Chapter Text
Ibara spoke a small prayer to herself as she approached the arena. Through God's grace, she would find victory this day.
Her opponent was a blonde man from 1-A; Kaminari, according to Present Mic's introduction that she was trying to ignore. Something about him caught her eye; maybe it was the way he was looking at her. He looked almost stunned, his face adorned with an awestruck glint as if he had seen an angel.
The look disappeared quickly, replaced by a confident smirk.
"Begin!"
"Hey, you're pretty cute," he called over with a smirk. "You wanna go out after this?"
Ibara's mouth dropped open slightly, her stoic demeanor cracking under the sheer audacity .
"I'll buy you some ice cream to comfort you after your loss." Electricity began to spark around him, but Ibara's eyes narrowed and a flicker of contempt surged in the depths of her mind before she cast it aside.
'Lust and Pride…' She shook her head. 'Perhaps God has put you in my path so that I might help you?'
"Indiscriminate Shock! 1.5 million volts!" The lightning crackling across his body swelled in size and power as he prepared his attack. She could feel the charge in the air and knew she must act.
Ibara closed her eyes against the glare of lightning, turning around and creating a cocoon to insulate herself with her vines, tendrils of green lifting her from the ground. As he slammed his hands down, the storm crashed around her- yet she remained safe and sound.
Her vines tunneled beneath the ground, cracking it wide with ease as a green vortex sprung up beneath the man.
"Whu-?" he mumbled, his face full of confusion.
In an instant, he was trapped, suspended a good ten feet above the ground by her quirk.
"Young Kaminari is immobilized! Young Shiozaki wins!"
She clasped her hands and bowed her head, softly saying a quick, thankful prayer under her breath before turning around and glancing at Kaminari. Ibara let him down gently, studying his innocent face. 'A young man should not be burdened so by sin.'
She nodded as she turned away. It was decided. Something felt right about it.
'I will save you, Kaminari. Even if I have to save you from yourself.'
Izuku fiddled idly with the headband around his neck as he waited anxiously for the next fight to start. His quirk was on edge, but not because of the match. Izuku was actually looking forward to Ochako and Mina fighting, he was sure that they would both give it their all.
No, it was on edge because of Yaoyorozu. Ever since her, in his opinion, impressive match against Todoroki, she was depressed. She was a master at hiding it- she always had been- but he knew her well enough to know better. She had been taught how to hide her emotions, but he could tell she was hurting. He wanted to do nothing more than to comfort her, to make her feel better, but he knew now wasn't the time. She wouldn't appreciate being singled out in a group like this, he would have to get her alone. That was easier said than done.
"It's time to begin our second group of matches for the first round! We already know one side of the bracket, now let's figure out the other! First up: they were on the same team for the cavalry battle, but only one can advance here!"
Midnight continued for Present Mic. "These two lovely ladies are both from 1-A! She can give great speeches, but can she fight? Give it up for Ochako Uraraka!"
Izuku cheered louder than everyone else in the stands as the two women began to walk up to the stage.
"She's got a dangerous smirk and a deadly quirk! Not to be outclassed is Mina Ashido!"
Izuku cheered again. This was going to be a hell of a match. Hopefully, it would distract him from looking at Yaoyorozu every few seconds.
"Are you ready?" All Might asked. Seeing their nods, he swung his arm high.
"Begin!"
Izuku's quirk flowed through his eyes as he closed them, before opening them with newly sharpened vision, his now slitted green eyes intent on taking in every detail of the fight. Mina and Ochako paused for a moment, smiling wide, confident smiles at each other while they prepared themselves.
"Who do you think'll win?" Katsuki asked.
Izuku rubbed his chin, not taking his eyes off the arena. "They're both talented and capable, but Ochako just needs to touch Mina to win. They both know that; I doubt it will be that simple. I think Ochako has the edge, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mina pulls it off."
At that, Mina kicked off. She shot forward, using her boots and her quirk to skate across the arena. Her mobility would be key here.
Ochako took a few steps forward, away from the dangerous edge. She lowered herself into a combat stance, her hands held at the ready in front of her to touch Mina if she got within range.
