"Wait!"
Izuku turned to see a young man with white hair and a hero suit rushing towards him.
'Is that…Frozone?'
"Sorry to disturb you when you're supposed to be going to the infirmary but… I had to say this."
The man then bowed.
"Thank you for helping my brother!"
Izuku frantically pulled him up with a panicked squeak.
'Is bowing something rich people just like doing?' he wondered as Frozone, or as he introduced himself, Natsuo Todoroki started speaking.
"Shoto's always been an overthinker, and right after he got past the stupid promise he made to never use his flames, he almost hurt Fuyumi, our sister. Me and the old man made sure no one got hurt, and Fuyumi was totally chill about it, but he had an existential crisis or something."
"Anyway, enough rambling" he said as he slapped his cheeks.
"Point is, you basically saved him from himself. Words cannot explain how grateful our whole family is. Dad and Mom went down to talk to him, otherwise they'd be here too."
"I'm glad I could help" Izuku said with a smile.
"Alright, I'm gonna go find them. Congrats on your victory, and good luck for the finals! Us pros technically shouldn't take sides, but I'm rooting for you!"
'What a refreshing guy…' Izuku thought to himself as he continued walking down the corridor 'how come Todoroki-kun and Endeavour aren't that chill?'
"YOU IDIOT!"
Out of consideration for Recovery Girl, Izuku didn't phase through the beating she was giving him right now from her syringe walking stick thing.
"It really wasn't as bad as it looked" Izuku weakly protested.
"I've told you before, just because your body isn't like a normal human's doesn't mean you can keep blasting off body parts!"
"But they grow back…"
"NOT THE POINT HERE!"
"What an Explosive Finish! Bakugo defeats Iida by knockout! Bakugo moves on to fight Midoriya in the finals!"
"There's another boy who can't hold back." Recovery girl muttered darkly as she moved to prepare a bed for Iida's checkup "Did you both grow up not learning what limits are?"
"Our teachers were pretty adamant on us breaking those…" Izuku said with a small smile as he remembered his martial arts classes with Kacchan at Mori sensei's dojo.
"…what's with that smile?"
Before she could say anything, the doors opened to see Iida Walk in robotically.
"Recovery Girl! Forgive my impudence, but I ask you to please heal my left leg as I am unable to properly walk on it currently!" with a perfect 90-degree bow.
'I think I've seen more bowing today than I had in like the past 3 years…'
For some reason, she didn't scold or hit Iida with her cane, which Izuku personally found to be a sign of discrimination.
A minute later, Katsuki walked in.
"Old lady, Aizawa-sensei said I had to get a slip from you to say that I'm good to fight."
"One thing at a time. I'll handle Iida's leg first, then I'll give both of you your slips."
While she moved to do as she had just said, Katsuki turned to face Izuku.
"We've got the green light for it."
While Iida and Recovery Girl glanced at them with slight confusion, Izuku's eyes widened.
"Really? They didn't say something like preferential treatment?"
"It's only cuz both of us are in the finals, and got those acknowledgement stamps from the HPSC 2 years ago."
Izuku nodded.
"How much time do we have to prepare then?"
"Half-hour break, according to Yamada-sensei."
"Ah, I'll have to run to our class to get my suit then."
"I grabbed mine, so you're already behind."
"Do you…seriously have to make everything a competition?"
"Yes."
"It's time for the final match of the First Years sports festival! The explosive boy with the greatest firepower in the first year, against the untouchable god of speed! But wait, what's this!?"
Both Izuku and Katsuki walked out onto the field amidst a rain of applause and cheers, standing on top of the ring and facing each other.
"as I'm sure everyone has already noticed, these two are in their hero suits. This is because of a request made by both of them that the principal has decided to approve, and so not only is this the finals of the sports festival, it's also an exhibition match to display the strength of Japan's future."
With Aizawa sensei's clarification done, Midnight sensei walked up.
"No Ring outs! Victory only by knockout or surrender! Me and Cementos will be moving away immediately after the match starts, but we will stop anything too extreme, so keep it moderate."
Both Izuku and Katsuki nodded, completely ignoring the last part.
"Well then, BEGIN!"
Izuku took a step forward, bringing up his katana as Katsuki brought his staff behind his back.
"Do you wanna start small and move up, or go crazy from the start?"
Katsuki pondered for a second, before grinning.
"I say we make a show of it."
Izuku smiled, and then jumped back.
"Alright."
