As the finals began and I sat with the rest of the class to watch the matches before mine, I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't know who my first opponent was, I had no idea what he could do and I was terrified of making it through the first match to face Bakugo. He'd be angry if I withdrew from the fight or if I didn't try during the fight, but I didn't think I could fight against him seriously. It was too risky.

"All right audience!" Present Mic got the crowd all riled up. "Let's cut to the good stuff and not delay these finals any longer. Welcome our first fighters." Two pictures popped up on the screen one of Shinso and one of a terrified looking Midoriya, "Whoa he looks kind of scared in that picture, doesn't he? It's Izuku Midoriya from the hero course versus Hitoshi Shinso from general studies who really hasn't done anything to stand out yet. The rules are simple. Immobilize your opponent or force them out of the ring. You can also win by getting the other fighter to cry uncle. Bring on the injuries, because we've got our very own Recovery Girl waiting on Standby. So put your morals aside and don't be afraid to play dirty. But of course, no life-threatening crap, folks. It's not allowed! Real heroes use their powers to throw villains in jail, not kill them." He rambled on as Midoriya and Shinso made their way into the ring.

Pro Hero, Cementoss, a tall somewhat rectangular shaped man with grey skin and a cement quirk took a seat on a cement chair he'd created. "I'll stop anyone who tries to get too rough." He announced to the crowd as Midnight took up her post on the opposite side of the arena to watch over the matches as well.

I noticed Shinso trying to talk to Midoriya and the usually polite Midoriya struggling to not respond to him. Ojiro must have told him how his quirk worked. I was still curious why it didn't seem to work on me. After the match started Shinso kept speaking. I couldn't hear what he was saying but it seemed to upset Midoriya who charged forward and shouted something back at him. A dazed look suddenly crossed Midoriya's face and he stopped running. He was caught in Shinso's quirk.

He turned around and started walking toward the ring. Was he giving up? Just as Midoriya was about to step out of line his fingers twitched and there was an explosion of force that sent a blast wave of wind through the arena causing Shinso and Midnight to brace themselves to keep from moving. I looked to Midoriya's fingers as he snapped out of Shinso's mental grasp. His middle and index fingers on his left hand were black and blue. He'd broken them somehow and activated his quirk to break out of Shinso's hold.

Shinso looked upset by this and yelled something at Midoriya I couldn't quite hear. Midoriya clapped his right hand over his mouth to keep from answering him. Shinso continued talking looking increasingly annoyed and Midoriya charged him. I looked over as Bakugo dropped onto the bench beside me. I was surprised to see him and more surprised to see that he seemed interested in the match. Shinso tried a low blow of punching Midoriya's broken fingers as he tried to shove him out of the ring. Midoriya retaliated with a throw that tossed Shinso out of bounds and knocked the wind out of him. Bakugo tensed beside me.

Kaminari, who was sitting on my opposite side looked over at Bakugo, "He's pulled that shoulder throw on you before, huh?"

I tensed expecting Bakugo to lash out and paled as I realized I was in the middle of them.

"Shut your damn face, Sparky." Bakugo growled but surprisingly didn't attack him.

"His name is Kaminari." I grumbled as I elbowed Bakugo in the side.

Bakugo's body tensed once more and I jumped as he clenched his fists. "Responsible for the cheerleader thing?" He growled.

"Ah...one of them...why?" I asked him curiously.

The tips of his ears flushed scarlet and he looked away from me. "It doesn't matter." He grumbled as Todoroki and Sero took their places in the arena for the next match.

Todoroki looked angry about something. Did something happen on his way to the arena? Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Endeavor in the stands and felt a shiver roll down my spine.

As Present Mic called for the fight to begin. Sero launched a flurry of tape at Todoroki and managed to pin his arms to his side. Todoroki didn't react much to this and I felt a sick feeling in my gut. He was pissed! Sero was in trouble! He dragged Todoroki toward the edge of the ring. Todoroki shifted his foot. A massive amount of ice shot across the arena so fast with so much force it caused the earth to tremble.

