Izuku pulled his gym jacket on as he walked down the corridor, away from Recovery Girl's office heading towards the 1-A viewing box.

A flaming foot slammed down in front of Izuku, followed by the rest of Endeavor, exiting a conference room.

"Midoriha, there you are." Endeavor halted in Izuku's path, looking straight ahead.

Izuku started, jumping half a foot into the air. "Endeavor! W-Why are you back here?!"

Endeavor stared down at Izuku, his expression unreadable, but his flaming beard flared and he spoke. "Security."

An awkward silence settled, Izuku shifted nervously, uncertain of if he should be speaking.

"I saw you out there, your power." Endeavor paused. "That's an amazing quirk. To copy any quirk you want, even All Might's."

Izuku froze.

"You possess the power to surpass All Might, and so does Shoto." Endeavor continued, either ignoring Izuku's reaction or just not caring. "It is his duty, and your duty to aid in his growth."

"Todoroki refuses to use his fire because of you." Izuku stated. "I understand why now."

Endeavor's beard once again shifted, showing his displeasure.

"He rejects a part of his gift because of you." Izuku's words grew hot. "Because you force him to be like you, not using his fire is the only way he can refuse the path you try to shove him down."

Endeavor took a half-step forward. "How dare you?! Surpassing All Might is his destiny, his purpose!"

Izuku brushed past Endeavor, not looking at him. "Am I All Might?"

With a snort Endeavor shook his head. "Of course not."

"Then Shoto isn't you."

Without bothering to look back Izuku walked away, releasing the grasp he'd had on Bakugo's quirk, its confidence fading with every step.

"Midoriya."

Izuku's head whipped around, catching sight of Todoroki standing in a diverging corridor.

Todoroki's eyes bored into the green-haired teen. "What you said to him . To Endeavor, did you mean it?"

Izuku nodded. "Of course, I'm not All Might, and you're not Endeavor."

"How?" Todoroki asked, his voice almost pleading. "How do you live without it bothering you? The pressure, the stress, the expectations."

Izuku looked back over his shoulder, Endeavor had gone.

"It's not easy-"

"It is for you, you were just a person until you happened to become All Might's successor. I've been marked since the day I was born. It doesn't matter that my parents' marriage wasn't a quirk marriage because Endeavor treats it like one." Todoroki interrupted, fears and doubts he buried for years forcing their way out all at once. "How can I be a hero, a true hero, when I'm expected to live up to the legacy of Endeavor, to be like him. How can I be a hero and the child of someone like that bastard at the same time? You can't understand that, can you?"

"I don't." Izuku sighed. "I don't understand what it's like to have the No.2 Hero as my father. But I do know what it's like to have a villain for a father."

Todoroki stilled. "A villain?"

"I'm a hero student and a villain's son, two pretty clashing things, I'm the bearer of All Might's quirk and, even now, with all these other quirks, I'm still quirkless." Izuku paused. "It's like waiting to wake up from a dream, I'll blink and be powerless again. I could copy all the quirks in the world, and yet-"

The green-haired teen placed a hand over his heart.

"In here, I'll always be quirkless. I'm terrified that if that were to happen I'd be paralysed, trapped like I was before." Izuku gave Todoroki a weak smile. "I'm all these things, all these feelings, these clashing, opposing identities. But, I'm not ripped apart, I'm not torn. Each thing I am is a part of my identity, not in conflict, but a mosaic of the good and the bad, the hope and the loss."

Izuku's hand dropped to his side.

"I'm more than just the sum of my parts. And so are you, Shoto." Izuku blinked away silent tears. "It's your quirk, not his."

Without another word Izuku walked away, leaving Todoroki with only his tumultuous thoughts, writhing, burning and twisting away inside of him.

A door slammed open, not even phasing Mirai as he stood in front of a whiteboard, covered with scribbles and tacked on scraps of paper.

"Little shit!" Endeavor closed the door with equally violent force.

One of the paper scraps detached from the board, beginning to drift towards the floor.

A small magnet slammed into it, resecuring it to the board. Mirai sighed, lowering his hand. "Verbally backhanded by a teenager again?"

Endeavor shot him a scorching look.

"You don't need to answer." Mirai returned his focus to the board. "I saw it yesterday."

An angry snort sounded, Endeavor's beard flaring as he did. "So, what's with the serial killer board?"

