Chapter 18: Clash of the Titans
There was once a boy who was born with an amazing gift.
"Honey… you still wanna be a Hero, don't you?"
A gift that he wished to reject, due to where he believed it came from.
"Please stop pushing him! He's only five years old!"
"Moronic woman… to hurt you at such an important time…"
"He can take it! Get out of my way!"
However, there were other people in his life, who showed him…
"THEY ARE YOUR FLAMES, SHOTO TODOROKI!"
"Maybe you got your sense of human decency from your mom?"
" I think you could use someone in your corner, too!"
…that he didn't have to wallow in his misery by himself. That he could choose to forge his own path; acknowledge both the good and the bad in his life, and simply be himself.
FWOOM!
"Yes, Uraraka," Todoroki said, smiling. "Yes, I am."
That boy's name… was Shoto Todoroki.
"HOLY HELL! FIRE RIGHT OUT THE GATE?! THIS IS AMAZING!"
Ochako had to admit, Present Mic was right about that part. The way Todorki's flames erupted from his body… it was like they painted the entire sky red. She was pretty surprised when she saw those flames, yeah, but what gave them a bigger impact was his smile.
Todoroki was smiling like a maniac. A really happy maniac.
"Wait, why aren't either of them moving?"
"They're both wary of each other," Eraserhead answered. "My guess is that Uraraka has been momentarily stunned by Todoroki's flames, while Todoroki is waiting to counteract Uraraka's first move. Both of them are acknowledging the other's power, and don't wanna risk anything."
Wow, Aizawa-sensei really had that much faith in her? Yeah, no. If she was being completely honest, she had no idea why she was frozen. Maybe she really was mesmerized by Todoroki's flames? Maybe she was trying to think of a strategy? She really had no idea.
However, she did snap out of whatever trance she was in when –
"SHOOOTOOOOO!"
– yeah, that happened.
"Have you finally accepted yourself?!" Endeavor shouted. "That's it! Good! It all starts from here for you! With my blood, you will surpass me… YOU WILL FULFILL MY DESIRE!"
"Endeavor suddenly shouts words of encouragement…? Such a doting father."
No, no, that's not what this is, Ochako thought to herself. Looking back towards Todoroki, she could see that his flames were diminishing. Endeavor was unwittingly putting them out!
She had to do something!
WHAM!
Activating One For All, she erupted in pink lightning and dashed to the other side of the arena, revving her fist and slamming it into Todoroki's gut, knocking him to the floor.
He skidded across the floor in pain, but wasn't thrown far enough to be out of bounds. He tried to gather his bearings. There were the people cheering, Present Mic, Endeavor –
"TODOROKI!"
The peppermint-haired boy looked up to see Ochako, her face serious.
"Focus on me."
"Wh-what…?"
"Focus on me," she said. "You want to truly go all out? Then you ignore the people, ignore the announcer, ignore your shitty father, AND YOU FOCUS ON ME!"
Ochako prayed that her strategy worked. If it didn't, then there was a good chance Todoroki would retreat back into his shell. But as the boy remained silent, he stood up, despite the pain to his stomach, as he looked straight at Ochako and said, "As you wish."
And that was when both the fire and ice erupted out of him.
BOOOOOM!
"Ugh… What the hell is going on?"
"Easy there, sonny," Recovery Girl said, as Katsuki laid on the bed. "You ended up dozing off while the young lady left. You might have a bit of a headache due to dehydration –"
"What?!" Katsuki shouted, getting up. "When did she leave?!"
"Calm down, boy!" the old lady said. "She left for her final round! It's happening right now!"
The ash-blond couldn't believe what he was hearing. Round Cheeks – no, Ochako had made it all the way to the final match… AND HE WASN'T THERE TO WITNESS IT?!
Hell no.
"Wait, what are you –?!"
Getting up from the bed, he ignored Recovery Girl's shouts about being unbalanced, blah, blah, blah, he had a mental breakdown, he wasn't physically injured. Which meant that he was going to see the final match, even if the old lady tried to kick his shins in!
Thankfully, it didn't come to that. She just kept shouting at him from the end of the hallway as he kept running off. Turning a few corridors, he made his way to the floor everyone else was seated at, made his way to the entrance and… saw the girl in the center of a sun.
Ochako wasn't thinking. No, now, she was… feeling.
