A/N: Sorry it's been so long. Life has been making it hard to write for the last few months.
I don't own MHA, Marvel, or anything noteworthy for that matter.
Let's just get this story continued.
"Listen, honey. You put up an amazing fight against a Todoroki for Christ's sake. If that doesn't get you some attention, I don't know what will."
"I know, but I wanted to get a bit further than just the first round."
"So what if you lost your match, you were one of only sixteen to get that far!"
Uraraka suppressed a little sniffle, which she doubted her mother could have heard on the phone.
"Thanks Mom. I'll see you later."
"See you soon." And her mother hung up.
It was so hard to believe that she had made them proud; they were pouring any income they had into sending her to the best school in Japan and she had lost before getting a chance to show herself.
"Yes, Mom, I know. I saw your text earlier…No, I think we should play it safe…Yeah, let's go with that. He should buy that, right? Well I can't think of anything better at the moment. I don't know what'll happen if he takes Scarlet, but we can't let it get to that point."
Uraraka recognized Izuku's voice, and clearly he was talking to his mother. She wanted to leave the room and return to the seats so she could give him some privacy, yet was curious about what could have him so anxious.
And what did he mean by "taking Scarlet"? It wasn't like someone could just take a quirk away, right? Maybe she should not listen in after all.
"Oh, hello Midoriya," she said as she exited the waiting room. "Congratulations on winning your match, I can't wait to see you go again!"
"One sec, Mom," he requested, then put the call on hold. "Thank you. I'm sorry you had to go against Shoto for your first round, but you did great. That was some awesome quick thinking out there! Anyways, I have to get back to my call. See ya!"
Izuku slipped past her and into the waiting room she had just left, leaving her alone in the hall.
Yeah, eavesdropping just felt wrong now. Besides, she had friends holding a seat for her.
"And that concludes the first bracket! Mina and Tokoyami will face off first, followed by Midoriya and Bakugo. Next will be Todoroki and Momo, then Shishida and Shinso! We will start the second bracket after a fifteen minute break. Be sure to get some snacks and use the bathrooms!"
Midnight finished her announcements and rushed off stage, presumably to take her own advice.
"Man, you're going against Bakugo?" Sero stated as the groups of students returned to the waiting rooms. "So glad that's not me. Once was more than enough."
"Well, I'll just have to give it everything I've got. Might have to break out a few moves I've been practicing."
Midoriya was nervous. Even with Scarlet, memories of torment bubbled to the surface as he thought of facing his once-friend-now-classmate. He had tried to fight before, and still had some scars to prove it.
"Good luck dude, you might need it."
Sero then ran off to join Kaminari, who was chatting away with Mina, Kirishima, and Jiro.
"Perhaps we shall face off once more today." Tokoyami took a spot standing beside Izuku as the two observed their classmates, and some of 1-B, excitedly conversing in groups.
"Maybe. Don't think we'll let you off easy. We're all gunning for first after all."
"Bring it ya nerd!" Dark Shadow declared, popping out of Tokoyami's shoulder then retreating back.
"Not going to stick around for bickering?" Izuku questioned.
"No, he's been staying in my cloak to absorb as much darkness as possible," Tokoyami replied. "I assume Scarlet has the same plan?"
"Actually, I don't need to stay hidden to power up. In order to gain strength, Izuku needs to allow me more control over the body." Scarlet, like Dark Shadow, had popped out from the shoulder to interact.
"I'm hungry."
"You always are," Izuku said with an eye roll as he pulled a piece of chocolate from his pocket. A small tendril branched off of the large, stringy mass between Izuku's shoulder and Scarlet's head in order to grab the piece of candy, then promptly tossed it into the sharp-toothed mouth.
"Let's see…Toya…Toya…Toya…"
Izuku's muttering, much quieter than it used to be in earlier years, still pushed past his lips as he paced back and forth down the empty hallway. His eyes darted up and down as he scrolled through relevant results on his phone, but found nothing of a Toya from the Todoroki family.
He could make out the sounds of crowds cheering, undoubtedly for his classmates that had begun the battle, but was admittedly uninterested in the fight' he suspected he knew the outcome.
Finally deciding a different search was needed, he cleared the search bar and replaced the previous query with "Todoroki family rumors".
Normally he would have been eager to look up rumors regarding any hero, present or future. But this time he felt anything but as the knowledge that he was digging up something from the past that should remain buried.
Halfway down the third page of results, a headline from an old article jumped at him.
"Wildfire near Todoroki residence; Number Two hero to blame?" Izuku read aloud. He would have been a child still when the article was published, which added to his curiosity. He still had no clue why this particular headline caught his attention, but he clicked the link regardless and skimmed the article.
The headline had explained the whole story. There was a massive wildfire merely half a kilometer away from Endeavor's residence, and the media was quick to mark him as the culprit in their devious attempts to publish the biggest scoop of the week.
But Izuku noted something that, somehow, most or even all of the reporters had overlooked:
The fire was blue.
Endeavor's Hellfire quirk was immensely powerful, which the Number Two hero had practiced using to incredible precision and unexpected versatility.
But his fire was not blue.
Nothing more within the rumor based publication held any value, so Izuku closed the tab and pocketed his phone. He put his back to the wall, leaning on the solid surface as if it was keeping him from falling.
