Chapter 25: Pulling The Trigger
Team Midoriya skidded to a halt, Izuku quickly taking scope of the playing field.
Bakugo had lost the ten million headband to Monoma's team, who was now fleeing from both Bakugo and Todoroki's teams.
~"Only seven minutes left, fledglings! Can 1-A hope to counter this Class B domination!"~
The distant sound of Bakugo screaming about his current state of absolute calmness echoed through the stadium.
"GET BACK HERE YOU FOUL LITTLE QUIRKLESS MAGGOT!"
A large chunk of concrete, covering an orange glow, soared at Team Midoriya at insane speed, Reimitsu activated Slingshot, its boosted power enough to deflect the concrete slab out of bounds.
Mikumo's expression darkened as Team Midoriya turned to face their attackers.
"Haishiro."
An orange-haired boy sat in a futuristic rickshaw, made of gleaming metal and pulled by a girl with elephant tusks and rocket-powered rollerblades.
Hagakure spoke. "Isn't that the boy from earlier, that one Ms. Midnight told off?"
"Yeah, it is." Mikumo glared at Haishiro, his voice filled with disgust.
"You know him?" Izuku asked, glancing down at his brother.
Mikumo sighed. "I do, I went to middle school with him, you met his old flunkies on the train, remember. The ones from Umbaru High. He got into Support after failing the Hero Exam, like me."
"Oi, Quirkless, what do you think you're doing wearing that uniform."
It was the boy Izuku had bumped into earlier, the Support student, Mikumo. He had been surrounded by three boys in Umbaru High uniforms.
"Yeah, like you could even afford to go there. Who's gonna pay, your parents? Oh wait, ya don't have any!"
"Yeah, Quirkless cost us our place at U.A.!"
Izuku balled his fists. "We're not running, we're going to beat this guy and throw him out of bounds."
Hagakure looked up in surprise at the fire in Izuku's eyes and voice, a far cry from his normally gentle, rather shy, self.
"No." Mikumo stated. "He won't stop till he's hurt me, and you guys need to keep the headband safe for now. Izuku, since I'm a horse I can break away from the rest of the team without punishment, right?"
Izuku nodded warily, knowing where this was going to go.
"Then I'll do that, Reimitsu, take my place!"
"Mikumo, don't!"
Hagakure's hand reached out.
Mikumo launched himself into the air, leaving his hover boots behind, Reimitsu bleeding into existence to fill them and support Izuku's weight.
"ASPECT, deploy the Atlas Boots!"
"Roger."
Flipping in the air, Mikumo soared over Haishiro and his teammate, landing inside a pair of his default boots, covered in small, strength enhancing repulsors.
~"Looks like 1-H's Akatani has broken away from the rest of Team Midoriya, and wait, Team Haishiro's going after him, not the headband! What's going on here?!"~
Haishiro sneered at Mikumo as he and his partner charged. "Did they kick worthless, half-made scum like you out of the team? Come to their senses, have they?"
Mikumo gritted his teeth, watching as the rest of his team fled, their decision made by an attack from Team Tsunotori.
All these years I had no one, but now I do, I have something that's worth fighting for!
Family.
Friends.
Hope.
Mikumo's mouth formed a grim smile. "In middle school, I never fought back, did I?"
Haishiro laughed, giving a glimpse of a black-stained tongue. "How could you? You don't have a quirk."
"Funny, a villain said something like that to me during the USJ attack." Mikumo looked up at Haishiro, his eyes alight. "And I beat him with both eyes closed. Do you really think you can match that?"
Haishiro released a shout of anger, tearing up a chunk of ground with his quirk.
Mikumo took a step back. "Your quirk is Minor Telekinesis, if you're lifting this much weight, then…"
Trigger.
Mikumo calmed himself. "This is bad, very bad."
"I'm glad you can finally see how pathetic you are compared to me!"
The fragment of earth shot at Mikumo.
Mikumo activated the repulsors in his boots, jumping to one side to avoid the attack. Rolling onto one knee, Mikumo quickly judged the situation.
"ASPECT, configuration Romeo-5!"
"Pilot Yamikumo, the Skávo sabatons are not fully tested, are you sure?"
"I can't outspeed Haishiro, so I'll just have to become an unbreakable shield to defend his attacks from hitting anyone else."
"I understand, Mikumo."
Four metallic cylinders shot down into the stadium, straight at Haishiro.
The orange-haired teen turned his head, his eyes narrowing and his finger twitching as he activated his quirk, deflecting the cylinders off-course. A second later, the panels of each of the cylinders rearranged themselves, opening up.
"I'll crush you, Quirkless!"
Another fragment of the ground was torn up, firing at Mikumo, and Team Kendo, frozen in place behind him.
Two of the cylinders slammed into the ground, a few paces ahead of Mikumo, now in the shape of a pair of heavily armored boots. Sprinting forwards, Mikumo's current set of boots opened up, allowing him to step seamlessly from one to the next.
The gauntlets on Mikumo's arms folded themselves up, shooting away, making place for the new set, one from the Shield series, the other Foam.
Forming the shield, Mikumo braced himself, claws appearing from his boots, digging into the ground. The earth chunk slammed against Mikumo's shield, forcing him back by three feet.
He came to a halt, the slab of earth dropping to the ground in front of him with a mighty crash.
"How's that for pathetic?" Mikumo glared at Haishiro. "Is that all you've got? Bring it on!"
Haishiro recoiled in shock.
Now's my chance!
Aiming his foam nozzle, Mikumo prepared to fire as ice suddenly encased Haishiro and his partner, both up to their necks.
Team Todoroki raced past, their rider snagging Haishiro's headband in the process.
Todoroki turned his head, giving Mikumo an almost imperceivable nod of his head.
And then they were gone.
With a final burst of speed Team Midoriya dodged a hail of horns from Tsunotori, before Izuku opened his mouth and fired seeds at their opponents, vines rapidly growing and trapping them.
"We need to go back for Mikumo." Hagakure insisted, angling herself towards the area they'd left him.
Izuku nodded. "Right, let's-"
A glob of acid hit Izuku across the face, burning at his skin.
"Midoriya!"
Izuku activated Liquidise, turning his gym jacket into water, using Hydrokinesis to wash the acid away, diluting it.
Releasing Liquidise the water quickly reverted to its original form around Izuku's torso, the acid neutralised inside the synthetic fibres.
"I'm fine." Izuku assured, hiding his rapidly healing face from the view of Hagakure and Reimitsu.
Team Midoriya turned, finding Sandoitsu sitting atop her horse, a crazed look on her face.
"Is it just me, or is she taking this way too far?" Hagakure questioned.
"Her tongue, it's black." Reimitsu stated, her eyes not leaving the opposing rider.
"She's on Trigger." Hagakure added.
"Trigger?" Izuku queried. "I thought that wasn't made anymore?"
"Maybe it's an old batch?" Hagakure suggested, guiding the team out of the way of one of Sandoitsu's acid attacks.
Ice suddenly encased Team Sandoitsu, creeping up their rider's body before acid began to eat at it, leading to a stalemate.
Izuku turned his head to see Todoroki, the term hyper-focused on freezing their enhanced opponent.
A - Erasure.
Izuku opened his eyes, glowing with red light, erasing Sandoitsu's quirk and allowing the ice time to cover up to her neck.
His eyes burning, Izuku slammed them shut, his Erasure cancelling, but he'd given Todoroki enough time, he knew from his own Acid quirk that the user was immune to their own acid excluding the skin on their head.
She wouldn't risk it.
