Chapter 18: The Quarterfinals

QF - FIRST ROUND: [Denki Kaminari (Class 1A)] vs. [Shoto Todoroki (Class 1A)]

The student portion of the Outcasts gathered at the back of the 1A observation booth. The other students gave them a wide berth as the maniacs strategized. Mei was loudly explaining new and terrifying ideas for support gear, Izuku was mumbling a thousand was to tear apart his classmate's quirks and fighting styles, Hitoshi was explaining psychological warfare tactics, Ituna was silently tinkering with what looked to be a miniature tank, and Denki was offering is input for all three of the conversations.

"Shoto has started to use his fire side, but he's unpracticed. On the other hand, ice is made of water, and water conducts electricity," Izuku muttered.

Denki's match against Todoroki was next, so he steered the conversation in that direction. "I wonder how many volts it'd take to get him through one of his glaciers."

Izuku looked up at him, beamed, and then went in-depth about the logistics of using an iceberg as an electrical conductor. The students, unfortunate enough to be within earshot, shuddered in fear. How can he sound so happy while explaining such graphic details!?

-x-x-x-x-x-

Hawks noticed Endeavor leave the pro hero section of the stands. His gut picked up a few red flags, especially if Izuku's theories about the man were true, so he discreetly followed him. Turning around another corner, Hawks's suspicions were confirmed. Endeavor was not supposed to be in this part of the arena, and he certainly shouldn't be yelling at one of the participants. He shouldn't be yelling at his son even if it wasn't blatant trespassing. Hawks was breaking this up.

The number three pro hero approached the number two with practiced silence. He waved one of his feathers in front of a nearby camera to get Ritzu's attention as he repositioned the camera to face the scene the Todoroki patriarch was making. Before reaching Endeavor, Hawks slipped into the hero persona the HPSC beat into him for most of his life—a smile with enough artificial sweetness to rot teeth plastered on his face.

"Heya Endeavor! What's up?" Hawks chirped up at the taller pro.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" was Endevor's rough reply.

"Oh, sorry if I interrupted something, but Todoroki's next fight is coming up soon, so I figured you'd be finished talking. We should chat as we head back to our seats. I don't think we're even supposed to be back here."

The tension between the two pros was thick enough to cut, and Shoto took the opportunity to run away. Hawks placated the flaming dumpster by feeding his ego and shoving sugar-filled word salad down Endeavor's throat.

-x-x-x-x-x-

It didn't take a genius to tell Todoroki was pissed. Rage-filled heterochromatic eyes bored into Denki without really seeing him. Not a good sign…

Denki gulped and got into a fighting stance. How can I use his anger against him? Denki was terrible at planning, but except for Izuku's plans, plans never survive first contact with the enemy. Denki was a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. When life throws a wrench into perfect plans, Denki knows how to take the wrench and beat his enemies with it.

… and beat his enemies he did. Todoroki was too angry to realize his mistake when he encased Denki in ice all the way up to his neck. Denki smirked and began to spark. Todoroki's eyes went wide as he tried to escape his fate. Electricity surged through the glacier and Todoroki's steel-toed shoes. The dual-haired teen collapsed to the ground in a smoldering heap.

The crowd went wild at the unexpected win, but all Denki could think about was the realization that he had incapacitated the one person who could get him out of the glacier in a timely manner.

-x-x-x-x-x-

QF - SECOND ROUND: [Mina Ashido (Class 1A)] vs. [Hitoshi Shinsou (Class 1A)]

Denki was still shivering, even after visiting Recovery Girl and sitting with a weighted blanket under a heat lamp Ituna whipped together. It took ten minutes for UA's robots to chip him out of the glacier, and in that time, the chill had seeped into the blonde's bones.

It took another ten minutes for Todoroki to regain consciousness and melt the ice and five more minutes for the stage to dry. The next match promised to cause significantly less damage to the arena.

Hitoshi was the Outcast's genius of persuasion. He knew how to dig into others' minds and manipulate them like clay. He was good at putting up fronts and tricking people into doing his bidding, even without his quirk.

"Hey Ashido, I'm concerned about Todoroki," Hitoshi confessed to the pink girl with a face of worry. The two were waiting for the arena to finish drying. "He seemed really upset before his last match, and I don't think his sudden loss helped."

"So I'm not the only one who noticed," Mina replied with a frown.

"You should talk to him about it soon. You're his friend, aren't you?" Hitoshi slightly narrowed his eyes and added just enough suspicion to the tone of his voice to let her start doubting herself and how good of a friend she was. Ashido's friends mean the world to her, and now that the seeds of doubt were planted, they'd fester and distract her during her upcoming match. It was solid advice, though. Todoroki really did look like he needed a friend to vent to.

