Hello again, I hope you all had a good Christmas or whatever you all got up to. From the time that I started writing this chapter, I still got two more days with the extended family which has been rough(especially my annoying younger cousins) it has been fun to see them all again. However as you all can imagine, this will be the last update for the year with the next one coming out in the first week of January or so.

Blood Enraged – You're not wrong, my parents weren't the most supportive of my school sporting activities since they were always busy but I know a few friends with mothers just like that. Made it all the sweeter when you were playing against them and won.

D3lph0xlov3r – The nickname is pretty good, I cracked a laugh when I saw the idea just thinking about how Bakugo would react.

Raw66 – That's not a bad idea as I always wondered why he was so chill around Bakugo when even Katsuki's wiki page says that he and Enji are strikingly similar in terms of power, social skills, and goals. Though he will have to learn to accept both sides of his power otherwise he's gonna become a liability to the class.

Tacktician – You're close with the guess, though having the TNMT running around NYC would not be the strangest thing as they can just be four brothers with turtle-related mutation type quirks. Maybe I can include Shredder…later down the line, I don't know that could be too far of a stretch.

Omega Armadillo 300 – Thank you, though sadly after the festival they won't get as much spotlight except for one of them who I'm still deciding on but may be of plot use.

NazgulBelserion – That's the point of fanfiction, to get new ideas into the mix. As for the other stories, I don't get it as to why they make him super strong and still shy or super strong but too close to canon personality. My take on him is that he has backbone but he isn't this superhuman genius and combatant and he can be beaten, he does have to overcome challenges and when he does, I try my best to make it believable. As I have said in the past, he's like Donny from TNMT, which means he's got wisecracks but he has flaws. He isn't the best fighter. But he knows how to adapt.

Chapter 19: The Call before the Finals

(Previously)

"Yo!" The person they were talking about said as he approached a man that hated his guts in the halls of the stadium. Since it wasn't common knowledge even amongst the top pros of his condition, he was currently in his muscle form. "Long time, no see. Why don't we catch up over a cup of tea, Endeavor?" He asked the number two who was making his to who knows where.

"All Might…" Endeavor growled out as he turned to face the blonde titan and face of power. The man that symbolized everything he wasn't and the man that despised and wished to surpass no matter what.

(And now)

"My, it sure has been a while." All Might said to the man who still hadn't turned to face him fully. "I haven't seen you face to face since we talked to the press ten years ago. I saw you and thought that I could say hi."

"I see. Well, you have done just that so why don't you leave me alone." Endeavor shot him down as he started to continue down the stairs. "A cup of tea? Don't be ridiculous, I'm going to the restroom so go bother someone else. Begone!"

"Hahahaha! You don't have to be so cold, you know. Your quick is 'Hellfire' after all!" All Might laughed his dismissal off as he leaped in front of the man, his smile still on his face. "You know, your son is doing quite well so far. And he hasn't even used his full power yet. You must have taught him well, no?"

"What are you trying to say All Might? Spit it out." Endeavor asked the symbol of peace, his already short patience reaching its end.

"Well, I just started this new teaching job so I thought why not ask someone with experience in raising the next generation how to do just that." All Might asked his fellow hero, wanting nothing more than advice as to how to better train the next generation.

"Did you honestly think I'll just tell you?" Endeavor scoffed at him as he walked right on past him, bumping his shoulder along the way. "As usual, you look clueless and it's getting on my nerves."

'Jeez, you would think I killed his puppy with how he treats me.' All Might thought to himself as this wasn't the first time Enji had treated him like dirt, but for the life of him, he could never really tell why since this had been going on for years. "Sorry bout that. Still, the competition is sure to heat up, we always see the best of our students in the finals after all." He tried to lift the mood.

"Yes and that boy stopped this childish nonsense of his, he'll place first as he should." Endeavor replied, pausing at the bottom of the stairs.

"I wouldn't count on it, there is a lot of serious contenders he'll have to deal with. Young Midoriya, Bakugo, and Yaoyorozu have shown to be quite the capable heroes in training." All Might countered with a laugh as he thought that even Endeavour would recognize that but he was wrong.

"Not important. I will ensure that boy becomes a hero that surpasses you All Might. That is why I created him." Endeavour dismissed as he grew a rather evil-looking smile, one that All Might was lucky he couldn't see from where he was standing.

'That did not sound good. Why is he referring to young Shoto as 'that boy'? He's your son for crying out loud, it wouldn't kill you to be more of a father to him.' All Might questioned himself as he had been a pro long enough to see the signs of whenever something was off but he didn't want to believe it, not with a man that had done so much for society. "What do you mean by that?" He asked slowly, his smile gone and in its place, a concerned frown.

"He's in his rebellious stage right now, but he will surpass you." Endeavor explained but at the same time, revealed nothing before he turned to give one final glare at the blonde hero. "That's a promise." And with that, he was gone.