The shorter woman picked up speed, leaving a small groove in her wake as she dashed towards Ochako. The taller woman stepped forward, reaching her hand out to try and remove her weight, but Mina was far too agile. She dexterously ducked under her swipe and spun around, catching Ochako in the back with an elbow and sending her stumbling forward.
"Looks like you're gonna have to be quicker than that!"
Mina's momentum carried her away but she quickly turned and came in for another attack. Ochako lunged low this time, keeping Mina from ducking again. In response, Mina abruptly cut back, digging a large hole in the concrete as she juked to her left and swung around Ochako's side. She swung her fist wide, slamming into Ochako's side and causing the taller woman to cry out in pain and stagger sideways, twisting to disengage.
"Right in the kidney! That had to hurt!"
Ochako stumbled around, trying to keep her distance as Mina began to circle her once more. The brunette quickly recovered from the hit, breathing heavily as she readied herself and turned back to face Mina, a look of driven determination drawn across her face. When Mina came by for another strike, Ochako didn't take another swing at her with her hands but instead swiped low with one of her long, powerful legs. Izuku saw Mina's eyes go wide as she jumped as high as she could, flying over the brunt of the attack only for the edge of her foot to get yanked aside by the attack, throwing her off balance.
Mina flew through the air and hit the ground hard, but rolled with her momentum, catching her legs back under herself and resuming her skating without losing too much time. She was too clever to let that happen again, but the reach from Ochako's longer legs meant she couldn't get in as easily. Mina instead chose to skate circles around Ochako.
Quite literally. Izuku smiled softly; he saw what she was doing.
Mina let acid flow from her hands as she started to chuck globs of it at Ochako's feet. The brunette danced backwards to avoid her attacks, but she was being herded closer and closer to the circle Mina had carved around her.
Carved was right: Izuku noticed that she had upped the strength of her acid as she skated, digging a deeper and deeper groove around Ochako. Mina was driving her girlfriend to the edge, trying to make her lose her footing, or at least give her an opening.
Thanks to Izuku's enhanced perception, he noticed the tiny smirk growing on Ochako's face. His own eyes went wide.
Ochako stepped away from another glob of acid… and right into the small canyon. She stumbled and fell backwards, but twisted herself in mid-air to land on her stomach instead of her back.
Mina pounced, jumping over and grabbing Ochako by the ankles. She began to drag the taller woman towards the edge of the arena, making sure to keep far away from her dangerous hands.
"She got her!" Eiko yelled.
"There's no way Uraraka can reach her!" Sero agreed as Ochako flailed back at the woman grabbing her legs.
Izuku smirked. "Not so fast." The class snapped back to look at him. He pointed back at the arena. "Just watch. Ochako fell on purpose."
The class whipped back around to see Ochako start to struggle. Izuku could tell she wasn't kicking as hard as she could, but she was causing Mina some troubles. Ochako drove her foot firmly into Mina's side, which the shorter woman saw as an opportunity. Mina hooked her arm around the foot, securing the leg, but also sealing her fate.
Ochako's smirk grew as she slammed both of her hands onto the ground.
Mina's eyes went wide as she suddenly slowed down and then stopped. Her legs shook for a moment before she fell to the floor, pinned under a large amount of extra mass. Ochako stood up slowly, not removing her foot from Mina's side as she continued to pump weight into her.
The pinkette struggled a little, but it became apparent very quickly that she couldn't move. Ochako took a step back and panted slightly.
"Call it!" Ochako called loudly to All Might. "She won't be able to breathe until I let my quirk go!"
All Might paused for a second, looking over at Mina. True enough, the extra mass was causing her great difficulty; she was straining with all her might to breathe, but her chest barely moved. He raised his hand to one side. "Young Ashido is immobilized! Young Uraraka wins!"
Ochako immediately slammed her hands together, freeing Mina from the extra weight as her chest rapidly expanded. She reached down and offered Mina and hand, pulling her up. The shorter woman beamed up at Ochako as the two walked off the stage together to the cheers of the crowd, unlike everyone else.