He raised his sword up, the tip pointing as the sky as he entered his flow state at 20%.
[SOLAR FLARE]
He released an arc of glowing white light that Katsuki jumped to the side to dodge.
"I was there when you came up with that." Katsuki said as he thrust the staff towards Izuku, launching sweat from the pump system that he detonated for a directed explosion.
[EXPLODING THRUSTS]
He repeated the action, sending out explosions while thrusting the staff like he was playing billiards.
"You have no idea how dumb that looks" Izuku said as he leapt out of the ring and landed sideways on the walls of the arena before running around at 35% to create a smokescreen.
[LAND MINE BLAST]
He cleared the smoke in an instant before jumping up and aiming with his staff as he cocked his arm back for a throw.
"That's a staff, not a spear. You can't-HOLY SH-"
Somehow, Katsuki had caught onto where Izuku would be, and threw the staff with a cluster of explosions fast enough to catch up to the green haired boy.
This would have meant nothing since Izuku could just phase through objects.
If Katsuki hadn't tied a bunch of mini grenades to the tip.
Even if Izuku had seen it through Haki, he wasn't able to turn or stop the incoming blast, so all he could do was coat his arms with armament Haki and bring it up to block the explosion.
Still hurt.
He coughed as he landed, skidding on the ground a bit before stopping and getting up to see Katsuki grab his staff.
"You've gotten cocky haven't you?"
It wasn't an accusation, but an observation.
He was uncharacteristically calm, idly spinning his staff in his hands as he walked towards Izuku.
"I know that you were able to see the mini bombs I had set inside this thing, but you chose to tank it instead of dodging."
He pointed an accusatory finger at Izuku.
"Stop messing around. I'm not copycat, or racoon eyes, or half-n-half. This is a fight against a guy who knows most of your moves, so either get stronger on the spot or get out of the way."
Izuku blinked as he realized his earlier mistake.
Calm?
There was no way that look in Katsuki's eyes could be anything but anger.
Anger so intense it had long passed the explosive stage.
Izuku chuckled as he picked his katana back up and swung it a few times idly before flipping it, holding it in reverse grip behind his head as he got into a stance.
"You're right. Let's do this."
[DIVINE DEPARTURE]
Izuku swung with a roar, releasing a slash of Haki so potent it gouged the earth as it made way to Katsuki.
Undeterred, the explosive boy jumped to the side, using the wall as a spring board to jump towards Izuku in a rush of explosions.
Izuku punched the ground, releasing a force that sent him flying into the air for a bit.
' 30 would have been my max for long term use before my body starts breaking, but he's right.'
He closed his eyes for a second, concentrating to feel the endless source of energy called one for all.
'If I don't evolve right here, I'll never be able to be a real hero.'
[FLOW STATE, 40%]
He landed with a grunt, creating a second tiny crater as he tensed his body.
'It's a complete different level of strain compared to when I went from 20 to 30' he thought to himself 'Overflow breaks my body so fast I can't even feel it, but I can feel the pressure on my body right now.'
"WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING!?"
He gasped, realizing he'd been focusing on the wrong thing as he jumped back, accidentally crashing into the walls of the arena.
'Well, atleast I can still move.'
[EXPLODING THRUSTS]
[SOLAR THRUSTS]
Izuku matched Katsuki's rush of explosions, using Haki to throw his own beams of light at the exact spots where Katsuki's explosions were.
He dashed forward, closing the distance before bringing his sword down for an explosive [SOLAR FLARE]
With a roar, Katsuki swung his staff up too, releasing a blast from the tip that hit the solar flare point blank.
The impact caused a shockwave that sent both Izuku and Katsuki back, and their weapons flying.
[LIGHT ARROW]
Without a moment's rest, Izuku dashed forward, legs pointed as his opponent as he sent himself flying in a cocoon of light.
[EXPLOSIVE SPEED]
Katsuki threw his arms back before dashing forward to meet Izuku's charge.
He changed angles completely halfway, pointing his arms up to change his trajectory, moving under Izuku's kick and skidding on the ground for a few seconds before turning back around.
[EXPLOSION WHEEL]
He jumped into a front flip before releasing explosions into the shape of a fiery wheel that crashed into Izuku's side.
[FULL BODY FLARE]
Izuku released a blast of light from his whole body, freeing him and giving him the chance to create some distance.
He groaned in pain as he felt his body strain under the pressure from both inside and outside his body and reluctantly lowered flow to 30%.
