Black Fox (Vigilante Deku AU)

Part 27-Todoroki Finally Sees Some Sense

Aizawa POV

Usually, around the time of the UA sports festival, there was a drop in staffing as heroes helped prepare for the festival, which led to a spike in criminal activity, which fell to underground heroes like me.

However, instead, there had been a spike in...vigilante activity. Fox had been spotted a lot of times with his buddies with the blond hair. Besides him, there were others- a western-style gunslinger, someone with a water control quirk and a sidekick with a boomerang, a tiny bug-person with a cracked sword and shredded cloak, someone with a fire sword, and so on. The vigilante himself had refused to answer questions, but his friend had said they had rallied all of the vigilantes they knew to work for the couple weeks that the festival would take time in.

It didn't make my job easier, as now instead of a bunch of villains, I had a bunch of villains and a bunch of vigilantes to deal with. However, I suppose it did ease some tensions among civilians.

Deku POV

The festival, at first, seemed to run smoothly.

It began with the race. Nothing special.

Then was the cavalry battle. Nothing special.

Things got interesting, however, when the one-on-one battles got underway. At first, it was, again, nothing special. Just students bashing each other around. A rather gruesome way to show off, but effective when your job is to fight villains.

Some students showed clear power over others- Todoroki encased Sero in ice, and one of the 1-B students- Her name was what- Shiozami? No, Shiozaki. She destroyed Kaminari easily. If he had encased his body in electricity, even a thin layer, her vines would have been useless when they touched him, and a single tap would have won the match.

More matches with no special events. Mei Hatsume made a good display of speed and agility against Iida. Aoyama showed good persistence, but Mina was faster. Tokoyami was strong, but the mix of Yayorozu's ingenuity, quick thinking, and the open daylight gave her the win.

Kirishima and Tetsutetsu had a massive smackdown- both were powerful, but in the end, Kirishima came out on top.

Uraraka did as she should- she used as much of her brains as she could when brawns would not aid her, but it was ineffectual in the face of Bakugou's intense explosions and anger.

All that was left was a twenty-minute break before the next matches. Up next was Todoroki against Mineta. The match wouldn't be tough- Mineta shouldn't even have been admitted to UA. However, I did have a bone to pick with Todoroki.

I found him stretching in the tunnel to the stadium center. I knew I didn't have to call his name- he knew when people were around him almost as well as I did.

"Do you need something, Fox?"

I searched his face. He didn't seem to know why I was here. "Why is it you refuse to use your own power?"

He rolled his eyes a little. "Fox, haven't we had this conversation already?"

"I want to be sure I understand."

He sighed. "Look, I understand you don't approve of my refusal to use it. You don't get why I don't use it, it doesn't make sense to you because you think I'm making it harder for myself."

I was miffed he thought he could read my thoughts so well, but I said nothing. He's right. Compared to those of the population without the special powers called quirks, he had life easy with one ability, and with two, he'd be the luckiest of the lucky if he were a vigilante. It didn't make sense for him to simply refuse to use half of his quirk.

"It's the quirk that comes from my dad. If I know how well-prepared you are..."

"No need to explain your quarrels with him. I've done my research."

"I can't use it. I won't let him be the reason why I become a hero."

I stared him in the face. He didn't flinch.

"Bullshit."

That got a reaction. Todoroki blinked hard

"You've got an ability people would die for-two, technically. You have no excuse. Daddy issues aren't going to win any wars, especially when it's keeping you from half your power. Besides..."

I turned away.

"It's not his body he fire comes from. So it's not his quirk. It's yours."

A quiet shuffle of cloth on cloth.

"It's your power, Todoroki. Remember that. You're twice as strong with it. Don't let a foolish conviction hold you back."

...That certainly worked. He blasted Mineta away with a bolt of fire, which- albeit uncontrolled- did the job well. Even he seemed surprised at the effectiveness of the attack.

He stared up at me, then into the stands. I followed his gaze to a familiar face haloed in fire. Endeavor glared daggers at his son, a smirk tugging at his visage. Todoroki's brow furrowed before he turned and strode smartly out of the arena.

Well, at least hopefully the next rounds will be interesting...

A/N

Hello people, ADHD strikes again and now I have 160 hours on Hollow Knight

I have only gotten 1 of four endings and 52 of 63 achievements

Help

[841 words]

Have a nice day!

-Vivian