Blinking rapidly, Izuku's vision came back into focus to see Hagakure and Reimitsu had carried him away from Todoroki, fearing he would turn his attention on them whilst Izuku had been incapacitated.
But he hadn't, Izuku had seen it, Todoroki had been aiming for Sandoitsu, he'd known about the Trigger.
Shota braced himself, before making another charge at the door, stopping short when he heard a yell from the other side.
The door unlocked, slowly swinging open to reveal Nedzu, the teen who had locked Shota in the room lying on the floor behind him, whimpering in pain.
"I hope I didn't leave you waiting too long, Shota." Nedzu smiled.
It was times like this that really reminded Shota why any sane person should be terrified of Nedzu.
Shota stepped out of the room, looking down at the teen, not one of their students, whimpering softly. "Your work?"
Nedzu smiled again. "Oh yes."
"This is why you were so insistent I co-host the sports festival with Hizashi, so I'd see one of those kids, and since you instituted those restrictions I'd have to tell you face to face, with this being the quickest path." Shota paused. "In short, this was a trap."
Nedzu nodded, before starting to walk towards the stands. "It was, this boy here fell for it."
Shota followed, two of Ectoplasm's clones stepping in to restrain the boy.
"What about the kids on Trigger, that one there let slip there was more than one of them."
Nedzu led them out onto a balcony, overlooking the floor of the stadium. "We prepared for that too."
"We?"
"Myself and Sir Nighteye, he had a vision of this event just after the USJ attack." Nedzu answered simply.
"And that included restraining the students using Trigger I hope."
Nedzu paused. "No, it didn't. We had no prior knowledge of this event in the timeline Nighteye saw. Mikumo Akatani of the Support Department was badly injured by one of the Trigger users and the tournament was reduced to just eight competitors. However, as you can see, Sir Nighteye's predictions are no longer as set in stone as they used to be."
The principal gestured towards the field, Shota followed to look where he was aiming.
The girl, Sandoitsu, was encased up to her neck in ice, along with her teams. Two other teams were iced up as well, their riders the couple who caused the disturbance before the cavalry battle started.
"Todoroki?"
Nedzu inclined his head. "As the son of the No.2 Hero Nighteye and myself felt he was the most prepared of the first years to aid in their restrainment."
Shota quirked an eyebrow. "And I supposed you slyly hinted it would be another opportunity to show his father he can be a hero with just his ice?"
"The youngest Todoroki doesn't really seem to get subtlety." Nedzu admitted. "I'm rather ashamed to say I just had to tell him outright, he's more like his father than he would like to admit."
"We're all acquainted with Endeavor's unique charm." Shota watched as Todoroki continued to charge around the arena, claiming another headband.
"Quite fascinating how two of these miscreants were engaged not by a heroics student, but by those of the General Education and Support departments." Nedzu commented.
Shota's eyes focused on Akatani, as the teen raced to rejoin his team.
"Akatani, right?"
Nedzu nodded. "As well as Hitoshi Shinso, he brainwashed the girl with the eyebeams, got her to stay still while Todoroki freezed her."
"Using the students to detain them, that's to avoid another scandal, isn't it?"
"We couldn't afford a repeat of the fallout from the USJ incident, besides, head-on confrontation by ourselves and other pro heroes could have turned nasty."
Shota shrugged. "Those kids would never have expected for another student to be targeting them for anything other than their headband."
Nedzu smiled. "Exactly."
Dodging an attack from a now headband-less Team Kodai, Izuku activated Bakugo's quirk and fired off an explosion, knocking Kodai off her teammates' shoulders and to the ground, eliminating her team.
"I see you've copied that quirk too, have any tips?"
Izuku and his team, with Mikumo and Reimitsu as the rear horses, turned to face Team Monoma, its rider smirking at them as small sparks popped in the palms of his hands.
"You don't need them." Izuku answered, calling on a barrier quirk, ready to erect one to defend his headband. "You've managed to keep the ten million headband long enough that you've forced Bakugo in going after other headbands instead, so he makes sure he goes through to the final event."
Monoma shrugged. "Thanks for the advice, I'm not sure I would have managed it without it, but I'll be coming for your headband anyway."
"You can try, but we won't let you take it." Izuku's eyes narrowed, his whole body braced, ready to act. "In fact, we'll be coming for the ten million points."
"Huh, and I thought you were a meek little rabbit, nevermind, it won't change me winning this cavalry battle." Monoma's hand swelled in size to a meter in width, turning to his enlarged palm aimed at Team Midoriya's side.
A massive explosion erupted from Monoma's palm, engulfing Team Midoriya entirely.
"And now to collect." Monoma smirked, his palm returning to normal.
"Not yet."
Monoma's head jerked around to look at the smoke cloud as it cleared, revealing a large hard-light barrier at Team Midoriya's side, Izuku's arm outstretched, pale green energy crackling around his skin.
"Reimitsu, Hagakure, now!"
Reimitsu activated her quirk, smearing into ink and entering Hagakure's body, both Mikumo and Izuku reaching up and pulling down on a pair of darkened goggles, covering their eyes.
Hagakure opened her eyes, empty air glowing violet.
"Say cheese!"
A massive flash of light burst from her body, blinding Monoma and the rest of his team.
"Mikumo, ignite!"
Team Midoriya rocketed forwards, Izuku reaching out with one hand and grabbing the ten million headband, left facing outwards to taunt Bakugo.
They kept going, coming to a halt at the opposite of the field, near to the edge of the border.
"I can't believe that worked!" Hagakure exclaimed, turning her head to smile at Mikumo and Izuku.
The breath caught in Mikumo's throat as he watched a lock of brown hair fall out of Hagakure's ponytail, falling in front of her eyes.
"T-Toru?"
"What's wrong?" Hagakure tilted her head. "Is there something on my face?"
Izuku spoke. "You're visible."
Hagakure paled, a second later Reimitsu was ejected and she went back to her normal invisible state.
"Toru-"
Two giant walls of ice shot up, boxing Izuku and his team into the corner of the field.
Team Midoriya turned, Reimitsu retaking the position of a rear horse, to face Team Todoroki, Kaminari and Momo as the rear horses, Iida at the front.
"Yaoyorozu, Kaminari." Todoroki barked, his two teammates leaping into action.
Momo pulled an insulation sheet over herself, Todoroki and Iida, while Kaminari prepared for a discharge of his quirk.
"They're going to shock us, there's no way we can escape with these walls up!" Mikumo exclaimed, panic in his voice.
"We don't need to escape." Izuku replied, his tone resolute as he raised an arm, pointed towards Team Todoroki.
Kaminari released his quirk, electricity arcing in every direction.
A metal rod extruded itself from Izuku's raised palm, in the direction of Kaminari, his other hand creating enough, that one driving itself deep into the ground.
The electricity flowed into the metal rod and down it, entering Izuku's body and then into the other metal rod, rushing into the ground.
"What?" Mikumo questioned. "How did you do that?"
Izuku let the rods fall, slightly out of breath. "I used Yaoyorozu and Kaminari's quirks to make myself into a lightning rod, so I could discharge the electricity into the ground."
"Wow, I didn't even know you'd copied their quirks!" Hagakure exclaimed, with her usual cheer.
~"Only two minutes remain, can Team Midoriya keep hold of the ten million points until the end?!"~
"Stay on their left." Izuku spoke. "Todoroki's ice only comes from his right, and he doesn't use his fire."
The rest of the team nodded in understanding, shifting to place themselves on Todoroki's left, moving to match him every time his team changed position.
Todoroki's eyes narrowed as he glared at Izuku.