Ashido couldn't think straight during her match. Shinsou was incredible at hand-to-hand fighting, but she couldn't stop thinking about how upset Todoroki looked. She should have talked to him earlier, and she should have comforted him after his loss. Wait, I need to focus!

Unfortunately for Ashido, it was too late; Shinsou had already put her in a sleeper hold. The lanky boy had wrapped his legs around her arms and torso to prevent her from using her acid against him effectively. In a matter of seconds, Asido was taken out. Shinsou had one once again; his quirk was still a mystery.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Ashido sulked as she exited the arena. Suddenly, her stupor was interrupted by her closest friends.

"Hey, Ashi! Great job out there!" Kirishima cheered.

"You put up a good fight. Now we can… blow this… icecream stall?" Todoroki said with an almost constipated look. "Did I say that right?"

Ashido viably perked up, seeing her friends in good spirits. "Close enough, Todobabe!"

-x-x-x-x-x-

QF - THIRD ROUND: [Izuku Midoriya (Class 1A)] vs. [Momo Yaoyorozu (Class 1A)]

Yaoyorozu prided herself on her intelligence. If it were for her vast knowledge of chemistry and the composition of many things, her quirk wouldn't be half as useful. She also thought herself a pretty good strategist. She had made it to the quarterfinals of the UA sports festival, and she intended to go all the way.

There was one problem with her plans. She had no idea what Midoriya was planning. She overheard Shinsuo call him a strategy genius, so he must be proficient at it. The other part of the problem was his quirk. He hasn't used the strength aspect of his quirk at all during the festival, but that doesn't mean he won't now. If he sticks with his Black Whip technique, then it is reasonable to believe he'll try to grab and toss her out of the ring like he did with Kendo.

That's precisely what Midoriya did, and no amount of strategy and creation could prevent it. Midoriya wrapped six tendrils of Black Whip around various parts of her torso and tossed her out of the ring. He would have given her the chance to show off, but he couldn't think of a reliable way to do that and win. It was a testament to Yaoyorozu's strength and intelligence.

-x-x-x-x-x-

QF - FOURTH ROUND: [Ibara Shiozaki (Class 1B)] vs. [Katsuki Bakugou (Class 1A)]

Shiozaki was a child of God, and now she was face to face with what could only be called a hellspawn. Katsuki Bakugou grinned ferally at the opposite end of the arena while letting little explosions lose on his palms. She folded her hand across her chest and muttered a small prayer before the beginning of the match.

As soon as the match started, Bakugou howled a demonic screech and hurled himself toward the vine user. Shiozaki tried to block him with her vines, but they were blasted out of the way by the hellspawn's explosions. She managed to wrap enough vines around her opponent to immobilize him.

"Let the power of Christ compel you!" Shiozaki yelled as if to exercise her opponent.

Bakugou growled in response. He yelled, "DIE!" and blew his bindings sky-high. Howling another demonic screech, Bakugou plowed through the remainder of Shiozaki's vines and launched her out of the ring.

The tournament bracket was updated to show the matchups for the quarterfinals.

- First Matches -

FIRST ROUND: [Denki Kaminari (Class 1A)] vs. [Mei Hatsume (Class 1F)]

SECOND ROUND: [Shoto Todoroki (Class 1A)] vs. [Hanta Sero (Class 1A)]

THIRD ROUND: [Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (Class 1B)] vs. [Mina Ashido (Class 1A)]

FOURTH ROUND: [Hitoshi Shinsou (Class 1A)] vs. [Tenya Iida (Class 1A)]

FIFTH ROUND: [Izuku Midoriya (Class 1A)] vs. [Itsuka Kendo (Class 1B)]

SIXTH ROUND: [Ituna Horibe (Class 1F)] vs. [Momo Yaoyorozu (Class 1A)]

SEVENTH ROUND: [Ibara Shiozaki (Class 1B)] vs. [Ejiro Kirishima (Class 1A)]

EIGTH ROUND: [Katsuki Bakugou (Class 1A)] vs. [Reiko Yanagi (Class 1B)]

- Quarterfinals -

FIRST ROUND: [Denki Kaminari (Class 1A)] vs. [Shoto Todoroki (Class 1A)]

SECOND ROUND: [Mina Ashido (Class 1A)] vs. [Hitoshi Shinsou (Class 1A)]

THIRD ROUND: [Izuku Midoriya (Class 1A)] vs. [Momo Yaoyorozu (Class 1A)]

FOURTH ROUND: [Ibara Shiozaki (Class 1B)] vs. [Katsuki Bakugou (Class 1A)]

- Semifinals -

FIRST ROUND: [Denki Kaminari (Class 1A)] vs. [Hitoshi Shinsou (Class 1A)]

SECOND ROUND: [Izuku Midoriya (Class 1A)] vs. [Katsuki Bakugou (Class 1A)]