"Bad match up," Izuku stated as he watched Ida and Ashido prepare to take each other on before looking down and setting to work on making sure his blaster rifle was prepped and ready. While he couldn't wear his armor he HAD gotten permission for support gear in the form of his guns… all set to stun, of course.

"Yeah," Uraraka said with a shake of her head. "This one isn't going to last long at all."

Ahsoka didn't say a word, having already sensed what was about to happen…

"Tenya doesn't stand a chance," Izuku said.

"Yeah, he's going to win… wait, what?" Uraraka frowned as she glanced over at her friend. "Huh?"

Ahsoka chuckled. They were gathered in a small dining area that had been set aside for Class 1-A to eat in if they were part of the final round of the Sports Festival. Everyone else who'd failed to make it were allowed to go and get a bite from one of the booths or stalls that were set up around the sports arena. But those still competing needed to remain near the locker rooms (both to ensure they made it to their matches and to prevent any chance that they might find a way to cheat by smuggling in something not authorized) and thus the room. Ahsoka was tucking into some pasta, a suggestion from her master who had found that it was the right balance of filling without making her feel bloated, while her friends had ignored their meals to focus on the next match up.

"Tenya. He's going to lose."

Uraraka frowned at that. "How can you say that?"

Izuku opened his mouth before taking a moment to consider just what he wanted to say. "Okay, why do you think Tenya is going to win?"

Now it was Uraraka's turn to think over her words carefully. "Ashido seems nice enough and its clear she really does want to be a hero…" Ahsoka could feel the conflict in Uraraka and finally the young woman blurted out, "She doesn't have the training Ida has, okay?"

Izuku though merely nodded. "Yeah. Tenya was trained by his brother for years and he has studied hard to learn how to use his quirk."

"He's also smarter than Ashido," Uraraka added, clearly feeling like they were on better ground with the conversation.

Ahsoka nodded. "She tries but you can tell that while she wants to get good grades but the few times I've seen her studying she gets easily distracted."

"Exactly. But Ida is able to recite facts like its breathing air!" Uraraka grinned, shaking her head as she clearly thought about all the times Ida had leapt to his feet and called out a bunch of rules that the class (or sometimes a teacher) forgot.

"Yup," Izuku said with a smile.

"So all that training and all those smarts means he's going to win."

"Not at all," Izuku said calmly, causing Uraraka to deflate.

"What?" she asked again.

"Take pity on her and explain," Ahsoka said with a sigh, patting Uraraka on the shoulder.

Izuku nodded. "All those reasons you listed? They are why Tenya is going to lose against Ashido."

"Because he has training and because he's smart?"

"Because he has a strict set of moves that he is unwilling to deviate from and an inability to improvise."

That caused Uraraka to frown, trying to wrap her head around what Izuku was saying. But Ashoka remained quiet, knowing that it was better for Izuku to explain.

"So Tenya is like one of the training robots we have, okay? He's programmed to do certain things and only those certain things. He took his brother's lessons too seriously and thought those were the ONLY way to fight. He memorizes moves and strategies but when it comes to things in the heat of battle?" Izuku shrugged. "Ashido is the opposite. She is very good at coming up with things on the fly. She has to, to cover for her difficulties in planning ahead. Now there are times where Tenya's methods would make him the winner… if they had to complete a certain task or race each other for example. He would beat her. Hostage negotiation?" Izuku bobbed his head back and forth. "Honestly they both would be bad picks but Ashido would be the worst. I wonder how she did on that final part of our exam. She never talks about it but I could see her doing okay with the first part and panicking during the second half when things were supposed to go to hell. Tenya I know did the reverse, because he admitted he questioned her about why she was there and upset her but then he began to comfort her and when she went nuclear he was prepared to race her out of the city and sacrifice himself. Honestly that test was a really good way to reveal one's flaws and-"

"Okay," Ahsoka said, cutting him off because he was going into a ramble. "So the gist of it is, Uraraka, that because he's so inflexible Tenya isn't going to be able to deal well with Ashido in this situation where they are going one on one."

"Exactly!" Izuku declared. "Ashido is going to begin improvising, coming up with strategies that seem completely out there and that will throw Tenya off. He will struggle with that and she'll take advantage. The only way he could win would be the startle her right out the gate but if he can't within the first… 20 seconds?... then Ashido will win."

