The image of Izuku crossing the finish line, with Present Mic screaming that Midoriya had won the first round, was seen on televisions and computer screens all over the world. In one small apartment, Inko was crying so many tears of pride that her neighbors a floor down thought that her water pipes had broken. At the same time, the mother of a certain exploding blonde had thrown her head back in laughter as she imagined how her son would react to not getting first place after that little speech he gave.

Further away in a small fishing village, the entire town seemed to be gathered in a small lounge watching the events unfold on the several small TVs. Many of them held small flags with Raphtalia's name on them, waving them around in support of the first person in their village to ever get accepted into U.A. But, while they were rooting for the Tanuki girl, they still cheered when Izuku crossed the finish line. None more so than the girl's parents. To the rest of Japan, this might have seemed strange. However, given how it was a small town where everyone knew everyone, it wasn't that much of a surprise that the entire town remembered how it was Izuku who got their girl away from those who kidnapped them. It was because of that event that they gave Izuku Midoriya the benefit of the doubt and cheered him on as well.

Elsewhere, another woman watched the scene unfolding from within her luxurious office. Since the moment class 1-A had taken to the field, the woman had searched for Izuku Midoriya and, once she had found him holding the hand of one of his classmates, kept her attention on him with laser focus. On her desk was a file with the teen's picture on it as well as an older article of him back when he was four. Sadly, as soon as the match began, her focus somewhat waived as she saw his Filolial. She watched the two of them with fascination as the two moved past every obstacle with minimum difficulty all the way to the finish line. And now she watched, a slight blush appearing on her face, as Midoriya's mount flapped its spread wings in celebration that they had won.

"Simply marvelous," cried Mirellia with joy and sparkles in her eyes. "Those feathers! That unique form! A Filolial like that is surely one of a kind! Oh Melty, how I envy that you are there and might actually get a chance to see such a magnificent creature up close!"

Then, the woman caught a hold of herself as she quickly coughed into her fist. Then, she looked down at the screen once more. Now her focus was back on Midoriya with a saddened frown.

"Truly, he has trained his Filolial well," she said in a solemn tone. "And such an interesting quirk. I wonder how many others out there will see that."

The woman's eyes then narrowed, before shooting to a picture on her desk. One containing the woman's two daughters.

"Malty, what on earth are you up to this time?" she asked herself.

-x-

Meanwhile, back in the stadium, Izuku was maneuvering Filo back to the platform that had brought her to the field in the first place. As they moved, he found that the new silence of the crowd was beginning to get under his skin a little as he also began to feel the eyes of the crowd upon him. Judging him and him alone now that there was no one else to look at. Well, other than Midnight who gave him a slight wink and a smile to say 'Good job' without being too obvious.

"Cheater!"

Izuku's blood ran cold when he heard the voice of Melromarc as it broke the silence, warmed only by the anger that was beginning to bubble inside of him.

"She's right!" yelled someone else. "That's not a Filolial! Is he trying to pull a fast one on us?"

"No way a Filolial can move that fast!" came another voice echoing through the stadium. "What, is he pumping it full of drugs or something?! That's got to be it. We should report him for animal cruelty!"

"You don't belong here!" shouted a third before the rest of the crowd began to voice their disdain. Izuku only managed to get a glimpse of this one as he had been standing and was wearing a hero costume. "Get out villain!"

As the boos and accusations of the crowd continued, some began to throw stuff down to the ground. Boxes of popcorn, empty containers, Endeavor masks, and so much more. At one point, Izuku felt a can half-filled with its contents hit the back of his head. Though it barely hurt him physically, Izuku could feel his eyes sting as he fought back the tears welling up in his eyes.

"Master?" spoke a very confused Filo as she looked around. "Are you ok? Why is everyone so mad at you?"

Filo's innocent question made Izuku's mouth go dry, his hands trembling as he got off. Thankfully, a voice that wasn't Present Mic's came on through the speakers whose tired tone silenced everyone.

