Green Tea Rescue

by ss3dj

When Midoriya Izuku was 4 his quirk finally manifested. The doctor named it psychokinesis, but his friend Bakugou Katsuki called it worthless. For the next 10 years, Izuku would grow up bullied and isolated. Then, when a new student named Uraraka Ochako transfers into his class the last year of jr high, everything changes. Rated M for eventual themes.

23. Rush for the Semi-Finals

"I really don't want to go in there."

Ochako stared at the door to Recovery Girl's clinic and made no move to open it. Despite the numerous cuts, bruises, contusions, cracked ribs, gashes, dislocations, and facial swelling she was in no hurry to go in. Himiko rolled her eyes at her. "Oh my god, you are acting like a baby. Grow up and go take your medicine. I'm going in, too, so it's not like you're going to have to deal with her alone. Friends stick together after all."

Putting her hand on Ochako's back for support- and to let her know she wasn't going to let her run away, again- Himiko opened the door to the clinic where Recovery Girl and Midnight were waiting for them.

"Midnight-sensei?"

Himiko's eyes met Midnight's and she blinked, "Yeah, fuck this. I'm out."

Ochako gasped as Himiko turned on her heel and started to make a run for it. She didn't make it far, as Ochako snatched her back by her wrist. "What happened to 'friends stick together?'"

Himiko shook her head, "I didn't sign up to deal with both Nurse Mengele and the Mother Hen here."

Midnight's eye twitched while Recovery Girl tapped her cane on the floor hard enough to get their attention, "You two get in here before I cane the both of you for being so stupid."

Grumbling, Himiko shuffled after Ochako as the two went inside. While Ochako made her way to a bed, Midnight walked up to Himiko and handed her a new set of gym clothes. "Go get dressed. Then Recovery Girl can treat you...and don't call me Mother Hen again."

"Old Maid?"

Everyone in the room could hear Midnight's teeth grinding together. Himiko cackled as she walked behind a changing curtain, while Ochako looked over at the R-Rated here nervously. "Are we in trouble, Sensei?" Ochako couldn't think of a reason why the Sports Festival Judge was waiting for them.

Himiko answered before Midnight could, "She probably had time to check on me to make sure I behaved on the way here since I kinda broke the ring."

Midnight glared at the blond girl, "I also went to get you some new clothes and I made sure that the hallway from the arena to here was clear."

Ochako glanced between Midnight and Himiko as she pulled the curtain closed. "It's very kind of you to come check on Himiko, and I-EY!"

Ochako yelped as Recovery Girl dabbed at her cuts with a cotton swab and iodine, "OW ow ow ow!"

Recovery Girl just ignored her, "Oh, you be quiet. You got like this; you can deal with the treatments."

"Aren't you supposed to just kiss me?"

"Do you want to be half-asleep by the time your next match comes up?" Recovery Girl asked. "My Quirk uses your own body's energy to heal you. I already treated you once today. If I do it again, you'll be aching for a nap that'll last until tomorrow."

Ochako frowned, not liking the sound of that. Recovery Girl gently cupped her chin and turned her face to the side as she exclaimed the swelling and cuts, "I'll heal your face's swelling, get your hands back to normal, and close up a few of the nasty cuts that would have needed stitches, but everything else is getting treated the old-fashioned way. Disinfectant, bandages, and time."

Ochako nodded, that would work for her. At the very least she'll be in fighting shape, "Okay, but don't you have anything that, OW, doesn't sting?"

Recovery Girl pulled out a fresh cotton swab and soaked it in the bottle of iodine. "Probably." She then went back to cleaning all of Ochako's wounds. From behind the changing curtain, Himiko snickered at Ochako's plight.

"Oh, don't you laugh, young lady. I might just heal you completely the old-fashioned way. How would you like to go walking around for the next week wearing a nose clip until that smashed face of yours heals?"

Himiko promptly stopped laughing, which got a snicker out of Midnight. Ochako, given a reprieve as Recovery Girl went to get some gauze pads and bandages, looked over at Midnight. "Um, sensei? Why were you the one to come down here? Even if there is a break to repair the ring, won't it look bad for the judge of the event to leave?"

Midnight waved her off, "As long as I'm back and not causing a delay, it's not a problem. Besides, I have to take responsibility for this ball of stability."

"I hate you," Himiko sang out.

Ochako tilted her head to the side, "You have to take responsibility? Because Toga is under the care of U.A?"

"Technically-" Midnight began, but Himiko cut her off as she pulled back the curtain and walked out fully dressed. "She's my counselor. She's the one that gets to check on my mental and emotional well-being on top of everything else I put the teachers through."

"Which you make so, so easy."

"Yep, I'm the reason she has those extra wrinkles."

Ochako looked between the two as they bickered. Perhaps after it was a result of her eye opening heart-to-heart with Himiko earlier, or maybe she had gotten her bell rung worse than she thought, but looking at the two, they weren't acting like a teacher and student, or a counselor and her patient. It seemed closer to Ochako. More familial. The brief look of worry Midnight had and the wave of relief when Himiko had opened the door to the clinic reminded Ochako a lot of her own mother.

---

"Sooooo…." Hitoshi began, looking down at the unresponsive form of Izuku, "Is he just gonna...you know...lay there forever?"

Tsuyu reached down and gave him a poke, "He might be actually broken, kero."

"Perhaps we should inform a teacher…" Tenya said, adjusting his glasses, "Unless you want to try some stronger smelling salts, Yaoyorozu?"

"I'd rather not. At that point, we would just be sticking pure ammonium up his nose."

Minouru leaned over the back of a chair, "I don't know why he freaked out so much; you couldn't even see anything from up here, and the camera's were already pannin away before that wall went up."

Denki sighed, "True, but Midoriya was aware that there was a naked girl in front of him. That's too much stimulation for the poor guy."

"But if you think about it, all girls are naked under their clothes. If you told Midoriya that, I bet he'd stop functioning every time he looked at a woman," Minoru added smirking.

As the two snickered, Kyouka snuck up behind them and jammed her ear plug into Minoru and Denki's ears and sent a few angry sound bursts right into their ear drums, "You two need to calm down. And leave Midoriya alone, he and Dark Shadow are pretty much our classes' wholesome mascots at this point."

Katsuki, tapping his boot on the floor in annoyance growled out, "I swear I'm throwing that annoying shit over the ledge and letting the people below deal with him."

Tsuyu looked up at him, and, with a completely neutral expression, asked, "You're sure you're the one that should be making that kind of joke?"

Katsuki's boot stopped mid-tap and he looked hard at Tsuyu, who didn't seem intimidated in the slightest. Before anything else could happen however, "Hey guys, we're back!"

"Why are you all crowded around like that?"

Ochako and Himiko, both freshly patched up, walked out of the hall and stopped at the strange scene in front of them. The scene got stranger as there was a sudden, startled yelp, and the why for the classes strange gathering came to.

"Uraraka! Toga!"

Seeing Izuku suddenly bolt up off the ground got a bemused chuckle from Ochako and a few hard laughs from Himiko. She even had to use Ochako's shoulder to steady herself. As they laughed, Izuku looked from one to the other. Both clearly had been worked on by Recovery Girl. Himiko's nose and face were back to normal and Ochako's major injuries from her fight were perfectly healed. The only thing telling Izuku that the two had been in a match was the gauze and bandages Ochako wore on her cheek and arms, as well as the memory of it that was seared into his memory. After looking them over, Izuku then realized something else. They had come back together. They were laughing together. Ochako was actually letting Himiko use her to keep herself from doubling over as she got her laughing under control.

"You two...are okay?"

Ochako and Himiko shared a quick look, and then smiled at Izuku, "Yeah. We're good, Deku."

"It's all water under the bridge."

While Izuku sighed in relief, Ochako and Himiko led Izuku back to his seat, with Himiko this time taking an empty seat so that she could sit with the rest of their group and not off by herself as she had been. Quickly though, the rest of their classmates started asking questions about what had gotten them so fired up, but both played it off as a personal difference of opinion. This got them a few looks, but fortunately their classmates didn't push too hard. Kyouka leaned over towards them. "It looked like the two of you were talking a lot towards the end."

Himiko nodded, while Ochako watched the punk girl closely, "Yeah we were discussing some stuff...you couldn't you hear it? You have super hearing, right?"

Ochako bit her tongue so she didn't squeak, but her worries were quickly put to bed as Kyouka shook her head, "Not that good, and especially not good enough to block out all the extra crowd noise without some special equipment."

Ochako sighed quietly to herself; she hadn't even thought about if someone could be listening in on her when she opened up to Himiko at the end. She supposed she was also lucky there weren't any microphones near the ring either, now that she thought about it. If Izuku had learned about her feelings like that, she'd never be able to live it down.

"I still can't believe you could turn into that Nomu, though," Denki said. "That was crazy."

Himiko smirked. "Yeah, but the darn thing was too strong for me to use really well. Kept blowing up my own limbs. If I had its Quirks, it would have been easier."

"Ah! So you can't use the Quirks of the person you turn into then?" Mina asked.

Himiko noticed Izuku shift a little in his chair and smiled to herself. The boy was paying attention since he knew why she had kept her Quirk to herself for so long, "No, I can't. If I turn into someone that's just naturally strong, I can use that, but no Quirk-based super strength."

"How do you transform?"

Himiko did a good job not showing too much emotion at that question. A far better job then Izuku was, in any case. The boy kept glancing between her and the class.

"Yeah, Midoriya avoided the question when we asked him. Since you turned into him, we thought he knew."

Izuku sunk into his seat a little. Himiko glanced over at him before recalling what he had said to her back when she revealed what her Quirk was to him. 'I really think you can trust our classmates.'

Well, I guess this is it.

Reaching over she gave Izuku a pat on the shoulder, "I asked him to keep it between us. My Quirk has caused me some issues in the past."

Some of the class looked a little uncomfortable, "Oh? We didn't know."

"We shouldn't have pried like that."

Himiko waved them off, "Honestly guys, it's not a big deal. I'm the only one here that's kept their Quirk a secret. It's natural you all would be curious, I guess. At this point, keeping it a secret is only going to cause more issues, I think, so I guess I can tell you all."

"So how do you do it? You were with Midoriya for almost the whole prep time in the last event. Is it complicated, kero?"

Himiko scratched her head, "Not really. Most of that was us just planning. All I had to do was...drink some of Izuku's blood."

Himiko explained how her quirk worked, how the more she drank the longer she could hold her transformation. How she could also make clothes and things the person has. She then also talked about how as a side effect of her Quirk she actually needed to drink blood to keep herself healthy. After her explanation, Himiko watched her classmates closely, looking for any obvious signs of disgust. Instead, she saw a few surprised faces. Some thoughtful. Some didn't seem to care, and others seemed to have been expecting something else. Again, Himiko found herself coming to terms that there were people out there that wouldn't see her as a monster.

Tsuyu tapped her chin, "The juice?"

"Not juice."

Hitoshi leaned forward. "That's why you were so quick to say I was dealing with idiots. You were dealing with the same kind of stuff."

"Pretty much, though my idiots had me go to a Quirk Suppression therapist. So, you know, that was fun."

A few of the students hissed at that. Momo looked aghast, "But that's such an archaic form of Quirk control. I didn't even think there were those kinds of practitioners around in this day and age."

"My folks really didn't like my Quirk. Anyone else got any questions?" While Himiko was warming up to opening up about some parts of her past and self, she wasn't eager to go down that whole rabbit hole just yet. Fortunately, Tenya was quick to bring up a different subject.

"So to turn into those villains, you had to get blood samples. How did you do that in all the chaos?" Tenya asked. Ochako and Tsuyu glanced at each other. Both remembering the carnage Himiko had left behind when she had attacked the villains on the boat.

"Um Iida, how would you describe my hero costume?"

"Sharp….Oohhh. That...should have been obvious."

"Toga," Ochako started, "When you cut off that shark villain's arm, you stuck something from your costume into it. Those needles I think."

"They're syringes, actually. They're attached to a little pump to draw blood."

Izuku snapped his fingers, "OH! So that gear did have something to do with your Quirk!"

