At some point prior to the beginning of the second tier, Deku was going to one of the lounge rooms in the stadium to get a can of soda from one of the vending machines. Thus far, things were going in a routine fashion until he lowered the can after the second sip, whereupon he got an interesting surprise…

"We got an interesting situation, nerd."

Deku nearly dropped his can of Sprite. "Kacchan! What are you doing here?"

Kacchan crossed his arms. "Ya know, for a kid with like a billion Quirks, your head is full of bricks. I just wanted to talk trash to ya before I kicked your ass this round."

Deku gasped and nearly jumped out of his shoes. "YOU'RE my next challenger!?"

"OK, YOU REALLY ARE STUPID!"

Deku rubbed the back of his head and smiled nervously. "Wow…that's an interesting 180 from being happy this morning!"

Kacchan got in Deku's face and backed him against a wall. "Listen, nerd, you better gimme all ya got, 'cause I'm NOT gonna show any mercy! YA HEAR ME!?"

Deku did his best to stand tall and put on his best angry face. "Then neither am I! I don't care what you think about me, Kacchan, because no matter who wins this tournament, I'll be happy knowing that not only do I have a legendary hero backing me, but a kind, beautiful girlfriend who'll believe in me no matter what!"

Kacchan didn't respond verbally…not at first, anyways. He just shot the meanest, deadliest glare at Deku that he could possibly muster. Despite doing his best to stand strong, Deku just wanted to crumble when faced with that look. Nevertheless, he kept up his façade. Then, Kacchan responded:

"Fine. I see how it is…nerd. Just know this…"

"What?"

"I don't care how hot IcyHot is, or how proud All Might is of you. I'm still not gonna back down."

Deku leaned in a little closer to Kacchan. "I didn't expect you to."

Kacchan paused for a moment, but kept his glare fixed on Deku.

"OK, it's your funeral."

Kacchan left, and once Deku was sure he was out of his sight, he let out a huge sigh of relief. In spite of the fear permeating him, he vowed not to back down, just like Tom Petty.

The second tier of battles got on, and Shishida beat Iida, Tokage beat Uraraka and Dragutin beat Tsuburaba. In another notable matchup, Tetsutetsu faced off against Lazar.

"All right, you Serb bastard, prepare for the power of…REAL STEEL!"

"HA! My Eye Beams can pierce any steel known to man!"

Tetsutetsu turned his skin into steel and charged straight at Lazar, who fired one of his most powerful Eye Beams at him. At first, Lazar's attacks appeared to have no effect, and in fact, he had to try to dodge when Tetsutetsu was almost upon him.

"STEEL FIST!"

Tetsutetsu attempted to punch Lazar with one of his steel fists, but Lazar's tuck and roll helped him to avoid it.

"Lazar dodges Tetsutetsu's Steel Fist, but this battle isn't over yet!" said Present Mic.

Once again, the students had plenty to say about this:

"Come on, Lazar!" said Zorana. "You can do it!"

"Show that steel moron who's boss!" said Milovan.

"Go Tetsutetsu!" Kirishima pumped his fists.

"Tetsutetsu's Quirk is impressive, but he's not as fast as Lazar," said Deku.

Lazar was doing his best to get a shot or two off at Tetsutetsu. However, the latter was aggressively closing in on him with every opportunity he could get. Still, as Deku said, Lazar had superior speed and agility compared to the single-track Tetsutetsu, who was having a hell of a time landing any blows on him. His only hope seemed to be that his Quirk blocked Lazar's weaker attacks.

(I need to get farther away from him!) thought Lazar. (It's my only hope of using a more powerful attack, and if I use too many of my weaker attacks, I'll have a hard time seeing anything in the next round!)

Thus, Lazar put everything he had into trying to make the most distance between him and Tetsutetsu. Sure enough, Tetsutetsu was getting tired out from trying in vain to hit Lazar, who managed to give himself the distance he needed to unleash one of his most powerful Eye Beams. Combined with the fact that Tetsutetsu's skin was losing its durability, Tetsutetsu just couldn't help but take the brunt of the attack and reel from it hard, which translated into…

"Tetsutetsu is out!" exclaimed Present Mic. "Lazar Mihailović advances to the next round!"

Lazar pumped his fists in triumph as he got another great round of applause.

In the next matchup, Rajko beat Kendo, so it was Jiro vs. Sladjana next.

"Give up, Jiro!" said Sladjana. "Your Earphone Jack Quirk won't be any match for my Statue Quirk!"

"You got a big mouth, Sladjana! Are you woman enough to back it up?"

"You'll see just how woman I am!"

