The 1st Sports Festival (Part 2)

Chris sat down in the stands, holding his fingers. Momo sat next to him. "Are you ok?" "Yea. Recovery Girl said that I'll be good for the next round. Shinzo was a tougher opponent than I thought he would be." Kirishima nudged him. "He wouldn't have been any trouble if you had just kept your mouth shut." "Bite me. Jason and Shoto are next, right?" "Yea. Under normal circumstances, I would say Shoto is guaranteed a victory. But this is Jason we're talking about. He's the best fighter in the class." Chris glared at Kirishima, who shrugged. "Sorry man. It's the truth." Momo smiled. "I'm just glad that, no matter what, one of our friends will be winning." Mina hugged Momo from behind. "There's Momo the optimist at work, folks!" Jason and Shoto entered on opposite ends of the ring. Jason was smiling. "May the best hero win." Shoto brushed her hair out of her eyes. "I promise you: this isn't personal." Midnight raised her hand. "We are now entering the first match of the semifinals! Jason Miller vs Shoto Todoroki! Ready?! Begin!"

Jason charged forward as fast as he could. Shoto immediately planted her foot and created another ice wall, planning on ending the match in one attack once again. The ice rushed forward. Jason narrowed his eyes as he continued his charge. At the last possible second, Jason jumped and dove with all of his might, narrowly missing the attack. Shoto's eyes widened. Chris smiled from the stands. "It was a gamble, but it paid off. He figured Shoto wouldn't know what to do after the first attack fails. Now he just needs to get in close and finish this." The entire class paid very close attention to the fight. Jason didn't lose any momentum when he landed. He rolled and kept charging. He did change his direction though. He was now angling his approach. Shoto recovered and fired off another ground based ice attack. Jason suddenly back pedaled, taking notice that the attack wasn't as big as the first one. He made a beeline for her. She fired off another ice attack. Jason stopped and rolled to the side. Shoto began to step away, trying to think of a way to win. Jason had memorized her fighting style and attack pattern, and she knew she couldn't win in close quarters. Her massive attacks had taken a toll on her body already. She had to end this quickly. If directional attacks weren't working, she would freeze everything around her. She shouted. "Frozen World!" She let all of her power out, sending giant ice walls in every direction. Shoto had covered the ring in a thick layer of ice. Ice spires were sticking out everywhere. She slowed her breathing as she crossed her arms. She was beyond freezing. She could see her own breath from how cold her body was. Then she got punched in the face. She managed to roll with it and get back up. Her last ditch effort had failed. The two engaged in hand to hand combat, but Shoto only knew self defense techniques: nothing like the martial arts that Jason and Ojiro had demonstrated. Jason landed three consecutive roundhouse kicks on Shoto's side. She fell to a knee and successfully blocked a fourth kick aimed at her face. She got back up only for Jason to drop down and leg sweep her. Shoto rolled away, dodging devastation as Jason's leg slammed down where she had just been. Both fighters got back up, catching their breath. Jason noticed the goosebumps along Shoto's arms, and then saw her breath. "...You've reached your limit with your ice, haven't you?" Her eyes narrowed as he continued on. "...Your quirk is 'half hot, half cold', right? That means you have fire too. Why aren't you using it?" Shoto didn't answer. Instead, she looked past Jason. Every instinct in him told him to end the fight. All of his experiences were screaming at him to not turn away. Victory wanted him to win. Jason ignored his pride and, against his better judgement, turned to see what Shoto was looking at. It was Endeavor. He was at one of the entrances, watching the fight. Jason turned back to Shoto, who was still glaring at her father. He had no idea what she was thinking, but this was no longer about winning the fight or winning the tournament. This was about helping a friend. "So you're not using your fire quirk because you have daddy issues?" Her eyes shifted to him with a murderous intent. Bullseye. "Seriously, I can't believe you. You're supposed to be one of the strongest in the class. Some say you have the potential to be the strongest. But you can't. Want to know why? You keep holding yourself back." "Shut up." "Endeavor may be a piece of shit, but that is no reason for you to handicap yourself. Because villains won't wait for you to overcome personal problems." "I told you to shut up." Jason slowly walked towards her. "You're going to lose. You'll lose this battle and every other battle if you don't grow up." She angrily went to punch him. "I said-" She got kneed in the stomach and grabbed by Jason. "I can't believe I once admired you. I always wished I could be as talented as you are. But now I see that you can't even use your own damn power." Jason let her fall to the ground and put a foot on her upper back. "It's not Endeavor's power. It's your power. So stop holding back because of some jackass." Shoto did nothing. Jason sighed. "Fine." As he leaned down to grab her, Shoto's left hand ignited. Jason, now wide eyed, rolled backwards instinctively. He just barely dodged a brutal fireball. Shoto now stood up, the left side of her body on fire. She glared at Jason. Her clothes slowly started to burn. The ice covering the ring melted around her. Shoto shouted. "You want me to fight?! Fine! I'll show you just how powerful I am!"

