Special Prison for Villain Criminals - Tartarus-
Tartarus. A prison built on an island set as far away from civilization as logistically viable, with the intent to host the worst of the worst.
In regular prison there already were many examples of arsonists, murderers, rapists, and cannibals, so for someone to be sentenced to Tartarus, well… It was a reflection of how monstrous they were, how much of a danger they represented to the public at large, or both.
It tended to be both, most often than not.
The structure was divided into six cell blocks of narrow, labyrinthine corridors of heavily armored metals - with reinforced steel being one of the weakest types - with various blast doors and shutters spread throughout their extension; the cell blocks were all set underground - a security measure considered not only eminently prudent but utterly necessary - with the more harmless, for a measure of the word, inmates being hosted closer to the surface, and the more dangerous ones cast into the furthest depths, to the point where the ocean's pressure would pop any human as if they were an overripe grape.
It was to these depths that All Might, Symbol of Peace and Justice, unbending pillar of the hero society - Atlas, his shoulders very much tired and pained from the weight of the sky - descended, surrounded by four stone-faced guards armed with visibly modified submachine guns with orders to shoot if anything untoward happened.
The doors to the elevator opened as they reached the deepest level, a previously alerted guard listening to something in his earpiece for a while before finally looking up at the hero.
"You're cleared. Follow me, please."
The smiling blond man followed after the soldier, his iconic Silver Age costume of bright blues, yellows, and reds greatly contrasting the man's all-black tactical outfit, both walking through sterile corridors of steely hues.
'An apt reflection of the lives we live, I guess. The shining beacon of heroism, basking in the light and adoration, while the one keeping the monsters away from the innocents lives a dark life in a sterile environment.'
That train of thought ended as the two reached the end of a path that had by now become familiar to the hero. A massive pair of blast doors were pressed shut together so tightly that not even air could pass through, with a series of panels and screens set to the side, some numerical, others alphanumerical, and at least one each of palm print and retina scanners.
The soldier typed in the multiple different codes each of the button-based panels required, pressed his hand against the green panel, and then pushed his eye close to the small camera. After that, a handful of other codes and 15 seconds of waiting, the twin doors finally separated, allowing the two of them - and the four other armed soldiers that had joined them sometime during the opening process - to enter the visitation room.
A pair of very much interested eyes fell onto All Might the very moment the doors split. All Might himself took a moment to take in their features as he made his way to his assigned seat.
A woman with long, plum-colored hair reaching her lower back in a pair of thick braids that hid her ears, and a quite 'feminine' build, possessing a pair of sizeable breasts. Her face was rounded, with a smallish nose, a pair of eyes of a hawkish yellow hidden behind a pair of square glasses, and plump, naturally rosy lips. That was all that could be seen of her, as her body from the underbust down was encased in what looked like a metallic box with a series of magnets and antennae attached to it.
Having taken long enough to observe the woman, All Might finally talked into the provided microphone.
"Sentinel."
The woman pouted at the hero, shaking her head hard enough to cause her braids to flail around.
"Sentinel was my slave name, All Might. I go by Big Brother now. Your clearance should be high enough to know this at least." She tilted her head curiously, and All Might was sure that she would've raised a hand to her chin had her hands not been trapped within the metal box. "I do find myself curious about your presence here."
"...I am here to ask you some questions."
"I see, I see." The criminal nodded for a bit before her gaze sharpened as she met All Might's. "What do I stand to gain from answering them?"
The man steeped his hands together and leaned forward, his gaze showing his earnestness as he spoke.
"Understanding, perhaps. I wish to learn about how and why such a prolific hero as yourself decided to go down a life of crime."
The woman's whole demeanor flipped at that, her previous intensity turning into cheerful joviality.
"Oh, that's all? Easy! I noticed my strings." She tilted her head again, her gaze meeting All Might's once more with an intensity that would've staggered a lesser man. "I thought that I'd be making a difference in the world, helping my fellow man and improving the standards of living for the innocent civilians, but I always found myself limited, hampered by artificial constraints placed upon me."
The blond man listened silently, noticing the fact that the woman's intensity increased the more she spoke, her previous composure utterly forgotten.
"I asked myself again and again, 'Why do they limit me? Why do they not let me fulfill my full potential?'. Had I been allowed to, I'm sure that crime could have become a thing of yesterday! We could have, by now, ushered in a utopic age, where criminals aren't allowed to harm others before being destroyed! And at first, it seemed that they understood and that they'd support my efforts.
"They gave me gear, training, resources. They let me start calculating and estimating. I had a workable system of behavioral prediction, and inputting all of the relevant data and allowing it to run simulations resulted in a 98.9% rate of accuracy. I used as much time as I could to refine the system, to increase its accuracy as much as possible, and in the process, I figured out many villainous plots that I warned them of.
"Imagine my surprise when the very events I warned them of were allowed to pass."
The metal box rattled as the woman jerked, causing all of the guards on both sides of the glass divider to aim their weapons at her. She was either unaware of that fact or simply chose to ignore it, her wild gaze meeting All Might's as she shouted.
"15! They knew, but they let 15 people DIE! When I asked for an explanation, they told me it was 'For the greater good', but by then I was already suspicious. I ran a simulation on them, want to know what I figured out?
"Control. They were never in it to save or help, or to uphold the law and justice. For them it is, and always has been, about control. Use heroes to control villains. Use villains to control civilians. Use civilians to control heroes. Lock people into cycles of controlled turmoil and temporary peace, and they'll willingly give control over their whole lives!"
Normally All Might would've ignored this sort of crazed outburst as the ramblings of a lunatic, someone who simply didn't manage to deal with the pressures of hero work and broke, falling into their own delusions. But.
While not 1-to-1 equal, her crazed words reminded him far too much of the inferences of a certain middle schooler, and they fit well with the rest of his own investigations.
He didn't allow the mixture of dread and anger building within him to show, however, as he spoke.
"So you decided to take control yourself."
