A/N: Well this took longer than expected.
Monster King: Sorry, I'm not continuing this at all. No sir, not one more chapter. This is just a figment of your imagination.
A10Riddick: Thank you, and wait no longer!
Nathair1: Appreciate it!
"Hey Fumi, we got incoming!"
"Good God that is terrifying," Shishida muttered at the sight of a large, red winged beast with three riders heading their way.
"Hatsume, you said you have capture nets, right?" Tokoyami questioned.
"Yeah! You want me to use my Baby Number 426?" the pink-haired girl excitedly asked.
"Please."
At his request, Hatsume pulled a large gun-like object from behind her back and aimed it towards the quickly approaching team. With a loud puff of air, a medium sized ball was shot out and quickly unfurled into a large net.
"Uh oh."
By the time Izuku saw the net coming it was too late to dodge. The heavy net quickly wrapped around Izuku and his team.
"Gah!" Kaminari and Uraraka groaned as the net tightened around them.
"My wings are caught!" Izuku announced. The four immediately plummeted back to the ground. Midoriya's wings sifted through the net's mesh and created a sphere around them.
"This'll probably be a rough landing so hang on," Izuku suggested from inside the sphere.
"And Team Midoriya has been shot down! Meanwhile Team Bakugo has been chasing Team Shinso around the arena for two and a half minutes!"
"I'm actually surprised. There has not been much of a change in the scores so far. Usually there's a lot of back and forth of the headbands from the start," Aizawa commented.
"Hey Sho, Todoroki's quirk allows him to use fire, right? Why haven't we seen any flames?"
"Maybe he's saving it for later."
"Well that sucked," Kaminari groaned.
"It could have been better but at least we're all unharmed," Momo replied. "But it looks like we need to rethink our strategy. Perhaps we should play it safe and stay in here for the remainder of the battle."
"I don't know. That sounds kinda boring though."
"Uraraka has a point. I really want to get back out there."
"Yeah, let's try to have some fun," Kaminari agreed. Little sparks of static jumped through his hair, indicating his excitement.
"Very well. Before we do, does anyone need anything?"
"Think you could make some kind of taser?" Kaminari requested.
(A/N: Look, I know I don't usually put notes in the middle of the story but I got to a point where I really could not find it in me to keep going with the Cavalry Battle so I'm just going to jump ahead. I know it's random and I'm sorry.)
A loud buzzer rang out, stunning all of the students in the arena and the thousands of viewers in the stands.
"And that's the end of the second event!" Midnight declared. "Let's take a look at the scores!"
At her command, a holographic screen appeared in the middle of the arena, large enough for everyone to read.
"In first place is Tokoyami's team, with a staggering ten million, three hundred and fifty five points. In second place is Team Midoriya with five hundred and five points. Next is Team Bakugo with four hundred and eighty five, and lastly…Team Shinso with three hundred and ten! As many of you have probably guessed, the last event will be a series of one-on-one battles, where-"
"Excuse me Miss Midnight?" Ojiro's voice just barely got the heroine's attention, and she stopped speaking to address the student.
"I…I don't think I want to partake in the last event. My teammates and I discussed it, and none of us feel like we really earned it, I guess."
"None of us actually remember anything that happened for most of the cavalry battle, and the three of us have decided to give our spots to the next ranked team." Shoda finished explaining the unusual turn of events. Aoyama, who was standing between the two, simply stood there with his head drooped.
"Are you sure? This is a big chance for you three," Midnight questioned. The trio nodded in unison, which earned a delighted squeal from the teacher. "Such valor and integrity! Very well, the fifth placed team was…Monoma, Rin and Komori from 1-B and Todoroki from 1-A. Would you please decide who continues?"
The team quickly regathered and whispered among themselves. Monoma's declaration against letting a 1-A classmate continue was quickly shot down by the others. Begrudgingly, he accepted the decision and spoke for the team.
