AN: Thanks for all the hero name suggestions last chapter! Lots of you had some really original ideas, and others reassured me that Izuku using the name of his quirk as part of his hero name wasn't all that strange, so that's an option I'm keeping mind as well. As for those of you that asked for him to be called the silver surfer, I probably should have mentioned that I already ruled that one out. It feels like too much like picking a low-hanging fruit to me, so sorry if that disappoints anyone.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter since it took ages to piece together. I've always found it really difficult to write a battle with multiple scenes taking place in quick succession so hopefully it turned out ok here. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 16
Shatterpoint
oooOo Shota oOooo
"YEAH! Are you ready!? Our up and coming heroes-to-be are banding together to form their own superteams! What should we be looking out for, Eraserhead!?"
Aizawa grimaced, adjusting the bandages that were digging uncomfortably into the sensitive skin of his neck. He inwardly cursed Hizashi's uncanny ability to lure him into such troublesome responsibilities.
As if he didn't already have enough to deal with in his life.
The cumbersome wrappings only made what would have already been tiresome enough, into a whole ordeal… But he'd already accepted the job, and Eraserhead was nothing if not a man of his word.
Sometimes.
Besides, his class had performed as he'd expected in the first event, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt, the difference that hands-on experience made in a hero. It'd be a lie to say he wasn't curious to see what his class of problem children would come up with next.
"As Midnight has explained to the competitors, this event presents the chance for the lower-ranked students to overcome the frontrunners," he drawled into his mic. "However, teams starting with a higher point total have the advantage of being able to a play a purely defensive game. Depending on how the teams come together, there will be a number of squads targeted by the greater majority, and none more so than whoever joins up with Midoriya's ten million points."
Riffing seamlessly off Aizawa's commentary, Present mic once more took on the role he was practically born for. "There you have it, loyal listeners! Who'll brave the target of the ten-million for the chance of a guaranteed first place finish?! Take your bathroom breaks and grab your popcorn! The Cavalry Battle begins in just under ten minutes!"
oooOo Katsumi oOooo
She'd taken her eyes off the nerd for two damn seconds and he'd already fucked off to god knows where, but right now she couldn't waste her time chasing him down.
Not yet at least, the event hadn't even started after all.
Katsumi's lips tugged up involuntarily, revealing a threatening grin that had those closest to her inching away as if any sudden motion would draw her attention. Her narrowed crimson eyes observed the extras running around like headless fucking chickens. Every competitor scrambled to join up with the strongest quirks they knew. The teams tended to stick to their own classmates, it was barely a month into the year, and they'd been far too busy to make friends in other classes.
As if any combination of quirks would be enough to take her down…
Seeing a familiar brunette bob-cut through a gap in the students, Katsumi reached out an arm, latching onto the collar of the girl's UA uniform with a vise-grip. "Round-face, get your ass over here, we're teaming up."
The shorter girl blinked owlishly, pointing at herself. "R-really, Katsumi-chan? You know I only came in 15th, right? It's not like you need my points or anything right?"
"Just join my team already," she said, looking away petulantly. "I'd rather deal with someone I know can at least handle themselves over another one of these side characters…"
For a moment they were both silent, before the bubbly girl actually had the nerve to giggle at her.
"Katsumi-chan… you're totally a big softie, aren't you?"
"Fuck off! I just need your quirk is all!"
Ochako frowned thoughtfully, "But we've barely tested that out at all… where is Midoriya-kun, anyway?"
Katsumi scowled, unwilling to admit that if she was forced to fight in the air, she would ultimately lose against Deku. In a battle of attrition, she'd definitely wear out faster than the nerd if she had to spam her quirk to stay airborne. But with a teammate that could remove gravity's hold on her… The grin came back.
Yeah, that'd do just fine.
Now to find someone who could take a beating…
As if answering her thoughts, a mob of Katsumi classmates descended on her location, all hounding to join the highest-pointed team without a neon ten-million target. Several of them could be promising additions to her comp, but when the shark-toothed asshole himself swaggered up to her, Katsumi was already fighting an internal battle with herself. Would acquiring such a perfect candidate to act as their front horse really be worth the trouble of teaming up with shitty-hair?!
"C'mon, Bakugo-chan! I know you want to take down the class-rep, right? C'mooon, ten-million!" He held out a fist, and she'd be lying to say the offer wasn't tempting.
Katsumi's mind ran on overdrive, doing her best to channel the skills of the very man she intended to overcome. She shivered at the thought, but no one could deny that Deku certainly could theorize quirk combos better than anyone else in her life. Depending on how strictly Midnight would enforce the rules of an ordinary Cavalry Battle, Katsumi could go a few different ways with her final member.
With the addition of Kirishima to her team, all she needed now was… there.
"Yo, elbow-guy, get over here, the rest of you, fuck off!"
There was plenty of moaning and groaning from those that hadn't been chosen, but the whims of side characters truly did not concern her.
oooOoOoOooo
"Aaannd, time's up!" Midnight's call came over the loudspeaker, ceasing the team-selection phase of the second event.
Katsumi had assembled her team within the first five minutes of the allotted fifteen, so had spent the rest detailing her plans to abuse the loopholes that existed in the rules of a standard cavalry battle. "Everyone got that?"
"You're sure about this, Bakugo?" Sero said with a toothy grin, stretching his fingers out. His knuckles popped like miniature gunshots.
"Hah! It's crazy, but I'm beginning to see that's the norm with you, Bakugo-chan!"
