"I'm not… I think… we're ok," Izuku panted, his hands on shaking knees. "I think… I can win… the Festival."
It was the day after, and Marvin had made Izuku wake up at 3 am to run before pushing him in combat training so ruthlessly that it made all of All Might's training combined look like eating ice cream during summer.
Marvin rolled his eyes. 'This isn't just about the Festival, Izuku. It's about what happens AFTER the Festival.'
He poked Izuku sharply. 'Your performance is going to be broadcast WORLDWIDE. Everybody and their grandma's uncle will be watching you. Do you know what that means?'
"That I need… to do well?" Izuku asked, trying desperately to catch his breath.
Marvin took over to speak aloud, since Momo was also in the training room, lying on her back while trying to catch her breath.
"Every villain in Japan is going to see this," Marvin said, arms crossed. "They're going to know your powers, skillset, fighting style, and weaknesses. Remember that hand guy from the USJ?"
Both Izuku and Momo paled drastically at that, remembering how Marvin had torn Shigaraki's arm off a few weeks ago, or being told that Marvin had done it, in Momo's case.
"Exactly," Marvin nodded. "They're going to be hunting you guys down, whether you want it or not. This isn't just about the Festival."
He made a vague gesture over both his and Momo's bodies.
"Currently, I wouldn't be surprised if you were some of the strongest kids in the whole school," He told them. "But just being the best at UA won't cut it if any big-time villains show up."
Marvin took a deep breath. "In my old world… there were guys who could move mountains like tissues. If this world has its equivalent, you two need to be ready. Neither of you are allowed to die."
Both Izuku and Momo grew highly uncomfortable and shifted nervously. Marvin never failed to remind them that they were risking their lives to be Heroes, and no matter how many times he said it, it never failed to make them uneasy.
"All Might's injury came from a villain, didn't it?" He asked, unperturbed. "If there's a villain who could do that to All Might, of all people, then what's to say there aren't a hundred more out there that have just as much power?"
Momo managed to sit up with a grunt of effort, her body drenched in sweat thanks to Marvin's training.
"But… we have years… right?" She asked between shallow breaths.
Marvin sighed. "You don't know that. I… When I was your age… I lost the closest person to me because I got cocky. I thought I had time… I didn't."
Momo went silent, not having heard of Rinai before, as that was a cagey subject with Marvin.
Marvin stared her dead in the eyes, and Momo could see genuine concern and pain in them.
"I don't… You shouldn't ever have to go through that pain," He said softly. "I won't let you. I won't let either of you make that mistake if I can help it."
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"I don't care if you hate me for this," He told them. "If you hate me for all this training and how hard I'm pushing you. I don't care. As long as you two can live your lives… As long as you two can watch each other grow old, I can tolerate you hating me."
Marvin helped Momo stand and stepped back.
"Spar," He told them. "I want you to push each other. Enough of the training dummy. Spar each other and learn."
"Wait what?" Izuku asked as Marvin suddenly shoved him back into control.
'You heard me," Marvin told him. 'Spar. Now.'
Izuku gulped as he and Momo got into a battle stance; he still hadn't been able to control One for All with the precision he wanted.
'What if I lose control?' Izuku asked, somewhat nervous.
'I'll stop you.'
With that, Izuku raised his hands, taking deep breaths.
Momo rushed forward, a staff forming out of her palm.
Izuku jumped back from her swing before darting back in, throwing a punch at her side.
A gong-like boom sounded as Izuku's fist hit a metal shield, and they both winced.
Momo lashed out with her staff, swinging it at Izuku's shoulder.
Izuku managed to catch her wrist and twisted it, making her drop the weapon.
A large blade shot out of Momo's free hand, and Izuku barely jumped back in time.
Momo grabbed the shield she'd made, still stuck in her side, and threw it at him like a frisbee.
Izuku leaped to the side, only for several gas canisters to go off by his feet, impairing his vision.
He leaped over the gas, dodging Momo's sneak attack from behind.
Izuku kicked the air and soared down, forcing Momo to leap away from his kick.
