She's the Man

Chapter 12: Four Way Rivalry

The Zero bots lingered over the group, intimidating and threatening. Students all came to a halt at the massive obstacle, all trying to think of ways to bypass the mecha problem.

"Any ideas, Izumi?"

"We could go over them, they're slow moving robots, but we'd have to find the right opening to-" she trailed off as Todoroki stepped ahead of them.

"So, these are the robots you all fought in the entrance exam." His eyes narrow. "Humph, if they'd gone through this much trouble, they should have come up with something better." Ice formed around his shoes, and palm and he used it to skate through the small battalion of smaller opponents and aim straight for the big guns. "Especially since my old man is watching."

As the armored hand aimed straight at him he brought his power up and a whirlwind of snow and ice cloaked the attack robot and its followers. The robots became frozen solid and Todoroki slipped through the legs.

"He stopped them!" One student said aloud.

"Between their legs, let's go!"

Izumi narrowed her eyes, and gasped as she saw the ice thawing out.

"No wait!" She shouted as someone rushed past her trying to follow Todoroki. "They're thawing out! SHIT!" Izumi sprinted ahead and punched her legs to the near break limit. She zipped in and grabbed the student by the waist soaring through just as the robot collapsed.

"Izumi? IZUMI!?' Izuku shouted out wide eyed and rushed over to the broken robot. Relief swam over him when he heard her coughing from the otherside. "Izumi are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine… we barely made it." She looked back at the robot then down at the student she'd grabbed. Her smile a bit shaky. "Sorry about that, but I don't think we want anyone to die today." She got off him and started running after Todoroki. "Todoroki you bastard! You did that on purpose! I'm gonna make you pay for that you!"

Tetsutetsu stayed where he was on the ground a moment, his eyes wide, and face flushed. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. He'd run straight forward to rush under the robot… had heard a girl shout, and turned to see who it was. The last thing he remembered was getting a face full of soft breast as he landed on the other side of the collapsed robot with her on top of him.

Had she… had she saved him? Wasn't that the girl who had said she'd show no one mercy? He stood up watching her run away and disappear behind clouds of dust. She had such guts, and pride, and on top of that a compassionate heart that didn't even want one of her competitors to get hurt. He started to jog, his face beat red and head clouded by hormones. It was the first time he'd ever been held by a girl that wasn't his family. It was making him feel, funny.

"What a woman!"

Izuku in the meantime followed Bakugo, Sero, and Tokoyami's example by scaling up the large robot using their quirks. He had to dodge and eye for the right footing which put him behind the pack, but at least he made it to the otherside without much difficulty.

He hoped Izumi was really alright. She'd been going pretty fast and he knew that kind of speed was hard on their body. After having a long talk with All Might about the dos and don'ts of their quirks, he felt he knew a lot better on the restrictions their quirk had.

~Flashback~

"Welcome to lessons with Papa Might!" All Might said in full muscle form, his grin wide as ever. He looked down at his twins nodding his head in approval of their comfortable work out attire. "Today I'm going to give you the basic rundown on how One for All works."

"Isn't it just an ability enhancer?" Izumi asked crossing her arms. "That's what grandpa said, anyway."

"He's not mistaken, but there's more to this quirk than just the strength it gives you. If you truly want to master your quirk, you must know everything you can about it, it's strengths, it's weaknesses, how much you can use, how much to hold back, etc."

"Alright, then what exactly does one for all do to our bodies?" Izumi questioned.

"It's a bit hard to explain… but think of it as an extension of your body. The more you strengthen yourself as a person, the stronger your quirk becomes. It's the collective energy that's been passed down through our family from generation to generation, and it's engraved in your DNA."

"I see…" Izuku held his chin. "So it's not a matter of using it or turning it on and off."

"That's right, Izuku my boy, even as you're standing here with me, One for All lives inside you, feeding your body energy. That is the true secret of One for All.

"If that's the case then it's not just speed and strength… Grandpa said it also helps us with Dexterity, Fortitude, and Charisma." Izumi concluded.

"Yes, the Charisma he mentioned is pheromones. Those probably won't take effect until later in life, but it's a key factor when becoming sociable with other people particularly those of the opposite sex."

