Bakugo woke up and slowly opened his eyes. Then immediately slammed them shut when the bright white light burned his eyes. "Fucking hell..." He groaned out. He tried to sit up and only did after an unnecessary amount of difficulty. His body felt heavy and tried as if he woke up out of a really heavy nap.
"You're awake already? That's surprising, but good." An aged voice called out. The blond scowled and turned towards the small, old woman. Recovery Girl gave off an air of frailty as she regarded him. "You've only been in here for a few minutes. If you hurry, you might catch the rest of your exercise."
Bakugo didn't say anything at first, and rolled his way out the bed. "What the fuck did you do to me, hag? My body feels so..."
"Drained?" Recovery Girl supplied, giving him a flat look for his rudeness. "I used my quirk to heal you. You took a good few hits out there; a cracked jaw, broken nose, some bruised ribs, a few electrical burns on your hands." As she listed off, Bakugo got angrier and angrier until his anger broke, replaced by disbelief and no small amount of panic. Fucking Deku of all people did this to him. That thought hurt more than any of the injuries he sustained. "If you're well enough to stand there and brood, you're well enough to go back to class. Here," She tossed him some gummies. "These will help recover stamina. Eat them slowly. You might still feel some discomfort in your jaw otherwise."
Bakugo growled, but nodded. He wasted no time in storming out the room with the air of violent intent he was known for dialed up to 11. He needed to get back to the observation room and demand answers for what happened. There was simply no way Deku developed such a quirk so late in life. It was fucking impossible. There was no way he got that tall, and muscular out of fucking no where. He had to fucking cheat. Yes, Deku had to fucking cheat. Ever since he met that Piss-Eyes, he's been acting less like the fucking coward he is. That he's supposed to be.
He needed answers to rationalize this. There shouldn't be any way for Katsuki Bakugo to lose. Least of all to Deku. But he did, there was nothing he could do to change that fact.
Deku wasn't Deku anymore. He had a quirk. A strong one and he knew how to use it. It infuriated him to no end that he'd have to re-think his approach to that green-haired bastard
He kept thinking in circles while speed walking back to the observation room. He flung the door open.
"No." He hears Deku say. "No, it won't be."
Katsuki's eyes trail from Deku to the screen and he watches in renewed panic as the half and half bastard turns the entire building to fucking ice. Whatever he wanted to say, died in this throat and his eyes went wide.
"He completely immobilized the enemy without harming his ally or damaging the weapon." All Might pointed out while shivering. Seriously, they weren't that close and they could feel the frost from here. Todoroki really packed a lot of power but he expected no less from the son of Endeavor.
"He's too strong!" Kirishima chimed in while also shivering. He seriously regretted his costume choices right about now.
"And you said that that's not enough, Midoriya!? I get that he's your friend and all, but that's some serious ice!"
Izuku exhaled a cloud of white. "Believe me. It won't be enough."
"I fucking hate the cold." Rumi said while hugging her arms together and trying to free herself from the thick ice below her feet. She managed to crack the layer, only for another, thicker layer to appear in its place. Todoroki really didn't like Harushi did he? The ice didn't stop spreading until it got to her shins! It even covered her mental rabbit toes! She looked over to Harushi to see him in a similar predicament, only he made no attempt to free himself. He simply stood there, expression serious and arms crossed.
"So, that's how he wants to play, hm?" Ryoya said dangerously. "Give me your hand, Bunny-san." He said while extending a ki covered hand, "I'm sorry in advance if you get caught up in this."
Rumi slowly grabbed Ryoya's hand, and before she could even enjoy the feeling of his gloved hand or even ask what this was about to be, Ryoya took a deep breath. His ki extended from his hand and wrapped around her body, lazily floating around her like the wisps they were. It brought her an unimaginable amount of comfort and calm, and the warm feel overrode the chill. And then, Ryoya blew out a large, continuous stream of brilliant, beautiful blue fire up and around them, that melted the room in an instant. Rumi went from being uncomfortably cold to dangerously hot in a second and had it not been for his protection, she had no doubt she would've been scorched beyond belief.
"D - dude..." Rumi mouthed. This was the power Ryoya hid from her during their spars? Holy shit. He was even more of a monster than she thought before.
And what an exciting thought it was. Before she could even begin to process what she was feeling, the blue fire disappeared and Ryoya let go of her hand. She would be mildly disappointed by this, but wouldn't say anything, for now. Now, was the time for action.
"Aren't you going somewhere, Bunny-san?" Ryoya said while keeping his eyes firmly locked on the door. True to his word, he had no intention of moving. If Todoroki wanted a piece of him so badly, he'd have to come get it. And he'd learn to regret his choices.
Rumi gave him a look before her feral smirk appeared on her face. "Fuck yeah, pretty boy!"
And with that, she bound out of the room, making sure to take extra hard stomps to shatter the ice. It slowed her down a bit, but she didn't need speed for this.
"Okay, time out." Kaminari said while raising his hands up in a 'T' position. "He can breath fire!?"
"He melted the whole room in an instant! What the hell is up with these people!?"
Izuku only sheepishly chuckled at the looks he was getting. Even All Might seemed to be in a bit of disbelief. "It's uh, a recent development. But yes, he can."