"Wow, Aniki, you were right," Eiko admitted. "Oh! But that means I'm next." She stood up quickly stretching her arms as she walked to the stairs. A few steps before the top, she turned around, smiling a little sheepishly. "Uh, does anywhere know where the rooms are? I wasn't paying attention."
Tsuyu hopped up. "I can show you. I want to stretch my legs anyways."
Tsuyu led Eiko down into the depths of the stadium, enjoying the opportunity to walk around. Since her team got taken down by Monoma's, she was relegated to the stands for the rest of the day.
Eiko wasn't her normal, talkative self. She was chatting, sure, but not nearly as much as Tsuyu expected. It was probably nerves; Tsuyu tried to imagine what it would feel like to be out there on that stage. She would probably be nervous too.
They quickly came to the waiting room. Eiko stared at it like it was the door to hell for a few moments before turning back to Tsuyu. "Thanks for helping me find it…" she muttered. "Here goes nothing." Eiko took a step forward and held her hand out before pulling it back.
She looked down. "Everyone is gonna be looking at me. I have to make them proud."
"You will," Tsuyu said flatly.
"But what if I don't win?" She looked up at the ceiling. "You saw how Iida and Yaomomo were after their losses…"
Tsuyu blinked at her. "Then you'll lose. Does that matter?"
Eiko blinked back. "No… no, you're right. I forgot myself for a moment." She clenched her fist proudly. "As long as I give it my all, as long as I live with no regrets, then I'll make myself and everyone else proud!"
She suddenly threw her arms around Tsuyu. "Thanks, Tsu."
"No problem." Tsu patted her on the back as she returned the hug. "You smell nice."
"Thanks!" Eiko squeezed once more and backed away. "Thanks again, Tsu. Watch me out there, I'm gonna win."
Tsuyu waved as Eiko closed the door and left her alone in the hallway. She turned away and began walking back to the stands, but decided to take the opportunity to walk around a little more.
She was walking down a dark side passage when she heard some familiar voices up ahead.
"Aren't you upset you lost?" That was Ochako.
"Well, of course I am." That was Mina. "But I'm more proud of you for winning! I gave it my all out there, even landed a few good hits."
"Yeah, you did." Ochako hissed like she was rubbing a sore spot.
"We should probably both let Recovery Girl look us over."
Ochako laughed a little. "Deku will make us if we don't."
Mina laughed too. "Hey, I had no idea your quirk could do that!"
"I don't get a whole lot of opportunities to use it. Only Deku knew before today," she admitted.
"We should get going, but first, all this adrenaline is still pumping through me. Come here..."
Tsuyu came around the corner right as Mina pulled Ochako down for a deep, passionate kiss.
She stared, frozen. It wasn't right to just stand there, she knew, but her brain wasn't working well enough to do anything else at the moment. She felt something tug at her heart as her cheeks reddened.
It took them a good ten seconds to break apart and another ten seconds of staring lovingly at each other for them to notice her standing there.
Ochako looked like she had just seen a ghost. "Ts-su?! H-how long have you been standing there?!"
Tsuyu blinked. "Long enough."
Mina looked a little like a predator. It was kind of hot. "Oh really ? Did you like what you saw?"
Tsuyu paused for a few moments before nodding slowly. She couldn't really believe it, but yeah, she did.
Mina's mouth dropped open slightly, her facade fading just a little. "Really?"
"Sure," Tsuyu added, approaching them slowly. "You're both very cute. But Mina, aren't you dating Izuchan?"
" Izuchan ?" Ochako repeated. "Oh my God."
"That's adorable ." Mina was awestruck.
The two women looked at each other and silently communicated with their eyes. Ochako looked a little hesitant, while Mina had a more playful expression.
"Yeah, Tsu, I am dating Midori," Mina explained while she moved a little closer to her. "But so is Ochako."
Tsuyu blinked and put a finger to her chin. "Oh, so you're polyamorous?"
Ochako nodded. "Y-yeah." Her face started turning redder and redder. "I never would have thought, but…"
"I understand," Tsuyu admitted. "Izuchan is a very attractive man."
Mina looked like it was Christmas morning. "You sound like you're interested."