"It's not a, never mind." Mirai pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I'm tracking our current timeline versus the original events I saw from my quirk."

"And?"

"I had nine individual glimpses of the future when I accidentally used my quirk on you. Since then I've only seen six more, each too short or obscure to be of use." Mirai paused. "The first one of the original nine, you with your son, that's happened. Same for Present Mic's opening speech today."

Endeavor suppressed a wince at the memory of that man's deafening voice.

"Next, the first change, in the original timeline Midoriya took first place in the Obstacle Race with a few seconds to spare, this time he only just made second place, a largely inconsequential difference, but proof that these events can be changed." Mirai put a line through the first three events on his timeline. "Clearly the major incident of the original timeline was the Trigger usage during the Cavalry Battle, in which Mikumo Akatani was seriously injured, leading to a reduced Tournament Stage."

"Akatani? The quirkless one?"

Mirai's nostrils flared. "I suppose that's one way to describe him, another would be as Midoriya's half-brother, or the creator of an impressive combative exoskeleton system."

"Fancy tech is all it is." Endeavor grunted. "No replacement for an actual quirk."

One of Mirai's seals slammed into the wall, not far from Endeavor's head. "I may not be the No.2 Hero, but even with my quirk being useless in battle I seem to manage."

Endeavor didn't reply.

"Right, now we have the events that haven't taken place yet, Midoriya's fight with the youngest Todoroki, trying to convince him to use his flames." Mirai stroked his chin. "Except this time they're meeting in the second round instead of the semi-finals."

Mirai paused, deep in thought.

"Then there's the awards ceremony, the last glimpse I had of Midoriya alive before he's killed." Mirai scribbled on the board. "Meaning that by 4:15pm Midoriya is going to have likely left U.A. grounds. That's the point beyond which Midoriya is going to be taken, along with his mother, once he's outside of U.A.'s protection."

"Then send him a death threat."

Mirai's head slowly swiveled to look at the No.2 Hero. "A death threat? You want to send the person we're trying to keep alive, a death threat?"

Endeavor shrugged. "I get them all the time-"

"I'm sure you do."

A dark look from the Flame Hero bored into Mirai.

Mirai sighed. "Fine, go on, explain away."

"We send him a fake death threat and then use it as justification for locking him down inside of U.A., he would never leave."

"And thus never be outside of U.A.'s protection, and thus wouldn't be taken." Mirai murmured to himself. "This plan, Endeavor, isn't all that bad."

"Don't sound so surprised." Endeavor said. "I am a hero, I'm used to thinking on my feet."

"Uh-huh." Mirai replied distractedly. "We'd need to make it credible, perhaps from the League of Villains or maybe the Children of All for One."

Endeavor's face twitched, his fists tightening.

Mirai didn't notice. "Hmm, we'd need to get Midoriya's mother here as well, Midoriya would be likely to go after her if she was taken."

"We have a plan then." Endeavor pushed off of the wall he was slouching against. "I'll have my assistant take the most unhinged death threat I've got this week and slap Midoriya and Shigaraki's names on it, and a mention of his mother as well."

"Send it to me once they have." Mirai turned back to his board. "Looks like it's time to send a death threat to the kid we're trying to save. Seems a bit antithetical to me, but I suppose we live in unusual times."

Izuku slipped into the 1-A viewing box, most of his classmates were at the railings, cheering on Tsuyu as she fought against Monoma and the skull-faced boy from 1-B.

Momo was nowhere to be seen, likely preparing for her battle, which would be next.

"You can do it, Tsu!" Kirishima hollered, leaning far over the railings, only held in place by a disgruntled Bakugo, his hand gripping the back of Kirishima's jacket.

"Beat those 1-B showoffs' asses!" Ashido added, jumping up and down.

Moving to one side, Izuku leaned against the railings. He watched as Tsuyu and her teammate, Shiozaki from 1-B, launched a combined attack on the skull-faced boy, Honenuki.

Tsuyu's tongue slammed into his chest, unbalancing him, before Shiozaki's vines wrapped him up and lifted him off the ground.

"Clever, without contact with the ground Honenuki's quirk is rendered inert." Izuku mumbled, falling deep into thought.

With a flick the vines sent Honenuki flying away, landing outside the boundary.