The entire class was astounded. Momo shouted. "Are you an idiot, Jason?! You had her! Why did you have to antagonize her?!" "He didn't antagonize her." The main group of friends looked to Chris. "He inspired her to action. Hiding her quirk doesn't help anyone but her opponent. Jason is helping her see that." Mina spoke up. "But now his chances of winning are slim to none!" "He knows." Chris sighed. "He chose his friend's mental wellbeing and safety over some gold medal. Because that's who he is."

Jason was astounded. The heat emanating off of her was insane. He felt like he would melt just by standing there. He smiled. "Alright, Shoto! Now let's see what you can do!" Jason charged forward. Shoto let out a massive wall of fire. Jason had to dive to avoid it. Her fire attacks are faster than her ice attacks. But there's isn't much direction to them. Jason quickly got up and dodged another fire attack. She's perfected her ice quirk, but she's still learning how to use her fire. She's just letting it all out. I just have to get in close and- Jason jumped to avoid ice freezing his feet. Ice?! Jason landed and saw that Shoto's flames had stopped. Then the left half of her body was engulfed in flames again. I see it. She can't use both quirks simultaneously, but she can swap between them quickly, and every time she swaps quirks, the negative effects are cancelled out. "This girl…" Jason smiled from ear to ear as he charged forward again. "...Is some serious competition!" He got close enough to hit her again, but she moved to the side, leaving an ice block here she once was. Jason slammed into it and ducked to avoid her kick. He would've grabbed her, but it was too dangerous since her leg was on fire. The two continued a very dangerous close quarters brawl. Then Jason went for the left hook, slamming his fist against Shoto's face. It was over. Then her right hand lit up one more time. Jason's eyes widened. He was fast, but not fast enough to dodge a point blank attack. Shoto let all of her power out in this one attack. Jason was sent flying. He slammed into the stadium wall, creating large cracks in it before he fell. Shoto slowly got up. She had fired that last attack in desperation. She slowly limped her way to Jason to check on him. She covered her mouth in shock. Jason was covering the left side of his face. She hadn't aimed, but she was hoping to get him in the chest or a limb. She wasn't aiming for his goddamn face. Before she could apologize, Jason slowly got up and put a thumbs up in the air. "...I'm good…" He had to fight back searing pain to get that sentence out. Shoto just stared as she watched Jason force a smile. Midnight snapped out of her daze and picked up the microphone she had dropped. "Jason has been thrown out of bounds! The winner is Shoto!" The stadium was silent. Then, slowly but surely, everyone began to applaud. Soon, the cheers were louder than they had ever been. Shoto didn't care. She hopped off of the stage and to Jason, who was already leaving. Chris stood up. "Let's go check on them." He and the others left the stands.

