A Fall from Grace, and His Rise from Disgrace

Time Passes

  Izuku knocked on Ochako's door on Sunday morning. She opened it with a big smile.

  "Hey Izuku! Do you want to get going straight away or come in for a while?"

  Izuku shrugged.

  "I don't mind. I didn't make a schedule or anything, so we can do stuff before training." He replied.

  Ochako grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.

  "My parents are still here, they wanted to talk to you some more. Apparently they've got a lot of questions they didn't get to ask yesterday." She said.

  Izuku huffed, letting his friend pull him into the living room. The two Urarakas were waiting there, greeting him politely.

  Izuku could only bow, as his vocal chords were still mostly shot from his.. outburst at the USJ.

  "Good morning Izuku. It's nice to see you again." Mrs Uraraka said.

  Izuku nodded to her, sitting on the worn sofa beside Ochako.

  "What's with the mask kid?" Mr Uraraka asked.

  "DAD!!" Ochako said.

  Izuku huffed, his eyes half closed in a smile.

  "They're definitely your parents."

  "Hey! I didn't ask like that!" Ochako whined.

  "You came pretty close. You told me it was okay to take it off three hours after we'd first met." Izuku clicked.

  Ochako grumbled, but she couldn't argue.

  Izuku huffed again, turning to Mr Uraraka. He brushed his curly hair to the side, revealing the full extent of the starburst shaped scarring on his face.

  "It's worse underneath the half mask. He usually wears a full face one, but he's been more comfortable with just half recently." Ochako said.

  Mr Uraraka sighed, scratching his stubbled chin.

  "Sorry for asking. Mind if I ask what happened?" He asked.

  Izuku pulled his glove off, showing them his metal hand.

  "Izuku was.. attacked by someone with a fire quirk. They blew his arm off, and took half of his face. Izuku needs the mask more to stop stuff getting into his mouth than to hide his face. He also can't talk much because of the same accident." Ochako said.

  Izuku put the glove back on, scratching his cheek beneath the mask.

  "Those don't look like just fire scars.. that's an explosion mark. I work in construction kid, I know what it looks like." Mr Uraraka said.

  Izuku just nodded.

  "So." Mrs Uraraka said. "What will you be doing today?"

  "We're going to go train at UA. The sports festival is coming up soon, so we want to be as ready as we can be!" Ochako said determinedly.

  Izuku huffed in amusement as Ochako leapt up, pumping her fists.

  "Basically, we're going to cheat our way to the final event, then destroy the competition with ease." Izuku clicked dryly.

  Ochako snorted, nudging his metal shoulder.

  "It's not cheating! We're just.. exploiting a loophole!"

________

  Izuku and Ochako trained for three weeks. After the first week, when they went back to school, Aizawa announced the Sports Festival to the rest of the class. He told them they had two weeks to train however they saw fit.

  Izumi sometimes joined Izuku and Ochako, but she was usually off doing her own training. She did weight training most of the time, strangely enough.

  Izuku taught Ochako about pressure points, and showed her a few useful ones. He also taught her some basic hand to hand, to use her quirk more effectively.

  The dynamic duo worked on several special moves together, most of which they wouldn't need in the festival itself, but they were good to have.

  Izuku also practiced Altering structures at range through his prosthetic arm. He could create walls and other basic structures, but nothing too complicated yet.

  Each Saturday they took a day off training, just to relax, or to go out and do something together. The Urarakas had returned home, so the duo spent most of their time at the beach.

______________

  Izuku sat in the waiting room resting his head on his arms.

  "Mask." Todoroki said.

  Izuku looked up at the icy boy.

  "You were able to defeat the monster that was made to beat All Might. We may be similar in more than just a few ways, but I will defeat you. That is all."

  Izukus eyes curled into a smile.

  "Come at me with everything you've got, because it still won't be enough. I accept your challenge Todoroki." He clicked.

  "Class 1A, please make your way to the arena." A voice said over the intercom.

  Izuku stood up, grinning at Ochako. The brunette gave him a grin and a thumbs up.

  "Let's go class 1A!" Iida shouted.