Katsumi scowled, determinedly ignoring the whispered 'so manly' for the time being. There were more important things to worry about. Besides, Deku's continued absence was beginning to wear on her nerves. Now that the initial chaos of team selection had settled down a bit, she should have been able to spot him with whoever he'd chosen for his squad. Unless, of course, he was purposefully avoiding her…
Did he think he could run from her? There was no way he'd delude himself into thinking he could avoid her team for long in such an enclosed area, right? This wasn't a race, the nerd would have no choice but to take her on directly.
oooOo Izuku oOooo
A sharp nudge to his shoulder and the low drawling voice were the first things to register to Izuku's senses.
"Oi, super-class rep, time's ticking. let's see if you're as good as the rumors say."
His eyelids were like iron curtains as he slowly regained consciousness, but after a moment, it all came rushing back. His eyes shot open, blinking rapidly in the afternoon sun. The Cavalry Battle! And someone had called out to him from behind, and then… nothing.
As his vision sharpened, it didn't take long to pick out the mass of Sports festival contestants, all grouped together in three to four-man teams. How long had it been? The event hadn't started yet, had it?
A heavy arm settled over his shoulders. "Finally back with us, Hero?"
Izuku's gaze snapped to the unfamiliar teen, eyes narrowing suspiciously. He was tall. Quite a bit taller than Izuku's own formidable height and appearing even more so because of his chaotic lavender hair. The heavy bags under the boy's eyes and drooping eyelids gave him an overall gaunt appearance, about as far away from the look of a prospective hero as one could get. But Izuku knew better than to jump to conclusions. However, that was in the absence of such damning evidence…
Was this the guy responsible for his loss of memory?
"I see you catch on quickly. That's good, it'll save some time." The purple-haired student said calmly. "Needless to say, the allotted time for team selection has already ended, leaving me as your only choice for a teammate. You could forfeit, of course, but something tells me that option won't really appeal to you…"
Izuku's mind raced, considering every scenario that could have led to this very situation. There were several possibilities, but the boy with hair even more askew than his own was right. What Izuku was lacking most of all at the moment was time.
He sighed heavily, lamenting the situation being forced upon him. "You could have just asked, dude. It's not like I was swamped with volunteers or anything… Care to introduce yourself? We're going to be 'teammates' after all." The quotations were heavily evident in his tone
"Hitoshi Shinso," the teen drawled, clearly disbelieving Izuku's statement. "And I did ask," he added after a moment.
Izuku eyed the boy, analyzing the possible implications of his words, while also considering his plan of attack for the event. "Well that wasn't ominous or anything… I'm Midoriya Izuku, but it seems you already knew that…" A grin slowly stretched across his lips as he observed the various teams that had come together. "What kind of hero would I be if I couldn't roll with a twist as simple as this."
"That's the spirit, class-rep-kun."
Izuku's eye twitched as Shinso patted him companionably on the head. He swatted the other boy's hand away a moment later. "You certainly planned this out, huh? We can get away with a two-man team since we don't need to worry about adding students for a higher total score, but you're awfully confident that we can keep ahold of our own headband."
Shinso idly rubbed the back of his head, smiling falsely. "You gave quite the showing in the first event," he drawled, glancing up at Izuku's quirk as it flitted around above both of their heads. "Something tells me you still haven't shown us everything you can do… am I right?"
A smile tugged at his lips, "You tell me. You're the one that risked your chances in the final event on my abilities after all… Any way I can convince you to tell me how your quirk works so we can put it to use?"
The lavender-haired hero-hopeful glanced away, lazily scratching the back of his ear in thought. "Hmm… No, I don't think I will…"
Izuku laughed humorlessly. "Didn't think so." He knelt down on one knee, prompting Shinso to straddle his shoulders, already expecting to act as the rider of their pair. "I hope you're not afraid of heights, man."
He straightened up once Shinso had settled, observing the competition. A glance between several groups of cavalry teams had Izuku meeting a familiar pair of narrowed crimson eyes. He shrugged for lack of a better response as a vein visibly popped up on his girlfriend's forehead once she'd seen the student on his back. Did they have some kind of history? That was an above-average amount of fury even for Kacchan…
"I hope you know what you signed up for, Shinso. The ten million's one thing, but I'm afraid there's a few extra risks that come with being on my team…" Izuku grinned with anticipation.
"Allright, listeners!" They've chosen their teams! They've made their plans! It's time to begin the countdown to this brutal battle royale!" Present Mic's carrying cries echoed across the stadium, lighting a fire in every competitor's eyes. Unfortunately for Izuku, the majority of those vicious stares were directed his way…
"Three…"
The malleable quicksteel imitating his left hand twitched anxiously.
"Two…."
The rest of his quirk returned to chest height, primed and ready for any command.
"One…..
STAAAAAAAAART!"
oooOo Katsumi oOooo
Katsumi understood the draw of Deku's ten-million point headband, but even taking that into consideration, it was with a surprising amount of single-mindedness that nearly every team on the field rushed his position.
What the nerd was doing with that purple-haired fuck on his shoulders could come later, but it wouldn't do to let such an opportune moment pass her up… "Uraraka."
"Right!" The brunette settled five digits around the bare skin of Katsumi's ankle, prompting an increasingly familiar sensation to come over her extremities.
The majority of the few weeks leading up to the sports festival had primarily been spent sparring with Deku to get him back into fighting shape. However, anyone that could call the nerd a friend would understand that spending any extended amount of time with him would entail a certain amount of experimentation.
