At first, the fight was going perfect for Todoroki.
Midoriya was slowly breaking himself down while all he had to do was keep sending ice his way. His frostbite had hardly even started, and Midoriya was down 3 fingers. The anger his father was surely feeling was just icing on the cake.
Now though, about three-fourths of the ring remained after his latest attack, Midoriya had randomly pulled a whole new way of fighting out of his ass, and now he had a broken nose while being pressured against the edges of the ring.
Only one thing could go through Todoroki's head,
'What the hell is going on!?'
All the while, as Todoroki's exasperation grew, so did Midoriya's frustration.
As soon as the fight had resumed, things immediately turned for the 9th inheritor's favor. Todoroki had tried to use his ice to slide away from the edge of the ring, but Midoriya needed Todoroki to stay stressed and pressured. He needed the heterochromatic teen always on edge, figuratively and literally. It was easier to convince someone to do something that way.
That was how the other bullies would convince him to do things for them back at Aldera. Like let them cheat off his answers, do their homework for them, etc. They would corner him and wouldn't let him out until he agreed. It was the only harassment Kacchan didn't take part in. He would never want, or need Deku's help with anything educational.
Using his new technique, Midoriya leapt forward in the blink of an eye, and dealt a right hook to Todoroki's jaw.
"5% TEXAS SMASH!!!"
However, Todoroki's reflexes kicked in and he grabbed onto Midoriya's right shoulder, encasing it in ice. Midoriya planted both feet on Todoroki's chest and pushed off. Landing 7-8 meters away.
"WHOOOOAAAH!!! ITS SEEEMS OUR MEAN, GREEN, BONE BREAKING MACHINE HAS JUST PULLED A NEW TRICK OUT OF HIS HAT!!! HE MANAGED TO NOT BREAK HIS BONES WITH THAT ATTACK!!! WHAT DO YA THINK ABOUT YOUR STUDENTS NEW MOVES ERASER!?!?!?" Present Mic blared over the intercom.
Aizawa just sighed in what sounded like relief, "Thank goodness, finally."
All Might viewed the fight in awe, wide-eyed and slack jawed at what seemed to be his protégé finally grasping One for All in a whole new way.
'Did...Did I teach him that?......I'll just take what I can get and go with yes.'
Back in the ring, Midoriya's body felt like a human Pac-Man level. His power moving to and from all corners of his body ('All Might was right, I need to stop with these weird analogies'). His punch hadn't had as much power to it as he had hoped.
'Switching between my arms and legs is too slow. One for All couldn't make it in time for the hit. It was essentially just a regular punch. Not to mention my already broken fingers. Hopefully his frostbite will slow him down and compensate for my switching.'
Midoriya transported his power to his left arm, and punched the ice off of his shoulder. He had no more time to think because Todoroki immediately blasted more ice his direction.
With no time to switch to his legs, he batted away the ice with a backhand. It was nowhere near as effective as his finger flicks, but it smashed the smaller ice attack. Todoroki began to rush away from the edge of ring, using his right foot to send a curved glacier attack at Midoriya.
Midoriya jumped away from the ice only to have his arm left arm frozen. Todoroki had used the curved ice as bait to make Midoriya have to turn his head far enough to the side so he wouldn't see Todoroki's next attack.
Before Midoriya could send One for All into his right arm, the ice continued to crawl up his body and encase his whole torso. His shoulders and hips were frozen, making movement even more difficult.
Todoroki wasn't about to take any more chances, he prepared one final attack.
'No! It's not ending here! Not like this!'
"OH! AND THE HUMAN TWO SIDES OF A PILLOW AT NIGHT MANAGES TO CAPTURE MIDORIYA ONCE AGAIN! WILL HIS NEW MOVES GET HIM OUT OF THIS ONE!?!?!?"
Midoriya refused to lose against an opponent who was handicapping themselves. While Midoriya wasn't a man of pride, that was too much. Not only that, but it was how he lost, he wasn't sure how he would be able to look at Yaoyorozu or All Might afterwards.
He needed to speed up Step 2. ASAP
"Why won't you use your fire!?" belted out Midoriya.
Todoroki halted, at first shocked, but then angry. "Did...Did my old man put you up to this!? Are you trying to get me to use my left side for HIM!?"
Todoroki's pause gave Midoriya just the smallest amount of time he needed to think of how to escape...and it was dumb.
Like, really stupid.
But it was all he had, and besides. While this was still reckless, Aizawa couldn't exactly tell him he DIDN'T use his head.
"No! I'm not doing this for him! I'm doing this for me!-"
Five. Just five percent. No more.
"for the people I owe my life!-"
He sent it straight up through his body
"for the people who support me!-"
He thought of All Might, his mom, his friends, especially his newfound connection to Momo
"But right now,more importantly-"
The entire crowd noticed Midoriya's forehead begin to glow and crackle.
"I'M DOING THIS FOR YOU!!!"
He slammed his head down, headbutting the ice surrounding him.
Ice shattered everywhere, fog and mist from the ice surrounded the area of impact. When it cleared, Midoriya stood, free from his ice prison.
Blood from a gash on his head from a sharp edge of the ice oozed down the side of his face. His forehead bright red and irritated.
"You can't live like this. Having others hold you down. Having a piece of you that you hate, keeping you from being the best you can be. I know what that's like. But I'm not letting those things hold me back anymore! I'm giving it my all to be here!"
Midoriya jumped forward and slammed his fist into Todoroki's stomach, his adrenaline too high to give a damn about his finger being battered on. Todoroki skidded to the ground.
"Look at me! My head, my fingers, even with your ice attacks, you haven't even laid a scratch of your own on me! I'm trying to be a hero, one that smiles, and one that everyone looks up to! Everyone here is, and they all are giving everything to do it! If you can't do that then you don't deserve to win! SO COME AT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU GOT!!!".
The stadium was silent, no one could believe or even understand what was happening. Todoroki clenched his fist, frustrated at the entire situation.
"I won't...I refuse to use his damn quirk."
"IT'S YOURS!!! IT'S YOUR POWER NOT HIS!"
Todoroki's eyes widened. Everything around him disappeared. His memories, long forgotten, flooded in like a dam had broken.
His mother and him, sitting down watching All Might on the television. She spoke to him.
"You want to be a hero, right Shoto? That's good, you aren't bound by his blood. You will be who you want to be. You'll be your own amazing hero."
He looked up to Midoriya and the next thing everybody knew, an explosion of heat and fire erupted from the arena.
Step 2: Complete.