"Well this sucks," Uraraka complained.

Ahsoka glanced at her friend. "What does?"

"Me having to take on Izuku," she said sullenly, watching as Inasa and Todoroki marched into the arena. Both of them were oddly quiet and introspective, though that was rather normal with Todoroki. But Inasa's normally loud and brash attitude, though of course tempered with his natural friendliness, wasn't on display at that moment. No… he was almost brooding as he walked into the arena and his bow to Todoroki was far stiffer… and shallower… than was the norm for him. Ahsoka didn't know what Inasa's problem was with Todoroki but it was clear that there was no sense of friendship with the other teen. Which she could kind of understand; Todoroki seemed rather standoffish. But she'd also found he was really funny, with his 'I am acting like I'm not joking when I'm joking' sort of way.

"Yeah, I can see that," Ahsoka said. "If you had taken on Inasa and him Todoroki then we could have guaranteed that at least one of us was getting into the finals. Now there is a chance it will be none of us." That wasn't exactly true… Ahsoka had a feeling it would be her vs. Bakugo in the semi final, if the way the brackets were playing out were any indication, and she planned to take down the smug ass hard. Still…

"I wasn't talking about that!" Uraraka exclaimed, leaning back in his chair. They were seated in the girl's locker room, waiting for their next matches to begin, all alone since they were the only women left in the tournament. "I mean I have to face Izuku!"

"…and?" Ahsoka said, confused.

"He's going to clean my clock!" she exclaimed.

Ahsoka stared at Uraraka for a moment before she began to snicker.

"Its not funny!" Uraraka said with a pout. "Izuku has been training with a pro hero for over a year with a focus on hand-to-hand combat!"

"You could always ask him to use your quirk to even things up," Ahsoka suggested.

"I couldn't do that though," she complained. "it would just make everyone see that I had no hope of defeating him without my quirk." She then added, in a quieter voice, "He'd probably still end up beating me. He's suggested a few different ways to use my quirk… probably figured out how to beat it too."

Ahsoka gave a helpless shrug. "Be glad it isn't involving guns then?"

"Ugh!" Uraraka complained. "Yeah, I could do without that!"

Ahsoka's eyes went wide as she saw on the screen Inasa grabbed Todoroki around the middle, the two-toned teen's eyes going comically wide for probably the first time ever as the much larger teen drove him out of the ring merely by bullrushing him. The crowd was utterly startled at the defeat Todoroki suffered, going utterly silent.

'I don't see why though,' Ahsoka thought. 'Inasa was a recommendation student too. He deserves to be here just as much as Todoroki. Just because his father is a Pro doesn't mean that he is some elite hero himself.'

"Well… here I go to meet the executioner," Uraraka said morosely.

"It'll be fine!" Ahsoka said cheerfully. "Just have fun!"

Uraraka managed a nod at that.

"You'll do great!"

"Uh huh!"

"Long drawn out match!"

The spar lasted 50 seconds, ending with Izuku throwing Uraraka out of the ring.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Oh my," Inko said, pressing her hand to her mouth as she watched the replay of Izuku's match. "That was…" She glanced at her boyfriend, Rex merely smirking with his eyes twinkling with pride. "I mean… I knew that you were teaching him how to be a hero but I…"

"You still thought, even after all this time, that he was still your little boy," Rex said, no judgment in his tone. "That he was weak and would need help. That he would always be last."

Inko hung her head in shame at that… because he had hit the nail right on the head. "I know its wrong to say, because he's my son… but without a quirk…"

Obi-Wan was the one that answered her, turning his chair away from the announcer's panel and smiling softly, comfortingly. "Its fine, Mrs. Midoriya. There are many people who, even when it is their own child, still hold onto fears and prejudices." He paused. "There are plenty of children who are given up because their powers are something that their parents can't handle. They are taught to fear them, to loathe them, and then they suddenly have a son or daughter who have the very thing they are taught make them evil or weak or useless and… well, sometimes I suppose even love can't always win out."

Rex let out a huff. "And its hard to get it through people's heads that what you were once isn't what you are now."

