Chapter 17: Sports Festival, Part 3 - Intermission
"Bondo, how could you?!" Monoma exclaimed, managing to sound furious and scandalized at once.
"I…" the towering young man stammered, nervously pressing the tips of his index fingers together.
Most of the students had vacated the field by this point, off in search of lunch, but a few members of Class 1-B lingered, mostly to watch the copy Quirk user throw a fit.
"To directly aid one of our enemies, and one of those Class 1-A fools at that?!" Monoma continued, his feelings of betrayal lacing every word. "I never thought I'd see the day when one of the proud members of Class 1-B would do such a thing! Giving our foes an unfair advantage over us! What were you thinking?!"
"I'm sorry!" Bondo practically wailed. "She asked for a sample of my glue, and she was just so nice! She even said I could use her family's training facility any time I wanted!"
Monoma looked like he was about to blow a gasket, but he stopped by a chop to the back of the head from 1-B's class rep, knocking him down.
"Honestly, Monoma, knock it off," Kendo grumbled as she dragged him away. "He was just being friendly, something you could use a lesson in!"
"But—!"
"No buts!" she snapped. "We may be opponents today, but the members of 1-A are our fellow UA students! We should be helping each other! Now stop shouting, and let's all go eat before the lunch break is over! Some of us are still in this competition!"
"So, what do you think the final event will be, Midoriya?" Uraraka asked as their usual group sat at one of the tables in the stadium cafeteria.
She was trying very hard not to stare at Yaomomo this whole time, mainly because she'd never known it was possible for someone to rapidly inhale food while somehow still being all dainty and proper about it. The brunette supposed it made sense that a rich girl with a Quirk that was basically fueled by calories would develop that skill, but she couldn't help but be a little amazed by it.
"Hmm," Midoriya tapped his chin with his chopsticks. "There's always a cooperative event and one that's about direct competitions between individuals. Since the cavalry battle was definitely the cooperative one, I'd expect the competitive one next."
Uraraka frowned. "Wasn't the obstacle race competitive?" she asked.
"Yes, but that was a complete free-for-all with everyone thrown in at once, and that was to reduce the number of contestants," Izuku pointed out. "They'll want something more structured for the final event."
"So, what do you think it'll be exactly?" Uraraka asked.
He shrugged. "Could be anything. One year it was this crazy jousting competition. Last year it was fighting with foam swords."
"Well, whatever it is, let's do our best!" Uraraka said, clenching her hands into a fist.
"Yeah!"
Meanwhile, in another section of the cafeteria, an excited Kaminari was rushing over to Mineta.
"Dude, UA hired cheerleaders for the festival!" he said.
"I know! Those outfits are super hot!" he exclaimed, ignoring the dirty looks that every girl in earshot gave him.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the electric boy asked quietly, grinning widely. "I bet we can convince the girls in our class to dress up as cheerleaders, too, if we tell them Mr. Aizawa said they have to do it!"
To his surprise, the smaller boy shook his head. "Not gonna lie, I totally see the appeal, but no."
"What? Why not?" Kaminari asked, shocked. "I thought for sure you'd be all over this!"
"Yeah, and if you'd asked me yesterday, I would've been," Mineta said.
"So what happened?"
"During the obstacle race, I tried to hitch a ride with Yaoyorozu. Midoriya saw and pulled me off of her with his Quirk. The look he gave me…" Mineta shivered. "Yeah, no, not crossing that guy, thanks."
Kaminari gave him an incredulous look. "He must've been twenty meters in the air at the time," he pointed out. "There's no way."
"Yes, there is," Mineta insisted. When Kaminari continued to look skeptical, he added, "Look, I'm telling you, I saw it. In fact, I feel totally certain that she and Midoriya are dating, and—"
"No way," Kaminari scoffed. "Guy turns into a mess when she so much as smiles at him."
"They're dating, or they will be soon," the grape-headed boy stated, undeterred. "Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if they were already doing it. And as much as I'd like to see Yaoyorozu in a cheerleader outfit, I want to make the strongest guy in class furious at me for punking his girlfriend even less. And I don't see a way we can do this without including her. It would be too suspicious."
"Fine," Kaminari groaned, plopping down in the seat opposite Mineta. "Be that way."
They were silent for a moment.
"You know, the Sports Festival kind of sucks," Mineta remarked.
Thinking of how his teammate had bluntly refused to try and use his Quirk to liberate them from the glue and gotten them eliminated, Kaminari could only nod. "Yeah, it kind of does."
"And we're back, folks! Hope you took the opportunity to grab a bite and hit the restrooms, because it's going to be nonstop action from now until the end of the final event!" Present Mic said, switching his and Eraserhead's microphones back on in the announcer's booth.
"That's not actually true, you know," Eraserhead grunted.
"Maybe not, but it sounded cool!" Present Mic said, seemingly unbothered by the underground hero contradicting him. "Now, let's watch as our mistress of ceremonies unveils our third and final event!"
"There's something very wrong with describing Midnight that way…"
"Welcome back, everyone, and especially you, elite and nubile students of UA!" Midnight spoke from her little podium. "Team Rin has opted to allow Jurota Shishida to advance, so we have the sixteen contestants we need for the last event, which is…!"
The words "FIGHTING TOURNAMENT" appeared on the jumbo screen behind her.
"A series of one-on-one battles!" she exclaimed, and the screen shifted, showing a currently empty tournament bracket. "That's right! To you few students who remain, the sweet sixteen of this tournament, only four matches separate you from claiming victory of this whole festival!"
The crowd roared. Midnight waited for them to calm down a bit before continuing. "The matchups and order will be determined by drawing lots," she said, holding up a small box. "So let's not keep the audience in suspense any longer! Members of the first place team, please come forward!"
Momo traded quick looks with Uraraka and Midoriya before the three of them moved to approach Midnight. In truth, she'd half suspected that winning the cavalry battle would come with a drawback like winning the obstacle race had for Midoriya, but thankfully it appeared that that was not the case.
She reached into the box that Midnight held out, withdrawing a plastic ball with the number three written on it. Midnight announced it aloud, and her name appeared in the correct spot on the tournament grid on the stadium's jumbo screen.
Uraraka went next, pulling out number seven. Momo took a quick look at the brackets, noting that the two wouldn't meet until the semifinals, assuming they both made it that far.
Then Midoriya reached in and withdrew…
"Sixteen!" Midnight announced, his name appearing on the very last position in the brackets.
Momo stifled a little giggle at how crestfallen he looked at that, knowing that he'd hate the tension of waiting so long for his first match. For someone capable of such courage and with such a powerful Quirk, he could be quite the ball of nerves at times.
One by one, the other teams came up and drew their own lots, gradually filling out the bracket until it was completed.
However, Momo barely took any notice of any of the drawings after Bakugo reached into the box and pulled out the ball with the number one on it.
"If you both win your first matches, then you'll be fighting Bakugo in the second round," Uraraka said quickly as she stared up at the screen showing the brackets.
Momo swallowed, recalling all too clearly the battle trial on their first full day at UA, of the way Bakugo's attack had filled nearly the entire hallway she was in with white-hot flame, and how she'd had to desperately cling to the ceiling for dear life, fearing that her grip would fail her and she'd be reduced to ash.
She took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders as she thought of what Midoriya was always muttering to psyche himself up.
No fear.
It calmed her down a bit, or at least made it easier to push past the quiet fear that the notion of facing Bakugo again inspired.
"I look forward to the rematch," she said.
Uraraka looked a little skeptical, which Momo couldn't blame her for, really.
"There will be ten minutes breaks between each fight, to allow the contestants some time to prepare without missing out on watching the matches," Midnight announced. "The first round is Bakugo versus Tetsuetsu, and we'll allow them that ten minutes now."