'God…that look in his eye…it looked too dark and…forbidding for a hero. There's something he isn't telling me, I'll have to bring this up with Nezu another time, I got a bad feeling in my gut that this is related to young Shoto's scar.' All Might thought to himself as he turned to walk away, the situation of the home-life of Endeavour formed in his mind and although he wished it to just him being paranoid, his first duty as a hero and as a teacher was to his students, so he'll trust his gut on this one and pray for the best.

(With Bakugo and Todoroki)

"Alright half-and-half, why the fuck you bring me here?" Bakugo demanded. He was on his way to grab something to eat when his scarred classmate had all but forced him to follow him to one of the empty entry points into the stadium.

"I wanted to ask you something." Todoroki said as he stared right ahead at Bakugo, his expression giving nothing away like normal but right now it was only furthering annoying the dirty blonde-haired boy.

"Spill." Bakugo ordered as he was getting angrier by the minute.

"Why do you want to become a hero?" Todoroki asked him, his question knocking Bakugo for a loop as it was so…unexpected.

"Hmm? The fuck you asking that for?" Bakugo asked to confirm he wasn't hearing things.

"I'm been curious about you since the first day. You remind me of something and I wanted to know." Todoroki said as his mind jumped to a certain family member he wished not to be related to.

"Forget this, I'm gonna go eat already." Bakugo said as he saw no point and this and started to walk away, he had better things to do than this.

"Why?" Todoroki asked, this time sounding much more firm. Just as Bakugo reached the doorway and was about to step into the light of day, he paused.

.

.

.

"You really wanna know?" He asked the dual quirk user, his back still turned.

"I wouldn't ask if not." Todoroki replied as he stopped leaning on the wall and stood straight.

"Hmph, fine. I don't want to be just a lame-ass hero. I want to be number one." Bakugo explained as he turned around to face him. "And a hero always wins. I'm going to become the strongest hero by becoming the number one."

"That's it? You just want power?" Todoroki asked, not showing any emotions though he was quite disgusted by this.

"Fuck that, I already got power, I want to prove to that world that I'm fucking unstoppable, that no-one can beat me." Bakugo corrected as he rose his left hand and set off some small blasts to prove his point before he clenched his fist shut. Both stood silent for a few tense moments as the one took in the goals of the other before he finally spoke up.

"So I was right…" Todoroki quietly said to himself as he looked at his right side, lost in thought.

"The fuck you talking about, right bout what?" Bakugo asked him, not hearing what he had said.

"You like my father, you both have a strong desire to rise in the world. To prove that you're the strongest." Todoroki explained as an image of Endeavour flashed in his mind before it faded away. "And just like you, he's won a name for himself with his crushing power and brutal techniques. So you can imagine how being the number two hero is something he hates, and that he hates All Might even more for being the man he could never beat."

"[Tick] The fuck that have to do with me, unlike you bitch of a dad, I will beat All Might!" Bakugo counted, his arrogance shining through.

"Where have I heard that before?" Todoroki said back, his annoyance showing at the rather prideful comment. "You won't. No-one can. Even my bastard of a father knows that. That's why I was born."

"What?" Bakugo sounded, that was a stupid thing to say, did he think he was some kind of Jesus?

"You heard of quick marriages, right?" Todoroki asked as he looked out at the trees and stands. "It beaome a real problem for the second and third generation after quirks came around. The idea of choosing a spouse solely based on their quirks so that your own quick is strengthen and passed down to your children." He said as he thought back to the days he learned about in history where such a notion was be considered vile but humans always found a way….

"All this did was bring back arranged and forced marriages, this ancient style of thinking was brought about by a lack of ethics and decency. The outdated pseudo-science of Eugenics became an actual thing that many people considered when choosing life partners or just the biological parent for their children….Love become a second priority to many and wasn't even considered by others." He said as he remembered looking at all the pictures that he had of his family where they were somewhat together, and how none of them felt like the people in the pictures were happy, like with most things in his life, all of them were staged by his father so that visitors would think their home-life was a happy one. "All that mattered was what quick you were lucky to be born with."

"Fuck, you make it sound even more depressing than my teachers back at my dump of a junior high. Why are you so damn passionate about this?" Bakugo asked as he did remember learning about this and how his teaches tried to encourage marrying out of life and not some flawed selection process but they didn't do a good job at it.

"Endeavour is a man with accomplishments, connections, and wealth. He won over my mother's relatives so that he could marry her for her quirk. He figured that if he couldn't beat All Might, he'll create a child that could do so for him." Todoroki explained his dysfunctional family life by revealing how his parents got together was just his father wanting something and using his connections to achieve it, something that although wasn't illegal was very much frowned upon, at least...In public.

'Shit.' Bakugo thought to himself, it was one thing to hear that you were an accident because your parents were careless, it was quite another to hear you were bred to achieve your father's dreams without consideration for what you want.

"It's so…annoying. I won't become his tool. Not after he's done to my mother and siblings." Todoroki went on as his face showed more and more of his anger at his situation, at the broken and loveless family he was born into.