"Rin, myself and Todoroki will proceed. Komori has opted out, claiming she will not be able to fight at her best given how dry the air is today."
"You heard it here everyone! We have our contestants for the final event!" Midnight declared, then pointed towards the announcer's booth.
"Well, looks like it's time for another intermission everybody! The final event will begin in half an hour from now! C'mon Sho, coffee's on me!" Mic announced from the stands, his distant sounding voice indicating he was already heading to the door.
"Wow, that was intense," Inko muttered. She and her son had watched many Sports Festivals before, but there was something different when it came to watching him participate.
"You think that's bad? Imagine what Katsuki's gonna be like when he gets home. He's probably on the brink of murder after coming in third place," Mitsuki replied. "What do you think the chances are that both our kids will face off in the last event?"
"Probably too good," Inko sighed.
"That's what you two said about the cavalry battle though," Masaru interjected.
"Actually, we said it'd be funny if they paired up," Inko quickly yet politely corrected.
"Todoroki, can I talk to you?"
The bichromatic teen glared over his shoulder at his classmate. With a reluctant attitude, he turned to face him and followed Izuku to a dark hallway that was away from the main paths people walked.
"A while back you told me about your father; the quick marriage thing and all that. I take it there's a reason you haven't used your fire at all?"
Todoroki stood silently, eyeing Izuku up and down as if calculating whether to attack him or just wait him out.
"Okay, I figured you weren't up to talk about it. Sorry," Izuku said with a shrug and began walking away.
"He drove my mother insane."
Izuku stopped dead in his tracks and returned his attention to his classmate.
"My mother despised his 'training' techniques. She always tried to tell him that he was pushing me too hard and if he didn't stop, I might end up like Toya. One day I walked in on her talking to someone on the phone and overheard how she hates my left side. It reminded her too much of my father and called it 'unsightly'." The teen stopped talking to take a breath, during which time Izuku stepped to stand across from Todoroki.
"The last thing I remember about her was her pouring boiling water on the left side of my face to wash off my resemblance to him. After that, Father sent her to a mental ward. Outside of having her treated, he acted as if she never existed." Todoroki clenched his left fist and brought it up, staring at the wisps of flame that came to life just to be extinguished by a small breeze. "After that I promised I would never use his power in battle; I'll win simply with my mother's quirk. And you, Midoriya, will be a testament to that. I'll beat you if we fight and show my father I never needed his power."
Todoroki's breath hitched, and he wiped tears from his eyes that neither of the students had noticed forming. Again he went silent, but only for seconds.
"I'm sure we'll meet again on the arena."
Izuku watched his classmate begin to walk back to the cafeteria. Then he chased after him and firmly grabbed his shoulder.
"I know what it's like to have a power that you don't like. You've seen my quirk, after all. Scarlet can be frightening at times, and he scared the life out of me when I first met him. I can't say I know how it feels to go through what you've gone through, but you can't let a personal grudge like this stop yourself from becoming the best you can be. We're all going to be giving it our all."
Izuku waited for a response, yet got none.
"And if you're only ever going to be giving it half of your potential, I don't know if you actually deserve to be a hero. As is, you're lucky enought to have made it into the final event."
Before Todoroki could reply, Izuku let go of his shoulder and ran off, making a quick mental note to look into this 'Toya' his classmate mentioned.
"So naive," Todoroki mumbled to himself, then also started walking back to the cafeteria.
"Okay! Settle down all and we'll see who's fighting who in the final event!" As soon as Mic's voice rang out, the arena went deathly silent, barely breaking louder than murmurs between parents and spectators.
Inko only paid attention to see who Izuku would be fighting; he was in the third matchup of the first bracket against Monoma. Her attention, however, was on an email she had received from Life Foundation. Akio himself had asked if there were any notable and unexpected changes in Izuku's condition.
The realization that he had almost certainly seen her son's performance slammed into her like a train.