I jumped as the ground began to quake thinking for a moment, I'd somehow lost control of my quirk and caused an earthquake before realizing it was the result of a giant mountain of ice. In his rage, he'd gone completely overboard. Todoroki covered nearly half the stadium in a massive cliff of ice that extended above the top of the stadium peeking out overhead. Bakugo reacted quickly as the ice encroached on us and activated his quirk blasting the ice near us to keep me from getting crushed.

Shakily I looked to him, "Th-thanks..."

Midnight asked Sero if he could move before announcing Todoroki the winner. I could hear people in the crowd yelling 'nice try' at Sero and smiled. A lot of the first round of matches went by quickly and before long it was my turn and I stretched to my feet.

"Ava..." Bakugo startled everyone as he said my name.

I turned to him, pausing on the steps.

"Don't lose." He growled.

My cheeks reddened at this, "I won't." I ducked away and hurried to the steps leading to the waiting area and the tunnels to enter the arena.

By the time I made it to the ring, I'd let my nerves get the better of me. I was so nervous I couldn't hear Present Mic's introductions. When I reached the ring, I spotted a boy with dark brown hair that he had pulled back in a tight neat ponytail. His eyes were the color of charcoal. He offered me a smile as I stepped into the ring. I wasn't sure the proper protocol and extended my hand to him in greeting returning his smile.

"H-hi, I'm Ava."

He chuckled at this and stepped forward to accept the hand I offered him before giving it a quick polite shake, "Ren." He didn't release my hand, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Um, okay?"

"You have a really strong quirk and could no doubt obliterate me in two seconds...I'd like a chance to show off some of my skills to get noticed...would you be willing to agree to a strict hand to hand combat match without the use of your quirk?" He asked me. It almost seemed like he was trying to match my nervousness and there was a glint in his eye that made me think he wasn't' being completely honest.

"Oh...sure..."

"What's going on down there Midnight, nothing's happening?" Present Mic's voice echoed through the stadium.

"It appears the challengers have agreed to hand to hand combat." Midnight replied into her own microphone.

"Alright, so another boring match, then." Present Mic sighed.

Ren finally released my hand and we walked back a few paces. I turned to him and offered him a respectful bow folding my left hand over my right enclosed fist as I was instructed in the various martial arts classes, I'd taken at Detective Tsukauchi's request. He always wanted me to be able to take care of myself because he was a worrier.

Ren tensed as he noticed my stance. "Are you a martial artist?"

I nodded.

He looked a little nervous about this. Present Mic called for the match to begin. Ren hesitated as I took on a defensive stance wanting to gauge his skills. I had a feeling he wasn't going to keep to our agreement and I had no idea what his quirk was. He rushed me and for a moment I thought there was like a blur around him, almost like a mirage, another him just a step behind him. What was that?

I dodged his swing, catching his arm with ease and spun giving him a gentle push. He stumbled toward the edge of the ring but managed to catch himself and run at me again. There was another blur of movement behind him, like a mirror image of himself flickering in and out of view. His second punch was quicker and there was a flicker around it making it harder for me to determine where his arm was. I went for a simpler block rather than a grab as it was harder for me to pinpoint to grab.

"What's the matter?" He smirked as he swung at me a third time, the mirage like effect was way worse, I had no idea where his fist was and flipped backward to get out of the way.

"We agreed to no quirks." I frowned as I landed swiftly near the edge of the ring.

"You might have, but I didn't." He shrugged.

I sighed, technically he was right. He never said he wouldn't use his quirk. It was still a dirty trick, something a villain would do. "Fine, then I guess it's time to get serious."

"Huh?" His eyes widened as I sprinted toward him. He struggled to avoid my swings, but he was much too slow. Even with the use of his weird mirage like quirk I landed a hard hit to his sternum causing him to stumble back a few paces before kicking his feet out from under him.

