Notes: Back! HAD to take a week off to clear some stuff up. Hope all of you enjoyed your thanksgiving! without further hold ups, enjoy!
The students of class A sat in their private section of the stadium as they watched Cementoss create the battle arena they would be competing on. Some of the students had smiles of excitement to what was in store, especially the ones who didn't qualify for the finals. The ones who did were all waiting in a mix of emotions ranging from nervousness to excitement.
"WHAT IS POPPIN FOLKS, ARE YOU ALL READY FOR THE FINAL EVENT FOR THE FIRST YEARS!?" Mic yelled out over the intercoms earning a roar from the crowd. "NOW LET'S GET THIS THING STARTED, YO!"
Cementoss completed the final block of the fighting stage before walking to the side across from Midnight, the two teachers acting as referees to the matches. They nodded to each other and gave a thumbs up to Mic they were ready. On cue, the first two combatants walked through their respective tunnels and onto the stage.
"FIRST WE HAVE THE ONE ELECTRIFYING THE COMPETITION. FROM THE HERO COURSE, DENKI KAMINARI! VERSUS, THE VINE WIELDING ASSASSIN SNEAKING HER WAY IN HERE. ALSO FROM THE HERO COURSE OF CLASS B, IBARA SHIOZAKI!"
While most of the class was intent on watching what happened, Midoriya couldn't help but look to his left into the other students, noticing a few others missing as they waited below for their match to start after this one. He felt a tightness in his chest in worry for what was going to happen.
Katara was seated in her own waiting room as she could hear the cheers from the first match starting. She however couldn't relax, tapping her foot as her nerves were building inside of her. She had seen Tenya had been getting more serious about his training over the last few weeks, but after what she heard she was truly surprised of what she had found out. It seemed that not only was his drive to win to be like his brother, but it was also coming from the many times she had unknowingly beaten him. All those times through school she was simply trying to outdo herself and get stronger, but it seemed her good friend had taken those times differently. And now it was coming to head today in the very first match. Momo was waiting there with her, the taller teen standing against the wall near the door. She had seen how upset Katara was after she found out her opponent, and she had tried her best to try and console her. Although for the last few minutes they sat in silence.
"Do you want me to get you anything real fast?" Yaoyorozu finally asked her, receiving a shake from her friends head.
"No I'm alright." Katara quietly said, her eyes stayed locked on the ground.
Momo sighed and rubbed her arm. "Even though this is a tournament, I hope you don't hold it against Iida. He just wants to win like all of us do."
"Yeah…" Katara huffed out and glared at the wall. "Is that why he is so set on beating me specifically? To the point he can't even be on a team with me?"
Momo was about to retort, but she knew Katara was speaking the truth. The way Iida was taking this was on a much more personal level than he should be, unwilling to even work with her in the last event. She heard him mentioning his brother earlier, so perhaps he had pressure to live up to. She didn't have family that were heroes, so she didn't know the feeling of family members to try and follow in their footsteps. Katara was wondering the same thing, knowing how much he looked up to Tensei. Before she could think any more about it though, the loud roar from the crowd took over their senses.
"Something big must have happened out there." Katara said as she stood up.
"Yeah, I wonder what happened." Momo responded. The knock on the door made her jump for a moment before it was pushed open, one of the school security staff standing there.
"Miss Katara, your up now." the man said.
"What? Already?" Katara asked in surprise, earning a nod from the man. The last match had only lasted no more than twenty seconds and it was over?
"You are to wait at the entrance now. Good luck to you." he gave a small bow before shutting the door, leaving the two girls alone once again.
Momo looked back to her friend and gave a small shrug. "Well, I guess its time for me to head back. Good luck out there."
Katara gave a small nod to her and smiled. "Thanks. I'll see you afterward."
As Momo left out of the room, Katara sat for a few more moments before she stood straight and placed her hand on her canteen. She took a deep breath before popping her fingers to loosen her nerves. If she was going to have to face him, she wasn't going to let his little grudge get in her way. And if he wanted to prove he was better than her, than she was going to make him earn it.
Walking back to where her class was seated, Momo looked down and saw the stage was already cleared and ready for the next match up. "So what happened in the first match?" She asked out loud.
"Kaminari got his ass handed to him." Jiro couldn't help but grin as she sat back in her chair. "He tried to go all out in the beginning and she tossed his mumbling butt out."