"I didn't even know Harushi-kun could do that, Midoriya." Momo said with wide eyes. "How recent was this?"
"Like - um, the day we got the UA letters?"
"Amazing! You two continued to train even though you already secured your place at UA! You both got second and third place respectively, broke 100 points and still went above and beyond to improve! That's commitment right there!" All Might bellowed happily. He wouldn't say it out loud for the implication of favoritism, but he couldn't be more proud at Midoriya for his drive and determination. He'd already completed the task at hand, proved his power and skill as a quirkless and still deemed that wouldn't be enough. It was inspiring.
Ah yes, Izuku's number one weakness: positive reinforcement. He'd gotten better at taking praise at the dojo, but he still felt awkward every time.
"Er - Well, it's more like I always wanted to be a hero like you, right? The strongest, and one who saves everyone with a smile. So I can't afford to ease up, when I already started so far behind everyone else. I can't speak for Ryoya, his goals are different from mine, but I can say that working hard to achieve my dreams is a very small price to pay to one day be the Symbol for Quirkless." Izuku said with so much conviction that the room went silent. Bakugo looked livid. Ochako didn't even try to hide her blatant staring and admiration.
"Well said, Midoriya!" Iida chopped the air fiercely. "Your commitment to your goals is truly inspiring."
"Hell yeah, dude! That's so manly!" Kirishima added in.
"Wait!" Someone interjected. "No way you're quirkless! You two are overpowered as hell!"
"We're really not," Izuku waved off frantically. "We've just um, trained really hard."
"Midoriya-chan, kero." Tsuyu said calmly while touching her fellow greenette on the forearm. She would've touched his shoulder had it not been for the height difference. "You are nothing like someone who's as strong as you are usually is." She said bluntly.
"Well er, - "
"And I mean that in a good way, kero."
"I agree, Asui!" Toga suddenly said rather loudly.
"Call me Tsu."
"He's even all big, and tall and muscle-y!" Toga continued while getting in Izuku's personal space, tracing her small, lithe hands over his arms. Izuku froze like a deer in the headlights.
"That's not what I meant, but it works too, kero." Tsu continued plainly before gently removing the girl from Midoriya's person. Truthfully, she only did so be Ochako-chan looked murderous, and she'd seen her in both the battle trial and the quirk assessment test. That wasn't a power she'd want to be in the path of.
Izuku blushed up a storm before frantically trying to cover his face. Sure, Setsuna's teasing usually did get pretty touchy at times, but they were friends and he was used to it. Toga however, he was not prepared for.
"Wait, how didn't Usagiyama get burnt?" Jiro questioned while pointing an ear lobe towards the girl bounding down the halls on screen. "Golden literally lit the entire room on fire."
"Golden?" A curious green brow went up. He had heard her when she said it the first time, but he couldn't really ask because of how quickly someone changed the subject.
Jiro just shrugged. "He has gold eyes." She said with a flat look.
"Hey! So do I!" Toga chirped while pointing at her face.
Izuku cleared his throat. "Your eyes are more yellow, Toga-san. Ryoya's are different. But in any case, the reason Usagiyama-san didn't get burned was before of Ryoya using his ki to protect her from the heat." He explained while pulling his notebook out of thin air."
"Where'd you get that? Seriously, you just came from the trial building and didn't have it then." Sero couldn't help but to ask, but Izuku simply ignored him and scrolled through the pages.
"Ah, here it is." The green-eyed boy chimed. "Ki, especially as dense as mine or Ryoya's, can be manifested outside of the body as a raw energy. That's how you saw me um, take one of Katsuki's explosions earlier and how Usagiyama-san didn't get burned."
At the mention of his name, Bakugo flinched and he turned to give Izuku a dirty, dirty look. His mind reeled as is at his defeat and now seeing how strong this half-and-half fucker was and how easily Piss-Eyes answered, it only soured his mood. He did not need a reminder of his worse defeat and he made it known by audibly growling. Izuku sheepishly took a step back.
"Ah, it appears Usagiyama has encountered Todoroki."
All Might's simple sentence snapped everyone's attention back to the screen.
"Oi, Frosty!" Rumi shouted, grabbing Todoroki's attention. He didn't seem surprised to see her. He made enough ice to be a nuisance to someone like Harushi. An attack made solely for the purpose of buying time to get up to his level. He wasn't foolish enough to assume it would contain the firepower he saw during the entrance exam. "Surprised?" She said smugly. No, Shouto really wasn't."Turns out, you aren't the only pretty boy with some tricks up your sleeve."
At her taunt, Shouto narrowed his eyes. Normally, he would let such a taunt go. But right now, his ice itched beneath his skin, begging to be set free upon a certain fire user. He'd have to end this quickly, or at the very least, buy time for his teammate to get here.
"Shoji." Todoroki said into his transceiver. "Usagiyama is on the third floor. I'll leave her to you."
"Gotcha, will be there in a few minutes. I heard some fire crackling earlier, was that you?"
"No. I would never use his fire." Shouto said coldly. He turned his attention to Rumi and narrowed his eyes on her. "I have no interest in fighting you, Usagiyama."