Ahsoka turned towards the television, popping more noodles into her mouth as she watched Ida and Ashido square off. And right away she could tell that Izuku's prediction of the only way for Ida to win would not come to pass; he was being far too cautious, clearly wanting to see what Ashido would do. Which meant she had no problem firing acid at him, which he kept dodging… only for him to find his running surface coated in super slick goo that allowed Ashido, who was FAR more confident sliding around in her puddles, to rush up to him, spin him around like they were toddlers playing a swinging game, and send him sliding out of bounds.

"…wow," Uraraka muttered to herself. "Exactly as you said."

"Well, not exactly," Izuku said. "I mean Ashido could have done so many other things-"

Ahsoka tuned him out as the screen flashed, showing her face… next to a blank square.

"The invisible girl from 1-B," Ahsoka muttered to herself before smirking. "This will be fun."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Tough break for your brother," Anakin said to Tensei. They were all still in the announcer's booth, having decided that while it was fun to cheer for Ahsoka in the stands now what she needed was the ability to focus and not have Anakin and Padme distracting her with their shouts.

"This will hopefully be a good lesson for him," Tensei stated. "He underestimated her… probably thought because I've been teaching him for years that he had an advantage."

"Maybe," Anakin said, not wanting to pile onto Tensei's brother. The man was a good egg and his brother, while a bit… stiff… seemed decent enough. Honestly Tenya reminded him of the mask that Obi Wan put on when around politicians: acting all prim and proper and with a massive durasteel beam shoved up his ass. The only difference was that Obi Wan only wore that mask to deal with people he didn't enjoy being around… after they were gone he could be witty and funny. Well, funny for a Jedi. And he had gotten a lot better ever since they'd been stranded on Earth. "But it doesn't help that he knows her."

"What do you mean?" Tensei asked.

"When you know someone long enough and learn what they can do it causes you to already begin developing strategies when you spar." Anakin leaned back in his chair, thinking about the times him and Obi Wan would practice duel against each other. "If one is more experienced than the other that means they can predict what you are going to do and counter it before you even finish your strike. If you're both in sync? You can fall into rhythms, so its more like a dance. But if someone suddenly changes things… it would be like the music changing suddenly and you were doing a… I don't know, some sort of shuffle when you should be hopping."

Tensei instantly understood, pointing right at Anakin. "Yes, that's exactly right! When I try to teach Tenya new things I start off with our regular sessions and suddenly toss in a new move. It always throws him off."

"Because he can't adapt well. That's what happened here. He knows that girl… Ashido?" Tensei, who had been better paying attention to the names, nodded. "He's seen what she can do so he probably was already thinking about what her quirk could do, what his could, and coming up with all those plans… based just on the information he had. But when she went and changed things…"

"Out of bounds," Tensei said with a shake of his head.

"I encountered it all the time back home. Its why I ended up usually working with Rex… he was the only c… hero… that I knew other than Obi Wan that could put up with me improvising on the spot. Too many others wanted to follow their training and all the different tactics."

Tensei sighed at that.

"Hey, I didn't mean to get you down," Anakin said hurriedly. "Tenya seems like a good kid-"

"Its not that," Tensei said. "I worry about him, that's all. I've seen heroes like him before, you know? They are… okay, this is going to be a horrible analogy." He reached over and grabbed some of the bags of treats that Hizashi had dumped on the table for them to nibble on. "Tenya is this pretzel rod. Firm, solid. Can hit something hard." He knocked the rod against the table. "Now, there are heroes who are more like this piece of licorice. People assume they are going to fail because they have no strength to them." He smacked the table with it.

"But pretzel rods can't bend," Anakin said simply. "I can twist that licorice into a knot, untie it, and other than maybe a few tears its fine. But bend the rod-"

"Snap," Tenei said. "There are so many heroes that think they can go out there with all they have studied and all their plans… there is this one, Sir Nighteye. Genius detective and that isn't with a quirk to enhance his smarts. But no one wants to work with him because he's so rigid that he's impossible to deal with at times. And… well, I shouldn't tell you this so it remains between us… but there are a few heroes who do work with him, despite everything, not just because he's a genius and able to crack cases really good but they want to be there when…" He snapped the pretzel rod in half before setting it down. "That's what I'm worried about with my brother. He's going to believe that he knows how to do everything because he's wicked smart and can plan out all these scenarios… and the first time he has a civilian die on his watch he'll shatter. Either just… dig himself into a hole and never come out or do something reckless and stupid and ruin his entire career."

