"She isn't going to wake up in time."

Izuku sighed at the news he had feared, standing over Ibara Shiozaki's inert form on the gurney with his hands folded behind his back and his head bowed. Beside him stood Recovery Girl, a tiny old woman he knew hit harder than Bakugou when she was angry and had her cane on hand. She touched a hand to his arm, and he looked down at her to see she was shaking her head.

"You're going to have to take this match on your own… or forfeit." she said, and Izuku closed his eyes.

"I won't step down now." he said, before looking back to Ibara, slumbering with only the faintest hint of the bruise Blackmore had given her to show why. "She deserves to be at my side, but if she can't… then I'll stand in her stead."

"That Bakugou boy is out for blood today." Recovery Girl warned, and Izuku smiled despite himself, a sad little grin.

"Isn't he always?" he asked, before looking over at Blackmore. "What about Raymond?'

"He'll be fine, deary." said Recovery Girl. "He passed out from the impact with the ground, but exhaustion played a big part, and dehydration. I've got him on a drip for now, and when he wakes up he and I will have a nice long talk about the limits of the human body and its innate liquid reserves. Speaking of limits…"

She eyed his arm, and he smiled, raising it to her eyes. Not so much as a scratch, though his shoulder was bruised from Tsuburaba's cannon of a throwing arm. The fact Thunderstruck hadn't broken his arm still shocked him, to be totally honest.

"Whatever happened with One For All… Thunderstruck seems to be different." he admitted. "No damage this time, even though I gave that punch my all."

"That wasn't a one-hundred percent punch, then." said Recovery Girl, shaking her head. "No… gauging from the lack of damage and the fact we didn't have to scrape young Blackmore off the arena walls with a chisel… I'm going to guess your body limited the amount of power you could access."

Izuku looked down at his arm.

"Valentine?" he asked, before glancing at a mirror positioned beside Recovery Girl's desk.

His otherworldly mentor appeared in the reflection, giving Recovery Girl quite the start. Evidently he had chosen to reveal himself to both of them then. Useful; now he could explain what had just happened, if he knew. The man stood tall and proud, hands folded behind his back in the same stance Izuku had been both consciously and unconsciously mimicking for weeks now. He smiled at the two.

"I am not wholly sure." said Valentine, instantly destroying Izuku's hopes. "I simply sensed D4C and One For All's merging. I am not sure what Thunderstruck- wonderful name, by the way- can do. It is obvious it creates some kind of electric field, and it seems to possess a measure of One For All's strength enhancement."

"I already tested warping again." Izuku added, looking at Recovery Girl. "It still works the same, though it feels different now. Like I'm… I don't know, taking longer steps? I feel like I could warp further, I guess."

"So it really is something new…" Recovery Girl nodded as she looked at Valentine, then at Izuku. "Unfortunate you had to figure this all out minutes before the final match."

"I can't think of a better time, actually." Izuku said, before looking at the television on the wall behind her, facing the gurneys. There was his face, and Kaachan's, as Present Mic announced once again that they would be the final contestants along with their partners, Ibara and Kinoko's faces coming up next.

"You wish to show that uncough brat that you are more than his equal." Valentine correctly guessed, though his choice of words gave Izuku pause. "And with this new power, this power that is yours and yours alone…"

"I can do just that." Izuku agreed, nodding. "I can show Kaachan… Bakugou, that I'm not just some worthless Deku."

Recovery Girl, forgotten by the boy… no, young man before her, nodded once. So this wasn't just about the festival. This seemed to be a much bigger deal than she had first supposed, a confrontation that seemed to be years in the making. She smiled in spite of herself; perhaps if these two could find closure, then they could become the heroes she and every other teacher in the school knew they could be.

Her smile was knocked from her face when her office door was thrown open, Shotaka Aizawa striding inside and grabbing Izuku by the shoulders. She stared him in the eyes for a moment, before reaching up to her head and grabbing several strands of her own hair, presenting them to Izuku. Her own hair… but green, it seemed.

"Expain." she commanded, before she heard a familiar laugh from one side and twisted to see the blonde figure from before smiling at her.

"I told you." Valentine said, before disappearing.

"Told you what?" Izuku asked.

Shotaka shook her head.

"It isn't important." she replied, though she heard that wretched laugh again and wanted to curse. "What is important is THIS."

She gestured to the stripe of green in her otherwise pure black hair, making Izuku cock his head to one side and blink twice. Great. So he didn't know. Or he did and was playing coy with her… she groaned aloud.

"You don't know." she guessed, and he nodded. "Great."

"Maybe it has something to do with Thunderstruck?" he asked, and she looked back at him.

"Thunder-what?"

Izuku sighed, and began to explain. He didn't need to lie about One For All to Shotaka; she was here because of D4C. The two of them knew much more about each other than was perhaps comfortable, the history of One For All (at least, the parts Izuku knew and remembered) being one of those many things. It had given All Might a reason to stop worrying about his secret so much, at least; he didn't have to hide the truth from his homeroom teacher, meaning lessons were easier. Or… they had been. Now Izuku had a whole new Quirk to practice with.

Once his explanation was over, Shotaka groaned, obviously tired of the bizarre nature of this world. He felt for her, but try as he might Izuku had no real way to find her reality again. Searching specific dimensions was difficult enough, but realities he had already visited seemed to be nearly impossible to tap back into. Add to that the fact that this particular Izuku had never actually interacted with the Izuku from Shotaka's reality (being number twenty-three, while Shotaka's Izuku was Izuku number twenty) and had no links to it… well, it was challenging, to say the least.

"So… what's your plan for the final round?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. "Without a partner… taking Bakugou and Komori on by yourself will be a hell of a fight."

"That's why I'm not going to fight alone." Izuku replied, smiling. "I have a plan, Sensei. I need your permission to go through with it, though. I don't think there's a ruling for this, you see, and I don't want to step on any toes…"

"I doubt you can come up with anything Nezu hasn't written a rule for, but go ahead and try me." Shotaka replied, as the shadow of a smile crossed her face. "What's your plan?"

Izuku told her. She listened, blinked twice (a common occurrence for those who spent too much time around Izuku Midoriya) and then stared at him for a moment. Then she blinked again, and nodded, uncertain if it was the correct answer to give. Regardless… it was the only one she could think of.

Izuku smiled back.

"Perfect!" he said. "Now, I have fifteen minutes, right?"

"Twenty." Shotaka managed to say.

"Even better!" he replied, before ducking past her. "I'll be on the field then, Sensei, I promise!"

Shotaka just watched him go, numb to the world for a little while, before that same smile-shadow crossed her face again.

She could hardly wait to see what came next.

AN:

Just a short chapter today, something to bridge the gap before we get into the big slugfest next chapter. I know what's coming, you all know what's coming, people who haven't even read this fic know what's coming. The big one. The fight you've all been waiting for since I kinda sorta maybe skipped the first iteration. The fight almost every tournament arc rewrite is legally required to have.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen; next chapter, you're gonna get Katsuki vs Izuku. Bakugou vs Midoriya.

Kaachan.

Versus.

Deku.

Oh, and Kinoko will be there too. And… well, a couple faces familiar to some of you, I believe, though others will be confused. Don't worry about that. Explanations will be given. Liberties will be taken. Bones will be broken. Old grudges reawoken. And there will be EXPLOSIONS and PUNCHES and YELLING for EVERYBODY.

See you in the next one, folks.