"The hell with that, I don't need a ten minute break!" Bakugo snapped.
"Yeah, I'm ready to throw down right now!" Tetsutetsu agreed.
Midnight chuckled. "Ah, young men, always so eager to begin! Very well! We'll skip the ten minute break to kick things off…and hope neither of you is quick to finish," she grinned.
"She really can work an innuendo into anything, can't she?" Uraraka remarked, a large bead of sweat appearing on the back of her head.
"Indeed," Momo agreed flatly, crossing her arms.
"The rules for the matches are simple: you beat your opponent by forcing him out of the ring, knocking him out, completely immobilizing him, or if he surrenders. Do your best not to do any serious damage to your opponent, and keep in mind that Cementoss or myself will step in if we have to," Midnight quickly explained. "Now, Present Mic, would you kindly do the introductions for our first pair of fighters?"
"You got it, Midnight!" the voice hero's words boomed from the various speakers in the stadium. "In the red corner, we have the explosive young man whose Quirk is almost as dangerous as his scowl…Bakugo Katsuki of Class 1-A!"
"Tch," Bakugo grunted as he stepped into the ring.
"And in the blue corner, the young man from Class 1-B with the steel solid defense, it's Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!"
"We don't have a red corner and a blue corner. These aren't boxing matches," Eraserhead pointed out.
The start of an exasperated sigh actually sounded through the stadium before Present Mic muted his microphone.
"And…begin!"
The two students charged one another, Bakugo firing numerous explosions at the 1-B student, who used his Quirk to harden his body and endure the assault, counterattacking with a fierce uppercut that Bakugo easily dodged.
"Once again, Bakugo is the seemingly unstoppable force pitted against an apparently immovable foe!" Present Mic said, emphasizing the qualifiers to avoid another correction from his co-announcer.
"We may be in for a long first fight," Eraserhead said.
"I think Mr. Aizawa's probably right," Uraraka remarked as they made their way to a nearby seating area reserved for the members of their class.
Momo nodded. "It appears this first battle will be one of attrition," she said.
"Unless Tetsutetsu can somehow get Kacchan out of the ring or immobilize him, but I can't see that happening, unless he's got some ability up his sleeve he hasn't shown until now," Midoriya muttered, seemingly more to himself than anyone else.
Momo arched an eyebrow. "You're quite confident Bakugo will win, then?"
"Yes," Midoriya said softly, before he turned away from the match to look at her. "Would you, um, like some ideas on what to do when you face him?"
There was something…not right in the almost hushed tone he used, at the glint in his emerald eyes. Something desperate. He badly wanted to help her and feared what would happen if and when she faced off against Bakugo. She'd seen the same thing on his face during the battle trial that All Might had organized for their first hero class, when she had also found herself fighting the explosive blonde.
No one else brought out that almost haunted look to Midoriya's eyes, she realized, recalling the fearful expression that had briefly flashed over his features in the closing seconds of the cavalry battle, before he'd managed to squelch it and rally.
Her right hand closed into a fist, and suddenly what she'd said to Uraraka wasn't entirely false bravado anymore.
"I appreciate the offer, Midoriya, along with your confidence that I'll win my first match," she told him with a smile. "But you've already helped me tremendously. I'd like to try and win this on my own merits, if you don't mind."
Something in her demeanor must've calmed her friend, or at least made it clear that this wasn't up for debate, because he just nodded in acceptance.
"For now, let's just all focus on moving past the first round," she said, turning to Class 1-B's box and gazing at Shiozaki, her first opponent of this tournament.
Chapter 18: Sports Festival, Part 4
"Welcome back, everyone! We're just moments away from starting the second match of this tournament's first round, now that Cementoss has finished repairing the damage done by Bakugo and Tetsutetsu's fight!" Present Mic's voice boomed from the stadium speakers.
Momo took a deep breath as she walked through the hallway between the contestant prep room she'd been in and the stadium's main grounds.
Bakugo had won his match as Midoriya had predicted, his relentless attacks eventually overwhelming Tetsutetsu's Quirk. Which meant she would officially have to face the explosive young man if she won this round.
If she was being honest with herself, there was definitely a part of her that was quietly terrified at the idea.
Nevertheless, she found she still wanted to win this match very much.
She had to prove that she could succeed on her own.
Momo knew that she'd already racked up a fairly impressive list of accomplishments, between helping take down the Nomu and her performance in the festival so far, but none of it had been without Midoriya helping or contributing in some way. She wouldn't even have done as well as she had in the obstacle race if he hadn't pulled Mineta off of her!
The only time she'd had to operate entirely without him had been the battle trial, and she'd nearly been killed. Yes, technically she'd been on the winning team, but that was only because Bakugo had gotten himself and Iida disqualified.
She needed a…clean win, for lack of a better term. One achieved all on her own.
Momo was determined to get that now.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out into the stadium.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our first contestant for the second match: she can throw everything at you, including the kitchen sink, the representative of Class 1-A, Momo Yaoyorozu!" Present Mic announced her.
"Go, Yaomomo, you can win this!" Uraraka shouted, while the rest of her class cheered her on from their place in the stands, with the exception of a typically surly Bakugo and a silent Todoroki.
She smiled at them, then stepped into the ring.
"And facing off against her will be the thorny assassin of Class 1-B, Ibara Shiozaki!" Mic announced her opponent, a tall girl with thorny vines for hair.
"Excuse me!" Shiozaki called, turning to gaze up at the announcer's booth. "What is this about calling me an assassin? I joined the hero course to serve righteousness, the Lord, and my fellow man! The last thing I want to do is strike innocents down from the shadows! I seek to be a hero of faith and justice!"
"Oh, um, sorry about that," Present Mic replied, surprisingly meek in the face of a student responding to his commentary directly.
Shiozaki nodded before turning back to Momo. "It is an honor to meet you in battle," she said with a bow.
Momo privately found the way the vine-haired girl had made of point of talking about her religion in such a public setting to be mildly distasteful, but she wasn't about to be rude over it.
"The honor is mine," she replied with equal formality.
"Contestants, get ready!" Midnight called, raising her whip. "And…begin!" she commanded, bringing it down.
Momo was in motion the moment the teacher's whip cracked, and it was a good thing, too. Shiozaki's vines were suddenly all rushing for her as one, like a giant, thorny serpent out to devour her.
Making a bo staff as she ran, Momo used it and a quick explosion to vault into the air just before the vines could sweep her legs out from under her. She unleashed a stream of glue from one hand as she went, the goopy substance spraying over the vines.
Unfortunately, it didn't have quite the effect she had hoped. Only a handful of strands were stuck to the ground, and while several were stuck to each other, that didn't appear to slow Shiozaki down very much.
I doubt she can control every last one independently, anyway, she mused, unleashing a gush of liquid herbicide.
The brownish liquid splashed onto Shiozaki's vines and caused the girl to let out a sharp hiss, but they didn't seem to slow her down at all.
Darn, and she had really been hoping that would work, too. That was about as powerful an herbicide as she could make without potentially making herself sick from contact with the stuff.
Deciding to go back to one of her older tactics, she pulled open her gym top and created a flurry of matryoshka dolls filled with low yield grenades from her torso. The little figures exploded in a fairly spectacular barrage, and while they did destroy some vines, it wasn't nearly enough to have an impact.
"You're very skilled, Yaoyorozu, but I'm determined to advance in this contest," Shiozaki said, and a great mass of her vines rose up, Momo's comparison to a giant serpent ready to strike feeling more apt than ever. A small group peeled away and careened downwards towards her. Momo scrambled out of the way, the clump of vines hitting the arena floor like a sledgehammer and leaving a spiderweb of cracks in the cement.
