You know, Peter should've expected that the crowd would only get louder as the festival went on.
His lenses narrowed at the boy standing across from him in the arena, taking in his features.
He looked… meek, if anything.
Didn't seem to have too much muscle and stood at about 5'3, round glasses that reminded him of the ones he used to have and a long head of white hair.
All in all, didn't look too threatening at a glance.
But neither did Peter, and he could lift tons! That small thought kept him on guard.
Who knew? Maybe this guy will start shooting lasers out of his eyes or something!
He doubted it, pretty sure the X-Men had already claimed that quirk.
Either way, it looked like he'll have to come up with a plan as he fought.
Good thing he was used to that!
"Starting us off for our semifinals, we have a battle between classes along with brain versus brawn! Hope you guys are ready!" Present Mic boomed through the stadium, the audience cheering all around Peter.
You know what? Maybe Peter should start trying to appreciate the scale of this whole thing.
No matter how he felt, this setting for a fight was freaking cool.
"He's shown us his mind's incredible strength, quite literally using the field to his advantage! Let's give a warm welcome to 1-B's Nento Kiryu!"
Across the arena, the short boy waved towards the crowd with a small smile on his face.
Present Mic said something about this guy's mind, right? That meant either he was smart or straight up had psychic powers.
Given how he was in 1-B, Peter was leaning more towards the idea that his opponent had telekinesis.
That was gonna be a pain to fight against, hopefully it had some limitations.
Hopefully.
"On the other side, we have the web-slinging American coming from class 1-A! Adding an acrobatic flair to his every action, welcome back Peter Parker!" With that, the crowd exploded again in cheers, a few more boos than he would've liked were there but it didn't matter.
Still felt nice to have people like you every now and then.
As he smiled behind the mask, a few catcalls came from the crowd and made him frown.
Whatever.
"You kids understand the rules, right?" Midnight asked them while covering her mic, both boys nod at her.
She smiled and nodded, uncovering her mic and smiling genuinely for a moment before holding out her whip.
"Well, if both students are ready… then begin!"
Just like that, Peter's mind started to work on a much-needed plan.
First things first, Peter needed to try extra hard to win this thing, he promised Nejire and all. That meant figuring out what his opponent can actually do before running in.
It was most likely something that had to do with his brain, and Present Mic said something about using the field to his advantage.
That meant it had to be something like telekinesis! Which meant the rules that telekinetic quirks should apply to him.
So, that meant that a hit to the head should cancel out his quirk momentarily, given how his brain is feeling an impact and all.
Overuse would probably take a toll on his brain, too. But Peter didn't feel like he could use that in a fight that should be over quickly.
And using his field to his advantage… that meant he could be throwing objects around, but what?
His lenses narrowed as he looked around, finally landing on the floor and noticing something.
The cement tiles on the floor weren't connected.
He had to be using the tiles, then! Probably tearing them out of the ground with his quirk! The possibility of his opponent being able to telekinetically throw him out of the arena passed through his mind before Peter waved it off.
Even if he hadn't been paying attention to the earlier matches, Peter would've noticed someone getting their opponent out of bounds with their brain.
With that thought, Peter guessed his quirk might not work on people for whatever reason.
At least Peter hoped, he didn't want to update the plan any more than he wanted to.
So, just break through whatever this guy throws at him and then punch him in the face, update the plan as things get wackier.
Perfect.
Peter was such a good planner.
Plan in mind, Peter was about to begin running at his opponent before noticing the slight glow in Kiryu's eyes.
Quickly, a series of tiles that were around the arena began to shake before being cleanly ripped out of the ground by an invisible force, the tiles floating in the air.
...
This guy sure had range.
All at once, the tiles tilted in a way that showed they were aiming at him.
Crap.
As Peter lowered himself into a crouch, keeping an eye on the several floating pieces of cement, he watched as they began to spin.
"You're not gonna make this easy for me, huh?" Peter asked, looking at Kiryu as a small chuckle escaped him.
The boy had his hand held out, smiling at Peter.
"Nope."
Then, his hand closed.
Spider-sense blaring in the back of his head, Peter backflipped out of the way of a tile that slammed onto where he was standing mere moments prior.
Landing onto another tile, Peter stuck to it by his hands and feet as a few more tiles broke out of formation.
He was gonna throw them at him, wasn't he?
Just as he thought that, the tiles lined up neatly and tilted towards him.
Great.
While he would just live to jump around and dodge all day, he had to start going on the offensive.
Thankfully, Peter had just thought up a way to do just that.
If this guy could use these things as projectiles…
Then why couldn't he?
Double-tapping the triggers on his web-shooters, twin lines of webbing stuck onto one of the tiles aimed at him, Peter gripping the lines tightly.
He jumped off of the tile he was standing on, flipping through the air and swinging the piece of stone like a mace through the tiles out of formation, turning them to rubble.
Peter rolled the landing, beginning to make his way across the arena as he dodged the projectiles slamming down onto the ground around him.
His lenses looked around him, counting the floating tiles and seeing how some of the ones still on the ground were beginning to float up.
Just wonderful!
"Oh, c'mon! Quit it!" Peter yelled, using the ground as a springboard to jump out of the way of two tiles colliding.
And now he was trying to crush him? He'd make some sort of joke about squashing a bug but he felt like it'd be too easy.
Two lines of webbing were shot out, connecting to a floating tile that Peter pulled himself to.
Gotta change the approach plan!
Once in the air, Peter twisted out of the way of a three-way collision between squares before landing on another.
His lenses narrowed down at Kiryu on the ground, watching as the boy created a makeshift barrier around him with tiles.
