Henry:

So yeah, the day has come. A part of me expected that an after-event of the summer festival, the little bonus match my sister and I were participating in, wouldn't get a big crowd or good ratings.

Hmm... did you know that the UA summer festival is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world? Even if a bonus match has less clout, it will still be crowded.

Tori and I leave the locker rooms and meet in a small room under the stadium. We're not even in the arena yet, but the room shakes with the crowd's noise. We turn to look at a TV on the wall and see that someone is showing a cartoon of Bakugo beating up a kid in a purple costume. Wonderful. This is supposed to be a comparably tame match; I hope everyone knows. I shake a little, and my sister puts a hand on my shoulder.

"We practiced pinning and restraining Ida how many times now?" she asks.

"Yeah, and we've pulled it off two out of twenty times- who are we kidding?"

"We've never brought equipment into matches with him..." Tori points out, waving a hand at a table full of... tricks... it's enough to bring a smile to anyone's face. Hatsume hooked us up!

Tori and I both throw on oversized black leather jackets and load ourselves up with smoke bombs, a few loud whistles, low-yield electric land mines, rope, and strobe lights- if this knucklehead comes at us with just his quirk, he's gonna catch hell. I smile while looking at the table and then back up at the TV. The jumbo tron over the arena shows a boy in a purple ninja outfit zipping around Bakugo while a girl cheers him on from behind.

"They don't have a clue what to do with me in those hype reels, do they?" Tori asks with lowered eyebrows.

"They'll know after today," I say, fixing the last strobe light into my jacket.

"Half this stuff will get broken with one shot, you know..." Tori says.

"I'll draw his fire, just like we planned. My clones copy equipment and can disappear damaged stuff- I'll keep you supplied with party tricks, and you keep Bakugo off balance- stick to the plan, okay?" I clap several times to shock Tori out of the slump she's threatening to go into. "I need you out there, is- don't let anyone tell you you're just an extra; you matter, okay?"

Tori blinks a few times and then nods, "Okay... okay... ya know, being needed... kind of makes me feel better..."

"See? There ya go," I say, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her towards the door.

She looks up and sees the door approaching, and, "It doesn't feel good anymore..."

We exit our little preparation area and look to the stone arena in the middle of the vast open-air stadium. The people in the stands are going crazy, and those stupid hype cartoons keep playing. My confidence takes a nose dive every time I see the "Bakugo wins" cartoon, and I can only recover a little when the "Bandit wins" cartoon plays.

"Ya know... um... the practical test earlier had me sweating nails, but um..." my mouth is going dry. But when I look at Tori's overwhelmed face, I can't bear to share how scared I am. "I'm um... I'm pumped. How about you, sis?"

"HAHAHAHA!" A loud voice comes before my sister can talk. A huge shadow falls over us both, blocking out the bright lights of the crowd. Tori and I stand in stunned silence. It's... it's... HIM!

"All Might?" My sister squeaks out.

Yep—the number one hero in Japan is standing in front of us in a full blue costume with a red and white stripe, red abs, and yellow bracers. He takes a heroic pose, and we both step back in awe. He kneels down to our level and tousles the hair on our heads, making us both feel a little dizzy to have the greatest icon of our civilization paying attention to us.

"So, you are the two underdogs of the match," he pulls back his hands and puts them on his knees. I came down to ensure you had a few things straight and offer encouragement. First, you are still aware that this match has safeties in place, right?"

I force myself to speak. "Right, um... no lethal strikes, no deliberate attempts to cause major injuries... it's a relative safety."

"We also have staff on standby if anyone does suffer serious injuries, and you'll be examined after the fight—we're being responsible here."

I nod, still swallowing fear, knowing that all these protocols are necessary in the first place. Bakugo could tear us both apart without trying otherwise.

"You're here to encourage us? That means you're rooting for us?" I ask as I squeeze Tori's hand, and my sister gives me a counter squeeze.

"HAHAHAHA! I'm rooting for both parties. I welcome promising new students to my alma mater, and I sincerely hope Bakugo can salvage his reputation today- if you saw the end of the Summer Festival, that was ugly..." he says that last part out the side of his mouth, which makes both Tori and I giggle.