That only pissed Rumi off more. She didn't respond verbally, instead growling and leaping off the walls at an incredible rate before closing the distance between the two. She threw a kick, hoping to shatter that ugly ice thing on the boy's face. Shouto ducked low, reflexes beaten into him coming to the surface. He tapped his hand on the floor and created an ice wave, hoping to simply freeze the rabbit girl in place, Usagiyama proved to be much faster than anticipated. The second her foot hit the floor, she bounded directly upward and into a ball, front flipping several times to build momentum.
"Luna Arc!"
Her heel came down with frightening amounts of power and fast enough that the air created a visible contrail following her foot. Ice erupted from the ground immediately, creating a small dome around Todoroki's body in an attempt to block the attack. It was all for naught, however as Rumi's foot shattered the ice like glass and even cracked the concrete. She felt no small amount of satisfaction at the shocked look on Todoroki's face, and used the opening to bounce up off of the foot, twist her body and catch him in the ribs with a mean roundhouse.
Todoroki flew back and grunted in pain before using his ice to keep himself steady.
'Damn it, she's more of a threat than I thought. I don't have time to waste on her. Harushi is the only one I'm looking to beat.' Todoroki thought before dropping the temperature even further. "Sorry," He says. "You're not my target here." He slammed his right foot slammed on the floor and the entire hallway froze over in an instant, several rigid and sharp looking ice spikes shooting towards the rabbit girl.
"That's the shit I like to see, Todoroki!" She shouted manically before running at the attack. She moved with impeccable grace, bobbing and weaving around the spikes and even using one of her incredibly powerful kicks to shatter one on contact. As she drew closer, Todoroki produced more and more ice until he started shivering. Rumi got within arm's length, reached out and grabbed Todoroki by his collar and punched him squarely in the stomach before springing up and driving both feet into his chest.
Shouto wheezed as every bit of oxygen flew out his body.
"Wow, you go, Usagiyama!"
"Yeah, girl power! Show that boy who's boss."
"She's really giving Todoroki-chan the business, kero."
Izuku watched on in rapt attention before his eyes noticed something.
"I think Todoroki-san just won." He said suddenly, getting everyone attention.
"What're you talking about Midori-bro? Usagiyama is pretty manly," Kirishima gained a few looks at this, "and she's kinda been rag-dolling him." The red-head pointed out with a tilt of the head. When someone as manly as Midori-bro spoke, he tended to listen.
"Look at Usagiyama's feet."
Everyone did as instructed and to their surprise, there was a small white spot on her purple, thigh-high boots, near her ankle. "What's that?"
"I don't know. But it looks like Todoroki-san touched her and..." Before Izuku could continue, the class watched as the ice suddenly expanded and covered Rumi's legs from her knees down in ice, pinning her in place. "Oh, I wasn't expecting that!" Izuku said cheerfully while writing in his notebook. "Todoroki-san has such a cool quirk."
"Hey uh, lightning buddy?" Kaminari said while watching the taller boy write in his notes awkwardly. "Isn't is a bit weird to cheer against your friend?"
Izuku had the grace to look flustered. "We - well, it's not really cheering against him, per se. I'm just saying that Todoroki-san has a cool quirk. Think about all the neat things he could do with it!" Stars appeared in Izuku's eyes at the possibilities.
"Yep," Tsu croaks out. "Nothing at all like how one would assume you are, kero."
Bakugo had been silently seething this entire time. Not only was half-and-half looking like powerhouse, the bunny bitch tossed his ass around like he was nothing. Hell, Piss-Eyes didn't do anything yet but stand around with his arms cross after he torched an entire room in seconds. His mind reeled.
All Might noticed this. 'They say the biggest egos are often the most fragile. As his teacher, I'll offer him some counseling, and let Aizawa know. Let's hope Todoroki isn't the same.'
"Todoroki!" Shoji yelled when he got to their position. He ran as best he could with all the ice on the floor and thankfully, he seemed to make it in time.
Todoroki himself took a bit of time standing back up. He was clearly in pain and some of the ice parts on his left side broke off, leaving him looking more haggard than he probably felt.
"Wrap the capture tape around her." Todoroki coughed up some spittle even saying that. Damn, Usagiyama really hit hard, didn't she?
"Um, right. You okay?" One of Shoji's tentacles formed a mouth and the other, an eye to give his teammate a closer inspection.
"I'm fine." Shouto said stubbornly before shakily standing on his two feet. "Just capture her. We're not exactly pressed for time, but Harushi has yet to show up."
Shoji looked like he wanted to argue, but ultimately went with Todoroki's wishes.
"Rumi Usagiyama has been eliminated!" All Might announced.
Rumi cursed loudly before crossing her arms and glaring fiercely at the two boys.
"Due to the conditions, med bots will be sent to free Usagiyama from the ice and escort her out to prevent further injury. Carry on Todoroki, Shoji." The two aforementioned boys turned to leave before Rumi scoffed.
"Whatever, pretty boy's got this." She said confidently. Todoroki stopped walking and turned to give her a nasty look.
