AN: I released two chapters at once today, this is the second one, so go back to read chapter 24 if you haven't already.

"HEY GUYS, ARE YOU READY? YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH HELL TO GET HERE, BUT NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE ONE-ON-ONE TOURNAMENT!"

Izuku limbered up his body as he absentmindedly listened to Present Mic announce the event, he was busy psyching himself up and muttering the skeleton of his lecture to himself, which made him kind of glad that he was alone in the entrance tunnel, it was really difficult to support an internal monologue when people were looking at you as if you were possessed by Satan.

Izuku couldn't help wonder how his opponent was faring since Shinso had seemed oddly calm from the few times the greenette had glanced his way during the break, which was impressive to the boy since this was the case despite knowing he was going up against the current first place, which made Izuku wonder if he could get the boy to tutor him in hiding his anxiety after he used talk-no-jutsu to filter the antagonising out of the purple haired boy's attitude.

The greenette reckoned his opponent's lack of visible concern was mostly thanks to the quirk he possessed, Izuku didn't really want to break it to the boy that even if he did win this first match, once his ability was seen through he would lose rather quickly to his next opponent, and if he didn't, well Todoroki would definitely silently wipe the floor with him, the boy wasn't much of a talker.

Izuku walked out into the afternoon light as Mic continued to commentate the match.

"The first match! Performing excellently throughout the event, from the Hero Course, IT'S IZUKU MIDORIYA! Versus the one no one expected to reach this far, from General Studies, HITOSHI SHINSO!"

Izuku looked towards his opponent, noting how the boy still carried himself in a rather relaxed manner, if he had any idea about the speech Izuku had half prepared for this occasion, perhaps there would have been a slight hesitation in his stride.

If only for the sake of his ears.

God, Izuku's friends had really rubbed off on him.

"The rules are simple! You win by knocking your opponent out of the ring, immobilising them or getting them to say 'I give up'! Good old recovery girl is on standby so don't be afraid to bring the pain, but don't go for the kill or you'll be disqualified, true hero's fists only fly when in the pursuit of villains!"

"Yo, nice to see you up here, it seems like that declaration of war from a few weeks back wasn't wasted." Izuku bantered, whilst bending down to casually tie his shoelaces.

"Oh I'm sure it's rather surprising for someone like you to see me getting this far, what with how strong your quirk is, I doubt you even had to try to get this far, tell me, what is it like to be born so blessed?" Shinso mocked.

Izuku gave a thin smile as he stood up, emerald eyes bore into his opponent with the determination of forcing his own beliefs onto someone else in order to make them more receptive of your point of view.

Yes, Izuku knew preaching in the middle of a battle was horribly self entitled and down right stupid, but he'd already used a page of his notebook to help him sound cool back before he realised that pretending he was a shounen protagonist on national television was really embarrassing, and dammit if he was going to let that page go to waste.

As Izuku heard Mic announce the start of the match, he summoned all the glib edginess he could muster and replied:

"I would tell you, but I'm not sure you'd hear me with your head so far up your own ass."

That part had not been in the notes.

The greenette realised that he probably needed treatment for his addiction to random bouts of sass, and that sticking to the script was probably a better idea than antagonising his opponent.

He also noticed that the world was kind of fuzzy right now.

Okay, he understood now why Ojiro was a little frazzled by his experience.

"Well wasn't that enlightening?" Shinso said sarcastically. "Be a good boy and walk off the stage for me."

Izuku turned to do just that, much to the surprise of the crowd watching.

The greenette heard some muffled commentary about how illogical the entrance exam had been when it came to assessing quirks, which he agreed with, Shinso's ability was downright terrifying to anyone who wasn't aware of it, and Izuku was sure that with the right support gear and some physical training the purple haired boy would probably be a bitch to fight.

Izuku went to take his first step, and promptly fell on his face.

"Note to self, brainwashed people haven't got the sense to cushion their falls." Izuku muttered while rubbing his nose.

The greenette stood back up and promptly slipped off his favourite red sneakers, revealing them to be tied together.

There were a few beats of silence as everyone looked on in confusion and Izuku beamed at his own brilliance.

"You knew what my quirk was?" Shinso gaped, "why did you let yourself get caught by it then?"

Izuku looked at his opponent with an expression of absolute smugness on his face before accurately smacking him in the nose with a throw of his bright red footwear.

"I was testing how deeply your control goes, but seeing as I didn't untie my shoes in order to follow your command it seems it's only minimal," The greenette said, pausing for a tick to verify that he was in fact still in control of his body, "and it seems like breaking your focus also prevents it from activating."

