Aaron and Kevin enter the arena through the tunnels; they hear the crowd’s roar as the anticipation for the next match grows. Aaron is on crutches, with his thighs and foot wrapped up in bandages.

Aaron: (I got this!)

Kevin: (Aaron’s ability to walk may be in question, but that doesn’t mean he’s gonna sit still and let me hit him.)

The eliminated students section now consists of everyone except Hayze.

Zach: Now, this one should be fun!

Jace: Yeah, talk about the clash of the injured titans; both of them are bandaged and beaten.

Wes: It makes you wonder why they don’t heal everyone after their fights…

Jake pops out from the seats behind the guys and startles everyone.

Jake: Because part of this tournament is showing that you can endure. Hero agencies don’t want a guy that’s tuckered out after just one fight; they want runners, not sprinters.

Jace: Wow, Jake, that was actually-

Wes: Wait for it.

Jake: Hey, you guys got any chicken nuggets?

Wes: *sighs* No.

Jake: Damn.

Jake goes back to napping.

Jace: How did he even get in here?

Wes: I don’t even want to know anymore…

Silver gets up from his seat.

Eve: Where are you off to?

Silver: Given Hayze’s injuries, he’s probably not gonna be back out here until after the tournament is over. I’m gonna go to see how he’s doing.

Eve: You don’t want to see these last two matches?

Silver: I can watch the replay.

Silver leaves.

Eve: (He hasn’t lost any of his swagger despite losing in the first round, I wish I had that level of confidence in myself.)

Aaron and Kevin reach the center of the arena and stare each other down.

Kevin: (He’ll try to keep his distance; I won’t let him.)

Aaron: (High pain tolerance doesn’t matter if I just shoot you more.)

Madame Mummy: Begin.

Aaron transforms both of his arms into RPGs and points at the ground.

Kevin: (Is he suicidal?)

Aaron: ASM Blast!

Kevin jumps back, and Aaron shoots both rockets into the ground, causing a massive explosion in the center of the arena.

Kevin: (Fucking lunatic!)

Aaron and Kevin emerge on opposite sides of the blast’s smoke cloud. Aaron lands and instantly falls to his knees in pain.

Aaron: (Crap… this is gonna be annoying… I was hoping I could just walk it off, but it doesn’t look like that’s happening. Whatever, I’ll just try and keep him away from me with my quirk. Although… my arms have been through two brutal battles today, I have to be careful with potentially overusing them…)

On the opposite side of the smoke, Kevin crouches down.

Kevin: (It’s a good thing I jumped back, the explosion was massive, but it barely hit me, not that I think he wanted to hit me with it... if he did, why wouldn’t he aim the rockets at me? Simple answer: He didn’t want to risk me counter-attacking or blocking; he went the safe route because of his injuries. He wanted to create distance between us. Aaron isn’t the type to pass up the opportunity to wallop his opponent, he’s determined to win this, but he’s avoiding putting too much faith in his raw power.)

Kevin stands up as the smoke clears.

Kevin: (I’ll start off at my usual 30%, I’ll need to avoid going any higher than that, I can’t risk putting myself on a timer.)

The smoke clears completely, and Aaron isn’t on the opposite side.

Kevin: (Huh? Where is he?)

Kevin starts looking around him then the shadow of Aaron appears above him. He looks up to see Aaron with two grenade launchers.

Aaron: Eat shit whore!

Aaron starts raining grenades down on Kevin. Kevin starts running as a dozen explosions go off behind him, the last of which sends him flying forward, knocking his head into a tree.

Kevin: AHHHH!

Aaron lands on the ground, falls to his knees, and transforms his arms to normal.

Aaron: *pained grunt* Note to self… no more jumping.

Kevin starts to get up, using the tree to keep his balance.

Kevin: Huh… I thought you were gonna try and keep your distance based on that first attack.

Aaron: I was, but then I decided I’m not gonna be a bitch. If I’m gonna beat you, I’m gonna outgun you, not outrun you!

Kevin: (Hasn’t he learned from my battles with Jace and Killian, they wasted their enhanced mobility trying to beat me with raw strength, I always win in that department.) You’re determined, I’ll give you that, but you’re not “outgunning” me.

Aaron transforms his arms into MG42’s.

Aaron: I meant literally.

Aaron starts firing at Kevin.

Kevin: *sighs* This is already getting old.

Kevin runs into the forest as bullets fly by him. Eventually, he gets deep enough into the woods to break sight with Aaron.

Kevin: (He’s going all out, he’s trying to back me into a corner, he wants me to use higher levels of my power and force me to go on the attack. I’ve used my quirk too much today; I probably only have one more try at 50% or higher today. Using 75% against Killian was a tough but necessary sacrifice for my victory.)