"In just about every memory I have of her, my mother is crying." He said, his voice softer than before but even more impactful. "'Your left side is unsightly'…those were the words she said to me as she threw boiling water on my face. That is the last thing she ever said to be before he had her placed in a psychiatric hospital, I haven't even spoken to her ever since." He stated as he rose his left hand to his face and touched the burned side of his face, his eyes were distant as he was seemingly lost in a memory of the time.

"…" Bakugo didn't have a response to that, what could he say to such a thing? Sure he was an asshole but he knew this wasn't a time for that. In the back of his mind, he knew that he was lucky to have his quick as his parents loved each other and just happened to have two quirks that fused to create his own. Todoroki on the other hand….

"Every time I look in the mirror, I see the reminder of how that man-caused my mother to crack all for his damned ambitions." Todoroki let out as he stood, starting to shake in anger. "I called you here because I wanted to see for myself, I wanted to see if you were better but I was wrong. When I look at you, I see a younger Endeavour so I'll make this promise." He said as he rose his right hand to his face, a face that looked much more intimidating than normal.

"I'll pick as many fights with you; Midoriya; Yaoyorozu; Tokage; Honenuki as needed and win-and I'll do it without using my father's damned quick No, I'll reject him completely by winning first place without using his quick." He swore before he turned to walk away but not before saying one last thing. "But more importantly…"

"I WILL beat you, I've seen the results of the path you walk down, and I not allow you to grow up to become another Endeavour," He said as he started to walk away, leaving the blonde to think about his words. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

'Is that…is that what I could become if I don't become number one?' He thought to himself as he stared at his hand, remembering all the misdeeds he had done over the years and got away with. 'No! That's bullshit! I won't need to live my dreams through my fucking kids! I will become the best with my power!' He knocked such weak thoughts away before he pushed his hands into his pocket and walked away as well, finally going to get that lunch he wanted. Though the notions still bugged him.

.

.

.

'But if I can't…will I become like him?' Bakugo asked himself. For the first time in a while, he was unsure.

(Meanwhile in the cafeteria)

"It sucks, I didn't even qualify for the finals." Uraraka pouted as she played with her soup. He was seated at one of the many tables along with Iida and Tokoyami, they had got together to eat while they waited for Midoriya to show up.

"Don't fret my friend, your performance in the previous event was nothing to scoff at." Tokoyami said to cheer her up as he took a sip of his ice water.

"Tokoyami is right, Uraraka. You did your best out there and there's nothing to be ashamed of." Iida added with his chopping hands, thought the sight of which helped raise the girl's mood, she was still bummed out about how things turned out.

"Still…" She started but paused.

"If you're still feeling down, then take this chance to view what you did wrong, what you did right, and where you can improve." A familiar voice spoke up as they all turned to see who it was. "Part of being a hero is being able to learn from your mistakes to better yourself." Midoriya said as he smiled at them all before he sat down, his food tray with him.

"Midoriya!" Uraraka said as she waved back at him with a smile. One he returned.

"When you get here?" Iida asked him.

"Just know, I had to take a quick call earlier. Sorry about not telling you." Midoriya apologized as he took a bite of his pork and cheese sandwich.

"No harm done, my friend." Tokoyami said as he turned back to his meal. "May I inquire as to what the call was about?"

"Oh, I was just speaking to some distant friends, they wanted to congratulate me on getting this far." Midoriya informed them but purposely left out who he was speaking to. His suspicions about a spy were still warm and although he didn't think any of them was the traitor, that didn't mean the traitor wasn't nearby.

"Yes, the festival has been much more challenging than I anticipated." Tokoyami agreed with him as it seemed like this year was much harder than the previous few years.

"Especially the first part, I don't think I've ever done anything like that before." Uraraka said as she laid her head on the table, tired from the rather unexpected events of the day.

"Uraraka, if you had run over a minefield or tight-rope walked over a chasm, I'll be concerned with what you do in your free time." Midoriya joked as he and the rest of the table, Uraraka pouted at the job but otherwise let it go.

"The point of the first stage was to introduce us to the crowd under less than favorable conditions to show why we were the lucky few who were admitted to UA, I presume." Tokoyami thought aloud as it somewhat made sense to them as this was mostly for the hero course students, it would be reasonable to assume they wanted to showcase how their future dealt with challenges they didn't see coming.

"That or the principal just wanted us to suffer. We got Midnight as a teacher so maybe, I don't know." Midoriya added.

"Yeah, Midnight's class is certainly….unique." Iida said as he looked for a word to describe their modern arts teacher.

"We'll call it that," Uraraka said as she didn't want to say something as well in case it made its way back to the women in question. So she changed the subject. "So who do you think will fight who?"

"Can't say, the selection method that the teachers may use could range from one to another. If we knew who was picking said method maybe we could guess but we lack such information." Tokoyami said as he tried to think of who he'll have to fight first.

BEEP! BEEP!

"Hmmm?" Tokoyami sounded as he reached for his pocket and retrieved his phone.

"Who is it?" Midoriya asked as he knew the boy didn't have many contacts, to begin with.