~"Honenuki is out of bounds! It's two versus one as Shiozaki and Asui bear down on Monoma!"~

A finger tapped on Izuku's shoulder, breaking his concentration.

"Hey, Midotani!"

Izuku turned his head to find a girl, on the shorter side, with mid-length brown hair.

"Hello?" Izuku paused. "Wait, Hagakure?!"

"In the flesh." Hagakure nodded, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"How?"

"Chikyu, his quirk is totally awesome!" Hagakure exclaimed with a smile. "He possessed me, kinda like Reimitsu, except his body just fainted instead of going all blurry. He used his quirk to research my quirk, I can turn it off!"

Hagakure rapidly flickered between visible and invisible.

Izuku frowned slightly. "I'm surprised."

Hagakure stopped her quirk spam, focusing on her green-haired classmate.

"During the Cavalry Battle, when you turned visible, as soon as you realised you had, you forced yourself invisible again." Izuku paused. "Why the sudden change in attitude?"

"Oh, right. That." Hagakure replied. "Did you know that people with invisibility quirks can see someone else with one as well?"

Izuku nodded.

"I hadn't seen my face since I was eight, until today." Hagakure brushed away a stray tear. "I streamed the Cavalry Battle highlights on my phone, just to see that moment, to see my own face. And it wasn't the face I was expecting to see."

The green-haired teen placed on Hagakure's shoulder to comfort her. "You don't have to keep going."

Hagakure shook her head. "No, I want to. My parents, ever since I got stuck invisible, told me I was hideous to look at, that my quirk was subconsciously protecting me from everyone's disgust."

Another tear ran down Hagakure's face, hitting the corner of her mouth and continuing to her chin.

"Looking back now, after everything, it's so obvious that they were just trying to degrade me, break my self-confidence so I'd never defy them." Hagakure sighed. "But then, I didn't realise, I believed their words. They told me that they were only telling me to protect me. So I was prepared, informed of my hideousness ."

Izuku shifted in place. "Hagakure, you're not hideous-"

Hagakure interrupted him. "It doesn't matter. Not anymore. I'd rather live in the light than survive in the dark. I determine my own value."

The green-haired teen gave Hagakure a smile. "That's great, I'm glad. Have you shown Mikumo yet? N-Not that I'm trying to say that the approval of a boy is w-what validates you, j-just I thought he'd b-be super happy for you and-"

Hagakure punched Izuku on the arm.

"I know exactly what you meant!" Hagakure exclaimed. "Damn, apart from talking about quirks you are bad at talking to girls to the point I'm genuinely concerned you're about to have a stroke."

Izuku flushed. "Well, I g-guess, I mean. Yeah, pretty much."I mean. Yeah, you're right."

Hagakure laughed before shrugging. "I haven't told Mikumo yet, I wanted to, but his suit got pretty wrecked in his fight and he's fixing it with Hatsume right now."

"What happened?"

"One of the guys he was fighting against made his suit malfunction, foam everywhere, Mikumo ejected and the foam twisted it up pretty badly." Hagakure leaned against the railings.

A comfortable silence fell over them as they watched Tsuyu's match continue, she and Shiozaki having forced Monoma on the defensive, only a meter from going out of bounds.

Izuku hesitated, before speaking. "Are-"

~"BOOM! In an exciting last second upset Asui uses her tongue to drag Monoma out of bounds with her as well. Shiozaki remains in the ring, that means that she and Asui are the winners! Everybody clap your hands!"~

Deafening cheers ripped through the stadium, so much louder now Izuku was standing in the stands rather than the arena.

Loudest of all was the 1-A box, Kirishima whooping and flailing his arms, while Ashido, Sero and Kaminari started a chant for Tsuyu, with most of the rest of the class joining in seconds later.

~"Oh yeah, that's the spirit! In a few short minutes, once Cementoss has graciously repaired the ring, it's time for the final match of the Double Round! Who's excited?!"~

Cheers echoed around the stadium.

~"You call that excited?! I wanna hear some SERIOUS NOISE!"~

Another round of cheers ripped through the stadium, Izuku could feel his eardrums reverberating from the sheer volume of it.

~"Now that's better!"~

The shouts and calls slowly died down, leaving Izuku's ears still ringing.

