ATOMIC STRUGGLE

3「first match」3

"Thank you Cementos!" Present Mic grinned. The side games were over, and a new stage had been set for the final competition the qualifying students would have to go through. "Hey sports fans! Are you ready?!"

Of course, the crowd answered with loud yells, clapping and cheers.

"After all the stuff you've already witnessed, it's time for the real battles to begin! Can you feel the excitement?!" He demanded, stroking that excitement up in all of the viewers. "Our competitors are on their own now, sometimes heroes only have themselves to rely on~ Heart, skill, strength, wisdom, courage! They'll have to use all of these things to rise to the top!"

A few moments went by for the stage to be finalized, then flames shot out of the four cornered arena. "All right audience, let's get to the good stuff and not delay these finals any longer! Welcome our first fighters~" A picture of Midoriya and a person called Shinso appeared on the screen. "Ooh, he looks kinda scared in that picture, doesn't he? It's Midoriya Izuku from the hero course! Verses~ Shinso Hitoshi from General studies who really hasn't done anything to show off yet," Mic announced. "The rules are simple: immobilize your opponent or force them outta the ring!!" He threw his arms up in the air. "You can also win by getting the other person to cry uncle!"

"You worked with that person down there too, right?" Mihoko asked her guardian, pointing to the greenette and causing a certain blonde to toss Izak a look.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I did," Izak responded to his charge, causing her eyes to sparkle as she returned her gaze to the ring.

"I'll root for him then!"

"The hell did you do with Deku?" Bakugo demanded. "Was it thanks to you he's been moving like me?"

"He managed to gain a bit of control over his powers thanks to me, but his style is his alone, all I did was help him hone it in actual fights," The maroonette explained, causing the blonde to tsk.

"Don't worry Bakugo, I'll root for you too since you're also Izzy's pupil!" Mihoko grinned back at him with a thumbs up, making Bakugo roll his eyes and cross his arms.

"Whatever kid, I don't need it."

"Too bad!" She stuck her tongue out at him, giggling before turning back to face the arena as Present Mic went on.

"Bring on the injuries cause we've got our very own Recovery Girl and a new med student waiting on standby~ So put your bubbles aside and don't be afraid to play dirty!" Mic grinned. "But of course, no life threatening crap folks, it's not allowed. Real heroes use their power to throw villains in jail, not kill them!"

"I'll stop anyone who tries to get too rough," Cementos made himself a chair by the side of the fighting platform, sitting on it and maintaining as a sort of referee.

"Readyyy?!" Present Mic screeched, his octaves going a bit higher than Izak really liked. "Begin!"

Suddenly, Midoriya was running at his opponent with an angry look on his face. "DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT HIM THAT WAY--" He came to a dead stop, and Izak's eyebrows raised. Why'd he stop? It seemed everyone else was just as confused, but Ojiro, who was sitting a row behind Izak, jumped up.

"AAAAHH I warned him not to say anything!"

"Whaaa?! Hey hey, what's the dealio?!" Present Mic yelled as Iida and Uraraka stood up, their jaws open and eyes wide.

"Come on Deku," the girl murmured.

"Why in the world isn't he moving?" Iida voiced his own confusion.

"This is the first round, it should start out with a bang! The fight has just begun, and Midoriya Izuku is completely frozen!" The blonde hero observed. "He's not moving a muscle! And what's with that look on his face? Could this be a quirk at work!? Shinso Hitoshi seems to have Midoriya Izuku completely stunned!"

"Izak, what the crap is going on down there?!" Kaminari demanded, making the maroonette flinch and glare at him slightly before sighing.

"I don't know either, give me a sec," He grumbled, activating his quirk and wandering around the general studies student's molecular makeup. It didn't take long for him to get his answer. "This is.." Izak muttered, a hand going over his mouth as he watched the person known as Shinso Hitoshi a lot more carefully.

"Well?" The blonde wanted answers out of him faster than he seemed like he was planning on giving them.

"It's his quirk," Ojiro was the one to fill them in. "I'm not really sure how it works, but it's like he controls you after you answer him."

"Yeah, that's about the gist of it," Izak confirmed, his eyes narrowed. Looking between the two, Kaminari didn't know what to say or think so he just sorta stood there and made Jiro crack up a bit.

"He didn't stand out in the first rounds at all, but it's possible Shinso's crAAAzy powerful!" The voice hero grabbed his face dramatically. "WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED THIS TURN OF EVENTS?! That's the festival for ya!!"

"This is a perfect example of why the entrance exam isn't rational," Aizawa spoke up, drawing his friend's attention.

"Huh? Why's that?" Mic prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"Since we're onto the individual matches, I had some information compiled about our final competitors," The stealth hero explained. "Shinso failed the practical exam to get into the hero course. Since he also applied for general studies, he probably figured that would happen. His quirk is incredibly strong but that entrance test consisted of fighting foe villains: robots. It gave a huge advantage to those who had physical superpowers they could show off," He paused for a moment, looking at the purple haired student in the ring. "Despite his abilities, Shinso never stood a chance at passing."

"Izzy, what's going on?" Mihoko glanced behind her. "Is that guy gonna lose?"

"It's more than likely he will," Izak replied softly, still a little jarred. His eyes never left Shinso's form. And then, Midoriya started walking towards the out-of-bounds lines.