Alright, let's see what he's learned so far.
Peter wasn't out of bounds yet, so that meant his theory of Kiryu's quirk doesn't work on people.
That was good!
And the fact that he was still on the tile he was standing on, that made Peter think about the possibility of his quirk not working on objects that someone is applying their weight to.
That was also good!
Knowing that gave him a few more options, which were always nice.
At the back of his head, a vibration alerted him soon enough for him to duck under a flying tile from behind him.
"Sneak attacks? So not cool!" Peter yelled down to the boy, jumping off of the tile before connecting a web to it.
Alright, he needs to get that barrier Kiryu has out of the way so he can win this match.
Gripping the line, Peter spun in the air and sent the tile flying at Kiryu, seeing it get blocked by the makeshift barricade, the colliding tiles getting destroyed in the impact.
Just as the debris hit the ground, a few tiles that were in the air proceeded to float down and reinforce the barricade.
Great.
Just… just wonderful.
Guess he'll have to get even more aggressive, then!
Peter groaned for a moment, using the tile he was on as a springboard to go high above the arena.
Once in the air, Peter attached webs to 2 floating tiles before spinning around and throwing them at the barrier protecting his opponent, watching as Kiryu telekinetically grabbed more tiles to block the impact just as Peter hit the ground.
Whittling down his defenses wasn't gonna work, so Peter had to start getting up close to fight hand to hand.
At the back of his head, he felt that familiar buzzing sensation which made him instinctively flip out of the way of at least 6 tiles that exploded into debris on impact.
"Hey, I gotta ask! Is your plan to just sit behind that little shield you got going on while you have a brain blast over there? Doesn't sound that exciting, man!" Peter yelled across the arena, not getting a response.
Guess telekinetically lifting so much stuff didn't leave too much time for talking, huh?
Too bad, none of his opponents had given him much to quip about.
Peter jumped again mid-thought, dodging another tile slamming onto the ground before being forced to dodge another one once he touched the ground.
Looking at the shield that Kiryu had guarding him, Peter could tell that it was at least 6 tiles thick with 4 tiles per layer.
He wasn't too good at doing math on the spot, so he could only guess that it would take a decent amount of force to break through that.
Now, that meant he had to gain a decent amount of momentum to generate enough force to do it.
His only way to do that would be by swinging from somewhere, maybe from one of the pillars? No, that wouldn't get enough force to break through several tiles of stone.
His eyes went from the shield to the floating tiles above him, Kiryu probably waiting for him to make his next move.
If swinging to gain enough momentum himself, then why doesn't he also add the force of something else along with his own?
A smirk crossed his face beneath his mask, Peter's lenses landing on the several floating tiles.
If throwing two tiles at Kiryu's barricade was enough to destroy a layer, then why doesn't he just grab some more?
Holding out his wrists, Peter shot lines of webbing at tile after tile, gripping the lines in his hand with purpose.
By his count, he probably had a hold of about 13 or so, which should be more than enough to break through every layer so he could finally get to Kiryu himself.
"Alright, Parker… you got his." He muttered, narrowing his lenses in concentration.
Please let him got this.
With a small sigh, Peter gripped the webbing lines in his hand tighter before running at Kiryu's shield, ignoring how the crowd screamed around him.
As he sprinted, Peter leaped around the arena, dodging random tiles flying towards him as he got closer and closer, the grip on the webbing only getting tighter.
Almost there!
Just as his spider-sense rang in the back of his head, Peter backflipped onto the incoming tile, seeing as it began to fly upwards while keeping its momentum.
Even if Kiryu couldn't affect things if Peter was on them, that didn't mean that they simply stopped moving!
Who knew knowing physics would be so useful when fighting someone with telekinesis?
Once Peter got high enough into the air, he waited for the tile to begin falling to the ground before finally pushing off of it.
He twisted in the air, each movement making the tiles he had attached to webs swing faster and faster like a bunch of makeshift maces.
Please let this work!
The series of tiles hit the barrier, the crowd watching as they collided in a thunderous crash that sent dust and debris flying all over the arena.
Kiryu was blinded by the ball of dust, coughing while trying to wave some of the dust away from him.
And then, through the cloud of dust and debris flew Peter, landing a dropkick directly onto the boy's stomach and sending him flying out of the arena and onto the grass.
He tumbled the landing, ending up on the grass next to his opponent as he took a few breaths.
His eyes went to Kiryu, breathing deeply since Peter probably knocked all the wind out of him.
Eh, he'll apologize later.
Rolling onto his back, Peter heard the crowd cheer as all the still floating tiles crashed in the ground at the loss of Kiryu's concentration.
Peter makes it to the finals.
With a crack of her whip, midnight brought all attention to her.
"Nento Kiryu is out of bounds, Peter Parker is the first student to move onto the finals!' She announced, the crowd cheered and screamed all around him.
Next he fights Nejire, huh?
That should be fun.
===================
I kinda wanna point out something about Peter in the tournament.
He… isn't really trying, you know? He's not trying to tank hits or punch as if he was fighting the Rhino, and there is barely any emotional stakes for him in this like Izuku would have in canon.
So yeah, that's the reason he's not punching through everything with full strength or tanking hits, which means getting punched by non-enhanced people kinda hurts.
Think of when Miles punched him in the PS4 game, you know?
Now, the idea of having Nejire and Peter a little moment in this chapter was kinda last minute, but I loved writing it. I love writing them together, and really wanted to have a 'go get 'em tiger' moment in the story.
Hope you guys are looking forward to seeing them get together later!
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