Chapter 42 - End of Festival

...

<Iida vs Kyoka>

While Cementoss was repairing the platform with his Quirk, the audience was anxiously waiting for the next match. After the intense fight between Lena and Todoroki, most of the audience started to support Todoroki as the clear winner of the Tournament. Especially Endevor, who was watching with a big smile on his face, and although people mistook it for pride for his son, Todoroki only saw the arrogance and sadism that smile represented...

The next participants were already in their respective tunnels waiting while planning how to disqualify the other. Kyoka was a bit more serious than usual as she was thinking about how to disqualify Tenya, something not easy knowing her speed based Quirk.

Tenya on the other hand was thinking about how to get close to Kyoka without flying off with one of her sonic waves. He might be fast, but it's not Lena's level and it's definitely much slower than the speed of sound.

'There's no choice, I have to use my Quirk to the fullest if I wants to face Todoroki.' Tenya thought after considering several possibilities.

'I wonder how Lena is doing...' Kyoka thought with her eyes wandering from side to side.

Lena's defeat reminded her of the... USJ incident. More specifically to Lena's 'death'.

Kyoka shuddered slightly before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she thought that after two weeks she could finally put the reminder of her worthlessness behind her. But it seemed like he wanted to bother her again at a time like this. It was very ironic how Kyoka's greatest enemy was her own mind.

'Focus, you have an opponent to beat...'

At PresidentMic's call, both contenders stepped onto the new platform with determined steps, both participants gave off different vibes but had the same determined look. The crowd went wild as they watched the two opponents stare at each other.

Without saying a word, Kyoka adopted an unusually very low stance, while Iida adopted the classic racing competitor's stance. Both never took their eyes off the other, for them there was only the fight, no audience, no prize, just a battle to win or lose.

And no one likes to lose.

"START!"

Iida immediately activated his 'Respiro Burst', the engines of Iida's legs changed color as the extreme heat made them look as if they were iron at very high temperature, very soon a blue fire started to come out of his engines with force.

However, Iida made a fatal mistake.

To activate the Brust Breath... you must stand still for 3 seconds.

Kyoka, who was very close to the ground thanks to her initial stance, brought her two Jacks together on the ground and sent a powerful sonic blast all over the platform!

The audience thought it was going to destroy the whole platform, but instead of exploding as it had done before with the robots, this time it seemed milder, something like a miniature earthquake.

This was Kyoka's plan: If they beat you in speed, cut off their legs.

Or something like that...

In less than a second the whole platform was reshaped leaving large rocks, cracks and several drops. Although there was also a small part of the arena that was destroyed in its entirety.

Iida, seeing the state of the arena, wanted to cancel his attack to analyze and improvise a new plan... but it was too late.

Like a blur Iida disappeared from his place to appear a few meters to Kyoka's left while his foot stuck in a crack making him stumble forward.

!!!

Kyoka was stunned and immediately looked to her left and took a few seconds to process what had just happened.

'He could move that fast?!!!'. Without a second thought Kyoka sent out a huge sonic wave that wiped out what was left of the arena and poor Iida, who was struggling to try and keep his balance. The crowd cheered with loud shouts of excitement and shock.

"JIOOO KYOKAAA KYOKAAA WIIINSSSSSSS!!!"

After blinking a couple of times Kyoka turned around and slowly walked down the platform as the crowd cheered her name, which was awkward, she didn't like or care to be the center of attention at the Festival. 

Walking at a brisk pace he entered the tunnel and immediately headed for the medical area to find Lena.

He was unable to visit her earlier due to the teachers wanting to speed up the battles as there were very few left.

***

< UA / Inner corridors of Alpha Stadium>

Turning the corner he could see a door with a window with the Red Cross logo on it.

Entering the room carefully he could see the renowned Hero Medic Recovery Girl attending to Midoriya who was lying on a medical bed, not far away was Toshinori -The representative of All Might- observing the young man with a worried face. Entering the room, the two adults turned their gaze to Kyoka.

"What can I help you with girl?" Recovery Girl asked as she saw Kyoka enter, the latter closed the door slowly to keep it quiet, which earned her a proud look from the doctor. "Are you hurt?"

"I was looking for Lena..." Kyoka answered with her voice a little lower than she expected. Seeing Recovery Girl's confused face, Kyoka started to describe her better. "The tall girl who looked like she could teleport."