"Hmm, perhaps." Tsuyu tilted her head slightly. "I've never been in a relationship before, I wouldn't know how to start. Besides, this is much too fast. The three of you are all hot, but I don't know if I feel that comfortable yet."
"God, your bluntness is refreshing," Mina sighed with actual relief.
Ochako smiled softly, looking down the full foot of height difference between the two of them. "Hey, no pressure, Tsu. I'm happy with being your friend, a relationship is a big thing." Her face turned red again. "N-not that I'm inviting you or anything!" Her face turned redder. "Not that I'm saying you can't or anything!" She covered her blushing face with both hands, keeping her pinky fingers extended.
Mina giggled and shook Ochako's arm, which just caused her to whine softly.
Tsuyu tilted her head. 'Adorable.'
Mina sighed as Ochako continued to hide her face. "Hey, Tsu, we're heading to Recovery Girl, do you wanna join us? We'd hate for you to walk back by yourself"
She nodded. "Sure."
Eiko breathed slowly as she stared down her opponent. He had received the same intro she had and even their poses on their splash screens had been the same. They had met briefly during the first round, so Eiko knew what he was about. In many ways, he was strangely similar to her.
Like, really strangely similar. He even had the sharp teeth thing going on.
"Hey!" she called across the arena. "When's your birthday?"
He paused for a moment. "October 16th, why?"
"Me too!"
"What?!"
"Begin!"
The two of them crouched down and charged at each other. She hardened her fist and slammed it into him, right as he did the same to her.
They took a step back and breathed for a moment before setting their stances and charging back at each other.
This wasn't going to be a quick thing.
Momo stared down at the slug-fest between Eiko and Tetsutetsu. She should be cheering her on, encouraging her like Eiko undoubtedly encouraged her in her match, but she couldn't bring herself to open her mouth. She was afraid of what might come out.
She could feel Midoriya's eyes on the back of her head. Momo knew he could tell she was hiding her emotions. 'Dammit, why couldn't he have been in 1-B? Things would be so much easier.'
The worst part is that she felt guilty that she was feeling bad. She hadn't done as poorly as Iida had, or even Kaminari. She at least was close to winning. Kind of… Maybe...
What right did she have to be so upset with herself? What right did she have to consider herself such a failure when others did worse?
She sickened herself.
Momo stole a glance backwards. Iida was stoic and maybe a little more stiff than normal, but he certainly didn't look like he was suffering like she was. He was even exchanging a few words with Midoriya as they watched the fight. Kaminari didn't look upset at all. If anything he looked a little satisfied, or maybe even a little happy, judging by that dopey grin.
She was very careful to not look at Midoriya.
'Pull yourself together, Momo. You're vice rep, this isn't proper. Throw these feelings away.'
She straightened herself up slightly and stared back at the fight. Maybe she could analyze the fight like Midoriya; it would at least provide her with a distraction from her self-loathing.
Eiko was bruised and bloody, but she was still fighting. Tetsutetsu didn't look much better, all things considered.
Their fists clashed again. Neither of them was very interested in dodging, it seemed.
She was fading, she couldn't deny it. All she could do was hold on. She had to outlast him.
His fist smashed into her stomach. She retaliated with a shot across his chin.
Hardening her body felt like pulling on a strained muscle. Every second was agony, but she fought through the pain. Her memories of the months she spent in the gym pushing herself were nothing to this bone-deep muscular ache that was building .
A hero had to push past their limits, especially when there were lives on the line. Eiko didn't know if she could live with herself if she didn't put everything behind her every move.
Another clash, this time each of them blocked with their arms as they traded blows, the screeching of metal limbs over stone like skin echoing around the arena.
Everything in her life, especially all the work she had put in over the last year, came down to this. This was the time to go beyond.
This was the time to go Plus Ultra.
Her punch slammed into Tetsutetsu's chest as his blow did the same, their arms passing by each other.
They stumbled back a half step, each of them gasping slightly and groaning. At some level, she registered that Present Mic and Midnight were yelling commentary, but her heart was pounding in her ears too much for her to hear it.
Eiko had one good punch left in her.
She would make it count. She had to.
Eiko remembered that monster at the USJ. She remembered how she stood by helplessly as Aniki saved them all. She remembered the promise she made to herself.
