You could feel the anticipation in the air as the crowd waited for the all important one-on-one tournament to begin. After all, this was the one event that everyone was waiting to see. Following the announcement of the first bracket, it was hard to miss the spectators, pro heroes included, placing their bets to see who would come out on top. From what the 1-B students could gather, Bakugou and Todoroki were the favorites to win it all. However, Shiozaki, Midoriya, Tokage and Tetsutetsu seemed to be amongst the list of notable contenders as well.
As the students of class 1-B took their seats in their assigned section, Tokage, Tetsutetsu, Shiozaki and Kendou all decided to sit together to cheer on their classmate. The only person in their class not present at the moment besides Midoriya was Awase since his match was up next.
Everyone was curious as to how this first fight was going to play out. Based on everything that they had heard, Todoroki was probably the strongest amongst the first years. And having the ability to freeze anything with a mere touch was certainly one to be feared.
"This guy's supposed to be Endeavor's son, right?" Tsuburaba asked no one in particular.
"Yeah, it's weird how he has the exact opposite quirk."
"He doesn't." Monoma interjected, earning a few curious looks. The 'copy' quirk user then passed the boy his phone to show him the profile for the heterochromatic teen. "He has a dual quirk. He can use both flames and ice."
"Seriously?"
"I wonder why he hasn't shown off that part of his quirk yet. It would've been quite effective to use during the cavalry battle." Shishida stated while adjusting his glasses.
"I don't think it really matters though." Honenuki was next to speak.
"Why not?"
"Because Moptop's gonna win." Tokage was the one to answer.
"What makes you so sure?"
"It doesn't matter if Todoroki can use ice or fire. He's at a disadvantage when it comes to quirks. This fight will be over pretty quickly."
"You seem pretty confident in Midoriya-kun's skill." Yanagi gave a curious look.
"Of course I am."
Over in the 1-A section, the rest of their classmates were having a completely different conversation.
"So does anyone know the deal with this Midoriya guy?" Ojiro asked around.
"Beats me." Kaminari shrugged.
"He's kind of plain looking, isn't he?"
"I wasn't even paying attention to him during the last round. Now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing any of the 1-B guys except for that annoying blonde kid and the furry guy's team." Said Ashido as she racked her brain to see if she could remember the greenette.
"Do you think he even stands a chance?"
"Against Todoroki, probably not." Sero sneered.
At the other end of the booth, Uraraka decided to keep quiet. She was pretty sure that her and Iida were the only ones in their class that had ever seen the boy use his quirk. Part of her wanted to blow the whistle and inform her classmates of his powers. But seeing, as she still owed the guy for saving her butt back at the entrance exam and her verbal folly a few weeks ago, she decided to keep her mouth shut.
"What do think, Ochako-chan?" Asui asked the brunette.
"I think that this round's gonna be real interestin'." The girl simply said.
"It doesn't matter what you losers think. Deku's gonna fucking lose!" Bakugou angrily voiced his opinion.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, the time is now. The moment that you've all been waiting for! Our one-on-one battle tournament!"
The crowd erupted into cheers and howls once Present Mic's voice came through the stadium speakers.
"Now, our first competitor from the hero course's Class 1-A. His blood may run hot but he's as cool as ice. He also got admitted through recommendations. Please give it up for Shouto Todoroki!"
More cheers followed as everyone focused in on the son of the number two hero.
"Next up, from the hero course's class 1-B. He tied for the top spot on the written exam and got third place on hero course practical exam. Izuku Midoriya!"
"Oh wow, I didn't know Midoriya-san scored third on the entrance exam." Shoda stated.
As he made his approach to his end of the ring, Midoriya took a moment to look at his opponent. The heterochromatic teen was giving off an aura of cold intimidation that sent a metaphorical chill down his spine. He had almost no real information on this guy. And the fact that he got into U.A. on recommendations means that he was powerful if not very skilled.
'I'm pretty certain about him needing to have contact with the ground to use is quirk. I should probably try and just float him out of the ring as soon as Midnight-sensei starts the match.' He told himself while thinking over his strategy. 'But just to be safe, I'm going to take to the air so he doesn't freeze my feet.'