While she was surprised, she remembered that Shiozake girl had a pretty unique quirk and made her curious on the other class B members who qualified. She took her seat next to Jiro, but not before she snuck a quick glance to Bakugo sulking alone in his seat. She swallowed the small lump in her throat knowing she had to face him later, gripping her arm before she noticed Midoriya looking over to her as well. Unlike before however, his face was stern, almost silently asking her how their friend was doing. Momo gave a nod towards him, signaling that Katara was ready. They both looked forward as Present Mic prepared the crowd for the next battle.
"ALRIGHT PEOPLE, ITS TIME TO START THE SECOND MATCH OF THE TOURNAMENT! UP FIRST, WE HAVE THE SPEEDSTER RACING BY ALL THE OTHER COMPETITION! FROM THE HERO COURSE, WE HAVE TENYA IIDA!"
The crowd cheered as Tenya walked up the steps to his side of the arena, his eyes filled with focus and determination. He looked up, furrowing his brow when he saw his friend walk up the steps. He clenched his fist as she locked eyes with him, feeling more determined than ever to win.
"VERSUS… THE GIRL THAT HAS TAKEN THIS FESTIVAL BY STORM! SHE SCORED FIRST IN THE ENTRANCE EXAMS, AND HAS TAKEN FIRST IN THE LAST TWO EVENTS. FROM THE HERO COURSE, KAIRI KATARA!"
An even louder eruption of cheers came out as Katara entered the ring, the audience obviously choosing her as their favorite between the two combatants. Hearing the louder cheers made Katara frown, now seeing she was unknowingly taking the spotlight. She didn't care about that now though, for right now she kept her eyes on Tenya.
Ojiro leaned over the seat in front of him towards Midoriya. "So, who do you think's taking this one?"
"I'm not sure…" Midoriya brought his hand to his chin. "Katara is more versatile with her quirk, but Iida's speed is a huge advantage. Especially with that last move he used in the previous event."
Mina chuckled and leaned onto her knees. "Katara is gonna win this."
"I would think so as well," Tokoyami responded. "But Iida won't be an easy challenge for her. This will be interesting."
Todoroki stayed silent as he stared down at Katara below. He knew if they were to face each other, it wouldn't be until the semi finals. He wanted her to get through this match and the next. He needed to be the one to beat her in front of his father.
Katara took a deep inhale through her nose as she mentally prepared herself. She flipped open the top of her canteen and readied her body. Iida did the same, lowering down into his sprinters stance ready to charge. At this point they didn't need to say anything else to each other, for they knew each wanted to win, and they weren't going to hold back.
"START!"
Tenya acted first and burst forward, his quirk launching him across the ground. Katara reacted and bended out a stream of water out and shot it towards him. His speed however allowed him to quickly duck out of the way and continue forward. Having her second hand ready, Katara pulled out the other half of her water and launched it as well. This time though the opened her palm, causing the new stream to split into four smaller ones and removing any room for him to evade this time. Grunting out, Tenya kicked off the ground and shot out to his left to evade as the multitude of whips slapped into the concrete where he was before.
"I have to be faster…" Iida whispered to himself and charged forward again. "I won't lose this, Katara!"
Frowning, Katara pulled all of the water back before slashing out towards him. Iida dropped to the ground and slid underneath the flying water blade and kicked off the ground leaping into the air above bringing his leg down towards her. Katara dipped her body backwards and avoided the axe kick coming down and flipped her hand upwards creating a water whip from below her feet to shoot up towards him. Iida's eyes widened when he saw he water about to reach his body, igniting his legs and spinning his body midair barely avoiding the rising stream. Katara herself was surprised at his move, ducking down as he threw out a kick midair just missing the top of her head. The moment his foot touched the ground, his quirk launched him forward again and tried another spinning round house kick, but Katara flipped into a back handspring avoiding him once again and shooting out an ice spike.
Iida barely moved his body out of the way, the ice spike tearing through a piece of his shirt. He glared up and watched as she spun her body around and swung her arm upwards to form a small ice spiked barrier between the two of them, just big enough where he couldn't simply run straight through it. He sat back instead of charging forward, seeing in just a few moves he had to rethink his strategy.