"So am I!" Momo retorted, firing tape from her hands.
The strands stuck to the main clump of vines, and Momo launched herself into the air with the most powerful explosion she dared. Not slowing down for a moment, she went swinging around the mass of greenery at high speed, like she was playing at a demented maypole.
After several dizzying seconds, she finally stopped using her Quick to create more tape, landing on the ring in a roll.
The vast bulk of Shiozaki's vine hair was all wrapped up in tape. Momo's heart leapt as she dared to hope she'd won.
Then Shiozaki growled, her normally serene face twisting with exertion.
SNAP!
The vines exploded out of their short-lived prison and went streaming toward Momo, now less like a serpent and more like a tidal wave, or perhaps a pack of ravenous hounds.
"You're very skilled!" Shiozaki said again. "And obviously intelligent! But you can't match me in brute force!"
Momo ran frantically around the ring, doing everything she could to dodge and striking at clusters of vines that tried to grab her with her bo staff whenever they got too close.
This was bad, she knew. Given an uninterrupted 30 seconds or so, she could create a flamethrower, which she was sure would quickly put an end to the match, but it was obvious that her opponent wouldn't give her that much time.
Probably for the best, really. While she had the necessary knowledge, she hadn't actually ever created a flamethrower before, and that was the type of thing she'd rather not make and use for the first time in a combat situation while under constant pressure.
If I can just get within striking distance of Shiozaki...! She thought, doubting that the other girl had much experience when it came to close quarters combat.
Then one of the vines managed to wrap around her staff and wrench it free of her grasp. Before Momo could even think about creating herself a new one, she felt another vine wrap around her leg, then another encircled one of her arms.
"You lasted longer than I had expected. It's clear that you've trained hard and know how to use your Quirk to the fullest," Shiozaki said graciously as her foe struggled to get free, more vines wrapping around her. It was obvious that Momo would be totally immobilized in a few seconds, which would decide the match.
The raven-haired young woman's mouth set into a scowl.
I didn't want to use this so early, but I guess I have no choice! She thought.
Shnk!
Wickedly sharp blades suddenly burst out of Momo's forearms, allowing her to cut herself free in an instant. Unlike most of her creations, she didn't immediately expel them from her body, allowing them to stay where they were for now, the glow of her Quirk marking where the hard blades met her skin.
"What?!" Shiozaki hissed. "Impossible!"
Momo didn't respond, immediately going on the offensive, slicing through vines left and right with the blades as she advanced toward her foe.
Clenching her jaw, Shiozaki tried to reclaim the initiative, but her vines were her only weapon, and Momo made short work of every last one that tried to ensnare her or even came close. The class rep's advance was slow but seemingly unstoppable, as she met every counterattack from Shiozaki by slicing her vines further, the 1-B student's hair growing shorter every moment.
Momo was dimly aware of Present Mic making some remark about her giving Shiozaki an unwelcome haircut, but she was too focused on her task to pay his commentary much attention. Just because she was winning at the moment, it didn't mean she had claimed victory just yet, as Shiozaki was painfully learning right now.
Eventually, Shiozaki's vines, once seemingly endless, barely reached past her shoulders. She was defenseless, and Momo was within arm's reach of her.
The religious girl swallowed and raised shaking fists.
Momo held out her hands and shot out more tape, wrapping Shiozaki up instantly from neck to toe. The vine-haired girl released a squawk as she went tumbling to the ground.
"Shiozaki, can you move?" Midnight asked.
"…no," the 1-B student grunted, sounding excusably annoyed at being asked such a needless question.
"Shiozaki is completely immobilized!" Midnight announced. "Yaoyorozu moves onto the second round!"
The crowd went wild, and Momo smiled, feeling a coiled tension inside of her that she hadn't been fully aware of release now that she'd managed the victory she'd needed.
Expelling one of the blades she'd made from her body at last, she used the remaining one to carefully cut Shiozaki free.
"It was a good match," she told her defeated opponent. "I apologize for doing so much damage to your hair."
Shiozaki shook her head. "It is nothing. It will regrow easily enough with some sun and water," she said. "And yes, a good match. I'm disappointed to have lost, but perhaps I needed this humility."
With a nod, she turned and headed off toward the spectator's section reserved for 1-B. Momo began to leave the ring as well, but she stopped for just a moment to appraise the newly updated tournament bracket up on the stadium's massive jumbo screen, which displayed what she already knew.
She was now officially going up against Bakugo in the next round.
Then she heard her friends cheering for her, the sound breaking her from her thoughts and bringing a smile to her face. Waving to them, she continued making her way back to 1-A's box.
"I…I don't believe it!" Monoma exclaimed, pressing his palms to the sides of his skull as though he was enduring a monster headache. "Shiozaki was secondsaway from defeating that 1-A girl! What happened?!"
Tetsutetsu shrugged. "She can make anything she wants to," he said. "It only makes sense that she can create blades."
"But regular metal blades can't slice through Shiozaki's vines that easily, no matter how much they've been sharpened!" Monoma objected. "It's as if she made them out of something stronger…" his eyes widened as realization dawned.
"What?" the boy with the steel body Quirk asked, frowning.
Monoma ignored him, instead whirling around and looking about with wild eyes until his gaze landed upon his classmate Kamakiri. "You!"
"What?" the young man with the insectoid mandibles asked, though he looked a bit nervous, which was unusual for the usually hotheaded hero student.
"You did the same thing that Bondo did, didn't you?" Monoma demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Kamakiri's chest.
The other student shifted uncomfortably. "…yes," he admitted. "She came to me, asking to examine one of my blades, and I agreed."
"Traitor!" Monoma exclaimed.
"I didn't know she'd end up using it to defeat one of our classmates!" Kamakiri snapped.
"Still, why on Earth did you help a member of 1-A?!" Monoma yelled. "Was it because she was just so niceto you, too?" he added in a mocking tone.
Kamakiri actually blushed a bit. "Well, if I'm being honest, it's more because she's so hot…"
Monoma opened his mouth to berate Kamikiri further, but the argument abruptly came to an end when Kendo delivered a chop to the back of both their heads with, knocking them both out.
"Boys," she sighed with exasperation as she expanded her hands and began to carry them back to the stands.
Chapter 19: Sports Festival, Part 5
"Todoroki."
Izuku couldn't help but feel that this was a bad idea. Yet at the same time, he couldn't let it go.
The young man with the two-toned hair turned. "Why are you following me?" he demanded, though his voice was flat, seemingly devoid of any emotion.
Izuku swallowed. He should have known that Todoroki would notice immediately when he followed him the moment he left the 1-A spectator's box. The other hero student was clearly very highly trained compared to most of the rest of them.
Also, he wasn't quite sure how to answer that question. He just knew that something had been nagging at him ever since Todoroki had disappeared after the cavalry battle and come back with a dark scowl.
He was also aware that the other student's challenge to him had essentially fizzled out early, with Team Todoroki's inglorious defeat in the sound round of the festival. Izuku couldn't help but feel that he'd missed out on something important as a result.
"You've seemed…upset since the second round ended," he said lamely.
Todoroki looked at Izuku like he was dim, and Izuku quickly decided he couldn't blame him for it. "I didn't want to lose," he said.
"I just thought…" Izuku fidgeted nervously. "I just thought that, uh, there might be something else going on."
"Nothing that concerns you," Todoroki said coldly. "And just because I lost today, it doesn't change anything. I will surpass you someday, Midoriya."
"You're more than welcome to give it your best try," Izuku said, forcing a smile and attempting an air of friendly rivalry.
Todoroki gave him a distinctly unimpressed look and said nothing.
