What Doesn't Kill Me
Chapter 24
-All for One-
Humming to himself, All for One continued to observe his surroundings, his multitude of quirks still allowing him to 'see' even without a proper face. Currently, the students were on break for lunch and 'relaxation events' before the intense final round. The phone ringing drew his attention from that screen though as Kurogiri clicked to answer "Giran, I assume you have answers."
"Of course!" the smug drawl of the information broker resonated through the phone "When have I ever failed to come through?"
"Smug little-" Shigaraki growled before Kurogiri cut him off.
"What have you found Giran?" the shadowy Warp Gate user demanded.
"Kid has quite the power, although he's apparently only understood it properly for a little over a year or so." He heard Giran let out a puff from his cigarette as he spoke "Kid's power is called 'Adaptation'. Anything he survives he becomes more resistant to in his transformed state. His quirk also comes with a healing factor that's deemed as 'minor' due to the fact that it's not rapid regeneration on the part with that 'Nomu' guy you showed before. But so long as he's alive, he'll heal within twenty-four hours."
"Fucking bullshit!" Tomura yelled, smashing the bottles upon the counter of Kurogiri's bar "I'll tear that cheating little shit apart! I'll murder him!" Tomura was breathing heavily, scratching loud enough that All for One could hear it "Wait, no, that's too easy. I'll turn him into a Nomu. Yes…yes that'll work perfectly! A brainless little puppet that can never bother me again."
"Master." The voice of one of his acolytes spoke up in his ear "I believe that would be a waste. His quirk would prove quite…advantageous."
"Of course, my friend." All for One gave an unseen nod, silently grateful that this particular quirk was unknown to Shigaraki. This brand of telepathy allowed him to commune with those he connects to it over any distance, but the drawback was that he could only speak to one at once. He never told Tomura for the sole reason that he'd rather not have the brat pestering his very thoughts every hour of every day. "Tomura." All for One cut off the boy's ranting "He will not become a Nomu."
"Uh, who was that?" Giran sounded confused.
"Your payment will be sent though the usual channels Giran." Kurogiri assured the broker, not answering who All for One was as the call ended.
"But…but Master!" Shigaraki sounded utterly confused at being denied.
"No Tomura, I have other plans in mind for this boy and his quirk." All for One's voice was firm, silently noting he might have no choice but to inform Tomura of the other acolytes soon. "We will discuss this more later, for now I wish you to continue with that little 'homework' assignment I gave you."
"Yes Master." Tomura relented with a petulant sulk.
"My word." Kurogiri sounded stunned as All for One turned to the screen, seeing several of the UA students in skimpy cheerleader outfits, expressions making it clear they were duped and just figuring that out. A small purple boy with balls for hair clearly enjoying themselves.
"It would seem that one of the teachers is quite angry." All for One saw the glowing red eyes of a teacher leading the purple haired boy off while other faculty members escorted the tricked girls out of the camera sight.
-Aizawa-
"Mineta." Aizawa's tone was livid as he glared down at the trembling boy, "As of right now, you are expelled from the U.A. Hero course."
"W-what?!" Mineta looked shocked, "But you said I just had to get a high enough ranking in the Festival to keep my place! I made it to the top forty-two! Did I need to get to the final round?!"
"You're mistaken Mineta." Aizawa's eyes were still glowing red as he spoke, his frustration with the boy bleeding through "You were told that you must both impress the faculty and show you deserved to remain in the hero course. It wasn't just a question of placing highly, but if you could fix the issues that caused that ultimatum in the first place. You've yet to even apologize to those you've harassed, let alone even try to improve your behavior. And here? The second you believed you were safe you tricked several girls into humiliating themselves on live television all so you could leer over them. As of this moment you're no longer a part of class 1-A, I'll be conferring with Nezu to find out if you're even going to be allowed to stay a student at this academy. For now, I suggest you go home, you've done enough already."
-Hizashi Yamada-
"So, how'd it go?" Hizashi asked as he heard the door open, not even bothering to look over as Aizawa returned from dealing with Mineta.
