Powerless - A My Hero Academia/ DC Crossover

Chapter 22 - Uraraka's Lament

Izuku and Uraraka's performance in the first event completely rocked the casbah, the stadium buzzing with excitement as contestants and observers alike discussing the enthralling and controversial match. Uraraka powerful quirk, tenacity and strategy of swiping Izuku's tools certainly earned her major points with the pros. Izuku was receiving mixed reviews.

"That Midoriya kid is something else," said one attendee. "To do all that he's been doing without a quirk is really impressive!"

"Yeah, but he's still gonna have a hard time being a hero without a quirk," said another observer. "I mean, look at Endeavor's son. Not much competition there."

"I don't know, he seems pretty good to me."

Izuku didn't really care about what people thought of him. Right now, his only concern was for Uraraka. After leaving the arena, he accompanied her to see Recovery Girl. The explosions had done a number on her, but thankfully it was nothing serious. Izuku still immensely guilty.

"I'm sorry, Uraraka," he said for the millionth time as Recovery Girl healed her.

"Don't be, Deku!" She said, surprisingly cheerfully. "I told you not to hold back, didn't I?"

"Still," said Izuku sheepishly.

"She'll be fine, young man," said Recovery Girl. "Although that bomb you put on her hip caused some severe burns, they're healing up nicely."

Izuku's stomach twisted. He was so proud of Uraraka and how well she fought in the match, but he still felt terrible at the fact that their match had to be the first. That meant she wasn't able to showcase her abilities anymore to potential recruiters. Still, he knew it would have looked bad if he had just let her win. She wanted to show everyone what she could do on her own, without help. But what really bothered him was that he knew that she had a lot riding on becoming a hero, and the field was oversaturated already, making it that much more difficult for heroes in training to make it in this industry. They only had three chances in their lifetime to make a good impression, and he was afraid that he may have taken that chance away. Such was the price of competition, he supposed.

"Don't worry, Deku," said Uraraka, as if reading his mind. "It was a good match. It showed me that I have a lot to learn about fighting. It'll prepare me for the next time. Speaking of which," Uraraka added. "Your match is going to be starting soon, right? You better hurry and get ready. I'll be right there."

"Are you sure?" Asked Izuku.

"Don't worry," said Uraraka again. "I'll see you soon, and I'll be cheering you on."

Izuku hesitantly left, heading off towards the preparation rooms. Recovery Girl went to attend to her other duties, leaving Uraraka alone. She took her phone from her gym bag, but stopped just short of opening it, simply staring at it as it rested in her hand. Tears began to well at her eyes, and she could no longer hold them back. She had failed. She had so much riding on this, and she ultimately fell short. She knew she would have been paired against Deku eventually, but she had hoped it would have been a few rounds in, and not be eliminated in the first round. She wanted to call her parents, but she didn't know if she could --

"Young miss, are you all right?"

Uraraka looked up to see a tall, slender man in a black pinstripe suit and bowtie standing in the doorway of the medical wing. He was an elderly man, balding with a grey mustache under his nose, with bright and very kind-looking eyes staring at her.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine!" Said Uraraka, attempting to stand. Her knee buckled under her. Now that the adrenaline of the fight had worn off, she was aware of how sore she was, despite Recovery Girl's treatment. The man stretched his hand forward, helping to steady her. Uraraka looked down to see that she had inadvertently opened the stitching on her knee, which began to bleed. Recovery Girl had opted for stitches and bandages and not her quirk considering that she had used a lot of her stamina for the match, it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.