Anakin was silent for a long moment.

"Master Yoda… the head of our… group…" He hated being vague with Tensei but he hadn't been let into the secret yet, "…was against Obi Wan training me. Said I was too old and hadn't been given the methods needed to use the Force. My quirk." He quickly added that last part. "Obi Wan and Ahsoka and I all have similar quirks. A lot of people back home do."

"Heard of that," Tensei murmured. "Quirk Similarity Syndrome, theorized to be due to close relations and environmental influences."

Anakin had little doubt Nedzu was the reason that theory was about. Just for him and his family, most likely. "Right. Master Yoda… he had this firm belief that because our Quirks are so powerful that you need the right mindset. That you have to be a certain way. And maybe he's right… sometimes I wonder if they had trained me like Obi Wan what my life would have been like. But then I remember others-" Other Knights, he wanted to say, "-and how they had such problems when things got bad-" Like in the Clone Wars, "-they couldn't handle it as well as I did."

And he hadn't handled it well at all, looking back at it with his new understanding of psychology.

'Honestly if I hadn't gotten out when I did I don't know if even my support network would have kept me from Falling.' He didn't like to think about that… about turning to the Dark Side and becoming like the monster that had stolen Qui Gon from him… but now on Earth he could see that was a deadly possibility. That the loss of life and the grind of the Clone Wars would have made him push farther and farther with what he could do until he finally took a step too far and… well, perhaps not fall to the Dark Side. Maybe it would have been more like leisurely strolling downward. 'But I could have fallen.' He wondered if any other Jedi had fallen since they'd left, the burden of the War pressing down on them til they too broke like pretzel rods. He hoped not but he couldn't be sure…

"I think… there needs to be a mix of the two. Solid and smart and able to follow the rules… but also know when the break them. Control of your emotions but know you HAVE emotions." He shrugged. "My suggestion? Get him a teacher that is the exact opposite of him. Kid will hate it at first but he'll learn a lot."

Tensei slowly nodded at that. "What's your hero agency?"

"Huh?" Anakin said, surprised by the sudden change in topic. "Uh… I let Rex handle that." With Obi Wan teaching and Anakin secretly running around now as Vader he hadn't done much with the agency the three of them had set up for their hero work… honestly Anakin didn't even know its name.

"Right," Tensei said with a smirk, getting up. "Cool."

Anakin wondered why he felt a shiver of dread at that.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Hey, good luck, okay?" Hagakure said, bouncing in place. While Ahsoka couldn't see her face and hands she could see the rest of her fine and she could also tell from the woman's tone that she was rather excited by the chance to fight her.

"Same to you," Ahsoka said, sticking out her hand and letting Hagakure grab it for a firm shake.

"I wish we weren't taking each other on," Hagakure said and Ahsoka could sense she was pouting. "Just… so many reasons why."

"Why's that?" Ahsoka asked, curiously.

"Well, there is the whole Class 1-A and Class 1-B thing. I know that Monoma is the loudest about how we are eternal rivals but there are others in my class who think the same thing. Do you have that?"

"…Bakugo would be the closest but he competes with everyone equally." 'And hates them too,' she thought.

"Oh yeah, that makes sense!" Hagakure said with a laugh, finally breaking off the handshake. "But I just don't get it… we're just students, after all. What's a letter supposed to mean? That's why I agreed to work with Midoriya… and I was the key to their victory!" She pumped her arm in the air. "I'm gonna have internships lined up for sure after everyone saw and heard that I was the key to our team's victory!"

Ahsoka smiled. Izuku had been rather loud in telling people, as they'd called out to him after the second event, that Hagakure had been instrumental in their victory. Of course he'd also praised Tenya and Inasa as well… and those he had taken on… and the staff for making such an 'original and interesting event'…

"But also?" Hagakure said, dropping her voice to a whisper. "I hate that one of us is going to get knocked out. Heroics is so dominated by men… and a lot of the female heroes either need to be sex kittens or utterly anti-woman in order to move up in the ranks. I wish we could have eliminated the boys instead."