'If I'm going to be that wall... '
She took a step forward with her left foot and planted it firmly, focusing even as Tetsutetsu's fist began to fly.
'If I'm going to protect Mina, Aniki, and everyone else…'
Eiko clenched her fist at her waist, shoes scraping as she lowered her stance. Every fiber of her body screamed at her and her teeth clenched as tears began to roll down her face.
'Then I have to stand firm right here. Right now!'
Eiko screamed as she pulled on her quirk with one last, titanic effort. She let the punch hit her, glancing off the hardened skin of her face and splitting her lip with the impact as she threw away her guard for a final attack. Her eyes were wild, burning with fiery passion as she stared down Tetsutetsu.
She did not falter.
Her right leg turned. She put her back into it. Her fist flew forward.
For Mina. For Aniki. For everyone.
For herself.
A crushing uppercut met Tetsutetsu's chin.
His head snapped back and the steel covering his skin shuddered and faded. His eyes rolled up into his head as he fell backwards.
With a heavy crash, he slammed into the ground.
Eiko took a step forward, nearly pitching over, but managing to steady herself.
"Young Tetsutetsu is down for the count! Young Kirishima wins!"
"Who needs Midnight's quirk when you can punch like that!" Mic teased, only to follow with an abrupt apology as a whip cracked next to him.
Eiko threw her head back and unleashed a roar filled with every emotion pouring from her pounding heart.
Her vision went black and she collapsed to the earth.
"Hey, you!"
Katsuki turned around as he walked through the tunnels beneath the stands, already annoyed. "What."
A woman with pink hair in thick locks came bounding up to him, a manic look on her face. He recognized her from the cavalry battle, she was on Uraraka's team. He didn't remember her name and didn't really care to.
"I'm fighting you next!" she declared cheerfully.
He didn't say anything and instead just glared at her.
"Yeah… anyway," she continued, unfortunately, "I'm from the Support Course and I've got all these wonderful babies! I was hoping to give you a couple for you to wear as a show of good will!"
He glared harder. "You must think I'm really stupid. Fuck off."
"What?" She wasn't a very good liar.
"You wanna give me some of your equipment out of the kindness of your heart? Get real." He scoffed. "Even if I didn't think it was a trick, I wouldn't accept help like that."
She huffed. "Come on, it'll b-"
"No," he repeated firmly. He turned to continue his walk to the waiting room when he suddenly remembered something Uncle Hisashi told him years ago.
"Remember, Katsuki: an ally is always better than an enemy. If you help people, you might be surprised in the ways they can help you."
'Support Course, huh?'
He turned back. "Look, just cut the bullshit and tell me what you want."
The woman seemed taken aback for a moment and then sized him up with those weird-ass eyes of hers. They seemed to actually zoom in and study his expression. Katsuki reasoned that it must be her quirk; it would certainly explain how she was such a good shot.
She put her hands on her hips. "Fine. I don't have any real interest in continuing on in the tournament, to be honest. I'm only here to show off my babies to potential investors and customers. I just want to show off what they can do and then I'll step out of the arena. Entertain me and you'll get a free win, alright?"
Katsuki was silent for a moment again. "No deal."
"You're turning down a free win?" She seemed confused.
"I don't take 'free' wins." Katsuki stepped a little closer to her. "I earn what I get. If you want to show off your toys, you gotta fight for it." He smirked at her, increasing her confusion. "Besides, won't it look better to those investors if you can show what your inventions can do in a real fight? Maybe I'll let you take a little time to sell yourself before I blow them up."
"And it'll look even better if I win…" Her confusion gave way to a wide, manic grin. "You've got yourself a deal, guy-whose-name-I-don't-know!"
"Whatever." He waved his hand dismissively as he turned to finally walk away.
Izuku's hand was over his mouth as he sat next to Eiko's bed in the infirmary, watching Katsuki's match on the television; he didn't know whether to let it smile or let it drop open. His best friend had spent the first several minutes of his 'fight' just stretching on the far side of the arena while Hatsume gave what amounted to a sales pitch for each of her 'babies', as she called them, that she was going to be using in the match.