"What are you waiting for, Todoroki, ice them!" Kaminari called, his expression unfocused, staring off into the distance.
"I can't." Todoroki stated. "Midoriya knows to stay on my left, I'd hit Iida as well if I tried."
"Todoroki, allow me." Iida crouched lower, his engines revving. "There was something I was saving for the final event, but now, I will use it here."
Todoroki frowned. "Iida, what-"
"Just be ready to take the ten million points." Iida interrupted as his engine ports burned blue. "Super Move, Recipro Burst!"
In an instant Team Todoroki cleared the gap to Team Midoriya and passed them, coming to halt near the boundary.
Izuku reached up to his head, his blood ran cold.
Both headbands were gone.
~"What was that! Iida just pulled out some insane speed, where was that in the first round?!"~
"We've got no points!" Hagakure called out in surprise.
"Izuku, what should we do?" Mikumo questioned, as Team Todoroki moved away from the border.
~"Only thirty seconds left, what are the now pointless Team Midoriya going to do?"~
Izuku watched Todoroki turn the headband over, hiding it amongst the others, and then to Iida's engines as they billowed grey smoke. "We have to make a try, Reimitsu, you're with me, Mikumo, get ready to ignite every last bit of power you've got when I say go."
"Sure." Mikumo nodded.
Reimitsu blurred into spectral form and merged with Izuku.
Now this was the second time she had possessed him, Izuku could feel her quirk empowering his own, except…
One For All.
It was beyond her reach, both to use or enhance, after all All Might had passed One For All onto Izuku, not Reimitsu.
Izuku's violet eyes didn't move from watching the headbands.
"GO!"
Team Midoriya charged, Hagakure yelling as they burst towards Team Todoroki.
Wind Generation formed around Izuku's arm as he threw a punch as Todoroki, altering course to miss at the last second, extinguishing the lackluster flames that had popped up along his left arm.
Todoroki's eyes widened, Team Midoriya ground to a halt.
~"TIME'S UP"~
A collective sigh of relief passed over the field, a handband held in Izuku's hand.
The audience all seemed to be holding their breaths.
He turned it over.
115 Points, not enough to pass.
Todoroki looked at him as he climbed down. "I switched the headbands when I took the ten million points."
Izuku turned towards the stoic teen, holding the headband up. "During the USJ attack I copied a lot of quirks, one of them was Perfect Recall, a photographic memory."
A feeling of dread settled in Todoroki's stomach.
"And I never took my eyes off the headband." Izuku finished, before letting go of the headband, revealing another one held behind it.
10,000,740 Points.
The audience went wild, cheering at the last second victory.
Present Mic hollered loudly, finally managing to reign in the wild crowd and keep them entertained, giving those behind the scenes the time they needed to tally up the scores of each team.
A sheet of paper was held out to him, the pro hero took it with a smile.
"The results are in!"
The cheers reignited, the screen on the stage lit up to show an empty table ready to be filled in.
"In first place, as you're all aware, is Team Midoriya with an outstanding last-second gambit, with an amazing 10,000,840 Points!"
More cheers.
~"Next up, it's Team Todoroki, they may have lost the ten million points, but they still managed to clinch second place!"~
A small flare came from the stands, other pro heroes shuffling away from Endeavor as his beard of flames grew larger.
~"Bang! Bang! In third place are the explosive hotshots, Team Bakugo! They may have lost their headband, but they certainly cleaned up!"~
The screen behind the platform changed, showing the full results of the second event.
Position
Team
Points
1
Team Midoriya
10,000,840
2
Team Todoroki
2,660
3
Team Bakugo
1,750
4
Team Shinso
1,430
5
Team Tokoyami
1,095
6
Team Mineta
790
7
Team Tetsutetsu
715
8
Team Ashido
635
9
Team Monoma
125
10
Team Kendo
95
11=
Team Kodai
0
11=
Team Tsunotori
0
11=
Team Rin
0
11=
Team Roengi
0
11=
Team Yamada
0
12=
Team Sandoitsu
-100
12=
Team Natsuka
-100
12=
Team Haishiro
-100
~"Look at these crazy results! The third event will be a tournament, with the top thirty-two students going through! That means the top eight teams will go forward, along with one member of Team Monoma, choose amongst yourselves."~
The gathered students began to chatter, others groaning in disappointment.
~"The first round of the tournament will be 2-vs-2 battles, followed by 1-vs-1 fights to the final where a champion will be crowned!"~
Izuku splashed water on his face, rinsing off the sweat.
Standing, the green-haired boy looked around the 1-A prep room, only a few stragglers remained, the rest had gone off to lunch.
Izuku was still processing the fact that they had managed to win the cavalry battle, which had prompted much cheering and jumping up and down, Reimitsu had gotten so excited she'd accidentally possessed Mikumo.
Tilting his head, Izuku searched his mind and quirkspace.
Hey, Five, you still there?
Silence.
Clearly not.
"Izuku?"
He turned.
"Oh, Momo, it's you."
The dark-haired girl nodded, her normally regal posture instead nervous.
"Yeah, I just wanted to apologise." Momo gave a weak smile.
Izuku returned with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "You've nothing to apologise for, strategically, your quirk was better suited for a team like that, it synergises well with both Iida and Kaminari."
"Izuku, I'm sorry because I ran off once the selection time began without saying anything." Momo hesitated. "I know what you were going to say before All Might started announcing the results."
Izuku steeled himself. "Momo, I lik-"
"NEVER FEAR! I AM HERE, TO ANNOUNCE THE RESULTS OF THE FIRST EVENT!"
The green-haired haired boy flushed scarlet as the memory came back to him. "I-I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't h-have said it like that, and not today when there's so much else going on, I totally understand if you don't want to be friends any-"
"I like you too."
Izuku's brain froze.
"Izuku?" Momo frowned, reaching out and taking his hand.
"Y-Yeah? Sorry, I just, sorry." Izuku spoke, his brain slowly regaining its ability to think. "I thought you'd…"
Momo held the green-haired boy's hand tighter. "I'd do what?"
"It's just, I guess, I was quirkless, thought I was quirkless, for so long, other people didn't really like having anything to do with or being anywhere near me." Izuku admitted. "I guess I just assumed, it'd still be the same."
"Izuku, I-I like you because of who you are, not whether you have a quirk or not." Momo assured, smiling.
The green-haired boy felt his stomach give a weird flip-flop, before steeling himself.
"Momo, would you like to go on a-"
"Midoriya."
Izuku jumped at the sudden sound of Todoroki's voice.
"Todoroki?"
"We need to talk."
Nedzu calmly pushed the door open, revealing a large, high-ceilinged hangar, behind him followed Tsukauchi.
In the center of the room were Teams Natsuka, Sandoitsu and Haishiro, their members all yelling and shouting.
Nedzu calmly cleared his throat, silencing them instantly.
"Okuzo, if you would do the honours."
A red-haired pro hero, from an offshoot of the Todoroki family, stepped forwards, sucking in a deep breath.
"Flame- o !"
A gout of fire spewed from his mouth, melting free just the members of each team that made up the horses.
Okuzo stepped back, rejoining his comrade, Backdraft. In the corner of the room, obscured by the gloom was Aizawa, leaning against the wall.
"Thank you." Nedzu gazed at the freed students, all collapsed to their knees, shivering. "Detective, I leave this next part to you."
Tsukauchi nodded, stepping forward. "Do you know why Principal Nedzu asked me to come here?"
A collection of head shaking and chattering replies of the negative reached him.
None of them were lying.
