Chapter 14

Todoroki was sitting, thinking about the words Midoryia had told him before.

'Your power is your own!'

It was a thought he hadn't had before, not truly. He had always detested his father, both for his abuse of his mother, and the wedge he had driven through their family. He had now way of expressing that hate though, sure, that if he rebelled against his father openly, all he'd get would be harsher training, at least at the start of his <>.

After the incident, and his father's departure from their house, he made a silent vow, to never use the power he had inherited from that hateful person. After all, it would be the greatest form of revenge, to only use his ice powers on his way to the top, completely denying his father's wish to have him surpass All Might with the power of fire.

However, he was at a dilemma. His ice powers were completely useless against Misaka, as had been shown in the Hero Training where they had been demolished. On the other, his fire, which burned just hot enough to melt the iron sand Misaka used, was something he had swore not to use.

He'd hate himself for surrendering, but not more than he would if he started using his father's power. He decided. He'd fight to the best of his abilities, only using ice. He was sure that his loss would be a matter of time, but he'd go down fighting, to not humiliate himself by not even trying to fight.

Misaka was sure of her battleplan. She decided she'd attack. She knew what the outcome of the match would be, considering Todoroki's apparent hatred for his left side. After all, in their previous battle Todoroki was wiped.

She hoped though that Todoroki would use his fire. Though she liked easy wins, difficult battles would allow her to furthermore refine her control over magnetism, but also make it more of a challenge to her. It was safe to say, that if Todoroki refused to use fire, he'd just be a sitting duck. For that reason, she hoped he saw reason and took her seriously. It wasn't something she was willing to bet on though, and she knew she'd have to <> him, just like Midoriya did, or just make him mad enough to attack with fire.

Suddenly something pinged in her senses. She had slowly allowed her radar sense to return to normal, now fully covering even the outer fringes of the stadium while she was in the arena, it's max range. She was surprised to hear it though. The ping came from a unique bug she had placed on the magicians. If they didn't have any technology-searching quirk, machine, or magic at the PMBQ, they'd lead her right into it.

The reason for her surprise was simple though. In all the previous matches she hadn't noticed it, meaning that they were outside her range. However, she was sure they had done something at U.A, judging by where she found them, and how quickly they returned to the arena after getting up again. What she didn't know was what. She could however speculate on what they were doing here. They were either scouting for more members, because after all, the students here were the cream of the crop, or just wanted to entertain themselves with something, like normal people would.

She didn't know which one was more likely, but from her experiences with magicians, who almost all were insane, she hoped it was the second one. She however, had no idea how the magicians of the world were, at least mentally. For all she knew, they were even crazier than the ones she had met before.

"Will the contestants come to the arena?"

That was her signal to leave the prep room. She cleared her head of all unwanted thoughts and walked to the arena.

She saw the door next to her own preparation room open, Todoroki coming out of it.

"Hey, Todoroki!" She shouted at him in order to get his attention.

"…" She was met with silence.

"Don't give me the cold shoulder now. I understand if you don't want to talk with your opponent. I just want to ask, no, demand one thing of you. You will use your fire against me."

She decided to be straightforward with her demand. There was no reason to have Todoroki go all out in the middle of the match instead of the start.

"I thought you'd want something sensible, but that, I just can't do it. At least not yet." Todoroki seemed hell bent on his refusal of fire, determined to win with just ice.

"So you'll just accept a humiliating loss? You don't need me to remind you what happened in our last matchup, do you?" This would be her last try to make him use his fire, at least with words.

"In fact, I do. I'll just accept my loss, no matter how humiliating it will be. There's no way I'll let that bastard bask in my use of his power! Is that all you had to say? The entrance is right here." No matter what Misaka did, be that threatening his pride or demanding he use his power, Todoroki didn't back down. He was unyielding on this one matter.

"I don't get why'd you refuse your own power, but this is not my place to interfere. It's just… disappointing, to see you so adamant on this just because of your relationship with that <>. Good luck, and let's have a good match."

"It's the moment you've all been waiting for! The final showdown! Who of the U.A first years will come out on top? This is the final match… Todoroki versus Misaka!!!

Are you ready?!?! Start!!!"

Misaka had decided to be defensive, in contrast to her previous plan. She had hoped to make Todoroki use his fire on their walk together, but he had refused. If he didn't want to fight, she'd just humiliate him. Todoroki had become popular with the crowd for his overpowering ice abilities and smart thinking. She however, had the perfect answer to Todoroki's ice powers and was much smarter than him, as was befitting of a Level 5. Todoroki's ice would meet an unmovable shield. Perhaps, if he saw that all he did was useless, he'd use his fire.

