It took some time for the iceberg to be removed, but it gave Dokusei time to calm his nerves. "Can't hold back against her, that's an insult to me and her..." He did some light form work, going through a set flow of punches, kicks, and blocks to help him focus.

"Contestants of the next round, please make your way to the ring!" Present Mic's voice could be heard from outside the actual stadium.

Dokusei finished his last move before walking out to the ring. "This isn't the first time I've faced Mimi in a fight... probably won't be the last either. It's just the first time I'll-." His thoughts were interrupted as he saw Kendo before the corner of the tunnel.

"Hey." She waved.

"Hey, Right Hook." He returned the wave. "Here to wish me luck?"

"No." She gave him a smirk. "I know you'll win."

"I wouldn't underestimate Mimi; she has a punch that rivals yours." He crossed his arms and returned the smirk. "So what are you here for?"

She rubbed the back of her head. "I was hoping we could hang out sometime..."

"I thought you didn't want others to think we're remotely a thing?"

"I do, but we haven't hung out since the tournament, and that was, what? Two years ago now?"

Dokusei nodded. "Alright, I'll see if I can find some free time, maybe after the first years' part of the festival?" She nodded. "Cool, how's Aoki by the way?"

Kendo's shoulders dropped. "She dumped me about a week before the entrance exam."

"Oh..." Dokusei rubbed his neck. "Sorry I brought it up..." he gave her a quick hug and walked down the tunnel. "I'll talk with you more later; got a match to win first!"

She quickly shook her head and gave him a smile. "Yeah, then I'll kick your ass next round!"

"Ha! We'll see!"

"Welcome back, everyone! With a quick, but cold second round done and gone, let's get on with the third match!" The crowd of people roared as Mic continued. "With venom in his veins, but courage in his heart, from the hero course, we have Dokusei Sumiteru!" He made his way towards the ring, looked about a bit, seeing his friends cheering for him.

"And his opponent! She's a mean pink fighting machine! Also from the hero course, Mina Ashido!" Mina was waving at the crowd, a smile on her face, but as she got to her position, her smile vanished and was replaced with pure determination.

Dokusei returned hers with one of his own, flaring his claws as he got into his fighting stance.

"Ready!?" Mina got into her own stance. "START!"

Both started sprinting towards each other, but Mina began to use her acid to slide to the side before a flying kick could hit her.

As Dokusei landed, Mina took the opportunity to attack him from behind. However, just before she could get close, she had to duck under a roundhouse kick that was actually a butterfly kick and Dokusei's second foot hit her chest as she got up, making her slide back a bit and knocking some wind out of her. "Sumiteru is able to keep the nimble Ashido on her toes with his strong kicks! I would not want to be on the receiving end of one of those!" Mic announced.

Dokusei went back onto the offensive, doing a jump front kick to close the distance, and delivering two fists full of claws to her gut. Mina was able to side step the kick and barely dodge the claws, but not without a few claw marks in her jacket.

"That was a close call for Ashido; if those claws land on her, this fight is as good as over!" Mic provided his commentary.

Mina began to circle around Dokusei, using her acid to build up seed, and lobbed blobs of acid at him.

Dokusei tried to not only dodge the blobs but also tried to keep her away, for he knew she was setting up her deadly Ashido Uppercut™.

"Whatever Ashido is doing, it's making me kinda dizzy... heg..." Mic's mouth was quickly covered.

"Don't you dare barf on me..." Aizawa gave a very grave warning.

In the stands Midoriya was writing down all he could. "Ashido uses her quirk not only as an offensive attack but as a defensive escape tool, and the maneuverability it can offer is surprising, causing someone like Sumiteru, who needs to be in close to make full use of his quirk, a lot of problems." Uraraka just looked bewildered at him as he continued. "Sumiteru's fighting style could completely negate Ashido's as he's more of a reactionary fighter and uses his kicks to set up his opponent for him to deliver his toxins with a devastating blow, almost like a reverse scorpion..." He continued to write as Uraraka tried to get him out of his muttering mode.

"Deku, you really like quirks huh?" This caused the boy to stop and screech a bit.

Back to the fight, Dokusei ducked under another blob as he saw Ashido charge at him with the speed of a cheetah. She closed the distance between them with ease; she was ready to deliver her attack. "Take this! Ashido Uppercut™!" She closed her eyes as her fist went up.

But she quickly opened them with shock as she felt nothing. Dokusei leaned back just enough for her fist to just go past his nose. He quickly grabbed her wrist and Ashido felt his other hand ram into her stomach, all five of his claws embedding into her skin. "Shit!"

She had acid building up in her other hand and was about to throw it, but another blow to her gut hit her hard, as Dokusei's boot hammered into her, launching her away. She went tumbling down, rolling to a stop.

"Oh no! Ashido was hit by Sumiteru's claws; is it over!?" Mic was on the edge of his seat.