'Raise the percentage at the moment of impact'
He remembered what Yagi sensei and Torino sensei had told him during those hellish days of training.
It had been when he could barely handle the strain 20% brought him, so his mentors had told him to spike from 8 to 20 for the moment when he had to send out flicks of air pressure.
Surely the same principle would apply here.
He brought his hand up, aiming straight at the approaching Katsuki.
'Maintain it, and then spike it…NOW!'
He released a blast of wind energy that hit his opponent straight at the chest, causing Katsuki's eyes to widen at the almost instant attack that had hit him.
[ST LOUIS SMASH]
Again, he maintained 35% throughout his body before spiking it for the second of impact to 45% as he struck Katsuki's right side, the blonde barely able to bring his arms up to absorb most of the impact before being sent back like a ragdoll.
Any thoughts of maintaining control evaporated as Izuku heard a distinct click sound.
Katsuki froze too, and both of them turned to look at his grenade shaped gauntlets at the same time.
"Hey, I'm allowed to use these right?"
The question wasn't directed to Izuku, but to the teachers.
"…we wouldn't have given them to you if you weren't. Make sure not to hurt the audience."
Katsuki turned to face Izuku with a grin as he brought up his arm and aimed straight at him.
"You heard that right?"
"Yeah."
"And you know what I'm about to do?"
"…yeah."
"You ready?"
"No."
"Surrender then."
"Never."
"Good."
And then he pulled the pin.
Somehow, it was simpler to dodge, compared to when he had fought Katsuki in the combat training.
Maybe because that was a narrow corridor that lowered Izuku's options, or maybe it was because Izuku now had Haki that let him see the paths to safety, but it was relatively simple to dash back before using [FLASH ARROW, LONG VERSION] to literally the other side of the arena.
Good decision too, because while he had dodged it easily…
The ground hadn't.
And it showed.
"Don't be resting easy yet." Katsuki growled as he walked up to where both of their weapons had landed "I've got a lot more in me, and you're practically dead on your feet."
'He's right' Izuku realized 'He's got one more charge, and I can't go for a big dash like the one I just did again with the strain using 40% through my whole body did.'
He frowned as he saw Katsuki take off the gauntlet with the explosive charge ready, and fiddle with the staff.
"The hell are you doing?"
"Preparing my secret weapon."
He brandished the staff, now with the grenade-shaped gauntlet attached to it's tip.
"…that's really impractical, you know that right?"
"Shut up" Katsuki snapped "I don't need to care about things like Aerodynamics, or gravity if I have enough explosions!"
As if to prove his point, he jumped up, miniature blasts sprouting from his left hand as he aimed with his right, reminiscent of the start of the fight when he had hit Izuku with that spear throwing move.
He sighed, and got into a stance, right arm cocked back and left in an angle to be able to swipe the air.
'I'm gonna have to deal with another scolding, but I'm not gonna let myself go down either.'
He moved his left arm to be diagonal to his body, in the same pose as those old pre-quirk videos of martial artists breaking through stacks of bricks using Chops.
'Just for the next minute…[OVERFLOW]'
Izuku channeled one for all at 100% through his arms and his back leg while maintaining the 30% through the rest of his body.
It was a testament to how focused he was right now, that he was able to bring out Haki onto his left hand at its full force after that.
"LET'S FINISH THIS" his explosive opponent yelled as he finished bouncing around in the air at the same spot, now in a spiral of smoke while still holding the staff-gauntlet thing in his right arm.
"YEAH!"
Izuku knew Katsuki.
He knew that while his friend was great at analyzing, being able to break down opponents in his head at a pace that matched Izuku.
But he also knew, that Katsuki's solutions to problems that couldn't easily be blasted, tended to be bigger (or more) explosions.
So, when he saw him throw the weapon at a speed incomparable to the previous throw, he didn't hesitate to swipe his Haki covered 100% left arm forward to release a storm of wind pressure.
[CALIFORNIA SMASH]
[FINAL BLAST]
The explosions weren't deterred by a bit, only deflected to miss Izuku by about 2 meters and be embedded into an array of walls Cementos made to protect the entrance hallway.
But Izuku knew it wasn't enough.
Katsuki wasn't the type to let a weapon finish something, and it was proven when he saw the blonde launch himself forward with the smoke from before swirling .
So, he released the energy he had in his right leg, launching himself forward to meet Katsuki's attack point blank with his right fist.
[HOWITZER IMPACT]
[100% DETROIT SMASH!]