one after the other."

"Don't make light. I can't do it 'willy nilly'."

"Huh?"

"Overwork your muscles, the muscle fibers will give. Run too long, run out of breath. Quirks are just functions of the body. So even those two must have limits."

I hadn't really thought about it that way before. Whenever I overuse my power it exhausts me from wearing out my fat stores. And therefore Todoroki must have some sort of limit too, as all powerful as he seemed. But could Midoriya out last him?

Todoroki struck with ice and again Midoriya countered. All the fingers on his right hand were done now.

Todoroki responded by attacking with a true onslaught of overwhelming ice power, closing in.

"TODOROKI CLOSES IN WITHOUT SO MUCH AS FLINCHING FROM MIDORIYA'S POWER!" commented Mic.

He jumped from the Ice straight at Midoriya, ready to move fast enough to stop him from using that power again. Punched the ground and threw more ice at him, as it started to cover his foot. He seemed cornered - and this time made a fist and used his whole arm.

Everything was blasted out of bounds with an explosion. Todoroki just barely avoided a ring out with the ice, but now Midoriya's whole left arm was broken. One more ice blast would be enough to send him out of bounds.

"AND TODOROKI PRESSES HIS RELENTLESS ASSUALT! ANOTHER FREEZE ATTACK FOR THE CLINCHING!"

SMASH

Todoroki was blasted back this time - another blast from Midoriya, destroying the ice and nearly pushing Todoroki completely out of bounds. Midoriya had used an already broken finger. He seemed to be yelling something at Todoroki now.

Todoroki started running at him, meaning to close the gap, seemingly enraged.

Midoriya suddenly moved - warming up, winding up - and he punched Todoroki in the stomach. Just enough to blast Todoroki across the ring.

"OOH, AND A BITTER BLOW ON A BRITTLE BODY! BET YOU ALL FELT THAT ONE!"

Todoroki choking and coughing in pain, wrapped his hand around his stomach. Todoroki…I thought

He threw another blast of ice at Midoriya. But not as strong as before.

And Midoriya blasted again. Out of fingers. Too broken. No way, no way he could do anything. Todoroki threw more ice at him once more - and Midoriya jammed his thumb inside his cheek and blasted off at him again. I recalled what Todoroki had said to us before during the Cavalry Battle - that during a fight, he would never use his left side. But from where we stood, it was starting to look like that decision would cost him the match. Both of us, I suppose, I thought wearily. Both recommendation students might be defeated here…because of hesitation.

Midoriya ran forward, screaming words we couldn't hear at Todoroki, head butting him in the chest. Punching him, Throwing him back. Todoroki could barely begin to stagger to his feet now. It was slowly becoming a massacre on both sides, a bloody and violent beating with nothing rewarding.

Then something Midoriya said - seemed to strike him. Something changed.

And then the fire came. HIs left side was engulfed, flames licking his face and arm.

"SHOUTO!" we could hear Endeavor screaming. "So you've finally accepted yourself, have you? Good, excellent! Now is your true beginning! You who holds my blood, surpass me! And realize my ambition in yourself!"

"AND MR ENDEAVOR WITH A VERY SUDDEN PEP TALK? MUST BE QUITE HTE DOTING DAD!" came Mic's comment.

It almost looked as though Todoorki was wiping away tears.

Two unstoppable forces of energy so strong we could feel it in the stands blasted at each other with everything they had.

The explosion destroyed all visibility - we couldn't e ben see them, the blast from both sides was so powerful.

"What's happening down there?" I cried, as the force whipped our hair about our faces.

"WHAT WAS THAT - WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS YOUR HOMEROOM CLASS, DUDE?"

"The heat other cooled down air which then expanded."

"SO THAT'S HOW HE MADE SUCH A FIERY WIND BLAST - DAMN THAT'S HOT! AND I CAN'T SEE A THING! JUST WHO WON THIS MATCH!"

The dust cleared a tiny gap - just enough to see Todoroki, his left uniform side completely burned away, still inside the ring- and Midoriya, slumping to the ground against the wall of the arena.

"MIDORIYA IS OUT OF BOUNDS. TODOROKI ADVANCES TO THE THIRD ROUND!"

Iida beat Shiozaki and Tokoyami beat Ashido. Then Kirishima vs Bakugou, which actually started out fairly even.

"HE COUNTERED! LOOKS LIKE BAKUGOU CAN'T LAND A HIT AGAINST KIRISHIMA'S FIERCE SWIPES!" announced Mic, as Kirishima kept absorbing Bakugou's then -

"IT CONNECTED?" Cried Mic as Bakugou finally succeeded in landing a hit on him. Then kept on blasting like crazy, until Kirishima had finally passed out.

"AND BAKUGOU ADVANCES TO THE THIRD ROUND THROUGH A DOWNRIGHT NASTY CARPET BOMBING! WITH THIS THE TOP 4 HAVE ASSEMBLED!" called Mic.

. The semi-finals were starting with Iida vs Todoroki .

"IT'S A BTTLE BETWEEN TWO WHO BOTH HAIL FROM ELITE HERO FAMILIES! IIDA TENYA VS SHOTO TODOROKI! START!"

Todoroki threw ice at Iida, who jumped outta the way with a standing long jump. HE actually kicked Todoroki in the head, grabbed him and made to throw him outta bounds.

"WHOA! DAMN, THAT'S A FAST KICK! THAT LOOKED LIKE ONE HELL OF A HEAVY BLOW!" said Mic.

But just when it looked like Todoroki might be beaten, Iida's engines stalled out cause he'd frozen em before. Which we didn't even notice happening.