She had brought a voice amplifier along with her, another one of her babies, and was just… selling herself like she was on an infomercial or something.
"Is she for real?" Mina asked, sitting on the other side of Eiko.
"Something tells me that she isn't interested in joining the hero course," Izuku mumbled. "She told me she wanted 'to use my fame to her advantage' when she tried to join my team for the cavalry battle."
Mina nodded. "I just didn't figure Bakugou for someone who would let her get away with this."
"I know what you mean." Izuku smiled softly. "I'm proud of him."
Mina and he both laughed as Hatsume finished her pitch, informing the audience that she would be 'demonstrating her babies with the help of her lovely assistant.' They both saw Katsuki's eyebrows twitch in annoyance, causing their laughter to redouble.
"Quiet, you two!" Recovery Girl scolded them.
They both flinched. "Sorry, ma'am."
The fight itself was… more competitive than Izuku expected. Katsuki blew away every attack Mei launched, but he had to work for it. The number of contraptions she had brought with her was truly impressive; every time she seemed to be running low, more would just seem to appear.
Izuku smiled knowingly. If he wanted to, Katsuki could have just blown her out of the ring almost immediately. That isn't to say he wasn't fighting hard or giving her a free pass, but he was using a strategy that conserved his energy and his strength by keeping himself safe. Playing defensive just so happened to give Hatsume the best opportunity to show off what her inventions could do. Izuku knew it wasn't a coincidence.
Hatsume looked like she was actually trying to win, which he knew would stoke his friend's flame. She didn't have very much combat experience, but Izuku could tell that- beyond just her inventions- she was smart, brilliant even. She quickly adapted to several of Katsuki's moves, even getting in a few glancing blows; not bad for someone who likely had very little combat training, if any.
She never stood a chance, not really. Once all her 'babies' were broken, Katsuki moved in. Instead of blowing her out like he could have done, the man broke her amateur guard and threw her over his shoulder, slamming her down out of bounds.
In the end, nobody could doubt Katsuki's superiority, but it was interesting to see how well Hatsume performed. She hopped up with a wide smile that told Izuku that things had gone even better than she had hoped. Katsuki trudged away slowly, heading back to the waiting room.
Not wanting to abandon Eiko, he sent Katsuki a text message instead. 'You're not getting soft on me, are you Dandy?'
It was a couple minutes later when Katsuki sent his one word response. 'Networking.'
Izuku smiled a little wider. Thanks to his quirk, he didn't have a whole lot of use for gear that someone like Hatsume could build him. Katsuki, on the other hand, could benefit greatly; his gauntlets were testimonies to that.
"Don't you want to go talk to Bakugou?" Mina asked.
Izuku shook his head. "We've been best friends for over 15 years, we don't need to spend every moment together. He values his solitude. He knows I'm proud of him."
Beyond that, he didn't want to leave Eiko alone… or be near Yaoyorozu. He didn't know how to help her right now and it was tearing him up. He could tell she was broken inside, but he didn't have an opportunity, not yet.
Comfort. Hurting.
His smile faltered slightly. Just thinking about her caused his quirk to pound in his head slightly.
Mina nodded in understanding. "I hope Kiri wakes up soon, she wouldn't want to miss another match."
"I missed a match?" a voice groaned from between them. "Dammit…"
"Kiri!"
"Eiko!"
Eiko smiled up at them. "Hey, guys. Did you see my match?"
Izuku nodded. "You were incredible."
"Uh huh!" Mina agreed. "I'm super proud of you!"
"Y-you? Proud of me?" Eiko stared for a few seconds. "T-thanks…"
Izuku raised an eyebrow. These two clearly had some sort of history he didn't know about.
Mina smiled kindly. "Yeah, I really am. You gave your everything out there, Kiri. I could tell. You're not the girl I knew in high school." She giggled softly. "Too bad, in a way. I always kinda liked goth girls."
"Goth-" Izuku looked between the two women rapidly. "Eiko you were-?"
"Minaaa," she whined. "Why'd you have to tell him that?"
Mina giggled again. "Don't worry, Midori doesn't mind. Besides, I like your new look too."