"Oh! Don't worry about her, she's currently sleeping in that bed" Recovery Girl pointed to a bed surrounded by curtains. "Her father came by not too long ago and explained to me that the cause of her fainting, apparently was due to the abuse of her Quirk and the lack of energy she had when she used it, essentially going over the energy limit, so her body automatically shut down by way of protecting itself"

"I see... Thank you so much for treating her" Kyoka said as she approached the bed and moved the curtain to reveal her friend sleeping peacefully. "Do you think she'll wake up soon?"

"Who knows" Replied Recovery Girl with a shrug as she approached Midoriya "She's pretty exhausted so I have no idea when-"

A movement coming from Lena's bed caught the Heroine's attention and she turned her gaze to see Lena stirring slightly. "Well, that was a lot quicker than I thought."

"Ugh..." Groaned Lena as her eyes widened slightly. "Kyo?"

"Lena-! Agh! " Kyoka said before hissing in pain from a blow from the Medical Heroine's staff.

"DON'T SCREAM IN THE NURSERY!" exclaimed Recovery Girl as she emitted an angry aura around her that made Kyoka and the calm Toshinori unconsciously shiver.

"Understood..." Kyoka said as she rubbed her head and suppressed her shiver.

"Where... I am?" Lena asked confused as she tried to sit up on the bed only to fall back onto it. "I feel sick..."

"You mustn't move girl, you're too exhausted. You, go get her something to eat and make it lots of food, got it?" said Recovery Girl as she pointed at Toshinori with a dead stare, immediately Toshinori knew she couldn't refute and quickly went to get lots of food for the patient. "So how are you feeling?"

"My head hurts..." Lena said as she put a hand to her forehead with obvious pain on her face. "My body feels weak, like I have a cold."

"Anything else?"

"I'm very hungry and have a horrible headache... but fine overall..." Lena replied letting out a tired sigh as she closed her eyes. "How long...was I unconscious?"

"About 20 minutes or so" Kyoka replied as she looked at the clock on the wall, turning her gaze back to Lena "After my fight you will have to fight Iida if you want to win the third place."

"You beat Iida?" Lena asked with a smile on her face "The robot must be sad hehe."

Kyoka smiled seeing that Lena was okay before walking over to her bed and giving her a hug. "Be more careful next time... we all worry, you know?"

"Agh... don't make me feel bad now... I tried really hard you know..." Lena replied with fake pain before Kyoka broke the hug. "Why don't you stay a while longer hugging me, it felt good, you know?"

"What are you, a spoiled brat?" Kyoka said accusingly, only to receive a giggle from Lena that made her sigh in amusement. "I have to go to my match with Todoroki? Any advice?"

"Don't try to break his ice blasts with your Jacks, it will only create more" Lena said as she made a thoughtful face before frowning. "And... that's it, I guess you can wear him down enough so he can't use his ice, but if he uses his fire then you're screwed-"

"Language in the infirmary" Interrupted Recovery Girl.

"Sorry" Lena apologized to the Heroine as she resumed her advice (?) "As I was saying, if he uses fire surrender... maybe some sound blast a could take him down but considering the distance between one and the other... agh, I don't know, make up your plan don't ask the patient..."

"Now you're the patient, aren't you?" Kyoka snorted with derision in her voice at Lena's comment.

"Well... Duh?"

"Phew, thanks for the advice, I guess...". Kyoka groaned as she rubbed her temple, her strategy against Todoroki will have to wait a bit then. 

Their confrontation was looking bleaker and bleaker, though she secretly told herself that she had already gotten much further than she had initially expected.

"You're welcome" Lena replied proudly as she sketched a big smile.

Kyoka sighed as she stood up from the chair and stretched a bit. "Well I'm going to go to the prep room, at least we have more time to rest..."

Kyoka started walking towards the door when she suddenly stopped and turned back to Lena quickly. Kyoka stared at Lena's face for a few moments before she gave a mischievous smile.

Lena started looking around feeling strangely nervous. "What's wrong Kyo...?"

Suddenly Kyoka leaned over to Lena and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek!

The next moment Kyoka shot out the door with a laugh. Lena simply froze as she tried to process what had just happened.

"Fufufu... today's young ladies" Recovery Girl laughed as she looked at Lena's dumbfounded face.

"Did I miss something?" Toshinori asked as she walked into the room looking at Recovery Girl's smiling face and Lena's blushing face.

***

<Kyoka vs Todoroki>

Todoroki stared at his last opponent. A short girl who looked at him expressionlessly, but still expelled a serious aura around her while adopting the same fighting stance she used against Toru.

The two simply looked at each other without saying a word, the atmosphere on the platform was so tense that the spectators could not help but swallow their saliva nervously. The once noisy stadium had been completely silenced.

"START!"