Looking around to the rest of his class he saw most of them still chanting Tsuyu's name while jumping up and down. The most notable exception was Mineta, sat alone at the back of the stand.

"Mineta?"

Why isn't he cheering for Asui? Is something wrong?

Before Izuku could react Mineta seemed to come to some sort of resolution, standing and leaving the 1-A box.

"Midotani? What were you saying again?"

Izuku looked back to Hagakure, seeing she was looking back at him.

"Er, um, right, yeah." Izuku paused. "I was, I was going to ask, it's, are you ever worried that you're a fraud, that a villain's child can't be a hero? That you'll just be seen as a villain like them?"

"So what if people think that?" Hagakure shrugged. "You just have to save them, not be liked by them. Being a hero isn't, no, shouldn't be about being popular, it should be about doing the right thing, no matter how hard it is or how much it hurts you."

"Yeah, it's just hard not to feel like an imposter sometimes, like I'm just a pawn in All For One's game without realising, you know?" Izuku sighed. "It's silly, I know, but, I still feel it."

"I get it, I do." Hagakure paused. "You and Mikumo really need to talk, like, properly talk, no-one can understand what you feel more than he does. The both of you are keeping secrets from each other to protect the other, and they're the same damn secrets."

Izuku stared at Hagakure blankly for a few seconds before a small laugh broke from his lips.

Hagakure quickly joined in the two dissolving into fits of giggles.

"I, I-I've be-been fretting over whether to t-tell, to tell Mikumo for weeks?" Izuku tried and failed to quash down the relieved laughter. "And he already knew?"

Hagakure nodded furiously. "M-Mikumo's been doing the exact same thing!"

The two burst into another round of giggles.

Kirishima elbowed Bakugo in the ribs.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Bakugo roared as he wheeled around to face the red-haired teen.

"What do you think those two are laughing about?" Kirishima tilted his head in the direction of Izuku and Hagakure.

Bakugo shrugged. "Who cares about what that nerd thinks is funny?"

"I mean, like, I didn't think those two were all that friendly."

"They've got more in common than you know." Bakugo said, before turning and walking away.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Kirishima rushed after the blond teen.

Izuku wiped tears from his eyes as he and Hagakure slowly calmed down, the intense burst of relief ebbing away. "You should go tell him."

Hagakure frowned. "Tell who?"

"Mikumo. About your quirk." Izuku clarified.

"No, like I said, he's fixing his suit."

"So what, like you said, we shouldn't keep secrets, right?" Izuku queried. "What if someone else tells him first? Don't you want to be the one?"

Hagakure stood up straighter. "You're right, I should. Thanks, Izuku."

With that, Hagakure rushed off, out of the 1-A box.

"She seems excited, doesn't she?"

Izuku turned his head to see Uraraka and Iida approach, joining him at the railings, one at each side.

Uraraka leaned forward, grinning. "Maybe she's running off to show Mikumo!"

"Uraraka, it is inappropriate to gossip about the private matters of your classmates!" Iida barked, the chopping of his arm forcing Izuku to duck with each swing.

And yet Iida's voice lacked its usual volume, perhaps, like Izuku, he had seen Uraraka's smile didn't match her red, puffy eyes.

Izuku frowned. "Uraraka, are you-"

"So, whatcha think of that villain breakout across town?" Uraraka asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"A grave mistake for those villains, an attempt to escape during the Sports Festival is a tactically sound decision due to the reduced hero presence." Iida pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "However, being so close to U.A. will be their undoing, Mustafu currently contains approximately 23% of all active heroes."

Izuku and Uraraka both stared at Iida for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

"I-Iida! What was that?!" Uraraka gasped, pointing at the navy-haired teen's glasses. "It was like something from an old anime!"

"It did?"

Uraraka nodded vigorously.

Iida turned to look at Izuku.

Izuku hesitantly nodded as well.

Iida frowned. "Hatsume told me it would make me look approachable, or rather, the vernacular she used was super cool."

"Taste is subjective?" Izuku offered, shrugging his shoulders.

Iida slumped with a sigh. "Hatsume has once again hoodwinked me. I was hoping adopting this mannerism would allow me to be more personable as a hero, like my brother."

"Maybe try smiling?" Uraraka gave one of her own as an example.

Izuku suppressed a grimace at the crude approximation of a smile on Iida's face.

"How about just being yourself?" Izuku suggested.