He rolled onto his stomach and as I moved to pin him to the ground and take my victory, he swung at me and hurled a handful of dust and dirt into my eyes. I stumbled back and winced, there had been some fine rocks mixed in. I couldn't risk rubbing or opening my eyes without Recovery Girl being present, it might damage my eyes.

"Oh! That was a dirty trick." Present Mic commented overhead.

"You know...that really worked against you." I frowned as I righted myself and focused on the ground around me. With tremor sense, even with my shoes on, I could feel his movements and knew exactly where he was.

"Why is that?" Ren scoffed.

"Now your quirk isn't working for you, since I can't see anyway." I pointed. "At least not how you think."

He lunged at me, "Then you'll be easy to take down."

I smiled to myself as he got within range before lowering my center of gravity. Swiftly, I dodged his swing and shifted my weight slightly before grabbing him by the front of his shirt. Turning into him, I spun and hurled him over my shoulder, out of bounds.

"Ava Tsukauchi is the winner!" Midnight yelled and I jumped as I heard the crowd let out a cheer.

I stepped out of the ring and managed to make it to the tunnel. As I was about to kick my shoes off so I could use my tremor sense to find my way to Recovery Girl, I paused as I felt a hand fall atop my shoulder. The anxiousness that had been building up inside of me began to dwindle.

"K-Kacchan?" I squeaked, but he didn't give me a response just quietly steered me through the tunnel toward Recovery Girl's office.

He left me at the door and walked away without a word. I couldn't help but smile at this, he really was a big softy and didn't want anyone to know it. The door opened before I could knock.

"Oh, Ava, what happened?" Recovery Girl's voice sounded below due to her petite size.

"Ah, I got some rocks in my eyes in the last fight...Sorry to trouble you."

"Nonsense." She placed her hand in mine and steered me over to a comfortable chair.

After she managed to flush my eyes and get all the gunk out of it, she gave me a gummy candy that sped up the healing process. I sat quietly for a few minutes until my vision returned and smiled. "Thank you, Recovery Girl."

She gave me a motherly pat of affection on my leg before returning to her desk. "Anytime, Ava Dear, you run along now and go join your friends."

"O-okay...Thanks again." I scrambled out of the small nurse's station and headed for the nearest stairwell. As I was about to reach the stairwell, my heart dropped as I spotted a familiar giant of a man with hulking muscles wearing a dark navy suit with flaming accents and a flaming beard on his chin.

My blood ran cold as he looked in my direction and I instinctively froze in terror. His eyes narrowed as he spotted me. He took a step toward me and my knees gave out no longer able to support my trembling form. This gave him pause.

"What are you doing here?" He asked me in a gruff voice but made no move to get closer whether he was being considerate of my feelings or just wary that I might fall off the deep end and topple the whole stadium, I wasn't sure.

"The f-festival is m-mandatory for students." I squeaked.

He folded his arms in front of his chest, "And why are you a student here?"

Tears welled in my eyes, "I want to be a hero..."

"Why?" He frowned.

"...In hopes to save more lives than my parents took..."

"I still don't believe someone as unstable as you with your destructive power should be unsupervised...tread carefully." He growled before turning on his heel and disappearing down the stairwell.

The sound of explosion after explosion from behind me shook me out of my downward spiral. Bakugo was fighting Uraraka! I managed to get to my feet and sprint toward the stairwell racing up to the stands. Momentarily blinded by the sun, I stepped into the stadium stands and spotted Bakugo blasting Uraraka time and time again as she desperately tried to get close to him.

People around me were murmuring that she was getting desperate with her attacks after her first feint failed. I chanced a glance upward and smiled, no, she wasn't getting desperate, she was using his blasts against him. With each blast he was creating rubble from the ring Cementoss had created and she was using her quirk to float the rubble in the air above. It was an impressive strategy, though as much as I wanted to cheer for her, I was silently rooting for Bakugo.

"Look up, idiot." I muttered under my breath hoping he'd realize he was blasting too indiscriminately and was creating a lot of ammo for her to use against him.