"I see." Tsukauchi paused. "Were any of you aware that your riders of your teams were using the illegal drug known as Trigger?"
"Trigger?" The tusked girl from Team Haishiro frowned. "What's Trigger?"
The lightning girl from Natsuka's team gave a disgusted look, glancing back at her team leader. "It's a quirk-enhancing drug, Support girl. And no, I didn't know."
A wave of similar denials followed, all ringing true to Tsukauchi's ears.
"None of them are lying, Nedzu."
Nedzu gave a patient smile, looking to the freed students. "Thank you for your time, you may go now, although I would appreciate your silence on these events until U.A. breaks the news."
The students gulped, the polite expression on Nedzu's face filling them with dread at the idea of telling anyone about the Trigger.
"Yes, Principal Nedzu!"
The students quickly fled, leaving just Natsuka, Haishiro and Sandoitsu, all still yelling and shouting to be freed.
Nedzu silenced them with another clearing of his throat. "Blood samples were taken from you when you were moved here. They all returned positive for Trigger."
The three students glared at their principal.
"Needless to say, the three of you, and your accomplice, are expelled with immediate effect." Nedzu paused. "I will also be passing this along to Detective Tsukauchi, of the Mustafu Police Force."
"No, you can't do this, we were just leveling the playing field!" Sandoitsu screamed, desperately trying to fight her way free.
Haishiro sneered. "Speak for yourself. We were trying to correct your despicable mistake, you rodent bastard!"
Nedzu's nostrils flared dangerously. "My despicable mistake?"
"Yeah, allowing an abberaent freak into U.A., that's what." Natsuka glared at Nedzu.
Nedzu frowned. "You mean Mikumo Akatani, do you not?"
"Of course!" Haishiro spat. "Letting the sniveling coward in because of pity!"
"Mikumo Akatani earned his place here fairly, he is an exceptional student." Nedzu retorted, his patience growing thin.
"Exceptional?!" Natsuku hissed. "What's exceptional about a damn quirkless? How the hell are they supposed be that when they're like they are?"
"Like they are?"
Natsuku answered, ignorant to the hole she was digging for herself and Haishiro. "Yeah, you know, wrong the head, everyone knows the quirkless are slow in the head."
Nedzu inhaled sharply. "Detective Tsukauchi, I was going to attempt to alleviate their punishment, so they could learn from this, they are children after all. But U.A. will provide them no protection."
The principal turned to leave.
"Throw the damn book at them."
The door slammed shut.
Nedzu was gone.
"He was your best shot at not going to jail, you know that, right?" Tsukauchi sighed sadly. "Reza Natsuka, Nento Haishiro, Mina Sandoitsu. You are under arrest for-"
"No!" Sandoitsu bawled, struggling wildly. "I can't! I can't! Let me go!"
Taking a deep breath, Sandoitsu began to secrete acid from her face, the only part of her not covered in ice.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Aizawa tried to activate his quirk, without success, his eyes burning from his injuries two weeks prior.
"Sandoitsu, no! The Trigger's still in your system!" Haishiro yelled.
Acid poured down Sandoitsu, steam wildly as it burnt her face.
Sandoitsu screamed in agony.
Aizawa's finally glowed red, erasing Sandoitsu's quirk.
Tsukauchi balked. "Okuzo, get Recovery Girl, as fast as you can! Backdraft-"
"On it!" Backdraft yelled, immediately firing his hoses, trying to wash away the acid as quickly as he could.
Sandoitsu continued to scream in agony.
Minoru leant against the wall of the boys' bathroom, breathing a sigh, his legs shaky. It had been close, but they'd made it through, him, Tsu and Shoji. They'd lost their headband to Team Tetsutetsu within the first two minutes and had only managed to take Tetsutetsu's own headband in the last few seconds.
Grabbing his gym jacket, Minoru pulled it on and fastened it, wincing at his fingertips brushed his protruding ribs.
Taking comfort in wrapping himself in the oversized jacket, Minoru mentally prepared himself to go to lunch, when his mind began to wander.
Back to the day of the USJ attack.
Two Weeks Earlier
Minoru sat on his bed, legs crossed, internally panicking.
She's going to use her quirk on me, then she'll know!
"Sorry for the delay, there are quite a few of you to see." Recovery Girl pulled up a stool in the space between the two beds, facing Tsuyu.
Minoru flinched at the sound of Recovery Girl's voice, shocked from his mental spiral.
"Asui-"
"Call me Tsu."
"Asui, do you have any injuries you need to inform me of?" Recovery Girl placed a hand on the young girl's arm.
Tsuyu shook her head. "Not that I know of, kero."
Humming slightly, Recovery Girl used her medical knowledge to understand the information about her patient's condition that her quirk provided to her.
"Cuts and bruises, slight quirk overuse, but other than that, all good." Recovery Girl healed Tsuyu with her quirk, before holding out her hand. "Here, have some gummies."
"Thanks, kero."
Recovery Girl turned to Minoru, seeing his nervousness. "Same for you, any injuries."
No, no, she'll find out, then I'll be in trouble, I can't, I can't! She'd punish me!
Minoru shook his head. "My mother is getting a private doctor to check me over later, s-she told me-"
"You were involved in a serious incident on the grounds of U.A., it's my responsibility to ensure you are unharmed before you can leave school." Recovery Girl replied, matter of factly.
"But, but, I-"
Tsuyu moved, sitting down next to Minoru and taking his hand. "It's okay, it doesn't hurt."
Minoru was panicking. "I-I can't, if she found out-"
A hand rested on Minoru's shoulder, the purple boy looking up to see it belonged to the detective.
"I'm Detective Tsukauchi." Tsukauchi gave a reassuring smile. "It's okay, you know, we're here to help."
Minoru paused, before glancing across at Tsuyu.
Tsuyu squeezed his hand. "Do you know why I want to be a hero?"
Minoru shook his head.
"To help people." Tsuyu smiled slightly. "Let me, let us, help you, so you can be the best hero you can."
"I can't." Minoru was crying now. "If I do, then I can't be a hero, she won't let me."
Tsukauchi cleared his throat. "My quirk is Lie Detector, while not infallible, anything you were to tell me would be treated very seriously."
His quirk. This may be my only chance, my chance to escape her.
Slowly, Minoru nodded.
Tsukauchi patted the boy's shoulder. "Ms. Asui, if you would mind leav-"
"I want Tsu to stay."
"That's fine, I understand." Tsukauchi nodded. "Shuzenji, if you would."
Recovery Girl placed her hand against Minoru's arm, he felt a warm wave pass through his body, blanketing the cold that normally filled him.
"Well, you are far from okay." Recovery Girl removed her hand, Minoru could tell she was being careful not to show any sort of negative emotion that could upset him. "Severe malnutrition, honestly I'm surprised you've managed to hide it so well."
Minoru shrugged. "A teacher figured it out once, my mother made sure he lost his job, she's untouchable. She works for the Hero Commission, the liaison for Wash."
"And this is U.A., six out of ten of the top pro heroes, All Might himself, graduated from here." Recovery Girl held out gummies, a far larger handful than Tsuyu's. "U.A. had stood for over a hundred years, it can handle your mother."
Tsukauchi spoke. "Can you provide the circumstances of why you suffer from your condition?"
Mother, I'll break your chains.
Minoru nodded, munching on his gummies. "My mother, she doesn't allow me to eat much, she always contacts my school to tell them I have all these allergies that I don't have, and that I have a packed lunch, but I never do."
"I understand." Tsukauchi was writing in a notepad. "Is there anything else you want to add?"