Pieces began to fall into place. Blue fire, Shoto's refusal to use his own fire, Endeavor's secret parenting techniques that were more than enough to warrant an arrest, and something bad happening to a "Toya" if Shoto's description earlier meant anything.
The puzzle was far from completed, as Izuku had to fill in several gaps with assumptions and leaps in logic, but from what he knew, his conclusion was that Shoto had a brother that either died or was severely injured. Be it directly by Endeavor's hands or a result of the hero's parenting was still unclear, but both were very real possibilities.
Izuku sighed, deeply and worriedly. He had a rough estimation of the information he had been seeking, but was now doubting his next steps.
His plan had been to force Shoto into using his fire. He could try to paint the picture that he wanted his classmate to show his full potential, but was second guessing the morality of bringing up the past.
What should he do?
"Hey Midoriya! Midnight's been waiting for you!"
Izuku turned to see Sato speedwalking closer.
"Tokoyami and Mina just finished. You're up."
Crap
Izuku thanked his classmate and ran off, scolding himself for losing track of time and not coming up with a plan to beat Bakugo.
Shit, he had to face Bakugo of all people.
Midnight finally caught a glimpse of movement from the darkened entrance, and was greeted by the green and red haired teen rushing to take his place in the arena.
"It's not polite to keep a woman waiting," the heroine scolded, earning only a nervous chuckle from the student.
Midnight just gave an exasperated sigh and hopped off the arena.
Bakugo glared, more than pissed that he had been forced to wait for his chance to kick the damned nerd's ass.
"I apologize for the late start, but now that both opponents have arrived, the second match shall begin."
And begin they did.
"Die!" Bakugo shouted as he rocketed forward with his right hand stretching outward.
Izuku knew this move was coming and quickly countered. A massive collection of his signature red and black substance emerged from his hand and grew into a makeshift shield.
Only to be nearly disintegrated by one of his classmate's explosions.
Izuku recoiled in pain, both from the intense heat and sound and tried to put some distance between them, but Bakugo persisted and kept launching himself with expert maneuverability.
Izuku swore under his breath as he realized he had forgotten about Scarlet's vulnerability to intense sounds, and apparently fire as well.
"Stop running you damn nerd!"
Bakugo raised his left hand and let his sweat build up a few moments longer than usual, following Izuku's movements and readjusting his aim before firing.
Izuku put up another shield, this one thicker than before. It gave way all the same and even felt his arm shake as Scarlet responded to the deafening sound of the close explosion.
"Sinkhole Tentacles!"
Izuku shouted the attack name and plunged his hands into the ground. Cracks in the arena approached his opponent, who immediately launched himself into the air just before a handful of tendrils broke through the group where he had been standing.
The extensions of Izuku's body raced towards him, and not one was spared from the blonde's attacks.
Ashened bits of the material fell to the ground. As did Bakugo, with an angry yet prideful sneer aimed at his foe.
"Damnit," Izuku muttered, and was once again on the defensive.
He hated not being able to fight back. Each explosion send soundwaves that threatened to tear Scarlet away piece by piece, and each impact burned so much more than they had when they were still in middle school.
It made him sick to think that Bakugo, out of everyone he knew, had a quirk that was a perfect counter to anything he and Scarlet could do. Even if he tried Red One, the strength boost just was not worth the extra exposure to the two things Izuku discovered to be Scarlet's weaknesses.
"This isn't working,"
"I know. But I don't know what else to do!" Izuku screamed internally, taking a direct hit to the shoulder in the few moments he was slightly distracted.
"Come on you damned nerd! Fight back!"
To an outsider, it might have appeared that Bakugo was encouraging an opponent.
But Izuku knew it was only his pride; Bakugo would not accept a victory unless it was truly earned.
Izuku pushed himself back up, grabbing a chunk of the broken arena to leverage himself.
"Of course!"
Bakugo almost laughed as his former friend stood up. The loser had been able to attack only once this entire fight, and was hopelessly outmatched.
But Bakugo could wait to finish the nerd off. This was not a villain that needed a good beating. Just a pebble in his way to the top. A pebble that had yet to give a fight worth winning.
"Is that all ya got! Is this really the loser that scared half the class? You're still below me!"
Bakugo had just enough time to finish his remarks before another tendril shot out. Not at him this time, but at a piece of debris that was at Izuku's feet.
Then he had to dodge said debris being swung at him like a whip. The chunk shattered upon impact with the ground and sent shards flying in all directions.
Then another flew through the air and crashed at his feet. Dust and specks got in his eyes. Got in his lungs, making his cough as the awful taste of cement coated his throat.
Three more rocks smashed into the ground in front of him, sending up enough particulate to blind him for a moment.
"You think this'll take me out?"
Bakugo charged his hands with sweat, aiming his palms together and igniting them.
"Stun Grenade!"
The two explosions fed each other into a flash of light and sounds. Despite his suspicion that it would have been enough to down his opponent, the blonde readied himself for another onslaught as he blinked as fast as he could to clear his eyes.
Once his sight fully returned, he was greeted to an empty, destroyed arena.
Izuku was nowhere to be seen.
He had won!
A/N: Hopefully this isn't as bad as I think it is. I've had this in my drafts too long so I decided to do less touch ups and post it.
Let me know what you think.