It certainly wasn't the first time Katsumi had tried propelling herself at zero-gravity.
Using Shitty-hair's hardened body as a springboard, Katsumi rocketed herself at previously unattainable speeds on a vector parallel to the field below. The sudden acceleration took a moment to acclimate to, but the sheer speed was worth it.
She came upon the first cavalry team in a fraction of a second.
The rider, an orange-haired girl that'd had her eyes firmly set on the ten-million, registered the incoming threat at the last second, frantically swapping her attention to Katsumi with widening eyes.
Too late.
Katsumi kicked downward, a light explosion sending her sailing over the girl's outstretched fist even as it swelled to several times its original size, mid swing. But it didn't matter, the giant-fisted student was just too slow. Katsumi twisted her body in mid-air, two more precision explosions completing her three-point turn. The maneuver left her on a vector leading directly past her opponent's forehead.
The fiery blonde grinned predatorily even as the other rider registered how close Katsumi had gotten in such a short time. But perceiving the threat was only half the battle; it was far too late for her to physically react as Katsumi reached out, deftly plucking the white band off her head.
But she wasn't in the clear quite yet, as one of the group's horses, a curvy girl with wavy, seaweed-green hair, fuckin' detached her left hand up to mid forearm, sending it through the air in pursuit of their stolen band.
Katsumi flinched at the action, a memory she'd rather have forgotten flashing through her mind for a split second. But compared to this bunch of B-listers, she was as battle-hardened as they came, retaining the wherewithal to blast the approaching limb to smithereens with an explosion from the bottom of her left foot.
The detonation doubled as the propulsion she needed to rocket away from the group altogether.
Too fuckin' easy.
"OHH! And there she goes, Listeners! Team Bakugo makes a decisive first strike, leaving her horses altogether and pulling off a wicked flank on team Kendo! Is that even allowed!?" Mic cried over the loudspeaker, barely drowning out the roar of her adoring fans. But speaking honestly, Katsumi was just as curious to hear the answer to his question, as rhetorical as he may have meant it.
"She hasn't touched the ground, so I'll allow it!"
Fuck yeah, Midnight!
Katsumi jettisoned herself towards another group of B-class heroes-in-training, relishing in the effortless way she could propel herself through the air. What normally required constant use of her quirk just to stay airborne now only took miniscule blasts to change trajectory. It was glorious.
Katsumi approached the next team at increasingly extreme angles like some sort of demented human pinball. The tall, yellow motherfucker in the front attempted to slow her down with what she assumed was his quirk, shooting some kind of glue-like gunk out of his… nozzle? Could that even be considered a head? Either way, what may have been a formidable defense against most of these extras proved worthless in the face of her current mobility.
A blast from her left palm had Katsumi slipping to the right of the goopy projectile, still speeding towards the green-haired female student acting as the rider of this particular team. Katsumi reached out a palm, visualizing the moment she'd pass by at the perfect distance to snatch the headband for herself.
"WHAM!"
Without any warning, Katsumi crashed audibly into a solid… something that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"What the shit?"
Katsumi kicked away from the wall(?) that had appeared before her, only for two more structures of a similar nature to crash down onto the field, each barely missing her by a hair.
"Nice one, Manga!" the rider called to her teammate, who Katsumi suspected was the source of these troublesome barriers.
"BANG! POW!" The a strangely echoing voice called, though each shout more and more hoarse by the second. On further inspection, Katsumi's suspicions were confirmed, a previously unnoticed member of the group Katsumi had been pursuing seemed to be spawning these things with each cry. She was beginning to think that none of the Class B rejects had normal fucking heads.
This kid had a damn speech bubble instead, and on closer inspection, she saw it seemed to mimic the barriers that were falling from the sky, making for one of the most bizarre quirks Katsumi had ever personally encountered.
She only hoped Deku never got ahold of this guy, for his sake…
But now that she'd lost the element of surprise, dealing with such a troublesome ability wasn't worth the measly 125 points she could now see printed on the rider's headband. Katsumi kicked off where she hung from the blocky, concrete characters, rising high above the rest of her fellow competitors. She raised the index finger of her right hand, twirling it in a circle over her head. The meaning was clear to those that it concerned.
Reset.
A white strip of material snaked out from where Katsumi's own team stood sentinel, coiling tightly around her waist and reeling her back to where she settled on their shoulders.
"Cutting it a bit close there, don't you think, Katsumi-chan," Uraraka huffed, steepling her fingers to release her quirk.
"Tch— hardly, Round Face." Katsumi slipped the headband she'd managed to lift from fat-hands' team—225, now that she'd gotten a better look at it—around her neck. "No point in wasting my time for such a shitty amount of points!"
"And team Kodai finally repels team Bakugo's one-woman assault! That's what I call a quirk with character, YEAH!"
Katsumi scowled petulantly. "Repelled?! It was a tactical retreat!"
"I don't know, Katsumi-chan, that sure sounds like something Midoriya-kun would say…"
"S—shut the fuck up, Round face!" She could almost die from the heat that raced up her neck.
"Woah, ok!" Shitty-hair intervened, helpfully for once. "Who's the next target, guys?"
"Well, the answer's obvious isn't it?" Sero chirped excitedly.