"Alright boys, I want a good clean match. No hits below the belt and no excessive use of force. Do you both understand?" The two boys gave a quick nod to the deviously dressed referee.
"Let the first match, begin!" Midnight shouted with a wave of her whip.
The second the words left her lips, Todoroki sent out an absolutely massive wave of ice towards his opponent. If the heterochromatic teen's goal was to show off his power, then he definitely succeeded. Nearly a third of stadium was frozen over once the initial shock settled and the temperature had dropped significantly over the entire area.
"What...the...fuck?" Kamakiri gawked at the glacier in total disbelief.
"This…is insane."
"Did this guy just make a fucking iceberg?" Tsuburaba needed confirmation just to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
"Where's Midoriya-kun?" Yanagi whispered in a worried tone.
The 1-B students began searching the ice with their eyes. But none of them could see their green haired classmate. They were all absolutely certain that he was somewhere in that attack.
"Up there!" Tokage suddenly pointed towards the middle of the arena.
~Class 3-A~
"Ooh Tamaki-kun, look! That one can fly!" A bubbly blunette blurted out in a jovial fashion.
"I'd be terrified of being up that high?" A boy with pointed ears mumbled into his desk.
"And he's adorable too! I bet Ryukyu would love him. I'm gonna send her a text. You think that's a good idea too, right?! He'd match our group's theme perfectly!"
Back in the ring, Todoroki took a second to look at the ice wall that he created. He definitely overused his quirk with that attack, but he needed to send a message. And he would no doubt have an ample amount of time to recover until his next match.
"This match is ov-" The boy was cut off when he suddenly felt his feet leave the ground. For a split second, Todoroki lost his composure at this unfamiliar sensation and began looking around. Something wasn't right, that attack should've completely immobilized his opponent. Before another thought could cross his mind, he heard someone in the crowd yell and point towards the sky.
The boy upturned his gaze to see his opponent floating in mid air. Well above the wall of ice that he had just made with his hand extended out towards him. 'He can fly?'
'I just lucked out big time.' Midoriya breathed a sigh of relief. 'If I hadn't decided to immediately get off the ground, I would've been frozen.'
The green haired teen took a second to look over his opponent who he was levitating towards the boundary line. Based on the fact that Todoroki hadn't tried to launch an attack at him while he was is the air, Midoriya surmised that his earlier assumptions about the boy's quirk were correct. With no intention of delaying things any further, the verdant teen used his telekinesis to float the boy over the boundary line and set him down on the grass outside of the ring.
"S-Shouto Todoroki i-i-is out of b-bounds!" A half frozen Midnight announced as Cementoss rushed to her aid.
A brief silence fell over the crowd before a massive roar erupted in the stadium.
Somewhere in the hero section, a certain flame hero had accidentally melted part of the wall behind him.
"Wait…what?!" Mineta shouted what everyone else in 1-A seemed to be thinking.
"This guy just beat Todoroki?"
"No way." Hagakure whispered out in a bewildered tone.
"What the heck is his quirk?"
"It appears as though this Izuku Midoriya is not one to be taken lightly." Tokoyami simply stated.
"Yeah…I pretty much expected that to happen." Uraraka laughed only loud enough for Asui to hear her.
While the other 1-A students were still shaking their heads in disbelief at how easy of a victory that appeared to be, one student was unusually quiet. A whirlwind of emotions were going through Bakugou's head at the moment and none of them were pleasant. He didn't know whether or not he wanted to strangle someone or punch them in the face. He doesn't know when or how that shitty loser got a quirk. But he was going to find out. Because anyone who tries to make a fool of Katsuki Bakugou was going to pay the price.
"I don't get it." Kaminari started. "If this guy can fly, why didn't he do that during the obstacle race? He probably would've came in first place."
"That Monoma guy did say that most of the 1-B students intentionally held back. Maybe he was one of them?"
"Yes, that does appear to be the case." Yaoyorozu agreed.