"Yep."

Ochako continued, "and when you were keeping me and Izuku safe from that Nomu, you stuck him with those syringes. That's how you got its blood."

Before anyone else could ask any question however, a call came in over the loudspeakers, "Yaoyorozu Momo, Todoroki Shouto, please report to your waiting rooms."

While Shouto, who had been quiet for Himiko's explanation, simply got up without a word, Momo turned to the rest of the class. "I suppose they are ready to restart."

"It's about fucking time. You'd think having Cementoss here would mean we wouldn't have to wait forever to fix all the damage Vamp Bitch caused."

Himiko flashed Katsuki a fanged smile while he just ignored her.

"Um dude, it's been like fifteen minutes."

"Shut up, Shitty Hair."

Kyouka, ignoring Katsuki and Eijirou, flashed Momo a thumbs up. "Good luck, Yaoyorozu."

---

"Ladies and gent-le-man, it's time for our next round. The doozy that was the last one may be a tough act to follow, but I think these two are up for the task. After all, they come highly recommended. She is the very definition of 'knowledge is power,' and considering just how smart she is, you better believe she can teach you a lesson. Class 1-A's vice representative, Yaoyorozu Momo! Versus - This young man laughs in the face of global warming. Around him it's always an ice age, so you better have your parka's ready. From class 1-A, it's Todoroki Shouto!"

Even as the roar of the crowd echoed throughout the stadium, neither Momo or Shouto could hear it. While Present Mic had yet to call an official start to their match, for both of them their fight had already started as they played out every conceivable way the match could go. Whittling down their options and weighing their best chances against what they thought their opponent would do. For Shouto, his biggest concern wasn't that Momo had an almost infinite arsenal at her disposal that gave her near endless possibilities to attack him and defend herself. No, his biggest issue was that Momo had the potential to unleash devastating powerful attacks. He still vividly remembered seeing her use her Quirk during Aizawa's test the first day, creating a cannon to dominate the ball-toss test. He had also heard how she had defeated the villains attacking her and Kyouka during the assault on the USJ by bringing down the side of a mountain. With all of this in mind, Shouto had come to the conclusion that any kind of prolonged match would be too risky, and had settled to try and end the match as quickly as possible with a fast, frontal attack.

Momo, too, had taken everything she had seen Shouto do to date and was reviewing it it as she mulled over her plan. The raw power of Shouo's ice was obvious. In every training exercise, his power was put on display, not just the force of the ice, but the mind boggling amount he could create as well. Shouto could create and attack with his ice at incredible speed. He was a terrifying opponent at long range. With these close quarters, the time between his attack and it hitting would be less than a second. So for Momo to have the best chance to win, she concluded she would have to end the match before he could hit her with his first attack. That meant she would have to not only be fast enough, but be powerful enough to end it in a single attack. Instantly, her mind went to creating a cannon. Make a cannon and immediately fire a projectile into Shouto. Hopefully, it'd either knock him out of the ring or just knock him out.

However, there were other factors she had to consider. One was how much force she would need to get the knock-out without it being lethal. Next was what she would be firing. Any kind of cannon ball or solid projectile was out of the question; it would have to be something malleable so the impact wouldn't rip Shouto apart, but strong enough to withstand the force of being fired from the cannon. Given the distance between the two, she could roughly judge how much propellant she was going to need, and a modified beanbag round, enlarged and enforced, would be the best thing to fire at Shouto. Next, she had to consider how fast she would be able to create her weapon and fire it. The weapon structure was easy- simple metals and polymers she could recount those molecular structures in her sleep. So creating it was not the issue; it was how fast she would be able to create it. As best as she could figure, a fully armed-and-ready-to-fire cannon would take no more than a couple of seconds.

But she didn't have a couple of seconds.

She couldn't risk changing the structure too much. Too many modifications to make the process faster, thinning the metal of the barrel could mean she only ends up making a giant pipe bomb. Changing to a less-complicated polymer for the bean bag could mean it was too hard or too fragile. She needed another way to cut down on her time. Then she remembered a conversation she had with Izuku during their bus ride, 'I'm just wondering, if you made the cannon barrel, powder and projectile but kept it attached to yourself, you'd be able to cut down on your attack time.' The idea had merit, but it was risky. The recoil could take her out the moment she fired, but there was a work-around. First, she would have the cannon form to her side instead of straight on, and if most of the recoil was in the barrel, she wouldn't have to worry as much. Anti-aircraft artillery cannons the barrel gets pushed back into itself to lessen the recoil to the whole unit. Changing to that design should fix one of her two problems. Her last problem, though, was aiming. The cannon would be coming out of her side, aiming was going to be tricky. There would be no eyeballing it. She would be, more or less, performing a quick draw.

But even with all the risks, Momo still thought this was her best course of action.

Both Momo and Shouto, plans at the ready, waited for the final signal.

"FIGHT!"

BOOM!

---

The crack from the cannon jolted Present Mic in his seat, almost to the point of tipping him over. It only took a few seconds for him to regain his balance bring his attention back to the match. As he opened his mouth to start giving commentary, he had to pause and do a double take.

"Wha? I...I don't believe it! It's already over, folks. Yaoyorozu and Todoroki just gave us a U.A-version of an old-American-Western shootout! Both went for the quick draw! And...Yaoyorozu is out of bounds! Todoroki advances to the semi finals!

---

When the signal had been given, a stream of ice shot out from the bottom of Shouto's foot, covering the distance in a blink of an eye. Before the ice hit Momo, though, Shouto found himself staring down the barrel of a cannon that was ripping out from her side. He couldn't move, he couldn't breath, and he was sure his heart stopped. There was a flash and a loud crack as Momo fired. Shouto felt something blast by him. The blast from the air almost enough to knock him back as Momo's projectile missed by a finger's breadth. Then his ice hit Momo, driving her out of the ring and into the outset wall of the area which she was now frozen against. Her cannon dropped, fully formed, halfway to the out of the ring

Shouto was only just aware of his victory being declared as he turned to look at the wall behind himself. The projectile, something like an undersized potato sack, was only just plopping onto the ground after hitting the wall, leaving a spider web of cracks.

If that had hit...She fired that while it was still attached to her.

Momo, still stuck to the wall, hissed at the pain in her side. She had probably bruised her ribs pretty badly with that move, but at least the worst of the recoil had been absorbed by the canon itself. She hurt, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as her damaged pride. She had done everything she could, planned it all out, but she had failed in her execution. Sighing sadly, Momo let herself hang on the wall until Shouto came up and began melting the ice to free her.

---

"Aw man, she was so close." Kyouka fell back into her chair, deflated.

Mina nodded, "I can't believe she tried something so dangerous, though."

Mezou shook his head, "At this point, I don't see how anyone can beat Todoroki."

"No kidding. The guy is invincible," Rikidou agreed.

"Gee," Ochako cut in sharply, "Thank you for your votes of confidence."

The sharp, annoyed glare Ochako gave the two sent shivers up their spines as they both quickly apologized. Still, Ochako had to admit that Shouto was one heck of a roadblock to her march for the finals. Crossing her arms, she started going over everything she knew about how Shouto fought and began looking for weaknesses.

"Bakugou Katsuki, Monona Neito, please report to your waiting rooms."

"Hey, looks like you're up, man. Good luck"

While Eijirou flashed a thumbs up, Katuski just grunted disinterestedly and stood up, "Not going to need luck. I blow that Copycat bastard straight to hell."

"Ha ha ha ha ha! How funny. Class A's loud mouth doesn't think he's going to need all the help he can get to win!" The haughty laugh and boast grabbed everyone's attention. Neito was standing right inside the hallway to their classes seat, smirking confidently as he walked in. He wasn't alone, either. Two of his classmates, Kosei Tsuburaba and Toharu Kamakiri, were also with him.

Katsuki's eyes narrowed as he started walking up to Neito, "You want to start our match now, you fu-!"

Toharu stepped between the two as he quickly lifted up an arm and extended a large blade right at Katsuki. "Don't even try it punk."

Denki and Eijirou were out of their seats in a flash, but ran into a barrier created by Kosei. Eijirou glared at the three. "Are you guys seriously here to pick a fight now?"

"Monona was just talking. This guy was the one that was going to start crap," Toharu snapped back.

Tenya was now out of his chair, putting himself between the two groups. "Please! We are here to compete for the honor of our school. We shouldn't disgrace ourselves with fighting outside of training and matches!"

Neito raised his hands. "I'm not even here for the loud mouth."

Katsuki ground his teeth together, "Keep calling me that, and I'm going to destroy you."

"Then why are you here dude?" Denki asked.

"My commitment to good sportsmanship, of course."

Himiko didn't even bother to hide her scornful laugh. "Yeah. Thats total bullshit."

"Toga," Izuku began, "We shouldn't jump to conclusions."

Himiko rolled her eyes, mumbling something about Izuku being too naive that was missed by everyone else. Neito smiled brightly. "I see you do have someone with some common sense in your class. A shame it's attached to someone with a second-rate Quirk. Though, I suppose you'll all see first-hand when Reiko wipes the floor with him."

A low growl reached Neito's ears, and he turned, expecting it to be coming from Himiko. However, when he, Izuku, Tsuyu, and Hitoshi all turned to the source of the sound, it wasn't Himiko; it was Ochako. Ochako eyed the haughty boy with narrowed eyes. "Be careful what you say to my friend, jerk."

Maybe Neito understood the sudden danger he was in. He had just seen Ochako not long ago deliver and take a beating in her last match. The image of her ripping the teeth out of the shark villain transformation was still fresh in his mind. Brushing a few blond strands of hair, and trying not to shudder, Neito turned his attention to his actual target. "Shinso. I'm here to see you."

Hitoshi looked at the other boy but didn't say anything.

"You see, my conscience wouldn't stop bothering me. While our match didn't go the way you probably wanted, I also behaved poorly. I left you lying in the ring, and that was uncalled for."

"Oh?" Hitoshi frowned. He honestly hadn't given the subject much though. He had been more focused on his own failure to make a guy like Neito, who clearly loves to talk, to talk, "It's not that big a deal really."

Neito waved his hands, "No, no, no. It's like your class rep said. We are here to honor our school. So surely at the end of a match, the contestants should shake hands to show there are no hard feelings. Right?"

Towards the end, Neito extended his hand towards Hitoshi, who just looked at him questioningly. Finally, with a sigh of annoyance, Hitoshi shook his hand, "Fine. No hard feelings."

Neito smiled, "Good, good. Now that that's settled I can focus on shutting the loudmouth up."

Bowing dramatically, Neito turned and left. Toharu retracted his blades into his arm, and Kosei let his barrier of solid air fade before turning and leaving with Neito. The rest of 1-A was left scratching their heads at the strange scene.

"Sooo...the heck was that all about?" Hanta asked.

Kyouka and Mina just shrugged.

Katsuki looked where Neito had left before glancing back at Hitoshi. Then, with an angry snarl, walked off, "Doesn't matter what it was. I'm going to kill that little prick."

Himiko watched him go, "You know what, I might actually want Baku Bitch to win this round...and I think I need a shower for saying that."

Tsuyu leaned over towards Hitoshi, "You alright?"

Hitoshi just nodded, "Yeah. I'm fine. That was just weird is all."

While everyone got back to their seats, Ochako looked over and saw that Izuku had his hand up to his chin and was mumbling to himself. She could see the gears turning in his head.

Wonder what he's thinking about?

Before she could ask, Minoru jumped up in glee, "They're back! They sent them back out!"

No one needed to ask what had Minoru so excited. Between each match, to keep the audience entertained, a group of american cheerleaders that had been flown in for the event would perform for the crowd. Up until now, Ochako hadn't paid them much mind, too focused on other, now settled, things. Looking at the bright orange and yellow trimmed outfits, Ochako couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Those don't really leave much to the imagination do they?"

Himiko nodded, "Yeah, no kidding...Okay, can you not jump up and down like a freaking dog?" Turning around to look at Minoru, Himiko frowned at him. "You're supposed to be on your best behavior at all times. You're not off the hook for the little locker room stunt you pulled, you know."