The crew turned the corner to Recovery Girl's office. Shoto was sitting waiting in the hallway. Chris smiled. "Hey Shoto." She looked up at the group. "Oh. Hey guys. She said he'll be out in a minute." "Awesome. Kirishima sat next to her. "You were awesome out there. I never doubted you for a second." Mina stifled laughter. "What's so funny?" "Oh, only about how you claimed she was going to lose." Momo giggled as the two began bantering again. After a few minutes, Chris looked at his phone. "...I have to go to my next match. Please tell him I dropped by." Shoto nodded as Chris jogged to the prep room. The others began heading to the stands. Kirishima yelled to Shoto. "Let him know we were her too!" They ran off. Shoto just sighed as she waited for Jason to get fixed up.

Chris entered the ring. Tokoyami entered from the opposite side, his Dark Shadow already on standby. Chris took a deep breath, rehearsing his plan in his head one more time. He had the advantage in speed and power. He just had to try and keep Dark Shadow away from him. Chris looked down at his fingers. "...Don't fail on me now, One for All…" Midnight raised her hand. "The battle between Fumikage Tokoyami and Chris Harper is now about to start! Ready?! Begin!" Tokoyami shouted. "Dark Shadow!" Dark Shadow began racing forward, but Chris was quicker on the draw. He raised his hand, powering up a 100% flick. He aimed and let loose. The shockwave hurled itself towards Tokoyami. Dark Shadow failed to intercept, meaning Tokoyami took the full brunt of the attack. He was thrown off of the ring and hit the wall, bouncing off and hitting the ground. Midnight shouted. "Tokoyami is out of bounds! The winner is Chris!" Chris curled his fist, trying to ignore the pain he felt from having his finger broken. He hopped off of the stage and helped Tokoyami up. "You ok?" "...I never had a chance… Good luck in the finals…" The two parted ways.

Jason finally exited the nurse's office. Shoto leaped to her feet. "Jason, I- I- I'm so sorry… I lost control and just-" Jason, smiling, put a hand up to quiet her. "Shoto, I'm fine. I'm just surprised at how powerful your fire is." Shoto just looked down at her feet. Jason sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "Shoto, things would be a whole lot different if you had done this to me when we were working together. We were fighting each other. I'm pretty sure you didn't come out of that unscathed either. The point I'm trying to make is…. Actually, I'm not entirely sure. Just keep aiming to be better." Shoto looked up at her new friend, nodding. Jason smirked. "Besides, I wouldn't respect you if you held back at all." "...Wait, really?" "Anyways, you have a match starting in a few minutes, right? Don't hold back against Chris either. He will actually hurt you with a ton of power." Shoto nodded and started walking to the prep room. Jason watched her a little bit longer before walking to the stands.

Kirishima stood up. "Dude! You alright?!" Jason nodded, yawning. He sat down next to his friends. "Am I late?" Mina shook her head. "They'll enter the ring soon. Who do you think is going to win?" "Don't care." The crew looked at him. He smiled as he rested his head on his hands. "Regardless of who wins, I get to watch one of my friends win. Now quiet up. They're starting. Chris and Shoto entered the ring on opposite ends. Chris smiled. "You plan on using your fire on me?" Shoto held up her left hand, creating a ball of fire. "Jason wanted me to go all out in this match. He took the loss in the last round to help me overcome my own weakness. I will not let him down." Chris finished stretching. "Good to know. I won't be holding back either. Midnight raised her hand in the air. "The final match for the 1st year sports festival is about to begin! Shoto Todoroki vs Chris Harper! Who will win and become the 1st Year Student Champion?! We're about to find out! Begin!"