"Yeah, she does it because she wants me to be small, cute, to look like a child, for when I'm a pro hero." Minoru paused, looking at the gummy in his hand. "These are really good, what are they?"
Tsuyu gripped Minoru's hand. "Mineta, have you never had gummies?"
"I'm supposedly allergic to sweets, and chocolate, and bacon." Minoru stopped. "When will all this happen? Do I have to go home?"
Tsukauchi closed his notebook. "For now, an emergency order to place you in the care of U.A. will be filed, once you're recovering then we can start on building an airtight case. You don't ever have to go back."
Minoru nodded. "Thank you."
Calming himself, Minoru forced himself back to the present.
"-neta!"
Minoru looked up, seeing Kaminari stood at the sink, paused halfway through washing his hands.
"What?" Minoru retorted, coming out slightly harsher than he intended.
"Jeez, calm down man." Kaminari drawled, drying off his hands on his jacket. "So, is the plan still on?"
"Plan?"
Kaminari frowned. "Yeah, you know, the one we came up with last week, tricking the girls into wearing cheerleader costumes."
Minoru's stomach gave a sickening flop, he'd forgotten all about that conversation.
"I see you, Mineta."
Minoru shrugged. "Not interested anymore."
"Ah, man!" Kaminari sighed.
Leaving the bathroom, Minoru set off down the corridor.
"Hello, Piglet."
Minoru froze, turning to see his mother leaning against the wall, a smug smile on her face.
"H-How?"
The woman smirked. "This little hissy fit of yours won't accomplish anything, Piglet. You'll be home soon enough, I have the Commission's backing, not even U.A. can defy them forever."
Minoru stood frozen in fear.
The woman turned to walk away, pausing. "You really have gotten fat, we'll have to sort that out when you get home."
And then, she was gone, Minoru was hyperventilating, he couldn't get any air into his lungs.
She was going to take him, he'd be forced to leave U.A., forced to leave Tsu.
I need to be seen!
"You okay, Mineta?" Kaminari frowned as he shut the bathroom door behind himself.
Minoru slowed his breathing. "That plan. I'll do it."
Chapter 26: Fire vs Ice
Izuku shifted nervously, his back resting against the wall as Todoroki's eyes bored into him from the other side of the corridor.
"S-So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Izuku queried, uncertainty thick in his voice. "The lunch hall is going to get pretty crowded soon and I'm-"
Izuku's stomach rumbled loudly.
Todoroki slowly blinked, before speaking.
"Are you and Yaoyorozu courting?"
Izuku coughed, choking on air in shock.
Todoroki watched impassively.
Calming his breathing, Izuku pulled on the frankness of Uraraka's quirk and replied. "I don't see how Momo and my relationship would be your business."
Todoroki continued to stare at the green-haired boy. "So you admit there is a relationship?"
Izuku floundered. "I-I didn't say tha-"
"No matter." Todoroki interrupted, turning his head to look away. "As long as you don't hurt her."
Releasing a small sigh of relief, Izuku gave a weak smile. "Oh, you're just looking out for her."
Todoroki frowned and tilted his head. "Correct, why did you think I was asking?"
"No reason!" Izuku squeaked out quickly. "I mean, I thought you said you didn't have any friends."
"I don't."
"This seems awfully like you're looking out for a friend, making sure no-one hurts them, you know, friend things, to do." Midoriya trailed off, his brain running out of words to supply to his mouth.
In lieu of a true response, Todoroki just shrugged.
Midoriya rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "So, was that the reason you wanted to talk to me? Because, I was going to get some food-"
"Are you All Might's secret love child?"
Izuku's brain melted.
Todoroki continued speaking. "I've seen the two of you training together, eating lunch together, on multiple occasions you've had to stop yourself from addressing All Might by something that sounds like Father."
Izuku was desperately searching for a plausible excuse, his mind racing.
"It's nothing like that, I promise!"
"It's plain to see that the two of you share a close bond, Midoriya."
Izuku struck gold.
"The truth is All Might has been training me, he rescued me about a year ago and copied his quirk by accident. He's been teaching me how to use his quirk safely since then. You can't tell anyone that I copied All Might's quirk though!"
Todoroki arched an eyebrow. "That was supposed to be a secret? Everyone figured that out weeks ago."
"Oh, I hadn't realised."
"I suppose since you have All Might's quirk, in a way, it makes you his successor." Todoroki mused.
Izuku coughed, hiding a choke of shock.
Todoroki frowned, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes.
"So, you are his successor then?"
Unable to find a believable lie to explain away Todoroki's suspicion, Izuku's mouth moved soundlessly.
Todoroki shrugged. "Whatever, I won't tell anyone if that's what you're worried about. I know what that kind of pressure is like."
Izuku's brow knitted, a thought occurred to him. "Your father, Endeavor, you're his successor."
For a few seconds Izuku thought Todoroki was just going to walk away, before the icy expression on the boy's face cracked slightly.
"That's what the old man wishes for, but I've already decided I'm not going to succeed that bastard, I'm going to surpass him, with just my ice."
Izuku held his tongue, he wanted to grab Todoroki and yell at him for refusing to use his quirk, something that quirkless people were denied simply by genetics.
He knew if he did that he would only drive Toodroki further down that path.
Todoroki turned his head to look directly at Izuku.
"You overpowered me, you made me panic and use my flames." Todoroki paused. "I broke my pledge. How? How did you beat me?"
Izuku watched his classmate carefully, before speaking. "Reimitsu's quirk allows her to possess others, but they can fight back. She possessed Kaminari just as we started to charge, used his body to snag the headband from you and I used telekinesis to take it from her."
Todoroki lowered his head, deep in thought. "You're not All Might, he wouldn't use such complex plans."
Izuku flinched, quickly hiding it. "I know, but you're not your father."
Todoroki stiffened, inhaling through his nose.
"I m-mean that we can't all be exactly the same," Izuku hurriedly explained.
Without a word Todoroki pushed off from the wall and began to walk away.
He paused, looking back at Izuku with his scarred eye. "Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?"
"Quirk marriages?" Izuku questioned, looking down. "Your parents had a quirk marriage?"
The green-haired boy raised his head to see Todoroki had left, walking towards the main building.
Izuku sighed.
"Tch, what a diva."
"Argh!" Izuku jumped into the air, accidentally activating his Strength quirk and slamming into the ceiling.
Using Slingshot to cushion his landing, Izuku turned, rubbing the bump on his head, to see Bakugo leaning against the wall.
"Kacchan! What are you doing here?"
Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Making sure you get some damn lunch."
Izuku beamed.
"I don't want you fucking collapsing during our fight." Bakugo shrugged. "Besides, Auntie asked me to make sure you didn't forget to eat."
Izuku's smile only got wider.
"STOP FUCKING GRINNING, NERD!"
~"IT'S TIME FOR THE RECREATIONAL GAMES! Those going ahead to the tournament are free to participate or save their strength for the final event!"~
~"Not participating is the logical decision."~
~"Er, thanks for the thrilling commentary, Eraserhead, but before we start the recreational games a display by OmegaCheer cheerleaders, all the way from America! Wait, what are the 1-A girls wearing?"~
Minoru sniggered along with Kaminari as the girls slowly realised they'd been tricked into wearing the cheerleader outfits.
Yaoyorozu dropped to her knees, covering her stomach by wrapping her arms around herself.
The other girls quickly moved to comfort her, Tsuyu stopping only to shoot a glare at Minoru.
Minoru's laughter stopped, a heavy weight settling in his stomach.