Minoru crossed his arms, "I've been good around you all! I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Uh huh," Himiko didn't look convinced at all, glaring at the little purple boy, "You just haven't been obvious and gotten caught yet is more like it. Don't forget, I'm the one that gets to punish you if you get caught acting like a creep again."

Minrous waved his arms around, "I haven't done anything! And I'm not doing anything wrong looking at the cheerleaders, either! It's their job to draw our attention! We're supposed to look."

"Really?"

"Thats right!" Minoru declared, "Besides, it's not like I'm the only one looking!"

"Name one person I actually care about looking at those cheerleaders."

Minoru pointed to his side, "Midoriya."

Himiko blinked and slowly turned to see what he was talking about. Ochako also turned to look, having heard their whole conversation. Izuku, who had been lost in thought before, was now watching the jumbo screens as the cheerleaders danced around. A slight blush on his face as he followed their routine. He wasn't leering by any stretch, but he was watching.

"See? Midoriya is just like the rest of us. Put a beautiful and sexy cheerleader in front of him, and he's gonna look."

"Izuku," Himiko countered angrily, "Doesn't leer at us in class like you did."

Minrou tapped his chin, "No, he doesn't. But then again, he only has girls to look at in class. Maybe he's more a woman kind of guy. You know, with actual figures to -urk!"

Kyouka, suddenly tired of Minoru talking, jammed both her ear jacks into his head. "Will you please shut up?"

While Kyouka dealt with Minoru, Ochako and Himiko traded glances with each other before looking back at Izuku. He was cheering along with the crowd and the cheerleaders did their stunts. It was totally innocent, and neither had anything they had to worry about.

"Hey, Ochako," Himiko whispered, "You've never seen Izuku show that kind of interest right?"

Ochako shook her head, "No of course no…" She trailed off when she remembered something.

"What?"

Sheepishly, Ochako twiddled her thumbs, "Well...I did catch him with a magazine once a while ago…"

"A...magazine?"

"Yeah...Do you know who the Wild Wild Pussycats are?"

Himiko tapped her chin, "I think so. Three chicks and a huge guy that dress up like cats in frilly skirts, right?"

Himiko wasn't super familiar with other heroes beside some of the top ten, but that team had stuck out to her for some reason. Thinking back, she was almost sure she had heard and seen pictures of the team during her stay at U.A. before school had started.

"Well one of them, Pixie-Bob, did some...spreads for the magazine...I actually don't even know how Deku got it. He said it was for the articles."

Himiko snorted, not buying that for a second, "She's the blonde one, right?"

"Yeah. And in her thirties."

Both girls blinked, before twisting around for Izuku. "Deku!"

"Izuku!"

Izuku turned, surprised at suddenly hearing his name, "Huh?" Noticing the slight looks he was getting from the two blinked a few times, "Is everything alright?"

"You were watching those cheerleaders pretty intently there."

"Yeah, you're risking your squeaky-clean image," warned Himiko.

Izuku's face went red, and his eyes went wide at the implication, "WHAT!? No! I was just...I was just wondering if they have Quirks that help let them move around like...that…During their routines. That's all!"

Ochako and Himiko squinted at him, neither looking like they bought a single word that was coming out of his mouth. While he wilted under their combined attack, Ochako decided to show him mercy by changing the subject to something she had noticed earlier, "So Deku, let me ask you something. If you're done hypothesising, of course," Izuku nodded vigorously, "Good, so you were mumbling to yourself back after that Monoma guy left. What were you thinking?"

"Oh that? I think he came over here and copied Shinso's Quirk."

Hitoshi snapped to attention at that statement, "Wait, what?"

"Kero?"

Tenya leaned forward in his seat, "Midoriya, are you sure?

Izuku scratched his head, "I mean, it's only a theory, but at the start of your match, Shinso, he tried shaking your hand, right?"

Hitoshi frowned, "Yeah, he tried."

"Well, maybe he has to touch a person to be able to copy their Quirk. He could have brought his classmates over to be a distraction, act like they were ready to start a fight while he got you to shake his hand to be a good sport. Most everyone else was focused on the other two, so no one was really paying much attention to him then."

Hitoshi covered his face with his hands, "I don't believe it. Did I really fall for something so obvious?"

Izuku shrugged, "Like I said, it's just a theory. But if he thought your Quirk would give him an advantage in his next match..."

"Against Bakugou," Tsuyu finished as the rest of the group let that sink in.

"Bakugou is about to face an opponent that just has to get him to react to something he says...and he wins," Tenya said in shock.

Ochako blinked, once. Twice. Then she broke into a laughing fit.

---

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm ready for another round! And I have a feeling this one is going to be a blast!"

There was an audible groan of pain from Aizawa, which Present Mic shushed.

"First up, you saw him in the opening round, so you know he's got a flare for being loud and flashy, but that's nothing next to his bombastic personality. From class 1-A, it's Bakugou Katsuki! Versus - He's a young man known for his sharp tongue and devastating repartee, but it's not his mouth you should be worried about. From Class 1-B, Monoma Neito!"

"You know, I don't like that Midoriya." Neito began smirking over at Katsuki before looking up towards the 1-A seats. "He's such a little know-it-all. And he's so creepy, talking to himself as he watches people. Voyeurism is a crime you know, and yet he gets to be here to train as a hero. And then there's the stupd innocent act. I mean come on, no one is really like that. But you know what, while he's an annoying little creep with a horribly gaudy, second-rate Quirk…"

"FIGHT!"

"...At least he's a threat to me. Unlike you."

Neito's grin was ear to ear as he waited, but after a few moments, he realized something had gone wrong. Katsuki hadn't said a word. His smile dropped, 'Didn't you hear me, loudmouth? I said that that worthless Deku was a bigger threat than you are...um…"

Finally, Neito turned back to look at Katsuki and his blood went cold. He knew instantly things hadn't gone wrong. They were FUBAR'd.

As Katsuki walked towards Neito, his eyes burned with hate. His hands were smoking so much he was enveloped in a thick, black smoke giving him an aura of death and across his temple, Neito could see his veins throbbing. He was also biting his lip to keep his mouth shut.

He's not talking...so he must know that...oh crap.

Suddenly realizing that his master plan for an easy win hadn't worked, Neito slammed his palms into the ground, activating his classmate's Quirk: Softening. The concrete leading to Katsuki, and under him, rippled like jelly. Almost immediately, he started to sink up to his knees, "HA! How do you like that?! Good luck getting out of-"

KABOOM!

A pair of explosions from Katsuki's palms ripped him free of the ground and launched him into the air, yards above Neito. Twisting in the air, Katsuki pointed his palms backwards, and with another large explosion, launched himself right for Neito. As he rocketed towards Neito, the other boy desperately sucked in a breath of air before blowing out as large of a barrier as he could with Solid Air, that he had borrowed from his classmate. Katsuki slammed into the transparent wall of solidified air, but was able to grab the upper ledge of the wall and glare down at Neito. Looking up at the enraged explosion-made-flesh, Neito began to think that maybe, maybe, he should have copied Shouto's Quirk instead of Hitoshi's.

When Katsuki reared back and punched through the barrier and pointed his smoking, sizzling, and crackling palm right at him, Neito knew he had copied the wrong Quirk, and that Katsuki was more clever than he had originally thought. This was also the last thought he had before Katsuki blasted him with enough force to send him flying out of the ring, where he landed like a charbroiled cadaver.

"Shut. The fuck. Up, and fucking die, you fucking annoying copycat piece of shit!"

Midnight; after making sure the charred blond was still alive, which he was; and making sure he wasn't hurt too bad, which, by U.A. standards, he wasn't, raised her hand to call the match. "Monoma Neito is out of bounds! Bakugou Katsuki advanced to the Semi Finals!"

---

"Alright! Way to go, Bakugou!"

"You show that class B creep who's boss!"

"Explode him again!"

While Eijirou Denki and Hanta wildly cheered, along with most of the class, Ochako just sat with a brittle smile on her face. Izuku elbowed her gently, giving her a nervous smile. "Come on, Uraraka. We should at least cheer for our class, right?"

"Are you going to cheer for Bakugou?"

Scratching his head, Izuku laughed, "well no...I guess not. But I kinda have a history. You don't have to be petty like me."

In the most serious voice she had, Ochako replied quickly, "Deku, when it comes to Bakugou. I choose to be as petty as possible."

Both looked at each other before huge grins split their faces and they both started giggling.

"You're a good friend, Uraraka."

"I'm the best. That's why I'm your best friend."

"Midoriya Izuku, Reiko, please report to your waiting rooms."

"Well I think that's my cue."

Tenya reached over and gave Izuku a slap on the back, "I wish you luck, Midoriya. And be careful, you are facing someone with a very similar Quirk to your own."

Tsuyu nodded, "She probably thinks like you since she has to attack like you do, kero."

"Just don't get insta-beat like Kaminari did," Hitoshi added.

"Hey!"

"You'll be fine, Izuku. If she gives you trouble, just punch her in the face. Works wonders every time," Himiko added while punching at the air.

Ochako gave her a side-eye. "Really? You tried six times on me and it didn't take."

Himiko waved her off, "Your skull's too thick, and your brain is made of mochi. Nothing there to hurt."

"My face?"

"I thought it was an improveme- ack! Hey! Don't smack me!"

While Ochako and Himiko bickered, Izuku smiled happily. The strange tension from before that always sparked between the two was clearly gone. Whatever had been the issue between them was clearly gone, and the two were acting like good friends at last. And rivals, if the glares the two were giving each other was any indication.

Slipping away, Izuku turned his thoughts to his upcoming opponent.

She was able to just throw Kaminari out of the ring. It didn't look like she was just pulling him by his clothes. So she must not have the same problem moving people like I do.

Walking down the halls, Izuku's mumbled to himself, going over possible scenarios and ways that Reiko might use her Quirk differently than himself. So caught up in his own world he didn't notice someone walking up to him in the hall.

He didn't notice when they called his name.

BOOM!

He did notice when a small explosion went off a few feet from his face.

"Ahhh!"

Jolted from his thoughts, Izuku looked up and almost gave a startled yelp when he saw Katsuki standing right in front of him. Hands at his sides, still smoking. Old habits started to kick in and Izuku almost found himself apologizing for being in his way, but he fought them down. Calming himself, Izuku simply said, "Oh, hi Kacchan."

Katsuki's brow twitched, "Watch where the hell you're walking, Deku. Walk into me, and I'll blast you through a wall."

"Er...right. I'll keep that in mind. I was just thinking about my upcoming match, is all."

Katsuki rolled his eyes in disgust, "Of course you were. You have to overthink everything, don't you?"

Izuku just shrugged, "It's like Uraraka says. It's just one of my quirks."

Clicking his tongue against his teeth with a sharp tsk, Katsuki started walking. Izuku should have just let him go, but his mouth just started moving, "During your match, you weren't talking at all. You must have realized that Monoma had copied Shinso's Quirk."

Katsuki stopped but didn't turn around to look at Izuku. "Of course I fucking did. You'd have to be an idiot not to put it together. The bastard tried getting it in his first match with the good sport bullshit. Doing the same thing again was stupid."

"Yeah...I figured you would notice something like that."

Not thinking anything needed to be said, Izuku was about to continue on his way, but was surprised when Katuski called out. "Deku. Don't you fucking dare lose to that class-B extra."

Izuku almost tripped over his own feet, even though he had been standing still. Whirling around, Izuku looked and saw that Katsuki was still facing away from him, "Kacchan?"

"I want the privilege of reminding you where you stand, Deku, and I want to do it in front of everyone. I'm going to show the world that you're nothing more than a stepping stone on my path to greatness. So you better win, Deku. Cause if you don't," Katsuki's hands popped and smoked, sizzling and cracking. Explosions barely contained, mirroring Katsuki himself. "If you don't, then I'll come find you after I win the Sports Festival and beat it into then. And trust me, you want the tournament's rules to keep me from destroying you."

Katsuki stormed off after that, not waiting for Izuku to respond, and not caring if he had even wanted to. He had said his piece, and didn't care for anything else. Izuku watched Katsuki go until he turned a corner and disappeared. Taking a deep breath, Izuku went his own way.