The crowd around me began jeering and booing Bakugo. They thought he was a bully and was torturing her, but they didn't realize him being serious in this battle was a compliment to her. I clenched my fists at my sides.

"Kacchan! Don't you dare listen to them!" I yelled causing a few people to look at me curiously, "And you better not lose!"

His crimson eyes widened and he looked in my direction before smirking. I faintly heard Present Mic siding with those booing Bakugo before hearing Mr. Aizawa punch him and grab the microphone.

"Where's the man who started this uproar?" He grumbled, "Are you a Pro? Because if you're being serious, you can go home and hang up your cape. I'd suggest looking into a career change. Bakugo's fierceness is an acknowledgement of his opponent's strength. He knows she deserves to have made it this far so he's making sure he does whatever it takes to keep her at bay and come out on top."

I was happy that someone else noticed and recognized he wasn't a bully despite his behavior and couldn't help but smile. Uraraka released her hold on the rocks overhead and they fell toward Bakugo like a meteor shower. She raced toward him once more hoping to get in close. Bakugo calmly raised a single hand into the air and released a massive explosion from the palm of his hand that turned all the rocks to pebbles and dust and blasted the debris and Uraraka away.

She struggled to her feet and attempted to run at Bakugo once more. He smirked and ran toward her but halted as she collapsed to the ground. Uraraka was still desperately trying to hang on, to prove herself as she tried to get back on her feet to no avail. Bakugo was announced the winner as she fell unconscious and Uraraka was taken to see Recovery Girl.

After a few minutes, I looked over as I sensed someone approach and smiled as I spotted Bakugo exiting the stairwell. He folded his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the wall next to me.

"You think maybe if you made an effort to learn more about our classmates, she wouldn't have given you as much trouble?" I asked him with a smirk.

"Shut up, loser." He grumbled before glancing over at me, his crimson eyes swept over me for a moment, "Don't expect me to hold back and you better not either." His eyes narrowed into a glare.

I held my breath for a moment, "If you promise me something...then I won't hold back..."

"What's that?"

"If I lose control...stop me..."

He nodded.

"Then...I won't hold back..." As I said the words, I felt a kind of relief.

We watched the rest of the matches in silence and when our match drew nearer, we both headed toward the arena, together.

"Well, this is sure to be an interesting match." Present Mic's voice blared overhead. "Aren't these two tied in class ranking?"

"They are." Mr. Aizawa replied simply.

Bakugo and I faced off in the arena. I was starting to feel nervous again as we were the center of attention, with thousands of eyes on us. My eyes darted around the stadium quickly.

"You better keep your eyes on me, loser." Bakugo growled. It sounded menacing but I knew he was trying to draw my attention to keep me calm.

I nodded, "Remember your promise."

"Begin!" Present Mic yelled over the loudspeaker.

We both moved simultaneously, he lunged and I stomped my foot into the ground shifting the plates below causing a large rocky mountain to shoot up from the earth. Rather than blast through it I heard him attempting to blast over it and smiled. I stomped my other foot onto the ground and cast my hands upward creating dozens of canyon like pillars rocketing from the ground creating a maze of pillars within the ring.

"Her quirk is really suited for defense, I wonder how she's going to use it for offense." I heard Present Mic comment overhead.

"I don't think you understand her quirk, it's both offensive and defensive." Mr. Aizawa corrected him. He was right. I didn't often use my quirk for offense but I'd have to if I wanted to have the slightest chance of beating Bakugo.

He blasted through several of the pillars causing them to crumble and topple into other pillars. "Where the hell are you?!" He snarled.

I focused on the plates beneath the earth's surface as I darted between more pillars to stay out of his line of sight. Volcanoes weren't something I used very often but I'd need the fire power. They took a little longer for me to create and required more focus. Focusing on the plates below I darted through the maze of pillars. Bakugo was blasting through them left and right, I'd be out of cover soon.