"Cheating in the U.A. Sports Festival? Now that is a pretty serious accusation," said Mr. Aizawa, his no-nonsense tone silencing the entire crowd with just two sentences. "I do hope you are not suggesting that we didn't do our own checks and verified everything without any proof. If you are and you wear a cape, then you'd better go home and hang it up for good. Falling into mob mentality is beneath any true hero."

The silence was then broken with a crack of Midnight's whip.

"Enough!" she shouted, seeming too enraged by the crowd to even turn on her mic. Still, her voice carried through the stadium with enough power that could not be ignored. "I spotted no cheating within this event! Are we clear?"

The crowd said nothing for a bit before collectively deciding to just ignore Izuku and continue enjoying the Sports Festival. Their attention turned to the students who were now just entering the stadium, cheering for them in a way that Izuku secretly wished they could have cheered for him. However, he pushed those feelings down as he said his goodbyes to Filo and promised her that soon she could enjoy the rest of the Festival with everyone else.

For the next several minutes, students milled into the stadium as robots went to work picking up the trash. Izuku noticed that many of the first group clearly saw what littered the floor before turning to look at Izuku and then turning away. As if they were trying to tell themselves that it wasn't what it looked like or something similar.

Thankfully, not all of them did this.

"Hey bro," said Kirishima as he approached his green-haired friend. Behind him were Tsu, Uraraka, and Raphtalia with worried expressions on their faces. "You doing ok?"

"Y-Yeah," Izuku managed to say while Raphtalia began to help clean him off. Nothing too fancy, just using the back of her hand to shoo away bits of food and other litter from his uniform. "I'm, ah, I'm doing alright."

"Ribbit. You sure?" asked Tsu, her face doing one of its rare shifts to show she didn't buy that. "You know you can talk to us if something's bothering you."

"That's right!" added Uraraka, her fists clenched as she held them at her waist. "We're your friends after all! I mean, this is just so unfair!"

"Well, it's like what Mr. Aizawa said on our first day," said Izuku, trying to calm them down. "Remember? It's a hero's job to face the unfairness of the world? It's just now…directed at me."

"Still, it's not right," growled Raphtalia as she shot a look over at some of their classmates who were staying clear from the forest-haired teen. Chief among them was Ida, who stood in a way so that he could shoot sideways glares in Izuku's direction. Apparently, he hadn't enjoyed being humiliated like that on national television. Then there was Todoroki, who just continued to look at Izuku coldly. Then came the one who seemed to just be demanding attention: Bakugo. The explosive teen was on his knees, slamming his fists onto the ground while screaming at the top of his lungs his usual string of curses with Izuku's nickname thrown into the mix.

Then, racing towards them was the pink-haired girl Mei with a bright smile on her face.

"Shield-boy!" cried Hatsume who seemed oblivious to the state around Izuku. "You need to let me have another look at Filo! I want to design her a rocket pack that will either help increase her speed or let her fly. Presuming that baby doesn't blow up into a million pieces! Or maybe a small food dispenser so she can have a snack while she runs! Wait, will that cause her to cramp? Do giant chickens cramp? I'll invent a baby to make sure she doesn't cramp!"

"Hatsume, take a breath," said Izuku as he began waving his hands to calm down the inventor girl. Though, this did nothing as she continued speaking in a stream of consciousness, pulling Izuku's thoughts away from the chaos that had happened a few moments ago to deal with this. It was a nice distraction.

A few minutes later, Midnight called up all the students who had passed the first round. A group that mostly consisted of the hero course students though Izuku saw a student from general studies in there as well as Mei.