Chris fired off a shockwave with all his might as Shoto launched a massive ice attack. The two insane attacks collided, sending ice everywhere. The massive clash only proved one thing to the two competitors: this would not be over quickly. Chris began running forward, ignoring the pain caused by his once again broken finger. Shoto fired a small ice attack in his direction. Instead of aiming for him, she aimed ahead, cutting off his movement. Chris stopped in front of the ice wall, planning on turning around. However, he had to duck to dodge a ball of fire. "Dammit Jason, I'm going to kill you for this." Chris stood up and fired a shockwave directly at her. Shoto created two ice walls: one in front of her and one behind her. The ice wall in front of her shattered and she got hit. However, the impact didn't throw her off of the ring, since the wall behind her held up. She landed on her feet, caught her breath, and shot a fireball. Chris rolled just in time. Shoto narrowed her eyes. "He's fast, but his reflexes are slower than Jason's. He packs more power, but it's easier to counter. So that's how I'll win." She fired another ice attack at him. "Complete, unrelenting firepower mixed with continuous ice attack. He'll run out of fingers eventually." She fired off a fireball. When she saw Chris hit the deck, she fired an ice attack. It immediately shattered from a shockwave. "What the hell?!" Chris was standing up, all of his fingers primed. "Alright, Shoto, let's finish this!" One by one, he fired off all of his fingers. Now Shoto was on the defensive. She kept continuously feeding her ice wall, but it kept shattering. She got hit by three back to back shockwaves and was flown across the arena. She managed to put her right hand down in time to create one last ice wall, which she slammed into. She had barely saved herself. Chris charged through the dust and rubble, One for All coursing through his arm. He smiled when he saw Shoto struggling to get up. He reared his arm back. Shoto saw him out of the corner of her eye and performed a leg sweep, mimicking Jason's form from earlier. Chris was temporarily airborne as he panicked. Shoto let out one final blast of fire, aiming this time. The fire propelled Jason over her ice wall and past the arena boundaries. Chris looked down at the ground, which was rapidly approaching. He had no choice but to gamble. "New Hampshire…" Shoto looked over the wall. "What the-" "...Smash!" Chris went flying the opposite direction, having aimed his punch down at the ground. It worked. He was back on the ring. He slowly got up, his left arm now destroyed. Shoto activated her ice to cool down her body. "You really are amazing, Chris. But I can recover from pushing my quirk to its limit. You can't." She faced him, readying her ice. "It's over." Jason clenched his right fist. "...No…" One for All coursed through his arm. Shoto swore and put all of her ice into this final attack. Chris reared his arm back. "I decide when I'm done!" He punched with all of his might as Shoto fired her ice. Everyone in the bleachers took cover. Jason stood up. "Kirishima!" He knew what to do. He hardened himself as the crew hid behind him or dove behind the other seats. The two ultimate attacks collided, creating a vortex of destruction and chaos. Chris fell to a knee, having used up all of his strength in that final attack. Through the smoke and mist, he could feel a powerful heat. He sighed and closed his eyes. A giant fireball blasted through the chaos and hit Chris, tossing him like a ragdoll into the stadium wall. Shoto was still standing, half of her gym uniform top burned away from her own quirk. Midnight shouted. "It's finally over! The winner of the Sports Festival is Shoto Todoroki!" The crowd erupted in cheers. Chris stood up, smiling. "...Jason was right… you are amazing…" Shoto hopped off of the ring, walking towards Chris. "Sorry, but Jason told me not to hold back." "Damn that bastard." Chris stood up straight, having caught his breath. "I knew I had a long way to go before becoming a hero, but I didn't think I would be this far behind. Anyways, thanks for the match." They shook hands, Chris wincing in pain from his broken arm.

In the hallway. Endeavor was waiting for his daughter. "That's my girl! I knew you could beat the crap out of them if you just tried! Once you started using my fire, you-" "Shut up." Endeavor stopped. Shoto didn't bother making eye contact. "I'm using my fire so I can become a better hero. I don't care what you have to say. I refuse to accept your so called 'help'. I have friends who have done more for me in an hour than you have my entire life." She glared up at him. "Nothing has changed. I'm still using my own strength. I just have a better idea on how to use it. You would do well to stay out of my way." She walked off, feeling more confident than ever. She met up with her friends at the end of the hall and they all headed to the award ceremony.