Sladjana ran straight at Jiro, who attempted to stop her by plugging her earphone jacks into the amplifier jacks on her forearms and slamming them on the ground, causing the ground to vibrate and shatter. However, even before the shattering ground could throw her off her feet, Sladjana jumped and did a front flip through the air, much to Jiro's surprise.

"Sladjana manages to dodge Jiro's Heartbeat Distortion attack, but it's still anybody's fight!" exclaimed Present Mic.

"Get her, Jiro!" Kaminari pumped his fists. "Show her how we do things at UA! JIRO! JIRO! JIRO!"

Sladjana jumped around, hopping about the ledges and precipices produced by Jiro's Heartbeat Distortion. Speaking of Jiro, the hearing hero tried another move with her wrist amplifiers when she attempted to use a wall of sound to impede Sladjana's progress. Sladjana tried to counter by turning into a statue, and it did seem to work for a little bit. As a matter of fact, Sladjana's statue form ended up reflecting quite a bit of sound back at Jiro, whose amplifiers got blown back by her own sound.

"What the…!?"

After turning back into her human form, Sladjana kept running and jumping, hoping to win against Jiro, who tried to use her amplifiers again, this time shooting them directly at Sladjana. However, Sladjana avoided them not only by jumping, but also by tucking and rolling. Still, Jiro smiled.

"You want a piece of me? Check this out!"

While Sladjana was still approaching her, Jiro tried a new tactic: she used her earphone jacks as lassoes and attempted to tie Sladjana up. While Jiro managed to ensnare her, this also happened in midair just as Sladjana activated her Quirk again, causing her to hurtle towards Jiro like an anvil.

"Uh-oh!"

Jiro attempted to dodge the falling Sladjana statue. Unfortunately for her, she forgot to let go of the statue, so Sladjana ended up slamming into her and knocking her out of the ring.

"Jiro is knocked out!" exclaimed Present Mic. "Sladjana Jerković advances to the third tier!"

Once again, Sladjana got a healthy round of applause, and after blowing some kisses to the audience, she went to check up on Jiro:

"Are you OK, Jiro?"

Jiro rubbed her back. "Yeah…I guess. You hit like several tons of bricks, though."

Sladjana chuckled. "I've gotten similar comments about my statue form before! Still, you fought well!"

Jiro smiled and nodded. "Thank you. So did you."

While Jiro and Sladjana were slugging it out on the battlefield, another meeting between students was to take place…

"Hey, Todoroki."

Todoroki paused the song she was listening to on her phone and removed her earbuds.

"Oh, hey there, Tsu! What's up?"

"I've been looking at the tournament chart, and since you're my next opponent, I wanted to ask something of you…"

"Yes?"

Tsu clasped her hands together. "Please, don't use your ice power on me when we fight, ribbit."

Todoroki scratched her head and frowned. "Why are you asking this of me? Aren't we allowed full usage of our Quirks? Besides, if I don't use my ice, I'll overheat and die."

Tsu tapped her index fingers together. "I don't think you understand. With my Quirk, I'm extremely weak against the cold, and I'm scared of what would happen if I got trapped inside your ice. I'm asking you as a friend: please, have mercy on me!"

Todoroki looked into Tsu's round eyes and noticed her eyelids and lower lip trembling as if she was going to cry. In the past, before her fateful battle with Deku at the Sports Festival, the bicolor beauty would've shown less mercy than Slayer. However, having seen the little frog girl cry once already, the decision was obvious…

"Very well, Tsu." Todoroki smiled. "If it means that much to you, I won't use my ice against you. You are one of my best friends, after all."

Tsu smiled as well. "Thank you, Todoroki! You're such a noble soul, ribbit!"

Todoroki giggled. "So are you."

Todoroki gave Tsu a big hug, which the latter returned, albeit not without complaint…

"Todoroki, you're one of my best friends, too, but do you have to smoosh your boobs against my face every time we hug?"

Todoroki blushed and let go of Tsu, also rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry! I keep forgetting that most of you girls are shorter than me!"

"It's all right. Actually, that was kinda cozy, ribbit."

"Really?"

"Well…except for the part where I nearly got suffocated, yes."

"Anyways, enough banter! Let's get ready for the match! Do your best, Tsu!"

Tsu nodded. "Ribbit."

After the field had been repaired, it was time for the next battle…

"Look out, party people!" exclaimed Present Mic. "It's another UA vs. Joreh matchup with Class 1-B's Reiko Yanagi taking on Joreh's Zorana Kralj! Will telekinesis win the day? Or will the Staff of Power live up to its name?"