Izuku decided to just come out and say it. "Look, I know Endeavor's here, and I remember how you…reacted when I made that construct of him during that exercise," he said. "If he's abusing you—"
"Then what?" Todoroki interrupted. "What would you do if I told you he was? What could you do?"
Haul him a million, billion light years away from you and toss him into one of the Sciencells, he thought, immediately imaging himself flinging the fiery figure into one of Oa's specialized detainment cells.
"What if I told you I have a way of making sure he's never able to hurt you again?" Izuku asked, rubbing the currently invisible power ring on his finger.
Part of him wanted to tell Todoroki all about the Corps, but the larger portion of him didn't think it would be a good idea. He suspected that Todoroki wouldn't believe him, and that he wouldn't take well to learning that one of the people he'd lost to got his powers from a ring rather a Quirk. He could all too easily see the other UA student focusing on that instead of the issue of his father.
He also wasn't really sure if taking in the number two hero, when he'd committed no interstellar crimes and wasn't charged with anything in a terrestrial court of law, was even really allowed, but that problem concerned Izuku less. He couldn't do nothing when someone needed help.
"I wouldn't believe you," the boy with the two-toned hair said bluntly, and resumed walking.
"I do, though!" Izuku said. "And even if I didn't, I'm sure All Might would be willing to help, if you just told him!"
"Nothing you need to be concerned about is going on," Todoroki grunted.
"You shouldn't just accept it, if someone's hurting you, simply because they always have and they've always gotten away with it," Izuku pleaded. "I know how easy it is to think like that, and I'm still struggling with it myself, but you don't need to just resign yourself to it."
Todoroki gave him a cold look. "Go back to the stands, Midoriya," he said. "Unless you'd like to follow me all the way to the restroom, that is."
Izuku coughed into his fist. "N-no, that's, uh, not necessary," he said.
He still couldn't shake the feeling he'd missed something important.
Izuku was surprised to see that Uraraka was nowhere to be found when he returned to the stands just a couple of minutes later. He was even more surprised to see that the ring was currently empty, save for the blocky form of Cementoss, who was currently patching it.
"What did I miss?" he asked as he returned to his seat near his friends.
"Ashido defeated Tokage from Class 1-B," Yaoyorozu answered at once. "Uraraka has gone to the preparation room."
"That was fast," he remarked, surprised. He hadn't said so to anyone, since he didn't want to seem like he was pessimistic about his classmate's chances, but Izuku had expected Tokage to win that one.
"It was a fairly quick fight," Iida agreed. "Tokage's Quirk was ill-suited for a match with Ashido."
"What exactly happened?" he asked eagerly.
"It seems that Tokage is able to detach parts of her body and still retain control of them when they're not connected to her," Yaoyorozu said. "She did that and sent several of them out at Ashido. Ahsido was initially cautious about causing too much damage with her acid, but at one point she accidentally dissolved one of her opponent's hands. When Midnight didn't disqualify or even chastise her for it, she realized that doing so was fair game. It wasn't long before Tokage didn't have enough left to properly function and lost the match."
"Yeah, it was actually pretty gruesome to watch," Jirou put in when she saw Izuku's horrified look, her face taking on a green tinge.
"It was an admittedly brutal tactic on Ashido's part, but I cannot deny that a hero must sometimes employ such methods in order to save innocent lives!" Iida said, quick to come to their classmate's defense.
"Even Tokage herself was only mildly put out about it," Yaoyorozu added. "Apparently so long as the part of her with her brain remains intact, she's able to regenerate any damage."
"Oh, okay then," Izuku said, relieved. "So when does Uraraka's match start?"
"As soon as Cementoss fixes all the damage that Mina's acid did to the ring," Jirou answered.
The repair work was all but completed, Izuku noted, seeing that the holes had been filled in and the new cement just needed to harden and cure. Which normally would've taken hours, but with the cement hero on the job, it only needed a few seconds.
Cementoss gave his work one final look, then turned to look up at the announcer's booth and gave a thumbs up.
"And we're ready to rumble once again, ladies and gentlemen!" Present Mic proclaimed. "So please put your hands together for the contestants for our fourth match!"
The audience obligingly cheered as Uraraka and Jurota Shishida strode into the stadium from their separate entrances.
"From Class 1-A, she's the cosmic queen, Uraraka Ochako!"
The brunette waved to the audience as she stepped into the ring, her face bright red. Izuku immediately felt a stab of sympathy and fervently hoped Present Mic didn't refer to him as the king of anything when it was his turn.
"And from Class 1-B, the most well-mannered beast man you'll ever meet, Jurota Shishida!"
"He looks really intense," Jirou remarked quietly.
"He only got this far because our team had three members instead of four," Yaoyorozu said, crossing her arms. "He probably feels like he has more to prove than the rest of us who've made it to the tournament, especially since he and his teammate decided he should be the one to advance."
"What do you suppose Uraraka's chances are?" Iida asked.
Izuku chewed his lower lip for a moment before answering. "It depends a lot on how well he understands the way her Quirk works, how well her Quirk works on him, and of course the tactics they both use."
"Agreed," Yaoyorozu said.
"Begin!" Midnight commanded.
Uraraka and Shishida charged each other, both seemingly opting for a head-on attack. At the last second, however, the brunette went into a roll, avoiding the right hook thrown by the bigger student. Springing up, she grabbed one of his forearms with both hands, pressing the tips of her fingertips against him.
A close, eagle-eyed observer would've seen a patch of fur on his arm start to float, but to most observers her Quick had seemingly no effect on the towering hero student.
Izuku hissed. "I was afraid of that," he said. "The thick fur that covers Shishida's body in his transformed state provides a natural defense against Uraraka's Quirk."
"Well, that's not good," Jirou said.
"Indeed, but I wouldn't count her out yet," Iida said, getting a nod of agreement from Yaoyorozu.
Shishida moved to grab Uraraka, who managed to withdraw and dodge, but a sweeping kick from the taller student was enough to send her crashing to the ground, causing her friends to wince in sympathy.
The furry hero student didn't give his opponent a second to recover. Moving like lightning, he wrapped a huge hand around her neck and lifted her up off the ground.
"No hard feelings," Shishida said calmly, moving toward the edge of the ring. He clearly planned to simply toss Uraraka out for the win.
"Right back at you," the petite brunette replied, right before she swung her body forward with all the force she could muster.
Shishida was a very big student, with long arms, but they still weren't longer than Uraraka's whole body. Both of her feet slammed into the front of his torso, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to drop her.
The second she was free, she rushed at him, leaping up to press her hands to the one part of his body that had no fur: his face.
"She got him!" Yaoyorozu observed with a smile as Shishida's towering form rose off the ground.
The 1-B student flailed wildly in the air, a hurricane of fur and muscle, but all Uraraka needed to do was give him a hard shove. He went sailing in the direction she'd pushed him at an almost leisurely pace, trying and failing to abort his movement the entire way. It wasn't long before he was floating above the ground outside the ring.
"Release!" Uraraka said, touching her fingertips together.
Shishida immediately fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes as gravity reclaimed its hold on him.
"Jurota Shishida is out of the ring!" Midnight announced, somewhat unnecessarily. "Ochako Uraraka advances to the next round!"
"Good match, Shishida," the brunette told her beaten opponent as he rose to his feet.
Shishida sighed heavily but then gave the petite young woman a polite bow. "You as well," he said. "Good luck in the rest of the tournament."
Giving him a smile and a nod, Uraraka made her way back to the 1-A box, where her friends were waiting to congratulate her.
"And there you have it, folks! After appearing to be in trouble early on, Uraraka turns it around to advance to the quarterfinals!" Present Mic announced. "Seems like we've had a series of short but intense matches, following our first battle."