One way or another, I guess it ends today.

---

"Yo! Midoriya! You...are not here."

Class 1-A turned, startled at the sudden yell, to find Mei Hatsumi standing at the entrance to their section looking over everyone.

"Where did Midoriya go?"

"He already left for his match some time ago," Tenya answered. "May I ask why you are up here? The support class' section is still a ways off, if you are lost."

"Oh, he already left. Drat. And I came all the way over here to wish him luck."

Mei crossed her arms, looking disappointed, before shrugging and finding an empty seat to sit down in. Which just happened to be Izuku's seat.

"Er, Hatsume. What are you doing?" Ochako asked.

"Well I know Midoriya will come back here after his match. So I might as well stay and cheer him on here. If he loses, then I can tell him 'better luck next time.' If he wins, then I can congratulate him and I'll get my chance to wish him luck on his next match."

Ochako was about to point to a few other open seats she could sit in, but ultimately decided that making Mei do anything was not worth the headache. Hitoshi looked at Himiko, to Ochako, to Mei. Feeling a headache start to come on, he rubbed his brow. "And then there were three."

A sudden chill made him forget his headache as he looked up to see both Himiko and Ochako glaring at him. Desperate to get their attention off him, and to prevent any untimely floating and or stabbing, Hitoshi turned to Mei. "SO, Hatsume. It's sure nice of you to come up here, considering Midoriya beat you in the first round."

"Oh that? Honestly I'd already forgotten about that."

"Wasn't that match only about an hour ago?" Mina asked.

"Yeah, that's a long time ago. Besides even if I lost, it's thanks to Midoriya's advice I was able to put on such a good showing for all the support companies. Probably an even better one than if Midoriya had fallen for my trap...I mean agreed to my idea!"

"Trap?"

"Idea?"

"Like I said, ancient history. But thanks to his advice that I go all out, Power-Loader-sensei says a lot of companies expressed interest in my babies. Midoriya really saved me from making a horrible mistake. He's a good friend. That also got me thinking. He might have even more good ideas, so maybe I should hang out with him more. Besides all the time we spend making babies together."

Minoru fell out of his chair and landed with a thud.

Ochako groaned loudly. "Inventions! She's helping Izuku make support gear for his costume, and she calls all the stuff she makes her babies!"

Mei, completely oblivious to the looks she was getting, turned to Ochako and asked, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have Midoriya's number, would you? Or know if he's a part of any chat rooms or something?"

Ochako, Himiko, Tenya, Tsuyu, and Hitoshi all glanced at each other before a silent consensus was reached. Tsuyu pulled out her phone. "Here let me get you signed up."

"Oh, you guys have your own chat room. That's cool!"

Hitoshi leaned back, "And now the sextuplets are...what comes after six?"

"Septuplets," Tenya answered. "We are definitely growing as a group."

Hitoshi shrugged, "Well, she fits his MO. He helped her, and now she becomes one of us."

Himiko looked over at Mei, "So we have a mad genius now. Think you could make something to shut him up?" she asked, pointing over at Katsuki who just sneered at her.

Mei looked over at him, "Why? Is he loud?"

Eijirou, Hanta and Denki burst out laughing while Katuski rounded on them, threatening them with all kinds of bodily harm.

---

"Alright! After 3 incredible matches, it's time for our last Quarter-Finals match! And these two fighters, they give new meaning to 'it's the thought that counts!'" First up, don't let that cold shiver fool you, listeners; there's nothing paranormal about this young lady, though she isn't going to give her opponent a ghost of a chance. From class 1-B, it's Yanagi Reiko! Versus - Giving new meaning to 'glow up.' This crazy kid has some tricks that will make you green with envy. From class 1-A, Midoriya Izuku! Now, let's get this match star-"

"Hold it."

Aizawa cut Present Mic off as he leaned forward watching the two students, "it looks like Yanagi is waving Midnight and Midoriya over."

"EH? Hey what's going on? Is she forfeiting?"

A brief crackle of static came through their speakers before the home room teacher of 1-B spoke up through the comms, "No. Yanagi is not the kind of student to just give up. So don't go saying such nonsense over a live broadcast!"

Present mic gulped, "Er...Sorry Vlad King. ANYWAY, that was class 1-B's homeroom teacher folks. If he says there's something else going on, we'll just have to wait and see what our judge has to say!"

---

Izuku frowned as Reiko started calling for Midnight and waving her over before she did the same to him. Quickly walking over to her, he met Reiko at the center of the rings edge, closest to the judge's podium.

I hope nothing is wrong.

Midnight arrived at the same time Izuku had, "Yanagi, is everything alright?"

Reiko bowed, "Yes Midnight-sensei. I am perfectly alright. There was just something I wanted to discuss with both of you before our match officially began. Or more accurately, I wish to offer an additional challenge to Midoriya and to get your consent, Sensei."

Izuku blinked, not following her at all, "A-an added challenge? What do you mean?"

Midnight arched an eyebrow but motioned for Reiko to proceed. Given permission, Reiko turned to face Izuku fully, and Izuku finally saw, even if her face was neutral, there was determination burning behind her eyes, "Midoriya, our Quirks are very similar. Wouldn't you agree."

Izuku nodded, "Yeah. I would." Izuku paused before adding with a grin, "They even both start with 'P.'"

Midnight groaned, loudly.

"I'm glad you agree. However while our Quirks are similar, I wish to find out how different they are. I want to know which is stronger. Your Psychokinesis or my Poltergeist."

Izuku frowned, "Do you not think we can with our match?"

"We could, however in your first match, you showed that you were capable of attacking without it. And if Toga's display of your...physique," Izuku hid his face behind his hands, while Midnight chuckled, "and the power she displayed while using it is accurate, you have something to fall back on if you need something other than your Quirk. I...do not have that kind of safety net, Which brings me back to my challenge. Midoriya, for our match today, I formally challenge you to a duel. Our weapons will be only our Quirks."

Izuku blinked, surprised by the challenge, "You want to have a Quirk-only match?"

"That is correct. We will only use our Quirk to attack and defend ourselves. If we break this agreement and attack physically, that person loses. If Midnight-sensei allows us to make such an agreement, that is."

Midnight smiled wickedly, "This kind of competitive spirit really gets my blood pumping. If Midoriya wants to agree to these terms, I will allow it."

Izuku rubbed his chin as he thought about it. On one hand, he had complete faith in his Quirk, something that he would have laughed at a year ago. He knew he could fight with it now. On the other hand, agreeing to this duel would limit him. He had trained his body as well and to intentionally hold himself back in a match that had huge implications for his future was risky. But the more he thought about it, the more he was tempted. Very quickly it was a temptation he couldn't ignore anymore. "Okay. I agree to your terms. We'll have a Quirk-only match."

Reiko bowed, "Thank you."

Midnight clapped her hands, "Excellent! Excellent! You two know how to make things interesting! Now back to you places, I'll make sure everyone knows what is going on."

While Izuku and Reiko turned and walked away, Midnight cracked her whip and raised her hand up, getting the attention of the stadium crowd, "Everyone! After consulting with the two contestants, they have agreed to a stipulation for their match!"

The crowd went silent as they listened, very curious at what was going on.

"In this match, both fighters will only be allowed to use their Quirks to win. There will be no physical contact between the two. If either breaks this rule, they will automatically lose the match. These rules were agreed upon by both Midoriya and Yanagi, and I will allow it. Present Mic, when you are ready. Start the match!"

Up in the announcers booth, Present Mic scratched his goatee, "Um, is that allowed?"

Aizawa shrugged, "She's the judge, So it's her call. Unless you want to go down there and argue with her."

"Yeah I'd rather not…" Tapping his headset, Present Mic went back to broadcasting, "Did you hear all that, loyal listeners!? This match just took a turn for the interesting! Quirks only! This is gonna be interesting! Looks like both fighters are back in their places, so let's get this match going! FIGHT!"

---

The fight was on, and Izuku reached out with his mind, grabbing the back of Reiko's top. As he started to pull however, a force slammed into him, shoving him back even as he dug his heels into the ground to try and stop himself from. From the crowd's perspective, it looked like both fighters suddenly just flew backwards. Grunting, Izuku turned his Quirk on himself and shoved his own body back against Reiko's telekinetic attack. At the same time, Reiko yanked herself back against Izuku's pull and both abruptly came to a stop.

Izuku could feel the strain at having another force push back against his Quirk, not only on himself, but on Reiko, too. While the match had only just started, Izuku had learned something. While he was having to push and pull through their clothes because of his limited ability to affect people directly, Reiko was applying her Quirk to his whole body.

Her Poltergeist can be used on people directly.

Watching her closely, Izuku saw her glance back at her pulled clothes then back at him.

What are the odds she just figured out that I-!

Izuku's thoughts were interrupted when suddenly he wasn't getting pushed back anymore, but shoved to the side. Not expecting the change, Izuku tumbled over and hit the ground, breaking his own concentration and freeing Reiko. Again, Reiko started pushing Izuku towards the edge of the ring, but Izuku wasn't about to let himself get beaten by a ring-out. Reaching out, Izuku focused on Reiko's shoes and yanked them right out from under her.

"ACK!"

Landing on her back, Reiko's concentration on Izuku wavered and he came to a stop. Scrambling to his feet, Izuku gasped as Reiki yanked him back down and started to push him into the concrete. Grunting, Izuku kept his arms locked to keep himself from getting pushed down flat. It felt like there was another person sitting on him. Fortunately, he was used to this. All Might had made him do pushups with him sitting on his back multiple times. What he wasn't used to was his arms getting pulled out from under him, making him faceplant.

Okay, ow!

Swinging his hand out, Izuku focused outside the ring to the field of grass that surrounded them and started ripping large chunks of dirt out of the ground. The dirt clods slammed into Reiko, knocking her back. Pushing himself up, Izuku pulled more dirt out of the ground and fired it at her. Each hit made her stumble back, closer and closer to the edge. Reiko gasped and grunted, keeping her arms held up to try and protect herself, but Izuku just made the clods arc around to slam into her side. She tried to grab the projectiles out from his Quirk's hold, but Izuku's hold on them was too strong for her to break. She couldn't rip them free or stop them from coming at her as every time she pushed back on one; he just overpowered her.

Getting forced to step back again, Reiko looked back and saw she was only a few feet away from the edge. If she didn't do something soon, the match would be over for her. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Dropping her defenses, and stopping to try and halt the projectiles, Reiko focused solely on Izuku. She took a few more hits, but once she had grabbed Izuku with her Quirk, she put everything she had into it and forced him up into the air. Suddenly airborne, Izuku's assault stopped, and Reiko shoved as hard as she could.

---

Whoa whoa WHOA!?

Izuku reeled as he suddenly found himself off the ground and flying backwards. Dropping all the clumps of dirt he had been throwing, Izuku focused on himself. His gym clothes glowed brightly as he pulled himself against Reiko's Quirk. He started to come to a stop, hovering over the ground, then he heard the ripping sound. His gym top was starting to rip at the seams. It was at that moment Izuku realized that Reiko had realized his Quirks limits and was using it against him. She had grabbed his body, not his clothing. So when he pulled himself back, using his clothes, the fabric would start to tear. If he pulled too hard, it would rip for sure, leaving him helpless and embarrassed.

Oh crud. This isn't good

Grunting, Izuku extended his Quirk out to grab Reiko, but splitting his concentration while Reiko was putting so much force into moving him made him quickly realize that by the time he could push her out of the ring, it would be too late for him. So he quickly changed tactics and brought his power back in, holding onto himself like he had when he had flown around the stadium under the effects of Ochako's Quirk. Then he pushed back. The combo of an outside force and trying to use his Quirk on himself made it extremely hard to keep hold, but he was able to do it. If only just. The biggest problem was that this was not a solution, but a delaying tactic. While he wasn't sure how long Reiko would be able to keep applying this much force against him, he could see in her face that she was pushing herself hard; he knew that he would only be able to hold this for a few seconds.

Those few seconds would have to be enough.

