Hello all!

So its been a hot minute since I last updated any of my stories, this is because we just started out Fall season at my job and started to prepare for getting products in for Black Friday and Christmas, so been a bit busy.

That and Baldur's Gate 3 got released...

So yea, been trying to relax by playing a D&D game, and honestly, it's one of my favorites for this year. I only wish Minthara was a romanceable option outside of the Neutral and Evil path ;-;.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter of Green Gaul!

Reviews:

Monster King: Thank you!

RednaxTheWolf: Glad you enjoyed this story, and I am working on Bearer of the Light next, and it's going to be a big chapter, to make up for the lack of updates.

EliteShadow: Well, here's the next chapter!

: Thank you, glad you are enjoying it!

mezentsevmicheal: Oh, two of them for now.

SonicMax: Truthfully, they are at the top of my list for favorite of the 1-A ladies :)

solbandgus: It was more to hide his identity while doing the analysis because of his age over the years, hence the voice changing mask. It is not his hero name :)

[MHA and Asterix and Obelix all belong to their copyright owners, as I do not own any of them.]

Chapter 14

Never going to give you up

In hindsight, Izuku knew Nezu would pull some last-minute shenanigans.

Sitting in the windowless and nearly soundproof waiting room, the green-haired giant of a teenager was on the lone bench, his cheeks in his hands as he was running through scenario after scenario in his mind of who he would be facing.

From how things were going in the tournament, he felt Todoroki would be one of his opponents. Not to downplay anyone else, and despite Todoroki's reliance on only half of his quirk, Izuku had to admit that anyone facing him would have a hard enough time should the dual-quirked man just freeze his opponent in a glacier.

It was the one time that he praised the gods that Tsu hadn't placed for the one vs. one, where she had the potential chance to face Todoroki. Granted, Tsu knew what her limitations were, and had she any gear that would keep her body warm in extreme cold like she was hoping to do for the winter, then there wouldn't be that much of an issue. But in their standard gym outfits? No, she would have to forfeit before the match would start; otherwise, there was no telling how deep of a sleep she would be put in.

Plus, Todoroki would know better than to freeze her in solid ice, considering the boy was in the top five scorers of their academic studies, usually placing himself between Yaoyorozu and himself or Bakugo, depending on the subject, and even then, he was knowledgeable and wasn't actively hostile to any of their fellow classmates.

Speaking of Bakugo, the walking, talking explosive with a short fuse was another potential opponent for him to face. And honestly, Izuku wasn't hoping he would make it. Not that he couldn't make it, considering how skillful he was with his quirk and the evident work that went into training up his body for UA. But there were still underlying issues between him and Izuku, which neither had a chance to discuss. Granted, having a civil discussion with Bakugo didn't look possible, given how confrontational the blond was towards him and the rest of the class. Kirishima did seem to have a handle on Bakugo at times, which was surprising, but it would be awkward to have him present for any sort of conversation between them.

The dulled roar of the stadium outside his door broke Izuku's musings, his foot tapping loudly against the cement floor as he sighed gently before returning to his thoughts.

"-And remember you two! Let's keep this a clean fight!" The risque teacher spoke aloud, cracking her whip to emphasize her point, which caused neither of the students to flinch as she sauntered off the arena stage. Bakugo glared hard at his opponent, the purple-haired asshole who seemed to have wormed through the first two events.

In his mind, Bakugo had figured out that it was because of the purple asshole's quirk, somehow being able to force any of the other extras to obey his commands; what he hadn't been able to figure out was how the asshole was able to activate it. As he was staring off at the rather tired-looking man across from him, Bakugo's inner rage began to boil over, considering he was already pissed that Deku wasn't participating in the sports festival, where he could finally show which was the better of the two, considering that battle trial was nothing but a fluke in his mind because the 'pink bitch' had gotten in his way.

The sound of the buzzer screamed aloud as Bakugo took off with his explosions, beelining straight towards the other young man, who was standing there with a smug ass smirk on his lips. Just as Bakugo was about to wind back his right arm to punch that dumb look off his face, the young man's voice shouted, "Blondey says 'wha'?"