"That's usually the way it goes with first years: whoever has the Quirk advantage typically wins quickly," Eraserhead grunted. "Students at this stage haven't yet learned much about how to overcome such a disadvantage. So it was probably a mistake to do a straight fighting tournament like this as the final round for the first years."
"…you probably shouldn't be criticizing the festival while you're announcing for it, my friend!" Mic warned, even as he maintained the same excited, enthusiastic tone he'd used the whole time.
"I didn't want to be an announcer. I'm literally only here because you insisted and wouldn't shut up until I agreed," was Eraserhead's blunt reply.
Present Mic seemed to mute their microphones after that.
"Wow, he really has no filter, does he?" Uraraka remarked.
"I suspect he's hoping to avoid ever being asked to act as an announcer for the festival again," Yaoyorozu surmised.
"Never mind that!" Jirou said. "You're all doing so crazy well out there. I wouldn't be surprised if two of you met up in the finals at this rate!"
"Um, I haven't gotten a chance to fight yet," Izuku put in, only for Jirou to scoff in response, as if the idea he might lose in the first round was absurd.
"Also, Uraraka and I can't meet in the finals," Yaoyorozu pointed out. "We'd meet the semifinals, instead."
The punk rocker girl gave them an annoyed look. "Ugh, you all know what I mean."
Yaoyorozu smiled warmly. "Yes, I do."
"Maybe we should make a promise! The only ones we're allowed to lose to are each other!" Uraraka said.
Yaoyorozu giggled. "I don't think that's how that works, and in any case, I intend to go as far as I possibly can."
"Me too," Izuku agreed.
"Aw, c'mon, let's promise that we'll meet up as much as possible in this," Uraraka wheedled.
Yaoyorozu paused, then nodded. "Very well, then," she said. "Uraraka, I shall see you in the semifinals."
"I'll do everything I can to meet one of you in the final round," Izuku swore.
Now all they had to do was make it a reality.
Chapter 20: Sports Festival, Part 6
"If you're just rejoining us at home, welcome back, listeners! We're deep into the seventh matchup of the first round, between Sero of Class 1-A and Komori of Class 1-B!" Present Mic said, ever the dynamo of energy and high volume.
"To quickly recap the events of the fifth and sixth matches for those of you who may have missed it, Yanagi of Class B attempted to use her telekinetic Quirk to lift her opponent, Kirishima of Class A, but he proved too heavy. After that, she sent a barrage of small objects at him, but Kirishima was able to tank those attacks and easily earned the win."
After receiving a moderately menacing text from Principal Nezu, the underground hero was treating his role as an announcer somewhat more dutifully. He still refused to feign any enthusiasm for it, though. It was just the principle of the thing.
"In the sixth match, Juzo Honenuki managed to use his Quirk to soften part of the ring until his opponent and classmate, Yosetsu Awase, became completely stuck in it and Midnight deemed him immobilized," Eraserhead continued. "So far, this 1-B vs. 1-B match is the only instance where a member of that class advanced to the quarterfinals."
"Right you are, good buddy, but at the rate this match is going, it's looking like Honenuki may soon have some company in the next round!"Mic said. "Because Komori's got young Sero on the ropes!"
The ring below was rapidly transforming into a massive cluster of mushrooms, puffballs, and other fungi, courtesy of Komori's Quirk. Sero was moving at top speed, doing his best to avoid being caught up in the latest fungal bloom and trying to tie Komori up with his tape. However, more giant mushrooms always seemed to block his path, and puffballs and fungal slime was increasingly growing even on his tape.
"Sero might've been able to win early on if he'd been more aggressive," Eraserhead said. "As it is, now that Komori's gotten a chance to really get her Quirk going, the odds are becoming more stacked against him the longer this goes on."
"Hard to deny that! Though I'm surprised Komori was able to get her fungi growing so aggressively in this environment," Present Mic said.
Eraserhead nodded. "It is unexpected, but as a hero, you have to learn to be able to adapt to the unexpected, as well as how to overcome long odds. Komori managed to get through the early match. Let's see if Sero can do the same now."
As they watched, Sero attempted to fire a strand of tape at a mushroom that was nearly the height of an oak tree so he could swing away, but puffballs spawned and rapidly grew on the tape as it flew through the air. The extra weight prevented it from even reaching its target, let alone sticking.
A moment later, the young man was surrounded on all sides by massive fungi, which were rapidly threaten to smother him.
"I give up!" he shouted.
"Sero has forfeit the match! Komori advances to the next round!" Midnight announced.
"And there you have it, folks! Young Komori emerges victorious from her first bout and will face off against the winner of the seventh and final match of the first round!" Present Mic said.
"It seems that Sero still has plenty to learn,"Eraserhead said, in a tone that would've made the student shiver if he hadn't been too preoccupied with escaping Komori's fungi to hear it. "It seemed like he was trying to be gentle at the start of the match, either out of some sense of misplaced chivalry or because his opponent being a petite girl caused him to underestimate her. Either way, he paid the price for it."
"With another match in the books, we'll proceed to the next fight after the ten-minute break…plus however much time it takes to get the ring back to normal!" Present Mic added.
Izuku had reached the conclusion that the preparation rooms were less about actually giving them the chance to prepare than it was to ensure the tournament contestants could dramatically enter the stadium when announced, instead of simply walking from their respective spectator sections.
Under other circumstances, he would've hated having to just sit in the little room for the ten minutes before his match finally began, fully alone with his thoughts and anxieties during that time.
As things were, however, it was a godsend to him.
"Ring, power check," he said softly.
"Power levels at 46 percent," it answered.
Izuku grimaced, knowing he'd probably run through so much of his charge largely thanks to desperately shoring up his faltering defenses during the climax of the cavalry battle. He'd pumped truly obscene amounts of willpower through the ring to keep the force bubble from shattering.
After taking a quick look around the room to double check for any obvious cameras and finding none, he reached into the subspace pocket and withdrew his power battery, allowing the viridian ring on his finger to shimmer into visibility.
"In brightest day, in blackest night…"
Bakugo didn't quite know why he was stalking through the halls of the stadium, pretending he didn't realize he was moving in the general direction of the room where Deku was.
He sure as hell didn't want to talk to the creepy nerd. Sure, there was a part of him that wanted to let Deku know exactly how hard his ass would get kicked if he made it to the finals and gave Bakugo a school-sanctioned excuse to beat him down, but he didn't want to give the shitty creeper the idea that he was important enough for Bakugo to actually take the time and energy to seek him out.
He definitely wasn't. He was still goddamn Deku.
Despite the fact that he beat him at Aizawa's Quirk assessment test.
Despite the fact that he and Ponytail were the ones who'd stopped the League's "anti-All Might" creature.
Despite the fact that he won the obstacle race.
Despite the fact that his team won the cavalry battle.
Bakugo just barely managed to stifle the scream that wanted to erupt out of him, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails were threatening to puncture his palms and draw blood.
He forced himself to relax his hands, knowing that the last thing he needed was any sort of injury to his hands that would make it more difficult to use his Quirk, no matter how minor. Still, white hot rage continued to burn away inside him.
It was like the useless little shit had forgotten that Bakugo was supposed to be the hero, the future number one in fact. Deku was just supposed to be an insignificant little pebble in his path, a minor detail not even worth mentioning in his life story once he'd climbed to the top.
Instead, that shitty nerd was looking down on him, had the gall to act like he was the hero and Bakugowas the pebble.
And so far, all his attempts to put Deku back into his place had failed miserably.
That scream might've gotten out of him yet if he hadn't realized just then that he could hear the nerd's voice from nearby. Deku was definitely speaking, though he was doing it so quietly that Bakugo couldn't immediately make out the words.
Probably just one of the freak's creepy mumble fests,he thought with a scowl, knowing that there shouldn't be anyone in the prep room with him.