She slowly got up. "Damnit..." Her fingers and toes were starting to tingle and her arms and legs felt a bit stiff. "Thirty seconds... that's how much time I have left..."

"She's getting up! Can she make a comeback!?"

She bolted the rest of the way up and sprinted to Dokusei. She swung at him with a wild right hook, but it never connected. She felt pain erupt from her abdomen again, as Dokusei was at her side, his knee hitting her. She folded over his knee and let gravity slowly take her to the ground. But just before she was completely off of him, Dokusei gently grabbed her and set her down softly. "You did good, Mimi, you gave me a tough fight." She looked at him with a sad smile. "And you definitely have gotten better." He stood up and backed away from her.

"Ashido is incapacitated! Sumiteru advances to the next round!" Midnight called the match.

Dokusei didn't look up at the crowd going wild for him, keeping his eyes on Mina, checking for anything wrong. Her breathing was steady, but he could see small tears in her eyes as the medical bots took her to the infirmary. He followed not too far behind.

"Where's Sumiteru going?" Uraraka asked.

"Probably to give his toxins to Recovery Girl." Midoriya finished up his notes. "It would probably help in Ashido's recovery."

"But Sumiteru told me anti venom doesn't help with paralysis..." she rebutted.

"Maybe he just wanted to check on her," Hagakure popped in. "They are really close friends, after all"

Everyone nodded at that, while Bakugo barely registered the conversation. "Better keep Reject at midrange if I don't want to get hit by his stupid quirk."

Dokusei walked into the infirmary as the bots put Mina onto a bed. "Oh, hello there, are you injured?" Recovery Girl asked, not expecting him to be here

Dokusei shook his head. "No, just wanted to make sure Mimi was alright." He clenched his fist a bit before letting go.

Recovery Girl looked at him before sighing. "Sonny, you don't have to worry about her, she'll be fine." She walked up to him and gave his thigh a few pats. "Do you know how long your toxin lasts?"

"About fifteen to twenty minutes depending on the person."

"Have you used this on Miss Ashido before?"

"Not really, once on accident, but that was years ago now."

"She's going to be fine." She reassured him. "Ashido is a strong girl; she'll be out of here before you know it."

Dokusei sighed, but nodded. "Can I stay here for a bit? I won't be in the way."

"Go ahead, your next match isn't for a while." Recovery Girl walked back to her desk, having her own screen for the Sports Festival.

"Thank you." He quickly bowed before going to Mina's side. She appeared to be asleep as he took a seat near her. Not really knowing how to proceed, he just grabbed her hand as gently as he could.

Mina's eyes opened at the contact; although she couldn't smile, he could see it in her eyes. "Hey, you feeling alright?" he asked.

She blinked once. Yes.

"You're not mad at the loss?"

She blinked twice. No.

Dokusei rubbed his neck. "Are you mad at me?"

Two blinks.

He was a little stumped, causing her to let out a grunt of a laugh. She then closed her eyes for a long moment, as if she was concentrating, then her thumb twitched over his knuckles. It was very slight, almost unnoticeable, but given her current state Dokusei noticed it right away.

He looked down at her hand, seeing the thumb twitch ever so slightly, trying to make circles. Looking back to her face, he saw the corner of her lips twitching upwards, trying to smile. "How... she shouldn't be able to move at all for another ten minutes... unless..." He gave her a stern look. "Did you use your quirk?"

A small blush was growing; she blinked once.

"You're crazy, you know that?"

Another blink.

Dokusei chuckled as he leaned back. "I better get back to the others, tell them you're alright. I have a guess on how you're doing this, but tell me later when you can talk properly." He got up and ruffled her hair, getting a groan out of her, and he made his way back to the stands.

On his way there he ran into Uraraka heading somewhere. "Hey, Care Bear!" He got her attention. "Where're you headed?"

"Sumiteru!" She appeared to be a bit startled. "I-I'm going to prepare for my match... Iida just started his match." She stopped letting him catch up.

"Aw, man I missed Kendo's?!" He put his hand on his head.

Uraraka let out a giggle. "You didn't miss much, she completely annihilated Kaminari."

"Let me guess, Pikachu fried his brain and was knocked out of the ring with a devastating right hook?"

"Yeah, but she jumped over his electricity by doing a handstand and expanding her fist, making her rocket up into the sky and kicking his head in!" She was doing a little reenactment with her fingers as best she could.

"Yeah, that will do it..." He let out a sigh. "He really needs to learn to not fry his brain right off the bat; it will save his life."

Uraraka nodded and began to walk away. "Well, I need to get going..."

Before she could get far, Dokusei put a hand on her shoulder. "Uraraka."

She stopped dead.

"Remember what I said. If you let him in your head, he's already won." He let her go and walked back to the stands, seeing Iida being made a fool by a girl using the fight as a way to advertise her gear, or babies as she called them...

Uraraka didn't move at first, just had Dokusei's words repeating in her head. She clenched her fist and began marching to the waiting room with fire in her eyes.