"Yeah you can skip that," Izumi grunted and waved her hand in the air. "What about Fortitude, and Dexterity?"

"Dexterity is in essence your agility. It's your react time, your finesse, and grace when moving around." He rubbed his chin a bit. "As for Fortitude it's your resistance against pain and physical damage."

"Izuku has more of than then I do," Izumi pointed out with a grimace. "I'm still working on getting used to the pain."

"That is true, but I've noticed you're pretty agile, more so than your brother. You've a natural movement in your body and it helps you to avoid attacks and move in fighting. This makes up for your lack of fortitude that your brother is superior in."

He motioned out to the beach spreading his arms out.

"We will work on lessening your weaknesses, and improving your strengths."

"Alright, but first I have a question." Izuku held up a hand. "If our strengths and weaknesses are so different, wouldn't it be better to focus on us individually rather than training us together?"

"No, you two are different, but you're also the same. Look at each other." He waited until Izumi and Izuku faced each other. "You must learn from each other, as well as me. What one of you lacks the other possesses. You will always be stronger together then you will ever be a part. You're like the earth and sea, living together in joint harmony, while also consistently battling each other for supremacy. Izuku you're like the Earth, powerful and sturdy.. Izumi you're like the sea, swift and agile. There will come a time when the two of you may have to battle to see who is stronger, and when that day comes, the world will be watching."

~End of Flashback~

Izuku narrowed his eyes and pushed forward. He was pretty sure All Might knew that today might just be the day he and Izumi would have to compete against each other. In order to show their father just how much they'd learned and improved, he had to get to the next event, and the event after that, until there was only one left. If he had his way, Izuku Midoriya would be the winner of this tournament.

"Alright then, time to catch up!" Izuku sprinted faster pushing his legs harder to rush past students. He came to a screeching halt when he made it to the fall and stare dat teh wide open trenches. "Whoa! When did they do this?" He looked out, spotted Izumi slowly making her way across. "Hmm? Why she going so slow?"

He backed up and leapt across, going from stone to stone. The other students had all variety of methods of getting across. Flying, jumping, speed rope… with as big as a lead Izumi had he wondered why she'd slowed down.

"Izumi!" He made it to where she was about to cross again. "What happened?"

"Blame your damn boyfriend." She pointed out in the distance to where Bakugo was almost to the end. "The jerk knocked me out of the air, I nearly crashed into the pit."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just being cautious is all." She made another jump across stumbling some and crouching down to steady herself. Izuku followed behind her helping her up but she waved him off. "My legs feel wobbly after that near fall, I'm just waiting to get the feeling in them again."

"Oh, that's- GEH!" Izuku went blue as he watched her aura suddenly sparked with fury.

"When I do, the first thing I'm gonna do is kick that worthless Bakugo upside the head!" She clenched her fist and made a running start before leaping across the rocks again. She paled as her landing wasn't the cleanest and the fear of falling made her choke some.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Izuku offered and got a death glare in response.

"Like hell, Why are you even still waiting for me? Go ahead!"

"No, I won't leave you behind. We're gonna finish this together, Izumi." He took her hand smiling. "There's gonna be plenty of time to be rivals later, but we both have to get to the end first."

Izumi looked down at his hand, her breath calmer and she smiled a bit

"Don't regret that decision later."

"I won't."

Todoroki had taken a wide lead, but the minefield was proving to be a pain in the ass. He couldn't use his eyes, or it would give his opponents a clean path down the field and that would give the faster runners like Izumi, Bakugo and Iida all a chance to catch up to him.

"Just relax… move quick and precise… he watched his step, keeping his feet moving and not stalling for anything. He heard the explosions behind him, and was gonna put it off as his competitors losing their footing… but then heard Bakugo laughing.

"Heh! This doesn't bother me at all!" Bakugo passed him in one quick charge, his hand stretching out to push Todoroki back. "Asshole, don't go making war proclamations to the wrong guy!"

He fired off a blast, Todoroki jerking back to avoid it but snagging Bakugo's hand, freezing it in his palm to slow it down. They pushed and shoved even as their feet continued to work through the field.

Izuku and Izumi arrived at the minefield at the same time, panting and cursing at how far they'd fallen behind at The Fall obstacle.

