Ochaco kept staring at the screen.
Her friends thought she was preparing for her upcoming match and in a way she kind of was… except it wasn't the kind of strategy building that they all probably assumed she was going over. No… it was something else.
'Ahsoka's match with Hagakure was AMAZING!' she thought, a smile slowly forming on her lips. 'The way those two fought? It… it was beautiful.' She had never truly seen people fight like that… or if they did there were always quirks thrown into the mix. Yes, Mr. Kenobi and Mr. Aziawa had them spar with no quirks but what Ahsoka and Hagakure had done had been so much faster…
"Man, you sure lucked out!" Ashido said with a grin, suddenly popping up next to her and making Ochaco jump.
"What?"
"You lucked out. Your opponent. You are going to have this won in seconds!"
"What are you talking about?" Ochaco asked, confused.
"Well, you have Shinso," the pink girl said brightly. "Don't get me wrong, his quirk is sooooo cool and he really knows how to use it but… it's easy to beat if you know what to do." Ochaco continued to just stare at the other girl, so startled by the sudden conversation she'd been rendered mute. Ashido though thought her silence meant she was confused and thus quickly said, "Come on, you have to have thought of it! You're smarter than me, after all! Just get some cotton or some tissues and stick them in your ears! Can't hear him, can't fall under his power. I'd say just don't say a word and maybe that would be easy for you but for me I'd just blurt out an answer and-" She held her hands out in front of her, letting her eyes unfocus, "-uuuuuhhhhh," she said in a drone. Just as quickly she snapped back to normal. "You got this in the bag!"
"Yeah…" Ochaco murmured to herself.
"I mean, I guess the only other easy draw would have been Midoriya-"
Ochaco snapped out of her daze, eyes narrowing dangerously.
At once Ashido began to panic. "No! I didn't mean like that!" She said hurriedly, waving her hands in front of her face. "It has nothing to do with his quirk! Or that he doesn't have a quirk at all! Its just… he won't be able to use his guns, will he? Or his armor? That's what gives him his advantage! He is scary great with them and I certainly want to take him on with any of those but he won't have them for this… well, maybe he will, I'm not for sure. Can he bring his guns?" She looked at Ochaco and seeing how she was still staring her down blurted out, "Do you like him?"
"What?" Ochaco said slowly.
"MIdoriya? You like him right? Sorry… I didn't mean to insult your crush-"
An orange hand came down on Ashido's shoulder and she slowly tilted her head up to meet Ahsoka's eyes.
"You want to walk away now," Ahsoka said and Ochaco knew she wasn't using her quirk at all. It was just raw intent.
"…okay," Ashido squeaked. "I'm sorry… I really am! I'm not a quirkiest I-"
"Go," Ahsoka said firmly.
Ashido ducked her head, smile falling as she hurried off.
"I honestly don't think it was a quirk thing," Ochaco stated.
"I honestly think she believes that," Ahsoka amended, sitting down. "I think a lot of our classmates think they are understanding to the quirkless… and don't realize just how quirkist they are."
"What do you mean?" Ochaco asked.
"You ever notice how they pull their punches when sparring with him?" she asked. "They think he'll break if they use their full force. And if we are entering anywhere that might be the tiny bit dangerous they always glance back at him, checking where he's at. That's-"
"Civilian Protection 101," Ochaco murmured in surprise.
"Even I do it," Ahsoka admitted. "Though its for all of you... but I still try and catch myself."
Ochaco swallowed. "I… I don't-"
"Not during spars," Ahsoka assured her. "Because you know how dangerous he is. But everyone else… all they see are the quirks."