Todoroki immediately touched the ground with his hand freezing the entire arena floor and Kyoka's legs in less than a second.

Kyoka responded by breaking the ice quickly with her Jacks as she carefully slid on the ice approaching Todoroki as best as fast as she could but it was difficult to move with the entire platform covered in ice.

Todoroki started to slide with the help of his ice creating something like an ice board on his feet to keep distance while at the same time creating ice spikes around Kyoka constantly.

"Fuck!" With the ground frozen her already prone mobility was further reduced, all she could do was stand still and destroy all the spikes with her Jacks. Taking advantage of the small gaps between attacks she tried to attack Todoroki with sonic waves but the cold boy easily predicted her moves.

'That's not working...' Kyoka thought in frustration. 'All or nothing then...'

Suddenly, Kyoka became completely motionless.

Todoroki took advantage of the strange situation to create more ice spikes, but before he could throw them Kyoka opened her eyes and brought her two Jacks together before giving Todoroki a pained smile.

If you looked closely, Kyoka's Jacks were shaking uncontrollably, as if they were holding a great pressure inside them.

Todoroki had a very bad feeling, he quickly froze his legs and back before deciding to finish Kyoka off with his most powerful attack.

"BOOM BASS!!" Kyoka shouted as he unleashed a thunderous sound which came out of her Jacks, the vibration was so strong that it could be seen with the naked eye. The great sonic wave came out in bursts destroying everything in its path!

"GATEN HYOHEKI!!" Todoroki shouted as he created a huge mountain of ice in Kyoka's direction countering his attack!

Both attacks collided and fight each other, neither seeming to have an advantage over the other.

Kyoka's huge sonic blast fights against Todoroki's constant generation of ice, it was a tug of war where no one wanted to lose.

Chunks of ice fly all over the arena as the arena itself is destroyed by the power of the two attacks....

Until Kyoka's big sonic blast starts to lose power giving way to Todoroki's mountain of ice.

"Shit!" Kyoka exclaimed, her Jacks were starting to lose power and were starting to hurt too much to stay focused on maintaining the constancy of the sonic wave.

Todoroki meanwhile was using his fire unconsciously to keep from freezing and maintain constancy over his attack, although due to the constant temperature changes his body was starting to feel dizzy.

In the end, Todoroki's mountain destroys Kyoka's attack by completely enveloping her in ice and pulling her out of the arena while creating a mountain as big as the stadium.

"""..."""

The entire arena falls silent due to the great strength just demonstrated by two of the UA students, some heroes' hair stands on end thinking about being the one to receive one of the two attacks.

It is no mystery to anyone that both participants are incredibly powerful and terrifying.

At this very moment a thought crosses the minds of the entire stadium.

'Monsters'

"Jiro Kyoka has been eliminated. Todoroki Shoto wins the UA tournament, congratulations" Aizawa announced because Mic is still in shock by the great power of the two participants, even Aizawa although he wouldn't admit it was shocked by this.

'Looks like someone was training...' Aizawa thought as he looked at Kyoka's unconscious body that was buried in a large mass of ice.

***

When the door to the infirmary opened Lena stood up a little to observe who had entered... only to open her eyes like saucers when a fainting Kyoka entered on a stretcher.

"Kyo! *BONK*" Lena shouted as she got off the bed to check on her friend when Recovery Girl hit her with the cane at an imperceptible speed.

"Don't scream!" Scolded the old woman with an aura that promised pure pain, Lena apologized shakily as she lowered her voice. The demon in old woman's skin nodded and went to quickly check on Kyoka's condition.

"Is she okay?" Lena asked with concern.

"Yeah, she just passed out, she has a few scratches but nothing serious" Recovery Girl reported, causing Lena to let out a sigh of relief that she didn't know she was holding back. "I'll take care of her in the meantime, shouldn't I go get you ready for your last battle?".

"Yes, but..."

"No buts, now go" The old woman exclaimed, making it clear that there was no negotiation on the matter.

Lana reluctantly left the room, after walking for a while she went to see Midnight to inform him of her participation. While she was healed, she still felt tired from Recovery Girl's Quirk, though she should be able to fight Iida without too many complications.

"Oh dear, you're fine! I was worried that someone with your... potential, yes potential, has been damaged, glad to see you in one piece hehe" Midnight said as she looked Lena from head to toe with analytical eyes and a perverted smile that made Lena sweat internally.

"Well... as you can see I'm fine so I'd like to participate against Iida for third place."

"Ah, don't worry about that honey, Iida has given up the match."

"What?" Lena asked instinctively, she didn't know Iida very well but she didn't get the feeling that she was someone who would just quit. "Why?"