"WOW, IN ONLY A FEW SECONDS WE HAD QUITE THE EXCHANGE! THIS IS CERTAINLY A COIN TOSS FOR ME TO CALL!" Mic's voice called out bringing another cheer from the crowd. Iida huffed out in frustration to the commentary, but he had to be honest to her abilities.
"You are truly talented Katara. You are able to react to my speed very well." he admitted out loud.
Katara nodded her head to his compliment. "You're pretty good at dodging my water too."
She knew his speed was very impressive, and if she wasn't careful it would certainly catch her off guard. She also knew his one technique he used in the calvary battle was even faster, hoping she could finish this before he used it. She brought her hands in front of her body and summoned two streams of water that encircled her body. Tenya huffed out as he saw her protection, knowing he couldn't run in like before. He needed to take the risk.
'I have no choice but to use that. If I can get her out of bounds then that will be it.' he pondered to himself. He lowered his body again as his exhaust pipes began heating up, the flames heating up until they were a bright blue.
Katara saw the fire and clenched her teeth. She brought one of her hands down and bended some of the ice below back into water and lifted it up to encase her wrists. "Here he comes."
"Recipro burst!"
Even watching him Katara was shocked by how fast Tenya launched across the arena towards her. She swiped her arms forward shooting off several streams of water, but they only hit air as he was instantly passed her and already behind her body. She tried to spin back and throw another water whip, only to once again miss him entirely.
"nine seconds left!" Iida yelled to himself as he launched towards her again.
Katara jumped back and bended up the ice she made earlier and shot forward a thicker stream towards him, but she was really shocked when his ignited leg swept upward and kicked through her water whip.
"What?" she gasped out as he smirked towards her.
"My legs are stronger than before!" Iida yelled and sped towards her.
Even as she saw him coming, Katara could barely react as he covered the space between them instantly. She tried swiping her water forward, but Tenya's agility dodged her several water streams and was in front of her face. She tried bringing her arm forward, only for his right leg to kick up and knock her arm up and out of the way, leaving her stomach fully exposed. Iida saw his chance and ignited his leg once more and spun his body around, picking up speed as his foot remained outward. Katara could only watch wide eyed his leg whipped around, connecting straight into her ribs and lifting her feet off the ground.
The loud hit reverberated throughout the arena, causing Mina and some of the others to gasp out in shock. "Jeez, that was a hard hit!"
"Iida didn't even try to hold back on that one. Damn…" Sero grimaced at the blow.
Katara herself buckled over from the immense pain in her body, wheezing out from the air being knocked out of her lungs. Before she could even fall to the ground, Tenya grabbed the back of her shirt and bolted across the stage dragging her through the air. The edge of the stage was right there, all he had to do was get her out and he won. He pushed his legs faster, his feet barely touching the ground from his speed. But just before he reached, his legs suddenly locked up causing him to trip and bounce across the ground.
"What the?" he shouted out in confusion, flipping up to his feet and looking down at his legs. When he did, his eyes shot open in shock. "What?"
His exhaust pipes on both legs were frozen shut.
From her spot, Katara wobbled up to her feet with her arm still wrapped around her stomach. Her breathing was hoarse from the intense pain flowing through her. She panted out as she glared to the downed speedster, her hand dripping water from her wrists, the small mount she saved earlier coming in to save her. He gritted his teeth in frustration but saw the rest of her water was far across the stage. If he could still run over, he could pull her and throw her out. Just then however, her palm then swiped through the air, causing Iida to stare in disbelief. "How… you are…"
His words fell silent as she gathered a handful of water, pulling the moisture from the air and into a small ball in her hand. "I'm not that fast at this still…" she huffed out between her breathing. "… But I can do it when necessary!"
She shot the ball forward and froze it into ice striking him in the chest. He winced out from the sudden hit, not able to even process what happened before Katara came in and slammed her body into his throwing him backwards. He flailed out as he fell passed the edge of the arena and onto his back on the grass; outside of the stage.
Midnight grinned and snapped her whip out in front of her. "Iida is out of bounds! Katara wins!"
The crowd screamed out in excitement to the high paced match that concluded, along with the classmates sitting amazed to the performance.
"Woohoo! I told you Katara would take it!" Mina cheered out happily.
Momo blew out a sigh of relief seeing how close the match was. She was worried about what the outcome was going to be, but it seemed to work out for her friends favor. She then noticed Midoriya walking up and towards the stairs. "You aren't going to wait and see how she is doing?" she asked him.
