Who Does He Have?

There would be a twenty minutes intermission before the beginning of the second round. Midoriya waved the rest of the class of before he made his way to the waiting area to prepare for his next match.

With Todoroki.

Isla leaned back in her seat. "Ochako really did have a good strategy, though," she sighed.

Iida nodded. "Yes, but Bakugou is a very strong individual."

Tokoyami had taken the seat to the left of Isla. "Not to mention extremely tenacious."

"Heeyy, Bakugou," Sero's voice called. "Playing the Villain, huh? Must have been tough."

"Even if it was because of you were you up against," Tsu continued. "But you did make a pretty convincing bad guy …"

"Shut up you idiots!" the blonde boy snapped. "OR. ELSE!"

"Bully is more like it," Isla rolled her eyes.

Before the start of the first match of the final round, Kirishima had to settle his match with Tetsutetsu. The two boys were in the center of the ring, standing at a simple table, arm wrestling for the spot in the bracket. For a while it looked like neither was budging, but then a surge of the red-head's Quirk gave him the boost to pin the steel-boy's arm. Midnight announced Kirishima as the winner, having earned his spot. Tetsutetsu looked reasonably upset. It must have felt hard for both boys to stand out and show off their powers; since they are both very similar. The red-head noticed his opponent's discouragement, and extended his hand. The steel boy grasped it and the crowd roared with admiration.

Ochako joined them not too long after Kirishima's victory. Iida was extremely startled by the sight of her bloodshot, swollen eyes. "Something horrible is wrong with your face!" He exclaimed. "You need to go see Recovery Girl, right away --!

Isla whacked him on the back of the head.

"I already saw her," Ochako wiped her eyes, sitting between her and clueless Iida. "This is. From something else."

He pushed his glasses up. "Ah, of course. It's very understandable to feel frustrated."

Tokoyami folded his arms over his chest, staring intently at the ring below. "It's no time to wallow. Use this next battle as a form of encouragement."

Iida looked at his classmate with admiration. "You're so wise."

Isla giggled, then heard Bakugou's classic 'Tch' of disapproval. She sharply turned in the direction of the arrogant, stupid, explosion boy. "Do you have something you'd like to share with everyone else?" she asked, boldy.

Kaminari guffawed, Ochako gasped and Iida began scolding her. But the look that Bakugou gave her wasn't one of challenge. Not like he normally is with everyone else. This expression was flat, for lack of a better word. He wasn't really glaring at her. He didn't even say anything in response. After a few moments, he shoved his hands in his pockets and put his feet up on the chair in front of him. Isla blew out the breath she was holding with a force that would remind someone of blowing out birthday candles.

The crowd in the stadium began to roar when Present Mic's voice sounded through the speakers. "I can feel the anticipation!" he bellowed. And that means the first match of the second round is going to be epic!! It's the guy who won his last fight by a landslide and literally left half the audience frozen The Hero course's Shoto Todoroki! And this other guy almost walked out of his first matchup but made a stunning comeback by showing us some impressive moves. Also form the Hero Course, Izuku Midoriya!

Isla's heart began to pound. Todoroki looked like he wanted to absolutely destroy Midoriya. And if he used the same attack from his match with Sero, this battle would be over in an instant.

"Tokoyami," Iida leaned over the two girls they sat with. "How do you think this match will go?"

"It depends on whether or not Midoriya is able to get in close to him."

Ochako agreed. "Yeah. That's the problem. How will Deku avoid the ice?"

"Both of these Heroes in training have been front runners in the festival this year," Present Mic continued introducing the boys. "But which one of these rivals will advance to the next round? Prepare yourselves! BEGIN!!"

Todoroki immediately lunged an ice attack at Midoriya. Not as big as his one and only attack from his first match, but it definitely shot out with such force, you could hear the cracking of the ice shards as it moved across the ring.

Midoriya made quick work of it and countered, immediately shattering the ice into the smallest of bits. It almost looked like snow. Not to mention the force from his blast created a wind around the stadium, making it look and feel like a blizzard. When everything cleared, Isla noticed an ice barrier between Todoroki and the out-of-bounds lines.

Without missing a beat, Todoroki launched a second attack, and Midoriya countered it in the same fashion as his first. When the ring cleared enough to see, Isla noticed the extremely bruised, limp fingers of the green-haired boy.

"What's happened to his fingers?!" she gasped

"Oh, crap!" came Kirishima's voice from behind her. "I'm missing it!"

"Hey, nice job making it to the second round," Kaminari congratulated the red-head.

"Thanks man! Looks like I'll take down Bakugou next."

Without skipping a beat the blond boy behind Isla scoffed. "I'll kill you."

Kirishima laughed it off, not at all affected by his arrogance or aggressiveness. "Yeah sure, in your dreams. But seriously. It's crazy how you and Todoroki both have moves that you can blast the whole stadium with. Must be nice."

"Plus you don't have you pause between attacks," Sero added.

Bakugou growled. "It's not as easy as you think you morons."

Isla rolled her eyes and turned around to face him. He made brief eye contact with her before refocusing on the match.