"Kid apparently thought that just getting to the second round guaranteed he wouldn't be expelled." Aizawa rolled his eyes as he took his seat in the commentator's booth once again.
"Like every other one we've had to give that ultimatum to." Kan sighed, "Think anyone will ever actually grasp that we're looking for more than just punching shit hard if they get put on a chopping block like that?"
"We can hope." Aizawa sighed as he took his seat, Hizashi flipping on the Microphone as the winning sixteen from the Calvary battle lined up for the next round.
"Aaaaand we are back!" Hizashi called out, eager announcer voice back in full "And we're here for the third and final round. This time it'll be a one-on-one elimination tournament! Each round the fights will be randomly selected so our first years won't be able to know in advance who exactly they'll be fighting."
"A Hero must be prepared to fight the unknown, so this is the perfect way to begin to experience this." Aizawa added in helpfully.
"And our first competitors are…!" Hizashi hit the randomizer button as a large screen above the arena flashed through various images, finally selecting the two fighters "Hitoshi Shinso and Togaru Kamakiri!"
"One of your students is up first Kan, your Master of Blades, and they're facing the Dark Horse of the General Studies program. So, let's see what they can doooooo!" Hizashi called out before flipping off the microphone as the two students started heading to the arena while the rest of the competitors moved to their viewing booths.
"So, Kan, think your kid'll pull through?" Aizawa observed them, pulling out one of his many juice pouches.
"I want to say he'll make it, but I know better." Kan sighed, "Kamakiri is a hot head and easily goaded. I can't see him keeping his mouth shut when that Shinso kid gets going." As Kan finished his reluctant admission, the two competitors finally stepped into the arena, Midnight gesturing for them to begin while they had the arena microphones ready to hear what Shinso said to Kamakiri.
"So, this'll be easy. That blonde Pomeranian thug did most of the work during the second event." Shinso snorted with a smirk, "If all you could do was carrying around his ego, then I have nothing to worry about."
"You little son of-" was all Kamakiri got out before he went slack, eyes glazing over.
"Good. Now turn around, and walk out of the arena." Shinso commanded as Kamakiri did so, the crowd and students all confused and trying to figure out what was going on.
"Told you." Kan sighed sadly.
-Izuku-
Firming his resolve, Izuku started walking up to the Arena, his friends cheering him on as he climbed the steps. From the other end he saw his opponent for the first round, Neito Monoma. The blonde had seen how his quirk looked in the second round, but unfortunately for the copy quirk user he didn't know how Izuku's ability worked while discussions with Yanagi, Tokage, and Tetsutetsu had already informed him of the copy ability long ago.
"Ready boys?" Midnight asked as he and Monoma took their places on the concrete platform, the sounds of Izuku's classmates in 1-A as well as his friends from 1-B all cheering him on, Monoma sending a dark scowl to those from 1-B cheering for the greenete.
"Ready." Izuku narrowed his eyes at Monoma, not liking how the blonde was looking at Yanagi and the others.
"More than ready to get rid of this 1-A Cur." Monoma sneered.
"Then begin!" Midnight raised her riding crop as Izuku charged, going just slow enough that he knew Monoma would get a chance to tag him.
"Hah!" Monoma cackled after the lightest of touches, the two now on opposite sides of the arena from when they'd started "Let's see how you handle me now!" Monoma charged at Izuku, both of them transforming in tandem.
As he changed, Izuku grew, bulking up as his skin darkened to gray and hair paled to white. Bone growths that he was sure would one day become spikes rising up. Letting out a primal roar, Izuku reared back his arm and threw a punch at his approaching enemy.
As he charged, Monoma activated the stolen quirk. But while Izuku grew several feet and bulked up massively in terms of muscle, Monoma grew barely an inch. They both had grey skin and white hair, but Monoma lacked the bone growths or air of ferocity, his punch meeting Izuku's as his arm buckled. Monoma might have copied his quirk, but he'd never built-up resistances. Yanagi and Tokage had told him before that that Monoma could copy a Stockpile quirk but not the stockpiled resources that made it viable. He'd figured that Monoma would get his Quirk at how it was when he first used it and he was correct.
