Chapter 24
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Izuku's last fight was with the tall guy with bluish-colored hair, whom kept trying to goad him into talking. When Izuku didn't respond to his taunts, as soon as the announcer yelled 'start', he gave up.

Izuku walked over to him and held out his hand. “I'm sorry you couldn't showcase your quirk better than the opponents you already fought.”

The guy gave him an odd look as he shook the offered hand. “Why are you apologizing?”

“Your quirk is really interesting. It can be used for both villain arrests and for support rescues.” Izuku said and the guy looked shocked. “Even if you're limited by people responding to you, you can get people to stay calm in stressful situations and can have almost any villain, who always loves to talk anyway, give themselves up before they realize what's going on.”

“You're the only student that hasn't told me I had a villain quirk.” The guy said.

Izuku barked a laugh. “Villains have a different mindset than people like us. They think because they have powers that they can do whatever they want. They are usually full of themselves and believe they can get away with everything.”

People like us. The guy thought and had to smile. “I'm Shinso Hitoshi.”

“Izuku Midoria.” Izuku said and motioned towards the seats. “Have you tried using your quirk on multiple people at once?”

“What?”

“I'm just wondering if you could spread it out. Say there's a few guys in a gang or something committing a crime, you call out and only one responds. You can get them to convince the others to back off, drop his weapon, have him run away, give up, or even get the others to respond to you.” Izuku said and saw the pensive look on Shinso's face. “The biggest thing I'd like to know is what's the limit of your quirk.”

“What do you mean?” Shinso asked.

“Can you only do it once? How long does it last? If the person you're using it on is commanded to always respond to you while your quirk is active, can you keep using your quirk on them until you're exhausted? Do they build up a resistance to it the more you use it?”

Shinso's mouth dropped open. “You... you...”

There were several laughs as they reached the seats.

“Izuku, you need to stop blowing people's minds.” Tanya said and pulled him down onto his seat.

“I'm sorry I can't turn my brain off. You know that.” Izuku said and hugged her.

“Um... can we talk again later?” Shinso asked.

“Sure. There's a gathering after the tournament that lasts for an hour.” Izuku said.

“Aren't you going to need to recover after your fight?” Uraraka asked.

“I might need about fifteen minutes, assuming Tanya doesn't break anything.” Izuku responded. “If she does, then Recovery Girl can handle it.”

“You're pretty relaxed about getting bones broken and getting in fights.” Shinso commented.

“I've been doing things like that since I was a kid.” Izuku admitted and pointedly didn't look at Bakugo.

“My Izuku has always been pretty tough.” Tanya said, proudly. She saw his face flush a little red and kissed his cheek. “Wish me luck.”

“You don't need it; but, good luck ending it quickly.” Izuku said and she nodded just as her name was called with a green-haired girl named Ibari Shiozaki.

The match lasted almost ten seconds. Ibari's hair was actually vines and she could call hundreds of them and used them to cover herself like a shield and then other vines burst out all over the fighting area.

Tanya, since she could fly, wasn't bothered by it in the least. In fact, all of the debris the vines had made, gave her a lot of projectiles. Like she did with the baseball during the quirk assessment test, she charged them up and launched them all over the shield the girl was using. Once a hole was made big enough, a quick sonic boom directed at the hole and the shock wave reverberated inside the shield and knocked the girl out.

“KNOCK-OUT!” Present Mic yelled. “Winner! Tanya DeGraff!” He said in a normal voice. “We will take a short twenty minute break to let her recover and then the final match will commence!”

Tanya went over to the collapsed vines and moved them out of the way to check on the girl and held her hands out to her. A couple of quick healing spells had the girl awake and fine, long before the medics could come out to retrieve her.

“What... where...” Ibari looked around to see the piles of vines.

“You lost.” Tanya said and helped the girl to stand. “If you want some advice...”

“I don't even know what happened.” Ibari said, confused.

Tanya chuckled. “We can get you a copy of the fight later.”

The girl nodded and went with the medics to get checked out while Tanya went back to her seat.

“Ten seconds? You're getting slow.” Izuku joked and she whacked his arm.

“I let her get her defenses up to let people see what she can do.” Tanya said and smiled wickedly. “I also let her make me a bunch of projectiles.”

That made Izuku laugh and he nodded. They had both gained advantages from Tanya's tactics.

“Are we starting blow for blow or are we matching?” Tanya asked.

“Definitely matching. We can up the show as we progress.” Izuku said and she nodded in agreement.

“I can't wait to see this.” Uraraka said, clearly excited.

“I think everyone's going to react to it.” Izuku said and looked at the huge crowd. “It's a little odd that they are so quiet after seeing that.”

“It's more disappointment, I think.” Tanya shrugged. “I warned the teachers and judges about it.”

“There goes Cementoss to fix the ring.” Toru, the Invisible Girl said and pointed.