"Obviously." The woman scoffed. "If someone has to hold the strings to society, then is it not better for that someone to be someone with an actual desire to improve it, rather than a handful of power-tripping dinosaurs and bureaucrats?"
A buzzer signaled the end of the visit, forcing All Might to keep the rest of the questions he was willing to ask in an environment utterly controlled by the likely opposition to himself. He stood up, ready to leave the room, only for the blast doors to slam shut as red lights bathed the room while sirens wailed.
The four guards on All Might's side tensed, their weapons a hand's flick away from use, whereas the ones on Big Brother's side didn't hesitate to level their own on her.
All Might turned toward the guard that had escorted him in, watching the man as he listened to his earpiece before barking out.
"46, 35, 72, 55 code Echo 2 7. You three go provide support while I keep the visitor company. I expect updates on the situation as soon as new information is found."
"Yes sir!" "Yes sir!" "Yes sir!" "Yes sir!"
The four men saluted before one of them entered a code into the Numpad that caused the blast doors to open halfway, giving them barely enough time to leave before they shut behind them.
"You noticed!" All Might turned towards the immobilized villain, who stared at him with a mixture of satisfaction and zeal as she spoke to him. "They told me that you talked to them as well! Finally, someone else figured out about the rot-"
Her words were interrupted when a metallic gag was slipped over the lower half of her face. Despite being gagged and glared at by the men aiming firearms at her, waiting for her to give them a reason to turn her into swiss cheese, the woman's eyes lost none of their crazed glee.
Soon enough the sirens went quiet and the lights returned to their usual coloration. The earpiece of All Might's escort crackled, with the man listening for a while, before humming his acknowledgment and turning towards the hero.
"We're free to leave."
The long process of unlocking the doors without what All Might inferred to be an emergency access code was repeated before they made the trip back to the elevator. Once inside, All Might spoke.
"What was that whole emergency about?"
He watched the man's body posture as he seemingly debated on whether or not to answer before his head tilted slightly.
"Prisoner escape attempt. Guard got sloppy, made physical contact with the Kyushu Skinner."
All Might couldn't hold back the grimace that came to his face. The Kyushu Skinner was a particularly nasty piece of work. Having the misfortune of becoming a victim of his was something most wouldn't wish even on their worst enemies.
"Do you need any help?"
The soldier's shoulders set at those words, his body posture changing in a positive manner, likely a response to the hero's unflinching willingness to help.
"No, sir! The situation has been… Taken care of."
A heavy silence fell over the elevator at the finality of the guard's words, before he spoke up once again.
"About what Sentinel said, sir… These people are in here for a reason. They're insane, monsters, or both. The temptation to feel sympathy for them and take them at face value might be there, but you should not fall for it. I've lost good men who chose to trust in these… Animals."
The rest of the elevator ride was spent in silence, as was All Might's boat journey to the mainland.
-Midoriya Izuku-
"Hajime!"
"Hya!" "Kukk!"
The sounds of rustling cloth and flesh meeting flesh resounded throughout the venue in a song of violence. Throughout various different arenas, martial artists chose to pit their skills against one another.
This was the basis of a martial arts tournament.
I was pretty surprised when a few days of research and asking around led to me finding a full-on shounen-style martial arts tournament, but after second thought I figured that it was only expected. People were more than willing to buy tickets to the U.A Sports Festival, where a bunch of teens got exploded, kicked off of big heights, and then proceeded into a series of 1-on-1 gladiatorial-style battles.
Between that, the advent of healing quirks, and the great leaps in technology, science, and medicine, having a full-contact martial arts competition became a reasonable proposition, as people no longer held the same fear of concussions, brain damage, and developmental issues that could come around as a consequence of kicking each other around a ring or arena.
"Izuuuuuuu! Mess him up!"
I turned towards Toga and gave her a jaunty wave and wink, something that I could notice from the corner of my eye to have bothered my opponent something fierce, as he started glaring daggers at me.
"Don't get hurt, Izukun!"
"Kick his ass, Izu-kun!"
Mom and Auntie Mitsuki had also chosen to show up to my first martial arts tournament, to serve as moral support.
"EAT SHIT FUCKING DEKU! HEY, YOU FUCKING EXTRA! YOU BETTER BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THIS GREEN SHITHEAD!"
Unfortunately, Auntie Mitsuki's presence automatically entailed that of the anthropomorphic Chihuahua, whose words earned him a nasty glare from Toga.
'Annoying the local bloodthirsty psychopath. Nice.'
"Fighters ready!?"
I turned my focus back to the fight, giving the referee a mild nod before turning my focus towards my opponent, who had a vein visibly throbbing on his forehead. The opponent also gave the referee a stiff nod, prompting him to raise his hand.
"Hajime!"
"HAAAAAAAAA!"
My opponent dashed at me, his feet shifting in tandem with his center of balance.
'He's gonna open with a kick, and he'll put his hip and body weight into it, so it'll probably be a roundhouse kick.'
I started moving before he had even finished his attack, slipping under his half-formed roundhouse kick that was likely being aimed at either the ribs of the head before grabbing onto the back of his Gi and pulling, causing his remaining supporting foot to leave the ground right before his whole body was thrown off of the fighting stage.
"Wh-" The referee seemed shocked at the rapid and sudden end of our bout, taking a few seconds to finally raise his hand. "V-victory, Red Side!"
I raised a fist to the cheering and clapping of mom, Miko, and Auntie Mitsuki, and teeth-grinding from one of this universe's best candidates for a red lantern ring.
My opponent was still glaring at me, but honestly, neither do I blame him, nor do I care.
I don't blame him because unlike him, who showed up in a martial arts Gi and spent a good deal of time pre-battle warming up, I came in wearing a tracksuit and spent the whole time before the start of the fight joking around with my entourage.
I don't care because… Well, he was just too weak. Yes, his form was alright, but his knuckles were neither swollen nor scarred, his eyes were more focused on what he intended on targetting rather than figuring out what I was doing, and he didn't breathe properly. This fight was an easy win from the get-go.