"That's… ridiculous!" Ochaco exclaimed. "Mr. Aizawa basically fights quirkless and I looked up his record… he has the most arrests of any hero in Japan! It just isn't talked about because he goes after low-level thugs! And Mr. Kenobi doesn't use his quick all that much…"
Ahsoka nodded. "He does have his support item, his Lightsaber, but anyone can use that, quirk or no quirk." She chuckled, leaning back on the bench. "I wish I could get Rex to come down and do a demonstration. He fights quirkless… his quirk is utterly useless in a fight or in anything really. So he's like Midoriya. And Rex is… he's scary good. I think if he wanted to he could take down Ma… Mr. Kenobi or Anakin. Give him time to study them and he'd take down half the Top Ten."
The idea that had been slowly forming in Ochaco's mind crystallized. "Yeah…"
She got up and moved out of the room.
"Thanks, Ahsoka!"
The orange teen blinked at the sudden departure, calling out, "Welcome?" even as Ochaco hurried down the hall to the boy's locker room. She wasn't surprised to find that only Hitoshi was in there, hands folded on his lap, eyes staring at a wall.
"Hey, Hitoshi!" Ochaco said with a smile.
"…hey," the gloomy teen said. "Midoriya didn't send you, did he? Because I kicked him and Inasa out when they were getting too loud."
"No… but also kind of?" Seeing his look she waved at the bench and he, with a sigh, finally motioned for her to sit down. "Listen… I know how your quirk works."
"Yeah," Hitoshi said. It could have been a question or a statement, it was hard to tell with him.
"I know how to beat it. And… you know how my quirk works and how to beat it."
"Don't get tapped."
"Right." She paused. "You getting tired of the school treating us like showdogs that need to perform for everyone?"
"Since the Entrance Exam," Hitoshi muttered.
Ochaco smirked.
"Want to flip things on their head?"
~MC~MC~MC~
Anakin shot a dark look at Principal Nedzu. "Not popping out of my clothing?" he asked as the principal popped out of a vent and landed on the desk where Obi Wan and Hizashi were going over their notes for the next match. Obi Wan in particular was interested in how one student, Shinso, would do; he had taken a shine to the boy, apparently.
"I realized that doing so may lead you to passing me off to young Eri," Nedzu said, gesturing to the girl who was currently flopped on the ground in a boneless heap, taking her nap. Almost everyone else, other than Obi Wan, Hizashi, and Anakin, had left so she could sleep in peace; Obi Wan and Hizashi had to do announcing and Anakin thought he could fix their wiring to make it far better. It was a tangled mess and offended him. "One cuddle was enough for me."
Obi Wan chuckled at the reminder of the time Eri had gotten a hold of the principal and began to hug him like he was a stuffed animal. "I think Anakin would do far worse than that…"
"I don't know, seems like the perfect punishment to me," Anakin muttered, still not trusting Nedzu to not find SOME way to burst out of his clothes even just standing there. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Oh, I heard some things as I was-"
"Snooping?" Hizashi suggested.
"-patrolling," Nedzu said with a dark gleam in his eye that made clear to all of them that if they wanted to wake up in the morning with all their body parts they would agree with them. And Anakin, having already one part of him that could easily detach, was in no mood to press his luck. "I heard some rather interesting things and I am curious to see how the next match goes. And this is the best seat in the house." Obi Wan grabbed a chair with the Force and dragged it over to the principal, Nedzu happily sitting down and watching the field.
Hizashi and Obi Wan merely shrugged before the former turned on his mic. "And we are back for the next match folks! And this one is going to really be a contrast in differences! Its going to be a clash of night and day when Shinso Hitoshi takes on Uraraka Ochaco!"
"Both have vastly different fighting styles," Obi Wan stated, "and different desires when it comes to hero work." Anakin smiled at that; while Hizashi was treating the entire thing like a sporting event (giving him flashbacks to all the podraces he had competed in and the announcers that did all they could to hype up the crowd and get them roaring and cheering) Obi Wan was dropping little bits of information that would help potential hero agencies realize just how well suited the students would be for internships. "Shinso is looking for a career in the Underground while Uraraka has set her sights on becoming a Rescue Hero. And both are well suited for those paths."