"You speaking from experience?" Present Mic asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I am," Rex confirmed. "Me and my brothers went through rigorous training. I… didn't do so well. And if you didn't pass your tests then you got swept out of the program." The way he said those final words had Inko's heart clench; she had a feeling being swept out didn't mean he was given some money and a pat on the shoulder as he was show the door. While Rex didn't like to talk about it and she never pressed him she knew that his childhood hadn't been a typical one. "Point is my brothers did what they could to hide that I was having problems until I could figure things out… which I did." He shook his head, letting out a huff. "Turned out they were giving me the wrong things to focus on. That ain't the point though. I began to excel… but my brothers still saw me as needing help. Even though I went on to become a captain I'd still have shiny new grunts come up and try and fight battles for me. They'd heard about me and were concerned. I couldn't be mad at them… but that didn't mean I wasn't frustrated with how they treated me.

"Same thing is true with Izuku, isn't it? You still see him as that little boy who was told he was quirkless and got picked on all the time and came home with scratches and bruises. You want to protect him… even after seeing what he could do out there you want to protect him, don't you?"

"I do," Inko admitted. "And I know it goes beyond a normal parent. It's just-"

"Hey, hey," Present Mic said with a smile and, surprisingly enough, a calm and quiet tone to his voice. It was so odd for Inko that a man that was used to screaming and yelling could be so quiet. "The important thing is that you realize it. For a lot of people they can't even see what they are doing until it is far too late… if at all. You at least realize you've been making mistakes and that it has been coming out of a place of love. All you need to do is work on a way that allows you to show the little Listener that you want to protect him but also that you understand that he is growing up and coming into his own."

Inko managed a weak chuckle at that. "You make it sound so easy."

"I do?" Present Mic stated, confused. "I didn't mean too… I was thinking I was being a bit too harsh."

Inko smiled at that, even as she resolved to have a talk with her son after the Sports Festival.

~MC~MC~MC~

"I'm really sorry!" Izuku said for the tenth time. Tears were running down his cheeks, teeth pulling on his bottom lip.

Uraraka merely looked at him… and laughed.

"Its fine!" she exclaimed. "That was amazing though! I thought I had you and suddenly the way you twisted around me and grabbed me… I didn't even feel you snag my arm and suddenly everything went upside-down!"

"Yeah… but I am sorry. Really. I didn't mean-"

"Izuku?" Uraraka said, placing a hand on his shoulder as the two of them stopped in the tunnel that led back to the locker room. The only one also there was Tokoyami, who was sharing some popcorn with Dark Shadow, muttering about how it was 'a mad banquet of darkness' to see if he'd get a burned piece. "Its FINE. You were amazing out there. You are very skilled at Hand To Hand Combat."

Izuku blushed slightly. "I'm better at shooting but we don't have that at the Sports Festival."

"What a wonderful idea!" Nedzu declared, suddenly popping out of Tokoyami's popcorn. To the student's credit he merely stared at the principal before continuing to munch on his treat. "We really should branch out more to showcase different tactics when it comes to hero work. A sharpshooter contest with both quirk and non-quirked demonstrations would be a lovely way to allow students who didn't make it into the later rounds to show off!"

"I… I don't know about that…" Izuku said, face growing red in embrassment.

Uraraka instantly bobbed her head. "Yeah! Snipe could be the announcer for that, since he knows so much about guns! And you could do it so many different ways! Accuracy! Speed! Trick shot!"

"Oh splendid, splendid!" Nedzu declared, wiggling out of the popcorn, doing a little flip and landing easily on his feet. "All of those could be done! I imagine, thanks to your training with Captain Rex, you could do quite well in that Midoriya!"

"No, seriously, there isn't-"

Uraraka could continued on. "And what about with quirks? Same could be done as with the non-quirk showcase. I get Ashido would love to show off throwing her acid!"

"Of course!" Nedzu said, looking rather giddy. "I like the way you two think."

Izuku though wasn't as engaged as the others were, clearly flustered at the idea that he might cause changes to the Sports Festival. Which in Uraraka's opinion was just silly… if it was a good idea then one should go with it!