"But hold on- we can't both win..." I say.

"Hmm... well- I might take the word "can't" out of your vocabulary if you plan on attending UA Academy. Of course, win or lose, you're about to fight in the most watched arena in the world- I wager you've worked hard to get this far and gone through very much."

Overhead, we hear ourselves announced by our adopted father: "On the west side of the arena, weighing a combined two hundred and fifteen pounds—less than a number of you pudgy citizens alone, I suspect; we have the infamous Purple Bandit and his beautiful little sister Tori, who... is also here—let's give them a round of applause."

Tori sighs. "Is also here... story of my life," but she continues to smile.

"That's our dad..." I say, pausing. A part of me wants to resent him for the somewhat embarrassing introduction, but... dang it, I can't hold it against him.

"Well, get out there!" yells the number one crime fighter in Japan to us, basically random kids.

We run past him as he stands up and claps for us. We were both terrified, but now there's a feeling of natural high and near euphoria. The crowds that fill the massive stands surrounding the arena scream and shout my name and my sister's- but mostly, I hear a cheer of "BANDIT! BANDIT! BANDIT!" Yeah, I notice people tend to leave off "Purple," but I'm okay with it.

Tori and I step into the large concrete ring, which... concrete... welp, here goes nothing, right?

The circle's bounds are pretty broad, so here's hoping we don't get blown out of it too quickly.

"From the East- Explosive Hero: Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight... yes, that is the name he has chosen... get out here bang bang boy!"

I look to the opposite side of the ring, expecting to see Bakugo walk up to the ring and enjoy the applause like Tori and I did. What I see puts those butterflies back in my stomach, making them just as terrified.

Bakugo steps out of the opening on the west side of the arena, then puts his hands behind his back and- fires off a set of powerful explosions, firing through the air and then purposefully slamming down on the stage at as close to terminal velocity as you can manage when only falling fifteen feet. I swear I can see mini cracks in the pavement as my breath catches in my throat. It occurs to me that... I may not have a way to actually hurt this guy...

My sister and I are just dressed in street clothes and our oversized dark jackets, but Bakugo is dressed to kill. He wears heavy steel-toe boots with metal knee pads, baggy pants, a black sweater with a giant red X, and a black and red bandana mask, all combined to make him look like some kind of black bloc protestor from hell. The teenage boy lets out a battle cry that resembles an inhumane roar, then looks at me with a huge grin.

I swallow... okay... Henry, he's just a guy... he's just here for a friendly match. He's just- are those grenades on his belt?! I hope those are decorations! Why would you DECORATE with grenades? What kind of psycho... it's just intimidation tactics... it's working.

Tori hangs back while I walk forward as the crowd continues to cheer. When I get to the middle of the ring, I stick out my hand to shake. "Let's um... let's have a good fight, hey Bakugo?" I say, trying to show sportsmanship and get him to ease up, acknowledge my humanity- and show his own. He walks to the center of the ring and stares down at me, his eyes cold as he looks down his nose. I step back, realizing I might have expected a bit much...

I back up, but then I hear from the jumbo tron, "Hey, hey, c'mon Bang Bang, boy—show some sportsmanship!" Thus, in the middle of my third step back, I'm suddenly yanked back to the middle of the ring, and Bakugo roughly shakes my hand.

"Well... you did tell him to shake hands..." I hear Aizawa's voice come from the Jumbotron.

To that, I hear my pops growl in frustration. "Oh- he wants to be a wise guy, huh?... Screw the countdown- Henry, Bakugo- the fight starts- now."

Bakugo looks up at the jumbo tron in surprise, but I smirk as I realize my pops did the closest thing he could to rig this fight in my favor. Doppelganger is weak at range, and had Bakugo and I had to return to our corners, Bakugo would have had a strong advantage.

The opening attack is me doing a hook punch to Bakugo in the crotch, which- that one works as expected. He buckles over.

