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CHAPTER START---
One screen seems to float in nothingness in a void of absolute darkness.
On it is Shoto Todoroki in the UA Sports Festival arena, the boy was resting on his knees looking up at the crowd, the entire concrete stage around him destroyed, some parts frozen, others melted, and most of it blasted into dust.
Most of his clothes were destroyed, leaving him topless to reveal a body of cuts, burns, frostbitten flesh, bruises, and all manner of injuries, including a broken right arm.
As he breathes heavily the view on screen changes, panning away to the far wall of the arena to show Neito Monoma in a similar state, nearly a foot deep into the concrete wall.
Monoma forces his eyes open, raising a hand aimed at Shoto, and forces a small flame to form, only to be cut off by Ms. Midnight.
"Neito Monoma is out of bounds!" She announces loudly. "Shoto Todoroki advances to the semi-finals!"
The crowd erupts into mad cheers as Monoma stops his attack.As Cementoss and Ms. Midnight get Shoto to the infirmary the screen shifts to show Present Mic. Eraser Head, and Vlad King, who was clearly upset.
"And there goes Class 2B's chances of getting a podium stop this year!" Present Mic announces. "How do you feel about your class's performance Vlad'?"
"My students went out there and showed why they'll be phenomenal Pro Heroes!" he says proudly. "They showcased ingenuity at every stage and I couldn't be more proud of them!"
"I completely agree," Eraser Head says. "Each semi-finalist has rare levels of potential even for a place like UA, it would be hard for most Pro Heroes to survive any one of them in single combat, so facing them as a student is certainly no easy feat."
"Those kids of yours really do pack a punch!" Mic yells, hyping up the crowd. "We're in for some serious supercharged matches folks, so how about a little insight from Eraser Head since all the semi-finalists are in his class!"
Eraser Glances down at the arena to see it still being repaired and gives a long sigh, "Well, since Shoto Todoroki was just on stage I'll start with him."
"Looks like someone is in the festival spirit!"
"Whatever," Eraser Head groans. "Shoto Todoroki, he inherited an inferior version of his father, Endeavor, the greatest flame hero in history's Quirk, Hellflame. Along with his mother's ice Quirk , which made a unique Qurik known as Half-Cold Half-Hot...which is a stupid name but he's attached to it.
As everyone saw, and those closer to the arena felt, he's able to generate an immense amount of fire and ice.
His control is nothing when compared to his father but is comparable to more normal levels Pyrokinetic Pro Heroes usually have. This control also extends to his ice which he's must more skilled with due to only focussing on training his fire after last year's Sports Festival.
The benefit of his Quirk that singular fire or ice Quirks can't have, however, is the fact that they cancel the weaknesses of each other in his body, allowing his temperatures to reach higher highs and lower lows than most people with similar Quirks."
"That's why he's able to fight longer than other ice of fire users folks!" Present Mic explains. "The ice counters overheating and fire counters the frostbite that those Quirks usually come with, pretty awesome right!"
"All that power and those advantages, yet he's still got a serious fight ahead of him to win this tournament," Vlad King says. "Just goes to show how capable this generation is, and how awesome Monoma is for almost beating a person like that! Great job Monoma!"
Present Mic and Eraser Head give Vlad King strange looks for a moment then continue the announcements.
"Right..." Eraser Head says. "Shoto Todoroki's next opponent will be Izuku Midoriya, a rematch from last year. Actually, both the semi-finals will be rematches from last year.
Izuku Midoriya has improved the most compared to any students from last year, well, maybe all but one student, but that one isn't competing this year.
Last year he lost to Todoroki, but this year it's an entirely different Midoriya in the arena. He won't back down from anyone and he's got a serious handle on his power now.
His Quirk, Super Power, is a variant of the common 'Power' Quirk, it really earns its name as I'm sure everyone remembers, but has immense drawbacks that nearly crippled him last year.
But now he's got that power under control and is ready to put it all into action. I've been observing his training this past year, and he's got tricks up his sleeve that his friends really won't be expecting."
"Sounds like you've got a favorite student," Present Mic teases him.
"I'm not Vlad', I don't play favorites," Eraser Head says.
"Who do you think is gonna win that match?"
"Impossible to say," Eraser Head says. "They're two of strongest students UA has ever had, but that can be said about all the semi-finalists, but I'm sure both of them have been holding back some of their tricks.
Respectfully, all the Hero Course students have fought each other before and these four are well aware that they're the toughest competition in this tournament.