"What a wonderful show of sportsmanship!" Present Mic called out. "And while I am sure our audience is loving this what they would love more is some FIGHTING!" He yelled the last part out with a rather cheerful tone but Ahsoka sensed the rebuke clear as day and grimaced, realizing that she had Hagekure had been standing in front of everyone just shooting the breeze for a good 5 minutes. The two of them bowed to each other before turning away, heading to their respective sides of the field.

'She's right though… it does suck that one of us will be eliminated. Not really a chance to show off…' And what was truly bugging Ahsoka was the fact that, if Hagekure did what she thought she would, then she would lose rather quickly. 'Maybe though…'

"I want a good clean fight!" Midnight declared, cracking her whip. "Begin!"

At once Hagakure touched something on her gym uniform and she completely disappeared.

"Aw man!" someone called out and Ahsoka turned to see a familiar purple head sticking out in the crowd. "I thought she'd have to strip naked to do that! Boo! Boo! Boo-"

"Permission to hit him?" Ahsoka asked Midnight.

"Denied," the teacher said.

"What if it was Eri?"

That… made her teacher's eyebrow twitch before she touched her comm. unit. "Ectoplasm, get rid of the little perv in the front row."

Ahsoka smirked as she saw from the corner of her eye the Grape get suddenly yanked out of his seat.

That settled she turned her attention to the seemingly empty field. "Hagekure, I want us to really show off!" she called out. "They've seen your quirk… here is mine!" She closed her eyes, reaching into the force… and easily caught Hagekure' invisible chop. Ahsoka felt the girl's shook as she opened her eyes before leaping over a kick the girl tried to give her. "Good… a lot of people don't think of doing that." She used her arm to block another strike before saying, "Let's show them what two badass women can do? Really show them."

Hagekure paused and Ahsoka wondered if she understood what she wanted… and then the teen broke off and deactivated the invisibility on her uniform, falling into a defensive stance.

"What is this?!" Present Mic called out. "Hagekure has returned her uniform to being visible!"

"Of course she has," Obi Wan stated. "Ahsoka's Quirk allows her to sense her, so the invisibility is useless here. The two of them are going to spare… and from what I gather Ahsoka will not be using her quirk either."

Present Mic's voice raised in excitement. "A true one on one mix martial arts demonstration! This is something special, folks!"

Ahsoka made a note to thank Present Mic and Master Obi Wan for helping her with this. With the Force she would have been able to find Hagekure and throw her from the ring within seconds. It would have hurt the girl's chances of becoming a hero because everyone would just assume she got lucky with her stealth and not that Ahsoka had an unfair advantage. By turning it into an actual spar that gave both a chance to show they were more than their quirks.

The two began to trade blows, switching between kicks and punches. Hagekure, Ahsoka would readily admit, was very good. Most likely Obi Wan's influence as she could feel the rawness in her skill. It was something she'd just begun to learn, probably always assuming her quirk would allow her to sneak attack a foe and never considering one could find her. Of course Ahsoka was already coming up with all sorts of different ways to find her even without the Force… a Heat Detecting Quirk, or someone that created fog or dust particles. Lasers. Pressure sensors in the floor. She reasoned that Izuku could come up with twenty more ways to counter the other teen. So she needed to learn to fight and she was.

She just wasn't as good as Ahsoka.

The Padawan didn't drag out the fight. That wouldn't be fair to Hagekure. But she also didn't squash her like a bug. Instead she stuck to a saberless version of Soresu. Defensive. She got in a few hits but for the most part it was all about wearing down Hagekure, letting her be flashy with her strikes while Ahsoka weathered them all. A blocked kick, a duck under a punch, a spin move. All to make Hagekure go all the harder and faster, leeching away her energy until-

Ahsoka suddenly grabbed the other girl by the wrist, threw her over her shoulder, and then spun and delivered an open palm to her stomach. Hagekure stumbled back over the line and the crowd erupted into cheers.

"And Tano Ahsoka has done it!" Present Mic exclaimed. "In a stunning battle of wits and brawn she reverses Hagekure and drives her over the line! Tano moves on to the next round!"

"Good match!" Ahsoka said, offering Hagekure her hand.

"You think this is the end?" Hagekure asked. "You made a powerful enemy today." She paused… and then giggled. "Just kidding, could you IMAGINE?!" She laughed and took Ahsoka's hand, the two walking off the field together with their heads held high.