"We shouldn't have relied on our quirk so much in the beginning." Izumi complained looking around at all the people scattered on the field. "There's too much distance between us and the leaders, and too many people in our way.

"I know, and there's no way we could use our quirk without setting off a bunch of explosions." Izuku agreed looking around. "Maybe if we…"

"Explosions…" Izumi's brain went into overdrive as she thought of the way Bakugo had handled the Fall obstacle. Her eyes suddenly sparked with life and she turned to her brother grinning evilly. "That's it Izuku! She grabbed him by the arm and shirt. "I'm gonna throw you!"

"Huh?!" Izuku stared at her.

"I'm not leaving you behind, and both of us can't do my idea or the timing will be off, so I'm gonna toss you in as far as I can. You'll have to fend for yourself from there." She started putting power into her arms and Izuku panicked.

"Whoa! Wait a minute… IZUMI!"

"Make like a plane, Izuku!" She shouted and had him screaming high pitched as she tossed him and pushed power outward sending him flying across the field.

"AHHHH!"

"Wow…" She backed up laughing a bit. "He went farther than I expected. Alright, here goes nothing!" She ran forward and leapt high and long, she'd taken a quarter of the field and stared at the ground as she made her descent downward. She clearly saw the outline of a mine and braced herself for impact. She landed and the moment the mine went off she pushed more power out the combined thrust of her quirk and the mind sending her soaring and flying.

The move wasn't as graceful or as clean as she would have liked, the force of it was deafening and she felt the shake returning to her legs as she landed and repeated the process, quickly catching up to her opponents. She had to give Bakugo credit for one thing, this flying by explosion wasn't easy… but he made it look effortless.

Speaking of Bakugo, he and Todoroki were in an all out running brawl. Both were fighting for the top spot, gritting their teeth, cursing and shoving at each other, completely focused and unaware of the dangers behind them. They heard the scream first, both glancing up to see what it was only to get knocked down by a falling Izuku as he landed right on top of them. Pink dust exploded around their collapsed bodies.

"Owowowowow…" Izuku groaned, his eyes spinning. He had visions of punk fluffy clouds dancing in his head. "I lived?"

"You won't be living for long if you don't get off me now, Deku!" Bakugo snarled in response, then gasped as Izumi soared overhead of them. She glanced down, grinned wickedly and shot out a peace sign.

"Thanks for the assist, bro."

"Izumi!" Shaking off the daze Izuku gawked at his sister. "You did it on purpose?"

"No, but I lucked out!" She shouted over her shoulder, landing on the other side of the minefield in one last burst and making a run for it.

"That little-" Todoroki grit his teeth and shoved up onto his feet freezing the ground, no longer concerned of who was behind him. He gave chase.

"Oh hell no! I won't let that bitch beat me!" Bakugo shoved up as well and blasted off in pursuit. Izuku shakily got to his feet, anger and annoyance feeding his own desire to win… but how could he catch up?

He stepped onto Todoroki's ice… and suddenly remembered how Izumi had used it in the beginning of the race, using her speed and quirk to skate across it.

"My turn… thanks for the assist, Izumi." He slipped a little at first, but the moment he got his footing he let his hands build with power. He crouched low and let his quirk propel him forward like a rocket on skates. The force of it was faster than he'd expected. He caught up to the lead pack nearly in a blink. He jumped, vaulting over Todoroki and his sister in one leap and landed right in front of her. Izumi tripped and collided with Todoroki and Bakugo causing a three way pile once again.

Izuku didn't look back, he focused on his goal that was ahead of him. He could hear the stream of curses, hear the crackle of Todoroki's eyes, the boom of Bakugo's explosions, and the electric sizzle of his sister's power. Still he refused to look back. He was in the tunnel, could see the light at the end, and in one final boost he leapt into the light and claimed Victory.

Izumi panted as teh strain on her legs put her in fourth place behind the boys, she collided with Bakugo landing on top of him.

"Ow! Damn it! Watch where you're going!" He shoved her off and got to his feet, only to get slugged in the face.

"Next time get out of the way!" She yelled back at him. The two bumped heads, their tempers rising.

"This is all your fault! I would have won if it wasn't for you!" Bakugo accused.

"Oh really? Well next time we're in a competition, remind me to give you a handicap." She retorted.