Tori runs behind me and starts up one of her strobe lights, which doesn't affect me since I'm facing away from her. Bakugo staggers back, his arm covering his eyes, as I swing my right arm. A replica of me appears, lying at the back of his ankles. Bakugo starts to trip as my clone grabs his legs, and I shove him from the front.

Bakugo hits the ground on his back, and the crowd starts to cheer and stomp as I grin. This is going better than I expected!

I'm about to try to jump on Bakugo before I get my head back in the game and realize that jumping on his front is unlikely to end in my favor. This is a symbolic victory at best. I spin to the right quickly as Bakugo raises his right hand to point in the direction I was in —and Tori is in. I try to snap away my previous clone in time to put a new one in front of Tori, but before I can even snap, a concussive blast knocks Tori out of the ring.

Bakugo aims his hand at me now, but I transfer my consciousness to the clone at his feet. The blast hits my old body, and it flies out of the ring, but I snap my fingers, and it vanishes before it can hit the ground.

Meanwhile, outside the ring, Tori has to let a ref put a handcuff on her left wrist. It's a harmless concession for now, and she's barely scuffed from the attack or fall. She runs back into the ring.

Bakugo unleashes another concussive blast at me while I'm on the ground. I'm not standing on the edge of the ring, so I don't get knocked out of the ring this time, but I am tossed back, and WOW does that one sting!

Bakugo could technically just play wack-a-mole with us, knocking us out of the ring until he wins by knocking Tori and me out of bounds enough times enough time for us to be fully restrained by just the penalties. But I know from watching his fight with Todoroki that Bakugo HATES ring-out-style victories. He's going to try to do things the hard way- which may work heavily in the favor of me and my sister.

When he rolls over, I jut my right arm, and a clone of me falls onto his back, standing right between his shoulder blades, forcing him to go splat onto his chest.

I can't believe it's going this well! Tori and I quickly jump onto his back, both trying to grab an arm. Now, we remember that where Ida's powers centered on his legs, Bakugo's center on his hands. Two violent blasts go off, one under each of Bakugo's hands as we pull them out, nailing both of us in the chest and making us fly back.

Great! How do we get past that? Okay... there's a way... I look over at Tori as she's holding her chest. I can quickly recover, but she can't—she needs to stay back. I swing my right arm, signaling Tori to move back but also creating a duplicate. This time, I don't use the attack to force Bakugo down again. I want him up as part of a calculated risk to achieve victory. I also signaled with three fingers up to let my sister know what plan we were about to go with.

As Tori moves back, she tosses down two smoke canisters, and I decide to do likewise. These smoke bombs are special because they're not really smoke bombs. They're C02 canisters used to rapidly disperse fog for stage performances.

Our plan is now in play as the arena fills with blue fog. Tori and I toss mini-led flares while moving quickly around the arena.

Bakugo fires off an explosion, scattering several mini flares but not hitting me or Tori. However, this activates stage two of the battle plan as I run straight in through the thick fog behind him, pulling out a set of handcuffs tied to a long cord as I move.

I jump directly onto Bakugo's back, snapping the cuffs onto his right wrist as he grabs my right arm and swings me to the ground in a judo throw- OOOFFF!

Okay, maybe our next plan should focus more on how much damage I'll take in just one attack.

Still, that cuff is designed to lock with one side engaged. I'm in a lot of pain right now, but I'm keeping up the pace with the plan.

While watching Bakugo's fight with Todoroki, I noticed that his explosive attacks only appear spontaneous. He does have to focus, if only for a second or two, but he does. A second isn't a big window of opportunity, but it's not nothing. Bakugo points his hand at me on the ground, but I grab the cord coming off his cord (which is tied off to my wrist) to get him off target. The blast slams into my left arm but leaves the rest of me unscathed.

Wow, is this hurting!

Before Bakugo can start just unleashing on my left arm, Tori comes in close with her strobe light and disorients Bakugo. She barks before doing this, so I know to close my eyes. We both figured Bakugo wouldn't put together what a bark meant in time to protect his eyes.

I jut my right arm, knowing my clone has landed on Bakugo's back.