Iida shook his head vigorously. "I cannot. At its core the profession of hero may be about saving the defenceless, but your image and personality are unavoidable aspects of the role."

Izuku and Uraraka watched on as Iida spoke calmly, an indignant fire simmering in his eyes.

"To be a hero, I must look and act like a hero is expected to. If I do not then, not matter my strength, I will never rise high enough in the rankings to be allowed the opportunities to aid in the defence against the greatest of threats."

Realisation shot through Izuku.

All For One. Iida was talking about All For One.

"I-Iida?" Izuku looked to his navy-haired friend.

Iida stared back at Izuku, before giving a curd nod.

Iida's heroic legacy, stretching back to his grandfather, during the height of that monster's power and influence, no wonder he's aware of him.

Uraraka frowned, rapidly looking back and forth between Izuku and Iida with confusion.

"Who's All For One?"

Izuku clapped his hand over his mouth.

I said that out loud!

"Yes, you did." Iida nodded sagely.

"Who's All For One?" Uraraka repeated, her frown deepening.

~"Yahoo! The stage is set! The time has come for the final Doubles Battle has arrived. As for anyone worrying about the villain escape in Mustafu my compatriot has an update, welcome back, Eraser!"~

Instead of the expected cheers and shouts there was an uneasy silence, occasionally marred by a call for answers.

A sigh, undeniably Aizawa's, echoed around the stadium.

~"Thirty-one of the thirty-six escaped villains have been rounded up, so far there has been two hero casualties, Airjet and Slugger, both are being treated for severe kinetosis, and three civilians, for minor cuts and bruises from a villain's concussive attack."~

Again, silence reigned in the stadium, a stark reflection to the normal atmosphere of the Sports Festival.

~"Everybody, get ready to rock!"~

Slowly, a few claps and cheers echoed, followed by more and more joining them until the furor of the crowd rivalled its prior ferocity.

~"That's better! And now, with no further ado, is the final double battle, from the red tunnel we have the shock-tastic Denki Kaminari from Class 1-A, he's an absolute thunderbolt of excitement, and, also from Class 1-A, is the crucible of creation, the genesis-star, Momo Yaoyorozu!"~

From one of the tunnels appeared Momo, holding herself with her normal calm and collected composure, but, even from this distance, Izuku could see the nervousness in her movements. Behind her strode Kaminari, the exact opposite of Momo, laughing and posing for the crowd, riling them up with every move.

~"Aaaaand from the blue tunnel, first up, Class 1-A's shadowy Prince of Darkness, Fumikage Tokoyami, he's got a sweet beak, and from Class 1-E, a scion of the famous Armstong family, Illia Armstong!"

From the other side of the stadium arrived Tokoyami, his usual stoic self, and at his side was Armstong, or Illia as she insisted everyone call her, like Kaminari she riled up the crowd as well, flexing her muscles with every pose she struck.

"I'm Illia Armstrong! The Stretch-Body Hero-To-Be! Behold me, for I possess the technique that's been passed down in my family for generations!"

Instead of the awkward silence of earlier, this time Illia's declaration earned her a wave of cheers.

Crowds always love an underdog. And to them a GenEd student in a 'heroes' tournament was seen as the ultimate underdog.

Izuku frowned.

~"What a show of strength! It's time to r-r-rumble! Kaminari! Yaoyorozu! Tokoyami! Armstong! Let's gooooo!"~

Momo took a deep breath and immediately summoned a simple designed shield made from a ferro-titanium alloy with a carbon fibre nanoweave reinforcing it.

Raising it just in time, Momo was driven back five feet by the impact of Dark Shadow, a shockwave ripping through her shield, leaving her arm tingling from the impact.

~"Tokoyami wastes no time going on the offensive! Is Yaoyorozu going to crack under pressure?"~

Dark Shadow slammed into Momo's shield again, driving her even further back, closer to being out of bounds, from the corner of her eyes she saw Kaminari wrapped up in Illia's elongated arms, his quirk already depleted, face blank.

~"Looks like Midnight is about to declare Kaminari incapable to continue, he's all out of juice, what a shame he burnt out so quickly!"~

Dark Shadow receded, preparing for another attack.

Momo made her decision.