As Izuku hung in the air, feeling the pressure from Reiko's Quirk something struck him as very familiar. While not as extreme, the feeling of having something intangible pressing against his own Quirk reminded him of his first match against Mei and her invention that had almost neutralized his Quirk.

I beat Mei by overpowering her invention, even though there wasn't anything physically there...Can I do the same against Yanagi?

Feeling his hold on himself wave briefly, Izuku decided he didn't have much of a choice. Closing his eyes, Izuku let himself focus on the feeling of the force acting on him. In his mind, he was standing in front of a giant brick wall that was moving against him, pushing him closer and closer to a ledge. Visualizing his hands pressed against it, Izuku recalled the feeling when he pushed against Mei's invention, and pushed back. At first, his hands passed through. He brought them back and tried again. He tried again, and again, all the while, he was moved closer and closer to the ledge and the vast chasm below. His heels crested the lip of the ledge, and he knew he had to get it now. With his hands pressed flat, Izuku took a deep breath and pushed.

His hands didn't pass through, and the encroaching wall shuddered against him.

GOT IT!

Izuku opened his eyes and pressed his Quirk against Reiko's, his body glowing green as his aura grew brighter and brighter. He pressed back, his aura expanding off his body as he felt Reiko's hold on him lessen until he had pushed off himself completely. Catching himself by his clothes, he lowered himself gently back to the ground, while keeping the pressure against Reiko. Feet now back on solid ground, and still inside the ring, Izuku could focus fully on pushing Reiko back. Reiko's eyes widened as she felt her Quirk pushed back, but gritting her teeth and raising her hands up towards Izuku, she dug her feet in and pushed back.

For many in the crowd, it looked like Izuku and Reiko were just standing on opposite ends of the ring. They couldn't see the raging war of wills as Psychokinesis and Poltergeist slammed against each other like two giant waves. Reiko's Quirk had no visual cues to give anything away, but Izuku's green glow told the story. Slowly, his aura expanded forward. A wall of ethereal green light that was inching closer and closer to Reiko. As his green glow expanded out, Izuku took a step forward, applying even more power into his Quirk. Soon inches became feet as Izuku pressed against Reiko, and he wasn't just taking single steps anymore, but was walking right up to her.

Sweat beaded on Reiko's brow as her face twisted at the strain she was put under trying to keep Izuku back. Soon she could feel izuku's Quirk was right up against her, but she kept pushing. She had wanted this kind of fight, and for better or worse, she was going to go through with it until the very end.

Then, the green glow pressed her Quirk fully back and up against her body. Immediately, the force behind it slammed into her and flung her up and out of the ring. Reiko was thrown yards away, landing in the grass, she kept skidding until she finally came to a stop.

"Yanagi!"

Shocked, Izuku chased after her. He hadn't meant to hit her like that. When he made it over to her, she had rolled to her side and was now sitting.

"Are you alright?"

Reiko nodded with a sigh, "Yes, though this isn't how I expected this to end."

Izuku bent down, offering his hand to her, "Can you stand? You landed pretty hard."

Taking his hand, Reiko was pulled back to her feet. Taking a chance to brush off the clumps of grass stuck to herself, Reiko looked over at Izuku, her normal neutral expression was back, "I suppose the day is yours, Midoriya."

"You almost had me, though."

"Maybe. It's clear your Quirk is very powerful. I'll have to make sure to train myself hard so that next time, I'll win."

Izuku smiled brightly. "I look forward to it."

Midnight, after seeing that Reiko was uninjured raised her hand up, signaling the end of the match, "Yanagi Reiko is out of bounds. Midoriya Izuku advances to the Semi Finals!"

---

The bright lights and constant noise of the city betrayed the dark night sky and the late hour of the night. While cars honked and people scurried about in the street bellow, they all passed by an unimpressive office building. The building looked like any other. Tall and made of steel, concrete and glass. No one paid it any mind or noticed the single light in a window high above. A light coming from a single office, illuminated by a desk lamp. A plain-looking man sat at the illuminated desk, looking through stacks of paper and jotting down notes onto them and sometimes into his computer. Nothing about this man was extraordinary. The very definition of a plain-looking business man. His dark, charcoal-gray suit was crisp and clean even while worn. His dark green hair, parted and slicked back. This plain-looking man was clearly someone who put a lot of effort into making sure he looked his best whenever possible.

Looking over another paper, with names and faces of strange-looking people, the man sighed, took out a red pen, and proceeded to cross out name after name before writing at the bottom nothing special. Taking the paper, he put it into a tan folder and placed it onto a large stack of folders. Before he reached for a new paper from another stack, he pulled from his pocket a small pack of cigarettes and plucked one from the box. Without bothering to reach for a lighter, the man put the cigarette into his mouth and inhaled. A soft glow came from the end of the cigarette as it was lit. Leaning back, the man exhaled slowly, letting the smoke drift up to the ceiling.

The man's tranquility was soon interrupted as his cell phone started ringing. Sighing, The man took another long drag, before reaching for his phone, pausing briefly when he saw the name flashing on the screen, "What could she want?"

With a flick of his thumb, the man answered the phone and brought it up to his ear, "Miss Kizuki. What do I owe the honor of your call?"

There was a soft chuckle on the other end of the line, "As stiff as always. Still the perfect little business man I see, Midoriya."

Hisashi frowned, but kept his voice calm and polite. He was talking to a superior afterall, "Yes, ma'am. If I may, if this is about my next report, I will have it ready by the end of the week. As scheduled."

"Oh, I'm sure. If you are anything, Midoriya, it's punctual."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"But not honest it would seem."

Hisashi went stiff, "Ma'am? I don't understand."

"You haven't been watching the U.A Sports Festival, have you?"

Frowning, Hisashi's mind raced, "I...no ma'am I haven't. Why?"

"I suggest turning it on. I know the time change is a little rough, but you should be able to find a live broadcast."

Hisashi's hand flew to his computer, and after a few quick searches, he was able to find a live stream of the event, "I have it open now, ma'am. What did you want me to...to…"

Trailing off, Hisashi found himself unable to speak as he watched as two announcers he recognized as Present Mic and Eraser Head talked over a highlight reel. A highlight reel of his son. Both were talking about Izuku and the impressive skills he had displayed to reach the Semi-Finals of the Sports Tournament. Clips from the first two events flashed on the screen. When he saw his son fly, he almost dropped his phone. Inko had said he had gotten into the hero course. She had said he had trained for his whole last year of junior high, but he had assumed that U.A.'s standards had simply dropped. There was no one that the little, timid boy he had left in Japan could be the same one he was watching now.

But it was. They were one in the same.

"So, Midoriya. When were you planning on telling us you had such a powerful son?"

Chitose's voice snapped him back to reality.

"Imagine our surprise when suddenly this young man, with your name, popped up on our screens. He's not only gotten first place in the first two events, but is now on his way to the semi-finals. He's very close to winning the whole day. Now, I know you've mentioned you had a wife and son some time ago, but why hide this? It makes one wonder what else you might be hiding."

"It's not like that at all! Izuku...my son, never showed this kind of potential before. I've never seen him do anything like this! I would never hide this from-"

Chitose laughed, "Oh so this is what it takes to break you out of your shell. Calm down, Midoriya. We know you're too straight-laced to try and pull a stunt like this. Still, I think it would be in everyone's best interest if you keep us up to date on your son's progress. After all, that is your job. Someone with this kind of potential could be very beneficial to our cause, if given the right kind of direction."

"Yes...yes I understand, ma'am."

"Good. Good. Now while I'm sure you're working hard as usual, why don't you take a little time and watch the rest of the event? As the boy's father, I'm sure you're very interested in how he does going forward, just like we are."

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm glad. Now, I have some other business to take care of, so I'll let you go. Some of my contacts have let me know of a potential story brewing. Your son isn't the only surprise to come out of U.A's little show. Goodbye."

With a click, Chitose hung up and Hisashi put his phone down, carefully. Taking another long drag of his cigarette, Hisashi exhaled sharply before slamming his fist into his desk in a rage.

That bitch! How dare she keep this a secret from me! Did she think it would be funny to find out that her bra...that our son has gotten so strong? Did she think just saying that Izuku got into U.A. would be enough? Was this her plan all along, for my own son to humiliate me to my superiors...No..no that worthless sow isn't smart enough to try something like that. I'm giving her too much credit. She knows I'm the only reason she has a roof over her head and food on her table. She would never think of going against me. Perhaps I've been gone too long. If her mind has gone the same way as her body, it's no wonder she didn't think to let me know about the boy's progress.

Taking the butt of his cigarette, Hisashi ground it into his ashtray, before pulling out a new one and leaned back into his seat. There would be time later to figure out a way to deal with Inko and her failures. For now, he had a chance to do something he never thought he'd be able to do. To watch his son compete and, perhaps, even feel proud of him.

---

Frowning, Izuku tugged at the slightly-frayed seams of his gym clothes. While there was no fear that they were about to fall apart(U.A. made very durable clothing for obvious reasons), it was still a stark reminder to Izuku of the limitations he still had. His limited ability to hold an actual person came close to costing him his match. Granted, he had come away from the match with a new skill in his arsenal that his mind was already racing to think up new uses for, but not being able to grab onto people was something he needed to work on. He couldn't afford to rely on grabbing clothing forever, highlighting the issue as he pulled at some of the loose threads.

Still, as Izuku walked out of the hallway and into the 1-A seating section, he knew he had other things to worry about. Katsuki, upon seeing him, turned away, making sure his attention was on anything but Izuku. That task was made a little harder as Denki and Eijirou ribbed him about his next match. Izuku could tell by a few anxious glances that some of his classmates had expected a more exciting reaction between himself and Katsuki when he returned. Tenya had already been on his feet, probably with a speech about example-setting ready to guilt them into behaving. Izuku, though, wasn't that surprised at Katsuki's controlled response. He had said his piece to him in the hall. Now, all he was doing was making sure he was ready for his match by ignoring all the distraction he could, though Denki and Eijirou were making that rather hard at the moment.

Deciding not to tempt fate, Izuku made his way to his seat, but almost tripped when he saw Mei waving at him. "Hatsume?"

"Great job out there, Midoriya! Oh, I'm a member of your gang-"

"Squad," Tsuyu corrected.

"-Your squad now."

Izuku blinked. While he wasn't upset by any means that his group of friends was still expanding, and he did enjoy his time with Mei going over inventions or talking about support gear of other heroes, he was still left a little shocked at how this happened. Glancing over at the rest, it was Hitoshi that saw his confusion and came to the rescue with an explanation.

"She said you really helped her out when you convinced her to go all-out during your match."

Izuku groaned, "Don't say it like that."

"If the shoe fits…"

Ignoring the sarcastic smirk Hitoshi was giving him, Izuku turned back to Mei with a smile. "Welcome to the group. We'll have to make sure to get you a name tag. It's cool we have a mechanic now. Maybe you can give Iida a tune-up some time."

Himiko snorted while Tsuyu croaked happily. Tenya crossed his arms. "I don't see what's so funny."

Hitoshi leaned over, looking at Tenya hard, "Wait… can you actually get a tune up with your Quirk?"

Mei's eyes lit up as she turned to examine Tenya hungerly. "What exactly do you have under the hood? Do those calves open up? Do you have room for mods? Oh, I could give you a turbocharger!"

Tenya gulped and pulled his legs back. before getting up and putting another seat between himself and Mei. While this went on, Izuku finally looked around and noticed that their group was missing someone.

"Where's Uraraka?"

"She got called to the waiting room before you got back, kero."

Izuku's shoulder sagged as he looked a little crestfallen, "Oh...I wanted to wish her good luck. Maybe if I hurry I can-"

Bop!

Himiko snickered as Tsuyu stood up and lightly bopped Izuku on the head, "Uraraka said that if you started acting sad because you missed her and weren't focused on your own upcoming match, I was supposed to do that. She knows that you're wishing her well, kero."

"O-oh." Izuku nodded before taking a seat, "I guess she knows me pretty well."

"Oh, she does," Himiko said before reaching out and grabbing Izuku's chin, turning him to face her and lifting his head up as she peered intently at his face.