"Wha-?!"

And just like that, it was all over.

"-Although it's quite possible I'll have to face off against one of the students from 1-B should they get past Todoroki, maybe one of them would force him to use his fire? Then again, he has been a stubborn ass about it through-" *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

Izuku nearly jumped from the loud knocking coming from the door of the waiting room he was in before the door suddenly opened with the deadpanned look of Aizawa staring back at the currently recovering student, "Have you been doing nothing but muttering this entire time?"

"N-no?"

…

"Maybe?"

"Problem Child, seriously?"

"F-Fine, I was running scenarios of who I might face in the finals…" Izuku sighed as he slowly got up, reaching the open door and walking out with Aizawa by his side, "I'm a little shocked that the third event went as quick as it did."

"Izuku, it's been three hours since the end of the lunch break." Aizawa said with his usual monotone voice, still looking forward, whereas Izuku nearly tripped over himself in shock before recovering.

"T-Three Hours?!" He exclaimed, his eyes looking towards the emptiness of the hallway.

"Mhmm and you'll be having two fighters to contend with." Aizawa now had his hands in his pockets, his eyes squinted slightly, "The third had to drop out of the festival because of a family emergency."

"O-Oh?" Izuku looked towards his uncle, his expression full of curiosity, but knowing it would be rude to inquire as to what the emergency was, and as if reading his mind, Aizawa spoke up again.

"Iida had to drop out, but that's about as much info as I can tell you."

"T-That's fine… Admittedly, he was in some of my top picks of who I'd face anyway." Izuku sighed, his arms crossing over one another as the roar of the crowds could be heard echoing off the walls. The larger student wished he could have faced off against the younger brother of Ingenium, considering they hadn't had a proper race yet and the memories of when a young Izuku would race against the older brothers when he attended the university years ago. He really wanted to see how much faster Tenya was compared to Tensei.

"Decided to not wear your mask?" Aizawa suddenly asked, which knocked Izuku out of his inner thoughts.

"N-No… I read the note in my bag, and it was nice for Nezu to give me the option." The student began to speak, his brows furrowed slowly, "But I need to finally show off who I am; I-I've been hiding for so long that if I want to be the hero I want to be, then I need to show everyone that ' I am Here!'."

Aizawa merely sighed heavily as the two continued to walk, his fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose, "And here I thought you'd want to be an underground hero."

Izuku nearly tripped again from what his uncle had said, about to splutter out an apology when he noticed the unkempt man's smug expression on his face; the green-haired boy lumbered on, grumbling at the trick or 'ruse' as Aizawa liked to call them as the older man continued on, "In all seriousness though, by showing yourself to the world, you will paint a target on your back, and not just from the potential villains either. Do you think you can handle all of that?"

"Honestly…" Izuku began to speak, only to be interrupted by the distant roar coming from the crowds further down the hallway leading to the center field, along with the muffled shouts coming from Mic echoing off the walls as Izuku kept looking forward, "I'm worried that I won't live up to everyone's standards more than anything else…"

Aizawa said nothing further as the two approached one of the main entranceways, keeping to the shadows as the quiet murmur of the crowds echoed against the walls, making Izuku a little more nervous. Thankfully, his teacher broke the relative silence between the pair, "That's part of the job, Izuku. Everyone will expect many things from the limelight heroes, and you'll be judged accordingly, and you knew this since day one."

"But, unlike most that walk these halls, you have been working hard for your ideals since you were very young and had the support to make them a reality. All of us are not expecting you to live up to the potential of being a hero; we already know you do, and this will be one of the many first steps you'll need to take yourself and reach your goal, and nothing would make the staff here more proud to see that."

Izuku was staring at Aizawa, his eyes wide in shock at the words the usually tired man was saying, not bothering to look at his pseudo-nephew as he patted the taller teenager on the shoulder and walked back down the hallway they had just come through, "Mic will call you out when it's time, be prepared, Problem Child."