Momo fell back, and several matryoshka dolls fell out of her arms as she did.
Izuku leaped away instead of advancing, looking away as the flashbangs hidden in the dolls went off.
He managed to preserve most of his eyesight and leaped away from Momo's staff as she advanced.
Momo leaped forward, using her staff as a vault to get in close.
A smokescreen went off before she reached him, but the proximity accidentally blinded both of them.
Izuku tensed and decided not to move, waiting for the smoke to pass.
It proved to be a good idea as Momo threw a flashbang to where he would've been had he moved.
Izuku noticed the flash's arc and rushed forward, easily finding Momo despite the smoke.
He threw a jab at her side that Momo managed to bat away, blocking her return knee with his forearm.
Izuku kicked high, forcing Momo to leap back, feeling the wind hit her face as she did.
Large nets erupted out of Momo's body, and Izuku did a double take, caught flat-footed.
'They're still attached to her,' He realized as the nets reached him. Momo hadn't disconnected the nets from her body yet.
Izuku managed to grab some of the net and pull, yanking Momo towards him.
Momo froze as Izuku grabbed her arm and pushed it away, leaving her open.
Izuku grabbed her shirt with his other hand and pulled her in, stopping her from making anything large for fear of hurting him.
Momo's face lit up in a blush as she realized how close they were, her eyes focused on his.
Unfortunately, her embarrassment forcibly activated her Quirk, and what seemed like a giant metal column shot out of her stomach.
It hit Izuku dead-on and sent him flying back, but he flipped through the air, managing to kick off a wall.
Izuku winced as he landed, rubbing his ribs where the attack had hit. Momo could pack a mean punch if she wanted to.
"Izuku!" Momo exclaimed, horrified at the fact she'd hit him unintentionally.
She stepped forward, but in her panicked state, she couldn't decide whether to disconnect the metal column from her torso.
Instead, she had the wild and panic-induced thought of reabsorbing the column, almost like pulling back a fist after hitting someone.
Momo was halfway to Izuku before she realized this and noticed the metal column had actually turned back into lipids, the last of it disappearing under her skin as she watched.
"Wha– I– How–" Momo looked quickly between herself and Izuku, somewhat frozen on whether to check on him or herself first.
Thankfully, Izuku stood, rubbing his ribs somewhat, but otherwise unhurt.
Izuku blinked at her. "Did you just…"
"I'm not sure," Momo replied, gesturing to her stomach, which was in plain view of him thanks to her shirt tearing open from the column.
Oddly, even though her Hero costume often revealed similar amounts of skin, Momo still flushed at her lack of a top. Something about it only being Izuku staring made it feel different than normal.
"You reabsorbed that… and you're not hurt?" Izuku asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Momo nodded a bit. "Yeah, I– I didn't know I could do that."
Izuku's analytical brain kicked in immediately, and he began mumbling.
"It would make sense theoretically," He murmured, knuckles pressed against his lips. "Turning lipids into other materials would need to have an in-between that isn't fully lipid nor fully the transformed material, so if control of that in-between were possible then you could turn the material back into lipids…"
That was all Momo could understand before Izuku's mumbling became incomprehensible, even to her.
Izuku jumped a moment later, Marvin having poked him roughly to get him to snap out of it.
"Oh! Sorry," Izuku rubbed his neck, flushing.
Momo smiled at him, making him flush more and advert his gaze.
"I'm just confused about how I did that," She told him, frowning. "I know I'm immune to anything ingestible I make, like medicine and so on, but I didn't know I could reabsorb materials I've made."
Izuku's eyes widened. "Wait, would that mean that you could technically absorb materials in general? Like if you connected to a material, could you absorb them and transform them into lipids?"
Momo blinked. "I– Uhhh…" She hadn't thought of that.
"Well, think about it," Izuku continued, his eyes bright. "The things you make don't act any differently than naturally-made materials. They have the same chemical composition, so theoretically, you could absorb foreign materials if you learned how to reabsorb the things you make."