He strained his ears all the same.
"…beware my power, Green Lantern's light."
"Power levels at 100 percent."
The explosive blonde did a double take at the second voice, which was so flat and toneless that he immediately knew it wasn't a person.
The fuck?! He wondered, freezing in place. Is he recharging something?!
That didn't make any damn sense; no ordinary consumer gadget would announce when it was finished charging up like that, and only the Support Class students were allowed to use support items at the festival, unless it was something they needed, like Sparkle's belt. In any case, Deku didn't have any high-tech support items included in his costume.
Or did he?
Bakugo's eyes widened, everything suddenly making sense to him. The useless nerd hadn't magically gained a Quirk in his mid-teens, he had some super advanced piece of support gear that allowed him to fake it!
He very nearly kicked the door open and demanded that Deku admit it right then and there, but then he stopped himself.
Despite what everyone might believe, Bakugo wascapable of thinking things through rather than reacting with blind rage all the time.
Whatever Deku was doing exactly to fake having a powerful Quirk, his act was so good that he clearly had all the teachers and everyone else in their class totally fooled. Even if he did catch the nerd in the process of recharging whatever wonder support item he had, Deku could just deny it when he told the teachers, and they'd believe him. The only thing he'd manage to achieve would be letting Deku know he was onto him.
Bakugo needed a way to prove it.
Then he could put the worthless shit into his place, once and for all.
The door to the prep room swung open—Bakugo realized belatedly that he'd been standing around in the hallway for too long while he processed the revelation he'd just had—and the blonde ducked around a corner and out of sight. Deku headed off in the opposite direction, never taking notice of him.
Enjoy your time pretending to be someone who matters, you worthless Deku, he thought, scowling venomously. When we fight in the finals, I'm going to find whatever magic piece of support gear you have and destroy it, so the whole fucking world will see how weak and useless you really are.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the final match of the first round! Can I get a 'Hey!' from all you listeners?" Present Mic exclaimed.
"HEY!" a good chunk of the audience shouted obligingly.
The voice hero briefly muted the microphones in the announcer's booth. "They're so much better than the kids at the entrance exam when it comes to that," Mic said, grinning.
Eraserhead grunted, unsurprised that the teens at the exam wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
Mic turned the microphones back on. "Entering first, she's the representative of Class 1-B! Her extra-large punches hit like a freight train…Itsuka Kendo!"
The pretty redhead walked into the ring, waving at the audience, a slightly bashful look on her face.
"And her opponent, he's the vice rep of Class 1-A, the winner of the obstacle race, the current record holder for most points earned in the UA hero course entrance exam, and a member of the winning team for the cavalry battle, Izuku Midoriya!"
A tense looking Izuku stepped into the ring, not attempting to wave at the crowds like his opponent had.
"This would appear to be a very lopsided match," Eraserhead remarked. "There's no arguing that Midoriya's Quirk is powerful and that he's done extremely well so far. But first year students on a winning streak like this can often get overconfident."
"A solid point, good buddy! It would be a mistake to write off young Kendo!" Present Mic agreed.
"Hello, Midoriya, it's nice to meet you," Kendo greeted her opponent politely.
"N-Nice to meet you, too," Midoriya replied.
"After the festival, it would be a good idea to set up a chance for you, me, Yaoyorozu, and Shoda to talk sometime," she said, referring to her vice rep. "I think it would be a good idea if we tried to brainstorm a way to turn down the heat on the rivalry between our classes."
"Oh, no problem! I'm sure Yaomomo won't have an issue with that!" Midoriya quickly agreed.
Kendo arched an eyebrow, both at the nickname and at how oddly nervous the kid with the winning record and powerful Quick appeared to be.
She gave a mental shrug. Probably just stage fright over being the center of attention for such a massive audience.
"But that's not what we're here for right now," she said, taking a fighting stance. "Let's have a good match!"
"Right!" he nodded, mustering a smile.
"Students, are you ready?" Midnight asked, and they both said that they were. "Begin!"
Kendo was charging the instant the R-Rated heroine gave them the signal to go.
The redhead knew that the odds were heavily against her; Midoriya clearly had a very powerful Quirk and obviously didn't lack the skill necessary to use it well, judging by his successes in the festival so far. But she was still going to give this her best shot, both for herself and for 1-B.
Even if she felt that Monoma was taking the rivalry way too far, that didn't mean she wanted to see the other hero class completely dominate the tournament, after all.
If she was fast and aggressive enough, she might be able to get the win before Midoriya could properly make use of his abilities. It was her only real chance so far as she could see.
She fired off a punch at Midoriya, her fist enlarging to the size of a refrigerator as it sailed through the air, hoping to knock him out of the ring in one blow.
Only for an equally large fist made of green light to crash directly into hers, stopping it cold. Kendo could just see a glowing tendril connecting Midoriya to the copycat giant fist.
It dissipated like smoke before she could even react, but before it did, Midoriya withdrew toward the opposite end of the ring, levitating about a meter off the ground as emerald light wreathed his form.
Kendo tried to ignore the creeping feeling of dread in her stomach as she rushed toward him.
Then the green light around Midoriya pulsed, and suddenly a storm of big jade fists was surging through the air at the 1-B student.
With a scowl, Kendo lashed out, meeting the emerald punches with her own blows. Each green hand she struck dissipated immediately, only for two more to take its place.
I've heard of a barrage of punches, but this is ridiculous! She thought.
The situation looked grim for her, but she refused to give up. If she went down, she was going down swinging.
"Plus ultra!" she shouted as she moved forward, striking an emerald fist every second even while frantically dodging others as she went. Thankfully her stronger, oversized hands made basic cartwheels and flips relatively easy, increasing her ability to get out of the way of her opponent's attacks.
Progress was distressingly slow, but she wasadvancing and getting closer to Midoriya.
At some point, Kendo realized she was grinning. Her knuckles throbbed from trading countless blows with her foe's constructs, and the effort of pressing forward while weathering the furious assault had her panting, lungs burning, but despite all that, she was having fun.
It wasn't often that she got to go all out like this, even in exercises against her classmates.
"You're a great opponent, Midoriya, but you're going down!" she exclaimed as she finally drew within striking range of the 1-A student.
Two particularly big emerald fists rushed out at her just before she could try to grab him, and Kendo met the blows with her own, enlarged flesh striking hard light dead on.
For a brief moment, the battle stilled.
Then a third green hand crashed into her torso, knocking the wind out of her and wrapping its huge fingers around her body.
Releasing a yelp, Kendo desperately tried to pry it off of her, then tried to sever the green strand that connected it to Midoriya.
Unfortunately for her, neither one of those succeeded, and a moment later she was being gently placed on the ground outside the ring.
"Kendo is out of bounds!" Midnight announced. "Midoriya advances to the next round!"
The redhead allowed herself a sigh before she gave Midoriya a smile. "Good match," she said.
She had a sneaking suspicion that he could've ended the bout much earlier than he had. If so, she was glad that he'd at least allowed her the chance to show any pros watching what she could do, even if it hadn't been strictly the smartest move for him.
"Yeah," he said, vaguely apologetic about beating her. "Your Quirk is really cool!"
Her smile became a bit more genuine. "Thanks," she said. "I'll reach out to you and Yaoyorozu about that talk when regular classes start up again."
"And there you have it! The first round is in the books, and we have our eight contestants for the second round!" Present Mic announced.
"There will be a twenty minute break before the next round begins," Eraserhead said.
"Right you are, my mummy buddy! So you lovely listeners, feel free to grab a snack or use the restroom real quick, but make sure to be back soon! Bakugo vs. Yaoyorozu is up next, and it's sure to be an explosive matchup!"