"What?!" Monoma was whimpering and clutching a potentially broken arm, having rolled and rag dolled from Izuku's punch.
"A Cur, am I?" Izuku narrowed his eyes as he charged at Monoma, slamming a punch down as Monoma hastily rolled to dodge, eyes frantic as the blond realized he didn't have any other quirks he could copy and the one he copied he couldn't use "Then what does that make you?" Izuku cracked his knuckles "So what will it be Neito Monoma? Will you surrender or will I have to eliminate you by force?"
"D-don't talk down to me!" Monoma charged, trying to land a kick as Izuku gripped his leg.
"Then make me." Izuku swung and threw Monoma bodily from the ring "And never look at my friends the way you did again."
"Winner, Midoriya!" Midnight declared as the medic bots took Monoma to Recovery Girl. If they were quick enough then they could get Monoma, there before the copied quirk went away meaning Recovery girl could heal him easily.
"And the next round we have…!" as Izuku got off the stage, he looked up at the screen to see who would fight next "Katsuki Bakugo and Ochaco Ururaka!"
-Aizawa-
"You saw the board first!" Hizashi shouted, his expression not matching his voices energy as he worked to hide his concern over the match up "The Gravity Defying Infinity Girl of Class 1-A against the Class 1-B's Furious Kaiser of Demolition! Who will win! Who will go to the next round! Let's find out!" at that, he flipped their microphones off.
"Kan, you've worked with the kid more than we have." Shota turned towards his colleague "And we already know the kid has a grudge against Midoriya. Will he try to take that out on one of Midoriya's friends?"
Kan was silent for a moment before speaking "Bakugo is strong. He's gotten more control of his strength since those first couple Heroics classes, but he still goes as far as he's allowed, pushing that boundary as much as he feels he's able to. I want one of my students to win but I also know there's a solid chance of him losing control if he's angry enough to make denials of trigger use. Have Midnight and Cementoss ready to intervene as needed."
"On it." Hizashi nodded, pushing a pager as the two faculty on hand by the arena were prepared, the message sent alerting them to why. As Hizashi handled that, Shota focused on the arena and the two students approaching each other. Ururaka had a determined expression as her friends cheered her on. Bakugo was glaring at her, eyes occasionally flitting over to Midoriya. Midnight gave the signal to begin as Bakugo blasted forward, the ground shattering behind him from the force of his explosions while Ururaka's eyes widened at the sudden burst of acceleration.
"His arial control is impressive." Shota admitted as he saw the boy fly through the air, "He's shown that in all three challenges so far."
"But I'm not sure if that was the wisest idea for this fight." Hizashi noted as Ururaka managed to do a partial dodge, taking a weakened hit so she could stay close enough to tag Bakugo with her quirk and take away his Gravity.
"Same could be said of Ururaka's idea there." Shota noted as the girl quickly moved, grabbing the rubble from his earlier action while Bakugo learned to orient himself in the air. Given he wasn't touching the ground outside the ring then the blond bomber wasn't out yet.
"True." Kan nodded as they saw Bakugo adapting quickly "Bakugo's brash and angry but he has a talent for combat. He's adapting quicker than Ururaka expected it seems." They saw her throw the stones at Bakugo, the weightless rocks flying fast, but Bakugo was faster, the missiles unable to keep up with the arial explosion user.
Ururaka kept throwing more and more rocks as Bakugo dodged them and rocketed towards her. At the last moment though, Ururaka returned the gravity and dodged away as Bakugo suddenly wasn't being propelled enough and stumbled, rolling to the ground.
As he fell, Shota saw Bakugo slap a palm to the ground, firing his explosions as he flung it outward, rubble firing at Ururaka like shrapnel as she negated her own gravity and jumped upward, returning her own gravity once she was out of danger from the shrapnel.
"Stop screwing around!" Bakugo's rage was clearly growing at someone using tricky strategies to fight him rather than coming straight at him.
"Make me!" Ururaka shouted back as she landed back on the arena. Still, thanks to her earlier use of missile rocks Bakugo seemed to be more cautious to avoid giving her more ammunition.