"Bitch!"

"Jerk!"

"Deku-kun!" Ochaco zipped past them panting, and broke up the fight. Ochaco ran straight for Izuku who was wiping his tears of joy and turning towards her. "You got first place that was amazing! Damn this is so frustrating!"

"Oh uh well…" He blushed at her being so close to him and hugged his face to hide it. Bakugo grunted and Izumi had to smirk.

"Looks like I'm not the only one you have competition with." Izumi said smugly.

"Tch, I don't know what you're talking about." He averted his gaze shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Keep telling yourself that, Bakugo." She rushed over to her brother to hug him "Damn you Izuku! I want to be mad but I can't!" She nuzzled him laughing. "You were amazing!"

"I told you I wouldn't regret it." Izuku grinned and scratched his cheek. "You helped me in the end there."

"You helped yourself… I just got you halfway onto the field." She pointed a finger at him. "I'm not helping you again though. This next event you're completely on your own, you got that?"

"Yeah, same goes." He held out his hand and Izumi grasped it the two squeezing palms.

Todoroki caught his breath, and looked up at the two twins. Frustration and anger boiled in his gut, and was quickly put out at the sight of Izumi's bright happy smile. He should be annoyed with her… but he couldn't find the energy to. She was doing exactly what she had set out to do, and that was win.

It wasn't just her either. Her brother was proving to be a truly admirable adversary. If he wanted to do as he'd planned and win the tournament, he'd have to focus more on their abilities, and less on his feelings concerning both the Midoriya twins.

While they waited for the kids that had fallen behind to finish the race, those that finished were given downtime to recover. For the most part all the injuries were scrapes and bruises and easily healed. Izumi found a quiet spot to sit and recovery her stamina and work the cramps out of her legs.

She wanted to calm herself down after that last rush, and think of how she could improve in the next event. Her thoughts didn't get far, because she had no idea what to expect next. One thing was for sure, for all the praise she had in the world for him, somehow Izumi had managed to underestimate her twin brother.

He was in first place leading into the next round, and Izumi wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing for him. If previous tournaments showed any indication, it was that second events always gave the underdogs the advantage, and a chance to turn the tide.

"Hey, Midoriya girl!"

The sudden gruff voice had Izumi opening her eyes and looking into the face of the boy she'd saved earlier.

"Can I help you?"

"My name is Tetsutetsu, and I've come to offer my thanks." Tetsutetsu said placing a hand over his heart. "You didn't need to, but you risked your life to save mine. I'm grateful."

"Better to try and save you, then watch you die." She stood up. "There's too much tragic death in the world as it is."

"I wouldn't have died…" he hardened into his steel form, showing off his quirk. The sight of it both impressed her, and had Izumi's eyes twitching in irritation."

"Oh… well that's embarrassing."

"Don't be!" He got in closer and had her backing into the wall of the stadium. "It was truly admirable! He bunched his fist and raised it up. "You didn't hesitate to save someone even though you were in the middle of a competition. You could have gotten seriously hurt or been killed and I owe you for that."

"No, really…" she held up her hand placing it over his fist. Tetsutetsu felt the blush rushing to his face at the contact. "You don't owe me anything, Tetsutetsu-kun."

"I do! It's part of my bode. I always pay my debts!" He took her hand and clasped it between both of his. "No matter what the next event is, I will support you. You can count on me!"

"You sure you want to do that?" She asked and wriggled free from his hands, feeling a bit frazzled from the intimate contact. "Helping out a rival?"

"Yes, I swear it to you." He looked her straight in the eyes… and Izumi could see how serious he was about this. Her lips curve and she grabbed his hand again, but this time lifted it up in a firm grip to seal their promise.

"Alright, I'm counting on it!"

"Leave it to me!" He used his free hand to jerk a thumb at himself. "I'll make sure both of us get to the finals!"

~Ask Briry~

Briry: Yay! I had wanted to give more screen time to Tetsutetsu, he and Kirishima are two of my favorite characters because of their manly and honest personas. So next chapter is the calvary battle and it looks like Tetsutetsu is gonna be on Izumi's team. Who will come out on top? What will change from canon? You'll find out soon!

Next Chapter: Cavalry Craze!