"The next challenge has been decided: Jousting!" announced Midnight with a grin. "Here is how this event will work. Everyone will pair up into teams of two with one member being the team rider while the other will be the horse. The rider will be given a plastic sword as well as a special hat. These hats will create a special holographic target on them along with a number starting at twenty. The rider's goal in this event is simple: strike at the target using their sword. Every time your target is struck its number value will decrease by five. Once it reaches zero you are out of the game. As for the horse, your job is to move your team around the field as well as to keep your rider up. If the rider falls to the ground for any reason, your team will lose five points. You may use your quirks however you wish, however attacking the horse is strictly prohibited."

Izuku brought a hand to his chin as he began to process what he had heard. The rider would need to be someone who was light enough for the horse to carry them throughout the entire match while also having a decent amount of accuracy. This round seemed almost tailored for someone like Raphtalia…and he wasn't alone in thinking this. Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku could see nearly all of the other students looking at her with hungry expressions while the Tanuki girl kept her gaze on Midnight. As for the horse, that person would need to have both great strength as well as high levels of endurance in order to carry the rider for that long. Perhaps maybe even a quirk that might help them out?

"This round of the Sports Festival will go on until we have eight teams left standing," continued Midnight. "However, we do not intend to waste too much time on this! So, if after fifteen minutes and the round is still going on, we will end it there and the top eight teams with the highest points left will move on to the final round! "

Midnight then paused for a moment before looking down at Midoriya.

"Finally, there will be a special rule put into place for Izuku Midoriya's team," she added. "Since he came in first, once his team's hologram has been hit they will be out of the running and the attacking team will receive all their points. This is the price one pays for being at the top!"

Izuku froze where he stood as he felt everyone's gazes now upon him.

'I…I forgot they do this sometimes!' thought Izuku as he looked around. 'With this rule in place, the odds of getting someone willing to work with me will be tougher as no one will want to take the chance of getting removed from the Sports Festival with just one hit! Not to mention that whoever succeeds is pretty much guaranteed to move on to the next round! I'm going to be a target, now more than ever!'

With that, Midnight gave the students a few minutes to pick their teams. As expected, nearly everyone was rushing Raphtalia!

"Raphtalia, surely you understand that I am the ideal choice in this competition!" shouted Ida, making a chopping motion with his arm as he spoke loudly. "With your honed sword skills along with my speed, we shall have this contest finished within moments!"

"No way! She has to pick me!" yelled Ashido, hands in the air as she yelled over the speedy teen. "Us girls have to stick together!"

"Please, let me ride you!" begged Mineta. "I'm too short for anything else!"

But Raphtalia politely shook her head before walking over to Midoriya, taking hold of his hand.

"Sorry, but I'm going to work with someone I trust," she said while giving the rest of the class a pointed look. A chorus of groans erupted followed quickly by everyone rushing to form their teams before the time ran out.

Yet, even while they left, Izuku looked at Raphtalia as if she were both a saint and crazy. "A-Are you sure you want to team up with me?" he asked. "I mean, it's a pretty big disadvantage."

"Of course I do!" replied Raphtalia, with a smile on her face as well as an expression that said this was final. "There's no one I'd rather be with since we know each other so well. And, if I'm being honest, I'd rather us get to the finals together. So, this way, we either get in together or we get knocked out together."

Izuku could only stare at Raphtalia, his face turning a bright red while she continued to smile at him with her eyes closed. After a moment, it became too much for him so he turned around to cover his face.

"Hey there. Why am I not surprised to see you too working together." Izuku looked up to see Kirishima approaching the pair with a big toothy grin on his face. "You know, I had thought about asking if you wanted to team up with me but I didn't think it would be a good fit man. Nothing personal, you know."

"Yeah," replied Izuku with a nod. "My quirk doesn't allow me to pick up other weapons for some reason. So, since I couldn't pick up a sword, I would have to be the horse no matter what. If we did team up and you used your quirk…We'll, anyways, thanks for at least considering it. So who did you team up with?"

Kirishima shot a thumb towards Bakugo who stood there with his hands in his pockets and a sour expression on his face.