"Oh God, what do we say?" the woman asked herself. She could try to deny anything and say he was perfectly fine, but he could very well tell her he saw the Sports Festival. Or if she fessed up, he might take him away again to study. Or worse, he would take Scarlet away from Izuku.
Her mind raced with possible responses, and she barely noticed Mitsuki shaking her by the shoulder.
"What? What did I miss?" she asked, pocketing her phone after sending a quick text to her son and tried to let herself focus on the event.
"Kaminari just lost to Mina. She sucker punched him right in the jaw and knocked him out. I can't tell if it was because he was out of juice or didn't want to hurt her. Next up is Tokoyami and Hatsume from the Support course."
"Midoriya! I wish you luck in your matchup!"
The green-haired teen looked up from his phone and saw Iida standing just over him. "Thanks Iida! I'm sorry you didn't make it; I'm sure you would have done great."
"It's fine. We have two more years ahead of us, and I will use what I learned this time to better myself so I may do better next year. I must return to my seat, but I wanted to wish you and my fellow classmates luck. I will see you again soon!"
Ojiro, walking into the room, narrowly avoided bumping into the class president that was leaving. "Hey Midoriya, you have a moment? Aoyama and I need to talk to you."
"So Ten Million, whadya think of Baby 1744?" Mei's voice echoed through the stadium's speakers, indicating she had likely hijacked into the system and temporarily taken over the announcements.
Mei used a pair of mechanical wings to evade an attack from Dark Shadow. The entity was clearly getting annoyed yet did not make another attempt to attack.
"Impressive, I can admit. There is a resemblance to a fallen angel in your wings."
The support course student swiftly flew in circles around the arena, shooting looks into the higher bleachers every few seconds. Tokoyami knew she was just showing off for the big name companies but had been willing to entertain her for a few minutes.
"Dark Shadow, would you mind bringing her down?" His sentient quirk rushed forward and swiped at his enemy, who quickly changed direction and avoided the attack.
"By combining multiple gyroscopic sensors and loads of miniature aerofoils, these babies can outmaneuver almost anything!"
"She's getting on my nerves, Fumi," Dark Shadow grumbled, eager to end the round and move on to an opponent that would take the fight seriously.
The ethereal being would not get the satisfaction of ending the fight, as Mei dove straight down towards the ground and landed outside the fighting square in a nimble display.
"I hope you got a good show of Baby 1744! I have lots more on the way!" the pink-haired girl announced before walking away and into the hallway she had entered through.
"Okay, Tokoyami wins!" Midnight declared, notably confused by the sudden change in events. "Next up is Monoma from 1-B and Midoriya from 1-A!"
"-bored, I want to…Hey! I'm back on!" Present Mic's voice suddenly announced. "Guess she gave us our job back. Moving on to the next round!"
This was his chance; he would finally show everyone that he was more than just some side character. Monoma took a deep breath and emerged from the dim hall towards the arena. His enemy was also approaching from the other side.
He would finally show that 1-B was better than 1-A. He did not know why he felt the need to prove so; both classes had been involved in the attack on the USJ and Kendo had explained that the reason for two separate classes was to divide the work between two teachers, but his competitive spirit usually got the best of him.
He had racked his brain for the best combination of quirks to copy. His options were limited as he had left one spot open just in case. He had zoned out for Present Mic's introduction of him and his opponent, trying to figure out a strategy that would give him the win.
"Is that fur?" Scarlet asked out loud, protruding from Izuku's lower arm in his usual fashion.
"Begin!" Midnight declared.
Izuku watched as Monoma suddenly grew many times in size. His enemy now towered over him, yet he simply watched in fascination.
The transformed Monoma dashed at Midoriya, moving much quicker than one would expect from something his size. Izuku transformed his left arm into a long tendril and shot it towards the side of the arena. With moments to spare it latched onto the ground just within the boundaries of the rectangle and he pulled himself out of the way. He felt the fur just graze his cheek as the beast ran past his intended target.