Naturally, Yanagi and Zorana had words for each other:

"Your battle will be hopeless," said Yanagi. "That staff will be of no use here."

"Very strong words, Yanagi. Perhaps you should re-examine them."

With the Staff of Power drawn, Zorana charged at Yanagi, who just stood there.

(She's just standing there,) thought Zorana. (Is she mad?)

However, Yanagi wasn't mad, for she attempted to use her telekinesis Quirk to pry the Staff of Power from Zorana's hands.

"Yanagi is trying to steal the Staff of Power!" exclaimed Present Mic. "Zorana's trying to hold on, but can she maintain her grip!?"

Milovan wasn't so sure:

"Sister will have a hard time fighting her without the staff! Her hand-to-hand combat skills are good, but not as good as Sladjana's!"

Despite Zorana not being as skilled as Sladjana when it came to unarmed combat, and despite the hard jerk that resulted from Yanagi's initial pull, she not only kept a firm grip on the staff, but also kept her wits about her as she aimed a Shockwave Swipe at Yanagi, who tried her best to dodge it, but got knocked out of bounds.

"Yanagi is out!" said Present Mic. "Zorana Kralj advances to the third tier!"

Zorana got another round of applause and bowed.

After the battle, Zorana was heading off to the stands when she ran into…

"Sister! You did it!"

Milovan ran up to Zorana and gave her a big hug, which she gladly returned.

"Thank you for your support, dear brother. I've yet to win, but knowing that you're cheering me on gives me the courage to keep going. How are you feeling?"

"I won't lie, I'm still pretty discouraged from losing to Midoriya, but I'm feeling better now!"

"Glad to hear it."

After the battle between Yanagi and Zorana, it was time for Todoroki and Tsu to shine.

"Tsu, you may be one of my best friends, but your progress ends here!"

"Don't talk too tough now! Walk the walk, Todoroki!"

Indeed, Todoroki did her best to "walk the walk" by attempting to fry Tsu with her Wall of Flames. However, Tsu caught on to this and made a giant leap out of the way.

"Asui manages to dodge Todoroki's flames, but this battle isn't over yet!" exclaimed Present Mic.

Given that the matchup was between his girlfriend and one of his best friends, Deku was quite flustered:

"Oh man, I'm not sure who to root for! I mean, I love Shoko, but Tsu's a really good friend of mine and…"

"JUST ROOT FOR ONE OF 'EM, NERD!" shouted Kacchan.

Having leapt over Todoroki's Wall of Flames, Tsu attempted to grab her with her trademark tongue. However, Todoroki caught wind of the attempt and used her ice surfing to get out of the way, much to Tsu's protest:

"Todoroki! You said you wouldn't use your ice!"

"Hey, I said I wouldn't use it against you! I didn't say I wouldn't use it on anything else!"

Tsu shook her head in resignation, but nevertheless vowed to do her best to beat Todoroki. Despite Todoroki being amazingly fast while ice surfing, Tsu was no slouch with her frog-like running, either. Thus, the two girls engaged in a brutal ballet, Tsu attempting to grab Todoroki with her tongue and Todoroki attempting to burn Tsu with her fire.

(I need to put more distance between us!) thought Todoroki. (If I can do that, I'll be able to end this battle decisively!)

Thus, Todoroki did her best not only to keep ice surfing, but also to try to maintain her awareness of Tsu. Then, at one point, Todoroki remembered a scene from A Christmas Story where the character of Flick had gotten his tongue stuck to an icy flagpole and deduced that the same trick might work against Tsu. With this in mind, Todoroki found a place to stop and waited for Tsu to attempt to snatch her with her tongue. Naturally, Tsu did so, but Todoroki jumped out of the way at the last second, and sure enough, Tsu's tongue got stuck to the ice. Tsu attempted to yelp when she realized what happened, but it was rather difficult to do so, and she flailed about as she tried in vain to get her tongue unstuck.

"Uh-oh, looks like Asui's gotten herself into a sticky situation!" said Present Mic. "Since she's been immobilized, Todoroki advances to the next round!"

Everyone cheered for Todoroki, who didn't take too long in waving to the crowd, for she had to unfreeze Tsu's tongue. Once Tsu retracted her tongue, she did her best to steady her breathing and get the feeling in her tongue back, while Todoroki ran over to check up on her:

"Tsu, are you OK?"

Tsu clenched her fists. "Todoroki, that was a naughty, evil thing you did! I told you not to use your ice against me, ribbit!"

Todoroki crossed her arms. "You were pretty vague on the definition of 'don't use your ice against me'. As far as I'm concerned, what I did was a legal move." Todoroki smiled. "Besides, I helped unfreeze your tongue, didn't I?"