"I would like to… but I need to get down to my own match." he whispered out as he clenched his fists. He wanted to go and prepare himself in the waiting room, but he wanted to see how this match turned out, and was happy he did stay. He gave a small smile to Momo. "Tell her congratulations for me."
Momo almost forgot he was up next, and nodded back to him. "Good luck out there."
On his back down below, Iida's eyes were clenched shut in frustration with himself. "I lost… again."
He sat up from the ground, feeling horrible this is how he demonstrated his abilities in front of his brother. He couldn't even make it to the later rounds, and he was going to live up to Ingenium? He scolded himself for allowing this to happen. His thoughts however were disrupted by the hand reaching down to him. He looked up in surprise to see Katara standing there offering him help up even as she clenched her ribs.
"You did good, Iida." She grunted out through her pain.
"Ohhh! What wonderful sportsmanship!" Midnight squealed out in her own pleasure to the sight.
At first he was surprised, Iida couldn't help but smile himself and take her hand and stood up. As he pulled against her hand though it caused her yelp out in pain from the pressure. Iida's smile dropped when he saw her buckle over, catching her before she dropped. "I can help you to the medical room so you can be healed for your next match."
Silently shaking her head, Katara moved away stood on her own. "Thanks, but I can manage it there." She turned and walked towards the edge of the ring as she glanced back over her shoulder. "It's like you wanted, right? We don't need to rely on each other."
The last words felt like a gut punch to Iida, seeing the upset look on her face. He had wanted to win so badly he was only focused on more than just the goal, but solely on surpassing her. He looked up into the crowd imagining his brother was looking down to him, now worried on what he would be thinking of him at this moment. His eyes turned back to try and say something, but Katara was already down the steps and through her tunnel.
Muah!
Katara winced as Recovery Girls quirk passed through her lips onto Katara's cheek once again, immediately soothing the pain she felt in her side. After a few more moments the elder nurse retracted her lips and smiled.
"So you should feel a little sore for a little, but it will wear away by the time your next match starts." She said with a nod.
"Thank you." Katara reached down and rubbed her stomach, happy only a slight tenderness remained. "It wasn't as bad as my last injury you healed. I think my own healing helped it on the way here."
"Of course. It seemed your own quirk did a lot of it, and there were no broken bones this time. There were some intense bruising to your rib cage, however. You took quite the hit in your match."
Katara frowned to herself. "Yeah, it was quite the hit."
The older woman noticed the look on her face and sighed. "I know you must be upset with your friend, but you shouldn't hold it against him. In competition, sometimes even the closest of people tend to take it too serious and don't hold back."
"It's that I got hurt from him that I'm upset. It's this whole thing he started between us that I don't get." Katara explained, only getting a small chuckle from the nurse.
"Sometimes when you are close to someone, the strive to be stronger is even more apparent. It's human nature to want to succeed, and those who notice those close passing them, they want to try even harder."
Katara sighed and stood up from her seat. "I should head back now. Thanks again."
Recovery Girl gave a nod to her. "Take care, and good luck with your next match. Try not and end up in here again, why don't you?"
Katara chuckled at that and gave a small bow to her before she opened the door back to the hallway. When she walked through however, she was surprised when she bumped into a familiar face standing there.
"Hello Katara…" Iida gave a bow towards her, "I hope you are feeling well."
Furrowing her brow, Katara walked passed him down the hallway. "I'm fine."
Seeing the look on her face made Iida's stomach ache. He ran up and gripped her shoulder. "Katara wait. I need to talk to you."
"What do you need to talk about?" She snapped back. "You determined to not give up and challenge me again?"
"I need to tell you I'm sorry."
That did catch her attention, causing the waterbender to turn and look at him. "What?"
Iida took a deep breath and lowered his head. "I did want to challenge you. Since school started, I saw how truly talented you were. Every event that we competed in, you surpassed me and beat my score. And in this festival, I wanted to prove that I could hold my own against you. And…" he paused as he rubbed his head. "I may have taken it a little too far."
She frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "A little?"
He blushed in embarrassment and looked back at her. "Is your stomach okay? I may have hit you harder than expected."
Katara huffed out. "I am fine now, don't worry. And I am not upset with your attack. It's a competition so I assumed you wanted to win. But I felt like you were almost angry with me for winning."