"But they won't be looking to hide in the shadows or rescue anyone today!" Hizashi declared. "No… it will be a knock down, drag out, wham bam fight for the ages!"
Down on the field Shinso and Uraraka stepped into the arena, Obi Wan and Hizashi growing quiet so that Nemuri could explain the rules. The two nodded before bowing to each other, moving to their separate ends of the arena floor. Cementoss gave a nod that he was ready to step in if things got too dangerous and Nemuri raised her hand, dropping it.
At once Uraraka and Shinso… raced towards each other and began to trade kicks and punches.
Nedzu began to chuckle as Hizashi commented on the action, cheering on the different moves they were using… but clearly waiting for quirk attacks that just weren't coming.
"It seems, folks, that both Uraraka and Shinso have decided to showcase their hand to hand combat!" Hizashi finally said.
The crowd began to murmur at that.
"USE A QUIRK!" someone shouted, close enough for Anakin to hear it. "BAD ENOUGH THAT ORANGE CHICK DIDN'T USE HER'S-"
Anakin at once ripped the mic away from Obi Wan.
"Anyone that believes that Quirks are the only thing that make a hero are fools," he said darkly, eyes narrowed as he scanned the crowd, trying to find the loudmouth that had insulted his Padawan. "A hero must use every part of them in order to protect others. The fact that Ahsoka and these two have done so well to master Hand to Hand combat means that they will be far better heroes who can save more lives. You want to be entertained? Go watch a movie. UA is supposed to be about training heroes, not providing cheap entertainment to ungrateful jerks."
The only sound in the arena were the grunts and strikes from the two.
"Thank you, Anakin," Obi Wan said dryly, taking back the mic. "That was very informative."
"It was!" Nedzu said, suddenly popping up in front of Obi Wan and snagging the mic. "That was hero Sir Steel, who has been slowly building up his reputation in Japan. And I do believe many seasoned heroes, especially those in the Underground, will agree with him fully. While it is true that we put on the Sports Festival to showcase the talents of our students they are far more than their quirks! We teach them how to discover clues, comfort the injured, provide medical assistance, and solve crimes. While it is only villain fights that end up on the news most crime is far less flashy. We try to show all our students that… of course there are some students who never learn and simply rely upon flash and little substance."
He paused.
"On a completely unrelated note UA would like to welcome alum Endeavor to the Sports Festival!"
Cameras turned away from the fight Uraraka and Shinso to show the glowering face of Endeavor.
"Oh, that is just mean," Anakin muttered with a smirk. He couldn't help in delighting in the man's clear annoyance ; his wife was being mentored by the Number 1 Hero, after all, and while he thought the rankings were silly he would root for her over Endeavor all the same.
Anakin and Obi Wan were different in many things but their dislike of the press was something both shared. He and Obi Wan believed in getting the job done and being with those they cared for… not dealing with reporters that wanted to ask them a thousand inane questions. He did what he did because he wanted to protect people… not for fame and fortune.
Inui had made the comment once that he was surprised that Anakin didn't care for the finer things in life. He had stated, as politely as he could, that many people that came from his situation sought out those things to try and distance themselves from their poor past. Anakin though had stated that it wasn't lacking for material goods that he hated as a child… it was not being able to stay with those he loved or have them stay with him. The friends that had disappeared because their masters sold their families. The kind faces that disappeared, never to be seen again. His own mother. He didn't miss a single item from his world… no, what bugged him being on Earth was not seeing his clone troopers again. The Chancellor. The mechanics in the temple who'd swap stories with him. If Obi Wan or Ahsoka or Padme hadn't come with him he'd be tearing the planet apart to get to them.
Items were items.
People mattered.
"And would you look at that!" Hizashi exclaimed and Anakin broke from his thoughts to see that Uraraka had managed to suddenly twist out of a hold Shinso had put her in and bring him to the ground, restraining him and locking his body in place. Nemuri was suddenly at their side, looking over the hold before nodding and tapping Uraraka on the shoulder. "In a stunning 10 seconds Shinso nearly got the win with an impressive Kalamara Hold only for Uraraka to turn it around into the Titus Lock Maneuver! That is some advanced Year 3 moves we just saw some first years perform!"