"My uncle, please excuse me." Tokoyami said as he got up from the table and walked over to a relatively quiet spot in the cafeteria. "Hello."

"Fumi!" A rather loud, cheery, and very young voice said over the line.

"A-Asuka?! When you get a hold of uncle's phone?" Tokoyami asked the younger girl, he was quite surprised as she normally didn't call him that much.

"Silly, he's here with us. I don't have a phone yet so he said I could use his!" Asuka replied as he could hear how excited she sounded over the phone, her joy brought a smile to his face.

"Is that so, well it is good to hear from you again. How is school?" He asked the girl as he looked out the window to the grounds below at all the people who were seated around the stalls and stands enjoying their lunch.

"Great, the teachers are nice and I already made some friends that helped with my homework." Asuka told him over the phone, sounding quite pleased.

"That is great news little one, making new friends is always a new adventure." Tokoyami said as he turned to look over at his table and saw that Uraraka must have said something funny because the two boys were laughing.

"Hmm-mmm! Listen Fumi, cousin Miyako wants to speak with you now, I'm giving her the phone." Asuka said before he could heat her move the phone from her ear.

'Big sister! I thought she was still in the hospital!' Tokoyami thought to himself before another, a much older and worn voice was heard over the line.

"Hey, little brother…" His elder and only sibling, Miyako said over the call, though he could not see it, he could tell she was smiling.

"Sister! I mean, urrh…H-how are you?" Tokoyami fumbled around his words as he tried to speak, only to be met with her laughter.

"Hahaha, always the serious one. I'm doing fine Fumi…all considering." Miyako said as she let out a sigh.

"Are you…?" Tokoyami asked his sister but stopped himself mid-way, he wasn't sure he would want an answer.

"Yes, I'm still in the hospital. We're watching the festival from one of the common areas, it was one of the few spaces that we could all fit in." Miyako answered with a chuckle.

"Wait, everyone?" Tokoyami repeated. 'I was wondering why I didn't see them in the family section.' He did find it odd he didn't see a single member of his family in the crowd, especially when he was sure most of them said they were going to attend.

"Yup, hey everyone, say hi to Fumi!" Miyako said as he could hear her move the phone away from her.

"Hi, Fumi!" A group that Fumikage knew to be his family called back, some of the younger members giggling all the way. "See. It was mother's idea. She didn't want me left out since I'm only being discharged in three days." Miyako told him.

"Sounds like mother, she was always looking out for people." Fumikage said as he recalled how she was always doting on others.

"There's a reason we call her mother hen, you know-!" Miyako started to respond but was stopped when she started to cough.

"Sister…" Tokoyami asked her, wishing he was at her side right now even if she would want him here.

"I'm fine Fumi, just a cough. Please don't worry about me, just focus on doing your best, alright?" She said after the coughing passed, but she now sounded much more strained, she needed her medications.

"Y-yeah, alright." Tokoyami said half-heartedly.

"Say it as you mean it, little birdie." Miyako ordered him.

"Yes, I'll give it my all." Tokoyami responded as he stood straighter and answered with more confidence.

"That's my little brother. Win this for the both of us." Miyako said before she ended the call, leaving the young boy with nothing to do but pray for her health.

(Later)

"Alright folks, now that our lunch break is over, it's time to unveil the last game of the day!" Present Mic announced to the crowd, getting loud cheers and chants in return.

'But before that, there is some good news for those of you who didn't make it to the finals. As this is a sports festival, we've prepared recreational games for everyone to participate in." Vlad said as the different classes started to walk onto the field again, though he noticed that he didn't see the girls from his class and wondered what was taking them.

"We even brought in real cheerleaders from the United States to liven things up!" Present Mic added as he gestured to the peppy and very pretty foreign girls doing their cheer routines for the crowd. He also noticed something else.

"What?"

"Huh?" The boys of both 1-A and 1-B asked at the same time as they turned to see just what the hell the girls were wearing.

"What are they doing?" Vlad asked as both classes girls stood there…wearing the same uniforms as the cheerleaders, they even had pom-poms for crying out loud!

"What kind of fan service is this from the girls of 1-A and 1-B?" Present Mic asked before he turned off his mic so he could call Midnight, she wasn't allowed to pick uniforms dammit! The last thing they needed was parents seeing their kids dressed like they were staring in a soft-core adult film! But while this was going down,

"Hehehe, the looks on your faces." Kuroiro smirked as he chuckled at the girls' expense, Kaminari and Mineta stood behind him giving each other thumbs up, their plan had gone off without a hitch!

"Mineta, Kaminari, Kuroiro! You tricked us, didn't you?!" Yaoyorozu yelled at the three of them.

"How dare you trick your fellow students like this Kuroiro, this is behavior befitting sinners, not heroes!" Shiozaki joined in, only being held back by Tokage.

"You assholes, that was a dick move!" Tsunotori was the least vocal member, she was so close to ramming into all three of them at full speed! And if her horns happened to impale them, accidents happen.