"Got you!" Bakugo growled as he managed to blast away the last of my pillars and lunged for me.

The ground behind me began to shift and I smiled as a small open topped volcanic mound began to rise behind me, it was only a little taller than me. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and shifted the plates. It had to be timed perfectly. A volcanic rock covered in molten lava shot from the volcano behind me.

Bakugo's eyes widened and he narrowly avoided the molten rock. A wicked smile splayed across his lips at the prospect of a challenge. More molten rocks launched from the volcano behind me. He got cocky and began blasting them as he charged me. He slipped past the volley of molten rocks and I lost my focus as he lunged for me.

He swung with a strong right hook, activating his quirk. Reflexively I ducked and threw up a wall of dirt to shield myself. The force of his blast sent bits of dirt and rock flying everywhere and nearly toppled me in the process. Should have known he was holding back against Uraraka, these blasts were at a much higher concentration. He took advantage of my momentary flinch and swung with his left hand. Reflexively I brought up another wall of earth but lost my focus on the tectonic plates shifting beneath me. The ground began to tremble, shaking the entire stadium causing the volcano behind me to erupt.

Bakugo blasted through the wall of dirt with no effort and I skidded back from the impact of the blast. Lava began to pour from the small volcano. I flipped backward to avoid the stream and created a crater beneath the small volcano before covering it with a mound of dirt. He didn't give me a second to catch my breath after cleaning up my own mess and lunged at me the moment my feet hit the ground.

It was too much, he was too fast I couldn't focus on the plates, I'd have to rely on what came naturally. This thought terrified me. When I relied on instinct, things got out of control, quickly. I waved my hand at him and a wall of dirt smacked into him. He managed to blast himself out of the wave of dirt and keep from being thrown out of the ring, though after the mess we'd created it was a little difficult to tell where the ring was.

Hurriedly I rolled out of the way of another blast and managed to deflect another as he got into close quarters range. I grabbed hold of his wrist and managed to direct his palm away from me. Bakugo saw through what I was going to do and was ready with a blast from his other hand. I barely had a moment to react and miraculously managed to bring my leg up and kick his hand away as he activated his quirk. The force of the blast though it hadn't impacted me was enough to unsteady me.

Bakugo managed to catch me in a grapple, he'd been watching me from all of our interactions, learning my combat moves. He was amazing! I struggled against him desperately. The earth around our feet flared up around us and swirled around his feet as he prepared to hit me with his quirk. I managed to bind his legs with earth and was able to break from his hold and roll away from him.

"Why do you keep running away, weakling?" He goaded me.

"I'm not running away!" I snapped as I spun around and cast my hands out sending him flying backward in a wave of dirt.

Bakugo's lightning fast reflexes helped him recover instantly. With two well timed explosions, he managed to break out of the wave of dirt and propel himself back at me. Reflexively I pulled up another wall of dirt but was a fraction too slow and got hit with the blast. I hit the ground and rolled to a stop a few meters away skittering across the uneven rocky ground. The rocky ground cut up my arms as I rolled to a stop and I winced as I looked down at the blood streaking my arms.

His crimson eyes widened as I rolled to my feet. The ground began to tremble as I looked to the blood streaming down my arms, dripping onto the ground at my feet. My heart began to race. The tremors began to build in strength. People in the crowd started to panic. In the back of my mind, I was drawn back to that haunting memory.

Bakugo moved toward me but the earth around him began to crack and splinter from the force of the quake. The scar on my back began to sear and tears streamed down my cheeks as the earth shook. I could hear the stadium groan in protest. People were screaming.

"AVA!" Bakugo took to the sky as the ground was too unstable for him to walk on.

Pillars of earth shot out of the ground trying to stop him from reaching me. He dodged them swiftly and propelled himself toward me. Another pillar of earth ripped from the ground in front of me to try and deflect him. He blasted through it with ease and tackled me to the ground. My skull cracked into something hard as I hit the ground. My vision went black and the tremors ceased.