Aaron stops the barrage and turns his arms back to normal.

Aaron: (Playing things safe is boring, I wanna win this my way!) I won’t let you hide from me!

Aaron puts his arms together and forms a mortar.

Aaron: Ballistic Bombardment times 5!

Aaron fires off five mortar shells into the sky; they rain down into the forest, causing massive explosions throughout it.

Kevin: (Shit! I’ve gotta move, but where?)

Kevin looks up.

Kevin: (I guess that works.)

Kevin climbs a tree as the mortar shells cause chaos throughout the forest.

Kevin: (He’s putting everything into this battle, he has no regard for conserving his strength for the final… Alright, Aaron, I guess I’ll do the same!)

Aaron transforms one of his arms into an assault rifle and the other into a shotgun.

Aaron: Come out, come out wherever you are!

Aaron sees some rustling leaves in the trees; he quickly fires a bullet into the leaves, a rock falls to the ground.

Aaron: (Oh crap…)

Aaron turns around to see Kevin leaping down on him.

Kevin: 50%!

Aaron uses the shotgun to blast himself backward to dodge; Kevin’s punch connects with the ground, and a crater instantly forms.

Aaron: You’ve gotta be faster than that!

Kevin walks out of the crater and looks toward Aaron, who has backed up a few more yards.

Kevin: This fight has been short, but it’s been intense; thanks for that.

Aaron: You’re thanking me? Not something I’d thought I’d hear today.

Kevin: *grunts* I know what your plan is now; you’re going to keep blasting me, avoiding my attacks, and waiting for me to fatigue. Unfortunately for you, that won’t work.

Aaron: Why not? As far as I can tell, that’s your quirk’s biggest drawback, the higher in power you go, the faster you fatigue.

Kevin: That’s true; my quirk is simple. From 0 to 30%, my quirk heavily increases my strength, speed, agility, breathing, reflexes and suppresses my pain with no relative drawbacks. Any higher than that, the boosts are magnified further; however, the drawbacks come into play. At 40%, I have a 15-minute window before I fizzle out. 50%, 10 minutes, 60%, 5 minutes, 75%, 1 minute, 90% 30 seconds, and finally 100% is just a mere 10 seconds. At 60% or higher, my brain function becomes suppressed until eventually, I become a rabid animal in a sense. This quirk is powerful, but I have to be careful.

Aaron: I’m still not seeing how you’re gonna avoid fatiguing now that you’re at 50%, not to mention you’ve been fighting all day; 10 minutes is a little generous. You’re probably already near your limit.

Kevin: *nasal grunt* We’ll see about that.

Kevin charges and Aaron, Aaron attempts to shotgun blast away, but this time Kevin reacts to Aaron’s movement, grabs the shotgun, and throws Aaron into the ground, again creating a crater.

Aaron: *groans* How did you?

Kevin: 55%.

Aaron: What? I thought you stuck to the numbers you outlined because the difference between 50% and 60% was so minuscule it wouldn’t matter.

Kevin: I never said that; I don’t use 55% because it has the same fizzle-out time as 60%; therefore, it’s better to just go straight to 60%.

Kevin steps on Aaron’s leg wound and presses down, causing Aaron immense pain.

Aaron: *pained yell* Then… why... use it... now?

Kevin: If you listened to my lecture about my quirk, you’d figure out what the difference is between 55% and 60%.

Aaron: Yeah... I’m not really the listening type.

Aaron transforms his left arm into a C4.

Aaron: I'm the blow shit up type.

Kevin: Shit!

Aaron detonates the C4, and Kevin goes flying out of the crater. He slams into the ground.

Kevin: *groans* (I should have seen that coming!)

Kevin is damaged from the blast but still can get up to his knees because of his pain tolerance. Aaron comes climbing out the crater; his left arm is entirely red.

Kevin: You crazy bastard, I didn’t think you’d risk your arm to get out of that.

Aaron: Don’t expect me not to risk everything to win! I don’t care about fighting Justus in the final, I’m fighting you right now, and I’m gonna put my all into it!

Kevin gets a smile on his face.

Kevin: You really are determined to win this with raw force, huh?

Aaron: Hell yeah, I refuse to walk away from here the loser, and after that blast, you have to be ready to keel over.

Kevin: That’s what you think!

Kevin reaches into his pocket and pulls out a syringe filled with some form of fluid.

Aaron: The hell is that?

Kevin: Some more sand for my hourglass.

Kevin injects himself with the liquid and grunts in pain from it.

Aaron: (What is that stuff?)

Kevin stands up and puts up his fists.

Kevin: Now then, what do you say we continue.

Aaron: You mind explaining to me what the hell that was?