"We'll see about that. You're strong, I will say that but as I've just shown you, we're in different leagues." He shoots back so cold that his breath in visible. He turns and begins walking again and Rumi just cackles like a madwoman.
"Man, I'm gonna enjoy watching Harushi kick your ass!"
All Might heard every word. A small part of him worried that they'd have a repeat of Bakugo's little incident, though Midoriya assured him that Harushi would usually avoid collateral damage if his teammates were at risk.
"Man, I hate that we can't hear what they're saying. Todoroki looked pissed."
"She just taunted him and said she's confident that Golden's got this." Jiro answered before gesturing to her eyes. "I've got really good hearing and she wasn't exactly whispering."
Izuku tilted his head down slightly in thought. 'Well, it's certainly possible for Ryoya to still win this. Todoroki-san doesn't seem to be the best in close quarters as Usagiyama-san just showed. Shoji-san is a bit of a wildcard, since I doubt he's that big for show. So far though, Todoroki-san hasn't showed that he's capable of making enough ice to actually stop Ryoya, but he might not have to make a lot depending on how he and Shoji-san go about this. Also, Todoroki-san hasn't actually displayed any technique with his ice other than overwhelming force, and that's one of the worse ways to fight against Ryoya. He simply will not overpower him. And with Usagiyama-san being escorted out of the building, Ryoya can actually afford to use a bit more power without having to worry about hurting her. All in all, it's going to be a very interesting two vs one."
"Ahem, um. Deku-kun?" Uraraka lightly tapped his shoulder. Izuku perked up and looked over to her and then to everyone else, who were all staring at him with wide eyes.
Momo just sighed and rubbed her hand down her face. "I thought Harushi-kun told me that you beat that habit, Midoriya."
Izuku just chuckled sheepishly. "You - uh heard all that?"
"Every word."
"...drats."
'Smart, tall, plenty of muscle and all cute and nerdy? Yes,' Toga licked her lips dangerously and gave Izuku an unseen predatory look. 'Mama likes, she likes a lot. I want to get to know that guy.'
"Talk about vote of confidence. All this talk about how manly Harushi-bro is has got me fired up!" Kirishima proclaimed. "You too, Midori-bro! You kicked ass!"
Bakugo very loudly ground his teeth.
Ryoya stood still after All Might made the announcement. He kept his senses wide open the entire time, and thus knew that both Shoji and Todoroki were coming at him at the same time. He wasn't worried of course, not at all. Like he said before, people simply didn't know how to fight. He could tell by how they carried themselves. They relied far too much on their quirks and not enough on their hands, and it caused them dearly. Shoji might be bit of an issue, as he stood as one of the two students physically larger than himself and his strength could come close enough to his own that he wouldn't be able to dispatch him that quickly.
Not a few moments later, Todoroki walked into the room, flanked by Shoji. 'They are just coming at me with no plan? Good.' Ryoya thought while glaring at the two boys. Hey, if it was within the spirit of the exercise to play the villain, he'd have fun with it. He fully planned to make this entire ordeal very unpleasant anyway, may as well channel his inner Ken-sensei and Bogard-san.
"Took you long enough." Ryoya said with a blank, impassive expression. "I know Bunny-san could be a bit of a handful, but I didn't expect her to beat you that badly, Todoroki. If you struggled against her, what hope in any life do you have against me?"
His comment, direct and heavy with condescension, irritated Todoroki to no end. He sounded so much like his bastard of a father, that he began to assume that his father put him here personally to fuck with him. "I'm taking this bomb, Harushi." Todoroki proclaimed. Ryoya raised a brow.
'I and not we? Do they really just intend to fight me separately? Idiots.'
"And I'll prove to you that I only need my mother's ice to do so." Todoroki continued and for a split second, Ryoya's façade broke. The hell did that even mean?
Before he could voice his question, Todoroki slammed his foot on the ground and created an impressive amount of ice that immediately blanketed half the room. Ryoya, reacting quickly and easily, jumped up and did a spinning kick in the air. "Reppu Hadoshu!" One hadoken flew out of his right foot, then as he completed the 360 degree motion, another flew out of his left.
It contacted the ice and shattered it on impact. Todoroki and Shoji couldn't help but to be surprised at this, however, Ryoya gave them no such time to gather their thoughts as he closed the gap between them in an instant. He elbowed Todoroki in the side then used the same arm to punch Shoji in the stomach. Continuing his assault, Ryoya grabbed the bigger boy and picked him up as if he weighted nothing and hip tossed him directly into Todoroki's pained body, sending them both tumbling across the room, crashing into the floor.
He then huffed and spat two balls of normal fire, one up towards the door and the towards the bomb. It had the effect of a Molotov, as it impacted and spread, blocking off both the exit and the objective. Ryoya, bathed in the light of his flames stalked towards the two fallen boys. He looked positively evil. "Welcome, heroes. To your seven minutes in hell."
'Wow, that was a bit too edgy. Damn, one liners are harder than I thought. I guess Ken-sensei wasn't kidding when he said he practiced them in the mirror.'
"W - wow huh, Harushi's pretty scary isn't he?" It was Mina who said this. She seemed genuinely uneasy as Harushi drenched the room in fire.
"Yeah, he looks like a villain in all that fire, kero."
