"Ladies and gentlemen, it is finally up to the last round. We have five finalist and because of the uneven number we have something special planned today" pure mischief. That's what Shino could detect in Midnight's voice.
Five of them remained. Izuku. Katsuki. Sora. Shoto and Shino herself. An interesting group if you asked her. A lot had happened up until that moment. The fights went in until they were the last standing. Shino was faced with Tokoyami and came out the victor. After that she just relaxed and watched everything unfold. She occupied herself with a conversation involving Momo. They weren't discussing anything special. Just idle chats.
And now she was standing in the familiar arena along with her five fellow finalist. She could already see where this is going. Midnight didn't even need to finish her commentary. Shino could tell by the different looks on everyone's faces that they had the same idea as her.
"We'll be having a small battle royal. The last one standing in the arena is the victor"
Yup. Exactly as she thought. A battle royal. A promising start. Will teams be formed? If so how many? Who would team up with who?
Shino didn't know that yet, not completely. What she did know was that she would be the target of all four boys.
She chuckled, seemingly embarrassed or bashful at the realization. Shino is never embarrassed. Bashfulness is well something she experiences however. But it was neither of those. Her chuckle was pure amusement.
She was in trouble.
The match officially started and the first one coming at her was none other that Katsuki himself. Shino easily side stepped him, gripping his arm and pushing him past her. Next up was Izuku from the sky. A quickly roll and she avoided a boot to the face. Sora came reeling from her left sending a psionic wave towards her, effectively pushing her back a few feet. And to top it all off Ice soon covered half her body.
"Four against one is hardly fair" Shino said casually even as the four started approaching her.
"It is when you're practically unbeatable " Sora quipped.
"I don't think I'm that impressive" Shino rolled her eyes as she freed her arm from the rapidly melting ice. She flexed her wrist testing her spinnerets. Fully functioning and full.
"You never do. You're too modest"
Air flew past Shino's cheek as she merely tilted her head away from Sora's attack. She kicked free from the ice holding her captive and wielded a pretty impressive icicle . A bit blunt but sharp enough to cause minor damage. She twisted it in her hand experimentally. A grin spread across her face as she moved forward at a rapid pace. She just loved the excitement of battle.
Hey if she was unlucky enough she could have been a saiyan.
Her first target was Izuku. Shino's movements were graceful and easy. She practiced for years and developed her own style over time. She moved purely on muscle memory. She didn't need to think about her movements. Her mind wasn't inactive however. She was working up multiple strategies. What could work what would fail. How to use everyone's weaknesses against them. Break the teamwork they had formed on the spot.
With an amazing show of athletics Shino dodged a flaming attack from Izuku. Countered another from Shoto. Completely shut Katsuki down and threw him into Sora's winding psionic force.
The piece of ice she wielded was discarded. She stood a few paces away from the boys. She was bouncing from one foot to another. The thrill she was feeling at the moment sent adrenaline pumping through her.
"I'm starting to think that four against one is pretty fair after all"
Shiro smiled proudly as he watched his daughter dance circles around the boys. She was something else. She wasn't even using her webs. She depended solely on her natural abilities. He noted the excitement she was letting out. He chuckled. She always got excited during a good fight. Must be something she inherited from him. Nico was always calm. Something that was passed onto Shino as well. Shiro knew his daughter would win this match. She would stand proud with the golden medal, having conquered the entire event. He could already see the impossibly long list of internships lined up for her. He would be one of them. As would his wife. It was up to Shino to decide who to intern with.
He told himself that but he had a deep feeling Nico would be her first option.
A mother is always close to her daughter after all.
"She's definitely having her fun" Nico said next to him. Her eyes were trained on her daughter as she daughter glided over the arena sweeping the boys off their feet in the process. She was a force to be reckoned with when she got excited over a match. Being faced with four splendid fighters must have her thrilled.
"Who do you think she'll throw out first? " Shiro asked with raised eyebrow.
"Katsuki"There was no uncertainty in Nico's voice. "He's being very loud"
"Shino! Stop playing with me you piece of sh-"
Katsuki's face was introduced to Shino's boots, silencing him before he could utter any foul language.
"Watch that mouth of yours" Shino warned as she kicked kick again, pushing him towards the edge.
Shiro sighed. "Yeah, he'll go first alright "
"It's always Katsuki that gets abused"
"Not much of a surprise seeing as he's quite hard to contain and is overly loud"
Shiro received a hard slap on the back at that. He turned to find a smirking Mitsuki accompanied by a smiling Inko.
"No need to sugar coat the truth. We all know that Katsuki is an arrogant little bastard who is always angry "
"He's your son, Mitsuki" Inko sweat dropped at her friend's tone
"Exactly "
Shino continued to push against Katsuki. All of his blows were evaded and countered as Shino pushed him towards the edge. She would jot relent. Blow after blow after blow. Katsuki was not allowed to take some time to breath. She kept him on his feet and too distracted to notice what she was up to.
It also helped that she kept a taunting smile on her face that just angered Katsuki more.
Almost there. Katsuki was close enough to the edge that Shino would just need one push. On cue her danger sense kicked in and she ducked.
Izuku flew over her head, his body aflame and fist at the ready. He adopted a look of panic when he realized what had happened. He decided that since the two were distracted with each other he could sneak up and take them both out. In the end he ended up crashing into Katsuki and tumbling over the edge.
"Double take down" Shino celebrated with a moonwalk. The moonwalk was more than just a celebrating though. She had sensed Sora nearby and avoided some serious bodily pain.
With Katsuki and Izuku out of the match that left Sora and Shoto. Shino was interested in a one on one against Shoto, so she would have to kick Sora out.
With that in mind she connected a web to his arm. He raised an eyebrow in challenge as if daring Shino to go through with what she was definitely thinking. Shino only smiled a deceptively sweet smile as she sent strong electrical currents through her webbings. Sora widened his eyed in actual shock and quickly disconnected himself from the webbing just in time.
"You actually did that" Sora said in utter disbelief. "You tried to take me out immediately. You would've paralyzed me. Again "
"Yes, you are absolutely correct"
"I hate being paralyzed. It sucks" Sora slumped with a quiet groan.
"Oh I know" Shino smiled and flicked both wrists.
Sora blinked when the sticky substance made contact again. He moved to pull them off, but they wouldn't budge.
What the hell?
Shino disconnected from her webbing only to shoot countless balls of webbing towards Sora. Sora immediately set into action dodging each shot aimed at him, while tugging on the ones stuck to his arms.
What a sticky situation.
Even with his strength he could not remove the web. Shino had reinforced it. Of course.
Shino was in front of Sora within a second and their one on one began.
Shoto stood aside only watching the scene. His face portrayed no emotion. Just a blank stare. At some point he actually sat down and watched the two scruffle with each other. He was being completely ignored at the moment. It didn't bother him. He would just wait for Shino to eliminate Sora. When that happens it would just be him against her.
He didn't have to wait long. Shino managed to connect a ball of web to Sora's eyes. She had to take a powerful punch to the gut to pull it off. Once his eyes were covered she proceeded to wrap him in a cocoon of some weaker webs. They won't break easily, so they would weaken faster so that Sora could get out.
Sora was shouting incoherent words as he was rolled off the arena. Shino still retained that impossibly sweet smile a the while.
And then there were two