536A Fool's Bonds
Chapter 28
-Izuku-
Standing in the tunnel, waiting for his name to be called, Izuku worked to focus his breathing. The Sports Festival had so far proved to be an exercise in stamina, and he was sure if it wasn't for that two-hour break before the one on one fights he'd be running low on energy by now. The fact that each of his forms burned stamina just to maintain while transformed had helped make sure that his reserves were growing frequently.
The previous match had gone just as swiftly as he'd expected. Tokoyami was a skilled hero in training, and Dark Shadow was a truly formidable quirk. But light was still a glaring weakness for them so dealing with the bright flashes of explosion under the midday sun had rendered Dark Shadow to weak to stand up to Bakugo's ferocity. Now Izuku was about to face Shinso in the last match of the second round, and judging by Shinso's expression all day they weren't going to play nice.
"And next up, for the last fight of the quarter finals!" Present Mic's voice filled the arena as Izuku looked up "We have the Midoriya, Class 1-A's wild card against Shinso, the Dark Horse of the General Education department!" Straightening his back, Izuku strode out into the light, seeing his scowling opponent climbing up on the other side.
"Alright boys, you ready?" Midnight called out as Izuku nodded, already getting into the right headspace for the fight. He'd watched the first match and saw that Kamakiri from Class B had gone rigid the second that he'd responded to Shinso. Izuku didn't know for sure if that was the actual quirk trigger, but it was all he had to go off of for now. Midnight gave the signal to begin as Izuku charged in, still not saying a word.
"What's the matter, not going to gloat?" Shinso scowled, leaping to the side even as Izuku threw a punch, the General Education student barely able to dodge enough to turn a full blow into a graze. Even still, the graze knocked the skinny first year to the ground, Izuku not seeing any sign of muscle on Shinso at all.
Shinso seemed to be just as untrained as Izuku was before he'd started working with Aizawa-Sensei, maybe even worse. If Izuku went all out there was a good chance of him seriously injuring the angry student.
"Not even going to bother using your quirk?" Shinso spat, scrambling back to his feet "Must be so fucking wonderful being able to live on easy mode. A perfect fucking quirk, bet your family praised you from the time your stupid ass could walk. Then there's that rich bitch you pall around with."
Izuku knew that Shinso was just trying to rile him up, he knew that it was bait, but at the insult to Momo he couldn't stop the snarl that ripped from his lips. "Don't' you talk about her like-" and then his mind went blank.
-Shinso-
Seeing the green haired first year go still, expression becoming blank, Shinso let out a sigh of relief. That had been much closer than he'd have liked, but he managed to make his opponent respond. It might make classes awkward once he transferred into the Hero Track but with how his quirk worked then they could either let it go or go fuck themselves. He needed responses to trigger it, so he had to piss people off or trick them if he wanted to win.
"Walk out of the ring." Shinso ordered, straightening as he wiped the concrete scrape on his face. He glanced at Midnight, waiting for her to call the match and frowned.
Glancing back at Midoriya he saw that the Verdette was just standing there, stone faced.
"Are you deaf?" Shinso snapped "I said walk out of the arena!"
"Number Four," The sinister voice that came out of Midoriya's mouth wasn't the one that Shinso had heard earlier, it was colder and sounded far more dangerous "Emperor." The blue flames were darker than they'd looked before as Midoriya grew, skin paling and hair pitch black as a nine-foot-tall man stepped out, "Vlad Tepes."
"Dracula." Shinso breathed in abject fear, remembering seeing that form from the entrance exam, seeing it decimate a Zero pointer in a single blow.
"Ah yes, the one who got trapped in the entrance exam." The voice was calculating, impersonal even as they readied a spear.
"Midoriya?" Midnight asked nervously.
"Midoriya isn't here right now." the mother fucking Dracula shook his head as Shinso realized just how profoundly he'd fucked up if his quirk had let out the monster that was apparently inside Midoriya's head "But don't worry, I can finish this fight."
Shinso took a step back, ready to throw away his pride and shout out a surrender rather than face this monster. But before he could even open his mouth, Dracula blurred, appearing in front of him like the Angel of Death. Shinso screamed, leaping back as the spear slammed down into the concrete, splitting apart the material with terrifying ease.
"Where did your bravado go boy?" Dracula demanded, wrenching the spear from the ground as he strode forward, Shinso scrambling back "You were more than willing to look down upon the hard work of my host. To belittle his classmates for the successes they'd worked for." The spear was thrown, slamming into the ground behind Shinso as his continued scrambling had his back strike against the shaft, blocking his path.
The massive vampiric man grabbing Shinso by the shirt, lifting him into the air "But what have you done?" the question made Shinso freeze. Was this man, this monster, about to state why he thought Shinso didn't deserve to be a Hero? To list Shinso's quirk and how he'd used it in the tournament?
"You whine about how the world owes you something, you seethe at the success of others while renouncing their hard work, and you fail to train yourself at all." Dracula's words weren't what Shinso expected as the giant tore him a new one "If you wish to be a hero then train like you are one, and fucking act like one!" the last part was a shouted command as Shinso felt himself go weightless, thrown bodily from the ring.
"W-winner is Midoriya." A stunned Midnight called out as Dracula pricked their finger on the spear, the pain apparently enough to jolt Midoriya back into control as the form shrunk back into a bewildered looking green haired first year.
-Aizawa-
Seeing Midoriya and Shinso both walking away, Shota let out the breath he'd been holding.
"Holy shit." Mic was just as exhausted, the two of them having been tense from the moment that a Vlad Tepes' voice came out of Midoriya's mouth, "I didn't know that could happen."
"Me either." Shota shook his head, yanking open the cap to his eye drops. He'd been staring at the fight, unblinking and ready to use his quirk on Midoriya the instant that it looked like the Emperor form he'd given his student was going to be a threat. Thankfully, this man was more of the brutal warlord who still had been fighting to save and protect his people, rather than a simple mindless blood hungry monster. Still, this was something that would have to be looked into.
"The kid's movements were smoother." Mic noted, "When the form itself took over, they were smother."
"How sentient do you think they are?" Mic had seen the same thing, and it made sense. If Izuku was taking the forms of those beings, concepts, and stories then it would only make sense that the 'truth' behind the form would be able to use it the easiest.
"You're worried they can take over?" Mic put the pieces together easily enough.
"That's my concern, yes." Shota admitted.
"I'm not too worried about that." Hizashi shook his head, "They already would have done so if that was possible. And even just now, you saw that Tepes didn't hurt Shinso when he could have. He easily could have."
That was terrifyingly true.
"So, what, you think they're all just going to look out for Izuku?" he pushed, not liking the idea of just going on faith.
"They might try to influence him, but I can't see them taking over, not if there's a full time limit on the transformations." Hizashi explained his reasoning, "Plus if one can influence then they all could and most definitely seem like they'd not be okay with little green getting kicked out of the driver's seat."
"Yeah, yeah you're right." Shota nodded, heartbeat calming and eyes no longer burning, "Thanks Mic."
"Of course, buddy." Mic nodded, flipping their microphones back on as Midnight finished talking to the crowd "And with that, we're off to the Semi-Finals!" Mic called out as the faces of the four remaining contestants appeared on the big screen, "Let's see who's facing who, shall we?" The wheel began to spin, setting up both fights at once since there wasn't much point in 'hiding' the second match with only four contestants.
The wheel spun, going around and around rapidly before slowing, the two needles pointing at Yaoyorozu and Bakugo as the first match, meaning Izuku would be going against Todoroki afterwards.