"A really hot villain."
Izuku's eyes snapped around when he heard that, and like before, no one seemed to have said it. Hmm, must've been the wind again.
"Yeah, Ryoya can be a bit... intense, sometimes." Izuku defended. "He's not that bad though, he's mostly just playing it up for the trial."
"You seem really confident in that, Midoriya-chan. Can I ask why, kero?"
"It's no problem, Asui-san -"
"Call me Tsu."
"Er - um, Tsu-san, I've known him for six years and trained with him very closely. I know his habits and who he is as a person. He's usually intense as a sparring partner, I'm sure Yaoyorozu can attest to that, but he's never the type to draw out combat. He's pragmatic. He likely put the fire traps down to force them to face him so he could subdue them as quickly as possible." Izuku explained while pulling out his notebook and turning the several full pages he had on Ryoya.
"Wait, he has foot projectiles!? That's so sick!"
"And he even fired two of them? I really thought that you were limited to one at a time since you never did two, Midoriya."
Izuku shrugged. "Well, those two are weaker than the single one, but they are faster. As for how he can kick them out his feet... well, Ryoya, if it isn't apparent, is mostly a kicker, but don't let it fool you. His Shoryuken hits even harder than mine."
"Shoryu-what?"
"The uppercut I did, his hits so much harder, it's insane. I think all he needs to do is land one and either Todoroki-san, or Shoji-san will go down."
Todoroki, admittedly, didn't think this one through.
His plan was simple: Freeze the building, wait for Harushi to inevitably break out and challenge him to a duel in the hallway. Shouto would then use an excessive amount of ice to decisively defeat the golden-eyed teen and go on to touch the bomb, completely unopposed as Usagiyama would still be frozen to the floor. All of this would prove to everyone and his bastard of a father that all he needed was his mother's ice. Shouto saw this happening exactly as he envisioned, there wouldn't be a single doubt in his mind that it wouldn't happen exactly like that.
He didn't, however, foresee Harushi having the ability to breathe fire, blue fire at that, and freeing Usagiyama as quickly as he did. He didn't expect for her to pose as big of a challenge as she did, but he supposed a few unforeseen events were a given against powerful fighters. His mind continued to reel up until he actually faced Harushi himself. He attempted to enact his master plan of simply throwing a lot of ice at him until he eventually stopped moving. When Harushi kicked those energy balls of his and shattered his ice, it made him pause.
That was a cause for concern, but nothing if not a minor miscalculation. But then the boy blurred across the room and hit him so hard, that he couldn't help but to topple over. And to add insult to injury, he quickly dispatched of Shoji as well, leaving them both a groaning heap on the floor before either could actually do anything.
There he stalked, bathed in his flames. From this angle on the ground, he looked like Endeavor. Far, far too much like Endeavor for Todoroki's liking.
He would have to pay for this transgression.
Todoroki, despite the pain, managed to push Shoji off of him and slam his hand on the floor, creating an ice dome large and thick enough that it should buy him enough time to recover.
Ryoya gazed on impassively. "Is that all? You antagonize me and this is the best you've got?" He put his wrists together on his right hip with his hands spread open and lit the room ablaze. "Shakunetsu Hadoken!"
The fireball came strong but slow, and shattered the barrier with ease. Todoroki's eyes widened in panic, Shoji audibly gasped and dove out of the way. To both boys surprise, the fireball vanished into thin air before it could actually hit anyone. 'It was a fucking distrac -' Todoroki immediately felt a strong force slam into his stomach and sent him tumbling back until he hit the wall. Shoji, the poor desperate fool, started swinging at Harushi with all six arms. To his credit, Ryoya notes, Shoji clearly trained in some form of combat, maybe boxing, to have that level of hand-eye coordination. He actually came close to hitting him a few times, but Ryoya had experience fighting people who were much faster and held much worse penalties for being hit.
He dodged, weaved and parried every hit from Shoji's admittedly impressive onslaught, until the boy slipped up on a small puddle of water, an aftermath of Ryoya melting Todoroki's ice. That opening would cost him dearly. 'Well, let's see if Ken-sensei's flowchart actually works.'
Ryoya jumped backwards and fired a medium Hadoken, making sure it went just a bit faster than his Shakunetsu to bring surprise. He watched on, after all, the flowchart based heavily on the opponent's reaction. Shoji made the mistake in trying to block it by making a large 'x' shape with all six arms and shouted in pain when the Hadoken hit him head-on. Ah, not the reaction he prepared for, but damage was damage, he supposed. Without waiting, Ryoya sent another one, this time a light one. Perhaps the medium one crossed the distance a bit too quickly. Shoji dodged to the right, right into Ryoya's bait.
He started spinning and raised his right leg. A streak of fire started following the extended extremity. "Tatsumaki!" Shoji brought his guard up again against one hit, then another, then another until he couldn't hold it any longer and lowered his arms, several burns and bruises running along them.
With cat-like grace, Ryoya lowered his leg for the final kick and caught the slightly taller boy in the stomach, and when he doubled over, crouched a bit to literally lung into his next attack. "Shoryuken!" Flames danced around his fist and left a visible trail as Shoji's large body flew upwards and slightly backwards. He landed spread eagle in a heap on the ground, unmoving and with a glazed look in his eyes.