She didn't know what happened. Maybe it was her survival instincts kicking in, maybe it was her desire to win, to make All Might proud, to… show her parents that everything would be okay… but whatever it was, it made One For All kick into high gear.
She was now using One For All at twenty percent.
She could feel her bones creaking, her muscles screaming at her, but she couldn't stop. Her mind was barely registering the pain, registering anything… all she could think was two words:
Keep going.
As Todoroki turned himself into a tornado of fire and ice, letting debris fly all around the stadium, she acted on instinct. Ochako didn't know how to explain it, but she could "feel" all the debris, like they… like they were in her orbit. Acting on impulse, she increased the gravity in her left arm, bringing all of the flying debris towards her, before suddenly launching it.
BOOOOOM!
A new move? Cool.
Todoroki, on the other end, switched his tactics, from becoming a tornado, to simply throwing his ice and fire at her, like projectiles. Decreasing her weight, Ochako began to zip and zoom between his elemental missiles, trying to kick Todoroki out of the ring.
The peppermint-haired boy dodged, as Ochako ended up having to redirect herself. Falling back down onto the platform, she dug her fingers into the cement, and using both One For All and Zero Gravity, she ripped the earth out from underneath her.
She launched the massive debris straight towards Todoroki, who erected a massive iceberg to save himself. It worked, but the iceberg itself shattered from the sheer impact.
Just the distraction Ochako needed.
The brown-haired girl ran as fast as her power would allow her, as she leapt across the arena, almost as if flying through the air, heading straight towards Todoroki like a pink missile.
As the son of Endeavor erected a second iceberg, it came into contact with the ninth wielder of One For All, the pink lighting having now engulfed her entirely. She no longer looked human. She now looked like a being made of pure light. Like a living goddess.
Neither of them could hear Midnight or Cementoss shouting at them to stop the match. They were too invested into their battle. The unstoppable force versus the immovable object.
And then, there was white.
It was official: These kids were insane.
Nemuri made that judgment call the second the two of them ignored her and she was blown away by the wind and debris. Thankfully, it seemed that no one was injured.
Well, minus herself. The back of her head was probably bruised now.
Hopefully, Hisashi and Shouta could explain what the hell happened.
"What happened just now…? What the heck is up with your students?!"
"The air around the ring had been cooled down and then rapidly expanded when heated up," Shouta explained. "Plus, that super-powered gravity didn't help."
"Wait, that's what caused the explosion?!" Hisashi shouted, getting back up. "How hot did that fire get?! Geez, I can't see a thing! IS THE MATCH STILL GOING ON, OR WHAT, HUH?!"
Oh, right, the match. Nemuri could see that there was smoke still coming off of the arena. She honestly hoped that those two kids didn't have any more fight left in them.
With the smoke now gone, Nemuri could see… that Todoroki was out of bounds. He had been knocked all the way to the wall, and collapsed unconscious. And as for Uraraka…
She was still in the arena. She somehow looked worse than Todoroki, her arms would need some care from Recovery Girl, but she was standing, within bounds.
And that's when she moved.
Slowly, Uraraka lifted up her left arm, and made it into a fist.
Nemuri, along with anyone else seeing this, was silent. She was silent at the testament of this girl's iron will. Silent at this girl, who did something that hadn't been done since All Might.
She raised her fist. She told the world she was here.
Shaking her head, the dark-haired woman knew she still had a job to do.
"TODOROKI IS OUT OF BOUNDS! THAT MEANS… URARAKA IS THE WINNER!"
As the crowds cheered, she could hear Hisashi take over once again.
"AND WITH THAT, THE FINAL MATCH IS OFFICIALLY OVER! THE FIRST YEARS CHAMPION OF THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL IS… OCHAKO URARAKA!"
Ochako stayed in place, as she looked at the other runner-ups.
It had been around half an hour since both she and Todoroki were sent to Recovery Girl, with the old lady scolding both of them for going all-out as they did.
And now, they were underground, waiting for Midnight to call them out.
"All of the first year events for this year's UA Sports Festival have been completed!" Midnight announced, smiling. "And now, we will begin the award ceremony!"
Ah, good timing.
Everyone in the stands was in awe of the fireworks going off, along with the cheerful music and the confetti. But then again, it was the Sports Festival, so it was bound to make people excited, even if it was the ending. Even the Hero Course students were in a giddy move.
Everyone watched in a mix of awe as the podiums rose up from the floors, revealing the winners: Neito Monoma, Shoto Todoroki, and Ochako Uraraka.