"You… you do?" Eiko looked confused. "You, Mina Ashido, like my look?"
"Uh, duh?" Now Mina looked confused. "I've always thought you were a cutie, Kiri."
Eiko blinked a few times then shook her head, trying to clear the slight blush that was forming. "W-who won the match?"
Izuku could sympathize with someone under Mina's flustering gaze. "Kacchan won. Can't say I'm surprised, but that Hatsume woman put up a better fight than I expected. You're just in time to catch Tokoyami's fight." Izuku gestured to the screen above them on the wall.
"Oh, against that girl from 1-B? I gotta see this."
Fumikage took to the stage, sizing up the woman opposing him. He was not a tall man, in fact, he was the shortest man in his class other than Mineta. Yanagi stood an inch or two taller than him, about the same height as Kirishima. She had a strange etherealness about her- perhaps it was the ghostly white of her hair or the way she carried her hands.
She… intrigued him.
"Looks like a classic case of goth versus goth! We have a real Skeletal Family on our hands. Is Yanagi a Sister of Mercy? Or will Tokoyami show her the Cure with his quirk?"
Midnight audibly sighed. "How long have you been sitting on that one?"
All Might shook his head before throwing his arm high into the air. "Begin!"
"Dark Shadow!"
"Right!" it called back.
Fumikage had seen a little of her quirk in action during the cavalry battle: she seemed to have the ability to move objects around with her mind- a form of telekinesis. However, there was nothing for her to use here. Much like Kaminari and Monoma, she was simply outmatched.
Dark Shadow moved towards her, aiming to drive her back with a crushing blow. It came down swiftly, slamming in-
With a bizarre, flowing grace, the woman stepped to the side. Something about the way she moved threw both him and Dark Shadow off as the latter slammed into the ground, missing her barely.
"How hateful," she remarked quietly. He blinked a few times; even her voice was enrapturing.
Fumikage huffed, refocusing himself. "Dark Sha-!" His speech was cut off as something slammed into the back of his head. He stumbled forward, whipping around as Dark Shadow returned to protect him. His red eyes locked on a pair of objects swirling around him threateningly.
They were shoes.
He shot his vision back to his opponent and saw that she was barefoot. When she sidestepped Dark Shadow, she must have stepped out of her shoes. Its attack blew the shoes into the air, where she could grab them with her quirk without him noticing.
Clever.
Several pieces of rubble that Dark Shadow had broken loose began to float into the air.
Dark Shadow couldn't protect him and attack her at range, he would have to close in. He dashed forward, protecting his head and neck with his arms as he was continuously pelted by shoes and stones.
Once he closed the distance, it was all over for her. She just didn't have the firepower in the bare arena to compete with Dark Shadow.
It's arms were flung wide as it swung upward at her, too quick for her to dodge. Yanagi was lifted up and tossed out of the arena, landing on the grass outside.
"Young Yanagi is out of bounds! Young Tokoyami advances to the second round!"
Tokoyami, for some reason, hurried down the stairs and offered the woman a helping hand up. She seemed surprised and looked up at him for a moment before taking it and rising to her feet.
"Thank you, Tokoyami."
He nodded. "You fought well, Yanagi. Your perseverance and astute thinking in the face of opposition will serve you well as a hero."
She tilted her head ever-so-slightly. "My gratitude, you battled valiantly as well. Perhaps our destinies might cross again." Yanagi turned to walk away.
He stared for a few moments before turning and heading to his own locker room.
'Fumi has a crush~' Dark Shadow singsonged in his mind.
'Silence, troublesome beast.'
'BEAST?! You take that baCK!'
"Thanks, Iida, Tokoyami," Izuku said with a smile as he left the two men behind him in the hallway. They had come to warn him about Shinsou's abilities, as he was Izuku's next opponent. He understood: no talking. Someone like Shinsou would surely try to manipulate him into speaking, just like he had Iida, but he was far too clever for that.
He couldn't beat Izuku at his own game.
"What a way to start our round of eight, ladies and gentlemen! Both of these contestants won in a one-sided slaughter last round, but only one of them can move on here! Will Shinsou get another walk-off win, or will Midoriya make him choke?!"