"Um! Toga!? Wha-"

"Checking for nose bleeds. She asked me to make sure you didn't over do it, or if you did, that you didn't try and be slick and hide it."

"I guess she knows you pretty well," Hitoshi mimicked Izuku, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

After finishing her check, Himiko confirmed that Izuku was fine. "She also said you looked pretty cool out there, even if you were acting like a dense moron taking up that challenge."

Izuku smiled, liking the idea that he looked cool, 'Well maybe it was, but it was a good chance to stand out. Plus, I just can't go running away from challenges if I want to be a hero."

The group started chuckling, making Izuku look at them all confused before he sighed. "Alright, who guessed I'd say that?"

"We all did, in fact," Tenya answered.

"Wait, all of you?" Izuku glanced over at Mei, and Tsuyu nodded in affirmative. Mei shrugged, "Your little speech to me kinda made it obvious."

"You're a pretty open book, Izuku." Himiko added, twisting the knife into Izuku's pride.

"Hey! How do you know that I'm not hiding some dark secret or something!"

More snickers, this time from the rest of the class. Himiko leaned over and gave Izuku a leveled and serious look, though her bemused grin threatened to undo her act. "Do you have some kind of dark secret, Izuku?"

Izuku opened his mouth, then shut it with a snap, realizing that technically he did have a secret he was keeping away from everyone. All Might and One for All.

Oh...I did not think this through at all. Did I?

Fortunately for Izuku, before he had a chance to stumble through an on-the-spot story, Present Mic's voice boomed out of the loudspeakers as he started getting everyone ready for the next match. With the first Semi-Finals match about to begin, everyone's attention was taken off Izuku, and he sighed in relief.

---

With his match about to start, Shouto left his waiting room and made his way towards the field. Most of the time he had sat waiting, he had been going over who he would potentially be facing in the finals. Katsuki's sheer destructive power and surprising mobility would be tough to counter in the open. In their last encounter, Shouto had used the narrow halls of the building they were in to his advantage to trap Katsuki and keep him from using his Quirk. In the open field, he would have to work to push him out of the ring. Trapping him might not be possible. Izuku was also tricky, but for different reasons. He didn't have the same kind of raw power or mobility Katsuki had, but Izuku's Quirk could potentially turn his own ice against him, as he had done in the capture-the-flag event. Midoriya was skilled, but his weight limit was the key. If he created enough ice, he could over power his Quirk and either trap him or push him out. All in all, while they both were strong, he was just that much stronger. Still, Shouto kept thinking over their conversation from earlier. While he may have been wrong thinking that Izuku had been All Might's secret child, Izuku had all but confirmed there was a connection. With Izuku's obvious professional training continuing to shine, Shout found himself wondering if maybe the story that he was trained by some scout from All Mights agency was just a cover, and that it had been All Might himself that had scouted and trained Izuku.

As he walked, Shouto's mind wandered from the finals to his next fight with Ochako. Ochako had demonstrated in her matches that she was a tough and driven fighter, and her Quirk was an instant loss to whoever she was able to touch. But even still, Shouto was not concerned in the slightest. Izuku and Katsuki were both capable fighters as well, but they had range. Ochako did not. She had to get close to her opponent to use her Quirk, and Shouto was not going to let her get close. As far as Shouto was concerned, this would be a quick and simple match, which is why so much of his waiting time had been spent thinking about what came after. Perhaps it wasn't fair to overlook Ochako in such a way. She was here to become a hero and had fought hard to reach the Semi Finals. Of that, Shouto had no doubts. However, the world was not fair, and Shouto would not show Ochako any mercy, especially when she had such an obvious weakness.

Turning a corner, Shouto paused briefly. His eyes narrowing and hands clenched into fists. His father, Endeavor, stood tall in the hallway, looking down at him in annoyance. Shouto however didn't let the giant hero intimate him, "Why are you here?"

Endeavor frowned, "Do you plan on continuing this disgraceful performance?"

Shouto ignored the question and moved to walk around his father, "I have a match to get to. I don't have time to talk with you."

"You know, if you had used your real power, the power you hold in your left side, you would have dominated those opening events. Instead, you let someone else take that glory for himself. Do not forget, it is your duty as my son to surpass All Might. You won't be able to do that if you continue this childish rebellion. All you are doing is throwing your potential away. Potential that I gave you."

Shouto walked past, teeth grinding as he tried to keep himself under control.

"You're different from your classmates, Shouto. You are a masterpiece, while they are just like everyone else. While they fight for mediocrity, you will achieve true greatness. Don't forget that."

"Are you done? I told you. I will never use your power. I will achieve greatness using only the power Mom gave me." As Shouto seethed, he refused to look back at his father.

Endeavor sighed, "That may work for now, but what will you do when you reach the limits of that power?"

Shouto didn't answer as he walked away. Too angry to trust himself to speak. Refusing to even consider the possibility of his father's words.

I'll show you; my right side is more than enough.

---

"And here we are, folks! After some spectacular matches in the Quarter-Finals, it's time for the Semi-Finals! We have four contestants ready to fight tooth-and-nail for a shot at the finals. Now, let's get our fighters out here! In her first match, she slipped and slided to victory over Ashido Mina with a ring-out. Then, her taste for finger food let her get the drop on Toga Himiko, forcing a concession in a truly gladiatorial battle. She laughs at Sir Isaac Newton's apple because no force is holding her down. From Class 1-A, Uraraka Ochako! Versus- I don't know what's colder, his personality or his Quirk. With two decisive and frosty elimination victories in the first two rounds against Representative and Vice Representative Iida Tenya and Yaoyorozu Momo, he's on a real cold streak. From Class 1-A, Todoroki Shouto!"

While the crowds cheered, Ochako felt a shiver run up her spine. When she and Shouto had left the student section, the other boy had seemed like his normal, cold self. Now though, there was more raw emotion swirling in his eyes than she had ever seen. Even during the USJ attack he had been able to keep calm. Now though? Now not so much.

What the heck happened in the last few minutes that set him off? He wasn't like this during his other matches.

Shaking her head, Ochako crouched into her fighting stance. There would be time to wonder about things like that after the match. Now she had to focus. Shouto clearly wasn't completely himself; whether or not she could use this to her advantage remained to be seen.

The last two matches, and even in the other events, Todoroki has used his ice for easy wins. If I can avoid his first strike, maybe I can surprise him and get in close.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ochako saw Midnight raise her whip up. Holding it in the air for a brief second before dropping it with a crack. At the same time Present Mic called out, "FIGHT!"

The signal was given, and immediately after, the ground shook as a tidal wave of solid ice ripped through the air and froze everything in front of him. The ice built up larger and larger and reached out higher and higher, until it arked over the crowd and crested through the giant opening in the stadium roof. Even after that the ice kept forming and growing until its size dwarfed everything below it, casting a giant shadow and leaving everyone staring in stunned silence.

Cracking the ice under his boot with a snap, Shouto freed his foot and let out a long, shuddering, breath. His breath came out as a bright mist, and the moisture in it froze on his lips. Shouto's body was covered in frost, but he fought back the urge to shiver, instead settling on giving his arms and body a good shake to remove the offending ice.

"Sorry, Uraraka. I'll have you out of there in..no...time?"

Shouto trailed off. He had expected Ochako's body to still be in front of him, frozen into the giant ice wave he had created. However, to his rising dread, she wasn't. Dread gave way to horror as a sickening thought crossed his mind. Uraraka isn't in there, is she? I only meant to...I couldn't have lost control that badly!?

Panic drove him to rush forward, but after an attack like that, his body was sluggish and slow to move. He only made it a few steps before the screams of the crowd reached him.

---

"Welp, Round Face is fucking dead."

"Holy crap, look at all that ice!"

"Forget the ice, someone save Uraraka!"

"Maybe it's not so bad. She might just be cryogenically frozen."

"How is that fair!? How can one guy do that!?"

While most of 1-A freaked out over the sheer power that Shouto had just displayed, or over the fact they couldn't see Ochako anymore, Himiko had her eyes squarely on Izuku. She, and the rest of his friends, had been ready to make sure he wasn't too freaked out, and to reassure him that Ochako was, probably, just fine.

"Midoriya," Tenya's arms were a blur and he spoke, "You must remain calm! I'm sure the teachers will have Uraraka freed very soon."

"Yeah, what Iida said, I'm sure she's just fine."

"It's probably not as bad as it looks, kero."

"Guys, hold on a second." Himiko cut them off as she watched Izuku closely. Izuku wasn't acting like she expected someone who had just watched his best friend get frozen inside a giant glacier to act. He wasn't freaked out or panicking. He was quiet. And not a state-of-shock kind of way. He was perfectly calm and looking skyward. More than that-in fact, he was smiling. Soon, Mei caught on. Looking up, Mei blinked before sitting back down. "Hopefully heights aren't an issue for her.

"Wait, huh?"

Izuku's smile started to get bigger, turning into a wide grin as he pointed up. Himiko followed Izuku's line of sight, up the side of the large glacier on the other side of the stadium. Higher and higher until she saw exactly what Izuku saw.

"Holy. Fucking. Shit."

"Yep," Izuku agreed.

"Are you kidding me!?"

"It's pretty cool, though. Isn't it?"

"Okay, that...that might just be the most kick ass thing I've seen today."

Hitoshi and Tenya exchanged confused looks while Tsuyu squinted upward, ribbiting in surprise. "Um, would either of you like to explain?"

The rest of the class saw that Izuku was pointing up and searched the sky above the huge glacier. Soon their panic and shock turned into utter surprise and excitement. Above the ice, almost just a speck in comparison, floated Ochako-completely untouched by Shouto's attack.

Katsuki exploded out of his seat. "HE FUCKING MISSED!"

"How do you miss with an attack like that!?"

"Uraraka is scary!"

"Look how high up she is!"

"I wonder how she's going to get down?" Mei shrugged when people looked over at her, "I mean, she can't fight from up there, right?"

---

"Incredible! Uraraka has somehow managed to avoid that icy onslaught! I wonder how she pulled that off?"

Even from so high up, Present Mic's voice carried up, and Ochako was able to hear every word.

With a whole lot of luck, sensei.

When the match had started, she had a feeling Shouto was going to open with something big. When she had felt the ground under her feet shake and crack, Ochako instincts screamed at her to get away, so she had floated herself and kicked up just as the rush of cold air from the attack hit. The force from the wave of ice pushed so much air that Ochako was carried higher and higher until she was floating up where she was now.

The roar of the crowd below helped her refocus as she collected herself. Looking down, she saw the giant screens were split, half had herself floating in them, while the others were focused on Shouto. Ochako watched those screens carefully, getting a read on how her opponent was doing after such an overwhelming attack.

He's breathing so hard, and there's frost all over him...and is it just my imagination, or does he look cold.

The more Ochako looked at Shouto through the screen, another thought crossed her mind.

He looks really worried. I wonder...if he pushed himself too far to make all this ice. His Quirk has to have a draw back or a limit of some kind.

Carefully, so not to spin out of control, Ochako bent forward and flipped herself upside down so that her hands touched the ice and she was able to grab a hold of a ledge. With a firm grip, Ochako pulled herself down so that her chest and stomach was parallel to the glacier.

Well, let's see what else Todoroki has got!

Ochako stretched herself out before launching herself forward, the muscles in her arms burning as she threw herself as hard as she could down the glacier like a toboggan. Ochako flew down the ice, as she kept herself a few inches from the surface. She could hear the crowd around her cheer in surprise, but she ignored them as best as she could, keeping her focus on Shouto, who seemed at a loss at what to do next. The best that Ochako could recall, every fight Todoroki has been in-, from the hero classes, the villain fights at the USJ, and all the matches today- Shouto had always won instantly with his ice. This might be the first time someone had been able to dodge it. So that, and Ochako's theory that Shouto had pushed himself to his limit with his last attack, made her think that Shouto didn't know what to do next. The speed of her return was probably not helping much either.

Finally, Shouto made up his mind and started backpedaling, giving himself some space from the base of the glacier. Room, so that when Ochako landed, she wouldn't be able to attack him. Shouto knew he was in trouble, and cursed himself for letting his father get into his himself for being stupid enough to push himself so hard in a single attack that he was now at the point where his body wouldn't be able to take much more cold.