"Told him I was the best fit," explained Kirishima with a big, toothy grin on his face. "With my hardening quirk, I can better handle all of his explosions."

Nodding, Izuku looked around to see who else had already come up with their own teams. From where he stood, he could see Uraraka and Tsu had teamed up. Close to them were Kaminari and Jiro who seemed to be in the middle of an argument. Mineta, surprisingly, had already found a teammate in Shoji. At the same time, Ashido had decided to team up with Tokoyami. As for Todoroki, he looked oddly blank as a purple-haired teen spoke to him.

As for Ida…

"You're coming with me!" declared a certain pink-haired inventing girl as she gave out a laugh while dragging a confused and slightly struggling Ida over to where Midnight was standing. There was a grin on her face that Izuku had gotten to know. One that made him shudder slightly.

-x-

"Are you all as hyped as I am to bring the second round?!" cried Present Mic loudly over the speakers as the prep time for the second event of the day came to an end.

"…No, I seriously doubt that," replied Mr. Aizawa in his normal dry and tired tone. His words, while spoken seriously, somehow managed to get a chuckle from the crowd.

Even Izuku felt a small smile appear on his face as he listened to his teacher's banter. Currently, he was standing along the edge on the field along with all of the other teams, each one spaced an equal distance apart from each other along the perimeter alternating from class 1-A and 1-B. Slowly he looked from one side to the other, wondering if they would be rushing them as soon as the round began. That would, after all, be the smartest decision they could make.

"Hey, don't worry. We got this. Together," said Raphtalia gently. As she spoke, Izuku could feel her hands running through his hair while her tail swayed against his back. This brought the teen a sense of ease as he looked up to try and see the brown-haired girl who was now sitting on his shoulders. His hands held onto her thighs, keeping her in place as he managed to spot a bit of her face smiling down upon him warmly. While he couldn't see it now, he knew that she was wearing a U.A. baseball cap with a hologram being projected out from the top.

"Right," he agreed with a bit of a nod. "Together."

Without warning, the buzzer rang, singling the start of the round. Not a single student wasted a second with most of class 1-A rushing over to where Izuku and Raphtalia were. All of them wanting those extra points and to get rid of one team right off the bat. Leading the pack was team Aoyama and Ojiro followed closely behind by team Sero and Sato. Further behind them were teams Mineta/Shoji, Kirishima/Bakugo, and Kaminari/Jiro. Lastly, was the team of Uraraka and Tsu.

However, they weren't the only ones moving. Class 1-B were on the move as well…towards the middle of the field? Izuku blinked as he tried to understand what was going on until something clicked into place. One of the class 1-B horses, a teen with no lips and white hair, managed to touch the ground causing it to ripple for a moment before most of those in 1-A began to sink. This was followed by another member of 1-B, whose appearance reminded Izuku of a glue gun. Not too far off as the teen began shooting glue right into a field.

As a blond-haired teen began throwing back his head laughing while riding on top of what looked like a Kirishima clone, everyone could see what had happened. Class 1-B had realized the lure of getting those extra points. And so they had set this trap from them with Izuku and Raphtalia being the unknowing bait!

However, Class 1-A wasn't going down without a fight! Izuku and Raphtalia watched as Sero used his tape to shoot out and attach itself onto the laughing blond, surprising and silencing him before he could go into a monologue or something. With a mighty tug and assistance from Sato, the two manage to pull the blond off his horse causing him to land into their own trap as well as causing them to lose five points. Then, another stand of tape was shot out, this time attaching itself to the ground so that the duo could pull themselves to safety.

Others were doing similar things to get out. Bakugo, cursing all the way, used his explosions to rocket himself into the air while Kirishima hardened his body. Explosion after explosion propelled Bakugo through the air towards his opponents, even managing to dodge a sword that was also moving through the air via flying horns controlled by the rider of the lipless teen. Bakugo found his target, his feet connecting with the teen's chest to knock him down before using his explosions to get back to Kirishima. Said redhead was in the process of trying to move through the slowly hardening earth and glue, using brute strength to get out of this mess.