"Fight me like you mean it! Or is the oh-so-great Midoriya too scared to fight all of a sudden?" The question was clearly rhetorical, as Monoma made another charge the moment the question left his mouth. Once again Izuku shot a tendril to the side to pull himself out of the way, but Monoma sent a powerful arm swipe that made contact with Izuku's right shoulder.
Midoriya flew through the air and almost fell out of bounds, but was just able to catch himself and stay in the rectangle.
"I'm just waiting to see what other quirks you copied," Midoriya stated. The casualness of his response clearly struck a nerve. But instead of making another reckless dash, Monoma shrunk back to his original size.
"Fire," he whispered, and an immensely powerful impact with seemingly no source exploded from Izuku's shoulder. Once again the teen was sent hurtling through the air. With practiced precision his hands expanded into oversized red claws that dug into the concrete and brought him to a stop.
"That hurt," Izuku said with a grunt. The teen stood and massaged the shoulder that had already taken two hits. "I take it that was another classmates quirk?"
"Will you take this seriously?" Monoma demanded, almost hysterically. "Or is all of this just some game to you?"
"I am taking it seriously. I'm trying to stall so I can figure out what quirks you copied and how to counter them. After all, I don't have a lot of experience fighting against someone with such a powerful and unique ability like yours."
And for the first time to Midoriya's knowledge, Monoma was at a loss for words. He could not tell what expression Monoma was feeling, but it looked like a mix of pride and hurt at the same time.
"You think my quirk is powerful?" There was none of the edge or bite to his tone like usual; it felt like the blonde was asking a genuine question.
"Well, yeah? You can use multiple quirks by yourself. Everyone else only has one. Even if their quirk is versatile like Bakugo's, Todoroki's, of Yaoyorzu's, they still have limitations or drawbacks. You can just copy another quirk that makes up for the limitations of the first quirk you copied or makes it even more useful. Like that combo you just used on me." Izuku took a moment to rub his shoulder again. "I'm still feeling that, by the way."
"Maybe…maybe you're not so bad after all. Can I copy yours? I want to see what that feels like."
Izuku knew Monoma thought he was being slick, so he decided to comply. "Sure. I think it'd be fun to see what happens."
The two met at the center of the stadium where Izuku held his arm forward. Monoma gently poked the limb and began laughing maniacally.
"Uhh, any idea what's going on Shota?" Mic asked from the announcer's booth. He and most of the audience was left in the dark, as neither of the combatants were speaking loud enough to be heard.
Monoma's laugh suddenly stopped. "Huh, I don't feel any different. Kinda thought there'd be something. Maybe I can control it?" Izuku barely heard Monoma whispering to himself.
"You there! Red thing! I command you to attack your user!"
Slowly, Scarlet emerged back from Izuku's lower arm and turned towards his host, smiling evilly and approaching Izuku's face menacingly.
"Oh the horror! Please spare me Lord from this horrible situation. Oh please Scarlet, remember who you are! Remember the good-" Izuku's overdramatic shouts turned into a choked laughter which grew into a small laughing fit.
"What? But I copied your quirk."
Izuku wiped a tear from his eye, still giggling too much to speak.
"Thank you, thank you. You've been a lovely audience." Scarlet made a few motions that resembled an actor taking a bow, giving Izuku time to gain his composure.
"Sorry Monoma, he doesn't exactly work that way."
Without another moment's hesitation, three tendrils shot out from Midoriya's back and grabbed Monoma, gently lifting him into the air and setting him down out of bounds. "That was an interesting display of your quirk. Can't wait to see more!"
"The winner of this round is Midoriya! Next will be Bakugo and Sero from 1-A!"
A/N: You can probably tell by the change in quality that I haven't been writing for a while. Also, when I first wrote this I had Sato on Monoma's team instead of Todoroki. It wasn't until minutes before posting that I realized I had the whole speech written out for a character that wasn't going to be included. Kind of a cop-out to just replace Sato with Todoroki but it was the best I could think of without redoing a whole few paragraphs.
I hope you enjoyed!