Much more, he thought grimly. His body could still take a little more. He still had enough fight left to easily end this match. Once Ochako landed, he would snap freeze her in place, like he should have done from the start, and end it.

Shouto's eyes followed Ochako's descending form closely.

Considering she only used her arms to fling herself down, she's flying back rather quickly...

That thought made Shouto's stomach twist nervously, though he wasn't sure why. As she got closer though, Shouto felt an itch at the back of his mind. It felt like he was forgetting something. Something important. Shouto shook the thought from his head; he didn't have time to worry about little details. He was going to win with this next move, and that was all that mattered.

50 yards. The crowd was screaming so loud now.

40 yards. Shouto pressed his hand firmly onto the floor.

30 yards. His hand felt numb as his quirk started to work, it's cold making his already chilled body even colder.

20 yards. He could make out her face now. Her eyes burned with determination, and her face was set. She seemed ready for anything. Shouto started his attack.

10 y-!

Ochako flipped herself over, slamming her feet into the glacier ice and kicking off. Like a bullet, she sailed over Shouto's attack and the boy himself, swiping at him with her hand, but missing. Quickly, so she didn't end up flying out of the ring by mistake, Ochako tapped her fingers together, screaming, "Release!" and landed back in the ring, towards the far end away from was further than she would have liked. Much further. If her plan had worked perfectly, she would have slammed into Shouto, giving her a chance to tag him with her Quirk. She, however, had guessed he would use his foot to attack, not bend over and touch the ground with his hand. Still, she could settle for this. At the very least she had dodged the obvious trap he had laid for her.

Now that she was back on solid ground, Ochako confirmed what she had thought she saw. Shouto was not looking good. Perhaps even worse after that trap he had tried to spring on her. The way he was shivering, the slight blue hue to his lips, it all but confirmed Ochako's theory.

Todoroki can only make so much ice before he gets too cold. If he can't make ice anymore he'll have to go hand to hand. I don't think I've ever seen him actually throw a punch. He's always won with his Quirk.

Ochako took up her fighting stance, then took a step forward. Shouto took several quick steps back before slamming his foot down and creating a wall of ice between himself and her that pushed towards her, threatening to shove her out of the ring. Ochako could tell ,however, the speed behind his Quirk was gone.

He's still trying to use his Quirk? Maybe he isn't that great in close-quarters!

Shouto cursed his father for throwing him off right before his match. He cursed himself for letting his father get to him, and he cursed himself for feeling so desperate to prove him wrong he attacked with everything he had without any plan on the off-chance he messed up. Now though, even if it hurt, he was acting on instinct. He should be warming himself up with his left side before trying to attack with more ice. It wouldn't technically be to attack, so he wouldn't be breaking his vow. He had used it multiple times already to help defrost his classmates after his wins, too. But using it during a match, for whatever reason, just felt wrong. So the icy barrier pushing Ochako back would have to work.

CRASH!

Shouto's eyes widened as Ochako smashed through the wall. Ice shards rained down around her as she dashed through and made a beeline right for Shouto.

WHAT!?

Another wall of ice popped up between himself and Ochako, but lifting her foot up, Ochako kicked through it and kept on coming. Shouto couldn't believe what he was seeing. True, the ice wasn't as thick as he normally made it- inches instead of feet- but it was still inches thick ice, and Ochako was battering through it. Again and again. Ochako's eyes blazed as she closed the distance between them. She was less of a person now and more an unrelenting force.

Then something clicked in Shouto's mind.

His earlier conversation with Izuku. "You didn't give me a chance to counter, You completely overwhelmed me. That kind of attack, that kind of pressure reminded me of something. All Might."

And something Himiko and Tenya had said, their first day of hero classes. "Izuku did mention that he and Ochako trained together."

The pressure from All Might during the USJ attack, the pressure from Izuku during their last event, and now the pressure Ochako had, it was the same.

Uraraka was trained by All Might, too!

He had been so focused on Izuku, he had forgotten completely about Ochako. He hadn't even given her a second thought, but looking back, it all fit into place. The gravity of his blunder hit him like a truck.

Ochako had closed the gap and only had a couple of yards left. He was right up against the edge of the ring, with nowhere else to move. She was too close for another wall, and, honestly, Shouto didn't think he had anything left to make one. He had assumed that Ochako would never be able to get close to him. He was now dealing with the reality that there was nothing he could do to stop her from getting close.

She was going to get him.

She was going to use her Quirk on him.

He just had to make sure it was on his terms.

Ochako had made it. Shouto was right in front of her now. Cold, shivering, a little blue, and swaying. His own Quirk after being used again and had done more damage to himself than she could do- rr wanted to do, now. A punch to the jaw would probably drop him, but she didn't need to do that. Reaching out as she ran forward, she pressed her hand right into Shouto's chest. As each finger pad made contac,t she hissed at how cold his body was. That couldn't be healthy.

When her fifth pad touched she felt her Quirk activate, and knew she had won. All she had to do was give him a little shove, but when she did, Shouto didn't budge. Ochako blinked, huh?

She shoved again, but Shouto still didn't move. Glancing down, Ochako's eyes went wide. Shouto's right foot was frozen to the ground.

Oh no!

She quickly realized that a push wasn't going to be enough. She needed to actually hit him now. Ochako tried to pull herself back, but Shouto shot his hand out and grabbed her arm. She heard Shouto quietly whisper something- an apology, maybe, or a warning- before he froze her on the spot. Covered in a layer of ice, Ochako was helpless as Shouto reached up and yanked her forward, making her fall past him, and land outside the ring.

"Uraraka Ochako is out of bounds! Todoroki Shouto advances to the finals!"

---

Too close.

That thought ran through Shouto's head as he started to warm himself up. Steam hissed off his body as all the frost covering him melted and evaperated. When Ochako had pushed him, he had felt the ice under his foot, anchoring him down. If Ochako had done anything harder, even just a hard shove, he would have lost. He was fortunate that Ochako had decided to try to end the match without unnecessary violence. Even with his stroke of good luck, Shouto was shocked he had been able to dig up anything else to freeze Ochako for even a few seconds. He doubted that the ice would have held her for very long and counted his blessing she had been stunned right next to the edge of the ring.

As much as he didnt want to admit it, this win came down to a miss-timed act of mercy from Ochako and just plain good luck on his part.

With his body fully heated, Shouto no longer had anything holding him to the ground. Helplessly, he floated over the concrete arena until Midnight hurried over to him and grabbed ahold of his arm so he didn't float away.

"Please take me to Uraraka so I can help-"

Crack!

Alarmed, Midnight and Shouto turned to see Ochako breaking herself free of the ice. Shards of ice rained down around her as she strained to force her limbs to move. Grunting, Ochako jerked from side to side until her arms were mostly free and she was able to press her fingers together, releasing Shouto from the effects of her Quirk.

Touching down, Shouto started to walk over Ochako, "Please wait a moment. You might injure yourself trying to break the rest of the ice. I'll melt the rest-"

"Don't touch me."

The look Ochako gave Shouto stopped him dead. With her teeth chattering, Ochako forced her body against its icy shell. Fingers dug into opened cracks as she yanked the ice off herself. Piece by piece. Sometimes tearing bits of her gym uniform with it, sometimes her bandages. The cold spread through her body left her numb, except along the cuts. Those throbbed painfully.

Midnight frowned as she watched Ochako struggle to free herself. She was making progress but it was obviously painful, "Uraraka, you should allow Todoroki to melt the ice."

"You may also start to suffer from symptoms of hypothermia. I cooled off your whole body when I froze you in ice."

In a final shower of ice shards, Ochako forced herself to stand up, and glared at Shouto, "I don't want your pity, Todoroiki."

"Pity?"

"You could have heated yourself up at any time during our fight. Right?" Ochako asked harshly.

"I…"

"You have a fire Quirk in your left side. If you used it during our match, you could have recovered from that first attack without any issues. Instead, you kept using ice and put yourself in a dangerous hole." Ochako's voice was heavy with accusations. The loudest and most obvious being that Shouto hadn't fought his hardest in their match. In fact, he had purposely put himself in a bad situation to avoid fighting her with everything he had.

Shouto frowned, getting ready to deny the accusation, but Midnight's hand on his shoulder cut him off. "Todoroki, please help melt the ice in the ring."

"Sensei?"

"Heroes, even those in training, have their pride. If nothing else, you should respect how your actions and choices can affect that."

Taking her hand off his shoulder, Midnight walked over to Ochako, "If you've made your decision, then head to Recovery Girl and get treated."

Ochako nodded, and left. Leaving Shouto alone in the ring.

---

Recovery Girl took one look at Ochako's sorry state and pointed to the closest bed. "Go sit down before you drip all over my floor. I'll get some warm towels and a basin so you can soak your feet.

Teeth chattering and shivering from head to toe, Ochako shuffled quickly over to the bed as she rubbed her hands together, trying to get some feeling back into her fingers. Plopping down onto the bed, Ochako gasped when a towel landed on her head. "Use that to dry off a little."

"Th-th-thank you."

Recovery Girl shook her head, but went about getting the things she would need to start warming Ochako up.

This girl… If there was one thing Toshinori didn't need to teach her it was his thickheadedness.

Thump.

Ochako blinked, while Recovery girl looked towards the door, "Huh?"

Thump thump.

That's strange. It almost sounds like…

Thump thump thumpthumpthumpthumpthump!

...footsteps?

The door to the recovery clinic slammed open as Izuku tumbled into the room. His momentum from running sent him to the floor as he tried to stop. "URARAKA!"

Ochako gaped at the pile of twisted limbs that was, embarrassingly, her best friend. "Deku?"

"Midoriya! I must insist that you not run in the halls, even if school is not currently in session," Tenya chided Izuku as he walked into the clinic. Hitoshi gave him a side eye as he followed, "You literally ran after him to tell him not to run. You know that, right?"

"Iida is like any good leader," Tsuyu began.

"A hypocrite?" Himiko finished.

"Dedicated, kero."

"...Riiiiight."

Finally, Mei followed everyone else in. "So is this kind of thing normal?"

Tsuyu nodded, "Pretty much, but you get used to the chaos."

Ochako looked at everyone in shock, "Guys? What are you all doing here?"

Izuku scrambled to his feet. "I...we wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I can tell you from experience that getting frozen is a lot more painful than it looks. And I had the benefit of Todoroki helping me melt it off. You, however…" Tenya trailed off as she looked over Ochako with concern.

Himiko crossed her arms, a sour frown smeared on her face, "I can't believe the bastard didn't defrost you. The guy acts like douche because you almost beat him."

Mei clapped her hands together, "Oh, is this the part where we plan our revenge?"

Ochako's eye went wide. "Um, guys…"

"I could brainwash him into doing something embarrassing in front of the whole school during lunch"

"I could stab him."

"Um, please don't do that," pleaded Izuku.

"Guys?"

Tenay frowned, "I must protest. As class representative, I can not do nothing when I overhear such things being discussed." Tsuyu tapped her chin before putting her hands over Tenya's ears, "There. I think we should gang up on him during a heroics lesson. Less chance of getting into trouble, kero."

"GUYS!"

Everyone turned to look at Ochako as Recovery girl handed her a warm towel and slid a water basin under her feet. Guiltily Ochako fiddled with the warm towel, "Todoroki didn't leave me all frosted up. I told him not to help me."

"Huh?" Izuku's head tilted to the side. Not really sure he heard that right, "Uraraka, you didn't let him help you? Why?"

Ochako covered her face with her hands, groaning loudly in frustration, "Because I was angry, I guess. I went all out, but he didn't, and I still lost."

"Um, did you not see that huge glacier he threw at you? How is that not going all out?" Himiko asked.

"He didn't use his fire," Izuku said out loud, not really meaning to.

Ochako nodded. "Yeah, after that first attack of his, he was hurting. His body clearly has a limit to the amount of cold it can deal with."

"Makes sense. It's been documented that his father sometimes has to cool down before he can continue to fight. Same principle, I guess."