"A family emergency, from his face it must be something very serious... he almost looked on the verge of tears..." Midnight explained as she put a hand to her chin remembering the words Iida said to her before rushing off towards the exit.

"..."

"In a few minutes we'll be doing the awards presentation to the winners so stay close" Midnight said before walking away like it was nothing, leaving a bewildered Lena in the middle of an aisle...

***

"After the short break we continue with the awards ceremony!!!" Midnight announced as she waved to the audience, behind her were three pedestals with numbers on each of them.

On the pedestal with the number 1, stood Todoroki looking at the cameras and the audience expressionlessly... although to the most observant he seemed to be a bit annoyed. Perhaps because Endevour was looking at his son with a strange smile.

On pedestal number 2, stood Kyoka with some small bandages on her arms, her Jacks and ears were completely covered with bandages. Apparently, the last attack she unleashed pushed her Quirk to the limit, severely damaging her Jacks and ear, the good news is that the effects were not permanent and she should recover if she rests properly for a few days, but until then, she must not use her Jacks under any circumstances. She glanced nervously at the camera as she tried to avoid the gaze of the thousands of people. She hadn't rationalized that almost the entire country had been watching her in combat until now.

'God, mom is going to take so many pictures of me it's not funny...' Kyoka thought shuddering as she felt her future embarrassment.

On pedestal number 3, was Lena, the athletic girl looked a little paler than usual, but she was still looking at the cameras and the audience with her classic smile. At first she was annoyed that Iida withdrew from third place... but on second thought it was a great blessing for Lena, she was in no condition to fight after the battle against Todoroki.

"The third place was originally going to be a battle to determine the winner of the position" Midnight explained as she posed for the cameras to take hundreds of pictures of her erotic body. "But due to a personal problem the last participant had to withdraw."

"Now the person who has the honor of handing out the medals this year is none other than..." Said Midnight returning to her position as presenter and creating suspense among the cameras and the audience "ALL MIGHT!!!"

"I'M HERE!!!" As if out of nowhere a huge figure fell from the sky in an epic entrance. "AND I'M HERE TO HAND OUT THE MEDALS!".

The crowd immediately went wild with the appearance of Japan's No. 1 Hero and one of the strongest in the entire World. 

"ALL MIGHT! ALL MIGHT! ALL MIGHT! ALL MIGHT!"""

After standing still for a moment he moved his gaze quickly to Midnight and she gave a whisper to All Might that said, "It's your turn to speak..."

The latter stood motionless for a moment, before quickly getting up and approaching Lena with a copper-colored medal in his hand.

"LENA THE FASTEST GIRL IN THE WHOLE CLASS!" All Might exclaimed as he placed the medal around Lena's neck and gave her a tight hug. "You did an admirable job at your first Festival! I'm sure you'll be a fantastic heroine in the future! My recommendation is that you should work on combining your Quirk with your fighting style!"

"Um" Lena nodded in confirmation and took All Might's advice to heart, after all, he was Japan's Number 1 Hero must have had a lot of wisdom about Quirks.... right?

"KYOKA! THE MUSICAL GIRL OF THE CLASS" All Might said as he put the silver medal from her neck, he didn't want to hug her because of how sensitive her Jacks were right now. "I could see a huge improvement in you in such a short time! Impressive! Keep it up and you'll go far!"

"Even with my ears and jacks plugged I can hear you...you're very loud...". Kyoka said while looking at All Might with a flat face, which made the big hero sweat inside.

"AND THE WINNER OF THE FESTIVAL! TODOROKI!" Shouted All Might excitedly before turning his gaze towards Todoroki and speaking in a lower tone. "I could see that you hesitated several times to use your left side? I won't pry into the matter, but it's always good to ask for help."

"I... I realized a few things... things I need to improve.... I'm not as good as I thought I was... the fight against Midoriya confused me, but it made me realize some things..." Todoroki replied looking into the void for a moment before looking the Hero in the eyes again. "There are things I need to figure out..."

"That's fine" All Might nodded as he put his big smile back on his face "I won't intrude."

"AND THAT CONCLUDES THE SPORTS FESTIVAL! REMEMBER THAT THESE 3 WINNERS WILL MAKE GREAT STRIDES IN THE FUTURE AND BECOME GREAT HEROES FOR THIS SOCIETY! THIS IS THE NEW GENERATION OF HEROES WHO WILL DEFEND OUR LANDS!" shouted All Might passionately as he pointed into the air symbolizing the greatness of the UA students. "PLUS ULTRA!"

"""PLUS ULTRA!!!!""""

...

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