I climbed down from the ring with a yawn and stretch only to be jumped by my pet Yandere, who seemed to be wholly unconcerned about the fact that my face was slotted quite nicely in the canyon of her chest.
'A man could get used to the tiddy pillows.'
"Congratulations!" Mitsuki spoke up as I blindly reached the group. "That other kid didn't even stand a chance."
"Are you alright, Izukun? You didn't get injured, did you? Any pains? Do you need to rest? Or a medic? Do we have to go to a hospital? I can call an Ambul-"
"Relax, mom! What happened back there could barely qualify as a fight, much less as something that could hurt me."
"Of fucking course not!" The explosive one cut in. "Instead of fighting properly, none of them are using their quirks!"
I shifted Toga over to my back, allowing her to nibble on my neck while I gave Katsuki the flattest stare I could.
"This is the 'No Quirk' bracket. The only things that can go with you up to the arena are your training and determination."
"What fucking use is there in competing in this no quirk shit? You think villains won't use their quirks just because you ask them not to?"
"It's about polishing your technique, Kacchan. Sometimes you'll be in situations where you can't use your quirk for the safety of others, your own, or because you're being hard countered by either the opponent's quirk, tools, or battlefield selection. When you're in these situations, you have to default to good old-fashioned ass-kicking.
"Knowing this fact means having more than two brain cells to rub together, though, so I won't blame you for your ignorance."
"ARE YOU IMPLYING I'M DUMB!?"
"I'm not implying anything, Kacchan."
"WHY YOU-"
A knock to the top of his head by Mitsuki was as successful at halting him as a pouting glare from Inko was at stopping me. I sighed, before speaking up.
"This is the side tournament anyways, I just joined both to kill time and as a warmup for the real tournament, that allows for quirk usage."
Katsuki's eyes lit up at those words, and I relished the opportunity to rain on his parade.
"You need to register for the tournament through their website, and the registration portal has already shut down."
He scowled at me, and I responded by giving him my best, most saintly smile, causing his scowl to deepen as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked away.
"CONTESTANT MIDORIYA IZUKU, PLEASE PRESENT YOURSELF AT RING NUMBER 3!"
"Welp." I dislodged Toga off of me before wiping the faint traces of red from my neck. "Seems my next opponent has been decided upon. Wish me luck!"
I jogged off to the arena and was met with a participant that was slightly taller than myself, clad in a pair of red trunks and wearing a Mongkol and a pair of Pra Jiad. He clasped his bandaged hands together and bowed my way respectfully, prompting me to do the same, to his visible surprise.
"Hajime!"
Unlike the previous opponent who charged in from the get-go, this one took up a high Muay Thai stance, setting and spacing his legs and feet appropriately and raising both bandaged hands to cover his jaw and temples.
I took up an orthodox boxing stance before slowly shuffling towards him. My shuffling was very slow and deliberate, and the caution I presented paid off as his front foot shot straight to my face the moment I got within range, with my back sway being the only reason I didn't eat the foot fetishist's dream special.
His eyes lit up after I managed to successfully dodge his kick, and I felt a smile coming over my face as he took the initiative to shuffle towards me, which I reciprocated with shifts of my own footing.
The second his leading toe invaded my space I dashed in, using my right elbow to block his rising knee strike while firing off a jab that he barely managed to parry. He took the opening to shoot a punch at my chin, but I took half a step forward and lowered my head so that his fist hit my forehead before his strike built up to maximum momentum, but he answered by shifting that fist into an elbow strike.
I crouched into a half squat, allowing the elbow to whizz by the top of my head, only to have a second rising knee thrown at me, this one aimed straight at my chin. A shift of my feet allowed me to spin around my opponent's knee strike, leaving me at his open side. I took the opportunity to land a strong hook to his body, eating a straight to the cheek for my efforts, before the two of us leaped back.
He ignored the ugly bruise forming on his side just as I did the one forming on my cheek before the two of us rushed at one another again.
He threw out a front kick, which I sidestepped before going for a hook to his chin. He was the one to duck under the blow this time, responding with a rising elbow aimed at my chin, which I had to lean back to avoid. I tried throwing an uppercut from the position I was in, but he responded by stomping on my fist.
His eyes widened in surprise as rather than my fist getting pressed down, his leg ended up getting blasted back, giving me the opportunity to get in close and throw a series of blows to the kidneys, liver, floating ribs, and solar plexus, finishing with an uppercut to the jaw that blew off his mouthpiece and knocked him for a loop.
"Victory, red side!"
I helped my opponent up before giving him a respectful bow and receiving one in response, after which he left the arena. Limping and wavering, but on his feet.
After that match I was faced with a series of boring opponents, none of which posed me any real sense of threat, which ultimately resulted in the no quirk side of the tournament ending up with my victory.
My mother and Mitsuki were about to congratulate me, only for Toga to speak up above them.
"Don't worry, Izu. You'll find a fun fight soon."
I sighed while patting the girl's head.
"Sure hope so, Miko. The only person worth facing in the finals was matched with me second, and even though he was respectable he wasn't really anything special."
Mom stared at me with surprise, Mitsuki stared at me knowingly, and Katsuki did his best to look everywhere but me as I said those words.
"Aren't you being a bit too harsh on your opponents though, Izukun?" Mom asked. "They did make the effort to come here, after all…"
"They might've made the effort to come here, but without having made an effort to get stronger through practice, does it really mean anything?"
Her response was interrupted by the crackling of the speakers before a voice called out loud.
"All contestants for the main battle tournament, please assemble at the central arena! I repeat, all contestants registered for the main battle tournament, please assemble at the central arena!"
"That's me!"
I gave Toga one last head pat before walking towards the central arena, my eyes peeled as I searched for two specific individuals. My search efforts were aborted when a voice spoke up over the PA system.