As the fight started, Misaka immediately put up an iron sand shield, covering herself with it. The spinning, vibrating iron sand made it impossible for projectiles and almost any solids-ice included- to pass through. One of its only weaknesses would be if it reached its melting point. However, iron sand's melting point was just shy of a thousand and a half degrees Celsius. Only the Flame Hero Endeavor and his progenies could produce such hot flame for such a prolonged period of time.

"Todoroki attacks! A huge wall of ice spreads close to Misaka. How will she react to that? We might just have our winner!"

Everyone had expected the ice to reach Misaka and wrap around her, underestimating her powers and capabilities of ironsand. The smoke from the attack cleared away, but the result of the attack was unexpected.

"What's this?! A black shield has destroyed all the ice that was aimed at Misaka! How did she manage that?" Even Present Mic was astounded by the defence. He had files on the student's capabilities and quirks, even their achievements, but Misaka's file only had her recorded as the best student at the examination done by Aizawa. There was a suspicious lack of achievements on the Heroics course, but that was true for all of 1-A. He couldn't help but think that All Might wasn't really suited for the whole report-writing thing of teaching at U.A. However, from what he had seen, Misaka didn't really have enough strength to do something like that, if one excluded the last moments of her fight against Bakugo.

"What do you think Eraser Head? Were you expecting this? After all you're their teacher."

"I can't say I wasn't expecting this. In terms of versatility, she's one of the stronger students we have. Her quirk… it's unorthodox. It's called Magnetism. She describes it as being able to manipulate all the magnetic spectrum of electromagnetism. Even in terms of raw magnetic power she's strong enough to lift most of the robots in the entrance exam."

"EH!!! Why don't I know about that?"

"If you hadn't left early, you'd know. However, she seems to be limiting herself to iron sand. It's easy for Todoroki to fight against it. If he uses his fire, he'll even the playing field. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have the same level of drive to win since his fight against Midoriya."

"Thanks for the insight! Now, will Misaka attack? Or defend?"

Misaka was weighing her options. She could take the cowards approach and fight hiding behind a shield or face Todoroki head on. She had no problem with the first option, but it showed weakness and cowardice and her pride wouldn't allow her to act like this in front of so many people, especially in a match she could easily win.

She decided to attack. She miniaturized her iron sand shield, having it ready to defend against ice, and dashed to Todoroki.

"Misaka attacks! She dashes towards Todoroki, seemingly gliding over the ground, carrying two swords of iron sand in her hands. How will Todoroki react to this?"

Todoroki was not expecting to be attacked. He had hoped Misaka would attack, to spare him from having to use his fire or retire. Now though, he was wholly unprepared. A stream of ice moved him away from the attack, just in the nick of time. The ice however didn't reach Misaka, who swiftly dodged it. It could be said that he was distracted. The words of both Misaka and Midoryia had shaken him. For so long, he had always heard his quirk referred to as his <> and his <> side. He had never thought of his quirk as his own.

To be precise, he thought himself unlucky to be born with his quirk. While it was strong, the price he paid for it was far too much. As a young child he had faced the abuse and pressure of his father to become stronger, making him drift away from his family. His mother hated his left side, his interaction with his siblings was minimal, all in the name of strength.

The words he had heard though, had planted seeds of doubt in his belief that his quirk was foreign to him. His dedication to not using his father's side was slowly crumbling, the thought of:

'What if it's really mine?'

festering, undermining his hatred for his father's side.

While that turmoil was taking place though, he was interrupted again by another dash of Misaka. He dodged again, closer than before. This time, he had almost no time to dodge in time. The frequency of Misaka's attacks was increasing.

"Come on… Use your left side!!! I won't end this fight until you do so!"

"You can't make me do that!" Misaka's words were like poison to his thoughts. They pushed him ever so closer to unleashing his fire. He held onto his hatred for his father though, denying Misaka the pleasure of seeing his <> quirk.

He tried to keep up with Misaka's attacks, but his movement started slowing down, his right side starting to freeze, a side effect of his quirk.

In one moment where he failed to dodge, Misaka pinned him down, a sword in his throat.

"Todoroki is unable… Huh?!"

Midnight's announcement was cut in the middle as Misaka fell back.