Kevin: A special serum designed to suppress adrenaline.

Aaron: What?

Kevin: I’d say I’m back down to 30% now, the serum allows me to safely return to lower levels of my quirk’s power, although I lose the magnifications from being at 55%, so it’s pretty painful.

Aaron smiles at Kevin.

Aaron: I see now.

Kevin: See what?

Aaron: Why you went up to 55%, you needed a clear mind to be able to use the serum to keep yourself in the battle, if you went to 60%, then you’d start to lose your senses and may have forgotten to use the serum, the time limit from being at 55% didn’t matter because you were going to avoid it anyway. Smart move, Kevin.

Kevin: Tell me something, Aaron, why do you fight with this level of tenacity?

Aaron: What do you mean?

Kevin: You saw my first two fights, both Jace and Killian tried to use their strength to pound me down, but I used my quirk’s tremendous power to make myself stronger than them. You’re trying to do the same thing, even though you’ve seen that it doesn’t work… why?

Aaron: Let me answer that with a question to you, do you want to be number 1?

Kevin: Of course, Colossus is a strength hero like me. I’ve always looked up to him and wanted to be like him. I’ve honed my craft in anticipation of one day challenging him for his title, but why do you need to know that?

Aaron: Because I have that same dream, to be the strongest hero alive, but that wasn’t always my dream. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a police officer just like my father was.

Kevin: “Was?” I’m sorry.

Aaron: Don’t be sorry about things you didn’t control; those were his last words. The reason he died is why I want to be number 1. You see, police officers follow a different ruleset than pro heroes. They can’t kill people unless it’s for self-defense; a robbery happened one night, and my father was the primary officer on the pursuit, and when the suspect foot bailed, he chased and cornered him in an alleyway. My father told him to drop his weapon, but the robber shot my father before he could even react. He was dead no matter what; he had the robber at gunpoint, but he couldn’t shoot him because it wouldn’t have been self-defense under those circumstances. He was doing his job, but his position put him in a situation where he would either be dead or deemed a murderer. After he died… I realized that I wanted to be a hero, more specifically the number 1 hero, because I wanted to stop villains from killing police officers like my father, just because they were doing their job. If a known criminal is armed, then shooting them is self-defense in my opinion, no doubt about it, I understand if people disagree with that. But… until they’ve seen someone they love die because they weren’t allowed to protect themselves when they could have, I don’t want to hear it. I don’t run from people physically stronger than me because I can defend myself, and If I’m going to die, I want to go out swinging, saying that I lived my life with no regrets… the way my father couldn’t.

The stadium is silent.

Zach: Damn… Aaron.

Alexis: (Pretty cool reason to be a hero.)

Jace: That explains some things about him.

Wes: (I didn’t expect Aaron to talk about his motivation, but I guess Kevin did ask him directly. I didn’t know Aaron back then, so I’ve only heard about his father a small handful of times. Even still, I know that event is what drives him to be the best he can be.)

Kevin is taken aback.

Kevin: Jesus… I-

Aaron quickly transforms his arm into an RPG and fires it at Kevin. The rocket hits Kevin directly with a loud blast, shrouding him in smoke.

Aaron: You dropped your guard.

Aaron transforms his arm back to normal and looks at it.

Aaron: (I’ll have to make do with just one arm in the final.)

Suddenly Aaron hears a blood-curdling scream from inside the smoke.

Aaron: (No way! He survived that!)

Kevin jumps out of the smoke; his eyes are completely white as he leaps toward Aaron. Aaron tries to run away, but his leg wounds force him to the ground.

Aaron: (FUCK!)

Kevin picks up Aaron and enters his throwing motion.

Aaron: (NOT HAPPENING!)

Aaron uses his overheated arm to grab Kevin’s neck, burning him and causing Kevin to scream in pain; he drops Aaron and grabs his neck.

Justus: (Aaron’s arm is so hot it made Kevin’s pain tolerance null and void!)

Aaron transforms his arm into a shotgun and uses it to blast himself away, but Kevin quickly recovers and chases after him.

Aaron: (This must be 75%! He’s just like how he was when he fought the Multi Clones! That means he only has a minute. I just have to survive until then!)

Kevin stops and looks at Aaron as he heads toward the trees.

Kevin: (KILL!)

Kevin rips a massive piece of rock out of the ground and throws it at Aaron.

Aaron: (OH SHIT!)

The rock slams into Aaron and sends him flying into a tree, wedging him between the two objects.

Aaron: *groans*

Kevin: D- D- Die…

Kevin falls to the ground as steam emits from his body; he lies there, barely conscious.

Kevin: *groans*

Aaron has a bit of blood coming from his mouth; he too is barely conscious, one of his eyes is closed, and he’s visibly exhausted. He looks over at Kevin.