'Wouldn't that technically mean she wouldn't have to eat much?' Marvin asked. 'Her Quirk requires her to eat a lot in order to make stuff, so if she can absorb foreign materials, then her need for food could be decreased by a lot.'
Marvin's brows furrowed. 'I mean, technically speaking, the body's minerals aren't living substances, so she could probably replace her need to eat entirely, though that's dependent on whether your theory is correct.'
Izuku's eyes widened, and he quickly divulged these theories to Momo, who seemed both shocked and intrigued.
"You know, we should probably figure out if I can even reabsorb any material I make," Momo told him, stopping Izuku before his mind could start running again. "Or if it's just certain materials."
Izuku quickly glanced at the clock on the wall. "We have enough time before class starts. But this is incredible, imagine how many things you could do with that!"
Momo smiled softly at him; one thing she always loved about him was his enthusiasm. It was almost infectious, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
The two ran a few tests, with Momo starting off small, using bits of cotton or iron, which were the easiest material for her to make a lot of.
Momo quickly found out that, while yes, she could reabsorb her creations, they still had to be attached in some way for her to reabsorb them, and that the process was slow-going, though that could also be because of her inexperience.
They also found that organic materials, like wool, cotton, and certain other materials were easier and faster for her to reabsorb, while materials like high-carbon steel, plastics, and so on were much harder for her to reabsorb.
Izuku theorized this was because of the difference in composition– the more processed the created material was, then the more it would resist being converted back into lipids since it would require undoing several processes that made the material in the first place.
Momo agreed with that, though despite the limitation, she was still overjoyed at the fact that she would have more diversity with her Quirk.
After that, Momo took the shield she'd thrown at Izuku and tried to reabsorb it, with no success.
"Maybe because it's already fully formed?" She asked, looking at Izuku.
Izuku made a noise of thoughtfulness. "Well… you could only reabsorb everything else because you had some of it still connected, maybe you have to connect the shield to you somehow?"
Momo shrugged and tried it, a bit of steel coming out of her palm and grabbing the shield.
"Ok… Let's try," She took a deep breath, suddenly feeling quite nervous.
She reabsorbed the steel she'd made with some difficulty and tried to reabsorb the shield, her teeth gritted in effort.
Momo's hand shook as she tried to force the steel to turn back into lipids, her face red from exertion.
After about two minutes, Momo gasped in exhaustion, pulling her hand back sharply.
The shield fell with a clatter, a part of it missing as it sunk under Momo's skin.
"Momo! Are you alright?" Izuku asked, taking her hand gently to examine it.
Momo flushed at the gesture but managed to nod. "Ye–Yeah, I'm fine, Izuku."
She flexed her hand, which felt a bit numb but was otherwise fine, though it definitely looked quite red.
"There must be a stabilization mechanic present in the things she's fully formed," Marvin muttered as he took over. "Probably to stop them from being further manipulated. Reabsorbing separate items means you have to deactivate that stabilization AND reabsorb them, while already struggling with reabsorption as a whole."
Momo blinked at that. "That… makes sense."
Marvin shrugged. "You'll have to master reabsorption before you can absorb foreign materials, at least big ones. But you managed a bit of the shield, so there's proof you can, you're just inexperienced."
After that, the days passed quickly for Izuku, being a blur of training, talking with Momo, and avoiding most of his teachers with the exception of All Might.
The morning of the Sports Festival, Izuku quickly entered UA, where All Might found him as he made his way to the training room.
"Young Midoriya!" All Might greeted in his usual exaggerated way. "I apologize, Young Midoriya, but the training rooms are closed off today for the Festival. Please tell Young Yaoyorozu the same; I know she often trains with you."
Izuku flushed a bit at that, but nodded, pulling out his phone.
"Oh, and I wanted to tell you," All Might said, leaning down and whispering. "David replied and told me he wants to meet you and Young Mikrai after the Festival. He thinks he has a few ways of helping both of you."
Izuku nodded again. "Thank you, All Might."
"I apologize again for what happened in Principal Nezu's office," All Might told him seriously. "I hope this can make up for what I did."