"Hell yeah, Moptop! I told you guys he was gonna win!" Tokage nearly jump up out of her seat as she cheered loud enough for the 1-A students to hear her.
"Looks like Tokage-san was right."
"That was a close one wasn't it?" Honenuki let out a sigh of relief.
"I'll say."
"It looks like Midoriya-kun just set the bar pretty high. I hope you guys are ready."
"Awase-kun is up next. Let's hope our class can go two for two."
~Blizzard Hero Agency, Saitama Prefecture~
"Man, I bet Endeavor ain't too happy about that!" The black haired woman known as Ozehana began laughing so hard that she had to clutch her sides. The green haired woman known as Fubuki decided not to say anything before standing up and walking towards her office.
"Where're you going boss?"
"To file my internship request. I've seen more than enough."
"Sweet!"
A few minutes later, Midoriya returned to his classmates while everyone waited for the next match to begin. There was a bit of a delay considering they had to bring in a crew of people with fire quirks to break down the ice. But this just gave everyone more than enough time to congratulate their new Ace.
"Midoriya-kun/san!" Everyone practically shouted at the boy. His face immediately heating up at all of this unwanted attention.
"Dude, you just beat the son of the number two hero! You're probably about to get a ton of internship offers off of that alone." Tetsutetsu told him.
"Yo Moptop, I saved you a seat." Tokage pointed to the open spot next to her.
Midoriya did plan on sitting by himself over in the back corner. But it would've been rude to just outright deny the girl's offer. And he didn't want to come off that way to his classmates. Overall, he didn't really know what the others thought of him, but it wasn't really a good idea to lessen their opinion.
"Uh...t-thank you, Tokage-san."
"You did well, Midoriya-kun." Yanagi whispered.
"To be honest, you probably just became one fo the favorites to win the tournament, Midoriya-kun." Kendou gave him a quick smile.
"You think so?" The boy said with a slight chuckle while rubbing the back of his head. It still felt weird for him to receive any type of praise. He just wasn't used to the feeling. A part of him wanted to be happy about it. But deep down he knew that the other students wouldn't have been half as nice to him if he didn't have his quirk.
"Awase-kun is up next. Let's hope that he can beat that 1-A loser." Monoma said smugly.
The next match featured Awase versus the vice-representative from class 1-A, Tenya Iida. To say that things were over rather quickly would be an accurate assessment. As it turns out, the indigo haired teen had some type of speed quirk. The headband wearing student didn't even have a chance to blink or use his quirk to weld his feet to the ground before being forced out of the ring.
'Iida-san's quirk is definitely powerful, it bears a resemblance to the pro hero Ingenium's. The two of them are probably related. I'm going up against him in the next round. I don't know how long he can use that speed boost of his, but I should try and avoid his reach.'
"Poor Awase-san, he stood no chance." Tsunotori said.
"Welp, I better head down to the waiting area." Tetsutetsu stood up and began stretching out his shoulders. After Shiozaki and Kaminari was his match against Bakugou. The silver haired teen was more than a bit excited to show his stuff.
"Knock 'em dead." Tokage shot him a thumbs up.
"Hey Midoriya, you know this guy, right? You got any advice on how to beat him?"
The green haired teen hesitated for a moment while he thought of an answer. Tetsutetsu's quirk was ideal for this kind of thing, but Bakugou was never one to be taken lightly.
"He's a lot smarter than he lets on, so don't underestimate him. His battle instincts are also very good." He said before giving one last piece of advice. "Also...more than likely he'll start the fight off with a big right, so look out for that."
"Thanks man!" The 'steel' quirk user shot him a thumbs up before taking his leave.
"You sure do know a lot about this guy." Tokage arched an eyebrow at him. "The two of you fight before or something?"
"Something like that." Midoriya simply said. His face slightly shifting into a darkened expression.
'Okay, these two definitely have history.'
Shiozaki versus Kaminari proved to be another quick victory. The electric quirk user tried to fire off what looked to be a maximum voltage attack only to be quickly subdued by Shiozaki's vines. This match was the second fastest so far, being over in less than fifteen seconds.