Iida closed his eyes for a moment before he chuckled. "Maybe I was. You had barely arrived here in Japan and already you are so good. I didn't want to be left behind, but now I see the truth."
She raised her eyebrow in confusion. "And what is that?"
He smiled down at her. "You are better than me."
Katara sat silent for a few moments before she finally laughed, rubbing her arm as she smiled back. "I appreciate it, but you better not just accept that." she reached up and patted his shoulder. "I wouldn't like a rival to slack off his training."
Iida's mouth dropped a bit before he smirked back at her. "Are you sure you want a rematch sometime?"
"I think you may need to get a little faster next time." She teased as she turned away laughing, happy when she heard him chuckle behind her as they walked. She couldn't stay mad at him. Katara knew better than anyone how jealousy can affect someone. Hell, when it got to her, she ended up getting her friends all captured by pirates.
"Katara…"
Hearing her name, Katara turned up to him as he came by her side. "Yes?"
"Thank you."
She smiled to herself as they came out into the sunlight of the arena. "You're welcome."
as the two of them made it down the steps, the others in the class turned back to their arrival.
"Yo, that was a cool match! Sick fight down there!" Kirishima gave a thumbs up to the both of them.
"That was really good Katara. Ribbit." Tsu nodded up. "Nice try, Iida."
Iida gave a nod back to her and walked down and took a seat near Uraraka, the gravity girl patting his shoulder. "Hey, nice try. That was really close." she said with a smile.
"Thank you, Uraraka," he smiled back at her, "It was a great match for the both of us. I just have to be stronger next time." He paused to take out his phone and look through his history. He raised his eyebrow in surprise when he noticed Tensei had not called him yet after the match. He assumed he would have been contacted after to give his thoughts to their match.
"Perhaps he wants to give me some time to myself…" He sighed to himself and slipped his phone back in his pocket. He would just wait for his brother to call him later then.
Katara looked over and saw an empty seat near Yaoyorozu, the dark haired girl smiling up at her. Smiling back, Katara walked over and laid her bottom down in the spot.
"That was amazing. Great job down there." Momo happily said.
"Thanks. It was close for both of us." Katara responded. She then noticed Momo continued to stare at her with her eyebrow raised. "What?"
"Are… are you two okay?" Momo asked, motioning towards Iida. "You were really upset before the match started."
Taking a deep breath, Katara nodded to her head. "Yes, we are fine now. We talked about it afterward and it's okay. He just got a little caught up in the competition."
"Well that's good. I was a little worried you would be upset with each other afterward."
"I was… but it's not worth holding onto it over something like this."
Momo nodded in agreement and looked back to the stage. "Well now that you made it passed the first round, you have the next fight to ready yourself."
Katara suddenly remembered Kaminari was in the mach before her, glancing over to the electric teen pouting to himself. Judging by his face she could tell he had lost. She looked over to the bracket on the jumbo monitor and saw she had to battle Shiozake next. From what she could remember, she was that vine haired girl on Kendo's team from the calvary battle. Before she could begin thinking about the class B student, she noticed Todoroki's eyes locked onto her. All other senses seemed to be blocked as the two teens stared at each other, the conversation from the tunnel coming back into Katara's mind. She also knew if she continued passed her next opponent, she would be facing him down there. She turned away and swallowed the small lump in her throat, looking back down to the arena below.
"ALRIGHTY FOLKS! IT'S TIME FOR THE THIRD MATCH OF THE FESTIVAL! FIRST, WE HAVE ONE WHO HAS PROVEN TO EVERYONE THAT CLASS B IS HERE TO SHOW WHAT THEY GOT. ENTERED IN THROUGH RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE HERO COURSE, JUZO HONENUKI! VERUS, THIS GUY LIT UP THE OBSTACLE COURSE WITH HIS FLASHY MINE STUNT. ALSO FROM THE HERO COURSE, IZUKU MIDORIYIA!"
"You can do this, Deku! Go get him!" Uraraka cheered out, smiling down happily as she watched her friend walk across the stage. Katara looked over and noticed Momo's hands suddenly clench tight, the taller teens eyes locked onto the arena beneath them.
"Do you think he will be alright?" Yaoyorozu asked, her eyes filled with worry. "It seems every time he tries using his quirk, he gets hurt."