(UA Sports Festival – Lunchtime)

"Yaoyorozu, Kendo, Jiro." Kaminari said to the three girls in front of them.

"Hmm, is there something you guys need?" Kendo asked as she, Jiro, and Yaoyorozu turned to speak with them.

"Well, we wanted to ask, why aren't you in your outfits yet? Lunch is gonna be over soon." Mineta asked, sounding confused.

"Excuse me?" Yaoyorozu asked they were wearing their outfits, all students were required to wear their PE clothing and nothing else unless given permission.

"Well since you're their vice rep and Kendo is my class rep you guys already know that," Kuroiro started as he pointed to the cheerleaders running through the cafeteria, practicing for their big performance later. "The staff said that the girls of 1-A and 1-B were to wear those clothes and do a cheer battle in the afternoon."

"What!" Kendo yelled in shock, they had to wear those skimpy outfits?!

"Strange, do you recall hearing anything about this?" Jiro said as her eyes narrowed onto Mineta, the fact that this info was coming from him was odd on its own.

"Can't say I do…" Yaoyorozu agreed with her

"Well you don't have the trust the little prev but I heard Vlad-sensei and Eraserhead talking about it earlier and wanted to run it by you guys to be sure." Kuroiro stated, sounding board as he turned to go back to his table. They paused to think about it but sadly, they chose to believe it.

(Now)

"I can't believe a fell for Mineta's schemes again." Yaoyorozu said as she fell to her knees in sadness. "I even used creation to make the outfits."

"Not that I think about it, that should have been a clue." Kendo said as she tried to make Yaoyorozu feel better. "Not finding uniforms to wear in our lockers or something." Yep, that should have been the biggest clue as the school always provided their uniforms, they didn't even pay for the regular ones.

"Hmmm." Kodai said, she looked normal but those in her class could see the faint signs of her displeasure.

"Those guys are so lame!" Jiro said as she threw her pom-poms to the ground and tried to cover up some of her exposed skin.

"I know right," Tokage said, seemingly agreeing with the girl before she looked down at her butt. "This outfit makes a butt look flat."

"(kero)That's certainly a positive spin of this, Tokage." Asui noted as Jiro back off wondering what was wrong with this girl.

"Well I gotta think positive," Tokage started before an evil-looking grin formed on her face. "Especially when I plan my payback on their sorry asses."

'Scary.' The rest of the girls thought as Tokage started to crackle as she no doubts planned sweet vengeance on her new playthings.

"Shiozaki, you in?" She asked as she turned to the one person they didn't think would ever agree but…

"Normally I'll be quite against a childish prank but those two delinquents need to be punished for their deceitful ways." Shiozaki started before she gave the sharp tooth girl a firm handshake, her pom-poms long since disregarded. "You can count me in."

"Well we got some time before the finals, and we're already dressed for the part so why don't we help keep things," Hagakure started before she started copying what the cheerleaders were doing. "Fun!"

"You can't be serious!" Uraraka asked her, too embarrassed at the notion of doing something like this.

"Maybe you like the idea of being a cheerleader but some of us aren't so hot about this." Kinoko slyly said as she hid behind Ashido. She didn't want her crush seeing her in this!

"All right everyone, why don't we have some fun in the recreational games!" Present Mic said as she turned his mic back on. Turns out Midnight had nothing to do with this. "And after that, the 16 who made it to the finals will duke it out in a tournament style-one-on-one battles."

"So the last round is a good old-fashioned 1v1?" Kirishima asked with stars in his eyes as he looked up at the screen showing the bracket, the only thing missing were the names. "I can't believe I get to stand on the stage I've watched every year since I was a kid! This is so manly!"

"Was there a tournament last year?" Ashido asked. She didn't watch it last time on the account of having dance practice.

"No, it's different every year but there's always a one-on-one competition." Sero answered. "Last year it was a sports chanbara match."

"Now, let's draw lots to determine the opening bracket, shall we?" Midnight announced as she held up the box from which the students will pick their opponents from. So the school was going in random then. "Once that is done, we can proceed with the recreational games before we have the one-on-one tournament." She went on as she explained the coming events. "Those who made it to the finals have the options on whether or not to participate in the recreational games as they may wish to rest up first but for everyone else, it's mandatory."

"Now the first-place team will pick-!" She started as she started walking to where most of the team Bakugo were standing but a raised hand in the crowd caught her attention.

"Ummmm, Excuse me?" Shoda asked as he turned everyone's attention to himself as well as Shoji and Ojiro. "W-we would like to withdraw." His request was a shocking one as even the teachers were caught off guard by such a request.

"Shoji, Ojiro why?" Midoriya asked the two in his class.

"This is a rare chance for the pros to see what you can do!" Iida joined in, how could they do this? They only got this kind of chance three times and they're throwing the first one away?!

"The thing is," Shoji started as he looked down at his feet in shame.

'If I recall, they were teamed up with…' Midoriya thought to himself as he looked over to Shinso, who locked eyes with him for a couple of moments before looking away. Something was odd here.