Marvin took over. "All Might, it's fine," He said in English. "What you're doing is more than anybody else has. You're fine."
All Might nodded but looked somewhat nervous. "Well, Young Mikrai, I do have to tell you that Principal Nezu has offered to help as well. He wants to use his Quirk and his contacts to make something that can help you."
Marvin's eyes hardened somewhat. "Make what exactly?"
"Well, David says he can help recreate your body," All Might replied. "But Nezu wants to help you separate your minds. He's a leading expert in Quirk research, and he thinks he can help."
Marvin took a deep breath. "Fine, but again, I get the final say in the matter."
All Might nodded. "Of course, Young Mikrai. Nezu said he regrets what he did, as do all of the teachers. But he doesn't want to call you to his office again in case you think it's another attack."
"Can you blame me if I thought that?" Marvin raised an eyebrow.
All Might sighed. "Unfortunately, I can't. Just… Just know Nezu is trying his hardest to help you now that he understands the full implications of what he did."
Momo entered at that moment, hearing All Might's last sentence but nothing before that.
"He's helping?" She asked, glancing between them.
All Might gave a hesitant nod. "Yes, he is, Young Yaoyorozu. He wants to offer the best apology he can."
Momo glanced at Marvin, knowing it was him and not Izuku. She'd been getting better at telling who was who, and could now tell immediately in most cases.
Marvin gave her a short nod, and Momo relaxed some. If Marvin was ok with it, then she wouldn't argue; it was his body after all.
Before they knew it, they were outside in an arena filled with hundreds of people.
'This is a lot of people,' Izuku muttered, looking around at the stands.
'Now you know why I pushed you, right?' Marvin asked rhetorically, getting a nod.
Izuku quickly found Momo and hugged her, not noticing Mina's knowing smirk at Momo.
"Dekiru!" Uraraka exclaimed as she ran over.
"Uraraka! Don't run with so many people!" Iida called after her. "You could hurt yourself!"
Even with that warning, Iida was pushing through people as fast as he could without actually running.
Uraraka reached Izuku and Momo quickly, her face red from having run over.
"Hey Uraraka, hi Iida," Izuku greeted as Iida caught up.
"Hello, Midoriya," Iida replied, his face slightly flushed.
"Did… Did you two run here?" Izuku blinked, staring at them.
Uraraka tried to wave him off. "It was just… from the train."
Momo's eyebrows shot up. "You ran from the train to here? Why?"
"There was quite a lot of traffic," Iida replied. "The train was several minutes late."
"By several minutes, he means half an hour," Uraraka panted, groaning with her hands on her knees.
She shot a mild glare at Iida. "We would have gotten here faster, but someone didn't want to use his Quirk to run here."
Iida ignored the glare. "We aren't supposed to use our Quirks in public without our licenses, Uraraka. You know this."
Uraraka grumbled at that but didn't reply as she caught her breath.
The Festival began a few minutes later, with Midnight stepping up to the microphone on stage.
"Welcome!" She exclaimed. "To this year's UA Sports Festival!"
The cheers were deafening, to the point Izuku actually struggled to hear Marvin, who was literally part of his thoughts.
Midnight waited for the cheers to die before continuing.
"This year, the Festival will be hosted by a very special guest…" Midnight paused for dramatic effect.
A dark blot appeared in the sky, and Izuku looked up, squinting.
His eyes widened as the dark figure fell towards them. "Is that…"
A BOOM shook almost the whole stadium, kicking up a bit of dust, before…
"I AM HERE, TO HOST THE FESTIVAL!"
This round of cheers and applause made the previous one seem mild in comparison, and it actually took All Might raising his hands for them to stop after even Midnight's microphone-amped voice was overridden.
"Now, before we begin," All Might declared, not even needing to use the mic. "Representing the students, is Izuku Midoriya from Class 1-A!"
Izuku froze and paled, his friends looking at him in various degrees of shock.
"Eh?!" Was Izuku's only response, but he found himself walking up the steps towards the microphone.