"Is that even allowed?" shouted someone from the crowd.

"As long as the rider doesn't touch the ground, it's allowed!" answered Midnight with a grin.

At the same time, Shoji was using his quirk to create extra limbs and body parts to punch and pry apart the ground so that his team could escape. But as he worked, neither he nor Mineta spotted the floating hands moving behind them. With a quick slash, Mineta's target was struck. Then again and again and again. All without either of the pair realizing it until the announcement was made that they were out.

Those who were not stuck went on the offensive! Tsu, who was the rider on her team, used her tongue to wrap around one of the 1-B riders to pull him towards her before striking the target with her sword before she had to let go and letting him drop to the ground costing his team ten points. As for team Ashido and Tokoyami, the pink-skinned girl was sliding around with ease while Tokoyami's Dark Shadow held on to the blade. The shadowy creature reached out, swinging it while they moved making contact with several targets one after the other!

Then…there was Ida.

Izuku could now hear the voice of the mad inventor on the speakers, talking about her babies as Ida ran around the field in a circle. Somehow she had gotten Midnight to ok letting Ida wear some of her gear which seemed to keep them up and moving while Mei waved her arms around while gesturing to this or that invention. She also seemed to suggest that this was just a small taste of what was to come.

"You can't be serious!" cried Ida with tears running down his face, unable to stop moving. "This is a highly honored tradition, not an infomercial! We look like utter fools!"

Mei simply laughed in response to this.

"Hey, I'm here to show off all my babies to the support companies!" she replied once she calmed down a bit. "So run and make sure their eyes are on us! By the end of the day, every support company in the world will remember Mei Hatsume and…what was your name again? Oh well, I'm sure all the heroes and support companies will look it up if they really care."

"I feel so used!" wailed Ida.

And as they ran, Mei pulled out something that caused a firework to shoot out over them.

Back with team Izuku/ Raphtalia, things were getting a bit complicated as the pair found themselves surrounded. Aoyama and Ojiro were right in front of them along with the teams of Kaminari/Jiro and Sero/Sato. Also with them was Yaoyorozu as the horse while an orange-haired girl from class 1-B was the rider. The four of them held their swords in hand ready to strike while the out-of-bonds line was right behind Izuku.

"Those points will be ours!" declared Yaoyorozu as she moved their team closer.

"I don't think so!" replied Izuku as he gave a look to Raphtalia. But only a brief one as he quickly turned his attention back towards their enemies while raising his shield. "Shield Prison!"

With that, the dome of shields surrounded both Izuku and Raphtalia to trap them inside.

"Sorry, but if you think that you can hide in your little shell then you have another thing coming!" yelled the orange-haired rider. As the 1-B girl said this, Present Mic introduced her to the crowd as Itsuka Kendo while said teen used her quirk to enlarge her free hand. This sudden change caused Yaoyorozu to wobble for a bit, leaning forward and backwards for a moment before the pair charged at the shielded dome with Kendo pulling back her fist to deliver a mighty punch. At the same time, Aoyama used his own quirk to fire a laser from his belly button. The two attacks hit the shield at the same time…only to pass right through?

As the collected teens blinked in confusion, Raphtalia dropped the illusion hiding the pair. Now standing behind them, the Tanuki girl's blade stabbed forward rapidly, stabbing at the holographic displays above their heads with great precision. So much so that her movements to any non-pro hero only saw a blur as the numbers above the heads of Aoyama, Sero, and Jiro hit zero.

Kendo turned around as Present Mic announced that three teams were out of the running. Izuku watched as the orange-haired girl's enlarged hand returned to normal before gripping her sword with both hands. As Kendo raised it up above her, Yaoyorozu rushed towards the duo of shield and sword right before her partner swung. Raphtalia easily blocked the attack, holding onto her own blade with one hand. Then Raphtalia's ears began to twitch, causing her eyes to widen.