The students watched as the hero easily fixed the ring and he glanced over at Tanya and Izuku. He nodded and started to expand the fighting area to a much larger size. He left only about ten feet of grass to the sides of the stadium, which had everyone talking.

“I'm glad he took my advice.” Tanya said.

“We can't disappoint him.” Izuku said and they both stood. “Far corners after the introduction and greeting?”

“Of course. We need to show them some of our speed before we're moving too fast for them to see us.”

Izuku chuckled and kept his arm around her waist as they approached the center of the very large fighting area.

“WELCOME TO THE FINAL FIGHT OF THE TOURNAMENT!” Present Mic yelled and the crowd cheered a little. “Oh, come on! I know some of the matches were a little disappointing because they were over so quickly...”

A series of boos came back from the crowd.

“You're in for a real treat this time! The final two competitors are Izuku Midoria and Tanya DeGraff!”

A few shouts yelled out that it was going to be another short fight.

Izuku turned Tanya to him and looked into her eyes as he hugged her. “Let's give them something they are always going to remember.”

Tanya grinned and nodded. “I'm sure that we can...”

Izuku leaned down slightly and kissed her soundly. Tanya's arms went around him and they kissed for thirty seconds before they broke it. Both of them were blushing and heard a lot of whistles, cat-calls, and other things. They each took one step back and made a fist to bump into each other, then they turned around and quickly walked all the way to opposite corners.

“Here it is, folks! The final fight!” Present Mic said. “START!”

Tanya and Izuku took several seconds to charge up. One with air swirling around her and the other with green lightning flowing over him. Both launched towards each other and crushed the parts of the fighting area they had been standing on a moment before. A second later, they had both punched and their fists slammed into each other in the very center of the fighting area.

*BOOM!*

The sound echoed and the pressure wave it released flowed out and fluttered people's clothes that were in the first few rows of the stadium. There was silence for a second, then the crowd burst out of their seats and cheered.

“Let's do this.” Izuku said and they dashed backwards to take up different positions, then they launched at each other again and again. Fists matched, waist-high kicks slammed their shins together to match blocks, and the booms and pressure waves continued on and on.

Their moves became faster as they moved across the fighting area towards different parts of the stadium to give the crowds a better view of them exchanging blows. Their fighting styles started to differ and then Izuku took a kick to the chest and was flung across the arena. He had to dig his fingers into the concrete floor to stop himself from leaving the ring and smiled as he came to a stop.

Tanya was right there with her punch aimed at his head and Izuku jumped to give her an uppercut. It caught her chin and she was launched high up into the air and flipped over several times. Izuku braced and jumped up into the air about a hundred feet and swung a double fist down to hit her in the stomach. Tanya was expecting that and grabbed his hands as she dodged and then planted a knee into the back of his neck as hard as she could.

Izuku grunted as he was literally shoved down through the air face first and covered his face just as he hit the fighting area floor at near terminal velocity. It created a crater ten feet across and kicked up some dirt and debris that quickly dissipated.

Tanya flew down, making a sonic boom, and put both of her feet into Izuku's back. “HAA!”

The crater deepened and widened slightly from the impact and she hopped out of the hole and hovered in the air off to the side as she took a fighting stance. The crowd was cheering as Izuku stood up and brushed the dirt off of the front of his slightly tattered and torn track suit top.

“Oh, it's on now.” Izuku said and grabbed the shoulders of his top and pulled to the sides. The fabric tore and he tossed the pieces aside. He turned to look at her and gave her a wicked smile as his muscles seemed to ripple in anticipation.

“Uh oh.” Tanya said and turned to fly away just as Izuku lunged at her. He tackled her and they flipped over a couple of times before they landed with Izuku on the bottom. Tanya wasn't going to give up the advantage and made her hands glow as she shoved her fists onto his chest.

Izuku grunted as he was shoved almost a foot down into the cement floor, then he grabbed one of her wrists and bent his arm to shove an elbow into the side of Tanya's throat.

“GAH!” Tanya yelled as she was tossed aside from the strength of the blow and landed fifteen feet away. She looked up and saw Izuku's foot coming for her face. Her arms flung up and blocked the hit on her forearms as she was pushed back another ten feet, then she stood and used her speed as she did a roundhouse kick to the side of the head before he could react.

The impact swung Izuku around in a circle and then it was his turn to be kicked up into the air. He didn't see the follow-up kick that shoved him down into the arena floor and he made a much bigger crater this time. He knew he was making a lot of debris for her to use against him later, so he made a bit of a show by grabbing one of the large slabs of concrete he had loosened and tossed it at her.

The crowd gasped as the several hundred pounds of concrete soared through the air like it was weightless and Tanya barely dodged it. She wasn't going to take that shot without returning it, so she flew over to the thing as it reached the apex of its flight and caught it from underneath. The crowd gasped again as she charged it up and then she flung it at her opponent at a significant speed that wasn't normal at all for something so big.