"Welcome, one and all, to the event that you've all been waiting for! Finally, we will have our U-16 Martial Arts practitioners showing just how they fare in the age of quirk combat! For the sake of safety, however, certain rules have been imposed.
"First of all, quirk usage is not only allowed, but expected during this event. Second, in the spirit of competition and in order to avoid serious injuries, emitter-type quirks cannot be used directly on your opponent. That means no throwing fireballs, lightning bolts, or ice spikes at them."
Quite a few people booed at that but the speaker continued, undeterred.
"I need not remind the participants that they were given the full rule list to read through before they could finish their registration process. Anyways, rule three is that the battle ends when the opponent is unconscious, submits, touches the floor outside the ring, or if the referee judges the fight to be over. Fourth, attacks that are directly aimed at maiming or causing any other form of long-term damage will result in an instant DQ and a lifetime ban from the competition. Are the rules understood?"
A sonorous 'YES!' sounded throughout the arena, prompting the speaker to proceed.
"Now let us proceed to the first phase of the tournament!"
A series of spotlights fell onto the center of the venue, right before trap doors split open, allowing square stone platforms to rise to a total of 16.
"The first stage will be a 'King of the Hill' style battle. As soon as the timer starts, the first person to reach each of these platforms becomes the King. The King can be challenged by those who are not Kings to a one-on-one battle, and, if defeated, they have to abdicate their position. Multiple challenges in a row to the same King by a single contestant after a first loss are forbidden, just as a deposed King is forbidden from issuing a challenge for their previous platform. Those who are King by the end of the 30-minute timer pass qualify for the second stage.
"All of the previous rules still apply."
I watched with curiosity as an undercurrent of nervousness ripped through the mass of contestants.
"ROUND, START!"
I had prepared for a leap before the announcer had even finished speaking. As soon as the word 'start' ended, my feet had already landed within the confines of the closest platform, leaving me as one of four who didn't hesitate to take up the spots.
The others seemed to take a few moments to think and figure out a sound strategy before some of them chose to hop onto platforms of their own. All of the platforms were peacefully occupied by a King for a few seconds before someone hopped onto mine.
"I challenge-"
My knee had already slammed into his gut before he could finish the sentence, which was followed by the random guy's body flying off of my stage. This instantaneous display of unhesitating violence gave the other contestants pause, as most started looking around the other stages.
A guy with a mutation quirk that made him into a Minotaur climbed onto my arena before dashing straight at me head-first, likely intent on knocking me off of my platform, but I reacted by hopping over his head and landing on his back, using his shirt as a garrote and choking him to unconsciousness, before nudging his heavy body off of the stage.
Fights raged throughout all of the stages, some of them being held down by a single King like my own, while others were constantly changing in their regency.
After dispatching the sixth opponent in a row with noticeable ease, the others seemed to have decided that my platform was a no go, or at least a last resort, and started going after Kings who were taking more than one or two moves at a time to defeat all of the would-be usurpers.
"10 MINUTES!"
People really started panicking at this point in time, fighting amongst each other for the right to challenge a King, which resulted in more resting time for the Kings, and in the Kings facing more tired opponents whenever someone managed to climb their way up.
"5 MINUTES!"
Challenges had all but stopped as everybody turned on everybody else in their attempt at securing the right to challenge. Only around three platforms still had challengers in them, and these Kings were obviously stretching out their fights against the opponents that they could've easily taken down had they wanted to.
"30 SECONDS!"
A girl in a tank top and yoga pants climbed onto my ring, only to be bodily picked up and tossed out of the stage before she could react.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1 AND 0! TIME'S UP, AND WITH IT, THE FIRST ROUND!"
The people that failed to secure a Kingship left the arena with a cloud of collective depression hanging around them, while most Kings started sizing each other up. I simply turned my focus towards a specific pair of Kings whose presence at this event I might be responsible for.
A few social media posts can really go a long way.
Seemingly not caring about my internal monologue, the announcer spoke on.
"Now that the first stage is done, we can move on towards the second, and final, stage of the tournament! Each contestant will draw a number from a lot, and these numbers will be randomly matched up against one another in what will be the bracket for the second stage. It will be a single-elimination tournament, meaning that a single loss instantly puts you out of the running for the Grand Prize of 1,500,000 YEN, and the title of the greatest quirk-bearing Japanese Martial Artist under the age of 16! Now, if the contestants would please proceed to draw their numbers…"
Each of us reached into a box on a table and drew a number, with the matches being finalized.
The left side of the first bracket had two matches, with the first being 'Midoriya Izuku vs Kaguya Mira' and the second one being 'Hanayama Juuzo vs Shindo Itama'. The right side of the first bracket had one of the matches I was most interested in in the form of 'Kendo Itsuka vs Kageyama Zushishi', and the less interesting one of 'Tsuyoshi Ken vs Kageyama Maya'.
The left side of the second bracket starred 'Sawada Ryohei vs Hayase Minami' and 'Fuyuki Shin vs Sasagawa Kairi', while the right side was set up with 'Edogawa Hinata vs Hiyama Fubuki', and the other match I was watching out for in the form of 'Mashirao Ojiro vs Higashi Abe'.
I climbed onto the ring against my opponent, a slender, short girl with straight black hair in a neck-length hime cut, and clad in a black Kimono with a red obi.
"Without further ado, let the first match… BEGIN!"
The moment the announcer shouted that out loud I took up a boxing stance, while my opponent leaped back a handful of feet. She raised her right arm, allowing the Kimono sleeve to hang off of it loosely, before reaching into it with her left hand and withdrawing a mirror much too large to properly fit in there.
"The rules say that you can't target emission-type quirks towards your opponent, meaning that I can't use my Hypnosis mirror on you, but…" She raised the mirror before staring her own reflection in the eye, her eyes gaining a red gleam as she did. "They say nothing of using my quirk on myself!"
She jerked as the mirror slipped back into her sleeve as if under the power of a vacuum, before pulsing veins appeared on her cheeks, forehead, and around her eyes. She took a single step and suddenly I was forced to block a punch to my face with my forearm.