"Gladly!" Bakugo's expression was wild, his grin near feral as he shot at Ururaka, spreading his explosions off to the side as well so she couldn't dodge around him. Once he was close enough, Bakugo spun, slamming his explosion to the ground and sending the concussive force out and knocking Ururaka from the ring as the girl rolled on the ground.
"She was tricky but didn't have the resources of openings to take him out further given the constraints of the challenge." Aizawa noted, fully aware that Bakugo's quirk worked best for this sort of challenge while Ururaka needed something to use her quirk on. She was at a disadvantage going in but had given it her all regardless.
"I'm just glad he didn't go too far." Kan sighed.
"This time." Hizashi commented what they were all thinking.
-Izuku-
"All right everybody!" Present Mic shouted as the next fighters took the stage "Here we are with the President and Vice President of Class 1-A! The Fists of Fury and Master maker! Momo Yaoyorozu and Itsuka Kendo!" at that, Izuku and his classmates from 1-A, as well as the purple haired Shinso who worked with them in the Calvary battle, cheered for both girls, eager to see what their trusted class reps could do.
"So, Midori-bro." Tetsutetsu drew his attention as Izuku looked at his 1-B friends who were sitting with his group from 1-A, the two classes having a large viewing booth even if most of the classmates were trying to stick with just their own class "Who're you expecting to win?"
"That's honestly a hard one." Izuku admitted as watched the two girls "Kendo is by far the stronger physically. Plus, with her quirk being simpler, she's able to focus on what it can do more. Yaoyorozu has a much more complicated quirk that, while it gives her the ability to make more items to provide versatility, she has the problem of having to learn more things to utilize it as compared to Kendo. It could honestly go either way."
"Is it wrong that I'm hoping Yaoyorozu would win just so we could see her make a giant fire extinguisher to hose down Bakugo in the next round?" Ururaka asked sheepishly, her clothes singed from the last fight. Her opponent still sending dirty looks their way.
"I don't know, imagining Kendo bitch slapping him with them big 'ol hands sounds funny too." Mina offered with a grin and a bumped shoulder with Ururaka.
"Begin!" Midnight's shout reached their booth as the two girls charged each other, Yaoyorozu drawing a staff from her arm as she swung at Kendo who blocked it, using her hands as a shield.
"Daaaamn, Kendo didn't even budge." Hagakure gaped at Kendo's impressive physical ability.
"Like I said, she's stronger-" Izuku began even as Yaoyorozu prepared a flash bang from her arm "but Yaoyorozu has versatility." Kendo was staggered back from the blinding light, eyes clenched shut even as she deflected Yaoyorozu's next staff strike, clearly used to fighting even without perfect visibility. Possibly from whatever Dojo she studied in.
"Is…is that a fucking canon?!" Tokage gaped as the Class Rep for 1-A used her opponent's temporary blindness to create a full-sized canon.
"Yep." Izuku, and the rest of his classmates who'd grown used to her making those things, all gave a resigned nod.
"Surrender Kendo!" Yaoyorozu got the canon point blank on her opponent who finally blinked the spots from her eyes, you don't have any room to dodge."
"…I yield." Kendo sighed in resignation as Yaoyorozu was declared the winner.
-Endeavor-
"Come on boy." Endeavor gripped the rail as he stared down into the ring, his youngest child walking out to meet his opponent, a boy named Kosei Tsuburaba "Show them what you can do." He'd watched Shoto in the first two tasks, using only his ice still but with far more control than he'd shown when he found the boy having a breakdown after the USJ. The fight began with the Tsuburaba boy making a solid wall of air by expelling his breath, the solid wall pushing closer and closer to Shoto in an attempt to simply shove him out of the ring.
"This…" Shoto snarled as the wall hit, splaying his palms against the wall while digging his feet into the ground, making a platform of ice to push back "wont…stop…me!" rearing back, Shoto threw a punch, shattering the wall with the sound of breaking glass.
"What?!" Tsuburaba looked stunned at someone just punching apart his wall of solid air "How the hell?!"
