Shigaraki: Feels weird skipping Shadows.

Kurogiri: We didn't skip it; the story was finished.

Spinner: Still feels weird though.

Katsuki woke up with a headache and immedately sat bolt upright as he remembered what had happened in his last match, "@$#(&! !(&*^! That %$#^*) @(&!"

Mitsuki(snorting): Impressiv vocabulary.

He looked around to see he was in a plain cement room which was empty except for Midnight and Recovery Girl, who were looking at him warily.

"Good Morning, dearie." Recovery Girl said. "You'd better get up, the medal ceremony will be starting soon."

"No." Katsuki growled. "I'm not going."

Kirishima: You won the Sports Festival, Bakugo, that's how it works.

"What do you mean you're not going?" Midnight sighed. "You won the sports festival, you have to go."

"I didn't win @#&*($! Now get Icy-Hot in here, I need a rematch!"

Inko: That's not how it works Katsuki...

Mt. Lady: Seriously though why doesn't he think he won?

"You won fair and square, dearie, I really don't know why..."

Bakugo: No I didn't!

Before he knew it, he was in Recovery Girl's face with explosions popping in each hand, "Get his ass in here or I'll..."

He didn't even see Midnight move before he got lightheaded again. He was really starting to hate the smell of that quirk.

Bakugo: Yup.

When he woke up again, Midnight and Recovery Girl were gone, but Hound Dog was sitting on a crate on the other side of the room.

"What are you doing here, you mutt? I thought I told you idiots I want a rematch with Icy-Hot!"

Todoroki: But you're not getting it.

Hound Dog sighed, "Yeah, that's what they said you wanted, but that's not how life works, brat."

"Then make it work!" Katsuki screamed. "I didn't win! I didn't!"

"Yeah, you did." Hound Dog said. "And the sooner you get that through that thick skull of yours, the sooner we can get to what's actually making you mad."

Midoriya: Is this going to be another therapy session?

Monoma: Guess so.

"Oh yeah?" Katsuki scoffed. "And what the @$#&* is that?"

Hound Dog fixed him with an intense stare, "Why don't you tell me? What was it about that fight that pressed every single button you've got? Cause I've never seen you this worked up before and your anger is my job."

Kaminari: Yeah Bakugo's really mad...

"Tch," Katsuki scowled, "the win doesn't count. He was holding back."

"Hmm, it's his right to hold back if he wants to, isn't it? Why does it bother you so much?"

"Because he wasn't giving it his all!" Katsuki yelled. "He wasn't giving it his all and I was, so now everyone's gonna think he's stronger and the only reason I won was because he wasn't taking things seriously!"

Toga: No we don't.

"I don't think that."

Katsuki paused, "What?"

"I think you won because you're strong and have brilliant technique. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but that's what I think. And I know I'm not the only one."

Uraraka: Yeah, definitely.

Katsuki huffed and turned away, "Whatever."

"I mean, we're definitely going to have to talk about this later. I didn't know feeling inferior was such a huge issue for you, so we're gonna come back to that, but..."

Bakugo: I don't feel inferior!

"I don't feel inferior!" Katsuki snapped. "I'm the best! I've always been the best and I'll always be the best!"

Hound Dog looked at him sadly, "Yeah, I don't know how your old teachers ever thought giving you all that pressure was a good idea. You've always been the best, Bakugo, but the thing is that you've been told your whole life that if you're not the best, then you're worthless, which isn't true. Everybody fails sometimes, Bakugo, but that doesn't mean that everybody is a useless waste of space. We learn from our failures and we even learn from those who are better than us. That doesn't make us terrible people and it doesn't mean we're not strong."

Mitsuki: Pay attention, brat.

Bakugo: Shut it, hag!

Katsuki stared down at the floor and Hound Dog sighed, "You don't believe me, that's fine, but I want you to think about it, okay? It's gonna take a lot of work, but I personally don't have any trouble believing that you can do it. Now, let's go, it's time for the medal ceremony to start."

Katsuki glared at him, "I don't want to get a medal that doesn't mean @#$*(."

Hound Dog sighed, "We all have to do things we don't want to do, Bakugo. You don't have to like it, you don't have to accept it, hell, you can even flip All Might off when he goes to give it to you if you want, I don't care, but technically, you won first place in the sports festival, so you've got to go stand up there on the podium and let people cheer for you. Deal?"

Bakugo: Whatever!

Katsuki scoffed, but stood and followed Hound Dog out the door. Midnight and Cementoss were already waiting on the other side along with Todoroki and Tokoyami, though Iida was nowhere to be seen. Cementoss was sculpting a cement podium on some kind of lift and Midnight was messing around with some chain and muzzle combo. Why was she so weird?

Midnight: Huh wait we won't actually have to use it.

Mic: That's a surprise.

Midnight looked up as they walked in and she blinked a few times in shock, "How did you get him to calm down?"

"What are the chains for?" Katsuki asked.

Thirteen: Yeah um who's telling him?

The Mutt laughed, "That was the original plan to make you attend the ceremony. I insisted I get the chance to try and talk you down first."

Katsuki looked between Hound Dog and Midnight, who looked sheepish, "What the @$*#?"

Mitsuki: Seriously you shouldn't have done that. I know he needs to be restrained sometimes but that was too far!

"Well, since you're here now, we can finally begin." Cementoss said. "Midnight, you go on up, boys, take your places. Everyone's waiting."

Shouta watched the podium rise from the floor and was surprised that Bakugo was actually standing in first place. Sure, he was glaring at everyone, but considering that Midnight had said he'd tried to attack them when he woke up, glaring was much better than Shouta had expected. He'd had his doubts after Bakugo's behavior, both in the cavalry battle and his battle with Todoroki, but maybe Hound Dog actually was managing to get through to him.