Izuku took a calming breath as he walked out into the field, alongside the other members of Class 1-A who had qualified for the final event of the Sports Festival.
The green-haired boy took the lead as the Class Representative, with Momo and Iida flanking him as the co-Deputy Class Representatives.
Both he and Momo were careful not to make eye contact, they'd met eyes during the cheerleading outfit incident and now they kept blushing every time they saw each other.
Thirty-two teens came to a halt in the center of the field, forming a semi-circle, pointing towards the stage where All Might and Midnight stood, each striking a pose. The former's was bold and heroic, the latter's, less suitable for an international event that was being watched by every schoolchild in Japan.
~"Let's get ready to rumble! Yeah!"~
The crowds cheered, chanting various names, mostly for Bakugo and Todoroki, with a few for Izuku, Iida and from one of the Gen Ed classes, someone named Shinso, most likely one of their number.
~"Gladiators!"~
~"They're not gladiators-"~
~"GLADIATORS! ARE. YOU. READY?"~
A few muffled shouts came from the thirty-two finalists.
All Might released a booming laugh. "I do believe Present Mic was hoping for a little more enthusiasm than that fledglings! How about we do this together, it's time to GO BEYOND!"
"PLUS ULTRA!" The student yelled back, All Might's boisterous attitude tempering their nerves.
"YEAH! That's more like it, you'll need some fire in your souls because the Doubles Round is up next." Present Mic paused, the faint sound of paper being hurriedly shuffled around could be heard. "Aha, here it is. So! The rules are very simple, two teams or two will go head-to-head in a timed ten-minute battle. The aim of the game is to eliminate your opponents, in one of two ways, forcing them out-of-bounds or until they can no longer fight."
"The first method is permanent, once someone has gone out of bounds, they are eliminated for the rest of the fight, however if they are injured or tied up inside of the perimeter they can be freed or healed by their teammate if they have the quirk for it before the end of the bout."
"If both teams are not eliminated by the end of the five-minutes, we enter sudden death, where injuries or capture are permanent eliminations and the border of the fight area will shrink by half a meter every thirty seconds."
"Excellent! Thank you for a refresh on the rules, Present Mic!" All Might smiled. "Now, the match-ups for the Doubles Round, selected at random are as follows."
The screen behind changed, now displaying the line-up for the doubles round.
Match 1
Izuku Midoriya & Shoto Todoroki vs. Isshoni Reimitsu & Minoru Mineta
Match 2
Sero Hanta & Rikido Sato vs. Hitoshi Shinso & Mashirao Ojiro
Match 3
Hineru Hagane & Mikumo Akatani vs. Yuga Aoyama & Kaizan Kogo
Match 4
Ochaco Uraraka & Mezo Shoji vs. Katsuki Bakugo & Eijiro Kirishima
Match 5
Renn Takarakuji & Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu vs. Hikaru Chikyu & Toru Hagakure
Match 6
Mei Hatsume & Yosetsu Awase vs. Tenya Iida & Mina Ashido
Match 7
Ibara Shiozaki & Tsuyu Asui vs. Neito Monoma & Juzo Honenuki
Match 8
Denki Kaminari & Momo Yaoyorozu vs. Illia Armstrong & Fumikage Tokoyami
"No way, that little freak and the weird GenEd girl are up against Endeavor's kid and that Midoriya guy, they're screwed!"
"Yeah, talk about bad luck."
Izuku tightened his hands, swallowing the rising worry. The other students were wrong, Reimitsu's quirk was powerful, so long as she had someone to merge with, and Mineta's quirk was far from weak as well, just under-developed and poorly used.
And that's all before taking into account the fact that Todoroki has the teamwork ability of, well, Endeavor.
Izuku shook his head slowly, thinking over his options, they stood a chance one of two ways, either Izuku convinced Todoroki to get over his refusal to use his fire, thus allowing him to regulate his temperature, or he convinced him to make a plan and work in tandem.
In short, Izuku was screwed.
"Oh god, I'm dead, I'm so dead." Mineta paced back and forth rapidly. "This is too much, I-I-I can't take it!"
Mineta was hyperventilating, clearly in the middle of a panic attack.
Reimitsu watched the small boy spiral further and further into his blind panic.
From what she'd seen of her teammate so far she wasn't impressed, he'd clearly been the ones to trick the 1-A girls into wearing the cheerleading outfits.
But she had to do something, she wanted to win, even if it meant someone like Mineta won as well.
This was her chance to prove she could be a hero.
"Mineta, right?" Reimitsu moved to stand directly in front of the purple boy.
The silver-haired girl got a rapid bobbing of the head in reply.
"I'm going to try using my quirk on you, to help you calm down." Isshoni paused. "You just need to not fight me."
Mineta nodded again.
Isshoni straightened from her slight lean down, before activating Two Become One, blurring away and entering Mineta's body.
Immediately, the teen calmed, his normally purple eyes instead a shade of violet.
He blinked.
Mineta stood in a white void, a small, purple orb of energy in front of him, emitting a weak, flicking light.
"Where am I?"
"I've always called this place whitespace." Isshoni waved placidly as she faded into view. "Midoriya used a different name, quirkspace, I guess it answers my question on whether that orb in the center is a representation of the quirk or the soul."
"Th-that's my quirk?" Mineta questioned. "It looks kinda small, I guess."
"That's actually a good thing." Isshoni assured. "I'm pretty sure it means it's got more potential to grow."
Mineta shrugged. "My mother always said all I got from my dad was a useless quirk and his last name, never met him to see if that was true, he cleared out after she told him she was pregnant with me."
"Well, that sucks." Isshoni awkwardly patted the teen on the shoulder in a manner she hoped was comforting.
"It kinda does." Mineta gave a snort. "Man, we're screwed, Midoriya and Todoroki, they're going to crush us, aren't they?"
Isshoni let the connection go, the two of them returning to the material plane. "Maybe not, I have a plan and it may just work."
"Really?" Mineta's eyes lit up.
"Really." Isshoni paused. "The fight starts, I possess you, and use your empowered quirk to trap Midoriya and Todoroki."
"Todoroki can just blast through my sticky balls-"
"Please never say those words again."
"-they're really susceptible to extreme temperatures, fire burns them up and cold makes them shrivel up."
"I'm not even certain on whether you're doing this on purpose or not." Isshoni sighed. "But I've accounted for that, once we've stuck them in place I possess Midoriya and use a concrete manipulation quirk he has to move the section of the platform they're stuck too out of bounds. What do you think?"
"I think it may work, Todoroki is incapable of teamwork and refuses to use his left side, the fire side, so we can just stick down his right side." Mineta grinned, the feeling of impending doom from the conversation with his mother forgotten for the moment.
The purple teen continued. "The fact he could free himself with his fire, but won't, will make his mind freak out, and Midoriya won't be able to help himself from trying to save him, it's perfect!"
Issshoni gave a matching grin. "Then let's do this!"
Rounding the corner, Izuku saw his partner for the fight, resting against the wall of the entrance tunnel.
"Todoroki." The green-haired teen greeted his classmate, stopping against the opposite wall.
Todoroki looked at him, but didn't reply.
"What you said earlier, about quirk marriages." Izuku stopped, searching for the right words to say. "You were trying to say that's what happened with your parents, isn't it?"
An icy glare was Todoroki's reply.
"I just want to help." Izuku admitted.
"You want to help?" Todoroki snorted, the most emotion Izuku had seen him express so far. "See if you can fix this, my father charmed and paid off my maternal grandparents to allow him to marry my mom, who he selected for her ice quirk, so they could make a kid with a mix of both their quirks, to surpass All Might since he couldn't, took four attempts in the end."
