ON THE FIFTH FLOOR
Riko stood in the center of the bomb room, her chest heaving as she wiped a smudge of soot from her cheek. Silence had returned to the room, save for the crackling of the frost.
Man... maybe I pushed him too much, she thought, leaning her weight against a structural pillar. I mean, Midoriya is supposed to be the one to give the big 'it's your power' speech at the Sports Festival. Did I just butterfly-effect the entire plot?
She let out a frustrated huff, her thumb tracing the edge of her tactical glove.
Eh, I couldn't help it. The guy was sitting there looking like a tragic Victorian orphan while trying to freeze me. Was that my battle-junkie side talking? Dammit, Katsuki, look what you've made me do. I'm spending too much time around you and now I'm picking fights with protagonists just to see them go Plus Ultra.
She was about to call out to Momo, when she froze. Her instinct screaming at her.
A faint, crimson glow began to cut through the swirling white steam at the far end of the room. Riko's eyes widened behind her yellow goggles. A wide, dangerous grin slowly split across her face.
"There he is," she whispered. "The real Shoto Todoroki."
THE MONITORING ROOM
"Aw, man! Not again with the steam!" Kaminari groaned, leaning into the monitor. "It's like watching a fight through a cloud! Why does Akabane-san have to be so flashy?"
"It's a tactical advantage, obviously," Iida countered, though he too was squinting. "She's utilizing the temperature difference to maintain a smokescreen. But look, Todoroki-kun is moving again!"
The class was buzzing. They had no audio, U.A. policy for basic trials, so they had missed the entire psychological breakdown Riko had just delivered. To them, it looked like a brutal, silent exchange of blows.
"She's holding her own against a recommendation student," Jirou noted, impressed. "That girl is a monster."
"Hey," Hagakure turned as the door to the viewing room hissed open.
Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo walked in, both covered in bandages from their own catastrophic duel. They had just come from Recovery Girl's office, their faces tight with lingering adrenaline.
"Hey, you guys!" Hagakure chirped. "You know Akabane-san since you were kids, right? If you had to say... who do you think is going to win this?"
Izuku stopped, his eyes immediately locking onto the screen. He began to rub his chin, his voice dropping into that familiar, rapid-fire mumble. "Well, if you look at the Quirk compatibility, Todoroki-kun has a massive advantage in range and environmental control, and Riko-chan's kinetic output is limited by the objects she has on hand, plus the building's structural integrity..."
"Riko," Bakugo's voice cut through the air like a knife.
The class turned. The blonde was leaning against the back wall, his arms crossed over his bandaged chest. He wasn't yelling. He was just... certain.
"She'd win."
"Huh? How?" Mineta piped up, skeptical. "Did you see that ice mountain? Todoroki is like a final boss! Akabane is just blowing stuff up."
"Yeah, he's got way more versatility," Sero added.
Bakugo's eyes snapped toward them, a small explosion popping in his palm. "HUH? YOU EXTRAS THINK I'M LYING? YA'ALL PICKING A FIGHT?!"
"No, Kacchan is right," Izuku said, his expression becoming serious. "While you guys are right about the Quirks, you're missing something. If Riko-chan fought without restraint... she would win."
"Without restraint?" Ashido asked. "What does that mean? She's already blowing up the floor!"
"WHAT THAT DEKU IS SAYING," Bakugo shouted, stepping forward, "IS THAT SHE ISN'T USING HER FULL POWER, YOU EXTRAS! SHE'S PLAYING NURSEMAID TO THE BUILDING!"
He glared at Izuku. "STOP EXPLAINING FOR ME, YOU DEKU!"
With a final, murderous grunt, Bakugo stomped off to a far corner of the room, muttering something about how he was going to "murder them all" once he was healed.
The class sweat-dropped at Bakugo's exit, but Uraraka turned back to Izuku. "Deku-kun... what did he mean by full power?"
"Um... right," Izuku said, looking back at the screen. "Riko-chan usually has to limit the amount of energy she puts into an object. She has to make sure she doesn't accidentally kill someone or bring the entire building down on her own teammates. But in a one-on-one fight, if she truly let go... the explosions you've seen so far aren't even half her power. Even I haven't seen the full extent of what she can do when she's not holding back."
A heavy silence fell over the room.
"Not even... half?" Kirishima whispered, looking at the decimated fifth floor on the monitor. "That's insane."
Suddenly, the screen flared.
The white steam was no longer just white. A fierce, flickering red glow began to bleed through the fog. The temperature sensor on the monitor spiked.
As the smoke began to dissipate, the class let out a collective gasp.
Standing in the center of the room, Shoto Todoroki was no longer just a figure of frost. His left side was engulfed in a roaring, brilliant flame, the heat so intense it was melting the very ice he had stood upon moments ago.
Riko stood opposite him, her goggles pushed up onto her forehead, a wild, ecstatic laugh bubbling in her throat.
"Finally," Riko's voice was a whisper, but her grin said it all.
THIRD PERSON POV
The fifth floor was no longer a training ground; it was a pressurized chamber of clashing elements. On one side, Shoto Todoroki stood as a living conduit of heat and cold, the ice on his right side beginning to glisten and melt under the sudden, roaring intensity of the flames erupting from his left.
Riko's grin widened until it looked almost painful. The sight of that red glow cutting through the haze was the most beautiful thing she had seen in this fight so far.
Todoroki looked down at his flaming hand, then up at Riko. His expression was no longer one of stoic resentment. It was the face of a contender.
