"Seems we're in the same boat… Wouldn't have thought that. I was sure… us or Uraraka would win… But she didn't even have to fight either of us…"
"Yeah…"
...
A bit of silence followed. The Mina continued.
"It was bad… Wasn't it?... Eren I mean?"
"...Yes."
Mina turned her head to glower over at Mei's unconscious body.
"Well… At least you kicked her ass… Didn't let that bitch win… and who names their stupid ultimate weapon Eren anyway…"
The two teenagers were broken out of their growing delirium by Black cat returning, carrying a bag that Izuku recognized as Mina's school bag, with a graffiti pattern of greenish-blue, and purple.
She wordlessly handed over the bag to Mina before taking a look at Izuku. Then checked her phone.
"3-4 Minutes left before Recovery girl comes back to check on you. I'd say only a massive burst of energy is gonna save you now."
Izuku just nodded dully.
He felt like he should rage, but he just felt so… numb. Like Eren had done damage not just to his body and mind, but his very soul.
In the heat of battle, with adrenaline pumping through his veins, he'd been able to ignore it. But the adrenaline was only temporary, and more to the point he had no way of regaining that initiative now.
Not unless he got some-A bag of chocolate suddenly appeared in front of his face.
Mina was glaring at her mom, who had taken the seat she had occupied while Mina had been vomiting, and adopted a grin that Mina herself had inherited tooth for tooth.
As she did so, she was holding the bag of chocolate in front of Izuku's face with her left hand, while her right was clutching the now open school bag in a feverish grip. Izuku, whose eyes focused with a hunger that had seldom been seen in them in all his days, eyed the chocolate the same way a sea leopard would eye a penguin far from land.
"Here… Take it… I… Don't think I'm going to be eating much today anyway…"
With numb fingers, Izuku took the bag from Mina's grip and ripped open the top.
Then, in a move that looked absolutely ridiculous, he leaned back his head, and pretty much just poured the chocolate down into his mouth.
Immediately from the moment, it touched his tongue, life, power, the feeling of being ALIVE returned to his body.
The numbness faded like morning dew against a volcanic eruption, as his Brain shook awake and alive, the shaking in his body fading.
The High lasted for as long as there was chocolate. The feeling it had brought, however, did not fade. Quite on the contrary, he felt even better now than before the day had started.
He clenched his fist, the feeling of power that had been so overwhelming for him when he had first finished his bond with Venom returning once more.
Once more he was a creature whose muscles were made of steel, of strength, of power .
Inside his own mind, he felt Venom, who he hadn't even realized had become weak and subdued, roar back to life, and full strength.
He practically jumped out of his seat, such was the urge to go DO something! Anything at all!
Then he froze, realizing he was In a room with 4 other people, 3 of whom were staring at him.
Instantly his face flushed once more. The smile that he hadn't even realized had come to his lips though, did not fade, instead just changing from manic and energetic to a more sheepish one.
"Sorry."
Black Cat was staring at him with a curious expression, one hand on her chin as she appraised him.
"It seems Mina wasn't overexaggerating things after all. Though she never mentioned that tongue of yours."
"Tongue?" Izuku wasn't sure what she was talking about with that comment, but he didn't get the chance to ask further, as at that point Recovery girl walked in. Then stopped, as she looked at him standing there, all ready, and eager to fight.
The older woman quickly took it in stride, and just went over to him and ordered him to kneel.
Izuku did so, and she took his hand and held it up before her inspecting it, and the complete lack of shaking in it, then put a finger up in front of his face and moved it from side to side as his eyes followed.
"Well, you seem to have recovered really, really well. Well enough to fight by any rules the school has… Alright then…" She sighed. "I'll let you fight in the final match… I can't see how that could possibly go wrong for you."
Izuku felt a massive burden unload from his chest, a burden he'd only now realized he'd been carrying.
"Great!"
He turned to head out, then stopped, and quickly went over and gave Mina a big, sudden hug, in a show of overly energetic affection that was so out of place from Izuku some might just call it Alien.
"Thanks, Mina! I really owe you for this."
"N-No problem…" Mina got out rather awkwardly as if Izuku had traded his usual awkwardness for her energetic affection.
He disentangled himself from the hug then gave headed to the door. Then, briefly stopped at it, before turning, his cheeks red.
"Thank you."
Then he left, leaving Mina looking a strange mix of happy, awkward, and still in really, really bad shape.
Black Cat chuckled at the sight.
"Well, it seems chocolate also brings out a more affectionate side. That's good to know."
Mina's expression once more turned to a scowl, as she looked at her mother.
"Thanks…" She croaked out.
"Not quite what you had in mind when you packed that thing I'm guessing?"
"Well… I didn't think… I'd feel like a lobster boiled alive… For one thing…"
"Yeah, these moments never go as we plan. Still, it had a good outcome. That's what's important. Trust me, you'll look back on this moment fondly one day."
Mina groaned but gave a weak nod. Then, with clear discomfort, she forced herself to her feet.
"And what exactly do you think you're doing now?"
"I'm gonna… Go watch the match…"
Black Cat sighed, but she went over to once more support her physically as she helped her out the door, leaving Shoto Todoroki behind with an unconscious Mei.
...
As Izuku stepped through the halls of the arena, he went over how to fight in his head, taking everything he had seen of Uraraka's fights today, and how their last battle had gone, into account.
Uraraka's biggest weakness the way he saw it, was still that she moved and attacked in bursts. Her power would explode into a surge of energy, then she would move with that enormous increase in strength.
That, alongside the fact that however, her powers worked, her brute physical strength was far less than his, meant there was something here to exploit.
That said, he had not forgotten how their last battle had gone.
Near the end, Uraraka and Izuku had both hit each other with a counter, meaning all the energy both had used for their own punches had transferred into the blow they took themselves as well.
That had cracked his ribs and given Uraraka a massive concussion.
He wasn't sure if Uraraka had used all her power(Even if she had, she hadn't been on the ground to leverage her weight for it) for that punch, but he had not. The Only people he had ever used his full physical strength against, had been Mei and the Rhino, and that hadn't exactly gone… well for him.
The unfortunate fact was that he simply could not do so either. Unlike him, Uraraka did not possess a healing factor, that would take care of all injuries. Meaning he simply couldn't unleash a force that could be deadly. Uraraka however could. She could beat him black, blue, and break his bones, and as long as he was still alive, he would recover from it in time.
...
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