"Now then, Todoroki..." Ryoya said dangerously. He started to walk slowly towards Todoroki, his air of intimidation nearly suffocating the dual-haired boy.
Todoroki had yet to actually get up from his previous attack, but upon seeing what just happened, actually hesitated in doing so. A small flame danced over his left hand before he quickly extinguished it. 'What am I doing? I don't need his power.' He thought to himself before getting back to his feet, slowly but surely.
A silence sat over the observation room. People simply stared wide-eyed at Ryoya's combat skill. Until the silence broke from a manic cackle from the door. It was Usagiyama, apparently freed from her ice prison and making it back just in time to witness the very much one sided match.
"HAHA! That's my rival, pretty boy! Kick Todoroki's ass next!" She cheered.
"Wow, if anything, Harushi has mastered the Intimidating Slow Walk." All Might pointed out.
Momo groaned. Loudly. "That's a real thing!? I though Harushi-kun was kidding when he taught me that!"
"Oh, you are mistaken Yaoyorozu! The Intimidating Slow Walk is a technique used by many great men and women to well, intimidate." The Symbol explained. "Harushi seems to be a master of it, and you yourself sound like you're capable of it."
Momo ran her hand down her face. All Might sounded exactly like Ryo-kun did when he told her about that silly technique. She honestly thought he was only joking so he could have a reason to get out of the dojo on one of their days off. Well, that was true, Ryo-kun said as much, but it didn't take away that he was actually serious about walking.
"Yeah, that's about what I expected to happen." Izuku said awkwardly.
"Midoriya-chan, can I ask you a question?" Tsu asked while putting a finger to her lower lip.
"Ye - yeah?"
"Have you and Harushi-chan ever fought, kero?"
"Yeah, a whole lot of times actually."
"And how many of those fights have you won? Because from my perspective, kero, he's looking fairly unstoppable right about now."
Oh. Izuku could understand that. Was this the thought in people's mind when he fought Bakugo? Weird. "Um, at least 40% of them? Recently, I've been on a bit of a win streak, but we haven't fought seriously since I unlocked magnetism and he unlocked his blue flames."
That stunned the class even further than before. Tsu kept a completely straight face though. She looked at Izuku up and down, then blinked, then looked at the screen as Harushi-chan performed an excellent roundhouse/crescent kick type maneuver that Todoroki-chan narrowly avoided. Todoroki-chan managed to get an attack in, it seemed, since Harushi-chan had a thin layer of ice forming on his right arm.
A layer of ice that melted nearly immediately.
"...I could see it, kero. You both are really strong."
Midoriya gained a few looked and shrunk under the attention.
"Hell yeah, pretty boy's strong! No way he's losing to Elsa over there!" Rumi, at this point, if she smiled any bigger, it would probably hurt.
"What a disappointment." Ryoya said with a shake of his head. Todoroki suffered from the exact thing Bakugo did; good with quirk, terrible with hands. He could've simply continued to kick his ass until time ran out, but he wasn't a sadist. This fight was over, and he knew that. There was simply no point in prolonging this. "This is over, Todoroki. I hope this teaches you to better pick your battles." Ryoya took the capture tape out of his pocket. "You can barely stand, and I know my attacks hurt. Let's just end this so no one gets any more hurt."
Torodoki's heterochromatic eyes tracked Ryoya's movements across the room, even as he tried in vain to steady his breathing or shaky stance. Ryoya got face to face with him, and Todoroki felt no small amount of annoyance when he had to look up at those eyes. Those golden eyes held so much fire behind them, it drove him mad. The look of discontent, it was one he knew all to well.
Todoroki wasn't exactly sure what happened next, he did however know that something snapped in him. 'I must prove to you that my mother's ice is enough!' The entire right side of his body started to give off a white mist, and he reached out to grab Ryoya's arm. "Sheer Col -"
"Bomb has been secured! Hero team wins!"
"What!?" Ryoya's head whipped around so fast, you could almost hear his neck crack.
Sure enough, Mezu Shoji managed to crawl painfully across the cold, hard ground and touch the bomb. He looked like complete shit and it was a bit of a miracle that he was even awake and aware enough of his surroundings to pull such a thing off.
Ryoya actually gave a fierce smirk and a nod. "Good shit, I thought I knocked you out there."
Shoji could only barely give a thumbs up and let out a couple of weak laughs before passing out.
Todoroki passed out not a few seconds later.
"Now that's peculiar," Tokoyami's low, smooth voice spoke. "Before it was the opposite. Now, the villain team is nearly unscathed, while the hero team is down for the count. They lost the battle, but won the war. A true pyrrhic victory."
"Aww, man! We lost!" Rumi thumped her foot rather aggressively with her arms crossed and a pout. "Well, whatever, at least that ice bastard got what's coming to him. Pretty boy once again showing why he's my rival."
Izuku found it interesting how Usagiyama looked around as if in an open challenge when she said that. Maybe it was a girl thing to proudly proclaim rivals.