"You're right," Shoto said, his voice steady even as the fire crackled around his ear. "If I want to become the Number One Hero... if I want to surpass him on my own terms, I will need to give it my all. I must say, I wasn't expecting you to be the one to push me to this. I thank you, Akabane."
He shifted his stance, the ice beneath his right foot cracking while the air to his left shimmered with heat. "But you were also holding back, were you not? I can feel it."
Riko let out a low, breathy laugh and dropped into a deep crouch, her fingers brushing the floor.
"Subarasiiiiiii!" she chirped, her eyes burning with a predatory light. "I didn't think you'd actually do it! But since you're finally done pulling your punches, I'd be a pretty shitty opponent if I didn't match that resolve. Besides, if I half-ass this now, I'll never hear the end of it from a certain explosive idiot."
She activated all the remaining charges, she had in the soles of her boots. The kinetic energy didn't just hum this time; it roared. A violent orange glow began to bleed out from beneath her feet, the floor tiles beneath her heels spider-webbing and turning to dust from the mere pressure of the charge.
"Let's end it, Shoto-kunnnnn!" Riko yelled.
"Right!" Todoroki countered.
Riko launched herself. She didn't just run; she became a blur of orange light, the floor behind her erupting in a line of shattered concrete as she vanished into a high-speed dash. At the same moment, Todoroki lunged forward, his ice creating a path for his feet while his fire flared behind him like a jet engine.
They were inches apart. Riko's fist was pulled back, glowing like a miniature sun. Todoroki's left side was a wall of approaching heat. The collision promised to level the entire floor.
"THE ROUND IS OVER! THE VILLAIN TEAM WINS THE MATCH!"
All Might's voice boomed through the building's intercom with a frantic, desperate authority.
The sudden announcement acted like a physical wall. Todoroki, trained for discipline, managed to dig his heels into the ice, his flames flickering out in a shower of sparks as he skidded to a halt.
Riko, however, was already mid-flight.
"Right... I forgot about-" she muttered, her eyes wide as she realized she was a human missile with nowhere to land.
She flew past Todoroki, the wind from her passage ruffling his dual-colored hair. She slammed her feet into the far wall to arrest her momentum, the impact cratering the concrete. Without missing a beat, she took the pellet she had been overcharging, a tiny metallic sphere now glowing a terrifying, neon yellow-orange, and hurled it out the shattered window.
"Wait, is that…." Todoroki started.
BOOM.
The explosion that followed made Bakugo's earlier blasts look like firecrackers. A pillar of golden fire and concussive force erupted outside the building, the shockwave so powerful it tore off a massive chunk of the buildings outer wall. Shoto was pushed back several feet by the sheer pressure, shielding his face as the building groaned under the stress.
As the smoke from the "dumped" blast drifted back into the room, Riko walked out of the haze. She was rubbing the back of her head, her goggles hanging around her neck.
"Sry, sry!" she said, clasping her hands together in a 'my bad' gesture and playfully poking her tongue out. "I may have overcharged that one a bit. It's hard to put the pin back in the grenade once you've pulled it, you know?"
THE MONITORING ROOM
The silence in the viewing room was absolute.
Every single student stood with their mouth hanging open, eyes fixed on the screen showing the building missing one side of its outer wall. Mineta's knees were actually shaking.
"She... she just threw a nuke out the window," Kaminari whispered, his voice cracking. "And she's apologizing for it?"
"That power..." Kirishima swallowed hard. "Midoriya wasn't kidding. She was holding back the entire time."
Even All Might stood paralyzed for a second, a bead of cold sweat rolling down his cheek.
Clearing his throat loudly to regain his heroic composure, All Might grabbed the microphone.
"Ahem! Yes! As I said, the Villain Team wins!" All Might announced, trying to steer the class's attention away from the literal hole in the wall. "And not just because of the combat! Look at the second floor!"
The monitors shifted to the lower levels. While Riko had been busy engaging Todoroki in a high-stakes psychological and physical war, the "Hero" team had forgotten one crucial detail: Momo Yaoyorozu.
"While Akabane provided the distraction…a very... loud distraction," All Might continued, "Young Yaoyorozu used the steam cover to slip away from the bomb room. She moved through the structural gaps created by the initial floor collapse and reached Young Ojiro, who was still incapacitated."
The screen showed Momo standing over a very tied-up Ojiro, having successfully wrapped the capture tape around his arms.
"The Villains played their roles perfectly!" All Might shouted. "One kept the strogest opponent occupied, while the other captured the incapacitated one. It was a flawless, if slightly destructive, victory!"
THE BATTLEFIELD
Riko walked over to Shoto, who was still staring at the hole in the wall where her "overcharged" pellet had gone off. He looked at his hand, then back at her.
"You did that on purpose," Shoto said, his voice quiet. "The lecture. The distraction. You weren't just fighting me; you were making sure I couldn't look at anything else."
Riko just winked at him. "A villain's gotta do what a villain's gotta do, Shoto-kun. But hey," she leaned in, her voice dropping so only he could hear. "The fire looked good on you. Don't let it go out."
She turned and waved as Momo climbed back up through the debris.
"Come on, Momo-chan! Let's go get some tea. I think I've had enough 'excitement' for one Tuesday."
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Author's Pit
I've been busy....busy reading other fanfics.....got to binge read some good ones....now like you I'm waiting for them to update..... though on a positive note.... i have completed USJ arc....though it needs some correction, it is complete....and now I brood about the future plot...
while you wait for future updates. (2069 words btw)
peace out.