"Why did Misaka fall back?! She was controlling the fight and had Todoroki pinned down! It was all but won! Now though, Todoroki has a chance again."

She had managed to capture Todoroki. If she moved her sword just a centimetre to the right, she'd draw blood. He gulped. He tried to raise his hand up, to signal his defeat, but it was quickly brought down by Misaka. She whispered:

"I told you, this fight doesn't end until you use your fire!"

"Let me go you damn woman! This is against the rules!"

"Well, it's not cheating if you aren't found out."

It was unusual for Todoroki to lose his cool, but he was out of options, considering Misaka's power and speed which completely outmatched his own. He wanted to surrender, to not be forced to fight with his left side. At one point he'd have to use it, or he'd succumb to the frostbite.

He was on the backfoot again. He had heated himself to melt the frostbite, but he was still finding it hard to dodge. With each strike, Misaka was getting faster.

'How is she so fast!!! If I use my fire and ice I can fight against her, but that speed is too much!'

"Why don't you use your fire. Think about it! If you lose while using fire, won't it be humiliating for your father? <>. That's what the headlines will be. Just use your fire!"

It was a… compelling argument to say the least, and his opinion began swaying, even more than before. Robbing his father of the triumph of his son using his quirk by having him lose, convincingly at that. He prepared to use it, but before that, he wanted to know.

"Why are you so desperate to fight against my fire?"

"Ah, well… I just want to defeat you when you are trying. It's going to be an empty win if you don't try. I mean, if Midoryia just gave up, would you be satisfied."

It was a good reason to want him to use his fire. He was sure that had Bakugo won and demanded he try, he'd be second-guessing himself. He was sure that he'd probably be beaten by Misaka no matter what, but humiliating his father was better than winning.

"Then! Get ready!!! Here I come!"

His left side ignited, his arm wrapped in blazes.

"Ha, good!"

He felt invigorated, liberated in a way. He still hadn't accepted his fire, no, he was far from it. But the thought that his quirk was his own inspired. He released those feeling in his strongest possible attack.

The air around the battlefield chilled, almost reaching freezing temperatures.

'He's gonna do that, huh!' Misaka prepared for the attack. She had seen it once before and she was sure of its destructiveness.

Then, just as suddenly as the arena chilled, it heated back up. It was the attack he had used before, against Midoryia. Immediately, a blast strong enough to crack the ground was released.

Misaka had almost no time to react to the attack.

The crowd was eager to see who'd come out on top. It had been an intense match, worthy of being called the match between the two strongest first-years. A question was in everyone's mind. Who won, Shoto with his fire and ice, or Misaka with her overpowering magnetism?

As the smoke caused by the attack cleared, the anticipation reached new heights.

The attack was strong. Stronger than the attack against Midoryia, and the blast hotter than what her iron sand shield could handle. In the little amount she had to react to the attack though, she had put up a sufficient defence. The part of the arena in front of her had been ripped out, the concrete shielding her from the attack, although not completely. She had some minor burns from the residual heat, and the concrete was useless now.

That didn't matter though. The fight had been won. This was Todoroki's strongest attack, and in the aftermath of the attack she had counterattacked. Countless spinning iron sand swords had encircled Todoroki, making any movement useless, as realistically he'd just be pierced by the swords.

He put his hand up, admitting defeat.

"I surrender."

"Todoroki surrenders! Misaka is the winner!"

There was uproar in the arena. Many cheered Misaka, congratulating her for her win, but many others were commenting on how, what was basically Endeavor's quirk was beaten by a schoolgirl.

"With that our contest is concluded! The winner of the first-years U.A sports festival is… Misaka Mikoto from Class 1-A! With that, I your host for today will be retiring, and let Midnight handle the award ceremony! Thanks for tuning in!"

Immediately after the win, fireworks had erupted, and a podium had been quickly installed.

"In third place we have… Bakugo and Ida. Unfortunately, Ida was forced to leave due to some family affairs. We hope you understand. In second place we have Todoroki. And your winner for this year is… Misaka!"

Claps were heard, the stadium giving the students an standing ovation to congratulate them for their outstanding performance.

"Now, the one who will be giving the awards this year is… Well, he needs no introduction!"

"I AM HERE WITH THE MEDALS!"

"It's everyone's Hero… All Might!" Midnight was interrupted midway by the lively All Might, who immediately went to congratulate the students.

First, he went to Bakugo. He had to be careful with his words. He knew Bakugo was a proud boy, and having lost would have certainly made him upset.