"We know that this is a great chance," Shoda started as he looked sadden by what he was doing but he still carried on. "And that it's foolish to waste it but…"

"Everyone is competing and giving it their all" Ojiro took it from there. "How can we take this chance when we don't even know if we deserve it?"

"You guys are worrying about this too much! Just make sure to get great results in the finals to make up for it." Hagakure tried to cheer them up, she didn't want them to forfeit. They needed this chance as much as any of them.

"You don't get it, this is my pride we're talking about. What kind of man would I be if I took an opportunity I didn't even earn?" Ojiro asked her as he looked like he wanted to cry but held the tears back.

"Also, why are you all dressed like that?" Ojiro asked the girls, all of which froze as they didn't think he would ask that now!

"Regardless of ability, doesn't it go against the goals of the festival for those who didn't go anything deserving to progress?" Shoda asked Midnight who has been quiet this whole time, taking in the situation and thinking about what she would do.

"What's with these guys? This is so manly!" Kirishima asked as she cried manly tears.

"You got a heart of gold, Shoda. I salute you!" And he wasn't the only one as Tetsutetsu was with him on that point, crying as he was both saddened that his classmate was giving this opportunity up but so damn proud that they refused to take a chance they didn't earn.

"This is a usual thing, we've never had such an occurrence before." Present Mic said as he was just was as stumped as the crowd.

"We'll have to see what the chief umpire, Midnight has to say about this. There's nothing against the rules with their request but it isn't something we thought could happen." Vlad explained to the audience as Midnight had yet to speak. She took another few moments before she made her call.

"Youthful talk like that is something…" She started as she let a smile grew on her face. "I like! Mashirao Ojiro; Nirengeki Shouda; Mezo Shoji, I accept your withdrawal!"

'She made that decision based on her tastes?' Everyone thought to themselves, wondering why she was made the umpire.

"Right, so because of this rather unexpected turn of things, we now have three open spots for the finals. Will the fifth-place team please choose who will proceed?" Midnight asked them to which the four students quickly gathered together and discussed it for a few seconds before they broke up and Sato stepped back.

"Okay, it has been decided. Yaoyorozu, Shiozaki, and Hatsume will move up to make the sixteen." Midnight announced as the three girls stepped up to the plate. "This is the bracket based on the results of the drawings!"

Midoriya vs Tetsutetsu

"So I'm up against a tank, am I?" Midoriya thought to himself as he turned to face his opponent. "You better bring you're a-game, remember my vow."

"You know it! Just cause we were on the same team doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on you." Tetsutetsu replied, smashing his fists together as he knew this would be a tough fight.

Tokage vs Sero

"That's the plain-looking guy, right?" Tokage asked Kendo, completely missing how Sero deflated at her hurtful words.

"Damn, must you be so cruel?" He asked as Kaminari patted his back to try and help make him feel better.

Kendo vs Hatsume

Tokoyami vs Shiozaki

"So I battle the bird of darkness?" Shiozaki asked as she looked over the red eyes boy, who met her gaze with his own.

"Indeed, I hope that our encounter is memorable." He said as he had a feeling she would take offense to his quirk, she wouldn't be the first nor the last.

Yaoyorozu vs Shinso

Awase vs Kirishima

"Shit, I got some rotten luck this time." Awase swore as he had a feeling he'll be put through some painful experience shortly.

Bakugo vs Iida

Kodai vs Todoroki

"Alright folks, now that that's over and done with, let's leave things for a momentary interlude!" Present Mic announced as the recreational games began.

(On a secluded part of the grounds)

'Even though we were told to have fun, many of those in the tournament couldn't relax.' Midoriya thought to himself as he walked through a small wooded area of the grounds. 'Some took the time to brush up on strategy, others tried to keep their peace of mind.' He thought back to how he saw Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami leaving before him. 'Some prepared to fight, others sharpened their senses.' He could see Iida and Bakugo doing something to gear up, knowing one of them he must be trying to work up a bit of sweat so that he can start his match with a bang. 'I was once part of those who decided to take the time to relax their nerves.'

"Which is why this happens to be a great spot." He said aloud as he came to sit down on a bench under the canopy of the trees. "Didn't think it'll be this empty though." He thought aloud as he looked up and saw the patches of sunlight piercing through onto him before he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, he knew that fighting rashly was foolish, and for someone who only got this far because he thought ahead-such actions would lead to ruin.

"Alright Izuku, stay calm, stay cool…stay collected. You're up against a heavy hitter first round, this is a perfect opportunity to show that you don't need a quirk." Midoriya said to himself as he breathed in and out, taking in the cool air and letting the chirping of the bird soothe him. He could have called it complete harmony, if not for the unexpected but welcomed intrusion.

"You know," A very familiar voice said as he opened his eyes to see who was speaking. "People are gonna think you're crazy if your keep talking to yourself." Yu finished with a smirk as he looked down at the surprised boy.

"Yu, sorry I didn't hear you coming." Midoriya quickly apologized as the girl took the seat next to him.