"My eldest brother, Toya, he had a fire quirk, much more powerful than the bastard's. He forced him to train all time, until he pushed him too far and Toya's quirk burnt him, it ki-"
Todoroki paused.
"It severely injured him, left him in a coma for years, all because Endeavor wants to create the hero to surpass All Might, the abuse drove my mom insane, she poured boiling water on the left side of my face because it reminded her of him. So, can you fix that?"
Izuku sighed. "Of course I can't fix that."
"Then why are you trying?"
The green-haired boy sighed again, deeper this time, leaning back against the wall. "Trying to help, it's kind. Just kind."
"Kind?" Todoroki raised his eyebrows. "Kindness is a distraction, saving lives isn't about kindness."
"Todoroki, kindness isn't a-"
~"It's time for the first match of the double stage to begin! On Team A, it's the spooktacular GenEd girl that took victory in the Cavalry Battle as a part of Team Midoriya and the purple pervert-"~
~"You can't call him that."~
~"It's true! Anyway, it's the purple bounce pad of 1-A! And on Team B, it's the two powerhouses of 1-A!"~
Izuku gave a slight smile at the faint sound of Bakugo's indignant shouts.
At the sound of the bell Izuku set off down the tunnel and into the stadium, Todoroki a few paces ahead of him.
~"What's your thoughts on this match up, Eraser, seems a little one sided don't you think?"~
~"Only at first glance, Reimitsu has a powerful possession quirk, she attempted the U.A. Heroics Exam but failed to make it in as she had no-one to possess, which shows the flaws of the exam, it flavours those with highly offensive quirks."~
~"Like Todoroki and Midoriya?"~
~"Certainly Todoroki, however, the key strength of Midoriya's quirk is its versatility, he can be an offensive hero one second, and support hero the next."~
~"Thanks for the analysis, Eraser, time to hand over to Midnight now the participants are in place."~
Midnight cracked her whip, quieting the crowd.
Izuku's eyes drifted up to the private 1-A box, finding the tall, dark-haired figure that was Momo.
"Rules, no targeting of eyes, or other particularly sensitive areas, if any part of you touches the ground outside of the ring, you are eliminated, restrained or unconscious participants that remain in the area will be eliminated when the time limit of ten minutes has elapsed." Midnight cracked her whip again. "Cementoss will remain ringside as long as myself, to repair the ring and separate the participants if required. Understood?"
Izuku nodded, Todoroki gave a near imperceivable nod of his head, while Mineta and Reimitsu gave far more positive responses.
They have a plan, one they're confident in.
"On my mark." Midnight raises her arm, before bringing it down with another whip crack. "FIGHT!"
Before Izuku could even react Todoroki slammed his right foot down, a glacier of ice growing from the point of contact, swallowing up Mineta and Reimitsu, reaching just short of the first row.
Izuku blinked, unsure of what to do. Was it over already?
The ice began to crack, before a shower of ice fragments peppered Izuku and Todoroki, the former releasing a breath of fire to melt them, the latter creating a wall of ice to block them.
At this point Izuku had tuned the commentary out, looking through the steam for Mineta and Reimitsu.
And then he saw them, Mineta stood, surrounded by ice fragments, his eyes glowing violet. One of his spheres, swollen to at least fifty times it's normal size sat at the ground zero of the icey escape.
Reimitsu had possessed him, empowering Mineta's quirk. Powerful enough to block Todoroki's ice.
Crouching down and activating Strength , Izuku launched himself at Mineta, turning his left arm into rock.
A wall of purple rubber sprang up in front of Mineta, reflecting the force back onto Izuku's wrist, bending it reverse and breaking it.
"Take this!"
Izuku looked up in time to see Mineta pull sphere after sphere, twice the size than normal, from his scalp, throwing them at Izuku and Todoroki.
B - Cement
Izuku slammed his open palms down on the concrete stage, he could suddenly feel the presence of every bit of concrete in the area. Concentrating on in front of himself, Izuku raised a wall of concrete up, Todoroki doing the same with his ice.
Instead of sticking the spheres deflected, before suddenly exploding in every direction. Viscous purple goo flew at both Izuku and Todoroki, binding the former's arms to the concrete, and the latter his right arm and leg.
Activating his Strength quirk, Izuku pulled at his arms, trying to free them. Instead he could feel the bones, muscles and tendons straining under the force, preparing to snap.
Izuku quickly ruled out his Acid quirk, a compound of two Acid quirks he'd copied during the USJ, as soon as the combined Mineta and Reimitsu spotted him using it to melt the goo they'd just throw more.
A - Spacial Blade
In front of Izuku a blade of condensed air formed, reaching out with a Minor Telekinesis quirk he swung it down through his arms, above the goo.
Izuku stumbled backwards, his arms remaining attached to the concrete stage, the points where they had been severed covered in normal skin.
Mineta paled, before taking a slightly queasy appearance. "Oh shit, M-Midoriya's arms!"
Standing straight, Izuku slammed his foot down on the concrete floor, using his Cement quirk again to rupture the ring in a straight line, aimed at Mineta.
With his opponent off-balance and unable to throw more spheres, Izuku rushed forwards, managed to get almost five feet from Mineta before Reimitsu materialised from within him.
The silver-haired girl charged at him, sending a punch towards his undefendable torso.
With a single strand of Slingshot Izuku fired a loose piece of concrete at Reimitsu's wrist, forcing her punch wide.
Ducking another punch Izuku cursed, he had realised until now quite how many of his quirks relied on his arms and hands to be used.
Explosion. Wave Motion. Slingshot's secondary ability.
Izuku could see Reimitsu was getting ready to spring a trap, her eyes gave her away.
Good thing Izuku had a surprise of his own up his sleeve.
Reimitsu's form began to blur around the edges as she raced at Izuku, at the same moment he cancelled Spacial Blade, his arms returning to their rightful places, free of goo. He'd been distracting Mineta and Reimitsu while Acid had burnt through the bindings.
Raising his left arm, Izuku activated his Recoil Defence Parallel Circuit, his arms turning to elastic rock. Face set in concentration, he added Strength and Wind Generation to the mix before flicking his finger.
With a crack like a gunshot a tornado of air burst forth from Izuku's hand, slamming into Reimitsu and knocking her high into the air, towards the boundary.
Reimitsu smudged, re-entering Mineta, to escape elimination by ring-out.
Izuku was soon forced back on the defensive, dropping back behind a new concrete wall, curved to stop Mineta using the same explosion trick.
Looking around the ring Izuku caught sight of Todoroki repeatedly trying to freeze the goo to a point it would lose its adhesiveness, ice building up on his right side.
"Todoroki, you have to burn it away, your ice isn't cold enough!" Izuku called, still sheltering behind his wall, his finger and thumb throbbing as Hyper Regeneration began its work.
"No." Todoroki responded through chattering teeth, his breath coming out as mist. "I will never use my father's flames, I told you why."
Izuku tried to dart across to Todoroki, only to be stopped by another hail of spheres.
"They're your flames, not his!" Izuku yelled. "He doesn't create them!"
Todoroki's left hand tightened into a fist, wisps of smoke beginning to trail from.
"USE THE FLAMES I GAVE YOU!"
Izuku cursed in frustration at Endeavor's shout, watching as Todoroki's hand went limp, the smoke cutting off.
"No. I refuse to use your flames!" Todoroki barked, it was the first time Izuku had heard him raise his voice.