Tsu glared at Todoroki. However, after trying to hold on to her anger for so long, the rainy season hero sighed.

"Oh, I can't be mad at you forever. You're one of my best friends. Besides, I guess I should be thankful that you unfroze my tongue."

"Glad you've forgiven me! Now let's go; the next match is about to start!"

Todoroki wrapped an arm around Tsu, and the little frog girl did the same as they exited the arena floor.

The next matchup was another exciting one, too: Kirishima vs. Kaminari, and both sides had something to say to each other:

"Bring it, Kaminari! I ain't afraid!"

"OK, here it comes!"

Kaminari unleashed a powerful electric shock at Kirishima, who immediately hardened himself in an attempt to stop the attack. Despite the impressive hardness of his Quirk, Kirishima could still feel Kaminari's electricity, which must have been at least 20,000 volts. Nevertheless, Kirishima held tough and gritted his teeth as he steeled himself against voltage that was higher than AC/DC. As the electricity continued, Red Riot could feel parts of himself chipping away. Even so, he vowed not to give up in the face of such overwhelming odds, for in his mind, to give up was the single unmanliest thing that any hero could do. Even if Kaminari was one of his best friends, he was like Tom Petty in that he wouldn't back down. Fortunately for the spiky red hero, persistence paid off when Kaminari had expended his electricity and left him with a brain that was fried more than the combined forces of KFC, Church's and Popeye's.

"OH YEAH!" Kirishima pumped his fists in triumph.

"Duh huh huh!" was Kaminari's only response.

"Looks like Kaminari has short-circuited!" said Present Mic. "Eijiro Kirishima is the winner!"

The crowd cheered for Kirishima, who waved back. Kacchan especially went wild:

"MY MAN! WHOO HOO!" Kacchan pumped his fists.

As for Jiro, she had her own, snarkier response to it:

"Oh man, he's a moron again!" Jiro tried to suppress laughter. "I can't believe he thought he could actually take that guy on!"

Soon enough, Jiro failed in her attempts to suppress laughing and cracked up harder than San Francisco in 1906.

Finally, it was time for a moment that several – if not all – people had been waiting for…

"All right, party people, things are gonna get heavy up in this house!" exclaimed Present Mic. "Our next showdown is between two of the bitterest rivals in UA: in one corner, the super-powered Izuku Midoriya, and in the other, the explosive Katsuki Bakugo!"

The crowd got revved up for this one more than a 454-powered Corvette, and naturally, both sides just had to do a pre-battle taunt:

"YOU'RE GOIN' DOWN, NERD!" shouted Kacchan.

"Bring it on, Kacchan! I'm not afraid!"

Naturally, Kacchan started things off by using his explosive power to randomly propel himself around the arena as he headed towards Deku, who fearlessly ran forwards as he tried to figure out a way to evade Kacchan.

(I remember Kacchan always led with his right side, but I gotta watch out for the left, too!)

Sure enough, rather than attempting to attack Deku with his right hand, Kacchan came out of left field – literally. Deku dove forward to evade this and just barely managed to avoid getting hit by Kacchan, who dug his heels into the ground and spun to face Deku.

"STUN GRENADE!"

Deku covered his ears and closed his eyes to shield himself from the effects of Kacchan's Stun Grenade. Fortunately, this worked, although by the time Deku was able to try to muster up Blackwhip, Kacchan had already moved on. Fortunately, it didn't take too long for the green bean to find the blond bomberanian, although…

"HOWITZER IMPACT!"

Deku attempted to counter the Howitzer Impact with…

"ST. LOUIS SMASH!"

Contrary to earlier in the year, Deku had been able to utilize more of One For All than he'd previously been able to, so the attack was not only powerful enough to counteract Kacchan's Howitzer Impact, but also blow Kacchan back. Even so, Kacchan managed to land on his feet before he could get knocked out of the arena.

"DAMN IT!" shouted Kacchan. "HOW THE CRAP DID YA BLOCK ME!?"

"You forgot one thing: I'm not the weak, nerdy Deku that you used to know! I've gotten stronger…faster…tougher! If you wanna beat me that bad, then keep doing your best, because I won't hold back!"

"THEN NEITHER WILL I! AP SHOT: AUTO CANNON!"

Kacchan attempted to fire some more rapid-fire explosive blasts at Deku, who jumped and ran around in an attempt to dodge them. He was doing an all right job of it so far, but it was clear to him that if he stayed the course and let Kacchan keep him on the defensive, then he would likely lose. Not wanting to be seen as the weak and nerdy Deku from ages past, Deku let loose with Blackwhip in an attempt to rope up Kacchan. However, the explosive blond caught wind of this and stopped firing long enough to evade it.