"IIDA IS UNABLE TO MOVE! AND WITHOUT EVEN USING HIS FLAMES, TODOROKI ADVANCES TO THE FINAL ROUND!" Mic concluded.

And then Bakugou vs Tokoyami! Bakugou kept yelling and blowing up Dark Shadow.

"IT'S BAKUGOU VS TOKOYAMI, FOLKS. AND BAKUGOU'S RUSH JSUT WON'T END! UP TO THIS POINT TOKOYAMI HAS BEEN ABLE TO NET WIN AFTER WIN THROUGH HIS NEARLY INVINCIBLE QUIRK, BUT NOW HE'S PLAYING PURE DEFENSE! HE CAN'T LET HIM ANY CLOSER!"

"But Why, Tokoyami?" yelled Mina. . "During our fights he blew us out with a super attack!"

"There must be some trigger," I murmured. Nearby, Ochako said "He can't launch an attack against all the light given for by those explosions! This is the absolute worse matchup for him!"

"If Kacchan doesn't find out what he did about his weakness, then that's this match's tipping point," said Midoriya, who'd rejoined us after his surgery to see Iida's match.

Bakugou jumped up behind Tokoyami and used some giant blast of light towards Dark Shadow. It created an explosion that blocked everything out with smoke.

"I CAN'T SEE THROUGH ALL THE SMOKE! WHAT HAPPENED? WHO WON!?"

AS the smoke cleared, we saw Bakugou standing over Tokoyami and holding him down, while brandishing a handful of explosion like a weapon.

"TOKOYAMI THROWS IN THE TOWL! AND VICTORY GOES TO BAKUGOU! NAD NEXT, HTE FINALS WILL BE SETTLED WITH TODOROKI VS BAKUGOU!"

"Tokoyami must feel just awful," said Ochako.

"So his weakness is light? I see and Bakugou, he really likes hitting those areas," said Kirishima.

"THE TIME HAS COME! THE LAST BATTLE! THE TOP CONTENDER FROM UA'S FRESHMEN WILL BE DECIDED HERE! FINAL MATCH: TODOROKI VS BAKUGOU! READY! START!"

Todoroki unleashed his usual giant ice wall right away.

"RIGHT OUT OF HTE GATE WITH THAT! IS HE PUT OFF BY THE IDEA OF A CLOSE FIGHT WITH BAKUGOU? WILL THE CHAMPION BE DECIDED THAT QUICKLY?!"

From inside the ice came blasting banging noises. And then Bakugou came banging out of the whole iceberg.

"HE MIGHT'VE FENDED OFF TEH GLACIER WITH AN EXPLOSION AND DUG HIS WAY OUT LIKE SOME KINDA MOLE! DAMN, TALK ABOUT STRANGE SKILLS!"

Bakugou went and blasted his way over Todoroki's head. He grabbed Todoroki's shirt and threw him across the ring. Todoroki just barely avoided getting rung out by riding his ice like a surfer.

"HE AVOIDED A RINGOUT WITH A WALL OF ICE! LOOKS LIKE FUN!"

Bakugou attacked him again, and Todoroki grabbed him.

"USE IT!" came Endeavor's voice from the crowd. Todoroki tossed Bakugou away. It looked like they were arguing now. But Todoroki seemed to have practically given up now.

"DON'T LOSE NOW! COME ON, YOU CAN DO IT!" yelled Midoriya at Todoroki from the front row. Hard to say if it was out of Todoroki's friendship or to antagonize Bakugou, or even to help out Bakugou, because it became clear later on that Bakugou was mad at Todoroki for holding back.

Todoroki activated his fire side and Bakugou started prepping some giant attack.

"HE ADDED SOME ROTATION TO THE INTENSITY OF HTE OVERSIZE EXPLOSION HE USED AGAINST URARAKA. BECOMING A TRUE HUMAN EXPLOSIVE! BUT IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE TODOROKI'S SHOT OFF A SUPER WHIRLWIND OF FIRE LIKE IN THE MIDORIYA MATCH BUT SURE ENOUGH - "

Todoroki'd been blasted outta bounds. Bakugou ran over to him, staggering to his feet first, and grabbed his shirt trying to get him to reply. Midnight knocked him out to stop him from antagonizing Todoroki, and declared that Bakugou was the winner now that Todoroki was outta bounds.

"AND WITH THAT THE COMPETITION IS OVER! THIS YEAR'S UA SPORTS FESTIVAL FRESHMAN CHAMPION IS BAKUGOU KATSUKI OF CLASS A!"

"Now then, let's move on to the awards ceremony!" announced midnight, as three podiums sprung from the ground.

"What the hell's that?" Jirou asked, staring

The middle one had a stake on top of it, and Bakugou was chained to it with his hands chained up and a gag in his mouth. He was writing in pure fury.

"Third place could have gone to Iida as well as Tokoyami, but due to home life circumstances he was forced to leave early, so please understand!" said midnight.

"Time to confer the medals! And the one who'll present the medals this year is naturally none other than - it is -

"And I am here with the medals!"/"Our hero All Might!" said Midnight and All Might together.

He handed out medals to all three boys, even though Bakugou really didn't want to take his.

"And there you have it! This year, it's these three! However, take heed folks. There was a chance for everyone in this arena to stand there. It's just as you saw with your very own eyes! Ladies and gentlemen! They competed and boosted each other up! Everyone climbing to ever high advancing ever farther! The next generation of heroes will surely sprout from the seeds planted this day! And to that sentiment I'll add one more thing! Everybody say it with me now! and - Great work - "

"That was such a plus ultra moment!" booed the crowd.

We had the next day off. Sensei said that he'd organize all our nominations of the pros. Be sure to get in some rest."