Her punch was powerful enough to push me back quite a few feet, forcing me to drag my feet until I completely shed the momentum, which barely allowed me to roll under the roundhouse kick that had been aimed at my chest.
She went from a roundhouse to an ax kick, forcing me to once again roll out of the way, which led to her following after me with continuous stomps.
I rolled all the way to the edge of the arena, being followed by her stomps the whole time, before pushing off of the ground hard, flipping over her head, and throwing out an aerial mule kick to her back that pushed her off of the stage.
"VICTORY, MIDORIYA IZUKU!"
I gave a short celebratory fist pump before looking up at the big screen to watch the other matches of interest.
Kendo, clad in a green qipao somewhat reminiscent of her hero outfit without the corset and belt, was fighting a bald, musclebound guy about twice her height whose skin had dark, stone-like patches.
I watched Kendo leap away from a double-handed hammer fist that cracked the arena, before dashing clockwise towards his blind spot and throwing a kick to his side. Rather than him being moved by the kick, she ended up wincing as she hopped away.
"I already told you! With my quirk, Hard Skin, there is nothing you can do that will hurt me!"
His words seemed to annoy her, as she widened her stance before activating her quirk, Big Fist.
Her opponent had a single moment to goggle at her before a fist bigger than his torso slammed into his upper body, stunning him.
A second fist to the legs knocked him down, and before he recovered his wits, both hands physically rolled him off the edge of the arena.
"VICTORY, KENDO ITSUKA!"
I looked away from that stage towards the other match of interest, only to witness an exhibition of high-speed martial arts between Ojiro and his opponent.
Ojiro's opponent, Abe, seemed to have a transformation quirk, as the limbs the were perfectly normal during the King of the Hill stage had turned into springs.
Ojiro threw a roundhouse kick at his chest, but Abe avoided it by compressing his leg springs, which significantly decreased his height, before releasing all of that built up elastic energy in the form of an uppercut that would've smashed straight into Ojiro's chin had he not smashed his tail against the stage floor in order to gain the momentum to flip away.
Both of Abe's arm springs compressed so hard that his fists were all but touching his shoulders before two veritable blurs shot towards Ojiro.
The tail-bearer managed to dodge the fist aimed at his head, but he was forced to block the one aimed at his body with crossed arms, the momentum of which carried him to the edge of the stage.
Ojiro rolled sideways to avoid the spring-powered boot that would have finished the job, before using his tail to shoot himself towards Abe before he could finish winding his foot back.
"HA!"
A barrage of fists and feet smashed into Abe before the tip of Ojiro's tail smashed into his Solar Plexus hard enough that even I winced, but the spring-limbed teen didn't show much reaction other than grimacing before his own fists forced Ojiro away.
Abe crouched, compressing the springs in his legs again, before shooting off towards Ojiro feet-first. The tailed martial artist dodged the attack, only to be forced to dodge an almost immediate follow-up as Abe bounced back the very moment his feet touched the ground.
Sweat steadily built upon Ojiro's forehead as Abe kept accelerating with each bounce. Eventually, misses turned into grazes, which then turned into blocked hits, each of which got a grimace from Ojiro.
The tail quirk owner's eyes narrowed, before he lashed out at one of the blurs with his tail, only to miss entirely. Undeterred, he continued dodging with his tail ready for a strike. Unlike previous times, where he blocked a hit, he allowed himself to take a punch to the gut, wrapping an arm around the spring, which slowed Abe down from a blur, allowing his wide, panicked eyes to become visible.
"HAH!"
Ojiro's tail slammed against Abe's back, smashing his body against the ground so hard that he instantly went unconscious, both of his eyes rolling back into his head.
"30 MINUTES UNTIL THE START OF THE NEXT ROUND!"
I took that time to get hydrated and hit the bathroom before walking into the resting area for the competitors.
Before I could take the time to give the other competitors a good look, someone walked up to me.
"You're Midoriya Izuku, aren't ya?"
Standing across me was a guy around my height with a runner's build, triangular face with a prominent beak-like nose, and blond, windswept hair, with two neon green racing stripes on each temple.
"I'm Hanayama Juuzo, your next opponent!"
He walked up to me and held a hand out. I reached out for a handshake, only for him to pull his hand back at the last second while shooting me a cocky smirk.
"You're too slow, and that's why you're gonna lose."
He walked off cackling after that, while I just blinked owlishly at his retreating back.
'Was that supposed to be psychological warfare?'
I just shrugged it off, going back to surveying the room for my targets, spotting each of them at different corners of the room.
'Alright, so who do I go talk to? Possible classmate/Kung-Fu Bro, or possible Waifu?'
I ultimately decided to go for the Waifu, walking up to a stretching Itsuka with a smile.
"Hey."
She blinked in surprise at being addressed, before looking at me quizzically.
"Hello?"
"Just wanted to congratulate you on your win. You're one of two people other than me who chose to go for a ring-out, instead of letting things get into a dragged-out slugfest."
She scratched her cheek sheepishly at those words.
"Thanks..."
"Midoriya Izuku."
"COMPETITORS, PLEASE ASSEMBLE AT THE MAIN STAGE!"
I held a hand out to her, which she took to get to her feet.
"Meet you at the semi-finals, Kendo-san!"
The orange-haired girl fist-pumped with a smile.
"Yeah!"
I ignored the glares I was receiving from mine and her opponent as I made my way to my assigned stage. I hopped on with ease, rolling my shoulders loose while my opponent glared daggers at me.
"FIRST MATCH OF THE QUARTER-FINALS! MIDORIYA IZUKU VS HANAYAMA JUUZO! HAJIME!"
The blond dashed at me and threw a punch that I barely dodged, before following it up with a knee to the stomach that I blocked with crossed arms. He barely slowed down before throwing a roundhouse kick to the head that I swayed out of the way of, which was followed up by a leg kick that I jumped back from.
He started hopping in place, a light yellow glow building up around him before he moved.