"Cool…" Yui murmured.
"You're right about that one," Akatani said.
"They don't seem all that happy to be on stage," Tokoyami said.
"Maybe it's just stage fright?" Kendo suggested.
As Ochako overheard her classmates, she had to admit, Kendo's idea was pretty solid right now. She had just won. In front of the entire television world. Wow. She actually did what All Might asked of her, and let the entire world know that she was here.
So… Now what?
"In addition to Monoma, Iida is also in third place, but he left early for family reasons. Thank you for understanding!" Present Mic announced, as Midnight took over.
"Now, we will award the medals! The presentation will, of course, be by this man –"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
As the shadow of a familiar musculature figure with two iconic tufts popped up from the edge of the stadium, the crowd went wild. The Symbol of Peace jumped down, shouting –
"I… HAVE BROUGHT THE MEDALS HERE!"
"- our very own No. 1 Hero, All Might! Oh… I talked over you…"
Regardless, the crowd ate it up.
"This year's kids are so lucky!"
"They've got All Might watching over them!"
Deciding to just ignore her previous blunder, Midnight brought the tray with the medals towards her colleague. "Now then, All Might, please present the medals, starting with third place."
"Hahaha!" As he laughed, All Might took the bronze medal and hung it over the third place winner. "Young Monoma, congratulations! Your Quirk is pretty strong!"
"Oh, thank you, All Might." The blond smiled smugly at that. "You are too kind."
As the Symbol of Peace hugged Monoma, he continued. "However, in order to fight well in different scenarios, you must not rely solely on your Quirk. If you train your own strength more, then you'll have more options when you fight. Do you understand?"
"Uh, yes, sir?"
Moving on to Todoroki, All Might placed the silver medal on the boy, and said, "Young Todoroki, congratulations. I'm assuming there was a reason for going all out in the final match?"
"It was my match with Uraraka, someone who… helped me figure something out," the peppermint-haired boy said. "I think I understand why you chose her. I wanted to be a Hero like you when I was younger, but… until I figure the rest of me out, she'll be there. Always."
Smiling a little more genuinely now, All Might noticed something about Todoroki's appearance before hugging him. "The look on your face is completely different from before. I won't ask you for details, but I'm sure you'll be able to do what you need to do."
"Yes, sir."
"Now then, young Uraraka!"
Ochako looked up to the man that had been her mentor for the last year now. Even if he was wearing his unusual trademarked smile, she could tell that he was truly happy.
"I'm so proud of how far you've come."
Ochako couldn't help but tear up. "Thank you, Yagi-sensei."
Nodding approvingly, All Might placed the golden medal around her neck, and hugged her. "No, thank you, young Uraraka. I can now rest easy knowing that when the time comes for me to leave, you will be there, young Uraraka. Shining brighter than I ever could."
Ochako couldn't say anything as she began to cry. There were so many emotions in there. Tears of sadness, knowing that All Might would be gone, tears of fear, wondering if she would have to do it all alone, and tears of joy, for her sense of accomplishment.
But as she was in her own little world, the show continued on.
"HERE THEY ARE, THE WINNERS OF THIS YEAR'S SPORTS FESTIVAL!" All Might boomed into the microphone. "But listen closely! Any of you first years could have ended up standing on these podiums! Think about what you've done today! You've challenged each other, learned, and climbed even closer towards your goals of being Pros! I think the next generation of Heroes is proving to be the most promising one yet! So I have one more thing to say!"
As All Might lifted his finger into the air, the entire stadium was getting excited, knowing what was coming. "EVERYONE, SAY IT WITH ME! YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS!"
"""PLUS ULTRA!"""
"THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK!"
The entire stadium was silent… for about five seconds.
Then the booing began.
"Nice work," Eraserhead told his students, smiling on the inside. "You have the next two days of school off to recuperate. I'm sure the Pros who watched the Festival will want to recruit some of you. We'll look over the draft forms and update you when we return. Get some rest."
"""Yes, sir."""
Shouta nodded in approval. Good. With that, he dismissed his class, and left for the hallways. He may have been more tired than usual, but he still needed to meet up with Emi. Something told him that her looking after Eri in the stadium all day by herself made her –
"Eraserhead."
The Underground Hero turned around to see that Nedzu was walking up to him, his face grim. That was a bad sign. A very bad sign. "Is there something wrong, sir?"