"From personal experience, a little choking can go a long way~" Midnight's sultry voice chimed in.
Mic's muffled groan almost went undetected.
Izuku narrowed his eyes as the taller, purple-haired man walked up on the other side of the arena. He was tense and had a bitter expression on his face. Izuku was calm.
"Are you both ready?" All Might asked.
They both nodded; Izuku slowly, Shinsou curtly.
"Begin!"
"Shinsou," Izuku said quickly, "I know how your quirk works: you can control people if they respond to you. Since I won't do that, you're basically quirkless." He saw the man's teeth clench. "Now, hold on. I respect your drive to win, to join the hero course, to become a hero. You can't understand how much I respect that. I don't begrudge you for beating my classmate, but I can't let you win here."
Izuku narrowed his vision. "I could just use my breath here again and win, but I have a better idea. Shinsou, I want you to succeed." The man's eyes went wide with confusion. "So here's the deal: we fight quirkless. I won't use my quirk, you won't use yours. We spar and the winner goes on. Prove that you're not just a quirk. Prove that you can fight, that you have what it takes physically to be a hero." Izuku smiled wide. "Do we have a deal?"
Shinsou paused for a moment, looking Izuku over as if expecting a trick. "Fine. I accept. Are you ready?"
Izuku wasn't foolish enough to fall for a simple question like that. He didn't trust Shinsou, but as long as he didn't speak, he couldn't fall under the sway of his quirk.
Izuku nodded.
His body froze.
"By the way, I lied," Hitoshi admitted with a smirk as he felt his grip solidify on Midoriya's mind. "Oh, and it's not just speech. Any response will let my quirk in. Thanks for that." He held in a hiss as his head pounded. Using his quirk on a non-verbal response- a trick he had only learned in the last year or so- took a lot out of him; he probably wouldn't be able to do that again without falling unconscious.
He leaned back, throwing his head to the sky as he felt relief wash over him. If Midoriya wasn't such a fool, he could have just won. Whatever, Hitoshi wasn't going to look a gift-win in the mouth.
"You know, it must be pretty great to have a quirk like yours," he said to the sky. "You've got it all, just like your dad. Strength, speed, flight … not to mention that gas of yours." He put a hand to his forehead as he laughed once, full of spite. "You wouldn't appreciate what it's like to be born with a villainous quirk!"
He whipped his head back down, ready to continue his monologue when he suddenly stopped.
Midoriya wasn't standing still like he should have been.
He was hunched over slightly, his arms clenched in front of him. He was panting heavily as green scales flashed over his body.
His body was growing larger and larger. His shirt strained and burst as his arms and chest bulged with muscle and scale.
Midoriya's eyes were wide and vacant like they should have been. Hitoshi felt his quirk working on him, why was he moving?
Intelligence burned to life in his eyes as they started glowing brightly. He didn't feel his quirk slip, but he felt something… shift. He was still controlling Midoriya's mind, but it felt like there was something else there. It didn't feel like a second person just… different.
"What are you doing?!" This was completely new to him, it was hard not to panic. "Stop!"
Midoriya hunched over more as his arms and legs grew. He slammed down on all fours as he transformed into a great, hulking beast that looked like a mix of hound and lizard, but the size of a horse, if not larger. A long tail grew behind him as his head twisted longer, more reptilian… more terrifying.
"Oh my heavens, Midoriya seems to have let his monster out~" Midnight announced with considerable glee leaking into her voice.
That wasn't helping his nerves.
"I said stop!" He was supposed to be in control now, why wasn't he in control?! "Midoriya, turn around and walk out of the arena!"
He felt his quirk activate, pushing the command to Midoriya's mind.
The creature's vision snapped to him, his slitted eyes widening slightly like he had just seen prey. A cruel, predatory sneer grew wider on his draconic maw and he spoke, his voice dripping with derision and mirth.
He sounded almost… playful.
"I'm sorry, he can't come to the phone right now. Can I take a message? I'll be sure he gets it."
Notes:
God, I love cliffhangers, don't you?
Leave me a comment so I get an email and it makes me smile :)