My head rocked back from a punch that left my nose bleeding before a foot slammed into my gut. That was followed by a kick to the ribs, a knee to the shoulder, an elbow to the collarbone, and a roundhouse kick to the face that knocked me down.
I rolled back to my feet before tilting my head, avoiding a second roundhouse kick to the face by a hair's breadth, only to take another punch to the nose. That punch was followed by an elbow to the chest, a knee to the solar plexus, and a dropkick to the face that knocked me down once more.
I stood back up, drawing an annoyed grunt from my opponent, who pointed accusingly at me before speaking up.
"Why do you keep getting back up? Just stay down!"
"Hey, this is all on you." I shrugged. "I've given you more than ample opportunity to land some good hits in. It's not my fault that your hits feel like mosquito bites more than anything else."
"Mosquito bites, huh?" A vein throbbed on his forehead and a nasty non-grin spread across his face as he started hopping in place twice as fast as before, the yellow glow around him brightening up noticeably. "I'll show you those mosquito bites you're talking about."
He then blurred, before a fist hit my face so hard that my feet slid across the stage's floor.
My momentum was inverted when I got a roundhouse kick to the back before a punch to the ribs sent me off in another direction. That blow was followed upon by another, then another, then another, to the point where a yellow blur was pinballing me around the stage.
Each consecutive attack landed harder than the previous one, increasing the amount of force tossing me around before a rising kick to the chin threw me up in the air.
'This really reminds me of the Rock Lee vs Gaara fight in the Chunnin Exams. Does that mean a Lotus is coming up?'
"HAAAAAAH!"
The follow-up for the rising kick wasn't an Izuna Drop, though, but an Ax kick to the gut that threw me back onto the stage. Hard.
-Bakugou Mitsuki-
"YEAH! DO THAT FUCKING DEKU IN, YOU YELLOW EXTRA-"
A hard knock to the head was enough to silence Katsuki, but it didn't change the fact that Inko was squeezing her other hand with a surprising - and rather painful - level of strength. It'd be a lie to say that she herself wasn't worried, but maybe, just maybe, that worry was tinged with the slightest bit of catharsis after a certain comment about 'holes' and 'fucking'.
She looked to the side towards the yellow-eyed blond girl that made a habit of hanging off of Izuku, only to be surprised at the fact that she was swaying in her seat, her feet kicking idly as she hummed under her breath.
The girl seemed to feel her gaze as she turned towards her, grinning that uncomfortably wide and sharp grin of hers before speaking up.
"Izu looks like he's having so much fun!"
Mitsuki's eyebrow rose as she looked toward the arena at the downed Izuku, before looking back at the girl, Himiko.
"Fun?"
"Yeah!" The girl's head tilted to the side, a quizzical look on her face. "Isn't it obvious?"
Mitsuki's response to the girl was interrupted by a gasp and an even tighter hand squeeze from Inko. She turned her focus towards her best friend - 'whose son you're getting fucked by', her guilty consciousness whispered to her - whose gaze was locked to the stage.
She turned towards what Inko was looking at, only for her eyes to widen in surprise as well.
-Midoriya Izuku-
"Hah…"
I slowly got back up to my feet, enjoying both the shocked look in my opponent's eyes, as well as the crowd's wild cheers at my sheer durability. I cracked my neck, meeting Juuzo's gaze before speaking up.
"Momentum, right?"
"...H-huh?"
"You quirk allows you to preserve the momentum of a previous action, and add it to your next one. You use that to increase your speed and the strength of your blows."
He gave me a horrified look at my words, while the referee gave me an impressed look, prompting me to shrug.
"Each punch, kick, hop and leap had the exact strength of the previous one layered onto it, so it wasn't too difficult a guess to make. Your reaction just confirmed that guess. Too bad you don't know how to make proper use of your quirk, though."
His gaze changed from shocked to outraged, prompting me to shake my head before speaking up.
"By focusing on building speed above anything else, you're sacrificing strength and stamina. That might've not mattered so far since your quirk allows you to overcome that strength deficit to a certain degree, and pairs with your speed well in the sense that it allows you to deliver a high amount of damage within a short amount of time. But."
I raised a lecturing finger.
"By purposefully dumping strength you make it so that you need a significant amount of time to escalate enough to deal some proper damage. Since you didn't make stamina your focus, the amount of time your quirk can remain active for isn't particularly high, meaning that your strength and speed reach a very low peak relative to what is theoretically possible for you."
He openly gaped at me, while the referee, someone that gave me extreme 'Badass Motherfucker' vibes, nodded in agreement. I shook my head, banishing the impulse to throw a punch at the referee, choosing instead to kick off my shoes and unzip my jacket.
"Let me show you the type of build that would pair well with a quirk like yours."
A quick flourish and both my jacket and trousers were off, revealing my tank top and shorts-clad build to the world.
A smirk spread across my face as Juuzo gulped in terror before I moved, appearing in front of him with an arm stretched back. His hands went up to cover his face and his eyes squeezed tightly in expectation of pain…
Pat.
Only for a small pat to the chest to push him a step back, and off of the stage.
"Oh, you should also learn to keep track of where you're at while moving at high speeds."
"WINNER, MIDORIYA IZUKU!"
I raised a single fist in celebration, something that sent the audience into a roaring frenzy, before turning to Itsuka and pointing a finger at her.
"You're next."
Her response was to smirk and raise a fist of her own, which made the crowd's noise reach new heights.
A hop later and I was off of the stage, watching curiously as a man whose skin was the color and texture of brick climbed on and placed both hands on the center, causing the whole thing to ripple before being restored to its original condition.
He hustled out before Itsuka and her opponent, a short, fair-skinned girl with blonde hair in curled ringlets reaching her shoulders clad in a sports bra, bloomers, MMA gloves, and wearing no shoes, climbed onto the stage.