"Todoroki." Izuku called, getting his attention. "We can't win like this, we're going to time out and lose since you're trapped."
"What do you suggest?"
"Use their own strategy against them." Izuku answered. "Please don't fight me, I promise I won't use your flames."
Izuku blurred, turning into a multicoloured streak and entering Todoroki.
He blinked, finding himself in Todoroki's quirkspace, the void white in colour, with what he assumed to be Half-Hot, Half-Cold in the center.
It was unlike any other quirk Izuku had seen so far, clearly only a single quirk, but two-tone, red and pale blue, swirling around like yin and yang.
Turning, Izuku saw a door, sliding and of a more traditional style, in front of it stood Todoroki, watching him closely.
"You copied that girl's quirk."
It wasn't a question, but a statement.
Izuku nodded. "During the cavalry battle, Two Becomes One, it's a powerful quirk, versatile."
"Did you mean it?" Todoroki questioned. "That you wouldn't use my left side?"
"Yes." Izuku answered. "It's your quirk, you get to choose what you do with it."
Todoroki blinked, his face remained impassive. "I see, then, yes, I agree to not to fight your possession."
Izuku smiled. "Thank you. Together, we can win this."
"Good." Todoroki stepped to one side.
Izuku walked up to the door, pausing, before sliding it open and stepping through.
The green-haired boy felt the possession take hold, before something went horribly wrong.
Black lighting covered Izuku's body as he yelled out in pain, finding himself in his own quirkspace, a silhouette of a man with spiked hair stood over him.
"Huh, you want us to share your power with him?"
Izuku sighed in relief as the pain subsided, the black lightning slowing to the occasion spark.
"My power?"
"One For All, by possessing him you are containing it in another body, it requires approval." The silhouette answered.
"You're a vestige." Izuku realised. "Wait approval, what approval?"
The silhouette sighed, Izuku could practically hear the sound of them rolling their eyes.
"Yes, approval." The silhouette responded. "When One For All is passed on the new holder is judged, by all of the vestiges. If we agree they are worthy unanimously, then the quirk manifests, otherwise, it reverts the current holder. However, this is a new situation, you are not passing the quirk on, it is still bound to you, instead you are temporarily housing it in a new body."
Izuku frowned. "I see. So you all have to agree that Todoroki is worthy to have One For All while I possess him?"
"No, this is different. You could possess him even if we all thought him unworthy, but while you did One For All's power would be beyond your reach." The silhouette paused. "In this case Todoroki only requires the approval from one of us to use One For All. That vestige will then act as a conduit for One For All's power to flow through to Todoroki."
"And you're going to give your approval."
The silhouette gave a curt nod. "That I am. Good luck, Izuku Midoriya."
The lightning around Izuku turned ice-blue, growing in volume until it covered every square inch of him.
Todoroki opened his eyes, the irises glowed ice-blue, odd bursts of similarly coloured lightning shooting across his body.
"This power." Todoroki whispered. "This is All Might's power, the quirk you copied. I see now why my father never stood a chance at surpassing him."
The temperature suddenly dropped, lower and lower, emergency heaters coming to life in the stands to protect the spectators.
With another, even colder wave of icy air Mineta's spheres peeled away, dropping to the floor harmlessly
~"What's this?! Looks like Midoriya's managed to copy his opponent's quirk and has possessed his teammate!~
~"Todoroki's free, but they're at disadvantage since he was immobilised for so long. Even if they were able to immobilise one of their opponents now they're not enough of the match left as Todoroki was trapped for."~
~"I get it Eraser, if they wanna win they've got to force at least one of their opponents out the ring, or knock them both unconscious."~
Todoroki stood, light blue eyes boring into the violet of Mineta's. "We are going to win, without using my father's fire, understood?"
Izuku nodded Todoroki's head. "Understood, no using your flames, also, I have a plan."
Todoroki's eyes flickered, before turning green, Izuku was in the driver's seat now. Slamming Todoroki's foot down, Izuku activated Half-Cold, creating staggered walls of ice to shield them from more of Mineta's spheres.
Mineta leapt back, dodging Izuku's attempt to freeze him at range, the thin ice around his ankles breaking and peeling away.
Purple goo ran down Mineta's body and onto the floor, before rising back up again to form a thick, domed cocoon, completely obscuring them from view.
"They plan to waste the remainder of the fight." Todoroki commented. "Does this action undermine your plan?"
"The exact opposite." Izuku spoke through Todoroki's body. "I was counting on this."
Slamming Todoroki's right foot down again a massive ice basin formed, with a ramp aimed in the direction of Mineta's cocoon.
Crouching, Izuku called on Slingshot and pushed off from the floor with all four strands as well as a Strength-enhanced jump.
At the same time Izuku created a set of clip-on ice skate blades, securing them over Todoroki's boots.
"You know how to ice skate, right?" Izuku questioned as they plummeted towards the basin.
"I do." Todoroki replied, landing graceful in the basin, skilfully skating around the basin, gaining speed. "Do you?"
"Er, no?"
"Is that a question or an answer?"
"Both?"
Todoroki sighed, his breath misty. "What was your plan if I didn't know how to skate?"
"I didn't plan for that." Izuku admitted.
"You planned for a new facet of Mineta's quirk, but not if both yourself and I could not skate."
"Yeahhh, I did, didn't I?" Izuku gave a weak chuckle as Todoroki continued to skate around the basin, gathering momentum.
Todoroki snorted slightly. "You are the most terrifying intelligent idiot I have ever met."
"Todoroki, look out!" Izuku shouted.
Looking across, Todoroki saw a hail of Mineta's spheres coming down upon them.
"I need to use one of your quirks." Todoroki stated, holding his arms backwards, twin tornadoes forming around them, increasing his speed and getting them out of the line of fire.
~"What are Todoroki and Midoriya doing? There's only a minute left on the clock and Mineta and Reimitsu have the advantage!"~
"Damn, I wanted to build up more speed but we don't have the time, I'm going to have to take the reins!" Izuku yelled, Todoroki's eyes turning green.
Changing course, Izuku kept Wind Generation in effect as they rocketed towards the ramp, the telltale sparks of Creation appearing across his palms.
"What are you doing?" Todoroki queried as the edge of the ramp came closer and closer.
"Creating pure oxygen." Izuku answered, before Todoroki's arms turned to rock as his body left the end of the ramp.
Izuku clicked their fingers, a stray spark igniting the oxygen as he switched the Wind Generation to their legs.
A massive ball of fire propelled them forward, their force sustained by twin tornadoes of wind and fire, his earthen fist aimed at the rubbery cocoon.
"SEPTEMBER SMASH!"
The fist hit the cocoon, causing it to ripple dangerously, before rupturing and allowing Izuku and Todoroki's attack to continue, fist slamming into Mineta's chest.
Izuku and Todoroki hit the ground and rolled, separated back into their individual bodies as Mineta hit the wall of the stadium, cushioned by a scrap of the goo cocoon, splitting apart.
Midnight cracked her whip. "Mineta and Reimitsu are out of bounds, Todoroki and Midoriya are the winners!"
Izuku pushed himself to his feet, glancing across at Todoroki, the both of them covered in purple goo. "We don't make too bad of a team, do we?"
Todoroki kept an impassive expression on his face. "Our teamwork was adequate."
Izuku chuckled to himself, wiping goo out of his hair as Todoroki walked away.
"I really need a shower."
A drop of blood splashed on Izuku's one of trainers, darkening the already red fabric.
Reaching up, Izuku brushed his nose, his fingers coming away bloody, his head pounding to the rhythm of the dripping blood.