"I won't let anything stop me!" Shoto shouted, rushing forward on a path of ice, the stone arena freezing over as Tsuburaba started slipping about, unable to keep his own footing. "Not now, not ever!" rushing closer, Shoto reared his fist back, the ice crawling up Tsuburaba's legs, locking the air user in place, unable to escape Shoto's hard right blow to the face.
The boy from 1-B was at least somewhat creative, using his quirk to make a wall to stop himself from falling out rather than just an attack. It was a futile effort though, Shoto still moving after him and landing a hard kick on his opponent's chest, this wall of air shattering just as the first had, Tsubaraba falling out of the ring with a hard thud.
"Winner, Shoto Todoroki!" Midnight declared as the crowd cheered, Shoto's gaze finding Endeavor's own.
-Aizawa-
"This is going to get intense." Aizawa leaned forward as he stared at the screen declaring the next fight to be Mina Ashido against Setsuna Tokage "I've been curious what the six remaining could do given how often they train with Midoriya."
"It'll be something." Hizashi nodded "But at least we can trust these six to keep the fights respectful. I…Kan, what are you doing?"
"Turns out there are already Memes about the Calvary battle." Kan was snickering as he looked at his phone.
"You're a teacher damnit, act like it." Aizawa gave Kan a look as the blood hero put away his phone to focus on the fight about to happen, their job to introduce the fighters done but they were still expected to add commentary if truly necessary or to observe and be ready to intervene or have Midnight do so. As soon as Nemuri gave the signal the two girls started moving, Ashido sliding around, damn near skating as she secreted acid from her feet. Tokage however, while staying fully joined together, took to the skies and started flying about.
"She can fly now?!" Hizashi gaped, having not seen the girl do so while still joined together yet.
"Yep!" Kan gave a boastful laugh "She might just win this whole thing for Class B so get ready Aizawa." The competitive barb was said with a playful grin at least.
"And did you teach her that or did Midoriya?" Aizawa didn't even bat an eye as Kan sulked miserably.
"Damn, those girls are acrobatic." Hizashi noted the fight, "Ashido seems faster and has more range with that acid, but it seems she's having trouble getting it to go up high enough to hit a moving areal target. Tokage has the areal mobility, but she can't get close enough to strike without risking the acid."
"That seems to be what she wants Ashido to think." Aizawa corrected, noting a small bit of color moving "Looks like Ashido is trying to avoid AOE sprays, probably to avoid any risk to the referees and spectators. Meaning Tokage has an advantage to exploit."
"That a hand?" Kan narrowed his eyes to focus in on the small speck.
"Yep." Aizawa nodded, his quirk granting him better sight than most so he filled in his colleagues "Looks like Tokage is working to keep Ashido focused on her main body, notice how she's been careful to keep one arm angled so Ashido couldn't get a clear look at it with how fast Tokage's moving? She's keeping Ashido in the dark about the hand."
"Working on weaker AOE sprays might be a good idea for Ashido." Hizashi noted as Tokage finally managed to grab Ashido by the back of her shirt's collar, unbalancing the girl as the pink skinned acid sprayer staggered back, leaving an opening for Tokage to fly in and slam her out of bounds.
"I'll bring it up." Aizawa nodded as the girls got up, laughing and sharing a hug to show there weren't any hard feelings, the crowd cheering for the good sportsmanship.
-Yanagi-
"I'm still gonna get you for that later." Mina pouted at Tokage as the two rejoined everyone, the stadium waiting for the next pair of fighters, Kirishima and Tetsutetsu, to arrive for their bout.
"You can try!" Tokage blew a raspberry at Mina "But now we'll see whose moron is stronger! I-…what are you doing?"
"Holy shit you guys are a meme!" Mina, who'd gotten distracted by her phone, quickly showed it to the rest of them, a picture of Izuku in his powerful transformed state, herself on his shoulders while Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were being held as clubs, the standard meme text over the picture.
"Seriously?" Tokage's head separated to get closer to the phone "Let me see, let me see, let me see!"
"Keep your pants on girl, no need to give Zuku a heart attack." Mina teased as Izuku let out a protesting whine, unable to keep the corners of his lips from twitching in amusement regardless.
"But come on guys, let's see." Mina got her phone out and started scrolling through the Memes for their group to see what the captions were.