Shoto, Chris, and Jason all stood on their pedestals: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, in that order. Chris smiled at Jason. "Planning on taking my place next year?" Jason smiled, shaking his head. "Nope." He looked up at Shoto. "I plan on taking her spot next year." Chris smirked. "Impossible. I'll be standing up there next year." Shoto crossed her arms. "Both of you are wrong. I'll still be up here." Jason and Chris laughed a bit, but then went silent when All Might entered the arena and jumped, landing in front of the students. "Do not worry! For I am here!" The crowd went wild. "Oh my god, It's All Might!" "All Might!" "All Might, we love you!" "Have my babies!" "Guys, it's All Might!" Jason smirked at Chris. "Remember when we used to react like that?" "We still do, to an extent." "Yea, that's true." All Might approached the students, once again wearing his 'Silver Age' outfit. "I am very proud to see how much stronger you three have become since we first met. It is indeed an honor to present these medals to you." He opened the box he was carrying and put the bronze medal around Jason's neck. "Jason, despite the fact that you're quirkless, you've been competing head to head with those who should be leagues ahead of you. You truly are an inspiration to everyone watching." Jason smiled. "Thank you, All Might." The number one hero moved on to Chris, putting the silver medal around his neck. "I'm proud of you as well, Chris. When you started training, you were brash and over confident. But now I see you strategizing and thinking about how to win while restricting damage to your own body. You've come a long way." "Thank you so much, All Might." Lastly, he put the gold medal around Shoto's neck. "When you first entered UA, you didn't want anything to do with your classmates. You just wanted to grow stronger. But as you opened yourself up to those around you, you became much stronger almost overnight. I was proud when you finally decided to use your fire. I don't know what caused it, but…" He glanced at Jason out of the corner of his eye. "...I have some good theories." Shoto fought back a blush. "Regardless of the reason, I'm looking forward to seeing how much more you can improve." "...Thank you, sir."

All Might took a step back. "The ceremony is now concluded. I am proud of every single student who has partaken this year. And for those of you watching, thank you for coming! I hope to see you all tomorrow for the 2nd year students as they compete in the sports festival! And now…" He raised his fist into the air. "It's time to Go Beyond!" Jason and Chris smiled and shot their fists into the air, shouting with the crowd. "Plus Ultra!"

Momo Smiled as she hugged Chris. "I thought you did a wonderful job!" Chris began to blush. Momo stopped and blushed before quickly letting go. "Sorry, got carried away there." Chris laughed nervously. "No, it's quite alright. Really." The two awkwardly laughed. Jason just shook his head with a smile, Shoto right next to him. Kirishima and Mina were trying to contain their laughter. Jason looked to Shoto. "Congratulations on winning." "Thanks." The crew was silent for a while. Then Kirishima sighed. "...So… now what?" Shoto looked at him. "Now we go get dinner. Pizza is on me." The crew cheered and followed her. The six future heroes knew that they had a long way to go before they would truly be ready. But now was the time to relax.

"Did you see the fight?" A distorted voice responded to Shigaraki. "I watched the entire tournament. What about it?" The young villain crossed his fingers. "Each and every one of those students I fought at the USJ have gotten stronger. Too strong." "So what will you do about it, Shigaraki?" The villain thought for a moment before looking back at the screen. "I have a plan. I'll send you a list of things I need done, but I am sure that the plan will work." "Of course, Shigaraki. I am here to provide everything you need." "There is one more thing about this most recent festival that interested me." "And what might that be?" "The girl. Endeavor's daughter. She showed no remorse in hurting her friends with all her might." "I see. You want to recruit her for your League of Villains." Shigaraki smiled. "The time for the League to rise is coming. But not now. For now, we'll bide our time, and continue to plot our next move against All Might."