Katara was thinking the same thing unfortunately. Without control, he was bound to get injured somehow from his quirk. She did however remember when he tried saving her from the Nomu back in the USJ, and he was able to land a hit without breaking anything. She could only hope that somehow pull something like that off now.
"He will be fine. He's strong, and doesn't know when to give up." Katara said, a smile forming on her face. "He will win this."
Feeling sweat dripping down his forehead, Midoriya popped his fingers as he stared across the stage to his opponent. The skull faced teen was stretching his arms while his lipless mouth grinned towards him. "He made it in through recommendations, just like Yaoyorozu and Todoroki." Midoriya whispered to himself, "So he is obviously very talented. That quirk he used earlier was very strange as well. I'll have to somehow avoid that from getting me."
"NOW LETS GET READY TO GO!" Mic's voice rang through preparing the crowd and combatants.
"START!"
Juzo's foot slammed into the ground, the softening trail of concrete racing out from him towards Midoriya, who in turn leaped out of the way and rolled onto the solid ground. Sprinting forward, Midoriya charged head on along the shifting ground. "If I can avoid his quirk, then I should be fine!"
Juzo only grinned wider at the move. "Nice try, but I can do more than that!" he turned and pressed his hand into the ground below him, causing the once shifting ground to stop moving and the ground surrounding him suddenly softened as well. Midoriya yelped and skidded to a stop before he fell into the rippling ground.
"Woah! That was close…" he jumped backwards and caught his balance before grunting in frustration. Seeing his opponent could change the ground to his liking means he couldn't just run in. Now Midoriya saw he was at the disadvantage now. "At least he can't get to me through his own quirk." Although not more than a second later did Juzo dive into the mud like ground and disappear.
"Nevermind that!" Midoriya yelled to himself as he watched Juzo leaped through the surface straight towards him. Jumping back, Izuku barely evaded the others incoming punch as he regained his footing. While still surprised, Midoriya gritted his teeth and charged forward as well with a punch of his own. The two exchanged in several attempted hits on the other with nothing landing before Midoriya tried another swinging punch for Juzo to duck underneath and slam his hand into the ground again. Izuku yelped in shock as he felt his legs suddenly sinking into the ground.
'Crap! I didn't think he would use his quirk so close!' Izuku panicked inside as he felt his knees disappear into the muck beneath himself. With nothing to grab onto he had no way of pulling himself out. His mind ran a mile a minute, but it all came down to a simple solution; to break himself free. He gritted his teeth and aimed his left hand down to the ground. "Smash!"
The powerful eruption of air from his flick ripped the soft ground apart as if it were water and lifted Izuku into the air several feet and free from capture. Juzo himself was nearly blown off his feet from the powerful gust. "What in the hell is that power? What kind of quirk is that?"
Landing back on his feet, Midoriya gritted his teeth as his left middle finger throbbed in pain, He mentally cheered for himself however seeing he was able to get out of his opponents quirk. Knowing he couldn't just run up and attack because of the softening ground, perhaps if he used One for All a few times he may actually be able to knock him out of bounds and end this even faster.
"It's risky… but it's the best plan I got!" Midoriya lifted his arm and aimed towards his foe once more, his next finger glowing as he charged his flick.
Juzo saw his attack and grunted out. "Why don't you try this on for size then!" he yelled and slammed his foot into the ground once again, creating another surge of softening ground towards Midoriya. Seeing the incoming ground made Midoriya glare and lower to aim at the surge of mud like concrete.
"Smash!"
Another flick ripped the channel of ground out from the arena the force slamming into Juzo and threw him across the stage. The class B student winced from the pain in his side from landing and looked up to Midoriya across the arena, seeing the two broken fingers on his hand now. "What the hell are you doing? You're breaking your own body doing those attacks." he asked in confusion. Midoriya forced his fist to clench as he glared through the pain.
"I don't have a quirk that doesn't hurt myself like you do. I… am not that lucky like everyone else…" Midoriya grunted out, a grin forming on his face, "But I want to be a hero more than anything in the world. If I let my own quirk get in the way of that dream, then what kind of a hero could I be!?"
Juzo's eyes widened in surprise to those words. He couldn't help but respect the heart of someone so dedicated to their dream. Smirking back, he slammed both of his hands into the ground activating his quirk again. "Alright then, let's get this going once more!"