"Got that right, Elbows. Warmup's fucking over." Hope you're ready, Deku.
oooOo Izuku oOooo
Izuku had spent the early years of his teens hauling all kinds of junk as a part of his strength training, and consequently was no stranger to heavy loads. Comparatively, Shinso's lanky frame sitting atop his shoulders barely registered to him. For such a tall individual, the teen certainly didn't have the build common to most heroes. The difference in their fitness levels could be attributed to a difference in coursework between the hero and general education classes, but ultimately, Izuku felt that prospective heroes had a certain responsibility to self-sufficiency.
Realistically, Izuku could get away with a first-place finish in this event by simply taking to the sky and waiting out the clock, but that was exactly what his competitors were expecting.
"Hang on, Shinso."
"H-hey! I thought we were flying away, man!"
"We will… eventually." Izuku shot off like a rocket, directly towards the multiple teams that had clearly intended to hunt him down. He almost immediately skipped to the side of the tendril-like vines that surged from one of the faster squads towards his position.
Was that that girl's hair?
Cool.
The attack's range was impressive, but the thorny restraints lacked the maneuverability to keep up with his agility, and so Izuku deftly sidestepped the similar attacks that followed.
However, his fleet-footedness had apparently been taken into account. Izuku nearly stumbled in the next moment as the field beneath his bare feet suddenly morphed into a sludge-like consistency, but he would not be deterred. Several disks of quicksteel solidified over the quirk-trap, providing stable footholds to leap from.
A wall of those same thorny vines erupted from the ground, blocking Izuku's path as he approached the team of 1-B students. The group hesitated slightly, clearly startled by Izuku taking such aggressive actions when logically he should be the one being hunted.
It was that very hesitation that Izuku brutally took advantage of. He leaped towards the organic shield, gripped his dominant right hand around the main mass of quicksteel and molded it into a gleaming, familiar blade. He bisected the writhing vines with a mighty slash, completing the maneuver all in a fraction of a second.
"Tetsutetsu!" The teen heading their trio of horses called sharply, warning his rider.
The muscular hero-hopeful, who Izuku now recognized as the guy Kirishima had been quarreling with before the first event, seemed to shimmer in the afternoon sunlight, suddenly transforming into a chrome-like material. "C'mon, ya' cocky bastard!" He cried, slamming a pair of metallic fists together with a spark. "I've had plenty of iron today, no one can break my steel body!"
Izuku's eyes briefly widened at the quirk resembling his own so closely in appearance, but he had no time to marvel, not yet at least. His blade abandoned its form, melting and melding to the length of his right forearm which he promptly used to parry the rider's wild haymaker.
A lefty, huh?
Their limbs clashed with an ear-ringing clang, though it was soon evident that Izuku's strength was superior, tanking the strike with barely a flinch.
The rider, Tetsutetsu, scowled viciously, the strange markings around his eyes making the expression even more striking. "What the hell! First that red-headed prick, and now someone else is copying my steel?!"
Izuku leveled the boy with a flat stare. "Not quite, friend." The quicksteel coating his arm along with the rest slowly seeped towards the point of contact, solidifying into a makeshift shackle.
Izuku grinned seeing that Shinso had the wherewithal to reach out and snag the bandana tied around the iron-boy's head while he was restrained. Tetsutetsu yanked his arm back in an attempt to defend against the theft, but unlike against the overwhelming strength of Tomura's Nomu, the hero-in-training's physical strength was helpless when faced with Izuku's quicksteel prison.
"Sorry!" Izuku called cheerfully as he kicked off the boy's chest and out of range of the reaching vines that had finally caught up with his sudden onslaught.
His bare feet settled into the frigid surface of his skyboard as it coalesced beneath him, letting out an exultant laugh when Hitoshi yelped at their rapid ascent in the next moment.
"You—you're a bloody madman," Shinso gasped through labored breathing. He tied the stolen 705 headband around his neck to join the 10,000,080 he'd already been wearing
"Hardly," Izuku grinned, straightening out of his crouch when he'd reached an altitude that he was happy with. He ceased his ascent, gradually circling at eye-level with the highest balcony seats of the arena, yet still far below the partial overhang of the stadium roof. Izuku knew that quirk use was allowed and even encouraged for this particular event, but they probably wouldn't be too happy with him leaving the stadium altogether.
"I—I can barely believe what I'm seeing here, listeners! You all saw him dominate the obstacle course in record time, and Midoriya's back at it again with a showstopping performance on a two-man squad! Is there anything this kid can't do?!"
Aww, stop it, Mic, you'll make me blush…
Izuku could feel the eyes of nearly every spectator in the stadium on him in that moment, the notion only amplified by the camera-drones that followed his movements, plastering his own face across the massive displays arranged around the venue. "Say hello to the world, Shinso…" he called, giving the nearest camera a lazy two-finger salute.
"Y-you can let me down now, we're not technically on the ground after all…" the boy said, frowning slightly at the ground so far below.
Izuku willed his skyboard into a more stable platform, crouching down slightly to let his impromptu teammate down. He peered over the edge, no longer bothered by extreme heights, and unwilling to take his eyes off of the action unfolding below.
"Rest up while you can, but you need to be able to move at a moment's notice. Something tells me we won't be able to sit up here for long…"
oooOo Shoto oOooo
Todoroki's heterochromatic eyes tracked Midoriya's path overhead, even as Yaoyorozu defended his group's right flank from a single, disembodied hand that'd been trying to snag his headband for the last few minutes. The girl's mastery of her creation quirk had proven as useful as he'd suspected. The staff clutched in his right hand served the dual purpose of grounding he and his team and putting him in direct contact with the arena so he could cast his ice attacks with impunity.