Ochako huffed. "Well Todoroki has a way to fix that. We've all seen him do it when he melts off the ice for his costume. At any point in the match, he could have fixed himself up. If he did that, I don't think there's a way I could have gotten close to him."

"He didn't?" Hitoshi asked.

"No. He kept trying to use his ice."

"That sounds...really dumb," Mei observed. "If he has a way to regulate his body's temperature, why not use it?"

Izuku bit his tongue to make sure he didn't say anything. It was not his place to go around talking about others' personal business, even if that business ended up hurting his best friend.

Ochako wrapped herself up in the towel, "Whatever the reason, he held back, and I...I couldn't stand it. I was so mad. I can take losing. That's life. But knowing that I gave it my all, and he didn't," Ochako sighed. "My pride is a little too fragile, but I can't help but being so mad about this. Maybe I am being a bad sport-"

"No you're not, Uraraka!" Izuku cut her off. "You fought with everything you had. We all have been giving it everything we have, and to know that Todoriki isn't- that he thinks he can just win without even trying- you have every right to be mad. Honestly, it makes me mad too, It's infuriating." The passion in Izuku's voice stunned Ochako, and everyone else for that matter. "Uraraka, you have nothing to feel bad about. Honestly, if Todoroki did that to me, I might not have reacted as calmly as you did. So please don't feel like you did anything wrong."

Ochako smiled softly, "Thank you, Deku."

"Yes," Recovery Girl cut in, sarcasm dripping with every word, "Please make sure to prioritize your pride over your body. That's the best thing you can do."

Recovery Girl eyed both Ochako and Izuku as she started pouring warm water into the basin for Ochako to dip her feet in. I'm going to have to keep my eye on these two. Toshinori clearly hasn't been teaching them proper lessons.

Kicking off her shoes, Ochako sank her feet into the warm water and sighed. "I guess now all I have to worry about is what I do next."

"Next, kero?"

"Yeah, my parents came to watch me today. I don't know how I'm going to face them after failing like this."

Before Izuku could correct her, or anyone else, a new voice chimed in, chiding Ochako. "Ochako Uraraka, I will not have you talking like that."

Ochako's head snapped up, "D-dad!?"

Mr. and Mrs. Uraraka rushed into the room and wrapped Ochako up in a tight hug, neither bothered at all that their daughter was still soaking wet.

"You haven't failed us at all. Your father and I are so proud of you!"

While everyone looked confused as to how Ochako's parents had suddenly rushed into the room, they were soon joined by even more people. Inko, Eri, and All Might, who was still shrunken down, came in.

"Mom? Mr. Yagi? Huh?"

Tenya looked at all the people gathered and frowned, "Excuse me.I don't wish to be rude, but what are you all doing here? This area is for staff and students."

Eri looked up at Tenya and gasped. Almost whimpering, Eri clutched at Inko's side. "Are we in trouble? Mr. Yagi said he had permission so we could see Ochako."

Tenya began waving his arms around, suddenly at a loss. "Er, wait I'm sure…" Tenya could feel the hard glares burning a hole into his back because he was making a little girl almost cry. Tsyu walked past him and knelt down next to Eri. "You're Eri, right? Midoriya and Uraraka have told us so much about you. I'm Tsu."

Eri nodded, "You all are Izuku's friends. He talks about you all a lot. He even let me see what he wrote everyone."

Tsuyu gave Eri a little pat on the head. "That's right, we're his friends, even the tall, grumpy one. He just wants to make sure it's alright for you all to be in here is all. No one is mad."

Iuzku stepped forward. "This is Mr. Yagi. He's the trainer Uraraka and I told you all about. He technically does work for the school."

All Might coughed, "Yes. Young Iida, I fully understand your wish to make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be. Here, this is a text chain I had with Mr. Nezu. As you can see, I was given permission to bring everyone down to the clinical area for a brief time so Young Uraraka's parents could see her. They were very worried about her after her match."

While that was all sorted out, Ochako parents untangled themselves from Ochako and sat down next to her, "Ochako honey, we want you to know we are both so proud of you."

Ochako leaned her head against her father's shoulder, "But this was my big chance to stand out, and I blew it."

Mrs. Uraraka shook her head, "Oh, trust us. You stood out. Everyone was expecting that Todoroki kid to walk all over everyone since he's Endeavor's son. You had him on the ropes that whole fight. Plus, there was your win in the first event, and you saved your team's bacon during the second one."

"And don't forget about your wins during the tournament. Your second match sure left an impression. You overcame so much to win that match."

Himiko scratched the back of her head adding, "I can attest to that."

"Uraraka, if I may add something," Tenya started, "I can understand your frustration with losing against Todoroki. I honestly hope my brother was too busy with his new assignment in Hosu City to have caught it." Himiko's head snapped up at that, though she kept herself as calm as she could. "But you pushed Todoroiki harder than anyone else in the class. Neither myself nor Yaoyorozu were able to last more than a few seconds against him."

"Plus," Inko added, "I don't think getting third place in your first Sports Festival is a bad thing."

Eri nodded happily. "You get a medal, don't you? Isn't that exciting?"

"Third place?"

Ochako blinked a few times as she muled that over. She had been so focused on winning and being so upset over how she had lost, she hadn't realized that she had won a podium finish. It left her with several mixed feelings. All Might, having a pretty good idea what she was thinking, quickly spoke up. "Young Uraraka, if I may. I can understand your desire to want to win, and that those desires can make anything else leave a bitter taste in your mouth. You should use that feeling to push yourself harder moving forward. However, at the same time, you should take the time to celebrate your achievements. Focusing too much on what you don't have and ignoring what you earned can be worse than simply settling for what you have."

While Ochako took in All Might's words, Izuku felt his mind wander. That advice could so easily apply to heroes like Endeavor, and maybe even Shouto.

Ochako looked around at everyone and smiled brightly, "Thank you all. I'm feeling a lot better now."

Himiko sighed dramatically, "Well, it's nice you're back to your annoyingly sunny self. Otherwise, we'd have to keep an eye out on Shouto to make sure you didn't float him into space in revenge."

"Oh don't worry. I'd never do that to Shouto."

Himiko and Ochako shared a smirk while Hitoshi looked between the two worriedly, not sure how he felt now that both were on the same wavelength. It was a little scary. It made him feel bad for Izuku. Not so much for Katsuki, though.

Mr. Uraraka, seeing that his daughter was doing better, looked up at Himiko. "Oh. You're the girl that was beating the crap out of my little girl."

Himiko went stiff, "Ummmm."

Mrs. Uraraka poked her husband in the side, "Don't be mean, dear."

"It was too easy."

Everyone else chuckled while HImiko let out a sigh of relief. She stopped when she felt someone tugging at her pant leg. Looking down, she saw Eri looking up at her, "Um yes?"

"You're Izuku's friend that did the funny thing."

"Funny thing?"

"When you were pretending to look like Izuku. Ochako's daddy laughs every time, though I'm not allowed to do it anymore."

"Huh? What aren't you allowed to do that I did?"

Eri, not thinking about it, repeated the gesture she had seen and gave Himiko the middle finger.

"Eri!" Inko scolded.

Eri gasped and quickly put her hand into her pockets. "Whoops."

Mr. Uraraka started laughing loudly before a sharp poke from Mrs. Uraraka got him to stop. Ochako's jaw dropped while Izuku looked ready to faint. Hitoshi had a hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Tenya's arms were a blur as he turned towards Himiko. "TOGA! We must set a good example!"

"Er….Do as I say, not as I do?" Himiko knew she really didn't have a leg to stand on here. This was not a fight she was going to win.

Tsuyu tapped her chin. "You really want to use that as your defense? You say a lot of stuff."

"Um...okay, Eri, don't listen to anything I say, and don't do what I do."

Eri frowned as she thought about that, "But if I'm not supposed to listen to you, does that mean I should do what you do then?"

Himiko blinked. "Um...Did I just get outsmarted by a four-year-old?"

Ochako broke out laughing, and was soon joined by a few more chuckles.

Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki, Please report to your waiting rooms.

Izuku, hearing his name, looked up in alarm. He had been so worried about Ochako, and then so relieved that she was alright, that he had completely forgotten that his match was next. His match with Katsuki. The laughing in the room quieted down as everyone looked over at him. Doing his best to smile, Izuku straightened up. "I think I should get going."

"Izuku," Inko started to say nervously, "please be careful."

"I will Mom."

One by one, everyone wished Izuku good luck until it was just All Might and Ochako left. "Young Midoriya, would you like me to walk you to your room?"

Izuku shook his head, "No I'm alright, Al- Mr. Yagi. I think a little quiet will be good for me. Give me time to think."

All Might nodded, understanding completely.

Ochako, who had waited until everyone else had said something, finally spoke up, "Deku. You got this. You're smarter than Bakugou, and you're stronger than him, too. You know it. I know it. Now go out there and make sure he knows it."

Nodding, and giving Ochako a thumbs-up, Izuku turned and walked out of the clinic. With every step he took, Izuku began to get himself ready for what he was sure was going to be an all out war. A war that had been a decade in the making. So Izuku took the time he had and did what he did best. He started to plan.

---

With a grunt, Katsuki stepped up into the ring as pyrotechnics went off around him. They were loud and flashy, and he didn't even notice them. His attention was zeroed in on Izuku, who was making his way towards the ring. Izuku though, who was still making his way to the ring, his mind was going a mile a second. He had spent years, literal years, watching Katsuki. Now, he was doing everything he could to take everything he'd observed and condense it down into a plan. He just had to hope he knew the explosive teen as well as he thought he did.

Fourteen Hero Analysis books, however, let him know he probably had a pretty good idea. Not that that knowledge was going to make this fight easy. But in a strange way, Izuku didn't want an easy match. If it was easy, then it might not mean anything. And Izuku needed this to mean something.

So using every second he had until the match started, even if he had to walk just that little bit slower, he went over his plan. Over and over again. Making sure each stage, each step, worked.

The loudspeakers blared to life as Present Mic called out to his loyal fans, "We have one finalist, loyal listeners. Now it's time to get a second one. Forged in the fires of competitions, these two have worked their way to this match, but only one will advance to the finals to face Todoroki! First up! He's a living firecracker, everyone. First, he blew apart the defenses of Kirishima Eijirou. Then, he left devastation in his wake to decimate Monoma Neito. From class 1-A, it's Bakugou Katsuki! Versus - He's won at dodgeball, and he led his team to victory in capture-the-flag. The gadgets of Hasume Mei stood no chance, and in a duel of Quirks, he came out ahead against Yagami Reiko. He's class 1-A's little green man...and..."

Mic paused briefly as Izuku, while stepping up onto the raised platform of the ring, pulled off his gym top and tossed it to the ground, Leaving him in only a black sleeveless undershirt.

"...And he's giving some lovely ladies a little show! It's Midoriya Izuku!"

When Izuku stepped into the ring, Katsuki glared angrily at him; Izuku returned Katsuki's glare with one of his own. Filled with determination, He didn't flinch back under Katsuki's rage filled eyes. Those days were behind him now. He wasn't scared of him anymore. Now all that was left to do was to make sure Katsuki knew it, too.

Midnight watched the two boys carefully, not a fan that she was suddenly feeling the same kind of pressure she had felt when Ochako and Himiko had fought. This match, she knew, was not going to be a clean one. Finally, Midnight raised her hand, signaling that both were ready for the match to start. Present Mic didn't waste any time screaming, "FIGHT!"

The moment he did, Katsuki unleashed hell.

Authors Notes:

Hey, look! I'm back and before September ended! So we're getting pretty close to the end of the Sports Festival arc. We have our first finalist, now we just need to figure out who he's going to be facing next...If there's anyone left alive in the last Semi-Final match for move on. I hope you all enjoyed the newest chapter. The matches this time were a little...um...less intense than the last chapter. Next chapter though, yeah I've been building up to that fight for a while, haven't I? As always, I'm always open to comments and critiques, so feel free to leave me a review if you want. And thank you for giving my little story the time of day! As always, a huge thank you to Tmalasia for editing and beta reading this mess of a chapter!