“Ha! Nice one!” Izuku laughed and readied a punch that was covered in a green glow. His hand shot out just as the projectile was about to crush him and he jumped at the same time. The concrete shattered from his punch and seemed to explode as Izuku flew through the debris towards his target with his glowing fist.

“Sucker!” Tanya taunted and ducked his lazy punch, grabbed one of his legs, and started to spin in place like she did before throwing the baseball in the assessment test. She created a whirlwind that no one could see through, then Izuku appeared for an instant before he hit the arena floor like a meteorite and tore up over a hundred feet of concrete in a huge trench before he finally came to a stop.

The entire crowd was silent as they waited to see if he was going to get up.

Izuku's laugh cut through the silence and he stood up to show he only had a pair of shorts on, because the tatters of his muscle shirt fell off. “If we weren't fighting in a tournament, I could swear you were intentionally trying to strip me off.”

Tanya pulled out several pieces of debris from her pockets that she had caught before and smiled. “Who said I wasn't?”

Izuku laughed and then felt the air near him distort. He moved his chest to twist to the side and the piece of concrete Tanya threw buried itself in the torn up ground behind him.

“I can't throw anything back because it could hit the spectators.” Izuku said and ducked the next shot. “How about I make a shield instead?” He asked and then he punched the soft ground on the side of the trench. It pushed up the concrete arena floor around the trench by several feet and Izuku quickly lifted up a thirty foot wide and twenty foot long chunk of it. He easily held it in front of himself and blocked all of Tanya's follow-up shots, even when she tried to fly around him.

Izuku heard a sonic boom and knew what was going to happen next. He dropped the impromptu shield and turned to catch Tanya as she slammed into him with a full body tackle. They hit the ground and dug up another trench for twenty feet and when they came to a stop, they exchanged punches almost faster than the eye could see.

Booms from their punches and kicks echoed all over the arena as they fought ferociously. Everyone stared at them as they pounded each other on their backs, sides, heads, arms, and legs. Their speed started to pick up and they would disappear from one area and then appear in another as they landed punches and kicks.

The cameras were having a hard time keeping up with them as they continued to fight, tearing up the arena almost completely. There was one significantly loud boom and then they separated and landed about thirty feet apart in the center of the ring.

“One... last... attack?” Tanya asked, almost breathless.

“Make it... a good one.” Izuku said, covered in sweat and panting heavily.

Tanya gave him a manic grin as she started to float up into the air, then she shot up like a cannon and a sonic boom and pressure wave followed her as she disappeared from sight. There was another boom... then another... and then a streak of air zoomed into the arena from nearly straight down towards Izuku.

At the last second, Izuku blurred as he stepped to the side and swung his fist. It connected with Tanya's cheek and changed her momentum from straight at him to the side. She slammed into the churned up dirt from their previous impacts and it was like an explosion of dirt and debris. It blew out over fifty feet into the air and covered a hundred or so feet as it fell and pelted the ground.

Izuku stood over the prone form of Tanya and she didn't move.

After a ten count, Present Mic spoke. “KNOCK-OUT!” He yelled. “Winner! Izuku Midoria!”

The entire crowd had been too shocked by what they had just witnessed to react right away. It took nearly ten seconds before the first cheer started. After that, sound seemed to explode from the crowd and it filled the stadium. Shouts, cheers, and hollers of appreciation echoed as Izuku dropped to his knees and picked up Tanya.

“I told you... you would tear me apart... if I tried attacking that way.” Tanya whispered.

“Shh. Rest.” Izuku said and gave her a quick kiss. “The medics are coming.”

“You... too.” Tanya breathed.

“I'll collapse from exhaustion as soon as they check you out and say you're fine.” Izuku said and she barked a laugh.

“Put some pants on... you exhibitionist.” Tanya said as the medics arrived.

“They are bicycle shorts, thank you.” Izuku said and picked her up to put her onto the stretcher the medics had.

“You need to be checked, too.” One of the medics said. “You are going to have some nasty bruises.”

“Her first.” Izuku said and the medics checked her over as Recovery Girl came out.

“I can't touch either of you right now.” Recovery Girl said. “Maybe tomorrow after you both rest.”

“You use stamina to get us to heal faster and neither of us has much left.” Izuku said and she nodded.

“Miss DeGraff is going to be fine.” One of the medics said as the others rubbed salve over the many developing bruises Tanya had. “Now I'll check you and...”

“Okay.” Izuku said and dropped to his knees, then he fell backwards onto the dirt, unconscious.

“He had a lot less stamina left than I thought.” Recovery Girl said with a shake of her head. “Let's get them both into the medical bay to let them rest.”

They brought over another stretcher and put Izuku onto it, then carried both teenagers out of the arena with the crowd's enthusiastic cheers following them.

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