Dropping her block, Momo focused on her quirk, multicoloured fractals shining around her hands as a large oblong protruded from them. In the corner of her vision Momo saw Midnight raising her whip, about to declare it unsafe for Kaminari to continue.

Lofting the car battery she had created above her head with both hands, Momo threw it at Kaminari with all her might.

The battery slammed into Kaminari's face, completing the circuit and filling his body with electricity. Clarity returned to Kaminari, followed by a massive discharge of lightning, the pure power of it overcoming the inherent resistance Illia's quirk provided her, even Dark Shadow winced from the light emitted.

Illia reeled back, her arms spasming and forcing her to release her grip on Kaminari.

"Thanks, Yaomomo!" Kaminari grinned and shot her a thumbs up as he touched down, collapsing forwards and into unconsciousness as his face hit the dirt.

Her hair stood on end, Illia stumbled back, over the line, and falling into a boneless heap.

~"Armstong is out of bounds and Kaminari is unable to continue! They're both eliminated! It's Tokoyami versus Yaoyorozu! Who will win?!"~

Even though Momo had managed to save herself from being at two versus one the maneuver had cost her. Momo barely managed to bring her shield halfway up before Dark Shadow slammed into it, driving her back, almost out of bounds.

Momo's shield flew out of her hands, landing clear out of bounds.

Dark Shadow pulled back, working up for another offensive. Glancing between Kaminari and Dark Shadow, an idea formed in Momo's mind.

Holding out her hand, Momo quickly created another shield, far more thin and flimsy than the previous, and charged forwards to meet Dark Shadow. Momo's shield instantly crumpled under Dark Shadow's jaw, before it pulled away, prising the shield from her hands, biting down again.

Raising her hand, Momo created a set of welding goggles, quickly cramming them on and looking away from Tokoyami and Dark Shadow.

A stun grenade from within the warped remains of the shield exploded with blinding light, catching Dark Shadow directly in the face.

Momo pulled her goggles off, tossing them to one side.

She had managed to hurt Dark Shadow, but only barely. The rushed nature of her creation meant the grenade had gone off with a much lower luminosity than expected, leaving Dark Shadow only reduced in size, rather than defeated.

It was time.

Momo had been hoping to save her new special move for later in the tournament, but it wouldn't help her then if she lost here.

She would use Izuku's idea.

Two Weeks Earlier...

Momo watched as Izuku and Kirishima stood together, the latter repeatedly activating and deactivating his quirk, clearly at Izuku's instruction.

Kirishima suddenly whooped, bending and straightening his arm with a silly grin on his face.

Izuku matched Kirishima's smile, before the latter gave him an enthusiastic fist bump.

"Hey, Bakugo, check this out!"

Kirishima raced off, his quirk still active, towards where Bakugo was training, mixing his usual moves with elements of different martial arts.

Eyes returning to Izuku, Momo smiled, shaking her head slightly.

He really is just too pure.

"You know, you might be fighting Kirishima in the sports festival."

The green-haired boy looked up to see Momo approaching him.

Izuku shrugged. "It's fine, I mean, Kirishima wants to be a hero too, what's wrong with helping him get a little closer to his dream?"

Momo chuckled. "You really are too pure, Izuku."

Izuku shrugged nervously, before his face suddenly crumpled up, followed by a beaming smile seconds later. "I've got some suggestions for your quirk if you want to hear them."

Momo nodded her head slightly. "You have my attention."

Izuku's smile only seemed to widen. "I've been experimenting with Creation, but since I've only had my copy a week it hasn't had time to convert much of my fat stores."

Momo raised an eyebrow, her mind straying back to the USJ attack and the Battle Trials, both times Izuku's clothes had come out of the confrontations rather worse for wear.

"What fat stores?!" Ashido called from afar, Shoji stood next to her with a guilty expression on his face.

Izuku's cheeks flushed, embarrassed by Ashido's comment, while Momo gave a small cough to hid her own embarrassment.

"Ashido, it's incredibly rude to eavesdrop on your classmates!" Iida reprimanded, his booming voice attracting the attention of everyone who hadn't heard Ashido.

"Aw, come on Deputy Iida, they just make such a cute couple!"

Momo and Izuku both blushed an even deeper shade of crimson, the latter completely losing the ability to form sentences and even words.

Before anything more could be said an explosion went off, rattling the windows.