A slow smile crept along Izuku's lips, tears forming at the corner of his eyes as the green-haired boy nodded vigorously. Turned around and started to stretch and prepare himself, Izuku slapped his cheeks to try and knock said tears from his eyes before they exploded into a river that could possibly flood the stadium, a unique 'quirk' within the Midoriya family, funnily enough.

As Aizawa rounded the corner, he pulled the collar under his scarf and began to speak into the communicator located within, "Mic, it's Aizawa; Problem Child went with the option NM."

"Gotcha, loud and clear, buddy!" the speaker in his ear shouted with a mad cackling, making Aizawa groan before disappearing into the shadows and continuing his patrol. After all, no villain would ruin Izuku's debut to the world, and Aizawa would make sure that wouldn't happen.

Mina sighed as she leaned back in her seat, her arms crossing over her chest while the rest of her class chatted around her. Many of her classmates were eager to see who the mystery fighter would be, though they had a suspicion as to who it was. Admittedly, the pink-skinned woman was a little upset with herself as she had only gotten to the second round before being simply dropped off at the side of the arena stage by Iida.

Mina was pretty quick when it came to building up her quirk, but sadly, the speedster president of the class was just too fast for her to properly deal with. Granted, he was the son of a prodigious family of pro heroes, so it was evident that Iida would have an advantage. It was just another thing in a long line of her personal checklist tasks she needed to work on, albeit she could always just ask Izuku for some help, considering how smart he is, and thankfully, Iida's opponent after her was just as quickly dispatched as well, the vine-haired woman from class 1-B's quirk was fast as well, but nothing compared to Iida's speed. So now, after clearing the field from the last semi-final match, the speakers blared out a 'YEAAAAAAA!', startling many members of the crowd, including the rather loud (and very cute) ribbit from Mina's left side.

"I hate when Present Mic does that, kero."

A few more sensitive students nodded solemnly as their English teacher's voice returned, "ALRIGHT! It's the moment you all have been waiting for! The finals of the last event!"

The crowd roared excitedly, eager to see who the mystery fighter was, as Mic cackled into the microphone, "One last-minute change, though! One of our finalists had to drop out after their semi-final match, so we only got two last fights lined up! But, with whom we have left, I feel they will give a great performance to compensate for it!"

"So, let's welcome back to the stage from the General Studies classes and taking down his opponents left and right; it's Hitoshi Shinso!" Mic shouted into the microphone as the tired-looking purple-haired student made his way to the stage, eyeing the darkened tunnel at the opposite side and waiting for his final challenge to prove that his quirk wasn't some 'villainous' quirk. He already was provided how many of the flashier students in the Hero Courses needed some humbling, and ironically, he was pleased about knocking that blond asshole down a peg or two.

While the audience kept cheering for the 'underdog' of the Festival, Present Mic continued, "And with our first combatant on the field, I bet all you listeners, young and old, have been itching to find out who our mystery fighter is! Well, wait no longer!"

"Many of our alumni over the past fourteen years would recognize him from running around our campus, asking questions about their quirks, and being a big ol' ball of sunshine! But I know many of you listeners would remember a particular incident from many years ago!" Mic snickered with glee as the giant screens around the stadium came to life with footage of the 'Spatial Defender Incident', showing a small and young green-haired boy launching the aforementioned 'hero' into the air with nothing but a raise of his hand. While there was laughter in the crowds from the ridiculous display, there were many coos of how adorable the young boy looked back then, with many of them coming from Midnight, who was cheering for her "little knight" at the side of the stage.

"While technically one of the staff here at UA, as well as the sidekick for Dean Nezu himself, He's also one of our students in the Hero Course! So please help me welcome the big guy himself, IZUKU MIDORRRIYA!" Mic exclaimed as the crowds cheered once again, some much louder than others, especially coming from the stands where class 1-A were seated. Through the noise, the shout of 'POOOWER!' could also be heard from one of the upper areas of the arena as Izuku began to make his walk toward the arena stage, and while Shinso noted how determined the larger man looked, he couldn't help noticing how red his cheeks were.