"I figured you would want some quiet time so I want looking for you." Yu told him as she laid her head on his shoulder, he wrapped his arm around her as he laid his head on her head, taking in her sweet scent.

"I thought you had guard duty." Midoriya asked as he closed his eyes so that he could enjoy this moment even more.

"I do, but I ditched Woodsie and Arms, they can handle things for a couple of minutes without me." She told him with a giggle as she could picture the two of them wondering where she ran off to. "But what's got me all worked up was you! You're killing it you know." She said as she turned to look up at him and hugged him.

"I didn't think I'll make this much of a splash." Midoriya answered with a blush as he was never one that was ready for them to have these public displays of emotions, he blamed it on being young.

"Better start. You impressed everyone with your patented on top of the box thinking." Yu responded as she broke the hug so that she could move onto his lap. She must have been daring today as they normally kept their publically seen stuff to hand-holding and hugs.

"On top of the box? Isn't the saying: Outside the box?" Midoriya asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist, if she wanted them to do this, who was he to deny her?

Whether or not he greatly enjoyed this was another matter.

"Well, my little birdie was never one to follow trends, in life and fashion. Besides," Yu said as she moved closer and kissed his forehead. "You love to fly so being on top fits you."

"Can't say I disagree. Someone like me gotta be observant, and there's nothing better than a bird's eye view." Midoriya said, though she caught the underlying bitterness.

"You've proven your resolve Izuku," Yu told him gently, she knew he hated the unfair advantage others had over him but she also knew that he worked his butt off to make up for it. "Now it's time you show them your strength."

"I know Yu, I know." Midoriya responded, he could tell what she was doing and he appreciated it more than he could express right now. "Wish me luck?"

"I don't think you need it but I will, remember do your best. That's all I would ever want from you, you know that right?" She said as she got up along with him, they needed to get back to their posts soon anyway.

"A girl like you only deserves the best." Midoriya said as he moved in and gave her a quick kiss before they hugged and walked off in different directions. None of them ever noticing that there weren't alone at all but had an unexpected audience.

'Did they just…?' Tokoyami thought to himself as he tried to make sense of what he just saw. He had come for the quiet and would have left when he saw Midoriya but the boy wasn't the nosy type, so he stayed. He knew he should have left when he saw Mt. Lady and how they acted with one another but his curiosity won out in the end and he got front row seats to a secret he knew he shouldn't have seen.

"He didn't tell us he had a hot girlfriend. No fair." Dark Shadow whined as had appeared midway through everything but for both their sakes had kept quiet lest they would have been caught.

"We'll bring it up at a later date, I have a feeling we don't want her knowing we were here." Tokoyami said as he was not too keen on finding out how the pro treated an ease dropper. He had already heard the reports of what happened to the more….perverse photographers and didn't want to see if they were true.

"Yup, let's bounce." Dark Shadow agreed with him and the two silently left the area.

(Later)

"Yo!" All Might said as he walked up to the boy in question. They were both standing in the passage leading to the open field where he'll fight but for now, they had some time before he was called up. "Sorry, I'm late. Had to deal with some business first."

"No, it's great that you found the time in the first place. So what brings Toshinori Yagi here? Someone could have seen you, you know." Midoriya asked with a small smile as he poked at him, getting the man to grumble in return.

"I do have a post here at UA, what's odd about wanting to wish a student good luck?" He asked back with a smile.

"The fact that I'm the only one who seems to be interested in," Midoriya countered, making the hero pause. "Yes, people have noticed, Todoroki brought it up earlier today."

"That's concerning." All Might's smile shrunk as he didn't think of that. That could raise some questions.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. You'll be hard-pressed to find a teacher that doesn't have a favored student in every class. It's nothing out of the ordinary." Midoriya said as they both heard Present Mic calling for both students to take to the field.

"You're not wrong there. Go out there and knock'em dead." All Might said with a thumbs up and a smile.

"Roger." Midoriya nodded his head as he made his way to the entrance, knowing that his years of hard work were about to be put to the test.

(Later)

"Audience!" Present Mic said as the crowd cheered loud and clear. "The finals you have been waiting for have finally started!" He started before the screen changed to show the upcoming match-up. "Match number one is- Midoriya vs Tetsutetsu!"

"The flyboy of the UA and all-around wise-guy, he's smart, he's got sass. Of the hero course. Izuku Midoriya!" Present Mic said as Midoriya walked out of the passage into the light where everyone could see him. He would be lying but this was somehow even more nerve-racking than the opening ceremony.

'That's one hell of an introduction.' Midoriya thought to himself as he walked towards the arena that Cementoss had made prior. "What hell do you mean I got sass!?"

"See, lively one he is. And his opponent. The boy of steel and no, this one can't fly but his punches sure pack the punch. Of the hero course, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!" He commented as he turned the audience's attention to the other student making his way to the ring.

"I'm ready to win!" Tetsutetsu yelled as his classmates cheered him on. Luckily for the girls, they were all out of those cheerleader outfits and back in their PE gear.