Tori barks again. Bakugo likely knows the signal now, but it doesn't matter, as he likely already has phosphenes screwing up his vision. I see my clone and transfer to it. Then I move quickly to cuff his other hand.

Bakugo fires off blast after another, but I'm up on his arms and using the cords tied to the cuffs to keep him from getting a good sight picture on me. I still take several glancing blows, and I'm in a lot of pain, but the plan is coming together. My clone and I drop to the ground and put our weight into forcing Bakugo's hands to point down at us. My clone and I are just able to keep the brunt of his attacks from obliterating us- and I'm so glad for the rule that says he can't unleash on me at full power because I'd be REALLY tempting fate right now if he could.

As it stands, I'm getting minor bruises and burns to let my sister run in, and- yep, she drives in a powerful right hook to his stomach as he can't move back. Even with all his toughness, this knocks the wind out of him, and he bends over.

He staggers as my clone, and I move as quickly as our injuries will allow.

I didn't realize how bad my body would complain after the punishment Bakugo unloaded on me. Sure, I'm not crippled, Bakugo sticks to the rules, but my clone and I both have to settle for just rolling past each other. We then loop our cords around each other as Bakugo recovers. Now, we'll be able to pull his arms together.

Funny- ya know, I would have figured he would recover at least in relative speed to me- why are his hands already together-

BOOM!

Tori, myself, and my clone all drop as a brilliant explosion of sound and light shoots out from Bakugo.

Bakugo then moves his hands to his front and sets off two more blasts like the first. Oh god... it's like the world is spinning around me. My ears are wringing, and my eyes can't see anything but white for a few seconds. I feel my arms pulled behind my back and cuffed. I want to react before I'm fully restrained, but my body isn't responding. I'm nauseous, and the world just keeps spinning. I hear Tori heaving, and I can only assume Bakugo moves on to restrain her.

I can only feel it as I'm roughly dropped near Tori, and the crowd suddenly goes wild.

Finally, I threw up and heard Tori do the same for the second time.

My body can't retract like it needs to after hurling since I'm restrained, so I have to just suffer.

After what feels like an eternity of suffering, the cuffs are released, and I curl into a ball on the ground, still shaking.

I can see someone standing over me. "Sheesh, Katsuki- what do you call that?" asks the ref.

"Stun Grenade," Bakugo says, but then he pauses. I guess it was a little overkill for middle schoolers—they're okay, right?"

"They'll recover, but help me get them onto the stretchers, okay?"

"I mean..." I look up at Bakugo, seeing that he looks ready to walk away. But he pauses. "I mean..." He looks over at Tori. "She... looks a lot like someone... someone I... yeah... yeah, I'll help." I watch as Bakugo actually leans down and picks up Tori, gently putting her on a stretcher. The ref picks me up, even as the world slowly starts to calm down for me. He puts me on a stretcher, too, but I try to get up as he shoves me back down. "Stay down and let the staff look you over, kid- then you can return for the festivities."

"We lost?" I ask.

The man just shrugs. "I'd say definitely—but hey, there will be some games and eager fans later on, so don't let it eat you up, okay? Get your once-over and come back out and enjoy yourselves." Before I can respond, I'm rushed away to be examined by the medical staff.

After just a few minutes of checkups, Tori and I are practically dropped back onto the grass just outside the arena. We're alright, if a little sore, but it is unceremonious. My sister and I collect ourselves and turn around—then freeze. We're surrounded.

Cameras flash from several angles. It's nothing like the stun attacks from Bakugo, but it's still a little disorienting. I see young people crowding in from every side, several with notebooks and pens out. Wait, are they... they're asking for our autographs? Don't they know we lost?

I'm pulled into the crowd in one direction and Tori in another. Girls and women seem to be primarily interested in Tori, while so many boys my age and younger start crowding me. So many want autographs, and so many pepper me with questions about my apparently impressive moves.

I get worried until I see a big stupid yellow hairstyle I would know anywhere. Pops comes and stands by Tori, making sure everyone gives her space. Not far behind him is Yuka, who makes everyone back off from me as she says, "Alright, form lines and Bandit decides who he talks to and for how long,"

"Mom... I lost..." I say, but she pats me on the head as she gets down on my level.