"Mmph!" The blonde snorted at Itsuka. "That delinquent-looking hunk-" She cleared her throat before resuming. "Hooligan seems to have overlooked me, the fabulous Kageyama Maya! Well, I shall show him the error of his ways."
"...Alright, why are you saying all of this to me instead of him, then?"
Maya's response was to Itsuka was to simply turn her nose up at her.
"SECOND MATCH OF THE QUARTER-FINALS, KENDO ITSUKA VS KAGEYAMA MAYA… HAJIME!"
Kendo took up her combat stance, while Maya, tilting her head so high that she was looking at the ceiling, pointed a finger her way before addressing her.
"Unlike my brother, I am not a brutish idiot who'd allow themselves to be disgracefully defeated by being physically rolled off of the stage!"
She followed those words up by dashing at Itsuka and throwing a kick right at her face. The orange-haired martial artist's eyes widened at her opponent's speed, barely managing to bring her arms up for a block.
The impact of flesh on flesh Kendo - as well as the entire audience - expected never occurred, as Maya's foot slipped around Kendo's guard, allowing her to hook her leg around the back of Kendo's neck and pull her into an extremely impractical-looking punch only a contortionist would ever think of executing.
Kendo's head rocked back after hitting Maya's gloved fist, prompting her to retaliate by trying to kick Maya's grounded foot out from under her, only for the blonde to release her neck and slip away.
Literally.
Kendo looked at Maya in surprise, prompting the blonde to once again face the ceiling so that she could look down her nose at her opponent.
"My brother's Hard Skin allowed him to harden his skin to the consistency of rock. An unrefined, brutish quirk, unlike my Soft Skin, which allows me to disregard friction while active, and leaves my skin always looking and feeling young and silky smooth! A refined quirk for a refined woman!"
She gave Kendo a triumphant look after those final words as if the youth and smoothness of her skin represented some type of supreme, insurmountable victory of hers over the orange-haired girl.
Kendo reacted by activating her Big Fist… And fanning her hands hard, creating a strong wind that made the smooth-skinned barefoot blonde slide off the stage.
The whole arena went quiet and I felt a shit-eating grin spread across my face, while the blonde, after having blinked the shocked surprise off, pointed a trembling finger at Itsuka. Red-faced, the blonde mumbled something under her breath before stomping away, all of this occurring under the awkward silence of the audience.
Kendo shot an apologetic gaze at Maya's back, but the blonde was gone from sight before she could have said a single thing. She turned towards me with a shrug, which I answered with a thumbs up.
"VICTORY, KENDO ITSUKA!"
Kendo climbed down from the stage and left for the contestant's rest area, probably intending to apologize to Maya and reassure her of her strength or something, while the next two contestants climbed on.
One of them was pretty much the incarnation of average, with dark-brown hair, dark-brown eyes, and a face so unremarkable that you'd have a hard time picking it out in a crowd, with his sole distinguishing characteristic being his swimmer build.
The other one was built like the stereotypical fantasy dwarf. Short of height, stubby limbs, thick torso, but built like an absolute brick shithouse. His muscles were so dense that it was a wonder he didn't have a gravitational field of his own.
"THIRD MATCH OF THE QUARTER-FINALS! SAWADA RYOHEI VS FUYUKI SHIN! BEGIN!"
Before Shin, the fantasy dwarf-looking one could have done anything at all, Ryohei had already appeared in front of him and delivered a barrage of punches and kicks to his chin. Ryohei disengaged after a couple of seconds of continuous attacks, allowing Shin to slowly tip back until his back slammed into the floor of the stage, his eyes rolled back in unconsciousness.
"WINNER! SAWADA RYOHEI!"
People in medic garbs went onto the stage to collect Shin, before struggling off of the stage and out of view under the effects of his weight.
Ojiro, clad in his usual martial arts Gi, was next to climb onto the stage, alongside a girl clad in an ice skater's dress, skates included, and a veil that covered the entirety of her head.
"FOURTH AND FINAL MATCH OF THE QUARTER-FINALS! HIYAMA FUBUKI VS MASHIRAO OJIRO! BEGIN!"
The girl crouched as soon as the match started and placed her hands against the stage before the surface of the whole structure turned into glass so smooth that Ojiro had a hard time even standing up straight.
She accelerated towards Ojiro before doing a pirouette kick that only missed because her opponent slipped and fell from the lack of friction with the floor.
She followed up with an Ax kick that Ojiro avoided by pushing himself back with his tail, before trying to get back up to his feet. He slipped and fell again, avoiding another kick, this time to the chest rather than the face.
Using his tail to push himself out of the way of a stomp, Ojiro finally remembered to engage his brain and used his tail to balance himself. He rushed at Fubuki, who simply spun out of the way with grace borne from experience, resulting in him sliding closer and closer to the edge of the stage.
His tail jerked in an attempt at braking, resulting in him turning in an uncontrolled half-circle which had him moving to the center of the stage again.
Fubuki didn't really have to do anything else, as Ojiro's attempts at steering ultimately resulted in him ringing himself out.
"WINNER! HIYAMA FUBUKI!"
'...Well, that was unexpected. Seems the power of protagonism didn't beat the power of environmental control and a bad matchup this time.'
I caught his eye and the two of us traded nods, but he ultimately left before I could introduce myself to him.
'I genuinely expected to face him in the finals, but it is what it is. Guess I'm fighting that Ryohei dude.'
After another short break, Kendo and I stood across one another on the stage. She was stretching her arms, while I hopped in place and rolled my shoulders and neck.
The commentator droned on about the remaining contestants, the level of skill we displayed so far, and so on and so forth, but the two of us were focused on staring each other down.
"SIDE-A SEMI-FINALS! MIDORIYA IZUKU VS KENDO ITSUKA! HAJIME!"
The two of us dashed at one another as soon as the battle started, before our fists clashed against each other. The two of us withdrew our fists before I threw a roundhouse kick that she ducked under, and retaliated against with an uppercut that I leaned back to avoid.
Her uppercut was followed by a vertical split kick, forcing me to turn my back sway into a full-on backflip.