"Indeed, there is," the rat said. "The League of Villains attacked the HPSC building."
Welp. Looks like this night just got longer. Way longer.
As Shoto walked out of the UA grounds, he stopped in his tracks.
His father was here. Wonderful.
"What's the matter? Not gonna tell me to get lost?" Endeavor asked, with an uncharacteristic smile. He looked… almost decent. "You need to learn to control your left side. It's dangerous to release so much energy like that. But I'm glad you're finally seeing reason. Now that you've abandoned your childish rebellion, we can get back to what's important."
Seeing reason? Shoto wondered. I guess that's one way to put it.
Sticking his hand out, as if expecting to be shook, Endeavor continued, "After you graduate, you'll work by my side. I'll lead you down the path of the mighty, Shoto."
The mighty? Alright. Shoto figured that now was as good a time as ever to tell his dear old dad a couple of truth bombs about what actually happened. Might be fun to watch.
"I've actually used my flames before my fight with Uraraka. Twice, actually."
"Really?" Endeavor asked, somewhat caught off-guard. "That's, uh, that's great –"
"I wasn't done," the peppermint-haired boy cut him off. "The first time was at the USJ, under force. If I didn't, there was a good chance my classmates would have died. By Touya."
That threw his father for a loop. "What? What are you talking about –"
"Touya's alive, father. He's alive, and he's sided with the Villains. Oh, and he also has an ice Quirk. He and his partner were using it to try and freeze us to death."
Shoto could watch as the gears in his father's head turned, his face trying to go through the five stages of grief, only to be stuck in denial. In fact, now that he imagined it, it looked like his father's brain was making that dial-up sound. This was actually quality entertainment.
Eventually, Endeavor rubbed the temples of his head, trying to make sense of what the fuck he just heard. "Okay, I'm calm. Shoto, is there a reason why you didn't tell anyone?"
"I wanted to find out the truth of what happened by myself, but I've realized now that I have no idea where to start looking. So, I've decided to make it your problem, too."
Shoto watched as his father went slack-jaw. He really wished he had some popcorn.
"I see…" Endeavor said, regaining his composure. "So, to recap… Touya is alive, he was with the Villains at the USJ, he has an ice Quirk, and he attempted to murder you…?"
"Actually, I don't think he was actively trying to kill me," Shoto corrected him. "I would have been fine if I used my flames sooner, but it took a shouting match between the two of us, and him telling me that my flames are mine and not yours, to actually get anything done."
"Your flames…?"
"Yep. My flames. And seeing that Touya swapped out his old Quirk for his new one, I guess he was right. Meaning that you had nothing to do with me using my flames. Like, at all."
Endeavor remained silent, as Shoto walked away.
"I'm gonna take the bus home. Later."
As Shoto left, he smiled. Perhaps he should have done this sooner.
Walking towards home, Ochako couldn't help but examine her medal.
Solid gold. Wow.
It was nice, sure, but a part of her wondered if… if this whole Sports Festival was a good idea. Having all of the students compete with each other just to get a place on the podium, it… sounded an awful lot like the Hero Rankings. And sure, All Might was always first, but…
"Make sure to not do things alone, otherwise you'll end up like your master."
She still remembered All For One's words. How that man was able to throw All Might of all people into the pavement. Sure, her mentor was out of time, but that was because All For One planned for it. He staged the entire USJ just to prove a point.
She couldn't do things alone.
But how could she not do things alone, when only one of the events within the Sports Festival had to do with teams. And even then, they were still fighting other teams!
Couldn't everyone see that they were all on the same team?
Unlocking her front door, she couldn't help but think that –
""OCHAKOOOOO!""
WHAM!
As her parents tackled her into a bear hug (again), Ochako figured that she deserved some celebration. She won the Sports Festival. And sure, there was still the looming threat of All For One, but she was still a kid! She had at least some time before graduation, right?
Right?
Tenya had finally arrived at the Hosu General Hospital.
Rushing through the hallways and up the flights of stairs as fast as he could without his Quirk, he could see his mother in one of the corridors, sitting by herself. "Mom? Mom!"
"Oh, Tenya…"
"How is Tensei doing?!" When his mother didn't respond, he decided to go into the room to see for himself. Opening the door, what he saw was… heartbreaking.
Tensei didn't look like the Hero he was supposed to be. He looked like a patient at death's door, covered in scars and bandages, with a mask helping him breathe. Even with his physique, all of these machines and tubes stuck to his body, it made him seem so… vulnerable.