The crowds started to die down as Izuku stepped onto the arena, keeping his eyes trained on Shinso before both students looked over to Midnight, who cracked her whip to get their attention and spoke into her microphone in her other hand, "Alright, boys! The rules for this round are simple! Shinso, as before, force Midoriya out of the arena stage or knock him out, and you win! However, we will mark down how quickly you do it; whoever has the best time between yourself and the other finalist will be named this year's Sports Festival champion!"

There was a distinct murmur in the stadium as everyone was processing what was just explained; many within the audience were confused as to why the final matches were being done in such a way. Even some of the students were looking confused as to what was happening before the giant screens within the stadium flickered on, revealing the Dean of the university sitting at his desk, along with another person whom both Tsu and Mina instantly recognized as Izuku's mother, standing behind the desk like some sort of lawyer with the way she was carrying herself.

"Hello out there! Am I a bear, dog, or mouse? It doesn't matter, I'm the Dean!" Nezu proclaimed loudly, raising his tiny paws up into the air before bringing them back down again, "Now, while I am sure all of you at home and gathered with us at our fine institution, would rather we just duke it out and let whoever prevails win the top spot. Modern-day heroics isn't like that outside of these walls. There will be times when many of our present-day and future heroes will come up against a clearly superior foe, and the best they can do is run down the clock until reinforcements arrive."

"This will be a test to showcase our finalist's survivability skills against a much more powerful foe, given how quirks tend to become more… 'potent' as the generations continue." Nezu continued to explain, which made most of the audience mutter in agreement, "One last little thing, Midoriya…" The crowds began to hush as the Izuku kept staring at the screen, wondering what the Dean would say to him.

"No aerial launchings; we don't have any landing areas prepped."

The sudden cry of 'AWWW' coming from the seats of Class 1-A as well as one of the high-up seating areas brought visible confusion to most of those around, with Shinso raising an eyebrow while Izuku chuckled meekly, rubbing the back of his head before giving Nezu a thumbs up.

"Excellent, then good luck to both of our contestants!" Nezu said with a slight bow of his head before the screen flickered off. Shinso looked back at his opponent, bouncing up and down on his feet, doing some light stretches as Midnight cracked her whip again to get everyone's attention, "Now that everything's been settled, are you both ready?"

"I guess so?" Shinso said while Midoriya gave her a thumbs up before returning to his stretches.

"Alright then, let the battle begin!" Midnight declared as she raised her whip and cracked it sharply, the loud sound echoing through the arena. As the sound reverberated, the atmosphere became charged with excitement, and Shinso began to speak as loudly as he could.

"So! They had to-" The words left his breath as a large shadow suddenly loomed over the purple-haired young man. Time slowed as Shinso could see the bright emerald eyes of his opponent shining with a fierce look to them, cocking his left arm back before bringing it down and narrowly missing the brainwasher, who had scrambled from his spot at the last minute.

Izuku's hand was driven into the stage, breaking through the surface, and because of his momentum, he skidded along the top while using the broken stone to slow himself down and charge at Shinso once again while said teenager was huffing and looking at his opponent with shock and a wide-eyed expression, "H-Holy hell! I had a feeling you were fast, but not that - GEEZUS!"

Another swipe was made against Shinso, who could feel the mammoth fingers of his foe graze his upper apparel. The crowds grew quiet as this continued, more from shock than anything, as their attention was focused on the larger student chasing and reaching out, trying to grab the much smaller one. All the while, Shinso was huffing and puffing, doing his best to keep himself out of the relatively large, strong-looking hands trying to grab him. He had tried a few times to get a word in edgewise, but from how fast Midoirya was recovering from each attempt, there was no way he could keep this up forever, nor did he think the arena could either from all the trenches and divots being made by the larger student to change his angle.

What was really getting to Shinso was that of the few times Midoirya was close to him, the general studies student could hear Midoriya humming something somewhat familiar. Shinso had heard it before, and after a few more swiping attempts and trying to get Midoriya to speak, it finally dawned on him.

"What the hell?! Are you seriously 'Rick-Rolling' me-GAH!"