"What about distance?" she asked, remembering how Izuku had mentioned that he was very skilled with a sniper rifle. "Set up at one of the testing facilities…"

Tokoyami suddenly spoke up. "You shouldn't limit yourself to just shooting and targets either." Everyone turned to him and he shrugged. "You want to be a rescue hero, Ochaco… why not have some kind of obstacle course, similar to the first round, but you need to get to a downed civilian. Allow people to showcase their skills to heroes from those agencies looking for interns. Weave through obstacles, deal with distractions. Each person goes on their own, with no idea how the course will be."

"…wonderful!" Nedzu proclaimed, eyes sparkling. "Quite wonderful! Young Midoriya, you still have your final matches so please focus on those. I think I will talk with your friends."

"I… uh…"

Uraraka merely smiled, patting his arm. "Its okay, you get mentally prepared to take on Inasa." She turned and followed after Nedzu, Tokoyami falling in step beside her.

"Ochaco," Nedzu said, "I know that you wish to get into Rescue Work… that involves a lot of planning, sometimes spur of the moment and sometimes brainstorming sessions."

"I suppose so…" she said.

The principal smirked. "Well… I am thinking you might benefit from some private lessons from me…"

She didn't know why but she swore she heard Aizawa begin screaming.

~MC~MC~MC~

Katsuki stormed up to Shit Horns, who rather than doing anything to actually prepare for their fight was instead just… sitting on the ground. Eyes shut. Breathing steady. Utterly still.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" he demanded, glaring at her, little explosions popping from his hands. "You think that you are so much better than me that you can just sit there and take a nap instead of preparing to face me? Huh? You think you are so amazing you don't need to prepare at all for our match!?"

Shit Horns slowly opened a single eye, regarding him with a lazy stare. "I have to know… just how do you function believing that the entire world revolves around you?"

"What the fuck did you just say?" Katsuki demanded, leaning in and screaming in her face.

"I said-" Shit Horns stated before using her quirk to shove him back a few feet, "-that you believe the world revolves around you. That's all you ever talk about. How everyone's actions must be a slight against you, or a reflection upon you, or be connected in some way TO YOU. Do you believe that we all go home at night and lie in our beds and think about the great Bakugo? Or do you even consider that we have lives outside of you? In your head do we just power down like the training robots and don't start living again until you grace us with your presence?"

"If you were smart you'd think of me! You'd know that I am the best person here and I'm going to be the Number 1 Hero in the entire world!"

Ahsoka slowly unfolded her legs before standing up. "Then I'm afraid I am going to have to disappoint you. See… when I go home I don't ever think about you, Bakugo. You don't enter my mind. And not just then either. When I'm having lunch with my friends or doing training or playing a video game… I'm not thinking about you. Never does the thought of your cross my mind."

"Bullshit!" Katsuki declared. "You just don't want to admit I'm to best!"

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "You don't matter to me. All those people watching… even if you win the Sports Festival they will forget about you within… a day maybe? Perhaps even sooner. They will go to work and spend time with their families and friends and enjoy their hobbies and you'll just be yet another interesting distraction, like a billboard or a dog they spotted on the train." She rose up, forcing him to lift his head up to better look at her. "And that eats you up inside, doesn't it Bakugo? I know you grew up with Izuku. That you were once his best friend. And that he spent so much time focused on you… as did everyone else at your school. Bakugo the amazing, with his grand quirk… oh, he is going to be the best hero ever. But now you find that Izuku has other things on his mind. Other interests and desires and likes. He doesn't have time for you anymore. And our classmates aren't falling over themselves to worship you. The teachers don't cut you breaks. And what must REALLY burn you… is that no one spares extra time thinking about you."

She leaned in.

"Even though you spend EVERY waking moment thinking about us."

"You… you fucking think I worry about you?!" he screamed.

"I didn't say that," Ahsoka replied. "I said you think about us. About what we think of you. Say about you. Every moment you live you are thinking about us and our reactions to you. Except, as I said, all that time is wasted because none of us give you a second thought."

And with that she pulled away.

"And that terrifies you, doesn't it?"

"FUCK YOU!" Bakugo roared even as she walked away from him, not even flinching when two large explosions popped in his palms. "You think you got me all figured out? You think you know me? You know fucking nothing about me! You hear me! Nothing! I don't give a shit what you think about me because I know that you are meaningless! Another no-nothing who is going to fall by the wayside as I climb the rnaks! You hear me! SHIT HORNS!"

But she was long gone.