Momo cleared her throat and gave Usagiyama a stare that lasted a just bit too long to be comfortable. "In any case, what'll happen now, All Might-sensei?"
"Huh? Oh! Right, well, we continue the class as normal. Med-bots are en route to grab Shoji and Todoroki. We do have recording equipment set up for students who missed this, at the risk of repeating ourselves." All Might explained, though initially, his mind couldn't be further. If two quirkless people could get this far, get this strong with nothing but hard work... maybe is future wasn't looking so bad.
It took a while for Ryoya to return to the classroom, and when he did, he was met with Usagiyama pouting at him with a glare, her arms crossed tightly under her bosom.
"You lost." She said plainly.
"That I did." Ryoya said casually, returning to his usual lazy disposition like he didn't look horrifying five minutes prior.
She huffed at him then ducked her chin into her chest so he couldn't see her grin. "Well, you kicked ass, so you get a pass this time. But next time you lose, you won't hear the end of it. Got it?" She uncrossed her arm and held out a fist. Ryoya gave her a flat look for a second before smirking himself. Not a feral one, or dangerous wolf-like one he usually sported, a genuine one.
"Of course, Bunny-san." He touched his fist to hers.
"Now then, due to the er - unforeseen circumstance, the hero team is unavailable. But I'll ask anyway! Who do you think is the MVP in this round?!"
"It'll have to be Harushi right? I mean, though he lost, he bodied two people by himself and didn't get hit once!"
Ryoya simply shook his head, no.
"Sir! I'd like to propose Shoji as the MVP of this round!" Iida said with his hand sharply raised. "He was the reason his team won, after all, even though he did not win the two versus one fight, he managed to secure victory!"
Momo's hand went up. "I agree with Iida. Shoji was the clear MVP here. Todoroki, similar to Bakugo, tunnel visioned on only defeating Harushi. He showed complete disregard for his teammate and only asked his assistance when confronted by an unforeseen variable. Ultimately, while he did defeat Usagiyama, he took a lot of damage doing so, damage that could've been avoided if he simply went in as a unit instead of by himself. Moving on to Usagiyama, there seemed to be absolutely no communication between her and Harushi-kun at all. Neither treated this like an actual team exercise. While Harushi-kun's efforts were... admirable in holding off two students, he lost focus of the objective and that ultimately lent to their defeat."
"Adding to that," Izuku picked up without missing a beat. "Shoji seemed to be the only one with an actual plan. It might not have been apparent, but his brief fight with Ryoya was more about positioning than anything else. I don't know if he believed he'd lose or not, but he did place himself in a favorable place regardless of out come. Added to the fact that Ryoya opted not to use his Heat Rush ability, unless he used more of his destructive techniques, he was bound to lose."
Ryoya listened intently before clicking his tongue. "I didn't use Heat Rush for a reason though."
"I know that," Izuku countered easily. "But other people don't."
"Yeah, pretty boy. Why didn't you?" Rumi asked suspiciously. "I've seen first hand how strong that is. You could've mopped them both so much easier if you did."
Ryoya just gave a half-hearted shrug. "Didn't need to. I'm already physically stronger and faster than both Todoroki and Shoji. Besides, Heat Rush is dangerous. I wasn't trying to do more damage than necessary to either of them. Would it have been smarter to use it? Of course. But the risk of me inflicting serious damage for an otherwise pointless training exercise simply didn't add up." Near the end of his sentence, he gave Bakugo a very, very hard stare making sure the boy knew he didn't forget the shit he pulled. Bakugo grit his teeth.
As fascinating as all of this was, and believe him, All Might thought this was fascinating, the class had to go on. "So it seems unanimous, the MVP for that round is Shoji! Now then, moving on to the next round."
Team C: Momo Yaoyorozu, Himiko Toga
Vs
Team J: Eijiro Kirishima, Hanta Sero
Ryoya looked to Izuku and they both gave matching expressions of pity, then looked at team J. "I'm sorry in advanced for what's about to happen to you." Izuku said gravely.
Kirishima, the manliest of men, looked confused. "What're you talking about Midori-bro? We've got this!"
Izuku just winced.
"Try not to traumatize them too much, Mo-chan."
Okay, Sero only now started to get a bit scared.
"T - traumatize?"
Ryoya smirked, this time, his wolf-like one that he knew sent shivers down people's spines. "You'll see."
And see they did. After a brief planning period, the teams began with Yaoyorozu and Toga as the heroes and the villains setting up an intricate maze of tape that on the surface, seemed impregnable.
The entire round lasted less than five minutes and could quite possibly be a contender for most one sided fight of the day. Between Toga's natural stealth and Yaoyorozu's 'blatant cheating' as Harushi so eloquently put it, the heroes not only got to the villain room in record time, but the ensuing brawl left most people scratching their heads. Yaoyorozu, for lack of a better term, mopped the floor with both boys at the same time with nothing but a bo-staff, and when that broke on Kirishima's body, her bare fists. She used a vast array of throws, choke holds, and combinations of punches and kicks that flowed together with the grace of water. The round ended with Toga slipped in from seemingly thin air, paused to watch the slaughter in terribly hidden amusement, then touched the bomb.