'Kaminari-san simply drew the short straw for this match. Shiozaki-san's quirk is the perfect counter for his electricity, and she has the skill to use it both offensively and defensively. If I remember correctly, she came in fourth on the entrance exam with a very good score.'
Tetsutetsu versus Bakugou ended up being the longest match of the tournament so far. To put it simply, it was a battle of endurance. The 1-B student took his classmate's advice and was ready for a big right swing from Bakugou. He was able to block it in time and tried to follow up with a big punch of his own, but the ashe blonde teen was somehow able to dodge it. What followed was essentially Tetsutetsu taking wave after wave of explosions until his body finally overheated and gave out. But he did manage to land a clean gut punch on the boy that made him stumble. The entire display lasted about ten minutes before the silver haired teen hit the ground from exhaustion.
'Tetsutetsu-san honestly lasted longer than I expected. And Bakugou's ferociousness is just as bad I remember. If we both win our next fights then I'll have to go up against him in the semi-finals.'
"This Deidara wannabe sure is tough, isn't he?" Kaibara said.
"He fights like a wild animal." Shishida added.
The following match was the one that Tokage was the most curious about. This Hitoshi Shinsou guy from the general studies was the one that was on a team with Tetsutetsu and Kendou. She was interested in what type of quirk the guy had but her friends couldn't really give her a straight answer.
In the waiting room, she watched the television screen with rapt attention. The purple haired boy was going up against the pink girl from 1-A. She didn't know what her quirk was. But judging by the confident smirk on her face, it had to be something good.
Merely a few seconds after Midnight lowered her whip, Tokage was stunned by what she saw. Instead of battling, Ashido simply turned around and walked out of the ring. Making Shinsou the winner without so much as lifting a finger. To say that the green haired girl was confused would be an understatement. But she now had a better understanding of what she was up against.
Unfortunately, the girl didn't really have much time to think about it before the loudspeaker told her to report to the ring.
'Alright Setsuna, time to go out there and show 'em what you got!'
"Alright ladies and germs, let's move on to the next match." Present Mic shouted into the microphone. "First up is the vice-rep from the hero course's class 1-B. Yet another student who was admitted through recommendations, Setsuna Tokage!"
"Don't lose, dammit!" Tetsutetsu hollered from the 1-B booth.
"And her opponent from the hero course's class 1-A. He may be plain looking but his powers are marvelous, give it up for Hanta Sero!"
The moment Midnight began the match, Tokage was briefly thrown off guard when Sero unleashed what appeared to be a line of tape from his elbow and wrapped it around her body. The black haired student from 1-A proceeded to use this opportunity to try and fling the girl out of bounds. However, Tokage had other plans.
The 'lizard tail splitter' user detached her top half from her bottom half before her feet could reach the boundary line. Needless to say, Sero was so thrown off by seeing this that he loosened his grip on the rest of her body. With that momentary lapse in judgement, Tokage broke up her top half and sent her arms flying towards him. The resulting uppercut was enough put the black haired teen out of commission.
"Hanta Sero is unable to continue. Setsuna Tokage is the winner!" Midnight shouted with a bit more enthusiasm than she did for the first few matches.
'Man that was a close one.' The girl thought to herself while walking down the steps and giving a polite wave to the crowd. 'If I had been anyone else, I might've lost.'
The following match pitted Yanagi against the representative of Class 1-A, Momo Yaoyorozu. Tokage remembered the girl from the recommendations exam and she had possibly one of the most broken quirks that she's ever heard of. But she was confident in her classmate's skills.
When the match began, Yaoyorozu immediately created some sort of bo staff and iron shield and charged directly at Yanagi. Yet the moment she was in range of her quirk, the grey haired teen used her 'poltergeist' to rip both objects from her grasp. Yaoyorozu hesitated for a moment and reacted by forming another bo staff, only to get a similar result.
With three objects now under control, Yanagi turned the weapons on their creator and used them to strike the girl in three separate places at the same time. The force of the impacts were more than enough knockout the raven haired teen and Yanagi was declared the winner in less than a minute.