Shoto's gaze locked onto the team responsible for the stealth attacks, a mere thought sent a precise blast of ice to restrain them for the time being. The troublesome green-haired girl, along with the rest of her team, were beaten back immediately with a deluge of frost. The attack left them encased in ice from the waist down, the lone appendage frozen meters away.
It'd keep them for being a nuisance, but on closer inspection, the team's rider wasn't even wearing her headband anymore. They had nothing to gain from fighting here.
Todoroki tugged thoughtfully at the multiple headbands hanging around his neck. Combining Kaminari's medium-strength electricity attacks and Yaoyorozu's insulation left their opponents vulnerable to an almost absurd degree. Freezing them in place had practically been overkill, but the result had been the collection of headbands he'd amassed in the short period since the start of the event.
His eyes returned to the real threat circling overhead.
"The timer's just hit ten minutes and it looks like things have kicked off into a free-for-all down in the pit, Eraser-head! I'd ask who gonna come out on top, but it looks like Midoriya's way ahead of us!"
Aizawa leaned away from the deafening tones of his co-commentator, while his eyes constantly followed the problem child and his teammate through the air. " I won't claim to know how Midoriya and Shinso came to be on the same team, but their cooperation puts the other squads in a precarious position. The cavalry battles of the past have usually devolved into a fight over the ten million-point headband, but the absurd amount of mobility offered by Midoriya's quirk and a small team throws a bit of a wrench in that strategy. Assuming team Shinso holds on to their current point value, the lower-point headbands become much more valuable in this scenario."
"Now that's what I call a homeroom teacher's insight, folks! Nice commentary!"
Todoroki scowled, recognizing the truth in his sensei's assessment of the situation. He could reach Midoriya's height going all-out with his ice, but without a suitable distraction, even burdened by the weight of his single teammate, Shoto knew that that the quicksteel-user would be able to avoid such a straightforward attack.
The glance to his father watching stoically in the stands did nothing to temper his increasingly sour mood. Nor did it help his special awareness.
"Todoroki!"
In his split-second moment of inattention, a team of 1-B students headed by a seemingly laid-back blonde boy, slipped past their position and snagged Shoto's original headband right off his forehead.
Two-toned eyes narrowing dangerously, Todoroki willed a crackling path of ice after the thieving group. The students acting as the team's horses were quick, but to expect to outrun his creeping ice was simply too much to ask of them. They would be overcome in mere moments.
That is… until a blazing inferno of disturbingly familiar orange flame sprang up between the two groups, sublimating the approaching ice after a brief power struggle.
Todoroki stood, mouth agape, as his old man's own accursed flame was turned against him.
"Ohhh?" A high, silver-tongued voice called playfully. "You seemed so awfully proud of that ice of yours." A flickering flame gradually became visible as the billowing water vapor cleared. "But you had another amazing power hidden in there the whole time! Imagine that!" He laughed as if discussing the weather.
Disbelief gave way to overwhelming fury as Todoroki watched the boy so casually handle that man's power. He exhaled heavily, frost ghosting from his lips as a cold, razor focus asserted itself once more. The blonde boy was merely a competitor, he wasn't him, and consequently knew nothing of the power he held.
But that didn't mean he'd let such a slight go without consequence.
Shoto jabbed his staff into the ground, and a jagged, unrestrained wave of ice—one that was several times larger than his previous attack—rocketed from the arena floor towards the thief's team. The blonde thrust his left hand out, trying once more to match the ice with his stolen flames, but quickly encountered the very same weakness that was the origin of nearly every hardship in Shoto's admittedly short life.
Without the cryokinesis to counteract the heat, Hellflame roasts the user alive with extended use. Even Shoto's father, who'd undergone years of torturous training to resist the heat of his own flames suffered in prolonged battles. That very same drawback would be this fool's downfall.
"Burns, doesn't it?!" Todoroki called over the hissing of the clashing elements. Even as his opponent's blaze began to die down, he was unrelenting in his assault. "That's the problem with fire… all it's good for… is harm."
The flagging inferno was finally snuffed out, the team of 1-B students revealed after a moment encased in a macabre ice sculpture, leaving only their heads exposed to the open air. The crowd gasped in tandem, though whether it was at the brutality of his attack or another reason entirely, Shoto neither knew nor cared.
"Aaaand team Todoroki puts the members of team Monoma on ice! That's a bit much, don't you think!?" Present Mic cried over the loudspeakers.
"It's kosher!" Midnight clarified with a snap of her bullwhip. "Todoroki's quirk was never used to attack their team directly."
"There you have it, folks! Seven minutes left until time is up! Present Mic called, saving Todoroki a glance at the clock.
Retrieving the multiple headbands worn by the immobilized team of 1-B students was merely a formality, and by the time Shoto had secured them around his neck, his team was firmly in second place ahead of Bakugo's, who'd apparently snagged a few headbands of her own since the event had started. But second place was as far as he'd go without Midoriya's ten-million point headband. Shoto had already been bested in one event, it wasn't a feeling he intended to experience again.
A quick glance across the field revealed the girl in question, prepping to take to the sky herself, making this the perfect opportunity to make his move. Todoroki allowed himself a nearly imperceptible grin. It was time to level the playing field a bit.
"Get ready, It's time for what we spoke of earlier."
"On it!" his team responded in tandem.
oooOo Izuku oOooo
The temperature was dropping.