Aaron: Guess… we… both… were… going… all out…

Aaron looks up at the sun.

Aaron: (Well, it wasn’t pretty, but I beat him-)

Kevin: You really are something else, Aaron.

Aaron is shocked.

Aaron: You’re… still conscious?

Kevin: Yeah… I’m super fatigued, but I’m still here. Neither of us can move… I guess it’s all down to who can hold their consciousness longer…

Aaron looks at his right arm.

Aaron: (I can… still… take him down…)

Aaron starts to raise his arm slowly, wincing in pain. He can feel himself blacking out.

Aaron: (No… I’m so close… I can… I have to… dammit… I can’t lose like this… victory is so close…)

A hallucination starts. Aaron is sitting at a campfire in the middle of the night; he looks up at the starry sky.

Voice: Hey, kid.

Aaron looks to see a man in a police uniform sitting next to him.

Aaron: D- Dad?

Aaron’s Father: I’m not your father, stupid! I’m a hallucination you’re having because you got rocked literally, and yet you’re still pushing your body far beyond its limits!

Aaron: What? I’m trying to win the match!

Aaron’s Father: For what reason? Even if you win, you won’t be able to fight Justus.

Aaron is caught off guard.

Aaron: I- well, uh, because I-

Aaron’s Father: You realize if you fire that shot, it’ll be the last of your energy, and you’ll die. Madame Mummy can stop you from dealing a fatal blow to your opponent, but there isn’t much she can do to stop you from killing yourself.

Aaron: I can’t stop! I have to try and win the match.

Aaron’s Father: You’re not gonna win the match! Either you’re gonna pass out and lose or shoot a shot at Kevin and die because of it. There is no winning outcome for you!

Aaron: So, you want me to lose? That’s against everything I stand for!

Aaron’s Father: *sighs* Aaron, you need to accept that your body has limits, and you’ve reached yours. However, you fought well; that’s what matters.

Aaron: No, what matters is walking away the winner of any fight!

Aaron’s Father: Winning is important, but this is a match in a tournament, and you’ve already proven yourself well to the scouts. You have nothing left to prove, in fact, so why are you fixated on killing yourself instead of losing?

Aaron: I- um.

Aaron’s Father: Exactly, don’t be stubborn, kid, you lost, take it on the chin and learn from it, don’t do something you’re gonna regret chasing something you’ll never grasp.

Aaron: I know that! I’m not stupid!

Aaron’s Father: I know, but sometimes you get caught up in the heat of combat and forget that you’re fighting for more than victory.

Aaron: Yeah… you’re right.

Aaron’s Father: You have a noble cause you’re fighting for, so don’t die before you can accomplish it, alright?

Aaron: Okay… I will.

Aaron’s Father: I know it’s weird talking to a hallucination of your dead father, but this is who you hallucinated, so deal with it.

Aaron: No, it’s just, it irks me to accept defeat even when it’s my only option.

Aaron’s Father: Yeah, because that’s what makes you a fighter, never accept defeat! I want you to understand that your body has limits! So learn from this loss, don’t accept it! You’re a warrior Aaron, never forget that!

Aaron: Yeah, you’re right… Thank you, Dad.

Aaron’s Father: I told you, I’m a hallucination, not your dad! Now get out there and keep living your life and become the number 1 hero you know you can be! You’ve got plenty of competition, so don’t start falling behind!

Aaron: Okay I-

The hallucination ends.

Aaron’s eyes are fluttering.

Aaron: (I may have lost this battle, but I won’t lose the war…)

Aaron’s eyes close. Madame Mummy walks over and looks closely at him.

Madame Mummy: The winner is Kevin Bohm.

The crowd cheers. Kevin looks up.

Kevin: I… won?

Madame Mummy: Yes, but now it’s time for you to recover. The third round has come to a close.

Madame Mummy: This means our fourth and final round will consist of just one match:

The crowd cheers.

Madame Mummy: However, to make this match the most entertaining it can possibly be, the competitors will be healed. Thus, we must have a 30-minute recess to complete that process.

The crowd boos as stretchers come out for both Kevin and Aaron. Madame Mummy helps remove the rock that was holding Aaron in place.

Zach: Damn, those guys are fierce.

Jace: I wish I had that level of drive…

Wes: (Aaron, I know it’s not how you wanted the tournament to end for you, but you put up one hell of a fight, you came in on crutches and brought arguably the strongest guy in the stadium to the ground, that’s something to write home about.)

Justus watches alone from the competitor’s seats.

Justus: (Either one of them would have been a good match-up, but I can’t wait to test my mettle against Kevin. The Sports Festival is coming to a close, and I will be the last man standing!)