'Yaoyorozu-san's quirk is nothing short of amazing, but Yanagi-san is just too skilled. She has a level of finesse and control that I don't really think that I can match right now. If her weight limit and range weren't so restricted, I don't think I'd be able to stand a chance.'
The final match of the first round was between Kendou and Eijiro Kirishima from 1-A. It was probably one of the more anticlimactic fights of the day seeing as Kirishima decided to take the direct approach and tried to get into a slugfest with class rep of 1-B. Once it was clear that the red haired teen had no long range capabilities, Kendou enlarged her hand, grabbed the boy tight enough to where he couldn't move and tossed him out of the ring.
"Hey...this guy's quirk is the same as your's, Metalhead." Tokage grinned at her friend.
"Tch, mine's better." Tetsutetsu jokingly replied.
'Kendou-san's dangerous at close range. I remember her saying that she was a martial artist. It's best to just keep her at a distance. And Kirishima-san's approach was just too straightforward. He didn't really stand a chance.'
"Damn, these 1-B guys are no joke. All of them seem pretty powerful and their quirks are hard to work around." Ojiro voiced his opinion.
"That general studies kid is a problem too, gero."
"I still don't even remember what happened during our match." Ashido groaned in shame.
"Bakugou-san and Iida-san have their work cutout for them. Especially Iida-san since he'll have to go against that Midoriya guy." Rin added.
"I'm pretty sure that's the guy who tripped me up during the end of the obstacle course." Sero scowled
"I guess we shouldn't have been sleeping on the other class so bad."
Inside the faculty viewing area, the teachers were giving their own assessments of the first round.
"Well, Kan-kun. It seems like your class decided to show up after all." Thirteen told the white haired man.
"I'll say." Snipe chuckled while twirling his empty pistol. "I bet Aizawa's gotta be pissed that most of his students got eliminated so easily. I wouldn't be surprised if he expelled one of them after the tournament was over just to save face."
Hound Dog was next to speak up. "According to social media, Midoriya's now one of the favorites along with Bakugou."
"Isn't that the kid that you and Aizawa fought over after the entrance exams?"
"Yeah." Kan nodded proudly. 'My students are amazing! I have the best class ever!'
"What's his deal? He doesn't strike me as the flashy type, but his quirk is top notch. He kind of reminds me of Tornado with how he uses his powers to fly around like that. Are they related?"
"According to him, they're not. Like most of my class, Midoriya's the quiet type. I think he tries to avoid attention more than anyone else. But his grades are excellent and he definitely seems like more of a "thinker" than a "fighter"."
While that conversation was going on, Toshinori Yagi was looking over the profile for the boy in question. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about this green haired wonder seemed familiar. The blonde haired man had a feeling that he had met him somewhere before.
The boy performed very well in all of their heroics classes up until now and he seemed very bright. Like Kan said, he seemed to shy away from attention based on what he had seen and didn't talk a lot. But he was a good student nonetheless. However, Yagi could pinpoint a few times during class where he caught Midoriya shooting him an uncomfortable glare. Something that didn't sit right with him.
"Is something the matter, Toshinori-kun?" Nezu asked the emaciated blonde.
"No sir, just marveling at the fine crop of students this year. It appears as though a lot of them have been holding out on me during class."
"Indeed." The bipedal mammal nodded. "Who knows, one of them might even be able to give your favorite student a run for his money."
"Maybe sir." Yagi simply smiled and laughed at his boss' remark.
Author's Notes: How did you guys like those battles? To be honest, pretty much all of these fights were mismatches that heavily favored one side. I didn't feel like writing all of them out, so I just gave a brief summary of the events. (Sorry Awase).
I feel like I already gave my justification for Midoriya and Todoroki's match in the last chapter. I actually double-checked Todoroki's quirk to make sure that he needs to some type of physical contact to be able to freeze things and we all know that he wasn't going to use his fire so easily. On top of that, this was their first ever interaction so Midoriya didn't feel compelled to "save" him. This will be relevant later on the fic.