"The rules are simple, you win by either knocking your opponent out of bounds, immobilizing them, or knocking them out. You can also win if your opponent gives us. Midnight will also call the match if she feels that a winner has been decided." Present Mic explained as the two boys made it to the center of the arena where they locked eyes with one another. Sizing the other up and trying to see that they could pick up from the opponent could help them win faster.

"But don't let that stop you from doing your best, we have Recovery Girl on standby for any incidents that will occur so you can place your morals and ethics aside for a while-that being said, any life-threatening moves will result in your immediate disqualification. If you're in my class, you better listen otherwise you and me will have words." Vlad noted which got those in 1-B to shiver as they had a feeling it would be a class-wide punishment if one of them stepped out of line.

"And I'll stop things if they go too far." Cementoss said as he made a chair out of cement so he could sit as he watched the fights.

"Ready?" Present Mic asked as both boys got ready to brawl. The one activated his quirk and took a simple boxer's stance that Shoda has shown him before the match while the other grabbed a small stick that popped out of his jetpack before it extended to reveal itself to be his staff.

.

.

.

"Start!" And with that announcement, both started to run towards the other. Tetsutetsu went for a straight punch but Midoriya used his boots to blast himself over the boy, pulling a summersault before landing behind him before he pulled his staff back.

"Let's put that steel of yours to the test!" Midoriya challenged as he swung his staff for the back of Tetsutetsu's head but even the hit landed, the steel user took no damage.

"Nice try but I can take everything you can give!" Tetsutetsu shot back as he turned around and went for another punch but Midoriya was able to jump back in time.

"We'll see about that, so try this one!" Midoriya countered as he fired off a shockwave at him but the boy proved that he was fast as he dodged the blast and ran towards Midoriya who was caught off guard.

'Shit, he's fast!' He thought to himself as he tried to jump back to avoid the attack but Tetsutetsu closed the gap faster than he thought he would.

"Got you!" Tetsutetsu yelled as he hit Midoriya with a good old shoulder tackle, Izuku was able to raise his staff in time to block but only barely. The force of the blow was still strong enough to send him back a few meters. Even though the fight had just started, the spectators were loving this as they roared.

"Damn that hurts, he does pack a punch. Guess I can't play this safe," Midoriya said to himself as he got into a combat stance and activated his wings. However there was a difference to the other times they activated that day as the blue steaks leaked to the individual feathers, giving them a blue glow as if they were on fire.

"Time to go on the attack." Midoriya said as he readied himself for battle.

I hope you all had a merry Christmas people cause I sure as hell did. I wrote this chapter as fast as I could to get it out before the New year since this will be the last post of 2019, the last of the frickin decade people so I wanted to at least leave the story at a point when the 1v1s have been drawn up so you all could see it and have time to imagine how the fights will go down.

As suggested, I was able to work in a Todoroki Bakugo scene since when thought about it, such a conversation between the two makes sense as it's kinda odd that Todoroki never called out Bakugo on his behavior, especially after the combat trial where he fired off his gauntlet, knowing that such a blast could have killed Midoriya (who for the most part, reacts quite oddly to it as he still feels bad for Bakugo? The same asshole who made it his life mission to mess with you and told you to kill yourself? He either has a heart of Gold or is an idiot, in shonen, it's hard to tell the difference)

Also, this time around All Might picks up something very wrong from the way Enji talks about his son so you can expect that to be brought up again. I also worked in another moment where we learn more about Tokoyami's situation which I thought was a nice touch. By the way, I chose the name Miyako for the elder Tokoyami sibling because according to the website-( )-, the name can be spelled like this in Kanji: 美夜子.

美(mi) meaning "beautiful", 夜(ya) meaning "night" and 子(ko) meaning "child". Yes you can spell it differently but this is the spelling I'm going for. Not only does her name mean 'beautiful child of the night' but it's noted to be upper class and refined. Something that fits as their family name means "eternal darkness" (常闇tokoyami) while Fumi's given name contains the characters for step (踏fumi) and shadow (陰kage), In other words, his given name means "to walk through shadow". I'm working on when I want her to get an appearance but I doubt it'll be soon so for those who were hoping for that, sorry.

I also got rid of three people but there was a reason I put them with Shinso, these are people who don't like taking chances they didn't earn, two of which did the same thing in cannon and forfeited so that's not too strange, besides I got some plans for Shiozaki and Hatsume that require them to make appearances in the finals.

As for that little Yu/Izuku moment, I hope that I didn't make it come off as forced as I wanted them to have some screen time during the event that someone would see and I picked that someone to be Tokoyami as he won't bring it up at a bad time or accidentally let it slip to the wrong person(Ashido) but will bring the discussion up.

The last thing was the whole glowing wings thing, that's just Midoriya using them at their best since he had been holding back up till now so keep as big an advantage as he could. As to what they can do, well. Wait till the next chapter to find out. I've put a lot of thought into this and I hope that the upgrades you see during these games will become the norm as I don't plan on changing them for a long while.