"You did well Bakugo-boy! Though you were beaten you put on a mighty display! You almost managed to win against Misaka who won the tournament! You were just unlucky."

He put the medal around Bakugo's neck, but as he leaned to give him a hug and a pat in the back, he found himself being pushed away.

"I don't need your damn sympathy! Just leave me alone!"

"All right… just… remember… if you ever want my help, I'm here for you."

Next, he went to the second-place stand where Todoroki was.

"Todoroki-boy. Congratulations. You held back for most of the matches… was there a reason for that?"

"Ah, well… my match with Misaka and Midoryia made me realize something about myself. I can see why you've taken an interest in Midoryia. And while I want to become a Hero like you, I can't just forgive and forget. I have somethings to settle."

All Might squeezed him in a tight guy. He did not know what had happened before coming to U.A, but he saw the conflict between his father and him and his reluctance to use his fire. If these fights had made him use it, then the relationship between might yet be fixed. Giving him a pat on the back, he broke off the hug.

"Finally, Misaka! You lived up to my expectation, as did everyone else here! I know about that fight with the Villain you had, and I can see that you've become stronger than then. And while it's hard to find a drive for reaching and staying at the top, you seem to have found it. Please, accept this and continue your rise to the top!"

With that he put the gold metal around her neck, and the crowd cheered for the contestants. It was cut out by a not yet finished All Might.

"Hold on everyone! While these might be your winners, as everyone here witnessed, each one of the students here today has the potential to stand here today! Students pushing each other forward on their road to the top, the seedling Heroes of the future. Let's have one last cheer for them! 1..2..3

Thank you for your hard work!!!"

"PLUS ULTRA!!!" This was shouted by most of the people but was drowned out by All Might's shout.

Almost everyone left the festival happy with their results. Of course, some were not, disappointed by their lacking strength, and vowed to get stronger for the next festival. And the guest were left buzzing, excited for the next matches of the second-year classes

Meanwhile, in a hospital in Hosu City a person was lying on a bed, hooked up to several machines. The door suddenly opened, a teenager coming through.

"BROTHER!!!" Said teen shouted, clearly distressed.

"Calm down, wear a mask, and count yourself lucky. If we'd been a minute late, he would have greeted the other side. Thankfully he just woke up." A nurse calmed him down, but he was still anxious about his brother.

"Tenya…Mother… My amazing little brother… who looks up to me… I…I… your big brother lost." The man's voice was croaking, hard to even distinguish amid the machine sounds with how silent it was.

"Tensei, why you? Who did this to you? Tell me. I want to take revenge." Tenya was sobbing at the side of the bed, the sorry sight of his brother making him break down.

"It's nice… that you… want this. But… don't… seek it. It's… not what… a… Hero… would do." This was a half-truth. While going on vendettas as a Hero was generally frowned upon, the person who had done this to him was strong, stronger than most Pro-Heroes. He wanted to shield his brother from him.

As others were having their hearts broken, in other parts of the city, relationships were reinforced and fixed. Todoroki's spirit, that was shouting at him: "I want to be a Hero!" had driven him to his mother.

Every one of the students of U.A had learned something new, made a promise to better themselves and had started growing up into true Heroes for the future.

In a dark room with no windows, a man was sitting, the huge desk in front of him empty, save for a computer and a pen. The man swivelled in his chair, waiting for someone, or something.

The clicking of boots in the metal floor alerted him of someone entering his office.

"Director."

It was a female voice, sounding like someone who had just gone through puberty. He turned to face her.

She was down on her knees, a show of respect.

"What news do you bring me? Did you see anything… interesting, peculiar, or noteworthy? Most importantly, did you succeed?"

"We've finished the mission sir. I've put together a report on what happened before, during, and after our mission and it contains my own notes on the event and what happened. I hope this pleases you."

"Thank you, dear girl. This is most certainly welcome. However, I do want to hear your own opinion, before I see your report. How did your recruit do?"

The girl gulped and stiffened. She knew that she was treading on thin ice. She had already upset the director. If he wasn't happy with what he heard… well, she could forget about this world.

"He… he did well. His… communication skills proved… useful in the deal. Other than that, he has developed, and quite fast at that. I'd go as far as to say that he has potential equal to mine."

"Good. Yes, that's good. I do hope there is no error in your judgement, but I'll see for myself if what you said is true. Now then, I'm sure you must be tired. You are excused. Being underground is not good for young girls like you."