"Wow, so you weren't kidding about training High Class huh?" Rumi said, tapping Ryoya on the arm.
That got everyone's attention. Ryoya just shrugged. "They stood no chance from the start."
"Whoo! Girl power!"
The class collectively sweat dropped at that. Yaoyorozu got the MVP.
"Well done, everyone! No serious injuries besides Todoroki and Shoji!" All Might gave Ryoya a look, which was met by an impassive stare. "Great teamwork all around! You all exceeded my expectations, especially considering this was your first training exercise!"
Ashido let out a breath. "Coming after Aizawa-sensei, such a straight forward class is almost a letdown."
All Might waved the pink girl off. "We teachers are free to hold those no-nonsense classes if we so choose. Now then! I'm off to give Shoji and Todoroki their evaluations! Change out of your costumes and head back to the classroom. All Might away!"
With that, the number one hero took off so quickly, he left an afterimage.
When everyone got back to class, the room buzzed with activity. "Lightning buddy, I'm telling you, we can have a brand here!" Kaminari said for the third time.
Izuku once again sheepishly laughed. "I - I get that, Kaminari-san, but I don't think Lightning Heartbreakers is a good team name."
"What?!" Kaminari looked offended. "It's the perfect name! We both have lightning and you're totally a lady killer! These things write themselves, Lightning Buddy!"
Izuku blushed at that. Sure, he knew wasn't exactly unattractive. More than a few times, while he and Ryoya hung out somewhere, he'd been approached by a random person who complimented his appearance. But he wouldn't classify himself as a lady-killer. He'd never even had a girlfriend!
"But - but,"
"Look, I get it if you want to team with Uraraka. The girl's cute. I tried asking her out a few minutes ago and she completely blew me off to talk to you! Even that Toga girl seems to be staring at you!" Kaminari complained. "I thought Harushi or Todoroki would've been the one hogging the spotlight, but it's actually you, Lightning Buddy!"
Izuku had no idea how to respond to this. So he did the second thing Ryoya taught him to do here. He simply gave Kaminari a flat look which probably lost most of it's impact due to how red his face was and walked away. Kaminari called out to him, "Give it some thought man!"
"Desks are not meant to be sat on! Please get off!" Iida chastised Tokoyami, who merely regarded him with a shake of his head.
"So noisy."
"Iida, please. My brother in Christ, stop yelling. Some of us have really acute hearing and you screeching like a banshee is giving me a headache." Ryoya's voice sounded muffled and Izuku saw it was because he had his face pressed down on the hardwood.
"Harushi!" Iida seems scandalized.
"So anyway, Usagiyama-chan, you did quite well today, kero."
"None of that formal crap," Rumi waved the frog girl off. "Just Rumi is fine. Us mutants gotta stick together."
Tsuyu smiled at that.
Izuku just so happened to glance out of an open widow to see a speck of blonde walking away. He wanted to go speak with him, he really did. After seeing how forlorn he looked after his defeat and seeing others in action, Izuku simply felt off at the idea of leaving him to wallow in his own self pity. He sighed to himself. For as badly as he wanted to speak to him, he wouldn't. Katsuki made it very clear that they weren't friends anymore and for all he knew, speaking with him might do more harm than good.
It was a conversation best saved for a later day.
Somewhere in a seedy bar, a skinny man with pale blue hair skimmed over a newspaper headline, careful to only use four fingers. "So, he's a teacher now. Hmm, I wonder what would happen if villains killed the Symbol of Peace?"
A black, misty bartender wordlessly perked up. "It seems like Sensei has called in a favor." He spoke in a smooth baritone.
"Oh? From who?"
"Shadaloo."
A/N: If I'm being honest, I hated that scene when Izuku ran after Katsuki to tell him his secret. Like, there was no reason for him to do that. He didn't even tell his mother and All Might specifically told him not to tell anyone. It was a big turn off for me.
Also, here we go with Ryoya bodying Todoroki and Shoji. Poor Shoji though, he didn't deserve that. Rumi and Ryoya continue to be fun to write. Izuku's brain and brawn make him seem a certain way, but he's still just Izuku under that muscle.
The USJ is where Shadaloo and the League make their move.
Ryuujin96: Thanks for the review! I also liked that Izuku won and the Ryo/Rumi train is going strong.
heartfanglives: Oh, you'll like that Bakugo managed to wake up just in time to see the second round. Thanks for the review.
Marbled Gold: Firmly agree. Most people who know how to fight hand to hand are monsters. Look at Toga, she barely uses her quirk at all yet she's one of the most dangerous league members. Same thing with Stain, as you pointed out, and then Aizawa. The students and most of the MHA cast simply don't know how to fight hand to hand, so when someone like Izuku shows up and does, they're in for a bad time.
solbandgus: Yeah, Bakugo didn't really have a chance here. Izuku knows him far too well, has a lot of martial arts and combat experience, and has a strong ability that could prevent him from hitting him with his explosions. On top of being physically superior in every way.
acosta perez jose ramiro: Thanks for the compliment. Bakugo is supposed to be a fighting prodigy as well, and with his quirk, he is. But without it, he gets washed. Rumi is really fun to write in a school setting, she just fits right in!