Izuku thought it very important to test the limits of his opponents quirk, not that he thought Ojiro would lie to him, but the boy had just been under the effects of a brainwashing quirk, so the information he had given the greenette could have been something he was controlled into saying, he could have just not let the quirk activate, but being naturally curious about quirks, Izuku couldn't let the opportunity of testing this particular quirk in a combat situation.

Knowing your enemies capabilities was very important after all.

Satisfied with the results of his experiment, Izuku charged his foe and hit him with a good old shoulder barge, knocking him flat on his ass.

"Don't get caught dead on your feet now, the fight's just started." Izuku chuckled, now that he had a few things for the notebook, it was time to break out the script.

"So let me see, you keep complaining about how my quirk is better than yours, and I'm lucky that I can become a hero so easily or whatever." Izuku stated, following closely as Shinso scrambled back to his feet and put up a sloppy fighting stance.

Izuku threw a punch at his opponent's guard, forcing him a few steps back and causing the boy to wince in pain.

"See, I hate to break this to you, but right now I can and am kicking your ass without the help of a quirk or anything else, because there's something fundamental you don't understand." Izuku kicked the boy in his side. "The quirk you were born with doesn't define how strong you can get, no one is born strong, no one is born a hero, and no one is born a villain for that matter." The greenette shifted slightly to dodge a desperate punch to his face, before punching his opponent in the stomach to stop him from spitting out whatever he was about to say.

"No talking, we've established that I know how your quirk works, it's absolutely amazing by the way, not sure why you complain at all, some people out there would kill for a quirk just like it, anyway, as I was saying, a hero isn't simply born, they're made from how someone ordinary chooses to use what makes them extraordinary, those who choose to take whatever they're born with, no matter how shitty that may be, and use it to help others, to do good."

Izuku sweeped his opponent's legs from under him, sending the boy to the floor once more.

"It doesn't matter what your quirk is, it doesn't matter who you are, even if you're born with nothing, as long as you push yourself as far as needed to achieve what you want you can do it, or do you think I was born strong enough to beat you with nothing but my fists?" Izuku said, taking a few steps back and waiting for Shinso to get back up so he could continue beating him to a pulp.

"That's so easy for you to say!" The purpled haired boy growled, shakily standing up. "I've heard about the stuff you can do, you probably have the strongest quirk in the whole school maybe in the whole of Japan, what right do you have to lecture me about working your way up?" Shinso spat angrily.

Izuku smiled at him wryly.

Then he punched him in the nose.

"I wasn't always this strong you dunce," Izuku judo flipped the boy over his shoulder to make his point, before crouching down so his opponent could hear him better "sure I have a lot of power now, but it wasn't easy to get a hold of it, let alone a handle on it, so I put myself through hell in order to get where I am. Everyone dreams of coming to this school at some point, but no one quite seems to understand the meaning of its motto. Going Beyond isn't about just coasting through life on whatever you were born with or are naturally good at, it's about pushing past that, reaching heights no one ever believed you could, breaking your limits just so you can wrap a hand around your dreams."

Izuku grabbed his opponent by the shirt and hoisted him up.

"I hope you get what I'm trying to say," Izuku said solemnly, "I hope you understand the true meaning of Plus Ultra!" The greenette yelled finally, throwing his opponent with all his might, and landing him off the stage.

"Shinso is out of the ring! Midoriya moves on to the second round!" Midnight announced excitedly.

Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Izuku approached his opponent and offered him a hand to stand up, Shinso knocked it out of the way with a frustrated growl.

The greenette just sighed, that was a page in his notebook he'd never get back.

Oh well, at least he probably looked really cool for the camera.

"I really didn't get through to you did I?" Izuku inquires, "fine, if you won't take it from me, listen to everyone who was watching." The boy motioned you the crowd, where various people were in different states of praising both boys.

Shinso stood up and listened silently to the clamour of the crowd.

As the two boys bowed to each other to signify the end of the match, the purple haired boy remained silent.

It was only as he was leaving the stage to praise of his various classmates that a smile crept onto his best up face.

Shinso stopped walking.

"I might have failed today, Midoriya, but don't forget that I might still be drafted into the hero course, and once I do, I'll become a hero that surpasses every single one of you." He proclaimed.

Izuku replies with a smile.

"You know, there's a club that can really help you get ready for when that time comes, I hear that it's run by a really cool guy." The boy quipped, "and please call me Izuku, I beat you up so much that I'd feel bad if you didn't."

"Call me Hitoshi then, that way you'll know the name of the man who surpassed you."

With those words, Hitoshi walked off into the abyss of the entrance tunnels.

Izuku ruefully shook his head to himself before doing the same.

Truly making friends by punching people had stellar effects, maybe the greenette should have been using that strategy since little.

He wondered if Katsuki would be much more agreeable with a bruised cheek.

Well there was plenty of opportunity to find out.