Bakugo leered down from the top of one of Cementoss' structures. "You're all slacking off, I won't even need to break a sweat to blow you all to bits at the Sports Festival then!"

An explosion punctuated his final word, even louder than the first.

Instantly the class went back to training, with the exception of Ashido, who wiggled her eyebrows at Momo whilst looking directly at Izuku.

The meaning was clear to Momo, Ashido had absolutely seen her appreciating Izuku's hard work.

Fighting down the heat in her face, Momo turned her attention back to Izuku, the green-haired teen just about regaining the ability of speech.

"So, what was the idea you wished to share?" Momo asked, internally wincing at how formal her speech pattern had gone in an attempt to try to hide her embarrassment.

"Er, idea, r-right! Yes, I had an idea for quirk, to make it more efficient." Izuku seemed to finally shake free of his daze, his enthusiasm for quirk theory returning with every word.

Holding his arm out, Izuku scrunched his face up in concentration as an iron rebar slowly extruded from his forearm, the point of creation shining with fractals of light. The creation suddenly stopped, leaving the rebar still protruding from Izuku's arm.

"You have left the creation half finished, that is something I knew about."

Izuku nodded. "I thought you would've, but what I was thinking of was creating a metal coat fused to your skin, using a strong yet ductile metal, essentially instant armor, like Kirishima."

"It's possible." Momo paused. "But the cost of the fat would deplete most of my stores, my quirk would very quickly become drained."

"Right! Except, what if you reabsorbed your creations back into your fat stores?" Izuku asked, before focusing on his arm, creation fractals shining around the rebar as it slowly retracted back under his skin.

"Izuku!" Momo called, reaching out and grabbing Izuku's arm. "Stop, you'll hurt yourself."

Izuku smiled. "It's fine, I'm not deconstructing the rebar down to iron molecules, I'm doing the inverse of the creation, I'm converting the iron molecules back into fat stores."

Momo went still. "You're converting into fat stores? That's not possible."

Izuku shook his head, the iron rebar now entirely gone. "You're quirk isn't just the conversion of fat into other materials, it allows for the conversion of materials you've already made so long as the creation hasn't been completed, so long as you haven't removed the creation from your skin."

Momo blinked, processing the information for a few seconds before creating a shard of diamond from her palm. Taking a deep breath, Momo focused on the atomic and molecular structure of the shard, and commanding her quirk to change them.

Fractals shone around the shard as it deepened in colour, transforming into pure aluminium, its shape unchanged.

"This is amazing!" Momo couldn't help but give a giggle of excitement. "My quirk, it can do so much more!"

Izuku smiled back at her. "I actually had an idea for a particular creation, an artificial quirk."

"You can do it!"

"Go, Yaomomo!"

Pulled back to the present by the encouragement from her friends, cheering for her from far up in the stands, Momo found her resolve.

She wasn't alone anymore.

For the first time in her life she had friends, real friends.

Focusing on her right arm, Momo mentally pictured the creation Izuku had designed, an artificial quirk. A second later fractals encased her arm, up to her shoulder.

"Steel Fist Jutsu!"

Slowly the light faded away, revealing Momo's arm, covered in the flexible yet durable metal Izuku had suggested, under the surface of the metal were a series of motors and actuators, enhancing her arm strength to beyond peak human performance.

Finally going on the offensive, Momo charged at Tokoyami, who quickly sent Dark Shadow at her.

Bringing her metal arm up, Momo blocked Dark Shadow, deflecting it to one side and grabbing the base of the entity that connected it to Tokoyami. Pivoting on one foot, and with all the enhanced strength her creation afforded her, she threw Tokoyami.

Disorientated and spinning, Tokoyami hurriedly sent Dark Shadow out to pull him back before he landed out of bounds, but it was in vain. Tokoyami's body slamming into the dirt a second before Dark Shadow made it to the white line.

~"Yaoyorozu has thrown Tokoyami out of bounds with a brand new super move, making Yaoyorozu and Kaminari the winners! What are you teaching these kids, Eraser?!"~

~"It's nothing to do with me, 1-A faced real villains at the USJ incident, it's no surprise that those experiences are pushing them to develop at a faster rate than their peers."~

Momo breathed a sigh of relief, stood alone in the centre of the arena, her creation slowly sinking below her skin again.

"I did it."

The crowd exploded into cheers.