"I believe in allowing my students to move on to more complex methods of fighting once they've mastered the basics," Obi Wan stated. "Both Shinso and Uraraka are quite skilled… while the entire class has already reached Year 2 material they are part of a select eight who have moved onto Year 3 in terms of holds and restraints."
"You heard it here first, folks!" Hizashi proclaimed. "Class 1-A and 1-B might be some of the most advanced Year 1 students we've ever had at UA! Now, because some of you might have missed it," he flicked a couple switches and the big screens in the arena began to replay the final few moments of the match, "Obi Wan and I will go over just what happened."
"As you can see here," Obi Wan said, using a stylist to draw digitally on a still frame of Shinso grabbing onto Uraraka's hair, forcing her head back, "Shinso showed good situational awareness and was able to use Uraraka's hair to allow him to drive her into position for his strike here…"
~MC~MC~MC~
"That was amazing!" Uraraka said with a grin as she and Shinso headed back to the locker rooms. "You have to show me how you broke out of that ankle lock! I thought for sure I had you!"
Shinso smiled ever so slightly at that. "Thank you. And you did very well with your palm strike."
"I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"Nothing worse than what I've gotten before," he told her. "But it is fine."
As they walked to their separate locker rooms to meet up with their friends neither noticed Shoto watching from the shadows.
'Father… you made clear what needed to happen here,' he thought.
"This will be your chance to show your strength and power," Endeavor told him coldly, eyes narrowed and mouth barely opening as he gave his command. Because there was no doubt that was exactly what he was doing: commanding Shoto. "The Sports Festival is where your legacy will be made. That orange girl managed to beat you in the first round. And then a team that had a quirkless boy on it defeated you in the second. But this… this is where you will win. You will win. You will end your childish rebellion against me and you will use your fire to win. You will make this entire nation whisper in shock at your power, Shoto… it is the only way you will ever become the hero you were meant to be."
And Shoto had been ready to do just that… though not with his fire. No, he had been ready to win with his ice, to show all and especially his father that he didn't need the flames. That he could win with just his ice, the last bit of his mother than he still had. That he didn't need Endeavor.
'But… even if I did use only my ice… using it just at full strength… that is still my father's way of doing things.' He thought of the many reports he'd seen of damaged buildings and injured bystanders because his father sought to make his flames hotter, his bursts bigger, to draw more attention to himself. 'If I were to just attack with a glacier… it would still be his method.' He watched the replay of Uraraka and Shinso's fight as it played again, Mr. Kenobi going over the finer points that the people at home might have missed. 'I want to be a hero that is different from my father.'
He took a breath… and walked into the guy's locker room, going right up to Kirashima.
"So, you and I, huh?" the red-headed hero said with a grin. "This is gonna be an epic fight! Can your ice break my defense?" He held his fist up in front of his face.
"What did you think of Uraraka and Shinso's match?"
Kirashima blinked at that, surprised by the change of topic, before his mouth split into a wide grin. "It was so MANLY! I mean, the way those two went at it!? And they didn't use their quirk… Mr. Kenobi is always getting on us to learn the fundamentals and I was willing to put in the work but seeing those two go at it full blast? Man… I can't wait for next class now!"
Shoto nodded.
"Would you… like to try that?"
"…what?"
"For our match."
Kirashima's eyes slowly widened. "No quirk sparring? Hell ya!" He pumped his fist in the air. "You hear those people complaining? They didn't know what they were talking about… that was some amazing fighting! We can show off our skill AND back up our classmates! That is the manliest of manly ideas!"
Shoto… smiled.
It was small.
Barely there.
But he smiled.
'Father… I will show you what hero I going to be.'