"The anesthesia has worn off, but he's still in and out," the nurse explained to the family. "If the surgery had happened any later, I don't think he would have made it."
That's when Tensei opened his eyes.
"Little brother… is that you…?"
It was gut-wrenching to hear his mother fall to the floor, crying. But Tenya had to be strong. "Tensei, you're gonna be fine!" he said, approaching his brother's bed.
"Sorry… I'm supposed to be someone you can look up to… and respect…" Tensei said, through his raspy breath. "But look at me… Tenya… little brother… I'm so sorry… I failed you…"
"TENSEI!"
He couldn't do it. He couldn't be strong. In that one moment of weakness, his entire worldview was shattered. All Tenya Iida could do now was cry.
All while the Hero Killer roamed free.
It had now been twenty-four hours since the Sports Festival.
The majority of the news was split between two stories: The first was obviously about the Sports Festival, but the second had to do with something about the HSPC headquarters. No one really knew what, since the government had placed a gag order on the press.
Still, Shoto didn't really care. There were more important things to do.
"Shoto, where are you going?" Fuyumi asked.
"The hospital."
"What? All of a sudden? Why? Wait, Shoto, is it okay not to tell Dad?"
"Yeah, he's… busy."
Busy trying to figure out where Touya has been hiding all these years.
"Why do you want to see Mom now, after all this time?" his sister asked.
Shoto… didn't have an answer for Fuyumi. At least, not one he could put in words. What could he tell her? Eventually, he decided to go with, "I'll be back," and left.
As he walked through the suburbs of his neighborhood, his mind couldn't help but wander back to the day his mother lost it. Crossing the busy street, he remembered how she said he and his siblings looked more and more like Endeavor. But then, arriving at the hospital…
Back then, when she was first sent here, he thought that his presence would be bad for her, mentally speaking. That's why he never visited her. But now?
As he spoke with the front desk and made his way towards her door, he kept thinking about why he wanted to be a Hero. Was it really just one reason? Or was it many?
Uraraka had multiple reasons to be a Hero. She wanted to both make people smile and provide an easy life for her parents. Who's to say Shoto couldn't have multiple reasons, too?
"It's okay for you to become who you want to be."
As he opened the door to his mother's room, Shoto Todoroki knew he still had a lot to figure out about himself. It wouldn't all be resolved with just one fight with Uraraka.
But at least now… he knew he was in the right direction.
"Hi… Mom."
As he watched his mother turn around and give him a soft smile, he knew, somewhere deep down… that everything would be okay now. Why? Because he was here.
For the first time in a decade, he was with his mother.
As Katsuki brushed his teeth in his bathroom, he thought about what he told Uraraka.
Not a bad person, huh? Guess I'll make sure that's true… Ochako…
Author's Note: And with that, the Sports Festival is officially over!
Uraraka has won, Endeavor has a lot to think about, and Iida is gonna do something reckless! But for now, it's time for the comments! Let's go see them!
Knightmare Lord: While that would totally be something canon All For One would do, this time around, it was just a series of unfortunate events. Still, a good theory.
DevilJoker: I swear I've seen this comment before.
MrMateusz: Ah, a new commentator! Excellent! I'm glad you're seeing the unintended actions of our little mastermind's actions. And don't worry, everything gets explained in the future, including Kodai's intense hatred for Bakugou, given that she only knew whatever interactions Izuku told her about, mostly due to the fact that Izuku was a late-bloomer (around the age of six or so), which gets explained later on.
Babadaddy: I might actually add that tag, but only reluctantly, because what Izuku has might actually be wor4se than All For One. Still, glad you're enjoying my work.
EmilMobile: Yeah, the last chapter was pretty bloated. I've started sprinkling the seeds of the upcoming relationships, Todoroki is gonna be getting lots of fun character development, and Hosu is gonna go down similar to canon, with two glaring exceptions, and one of them has to do with your favorite UA spy! See you then!
VinHD15: I didn't mean to do that, but I'm glad I did, anyway.
StopIt GetSomeHelp (Guest): Yes, most of this is cross-posting from my side, but I don't believe it's that big of a problem, I've been doing it like this for over two years, and I'm too ingrained to change it now. And besides, I've seen people place their Author's Note in the beginning of their chapters, in their main body, so it's fine.
And now, for the last bit of shilling…
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Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!
- Ernalore