That brief lapse of focus was all Izuku needed to finally grab hold of Shinso, tossing him off of the arena stage and skipping the student across the grass on the outside of the ring a few times before Shinso rolled over onto his back, staring up into the clear blue sky and dazed.

Izuku was panting as he stood up, keeping his eyes on his out-of-bounds opponent as a whip crack behind him echoed in the still silent arena, "Shinso is out of bounds and has set the time to beat at twenty seconds!"

The audience began to clap, still mostly in shock, as Izuku jumped off the arena and made his way over to Shinso, who at this point had sat up and wiped off any excess dirt and grass from his clothes and hair, only to notice the offered hand of the other student to his left, "H-hey Shinso? Are you alright?"

Looking up at his former opponent's worried eyes, Shinso sighed before taking his hand and hoisted up back onto his feet, "Physically, I should be, mentally… I dunno yet, considering I was being rick-rolled the entire time while being chased around."

"Y-Yea, sorry about that…" Izuku chuckled weakly, both students overhearing how the arena needed to be fixed and would be given a ten-minute break from the speakers, "It just sorta happened, a-and it was to test out a theory about your quirk."

"My quirk, huh?" Shinso said as he began to head out of the central area to the side exits, with Izuku following him along, "And what's this theory of yours?" he asked when he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest with a deadpanned gaze.

"W-Well… your quirk, it requires someone to answer verbally back to you, yes?" Izuku asked and got a simple nod from Shinso, which the green-haired student ignored the muttering of 'Of course you figured it out', "Do you know if it's actual words they need to say or any sort of noise, like grunt or hum?"

"I…" Shinso quirked an eyebrow before rubbing his chin deep in thought for a few moments, "I honestly don't know, considering I never really had a chance to test that out, but I've always found it easier when my target is speaking at me."

"That's fair, and I wanted to test out if it's someone acknowledging you after you speak to them, or if it was any general sound after you spoke… so I thought that by humming a song without acknowledging you, I wouldn't be affected by your quirk."

"Well that's proven to be true at the least." Shinso sighed and leaned back against the wall; Izuku was now standing before the shorter man, raising his eyebrow.

"I mean, yes and no? Sure, by humming, I may have found a potential weakness, but at the same time, you recognized the song, and let's say you were able to say a verse by continuing the song; even if I'm humming it, that could be a potential trigger for your quirk since I would be technically replying back to you." Izuku said with a bright smile, forcing Shinso to cover his eyes slightly from the 'shine' coming off of it. But what Midoriya said had stuck in his thoughts, and he carefully watched the giant boy.

"It's something I could try out, but why are you helping me?"

"Because I want to?" Midoriya said with the most monotone voice he could, making Shinso look suspiciously at him for a moment, "I know that the entrance exam is catered to those with flashier quirks, despite some of the staff trying to change it, but can't because of the commission…" Izuku sighed as he rested against the wall beside Shinso, who kept quiet as the larger boy continued, "A lot of potential can slip through the cracks, but it's also often because those students don't try and work towards their goals of becoming a Pro, thinking they don't have a chance."

"You, however, are trying to show everyone that you can be a hero. Heck, I can see you took my advice about building some muscle and working out from a few weeks ago." Midoriya smirked as Shinso looked away, clearly embarrassed, "You have an amazing quirk for heroics, Shinso, but that alone won't get you into the hero course. Trust me when I say that it is both a mentally and physically demanding regiment that will constantly push you to your limits."

The pair remained silent, the cheers from the audience echoing off the walls as Shinso was now staring at Izuku. For the first time in who knows how long, someone had praised his quirk and not called it villainous and even was willing to help him realize his goals. Slowly, Shinso smirked back at Izuku, his hands in his pockets.

"Well, if you could give me some pointers in my workout routine, that would be helpful."

As Izukui continued to speak with Shinso, on the other side of the central area where Cementoss was currently fixing the holes caused by the last fight, within the darkness of the hallway, staring out into the opening leading out, heterochromatic eyes watched as he clenched his right hand into a fist.