'Marvin?! Help?!' Izuku exclaimed as he reached the mic.
Marvin shook his head. 'You got this. Just say what you feel.'
Izuku gulped and took a deep breath.
"We're all here to compete, but also to work together," Izuku began, trying to fight his nerves. "We're here to show not only the world but ourselves, what we're capable of, what we can do. This is as much competition as it is a test to ourselves."
He took another breath. "Win or lose, whether we get a medal or not, we'll always be heroes, or be the people that support them. A medal can break or be lost, but proving to ourselves that we can stand here, and say 'Hey Mom, Dad, I made it. I'm here, look at me.' That… That is the greatest victory we can get."
He stepped down from the mic amidst silence from his peers and the stadium, feeling his nerves spike again as they stared at him.
All Might clapped for him, and slowly, the rest of the stadium began to clap as well, and before long, it was a full cheering from his speech.
Izuku flushed as everybody joined in, and he ducked his head in embarrassment.
Momo leaned down a bit. "That was incredible, Izuku," She whispered in his ear. "You'd make a good leader one day."
Izuku blushed deeply, both because of her words, but also because her breath on his neck made him feel things he didn't exactly know how to describe.
After that, the students lined up for the race, which was more of an obstacle course than anything else.
"READY?!" Present Mic exclaimed, being the one narrating. "GO!"
Izuku took off with One for All, nearly knocking several people over as he ran.
"AND MIDORIYA STARTS WITH AN EXPLOSIVE LEAD!" Mic exclaimed. "OH, BUT WHAT'S THIS?"
Momo appeared beside him, staves and other tools shooting out of her skin to give her a boost.
"YAOYOROZU KEEPS PACE!" Mic continued. "ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!"
The two were neck and neck as they reached several robots, similar in appearance to the zero-point robots from the Entrance Exam.
A robot tried to punch them, and Izuku shot to the right while Momo went left.
Izuku kicked the air and changed directions, flying towards the robot.
He kicked through it with both feet, tearing it in half.
Momo dropped another robot by slapping an EMP on it, causing it to short-circuit and fall.
She launched off again at the same time Izuku tore his robot in half, getting a lead over him.
"AND YAYOROZU IS OFF!" Mic said. "BUT IT LOOKS LIKE MIDORIYA MIGHT FLY OUT OF BOUNDS!"
Izuku's eyes widened as his momentum carried him forward, but still behind Momo.
'C'mon, catch up,' He grunted, instinctively shooting his arm out.
Blackwhip rushed out in an uncontrolled column, attaching to the ground beside Momo.
It dug into the ground and pulled Izuku sharply, suddenly changing his direction.
'Cancel, cancel, cancel,' Izuku chanted internally as he rocketed towards the ground.
Blackwhip pulled back slightly, and Izuku hit the ground with a resounding boom.
Izuku shot forward again, crossing half of the pit in a single bound.
"WOAH! MIDORIYA'S GOT TRICKS UP HIS SLEEVE!" Mic exclaimed. "LITERALLY!"
He came up beside Momo, who was jumping from pillar to pillar expertly.
"Hey Izuku!" She half-yelled as she jumped.
Izuku managed to keep pace with her, which was actually surprisingly difficult.
"MOMO YAOYOROZU AND IZUKU MIDORIYA ARE NECK AND NECK!" Mic commented. "AND EVERYONE ELSE IS FAR BEHIND!"
Izuku tried to use Blackwhip again but winced as he got a sharp burning instead, nearly falling off the pillar and into the abyss below.
"Izuku!" Momo exclaimed before a rope shot out of her hand.
He grabbed and Momo pulled, sending him flying into the minefield.
Izuku pulled out of instinct, and Momo flew over him, cutting off the rope right before she landed.
'Did you just help her get a lead?' Marvin asked with some amusement as Izuku ran through the minefield.
"And Yaoyorozu and Midoriya seem to be working together!" Mic exclaimed before pausing. "Wait, is that even allowed? This is a race."
"There's nothing in the rules against it," Aizawa stated dully. "Most people just don't do it."