"Get ready," Izuku murmured, crouching low over the edge of his circular platform of quicksteel as it slowly revolved around the arena. While he was simply observing the battle below, he had no need for the streamlined design of his skyboard, but now that Todoroki was making his move…
"What are you—"
Shinso's query was immediately cut off by an arcane thundering shook the venue. A tidal wave of ice, branching the entire width of the stadium, erupted from the ground and lanced diagonally towards their location. Izuku abandoned his slow revolution and dodged up and away from the growing ice wall. He barely had the time to replace Shinso atop his shoulders, but even in the chaos, Izuku's balance was impeccable.
Here they come…
The wave of ice was a formidable attack on its own, but more importantly, it doubled as a way to actually reach the height that he'd been hovering at. While Izuku had gotten a few passing glances at Todoroki's team when spying from above, this was the first time he'd gotten a look up close. Given momentum by the shifting ice at their rear, the squad of four blazed a path straight up the frosty slope on roller blades that he assumed were a product of Momo's quirk.
Todoroki had truly assembled a formidable squad, but Izuku had been watching them take teams down left and right since the even had begun. They generally followed the same attack pattern, leading with Kaminari, their own members insulated with Momo's creation, and crushing the incapacitated target with Todoroki's overwhelming ranged attacks.
Considering his own method of offense heavily relied on a relatively conductive metal, the choice was obvious.
Izuku rocketed forward, adjusting his posture to counteract Shinso's weight atop his shoulders and widening his stance as his skyboard skimmed over the frigid surface of the glacier, clouds of frost left in his wake.
He was upon them in seconds.
Izuku ducked under Iida's grasping hand and slipping towards their left flank, intent on disrupting their combination attack before it could begin. He knew how mentally taxing Momo's quirk could be in the heat of battle, so his first target should have been obvious. The fact that Todoroki struggled with attacking from that side was merely a bonus.
The black-haired beauty did not, however, sit and wait for defeat. Abandoning the insulation sheet that she'd been constructing, Momo instead yanked a staff out of the exposed skin of her right shoulder, swinging it with a confidant, double-handed grip.
Crude as it may have been, Izuku couldn't help but be impressed with rapid creation, but the strike was nothing in the face of his prodigious reflexes. The bo staff met the back of his left hand with a humming twang, his quicksteel prosthetic the only mass of his quirk not currently dedicated to his skyboard, but it served its purpose nonetheless.
Izuku felt Shinso shift on his shoulders as he reached for one of Todoroki's many headbands, but the extra time he'd need to snatch it completely was a second too long, they needed to move now.
Izuku abandoned his assault completely, leaping out of range of the explosion that detonated in their faces.
"Deku, you mother fucker! Think I'd let you off that easy?!" Katsumi bulldozed her way into the skirmish, letting off a concussive blast right where he'd been moments earlier. Though, if he hadn't dodged in time, that explosion would have done a bit more damage than he'd consider reasonable in event like a cavalry battle.
She'd probably assumed he'd dodge, but one of these days, Katsumi's overly high expectations of him would be the death of him.
Izuku leveled off their flight, turning to look over his shoulder, expecting to see Kacchan falling to the glacial slope below. Instead, he was met with narrowed crimson eyes, and far too close for comfort.
It was only the years he'd spent sparring with the girl that saved him in that moment. He danced backwards along the length of his skyboard, the blazing right-handed palm strike barely skimming the tip of his nose.
Hanging on to Shinso's legs so the boy wouldn't be sent flying, Izuku lashed out with a kick to fend off the girl's sudden assault. He needn't have bothered, however. Another point-blank explosion towards Izuku's face sent the girl careening through the air in the opposite direction, leaving her free to reposition however she liked.
So that's what was going on.
He'd caught glimpses of Katsumi experimenting with zero gravity, but it appeared that she and Ochako had finally put it to use. Izuku couldn't help but be impressed by their combination, but now wasn't the time to admire how magnificent Kacchan was in combat.
"Midoriya, dodge!" Shinso called out suddenly.
He swerved through the air as a weighted capture net careened through the space he'd just vacated. A glance towards Todoroki's team revealed Momo holding a smoking launcher, clearly the source of the unexpected projectile.
Todoroki gestured sharply with his right hand, what Izuku knew was usually a prequel to the boy using his ice powers, but was barely given a chance for it to register before Katsumi zipped past his location once more, her weightless form boosted by finely controlled explosions from the soles of her feet.
Was she getting even faster?!
The girl was approaching levels of speed he'd experienced in his time training with Chi-sensei, and his eyes were having just as much trouble keeping up with her movements as she ricocheted around his head, passing in and out of his blind spots with impunity.
"DIE!"
Izuku whipped around, morphing the quicksteel used for his skyboard into a shield over his splayed hand to block the impending explosion. He felt the force of the blow in the next second; but it curiously lacked all the weight of Katsumi's usual attacks. Perhaps a side effect of Uraraka's quirk? It would make sense that lacking the actual weight of one's body would lessen the momentum they carried on impact.
Nonetheless, the power of the explosion itself sent Izuku, Shinso still hanging on for dear life, careening into Todoroki's sloping glacier. At least he remained cognizant enough to land on his feet.
Spidery cracks spread as Izuku's quicksteel-coated feet impacted the frosty surface, but this was the worst possible situation he could be in. It hadn't taken long for Izuku to pick up on one of the few limitations to Todoroki's cryokinesis, namely, needing to be in direct contact with the surface or object he intended to freeze. But now Izuku was already touching the ice of Shoto's own creation, the situation had grown dire before he'd even realized.