"You were amazing, kiddo, I'm so proud of you," she says.

"I... I... really?" I say, staring up at her in disbelief.

Proud? Of me? I didn't even win. What does that mean? Proud of what? I lost- who's ever proud of a loser?

But she's not the only one. A line really does form with young boys eager to talk to me.

I can't do this- I can't process this.

"I need space... I really need space- I have to be alone... please... mom please- I can't... please I need Tori... just me and Tori," She looks a little disappointed at first, but then looks over as Hizashi and in a few moments Tori and I are escorted to a small picnic area, and our new parents make everyone give us space.

We both sit at a table. Tears stream down my face, and Tori doesn't look much better. "What- what's going on? Are all these people confused?" I ask.

"I don't know, big bro- we're failures, but girls are telling me how pretty I am, and they want to know how I'm so brave... I don't understand. We didn't stand a chance out there."

"We got close once or twice- maybe there was a dispute?"

"Bro- we lost,"

"I know- we're gonna go back to jail..."

"We're going to let down all these people..." we both say, holding hands across the table.

I overhear someone talking to my father- as if I have to think to guess who it is.

"What the hell are those idiots crying about?" Bakugo shouts. "Get out of my way, old man- what are you gonna do- fight me?"

"Do I need to?" I hear my pops say. I turn to look and see Bakugo and Hizashi staring each other down, my pops having a good half-foot on Bakugo, at least so—even Bakugo would be wise to back down here.

Bakugo looks at the ground. "No sir, you don't. I have no intention of hurting them- but let me say my peace to them?"

Hizashi huffs, "Fine- but I'm watching you."

Bakugo marches over to us. "What the heck are you crying about?!" he demands.

"We let everyone down- and it's like no one knows," Tori explains. "We're gonna have to explain-"

"You think these people are idiots or something? That was a good fight. The people know one when they see it."

"But we lost, so why is everyone talking to us instead of you?"

"Plenty of people have been talking to me," Bakugo says, folding his arms. "But you're more approachable and, ya know- the same age," he cocks his head to the crowds of young boys I can see who are still waiting in the crowd to talk to me in particular. "You did well out there."

"We're not getting in... UA won't let us in..." Tori says, and we look down on that note.

"Will you get off that?" Bakugo demands. He marches closer and slams his hands on the table, making us both jump. "Look, UA would be idiots to think that was a bad display. Did they specifically tell you that if you lost, you're out?"

"I... well no..." I say, suddenly realizing that I was never actually told that.

"You'll get in, understand?" He then gets down in my face, "And you had better remember- two years- come find me. Mono-e-mono, we're fighting for real, got it?"

My eyes widen. "What?"

"You're a rival-"

"I'm not good enough-"

"Shut up. Don't contradict me, you're my rival." He stands back up. "And even if things go south, I know you won't give up on your dream of being a hero- you won't, right? Will you give up that easily, Bandit?"

"Well, I mean-"

"Don't you dare. I'll keep my eye on you. Things go south, and you have to get your hero license late- then just come find me when you do. You and your sister. I'm gonna be the number one. I'll probably have an agency a few years after graduating and need sidekicks. I figure you'll be in sabotage, and your sister will be a healer. I'll be number 1, so I'll need an eye for talent; you have it, and your sister, well- with what I hear about her quirk, she damn well better get some."

Tori looks up at him in confusion, but he slowly glares at her, and she just nods shakily.

"I mean... Bakugo, I don't know if-" I start- but as if I'm getting a word in edgewise here.

"Are you about to turn me down?" He lowers down, almost getting in my face again. "You're gonna take an offer from someone OVER the number one hero? Are you crazy? That supposed to say something about me?"

"I'm good enough?"

"I said so- so you are- you gonna fight me about it?"

"Um... no..." I say. I'm unsure if I should smile or cower right now... both?

"Smart." He folds his arms. "Now stop moping, get up, and go have fun- NOW!"

Tori and I get up. If anything, we don't want to piss off this wacko again.