Izuku tried to shoot forward and catch up to Momo, who had already cleared the minefield and was in the final tunnel.
He pushed One for All to its max, rushing forward so fast that the mines couldn't register his weight to go off before he'd moved on.
Momo noticed his burst and activated her Quirk, staves shooting out of both palms to speed her up.
Izuku crossed the tunnel in the blink of an eye, nearly reaching the end.
Momo crossed the finish line a moment before he did, her grin wide.
Izuku groaned and fell onto his back, closing his eyes as he tried to catch his breath.
Momo was only a little better, hands on her knees with sweat pouring down her skin.
"MOMO YAOYOROZU IS THE WINNER!" Mic exclaimed amidst the cheers. "BUT MIDORIYA COMES IN A VERY CLOSE SECOND!"
A shadow fell over Izuku's body, and he squinted up, seeing Momo leaning down over him, her body blocking out the sun.
"You were good," She told him with a smile. "Though, I'm not sure what I would've done without that nice boost you gave me."
Her tone was light and teasing, something Izuku wasn't quite used to with her, and he blushed vividly at it.
It didn't help that the sun around her seemed to make her glow, accentuating how good she looked.
"You stopped me from disqualifying," Izuku replied, smiling back. "So I guess we're even."
Momo beamed at him and sat down to his right, not really caring for the crowd at the moment.
"What happened back there?" She asked softly, her voice laced with concern and curiosity. "You just dropped. I was worried you had passed out for a second."
Izuku sighed. "I… I tried to use Blackwhip again. I'm not sure why, but it didn't work. My body didn't respond."
"So you can only use it once?" Momo asked, pulling her knees up and resting her cheek on them as she looked at him.
Izuku nodded. "Yeah… I think it's because I haven't really trained it. It's spent a long time inside One for All, so it's a lot stronger than it was originally."
"So it's like One for All," She said. Izuku had told her about his first time using the Quirk in the Entrance Exam, and how it'd broken his body.
"I wonder if your other Quirks will be like that," Momo mused. "You'll need a lot more training than just UA to use that many Quirks."
"I'm not even sure what they'll be," Izuku sighed before sitting up. "I'll ask All Might later, but I'm not sure how much he knows."
He ran a hand through his hair tiredly, and Momo bit her lip somewhat, wondering if he knew how attractive he was when he did that.
'If he doesn't, I can definitely teach him,' Momo thought before she blushed violently. Where the hell had that come from?!
They watched as Todoroki came in third, with Iida in fourth, and Bakugo, who had been allowed to participate as long as he didn't start any fights, in fifth.
.
Author's Note: And that's the chapter!
Before anyone asks, yeah, this chapter is kind of rushed. Hit a blockade with this thing for a while. I'm considering doing something other than the cavalry battle for the second thing, but that's still a group effort, not sure what though.
In regards to Momo's Quirk, there's nothing really disproving that she could sustain herself by just changing the lipids in her body into minerals.
She can make organic material, just not living stuff, but minerals aren't really organic in the general definition so that wouldn't matter. Her Quirk also pulls from her internal fat stores, but just pushes it out through her skin; from what I know, there's nothing saying she can keep the transformation under her skin.
Technically speaking, if she can learn how to absorb and create fast enough, she could eventually have a pseudo-form of Overhaul's Quirk, where she absorbs the material, manipulates the lipids, and spits it back out at breakneck speeds.
I have so many ideas for her Quirk, though they'd definitely be pushing the limits of what her Quirk is and how it works. Creation is just such an overpowered ability that it's absolutely ridiculous.
I have plans for Izuku's Quirks too, a lot actually. I have one in particular that would be so fucking broken, but that's for later, once Marvin has his body.
As I mentioned in my other story, I might be going on hiatus for several reasons. One, my computer is kind of dying; I managed to fix it somewhat, but it's still pretty bad. Like, maybe it's at half its usual performance, like, on a good day.
I'm not certain, though, so nothing is set in stone. I'm trying to publish on other devices, but if the next chapter is kind of late, that's why.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you in the next one!