"COME ON! DID YA REALLY THINK I WAS GONNA FALL FOR THAT ONE!?" yelled Kacchan. "YOU'RE SUCH A DENSE FOOL!"

"That might not have worked, but I'm not done yet!"

Deku and Kacchan continued their deadly dance, while Present Mic continued his commentary:

"What a match! Neither side is willing to give an inch of ground!"

The match had even elicited cheering for both sides:

"Go, Deku!" shouted Todoroki. "Show Bakugo who's the best!"

"Come on, Bakugo!" shouted Kirishima. "Don't let him crush ya!"

"Win this one for Serbia, Midoriya!" shouted Lazar.

"You can do it, Bakugo!" shouted Sladjana.

"Come on, Deku!" shouted Uraraka. "We believe in you!"

"Let's get it, Bakugo!" shouted Ashido.

"Do your best, Midoriya!" shouted Zorana.

"Slava Bakugo!" shouted Dragutin.

Feeling the energy from their adoring fans, Deku and Kacchan kept fighting. At one point, Kacchan again attempted to knock Deku out of the ring, this time with a right hook, but Deku responded with a Delaware Smash, which failed to knock Kacchan out of the ring, but nevertheless succeeded in blowing him back a fair bit.

"ALL RIGHT, NERD, YOU'RE REALLY PISSIN' ME OFF! IT'S TIME I FINISHED YA FOR GOOD! AP SHOT: MACHINE GUN!"

Kacchan fired some more powerful explosive blasts at Deku, who did his best to dodge them, although a few shots came way too close for comfort. He tried using Blackwhip again, but because of the sheer power of the AP shots in addition to how close Kacchan was getting, he missed. Not even trying to throw Kacchan off with Delaware Smashes did anything appreciable. Deku wasn't quite out yet, but things weren't looking too good for him, either. In his mind, it was going to take an act of god, a real deus ex machina to get him anywhere close to victory.

Then, just when things looked like they might be tilting in Kacchan's favor, a sort of deus ex machina appeared to strike Deku: for reasons unknown to most – if not all – people, the green bean began to float away.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" exclaimed Deku.

"Looks like Midoriya's floating away!" said Present Mic.

This caused considerable consternation amongst the audience as well:

"Ochaco, don't tell me you're trying to unfairly influence the battle!" said Tsu.

Uraraka shook her head. "No! I swear, this isn't me! Even look!"

Ochaco pressed her hands together as if to cancel out her Quirk, and true to her word, Deku kept floating.

"Then how is he even floating!?" said Todoroki.

"I don't know, but he might be disqualified if he doesn't get back down," said Tokoyami. "We might even lose him for eternity."

"OK, I can sort of understand having two Quirks, but how does this guy have THREE Quirks!?" said Milovan.

"I don't know, but I'm glad he's training to become a hero!" said Lazar.

Zorana stroked her chin. "This seems vaguely familiar somehow…"

Zorana wasn't the only person to whom the situation seemed familiar…

(So the legends are true,) thought All Might.

As for Deku…to say that he was surprised by this new floating thing was the understatement of the century. He desperately flailed about, trying to get control of the situation.

(I need to get back down somehow! If I float away, then that's it for me! Kacchan's probably…wait, what if I…?)

Thinking quickly, Deku tried to "swim" in midair and orient his head towards the ground. Fortunately for him, it worked, and he was able to get some sort of control. However, it was clear that he'd need every ounce of control he could get, for Kacchan had taken notice:

"What the crap is he doin'? He's not gettin' away from me!"

Kacchan propelled himself up in the air with his explosive power. However, Deku had anticipated this, and responded in kind:

(One For All, Full Cowling, 45%!) "TEXAS SMASH!"

Deku used all the speed he could to aim a super-powered punch at Kacchan, not necessarily directly attacking him with it, but trying to use the air burst generated from the force of the punch to keep him away.

"WHAT THE CRAP!?"

For some reason, Kacchan froze briefly in midair when he saw Deku coming at him, and the air pressure generated from Deku's Texas Smash sent Kacchan hurtling back towards the arena like a meteor, where he crashed into an empty chair in the stands, much to the shock of nearby fans.

"Bakugo has been catapulted into the stands!" exclaimed Present Mic. "Izuku Midoriya will advance to the next tier!"

After coming back down, Deku waved to everybody with a smile on his face, not knowing what was to come…

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