Over half the stadium suddenly turned soft from his power, Midoriya backing up as the liquid like ground came closer. As Juzo dove into the muck, Izuku readied his left arm again and fired another flick straight down the center of the pool ripping the stone apart splitting the softened ground into two sections. He frowned from the new wave of pain and to the fact he saw that he had missed his target, his eyes darting back and forth between the two pools now. Unsure which side Juzo was on, he prepared both hands and aimed each on to their own target.
"Double smash!"
Twin shockwaves rushed out from the green haired teen and ripped into both sections of the softened stage. Looking through his squinted eyes, Midoriya could make out Juzo flailing inside of the left section. "I found you!" Sprinting forward, he clenched his right fist and readied himself. As soon as the force stopped, Juzo stood up trying to catch his breath, but was shocked as he saw his opponent nearly on top of him. He quickly reactivated his quirk and created a softened path in front of Midoriya who leaped through the air over it.
"The egg in the microwave…" Midoriya hissed through his teeth as his fist began to glow. "It won't explode. It won't… it won't… It won't!"
The crowd gasped out as Midoriya landed a solid hit to Juzo's face sending him spinning backwards. While he was dizzy from the hit, the skull faced teen reached down through the air and hit the ground once more. Midoriya's eyes widened as another surge of softened ground rushed out beneath him, having no time to think of a plan as his feet began to make contact with the surface. Panicking, he could only raise his right fist up and bring it back down towards the ground without holding back.
"SMASH!"
Katara could feel the force of Midoriya's next attack rip through the stadium as her hair was whipped behind her. The others all sat in disbelief to the eruption of power coming from below. Both her and Momo leaned forward trying to see through the thick cloud of dust that formed from the impact into the ground. After a few seconds the air began to clear, and they both noticed a single finger standing in the center of the destroyed ring still. It was hard to make out, but they could eventually make out the familiar green hair and smiled.
"Honenuki is out of bounds," Midnight announced, "Midoriya wins!"
The crowd erupted in cheer to the destructive match that just concluded, Katara sighing in relief as she sat back in her chair. She smiled over to Momo to tell her why she shouldn't have worried, but the look on her friends face kept her silent. Yaoyorozu's eyes were widened in shock as she raised her hand to cover her mouth, a look of fear plastered to her. Katara turned back to the arena, and felt her mouth drop open as the dust cleared more.
Midoriya was standing, yes, but to say he won the match was hard to admit. His left hand fingers were all broken and disjointed, the deep red bruising covering all of his digits. His right arm was in even worse shape, hanging limp to his side and dripping blood from a deep gash across his knuckles. His face was etched in pain even as he stood victorious, looking up to the teachers section of the stadium. He met eyes with All Might who tried to smile and show his admiration to winning, but the hero couldn't ignore the feeling in his stomach.
'Midoriya, you have won your match, but if you are not able to recover fully, you won't be able to win this tournament.' All Might whispered internally seeing his pupil in pain. He stood up and made his way towards the medical bay to meet with him there.
Alone in the stadium hallway, Todoroki took several sips from the water fountain. He stood up and shut his eyes for a few moments, letting the calm and silent air clear his thoughts for the next match. He had already been thinking about Katara's possible showdown later in the tournament, but after seeing Midoriya he had another on his mind. To actually watch his abilities for an entire match allowed him to really see what he was capable of. As he rounded the corner however, he scowled when he saw a single man leaning against the wall.
"What are you doing here?" He growled out to his father.
"Is that a way to talk to your father?" Endeavor scoffed out. "I came to give you advice on your match."
Shoto gritted his teeth and looked away. "I don't need any advice from you."
"Clearly, since your strategy has worked out so well during this festival." Endeavor sneered, not caring about the glare he received. "You lost in the race and you came in last during that team match."
"Did you come just to criticize me?" Shoto grunted and began to walk passed his dad. "The festival isn't over yet."
"Yes, and you are only causing yourself trouble by being so stubborn. I will say that girls abilities are quite surprising, but you are being a fool by letting her counter you like you have been doing. You would easily overcome that by using your other half."
Frost crept up Shoto's arms as he listened to those words. He glared back over his shoulder to the flame hero standing there, his heart rate rising even higher as he looked into those blue eyes he despised so much. "If you think your little pep talk will change my mind, it will not work. I don't need your power to win this tournament."