"Izuku! Behind us!" she called out in alarm.

"Air Strike Shield!" shouted Izuku without missing a beat. The green barrier shield appeared right behind Raphtalia's head just in time to block an attack from behind from the floating pair of hands. Moving backwards, Izuku began to put some distance between them while holding up his shield ready to defend them from whatever came their way next.

As he did so, he noticed something that seemed off. In the distance was Todoroki as the horse, with that purple-haired teen on his shoulders. Neither had moved since the match had started which seemed off. Todoroki could have probably frozen the entire field in an instant like what he had done in the tunnel at the start of the Festival. Was he worried that the same trick wouldn't work again? And why was the purple-haired teen just grinning at everyone?

The next thing Izuku knew was that his feet were sinking into the ground as if it had suddenly become quicksand! Surprised, the teen looked around to see the lipless teen at work again with his quirk! Trying to move quickly, Izuku began to do his best and climb out of it. To at least free one of his legs. But all his struggles seemed to do was cause him to sink deeper and deeper until he was up to his knees before the quirk was deactivated.

'Oh no. No, no, no!' thought a panicked Izuku as the rest of the teams began to move toward them. 'I can't move! Raphtalia is good with the sword, but there's a limit to how she can move! And we're surrounded! I don't think she can block them all before time runs out. If only she could move…more freely…then…'

Inspiration struck Izuku as he held up his shield.

"Raphtalia! Hop on!" he shouted.

Raphtalia hesitated for only a moment before leaping off of Izuku's neck. While she was in the air, Izuku created an Air Strike Shield right below where she would have landed a few feet from the ground.

"What? No way! Midoriya, that's cheat…" began Kendo, only to stop when a green shield construct appeared right in front of them. One that Raphtalia then landed on, falling onto a single knee while eyeing the pair's numbered hologram.

"As long as Raphtalia doesn't touch the ground then it's ok!" replied Izuku with a grin. Kendo said nothing, instead focused on raising her sword to defend her points, but it was too little too late. Now able to use her whole body for her attack, Raphtalia knocked her opponent's sword before delivering her own series of slashes to the pair's target. Then, just as the target read zero, Izuku's partner leapt into the air, twisting her body around in a great show of acrobatics to avoid being hit by a pair of flying horns. There was no fear in her expression as when gravity began pulling her back to the ground, Izuku created another shield platform which the Raphtalia landed on.

With a grin on his face, Izuku continued to make shield after shield for Raphtalia to leap onto as she moved around the field, now more free to show off her own unique set of skills. The crowd cheered as Raphtalia spun around, taking down another team while blocking another attack that came her way. It was a little difficult with Izuku doing his best to keep an eye on where to place the shields given the situation he was in, but he managed with minor difficulties.

And thankfully, he didn't have to do this for too much longer as a dual attack from the detached hands and Dark Shadow hit Mei's target at the same time, knocking both her and Ida out of the contest.

"And with that, the contestants for the final round have been decided," announced Present Mic with giddy excitement. "First is the duo of shield and sword: Izuku Midoriya and Raphtalia! Next we have the team who won without taking a single step: Shoto Todoroki and Hitoshi Shinso. But let's not forget the team that fought tooth and nail to keep all their points: Katsuki Bakugo and Eijiro Kirishima! But they'll have some tough competition going up against Mina Ashido and Fumikage Tokoyami! And of course the gravity-defying, frog-tastic team of Ochaco Uraraka and Tsuyu Asui. Next, coming up from class 1-B, we have the team of Beauty and the Beast: Setsuna Tokage and Jurota Shishida! Then there's the high-flying, ground-sinking pair: Pony Tsunotori and Juzo Honenuki! And finally the green team: Togaru Kamakiri and Ibara Shiozaki!"

"…Couldn't you have just listed their names and saved us some time?" groaned Mr. Aizawa.