They won't use all their tricks against anyone but each other, even as close as that last match was, something tells me Todoroki has moves he'll only lose against the people in these next matches."
"Well that covers the second semi-final match, now how about last year's silver medalist?!" Present Mic asks. "Katsuki Bakugo is fighting in the next match, he's not shown much new moves so far but everyone is excited to see what he has up his sleeve."
"He's only shown those more concentrated type of explosions he creates, but I've never seen those before so there isn't anything I can say about them, aside from them looking like exploding suns. But Bakugo excels in all aspects of combat so I'm sure he's got many tricks up his sleeve for the upcoming match."
"His opponent is an interesting one," Vlad King says. "Fumikage Tokoyami's Quirk is quite strange in the way it behaves, as if it were sentient on its own, although we haven't seen much of that today."
"He's been doing some special training to improve and understand his Quirk," Eraser Head says as he quickly glances at Horizon's observation room above. "His Quirk is the most mysterious of all the remaining competitors as even he is still exploring the limits and uses it has, along with the mechanics of exactly how it works, but he is strong, none of these students will underestimate him..."
"It looks like the arena has been repaired, so let's get ready for the first round of the semi-finals!" Present Mic yells, and the crowd roars in excitement. "Will Tokoyami Fumikage and Katsuki Bakugo come on down to the arena so we can get this show started!"
As he says that the void in which the screen appeared to be floating appears to open a pair of eyes looming in the nothingness.
Sharp, glowing red eyes looking directly at the screen.
Then another pair, and a dozen more pairs of eyes all open looking at the screen, before they close once more, and the darkness retracts.
It moves like a living shadow rushing away from the screen and into Tokoyami who was sitting in this waiting room, meditating, waiting for his match to begin.
Tokoyami takes a deep breath and exits the room, with his arm still in a sling he walks toward the stage, ready to give it everything he has.
As he's limping down the hallway, listening to Present Mic announce Bakugo at the other side of the arena, Horizon suddenly warps into the hallway, leaning against the wall just out of sight from the spectators.
"Are you here to wish me luck?" Tokoyami asks as he approaches, stopping beside Horizon.
"Just here to see how you felt about our deal, figured you might have changed your mind," Horizon shrugs.
Tokoyami shakes his head, "the little help you've given me has already greatly increased my mastery of my Quirk, there isn't much in this world that could stop me from joining your team and learning more about myself."
"Well, I don't mind helping you even more, if you show me you're worth the investment," Horizon gestures to Bakugo entering the arena. "But you already know that much."
"I do," Tokoyami says as Present Mic begins hyping him up for his entrance. "One thing has been on my mind."
"What's that?" Horizon asks.
"I know you focused me during the obstacle course, I expected as much since this Sports Festival is my test, but, did you also match me against Bakugo since he's my greatest counter?"
"What? Me, lying about the matches being random and rigging it to give you more difficult opponents," Horizon feints surprise, complete with over-the-top gestures. "I can't believe you'd accuse a hero like myself of such a thing."
"Your acting could use some work," Tokoyami says flatly.
"Meh," Horizon shrugs. "Its enough for when I want to convince those people of something," he gestures to the crowd.
"So I was right then?"
"My team doesn't have any place for people who don't learn from their mistakes," Horizon says. "I thought of dozens of outcomes during your match with Bakugo last year that would have let you win, but you still lost, show me how much you've grown."
Tokoyami is about to speak, but Present Mic calls for him to enter the arena at that moment, cutting him off.
"Don't disappoint me..." Horizon says, patting Tokoyami on the shoulder before warping back to his observation room.
Tokoyami smiles as he walks into the arena, seeing the already familiar concrete stage, twice as large as last year's looming ahead of him.
As he ascends the stairs, expecting the same pained sensations to wrack his both as the previous match, he felt lighter.
He'd been so caught up in his own thoughts that he'd failed to realize until now that his limp was gone, the pain in his body had disappeared, and his arm in the sling felt completely fine.
So as he ascends to the stage he removes the slight and casts it aside, thankful that Horizon had healed him when they made contact moments ago.
But as he gets to the top, standing across from him, is a fully healed Bakugo.
The boy was completely silent, eyes burning holes through Tokoyami as if he were just another obstacle in his path.
"Are both of you ready?!" Ms. Midnight asks from beside the stage, flag raised ready to begin the match.
"You've got bad luck to face me two years in a row," Bakugo says, narrowing his eyes at Tokoyami.
"Tokoyami and Dark Shadow no longer exist Bakugo, you now face something else entirely," he says. "And it won't end like last year..."
END CHAPTER---