"That pun is terrible, and you should feel bad about making it," Eraserhead said flatly.
In the 1-A spectator section, Momo turned to look at Bakugo, only to see that he was glaring intently at Midoriya, pure fury smoldering in his eyes. Her jaw set and her right hand curled into a fist.
Chapter 21: Sports Festival, Part 7
Bakugo hadn't expected to encounter Deku on his way to his assigned prep room, and frankly he hadn't wanted to.
It was nice to know that he'd finally figured out the worthless nerd's game and would soon expose it to the whole world, but the sight of the smug, lying asshole still stoked a deep fury inside of him.
He wanted to punch Deku's face in right here and now, but he knew he needed to wait until the finals, so he contented himself with roughly shoulder checking him as they passed by each other in the hallway, not saying a word in acknowledgment of the loser.
At first Deku didn't respond at all, which was exactly what Bakugo had expected.
"Kacchan," he spoke after a moment. "Could you please wait for a second? I want to talk to you real quick."
"Fuck off, Deku," he snarled, not turning around and not stopping.
"Katsuki Bakugo."
He hated it, but that caused him to stop short, though he didn't turn around to face the nerd. Deku hadn't addressed him by his real name since…
Actually, he wasn't sure if Deku had ever called him by his real name.
"The hell do you want?" he growled, pissed off that the nerd had succeeded in getting him to stop.
"Don't hurt her," Deku said.
"What?" Bakugo hissed, turning around to look at Deku at last. He was actually too surprised at the idiot saying something so completely ridiculous to be furious at Deku for having the gall to try to boss him around.
"I'm not saying don't lay a hand on her. I know it's a match and the whole point is to fight," Deku clarified. "Just…if you win, don't fire off an explosion on her after Midnight calls it, or drag out the match just to make yourself look cool or something."
Bakugo's upper lip curled back. The implication that Deku thought Ponytail could win pissed him off almost as much as the Quirkless loser trying to tell him what to do, but he let that one slide. The idiot was clearly hot for her and probably had an outsized opinion of her.
Of course, the joke was on him; no woman would want anything to do with him once everyone found out he'd been faking a Quirk to cover up his lack of one.
"You think you can give me orders, asshole?" he demanded. "You got saved by the bell from me at the end of the cavalry battle and you think you're hot shit now?"
The explosive blonde tried to tell himself he wasn't put off by the even look that the green-haired boy gave him. "It's not an order, it's a warning."
"Oh, and what are you gonna do if I ignore it?" Bakugo challenged him. "What if I fucking destroy Ponytail? What are you going to do about it?"
Honestly, the fact that Deku was trying to get him to treat Ponytail with kid gloves kind of made him want to murder her extra painfully.
"I held off the League's anti-All Might creature," Deku said flatly. "Use your imagination."
Bakugo bristled at the implied threat, but something stopped him from blowing off the other student's warning.
If there was one thing he had learned about Deku, it was that the useless waste of space would instantly fold like a cheap tent if he was only trying to stand up for himself, but he would not back down if he was trying to stick up for someone else, even it meant getting the shit kicked out of him.
Bakugo should know, since he was usually the one doing the kicking.
"Tch, not like I give a crap about Ponytail," he scoffed.
You're the one I'm going to fucking murder, he added silently. Murder and expose your secret, you lying shit.
Deku gave him a curt nod and walked off.
Bakugo gave his retreating the back the finger before turning and resuming course for the prep room, seething.
"Calm down, Green," Jirou said. "I've never seen someone fidget so hard in my life."
Ochako didn't know what had happened when he'd left to go to the bathroom, but he'd come back a couple of minutes ago looking oddly drained and high strung at once.
Probably just his worry over Yaomomo, she decided.
"Sorry," Midoriya replied, ceasing his nervous movements, at least for the moment. "I'm just anxious about the next match, I guess. I know Yaomomo can take care of herself, but Kacchan…"
"After the battle trial with the fake bomb, your anxiety is understandable," Iida allowed.
"I'm still amazed Bakugo didn't get any punishment for that beyond Mr. Aizawa telling him to grow up the next day," Jirou said, making a face.
"But do remember that Bakugo will not have his gauntlets here," Iida continued, ignoring the punk girl's remark, possibly because he couldn't disagree yet didn't want to openly criticize a UA teacher. "And Yaoyorozu has only grown more formidable since then!"
Midoriya nodded, clenching his hands into fists, even as his legs slowly resumed their twitching and fidgeting. "Yeah," he said. "She's strong, and smart, and she's been improving incredibly. She can handle even this." He sounded more like he was trying to psyche himself up than anything else.
Ochako pretended to scratch her cheek so she could hide her knowing grin with her hand. It was adorable how obviously in love, yet totally oblivious, those two were.
"It's crazy how many people's Quirks she can duplicate now," she said, once she could keep a straight face. "And besides, Yaomomo said she has more tricks up her sleeve."
"Right," Midoriya said, still sounding like he was speaking mostly to himself. "She's amazing. She's got this."
Ochako didn't bother trying to hide her smirk this time.
"All right, you lovely audience! Are you ready to begin round two?" Present Mic's voice boomed over the stadium's loudspeakers.
The audience roared in the affirmative.
"That's what I like to hear!" the voice hero cheered. "So without further ado, let's introduce our fighters for the first match of this round! First up, please welcome back the representative of Class 1-A, that young hero hopeful with a Quirk that provides endless possibilities…Momo Yaoyorozu!"
The raven-haired girl marched out, looking determined. Even from the 1-A box, Ochako could tell how determined she was.
"Go Yaomomo! You can do this!" she cheered.
Iida immediately scolded her for favoring one member of their class after another, but it was worth it.
"And her opponent, this young firecracker's relentless offense was able to overcome even the steel solid defense of his round one opponent…Katsuki Bakugo!"
"Here we go," Midoriya breathed.
"Students, are you ready?" Midnight asked.
"Yes," Momo answered firmly.
"Damn straight I am," Bakugo replied, a savage grin stretching his face.
Momo did her best to suppress the scowl that wanted to twist her features, but she wasn't sure if she succeeded entirely.
It mostly wasn't even anger for her own sake, though she'd be lying if she claimed that she was over the battle trial where he'd fired his gauntlet at her.
Momo wasn't a fool, and she wasn't blind. She had noticed the way Midoriya would flinch and curl in on himself when Bakugo would start yelling. When it came to the blonde's frequent eruptions of temper, familiarity had already bred contempt in most of their classmates, with several of them viewing it as comical, but the one he'd gone to school would cringe at these, every time.
Midoriya could face down dangerous villains without a second thought, but with Bakugo he always seemed to have to overcome sheer terror.
He had done so much for her in the fairly brief time she'd known him. His insights and support had been the keys to virtually all of the improvements she'd made in the use of her Quirk since starting at UA. Momo would be in no way exaggerating to say he was the best friend she'd ever had.
Since he had helped her so much, she was determined to do something for him now.
She was going to defeat Bakugo to ensure Midoriya didn't need to deal with him in the finals.
Midnight raised her whip. "Get ready…" she said.
Momo tensed. Bakugo's palms popped with small explosions.
"BEGIN!" Midnight shouted.
Bakugo was off before the Rated-R heroine managed to bring her whip down, flying through the air towards Momo, trailing smoke and fire as he used explosions to propel himself forward.
Momo immediately activated her own Quirk, thick gray smoke emitting from every square centimeter of exposed skin on her body, throwing herself into a motion as she did so. In an instant, she was completely obscured, and Bakugo's initial attack hit only empty space.
"Damn it, don't hide from me, coward!" the explosive boy snarled.
Momo resisted the urge to scoff as she created a quick bo staff; did Bakugo really expect everyone to fight him on his terms?