My feet had barely touched the ground before I was forced to block an Ax kick from her, which I responded to by sweeping her supporting foot. She seemed to have expected me to, however, as she threw her supporting foot into a kick aimed at my ribs, forcing me to roll under it.
The two of us hopped to our feet facing one another before she dashed towards me again while throwing out a left hook. I raised a hand to block it with a counter in mind-
BAM!
Only to have an oversized fist slam against me hard enough to make me bounce off of the ground, before a second one smashed into me right after, making me bounce against the ground once more and roll to a stop near the edge of the stage.
I licked the blood off of the corner of my lip with a grin before making my way back up to my feet…
"HAH!"
Only for an oversized fist to fill my field of view.
BOOM!
A cloud of dust rose after the orange-haired girl's attack, hiding the whole stage from view.
The whole audience stared at the dust cloud with bated breath, anticipation building for what would ultimately be the result of this match.
A strong breeze ran through the room, clearing the dust cloud, and ushering the whole arena into shock.
The orange-haired girl that had been at the lead was now down on one knee, staring up at the green-haired boy in complete and utter shock.
"So." The standing boy grinned at the kneeling girl. "Wanna keep the dance going?"
The girl sighed before shaking her head.
"I… There's no way for me to win a fight against you at this point in time. I concede."
"V-VICTORY! MIDORIYA IZUKU!"
-Midoriya Izuku-
I held a hand out for Itsuka, which she took, allowing me to help her to her feet before the two of us made our way down the stage.
I stretched my fist out towards Itsuka and smiled.
"Nice fight."
She shook her head and bumped my fist, before speaking with a rueful smile.
"You could've ended that fight at any point in time."
I shrugged.
"Wouldn't have been as fun. Speaking of…" I held my phone out to her. "I'm always looking for a sparring partner. If you're interested…"
She bit her lip while staring at the phone with uncertainty, ultimately choosing to take it and record her contact info on it before handing it back to me.
"Thanks. I'll hit you up soon for a spar."
I waved her off as she made her way back to the resting area, before turning my focus towards the stage.
"SIDE-B SEMI-FINALS! SAWADA RYOHEI VS HIYAMA FUBUKI! BEGIN!"
Before Fubuki could've done a single thing, Ryohei had already appeared in front of her before kicking her in the chest, knocking her straight off the stage.
"VICTORY! SAWADA RYOHEI!"
Fubuki rubbed her chest with a pained grimace before slowly making her way to the resting area, while Ryohei turned towards me and made a 'slit throat into thumbs down' motion.
'That's how it's gonna be?'
I grinned at him before hopping onto the stage without waiting for the announcement of our match, tauntingly stretching my tongue out while giving him a double thumbs down.
He smirked, walking closer to me before speaking up.
"I'll earn my first place in 15 seconds, tops."
My grin widened further at Ryohei's words before I turned towards the referee.
"Can we just go at it right away?"
The referee turned towards Ryohei, who nodded at him, before clearing his throat and speaking up.
"FINAL MATCH!"
"Three." Ryohei looked askance at me, only for me to raise the pinky, ring, and middle fingers of my right hand. "How many seconds I'll need to finish this fight."
"MIDORIYA IZUKU VS SAWADA RYOHEI!"
Ryohei snarled and glared at me at those words, his knuckles cracking from how hard he clenched his fists.
"BEGIN!"
WHOOSH!
"Nothing personnel, kid."
Pin drop silence.
From the judges to the audience, the whole arena fell into a shocked silence at the scene that they witnessed.
It was just a second.
No. Likely less.
Those who happened to blink at the wrong time completely missed the in-between moments.
Despite that, everybody was simultaneously met with a shocking sight.
The only person who hadn't fallen into shock, as everyone else had, was Kendo Itsuka, who had already experienced the current scene once before, inside the dust cloud during her own match. She shook her head ruefully, feeling silly at her expectation of winning their fight, before turning towards Fubuki, who was also staring at the scene.
"I guess it's time for us to fight for third place?"
"I concede."
Itsuka blinked owlishly.
"Excuse me, what?"
"I. Concede." Fubuki stared at her. "You held your own fighting that monster. I'm not stepping on a ring with you."
"I lost against him, remember?"
"Not taking that risk. Plus, I'm still not over the kick I took to the chest. What I want right now is a nice, warm bed to rest on, so you can keep third place."
Itsuka shook her head, before turning back towards the arena.
-POV: Midoriya Izuku-
The shocked silence of the arena was almost as satisfying as the feeling of Ryohei's body stiffening the moment my finger touched the back of his neck.
He twitched and I dug my finger deeper into his skin.
"Do you need me to knock you out, or will you accept the fact that the fight's over?"
"I…" The unwillingness in his tone was unmistakable for anything else. "I… Lost."
"W-WINNER! THE WINNER OF THE TOURNAMENT, THE PRIZE MONEY OF ¥1,500,000, AND THE TITLE OF STRONGEST MARTIAL ARTIST IN JAPAN UNDER THE AGE OF 16! MIDORIYA IZUKU!
"Nice."
An announcement let us know that Itsuka's opponent had given up, which led to an early award delivery ceremony. I got a (fake) gold medal and an oversized novelty cheque for ¥1,500,000, while Ryohei got a (fake) silver medal and a ¥1,000,000 cheque and Itsuka got a (fake) bronze medal and ¥750,000.
A locker room shower later and we were discussing payment options with the tournament organizers.
They gave us the option to either receive the real cheques right away and take them home ourselves, or to have them mailed to our addresses. Itsuka and Ryohei chose to have theirs mailed to them, while I chose to take mine right there and then.
After that, and an afternoon of carnival games while being fretted over by mom and stared at by pretty much everyone other than Mitsuki, Katsuki, and Himiko, we finally left the venue, ¥1,500,000 richer, and likely somewhat famous.
-Chapter, End-
<< Index >>
Last edited: Jun 28, 2021