Endeavor grumbled in annoyance watching his son walk away from him. "That last boy will cause you trouble if you continue this little temper tantrum you are on. This festival is more than just a first place trophy. It's the time to show the world how powerful my lineage is now. You believe you can do this without my fire? What will you do when you reach your limit with your right side?"
Shoto ignored his father's words and continued down the hall. His teeth clenched together in hatred as he looked ahead to the open doorway to the stage ahead. With his moment of peace destroyed, he could only think of one way to get is frustration out.
As Cementoss finished repairing the arena, some of class A chatted about the match about to start, but Katara and a few others began to grow curious as another classmate had failed to return from his completed battle. Both her and Momo continued to glance over their shoulders to the steps waiting to see Midoriya come back, but they were still met with an empty staircase.
"What would be taking him so long to come back here?" Yaoyorozu worryingly asked.
"Well he probably went to the medical room to see Recovery girl like I did." Katara responded, "He… did hurt himself quite a bit."
Momo frowned thinking back to the match she just witnessed, gripping her arm remembering the look of pain on his face. "But will he be okay? They had to take some extra time to fix the stage and he still hasn't come out."
Katara wanted to be positive and hope for the best… but she was beginning to worry a little herself. Watching that last match she saw him break more bones than she had seen all year. She could only hope he was feeling better and could get back here soon. She then saw the fire light up on the stage below as the two combatants walked towards each other. While she was still thinking of her friend, she couldn't help but be curious on what was going go happen here.
"ALRIGHTY Y'ALL! SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY, BUT LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD AGAIN! THIS MATCH HAS THIS STICKY GUY READY TO TAPE UP HIS FOES! FROM THE HERO COURSE, HANTA SERO! VERSUS… THIS ICY MONSTER HAS FROZEN EVERYONE ELSE IN THEIR TRACKS! FROM THE HERO COURSE THROUGH RECOMMENDATIONS, SHOTO TODOROKI!"
Leaning forward slightly, Katara stared down at the arena with an intense gaze. She had not been able to really see Todoroki in a fight since his mock battle ended in a few seconds, and against someone with range like Sero it meant he had to watch himself. She was really curious to see how this was going to play out.
Sero stretched his arms over his head and sighed. "Awe man, going up against you is not what I expected. But…"
"START!"
Sero smirked and launched his tape out encasing Todoroki's chest. "I don't wanna lose though!"
Katara's eyes widened as she watched Sero whip his arms around pulling Todoroki across the stage. Her surprise however, was nothing compared to what she felt after Shoto slammed his right foot into the arena.
Everything in the waterbenders field of vision became a wall of blue and white in only a few seconds. The glacier of ice erupting out from the stage engulfed an entire half of the stadium in an instant, the powerful force shaking the very foundation of the arena. Katara's mouth hung open in complete shock as she followed the mountain of ice up into the sky and out over the top of the high festival lights over a hundred feet above her head. She looked back down to see the ice user standing below, his eyes glaring out as he exhaled a cloud of frost from his mouth and shattered the frozen tape from his body. Even Present Mic was silenced in shock from the display of power.
She knew he was powerful, but nothing prepared her for this. Even a full team of waterbenders would have struggled to create such a massive formation of ice… and he did it instantly by himself.
The ref Midnight stood half frozen on the side of the arena, shivering as she looked to the boy stuck in the ice. "T-tell the truth S-Sero, can you move?"
Sero shivered horribly from his ice prison, only his face sticking out of the glacier. "O-o-of course not. Ow…."
"Sero is i-immobilized. Todoroki wins!"
Grunting out to himself, Todoroki walked up and placed his left hand onto Sero's frozen body. He frowned as the cloud of steam erupted out as the ice melted. "I'm sorry. I went overboard…" he hissed out as he looked up to his father glaring down at him. "… I was angry."
Katara noticed the direction of his gaze and followed it to see Endeavor, feeling her heart rate jump instantly. It was not out of fear but of anger this time, thinking back to what Shoto told her in the tunnel. She now understood why he was so distant from anyone, and why even after winning his match now… he looked so sad.
Notes: First half of the first rounds in the books! now i honestly never planned for Iida to become so jealous of Katara, but it felt like a cool addition to the story. But now we have Todoroki to worry about later.
Fun part is most of the matches to write still are all different from the canon, so be ready for some interesting fights! till next time!