She wished she could create herself some infrared goggles, but Momo knew she didn't have that kind of time. Thankfully, the sparks from the explosions Bakugo was constantly firing off cut through the smoke and gave away his position quite well.
"Ah! God damn it!" he swore as she managed to land a solid hit.
She pressed the offensive, hoping desperately that she could end it right here, making sure to keep moving so as to prevent him from figuring out where she was.
When he released a thunderous scream of fury, Momo knew she'd gotten everything she could out of this gambit and sprinted away from Bakugo, emerging from the smoke cloud she'd generated.
With another wordless roar, the blonde set off an explosion that managed to dissipate all the smoke she'd created, sending it flying off into the winds. Momo gasped as she felt the shockwave in her chest as it washed over her.
She couldn't help but be impressed at how Bakugo had somehow managed to unleash enough concussive force to do that without also creating an explosion big enough to reduce the ring to rubble.
He really did have amazing skill with using his Quirk, unfortunately for her.
With a growl, Bakugo leaped into the air, using his explosions to allow him to achieve a chaotic form of flight. Momo scowled, raising her bo staff in a defensive stance.
He surged toward her like a fighter plane on a kamikaze run, and she swung…only to hit air as he abruptly changed course at the last second, then reached out and smacked her shoulder, firing off a blast that singed her gym uniform before flying off again.
"Thought you had me, didn't you, prissy bitch?" he taunted as he went in for another pass, another blast knocking the bo staff from her hands and sending it careening out of the ring.
She didn't answer, instead retaliating by shooting tape into the air, hoping to lasso him right out of the sky.
It didn't work, and he managed to tag her three more times in rapid succession, her uniform rapidly acquiring a collection of scorch marks, burns stinging her skin.
"Heh, just like I thought, resorting to stealing other people's Quirks like always," Bakugo sneered. "No wonder you're friends with that stalker creep Deku! You're just as useless as he is when you're not using other people's power!"
Scowling, she created a bunch of small firecrackers from her forearms, which went flying at Bakugo, only for him to expertly dodge before they popped and then hit her again before zipping away once more.
She hissed in pain; the blows stung something fierce, though they didn't actually do that much damage; it was clear that Bakugo had adopted a strategy of whittling her down gradually.
Or at least, so it seemed.
"Stun grenade!" he roared, careening directly toward her.
Momo let out a cry as she was blinded by the bright flash, the force of the explosion enough to knock her off her feet and make her land painfully on her rear.
"You started pretty strong, Ponytail, I'll give you that," Bakugo said from somewhere in front of her. Momo frantically blinked her eyes to try and clear her vision, and she could just make out Bakugo's vague shape raising his hands for a deciding blow. "Too bad you couldn't capitalize on it."
Momo abruptly brought a hand up and activated her Quirk, sending a jet of liquid shooting out of her palm and directly at Bakugo. The blonde sputtered in fury and shock, and the raven-haired hero student scrambled to her feet, putting a bit of distance between them as her vision gradually sharpened.
"What the fuck is this?!" Bakugo snarled.
"Just water," Momo replied, with a small, sharp grin.
Crimson eyes widened.
His whole Quirk worked by producing explosive sweat from his palms. Dousing him in water would dilute the sweat he already had, rendering it useless, and make it difficult for him to produce more in a hurry.
Momo sent a barrage of matryoshka dolls with small grenades flying at him.
"Shit!" Bakugo yelled, scrambling out of the way while frantically wiping his palms on his relatively dry pants legs.
Momo charged toward him, creating everything she could think of to harry or stop him, determined to make the most of the advantage she'd managed to win for herself before Bakugo was able to get his Quirk to spark back up again.
If spots weren't still dancing before her vision, she was sure she could've done it. As it was, Bakugo kept stubbornly evading her.
She was nearly ready to give up hope of that when he stepped into a puddle of Cemendine glue she'd placed earlier.
"Got you," she breathed.
"Urgh! Damnit!" Bakugo snarled.
Momo raised her hands to create some tape. Hopefully she could wrap him up and finally end this match.
Then Bakugo stepped out of his shoes and went flying towards her, his Quirk firing on all cylinders once again.
In the 1-A spectator box, Kaminari smacked himself in the forehead. "Why didn't we think of that during the cavalry battle?!"
Nearby, Tokoyami allowed himself a sigh. "Kaminari, the patch of glue we were stuck in was too large for that. We couldn't have gotten out of it with a single step, never mind the difficulty of coordinating such a maneuver with three people."
"Oh…" the electric youth sagged.
"What a mad banquet of darkness."
Momo released a cry as Bakugo slammed into her head on, gripping one of her shoulders and firing his Quirk off repeatedly, even while he used his other hand to unleash a steady stream of blasts to keep propelling them both forward.
The Creation user's mind raced despite the pain, knowing that she only had seconds before he managed to push her out of the ring and claim the victory.
She needed to do something!
Activating her Quirk again, Momo swung her head forward.
"Fuck! Damn it!" Bakugo screamed as her headbutt impacted against his skull, abruptly stopping his assault and staggering away from her.
The iron plate that Momo had created from her forehead dropped to the ground, and she staggered to her feet, hissing in pain at the burn that seemed to cover her entire left shoulder.
"You're tough. Tougher than I would've expected, Ponytail," Bakugo growled at her through gritted teeth. "But you're done. Give it up before I have to really mess you up."
Momo's right forearm glowed as she activated her Quirk again, a piece of support gear growing out of her body like new green shoots from a young plant.
"No," she said, pointing a grenade gauntlet that was a perfect duplicate of one of Bakugo's at him. "Yougive up."
"Yaoyorozu, don't!" Midnight commanded sharply as the raven-haired student somehow found the strength in her battered arm to reach up and grab the pin on the gauntlet.
Bakugo laughed derisively. "What, is this supposed to be your big payback for what happened during the battle trial? You're going to try to use my own gear against me?" he sneered. "Go ahead! If you think you can actually hit me with that thing, you're even more of a dumbass than Deku is!"
"Don't!" Midnight said again. "You could kill Bakugo! You will hurt members of the audience!"
"Come on, you coward!" Bakugo shouted. "Go ahead and shoot it! Don't make the thing and then chicken out!"
"Bakugo, shut up!" Midnight hissed, before turning back to the raven-haired girl. "Don't do it!"
Momo paused for a moment.
Then she pulled the pin.
A concentrated plume of pink gas erupted from the gauntlet, rather than the column of flame and explosive force that hero students and teachers alike had been expecting.
Bakugo had started moving the moment she'd pulled the pin, using his Quirk to rocket himself out of the way of the attack, but the blast from his regular gauntlets didn't spread out nearly so quickly as the gas from Momo's version, and he failed to avoid the cloud of imitation Somnambulist vapors.
The pink mist obscured Bakugo entirely, and Momo's whole body tensed, fearing that he'd managed to hold his breath in time and was going to burst out of the gas cloud, hands blazing.
Then Midnight waved one of her fans, sending some of the gas blowing away, and revealed Bakugo laying on the ring, not moving. She quickly went over to check on him, then looked up to address the audience.
"Bakugo is unconscious! Yaoyorozu advances to the third round!" she announced, and the audience erupted in cheers.
"Amazing! Despite the relentless ferocity of young Bakugo, Yaoyorozu was able to pull out the win with a mixture of quick thinking, innovative use of her Quirk, and misdirection!"Present Mic was losing his mind over the loudspeakers.
Momo was dimly aware of Aizawa making some remark about how Bakugo could've won if he hadn't paused for apparent boasting, but she didn't really hear him. She looked down at the explosive boy's unconscious form.
"That was for Midoriya," she said softly before she began to head for the exit and Recovery Girl's temporary office inside the stadium.