'When you've got to beat a mother fucker with TWO motherfuckers.'
'There are four brain cells there and she is three of them.'
'High Schoolers, dense enough to be a weapon.'
'In Soviet Japan, YOU are whooping stick!'
'When you take 'my body is a weapon' a little too seriously.'
'How to do a calvary battle when nobody's allowed to touch your girlfriend but you.'
'Relationship goals.'
"Ooooookay that's enough!" Izuku, red faced, swiped away Mina's phone as the pinkette cackled merrily.
"And our boys have hit the field!" Tokage bounced excitedly in her seat as they saw Kirishima and Tetsutetsu take to the field, Midnight calling for them to begin.
Still amused, and admittedly flustered, by the memes, Reiko glanced over at Izuku with a playful smile, clearing her throat as she prepared to keep her worse succinct "Go Kakuna! Use Harden!"
Izuku matched her grin "Metapod, use harden as well!" Izuku shouted.
"Kakuna, use harden harder!" Reiko tried not to giggle.
"Maximum hardness!" Izuku was barely containing his sniggers while the rest of their friends gaped at them.
"Knock it off!" Kirishima and Tetsutetsu turned towards them, shouting at the same time before turning towards each other "Stop copying me!"
"Sorry!" Reiko and Izuku apologized with sniggers as their friends rolled their eyes good naturedly and went back to the fight.
"In all seriousness how're they doing?" Mina looked over at Izuku "I know Kiri's quirk, but I haven't seen much of Tetsu's."
"Well for both of them it's a matter of attrition." Izuku summed up "Kirishima in regard to his stamina, Tetsutetsu in regard to the reserves of Iron he's eaten. They're both great fighters and have been improving the use of their quirks while we train but at this point it just depends on who can hold out longer." He wasn't exactly sure how they're 'reserves' stood so he couldn't tell.
"That's fair." Mina nodded as the two juggernauts continued to whale on each other.
"But don't those two train SPECIFFICALLY to improve their stamina?" Tokage piped in.
"Yeaaaaaah…this is gonna take a while." Izuku admitted sheepishly.
"I'll order snacks." Hagakure pulled up an app to call for concessions to the competitors won't risk missing a fight they would need to study.
-Izuku-
"Can't believe we need a tie breaker after this." Kirishima sulked, he and Tetsutetsu both looking exhausted from their endurance battle.
"At least you're both memorable." Izuku patted their arms, eyes continually flitting down to the arena where Hagakure and Yanagi would soon be entering.
"And have memes of just you two now!" Mina showed her phone which showed Kakuna and Metapod memes about the two hardening quirk users along with the calvary battle memes. The joys of the speed of the internet.
"Yeah, the memes." Kirishima rolled his eyes before giving Izuku a teasing grin "So, you and Yanagi huh? Who's gonna give you the shovel talk?"
"I'm sure I could get Mr. Kan to do it." Tetsutetsu offered, grinning just as broadly at a chance for payback. Given Izuku's flustered flailing and their laughs he guessed they got the payback they wanted.
"Still, as much as I want to root for both of them, I don't think Hagakure will be able to win this." Izuku tried to change the subject back to the fights "Her quirk, and more importantly her skillset, just aren't built for this kind of fight. If this fight was in a covered area and she was allowed to," he coughed "wear her 'hero costume' then I'd say she'd stand a decent chance, but she's not allowed to strip down. The rules stated that the only reason you're allowed to be disrobed is if it's from them being destroyed or a side effect of a quirk. With no cover she can't use that to her advantage since her style is very stealthy hit and run. In an open ring Yanagi, who has telekinesis strong enough to pick up a person, is going to be able to beat her without much issue." Just as he said, the second the fight began Yanagi grabbed Hagakure with her quirk, gently picking her up and removing her from the ring while the invisible girl tried to break the grip, even succeeding in using her quirk to create light like a flashbang somehow, definitely something to look into, but all that succeeded in was getting her dropped to the ground out of bounds.
"And that's the end of the first round!" Present Mic shouted, "We'll have a short break before the tie breaker and then start the second round! Who's ready for combaaaaaat?!"