"If you overuse your muscles you risk tearing them apart," he continued. "If you sprint too fast you risk running out of breath. Quirks are physical abilities too." He flexed his right hand, opening and closing his palm, making eye contact with Isla again, but very briefly. "They can get worn out, too. You can't use them nonstop."

She watched him as he explained the similarities between Quirks and regular physical abilities. He wasn't raising his voice. Wasn't being arrogant or proud. His right hand was trembling slightly and it made Isla wonder if he'd overused his Quirk when he destroyed the pieces of concrete Ochako had attempted to rain down on him.

"That makes sense," Kirishima agreed. "I wonder if that's how Midoriya thinks he's going to beat Todoroki."

Isla spun around just as the boy with the two-toned eyes unleashed another ice attack. This time, Midoriya wasn't quick enough to dodge or counter and his foot got caught. Todoroki began rushing him, clearly taking advantage of the handicap. The green-haired boy completely smashed the ice that held him captive, sending his opponent flying to the edge of the ring, a wall of ice just barely holding him inbounds. A pain stricken scream from Midoriya echoed through the crowd. His arm looked completely beat up from the counter.

Isla's eyes on Todoroki, she noticed the frost on his skin. Noticed little puffs of air as he exhaled, panting heavily. Was he shaking? She recalled what Bakuogu had said about Quirks getting worn out like other physical abilities. Was Todoroki wearing out his right side? He would probably make up for the drop in temperature by using his left side, but since he's not going to do that, his body was suffering. He looked angry and started charging Midoriya. His speed nearly wasn't what it was for the obstacle course. He was clearly reaching some kind of limit.

Midoriya got the upper hand, landing a solid punch in the other boy's gut, but at the expense of his arm encasing in ice. He cried out in pain, once more.

When Todoroki regained his composure, he released an ice attack that Isla noticed was also moving slower.

It was so much back and forth. Ice attacks, counters, blood splatters on the concrete, cries of pain. At one point, Midoriya used his mouth by pressing his thumb in the inside of his cheek to blast away one of Todoroki's assaults.

The roar from the crowd started to die down; the match between the boys was so intense. Todoroki was hit again by his opponent's fist, this time hard enough to keep him down for longer. "You don't have the right to be the number one Hero if you're not going to use your full power!" Midoriya screamed.

The boy with two-toned eyes was struggling to get to his feet. Isla's vision began to blur. Tokoyami sitting next to her put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you doing alright?" he asked.

She couldn't take her eyes off Todoroki. She was concerned for her friend, of course. But after what she overheard. What his mother did to him. The way his father was using him. What they briefly talked about when she ran into him in the stands. He must be feeling so alone. Out casted. Unwanted. Isla felt that way when the rest of her classmates were starting to show signs of their Quirks and she wasn't. At least she had the love and support from her parents, Laura and Amy. Who did he have? "It's just. Hard to watch," she finally choked out.

Finally standing upright, still unsteady, Todoroki was about to unleash another ice attack. Who knows what it would do to his stamina.

"It's yours!" Midoriya cried, pain in his voice; whether for his opponent or from injury. Maybe it was from both. "It's your Quirk, not his!!"

Isla gasped and covered her mouth, tears now falling freely down her cheeks. Was Midoriya trying to get Todoroki to use his left side on purpose? Even if it meant he could lose? She used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe her eyes, catching the slightest aroma of burning wood.

A glow started to burn from the ring. It slowly grew brighter and within seconds, a wall of fire erupted from Todoroki. The frost from his right side immediately began to melt. Most of Class 1A took the sight the same way; "Woah, he's using his fire!", "Look at his flames!", "He's finally using it!"

"It's incredible," Isla muttered.

From another side of the stadium, another wall of fire erupted, this time accompanied by the Number Two Hero. "You're finally realizing your full potential and no longer fighting your destiny!"

"Endeavor is suddenly shouting words of … encouragement?" Present Mic's voice sounded from the speakers. "What a doting father."

A strong updraft encircled Midoriya and Todoroki. Whatever was about to happen was going to the last deciding move for both of them. Midoriya propelled himself forward, while Isla watched Todoroki's movements; were similar to what she saw during the short time she spent with him during his training before the sports festival. The glow from his fire was unlike anything she's ever seen; undeniably beautiful, but not in a feminine way. He emanated sheer power.

Without warning, pillars of stone erupted from the ring, creating a barrier between the boys. No soon as they went up, everything exploded into mass of debris and fog with more magnitude than Bakugou's destruction of Ochako's defensive tactic.

"Holy crap balls!!" Present Mic yelled over the speakers. "Aizawa! What the heck is up with your students?!"

"This is crazy!" Ochako shouted.

"What's happening down there?" Jiro demanded.

The last bits of debris fell to the ground and as the smoke began to clear, everyone was obviously concerned about who was still standing. Todoroki came into view first; the left side of his shirt completely tattered and burned.

From the back row Sato shouted, "Look! Midoriya!"

The entire stadium gasped as he came into view. Out of bounds, collapsed on a pile of concrete.

Midnight exhaled loudly over her speakers. "There. Midoriya is out of bounds. Todoroki wins! He will advance to the third round!"