Multiple frosty tendrils erupted from the frozen surface, bearing down on his location from multiple angles even as Katsumi jetted towards his perch once more. In Izuku's current position, pinned between an explosive blonde and Shoto's icy chaos, he was well and truly out of options.
Sane options, at least.
The quicksteel that had once served as a shield against Kacchan's devastating explosion, merged with his prosthetic, surging up the length of his arm like some kind of symbiotic life form until it covered his entire torso.
"Midoriya… what are you—"
With a twist at his waist, Izuku slammed a quicksteel-bolstered fist, not into the animated pillars of ice, but the source. The glacier beneath his feet.
oooOo Shoto oOooo
For a moment, Todoroki'd thought that he'd finally had Midoriya cornered.
He should have known better…
Midoriya, when it came to sheer strength, overshadowed most of their class, and perhaps even some pros… Todoroki was well aware of that fact. But as their green-haired class rep struck the ice beneath their feet with a glinting metallic fist, Shoto was given a front-row seat to exactly how powerful the boy was.
The result was as sudden as it was devastating.
The once feather-thin cracks in the ice spread throughout the entire structure, and in the next moment, the glacier splintered into countless minivan-sized pieces, and consequently sent his team plummeting to the field below.
Where moments earlier his team was so surely on the offensive, in one move Midoriya had thrown the entire arena into chaos.
"What the hell is the rep thinking?!" Kaminari wailed as they fell through the air.
"As expected of Midoriya-san," Iida shouted, remaining focused despite being pelted with frost and other debris.
Abandoning offense altogether, Todoroki instead turned his attention to safely landing his team on the rapidly approaching ground, doing his best to avoid the ice crumbling alongside them.
"Keep our formation stable, I won't be able to catch us all if we split apart!" A flurry of frost whizzed along with the rushing air, obscuring his vision completely. It was fortunate that the ice falling alongside them provided enough of a medium to create a slope to slow their landing a bit.
"Todoroki-kun!"
His eyes shot up at Yaoyorozu's call, widening further as Midoriya's team, appearing as nothing more than a green and silver blur, rocketed between several shards of ice in a prodigious display of agility. How Midoriya remained surefooted enough to jump between the tumbling shards of ice was anyone's bet, but Shoto had his hands full simply keeping his team upright, let alone defending against such a tenacious attack.
A final leap put the duo on an intersecting path with their own, Midoriya's poison-green eyes narrowed with a razor focus making Todoroki's blood run cold in a completely different manner than his quirk.
An uncomfortably familiar weight settled over the dual element user in that moment. It was the first time he'd ever been targeted by his classmate so candidly, the first time since the beginning of the sports festival that Izuku Midoriya had pursued him with such frightening intent.
His first experience being prey.
Perhaps it was that his right side was so preoccupied with their landing, who knows, it could have been his body's instinctual reaction to a perceived threat, but as Midoriya rapidly gained on their position, and without any conscious input on his part, a malevolent orange flame sprouted along the length of his left arm, singeing the sleeve of his PE uniform in an instant.
What was he doing?
Frozen between putting the involuntary flames to use or being rendered helpless in the face of Midoriya's last minute assault, Todoroki found himself for once faced with a crippling indecision.
Hellflame flared up in response to his racing emotions, but as his opponent reached out with a metal-coated hand, he feared that he'd be late to react either way. Kaminari's quirk was useless in this situation, and both Momo and Iida were busy keeping their formation steady.
He wouldn't make it in time.
"AAAnnnd time's…. UP!"
…
What?
Todoroki remained primed for a fight, but he needn't have bothered. Midoriya had halted his pursuit almost immediately, his bizarre quirk morphing back into the board he so frequently used. He glided away, seemingly without a care in the world, effortlessly dodging the last of the debris falling to the field below.
The sudden shift in the boy's actions was startling to Todoroki whose flames still danced threateningly along the length of his arm. And it wasn't until moments later that he'd gained enough control to stamp down on the unwelcome inferno.
Todoroki listlessly guided his team to the ground on a pathway of frost, the cries of the announcer and the crowd barely registering to his senses. His team had secured a decisive second-place finish, but the results paled in comparison to his actions and what exactly they meant going forward.
Heterochromatic eyes narrowed at the green-haired boy that landed so gracefully nearby.
Shoto seethed with fury. Not at Midoriya of course; holding his competitor at fault for competing would be, as Aizawa-sensei would say, the height of irrationality.
No, his ire was firmly directed inwardly. Did he really have so little control? Would he default back to that man's power at the slightest threat?! Todoroki internalized the doubt as best he could, not even deigning his father with a passing glance as he absorbed the information Midnight was relaying onstage.
He had to do better.
Midoriya had coaxed those damned flames out of him, effortlessly, and against his will, but it could never happen again.
Taking a few deep breaths to regain a level head, Todoroki accepted a hand down from his perch from Iida, the studious boy going on about their performance in the event. He nodded along politely, but couldn't help his constant observation of Midoriya where he stood with his single, unremarkable teammate. Regardless of the boy's motivations, his strength alone made him an opponent that had to be overcome.
Todoroki knew firsthand that power was often the result of overcoming hardship, so what was it that drove the green-haired teen to such lengths? Izuku was a puzzle that Shoto simply couldn't solve…
Well, there was one way to find out…
Against his better judgement, Todoroki let out a deep sigh and made his way over to the green-haired boy, steeling himself for the conversation he intended to broach.
oooOo Izuku oOooo
Izuku was obviously secure in his team's placing in the Cavalry battle, having retained their ten-million-point headband for the entire allotted time frame. But the results clearly displayed across every screen in the arena came with a bit of a surprise.