Aizawa: Yeah... he is...

"Tenya Iida actually shares third place with Tokoyami." Midnight announced. "But he had to leave early for a family emergency. Gotta love those familial bonds!"

(Iida winced. It wasn't exactly appropriate)

Shouta sighed. Midnight was inappropriate as always. And a family emergency was a serious understatement. He hadn't been told exactly what had happened, just that Tensei was in the hospital after a villain attack, but... hopefully he'd be alright. Heroism was dangerous, but heroes did get injured frequently and most of the time it wasn't too serious. Shouta hoped that was the case this time, if only for Iida's sake.

Iida: It was very serious...

"There's only one hero worthy of giving out these medals! All Might, the number one hero!"

Shouta sighed at All Might's overly dramatic entrance. Did the man have to do a flip in time with his own theme music when he couldn't even go a day without coughing up blood? This was why Shouta was an underground hero.

(everyone chuckled)

All Might took the third place medal from Midnight and put it around Tokokami's neck, "Young Tokoyami, congratulations. You showed great strength out there!"

Then All Might moved onto Todoroki. Shouta knew Endeavor probably didn't agree, but he was proud of everything Todoroki had accomplished. He'd been talking to the other teachers since the beginning of the school year to try and figure out a way to bring out Todoroki's fire, but he'd managed to overcome it on his own, if only in a small way. It was progress and a development that Shouta fully planned on nurturing.

Todoroki: Yeah... he did do that...

All Might placed the medal around his neck, "I'm assuming there was a reason you didn't use your fire, though it cost you the match."

Todoroki looked down at his medal and Shouta couldn't hear what his reply was, since unlike the teachers, the students weren't mic'd. He'd have to stomach his distaste for All Might and ask him what Todoroki said later. Anything to help his students.

Gran Torino: Why does something tell me the other you will just immediately forget what he said?

All Might: He'd better not.

Then All Might turned to Bakugo and Shouta leaned forward. This would be the moment of truth. Would Bakugo actually accept the medal or would he try to attack All Might?

As it turned out, Bakugo did neither of those things. As All Might reached forward to place the medal around his neck, Bakugo reached up and grabbed the medal out of his hands, then kept it clutched in his fist as he dropped his hand to his side. A simple, but powerful, statement that he didn't fully accept his win. Interesting. So Hound Dog apparently hadn't tried to convince him that his win meant something, just tamed the initial anger. It would be interesting to see how that worked long term. Hopefully Bakugo could control himself enough that Shouta wouldn't have to separate him and Todoroki during combat exercises.

Tsu: Yeah, hopefully, ribbit.

"Here they are!" All Might boomed. "The winners of this year's sports festival!"

Finally! That'd been exhausting, even more exhausting than the sports festival usually was. He'd be sure to not let Mic talk him into commentating ever again. Oh well, time to go talk to his students.

(everyone laughed)

"Why do we even have to come back to class?" Mineta whined. "Can't they just let us go home after the sports festival? I want to talk to all the hot babes I impressed!"

Kamui: What hot babes?

"What hot babes?" Sero laughed. "The ones that stopped watching before the end of the first round?"

Izuku shook his head as the class took their seats and joked around. It's not like they were actually going to have a lesson or anything, they just needed to wait for Aizawa to officially release them. Everyone had done really well and Izuku had seen so many creative uses for everyone's quirks. They still had a long way to go before they could really call themselves pro heroes, but Izuku thought they were well on their way.

The class went silent as Aizawa walked through the door. Nobody wanted a repeat of one of his don't waste my time lectures. Izuku sat up a little straighter. Sure, he didn't think Eraser would be disappointed with him for getting eliminated so early, but... he couldn't be certain.

Aizawaa: I won't.

"Nice work." Aizawa said. "You have the next two days of school off to recuperate. I'm sure the pros who watched the festival will want to recruit some of you, but we'll talk about the draft when you get back, so don't worry about that now. Get some rest, you still have a lot of training."

There was a rush for the door, but Izuku decided he wasn't in any hurry. When he finished gathering his things, he stood and smiled at Aizawa, "Good job commentating. You could tell your heart was really in it."

(everyone snorted)

Aizawa snorted, "Yeah, sure problem child, just like All Might's power is in his brain."

Izuku rolled his eyes, "Yep. Smartest hero on earth."

(All Might sputtered as everyone laughed)

Aizawa smiled at him, "You did good problem child."

Izuku frowned and scuffed at the floor with his foot, "I didn't make it very far, though."

"You made it farther than Mineta."

Midoriya: Everyone made it farther than Mineta.

Izuku snorted, "Everyone made it farther than Mineta."

Aizawa smirked, "Your point?"

Izuku smiled, but let it fall too quickly, "I'm sorry. I know that I didn't need to win because I have connections already, but I probably disappointed you and..."

Joke: No you didn't!

"Hey." Aizawa grabbed his shoulders and turned Izuku to face him, "You did amazing. Everyone was impressed with your quick thinking and Emi said that a ton of people were gobsmacked that a quirkless kid could even get beyond the first round, so don't you think that you disappointed me, because you didn't."

"B-but you spent all this time training me..."

Inko: And you went really far Izuku. Really.

Aizawa nodded, "Yes, and look how far you've come. Or do you not remember our first practice when you couldn't even throw a punch? Or that time when Emi took you out and you fell into three dumpsters in under two hours? Now listen closely because I'm only going to say this once. I am proud of you. Now get going before your mom starts calling me asking where you are."

Izuku wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded, "Thanks, Eraser."

"Anytime, problem child." Aizawa said.

Recovery Girl(shaking his head): He really is such a softy inside.

"So..." Izuku smiled mischievously, "Emi, huh?"

Aizawa groaned, "Don't you even start."

(everyone laughed as Aizawa groaned)