1. Team Shinso - 10,000,705
2. Team Todoroki - 1,625
3. Team Bakugo - 1,290
4. Team Kendo - 605
He'd seen the team led by the orange-haired girl from class 1-B frozen by Todoroki earlier on in the event, but apparently they'd freed themselves soon enough to capitalize on the mayhem he'd caused in the last couple of seconds.
"Deku, what the fuck were you doing on Skeletor's team?!
Katsumi stomped her way over from where Izuku could see her team watching with mixed emotions. Uraraka, having spent the most time with the explosive blonde since the start of term, simply appeared amused, having expected some kind of confrontation once the event had ended. Krishima and Sero, however, looked like they didn't know what to think.
But more importantly, Skeletor?
Izuku glanced over at Shinso where he stood a few meters away, trying to match the nickname to the person. The teen had separated himself from Izuku almost immediately once Katsumi had made her presence known. That, combined with the fact that the blonde had clearly already formed her own opinion of the boy, was enough to connect the dots. Kacchan had mentioned a 'Skeletor' in passing, but never went into more detail concerning their encounter.
"Ah, the rude one," Shinso drawled, cutting through Izuku's thoughts. "Come to make more empty promises? How's it feel down there in third place?"
Izuku's eyes shot open at the slight, uncomfortably aware of the impending explosion. But as soon as he had that thought, another, more important realization asserted itself.
He spun around, clamping his right hand over his girlfriend's mouth, restraining her rage-fueled struggles with his left. Crimson irises flashed dangerously as the girl's palms sparked even moreso, but instead of cowering, Izuku leveled her with a glare that conveyed the seriousness of the situation.
Izuku may have cooperated with Shinso for a single event, but it had hardly been of his free will. He was well aware that from this point onward, they were nothing more than competitors, and knowing Shinso, that included employing any underhanded tactics he could. Considering that his memory loss had begun when he'd responded to Shinso's call, it only made sense that his quirk, whatever it may have been, required some kind of trigger to activate.
Izuku still needed a bit of time to work out the finer details, but in the meantime, there was no way in Tartarus that he'd let Kacchan speak around the guy, no matter how pissed it made her.
Katsumi stilled in his arms after a moment, nonverbally demanding an explanation with a glare as he released his hold on her.
He shook his head. Not here.
With his warning delivered, Izuku returned his gaze to Shinso himself, observing the scowl slowly creeping across his gaunt features. Skeletor indeed.
Unwilling to speak with the boy any further, Izuku instead bowed slightly, hoping the boy would understand the sentiment. The action earned a scoff from Kacchan by his side, but Izuku didn't let it bother him.
Shinso walked away after that, slipping back into the crowd of students, perhaps looking for any of his classmates that made it through to the next round. Izuku wasn't quite sure if any other general studies students had made it past the obstacle course, let alone moved on to the tournament event, but Shinso was enough of an unknown to worry about on his own.
Izuku stood wordlessly at Kacchan's side, neither needing to address the results of the events thus far. They both knew that everything would be settled for real during the one on one tournament, all that was left to do now was wait for the matchups themselves.
They didn't have to wait too long.
Midnight snapped her whip to gain the attention of the assembled students. "Due to logistics with balancing the tournament brackets, the two highest ranking students from the fifth-place team will also move on!
The team in question, which also happened to be the squad whose headband Izuku had stolen initially, seemed to have a quiet discussion amongst themselves. A moment later, the captain with the steel-body quirk, and the girl with vines for hair stepped forward with determination shining in their eyes.
Izuku had a feeling that just because the ten-million points were no longer relevant, didn't mean he no longer had a target on his back. Not that it meant much in a tournament setting, he'd have to defeat everyone in the end anyway, after all.
"Now, behold!" Midnight gestured sharply with the hand not holding her whip, the motion having an interesting effect on the woman's attributes, but Izuku was far more interested in the display behind her.
The largest monitor lit up with a jaunty ping, the first-round brackets plastered in bold print mirrored in every screen in the stadium. The rumbling crowd mimicked Izuku's racing heart as he took in the names of every relevant matchup.
– First Round Matchups –
Midoriya Izuku - Tokage Setsuna
Kendo Itsuka - Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
Todoroki Shoto - Komori Kinoko
Sero Hanta - Yaoyorozu Momo
Bakugo Katsumi - Kirishima Eijiro
Uraraka Ochako - Yanagi Reiko
Shinso Hitoshi - Shiozaki Ibara
Iida Tenya - Kaminari Denki
"Tch—" Katsumi scowled, "Looks like you lucked out, nerd, you've postponed getting your ass kicked for now. See ya' in the finals…"
He laughed lightly in response. "You sure you won't have trouble with all the 'side characters,' Kacchan?" Seeing that they wouldn't be in 'battle mode' for a while, he slipped his hand into her own, nudging her shoulder playfully. She determinedly avoided his gaze, but he smiled when she didn't pull her hand away.
Izuku turned away from the screen as someone tapped him softly on the shoulder. Out of a newborn paranoia, Izuku made sure to check who it was before uttering a word, but as he took in Todoroki's familiar appearance, he relaxed a fraction. He was unsure of what the stoic boy wanted, but at least conversing with him, Izuku didn't run the risk of his mind being tampered with.
"I suppose you might be growing tired of this, Midoriya, but would you care to take a walk? There are some things I'd like to discuss with you…"