1,209AN: So hello all, here I am back again with another chapter.
In the end I decided to go with the most preferred suggestion by number of reviews and PMs saying such, and write out only a few of the more pertinent fights. These fights have been shown in full for a reason, either related to the arc or the greater story. Of course by doing this I have added an extra chapter to the arc, but I think it'll pay off in the long run. Though it does mean more tournament stuff, which isn't exactly my favourite thing to write. But hey, there is other stuff going on too, including interactions that I want to flesh out, and outside perspectives from soon to be important characters. Suffice to say as we more through the remaining two chapters of the arc, things will be getting spicier in more ways than one!
But anyway, hope you enjoy, and please leave a review etc. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to PM me.
Another thing while I am at it, is this. I am a part of a discord group, there's tons of others there, plenty of writers, admittedly mainly PJO, but other stuff too, including a growing number of MHA writers. Feel free to pop along and say hi, I'm always happy to chat about the stuff I am writing. So if you fancy it please do to join by sticking this: discord .gg / elibrary into discord, with no spaces, or using the link on my bio.
Thanks for reading and please do leave a review, that or feel free to PM, I am usually much better at answering those!
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or Attack on Titan.
( - )
(Last Time)
Entering Class 1A's box, Izuku smiled as he was met by absolute silence as all his classmates stared at the mountain of ice in front of them.
Frowning at the twisting spires of ice, he slipped past his classmates and made it to the front of the box, his eyes wide as he looked down at the stage, only to find himself locking eyes with a glaring Todoroki.
"Well shit," He muttered, his brow furrowing as Midnight, half coated in frost, called the match in Todoroki's favour.
( - )
(On the central stage)
Diving beneath the cement like it was liquid, Juuzo Honenuki resurfaced directly behind Shiozaki with a smirk, his eyes gleaming as he lashed out with a right hook to her kidneys.
Letting out a soft 'eep' Shiozaki was forced to dive forward as she narrowly avoided Juuzo, her vine-like hair splaying out behind her, as each individual strand shot out like thorny net, as she tried to entangle her fast-moving opponent within the confines of her Quirk.
Reacting in an instant, Juuzo shot back into the ground as it once again became liquid. Swimming forwards, he spread the effects of his Quirk across the rest of the stage as far as he could make it go.
Swimming through liquefied earth was an odd feeling. It felt like he was wading through a thick slurry. It didn't quite have the texture of water, but instead felt more like some kind of thick, murky soup. Kind of a bit swampy. The worst bit though was the darkness.
His Quirk might soften the consistency of the solid, inanimate material around him into a liquid, but it didn't make it transparent. Light didn't filter through the surface, which made it feel like he was swimming through a dense, black void.
It was disconcerting and claustrophobic, which is why to the darkness he had included powerful flashlights into both his costume's chest piece and helmet.
Unfortunately, his application to use his helmet in the festival had been rejected, which meant his costume was currently in his locker.
It was irritating, especially since it essentially left him swimming blind.
Still he knew he had to make the best of it, after all that was one of the reasons behind the Sports Festival, it was to challenge them, and to make them grow and adapt, all of which would be on show to the watching Pro Heroes. If they could overcome the odds, and show their potential, it would put them in good standing as far as their future careers went.
Grimacing, Juuzo focussed on that thought, even as he continued trying to find his opponent.
She was a tricky one, far more so than her demure, delicate outward demeanour suggested.
The delicate and demure rose of Class 1A had thorns.
( - )
(With Ibara Shiozaki)
On the surface of the now slushy stage, Shiozaki spread her hair out in all directions, like an oversized Portuguese man o' war.
The match hadn't gone the way she thought it would have.
In previous combat training and also at the USJ, she had been able to overpower most of her opponents with ease.
Her Quirk was versatile and strong.
It allowed her to dominate both her environment and her opponents.
She had been a fool.
It was galling looking back at it now, but she had allowed herself to be lulled into a false sense of security, and had sinfully come to believe that her victories had been down to her being 'just that good'.
Looking back now, she could see that she had been both arrogant and prideful.
She had never really taken into account the circumstances surrounding her previous victories. Every match-up and setting she had fought in had suited her Quirk, and her style of fighting.
She'd never been at a disadvantage before.
Her pre-U.A. training, the entrance exam, the Class 1A combat training sessions, the USJ, all of them had suited her abilities.
Her past victories had made her prideful, and unfortunately pride often came before the fall.
Which was probably why she was now struggling.
Never before had she had the territorial advantage torn away from her so abruptly.
With the ground being practically liquid, she couldn't fully utilise her Quirk any more.
It had become a struggle just to keep up with her fast moving opponent, even as he continued to use his hit and run tactics to wear her down.
They'd only been fighting for a few minutes, and already she was at a disadvantage.
Holding back an unsightly grimace, she tried to centre herself.
Despite her brewing insecurities, she had still earned her place here at U.A.
Clinging onto that thought, she spread her vines out around her, even as she started to tread water.
She was out of her depth, but she was experienced enough to know how to at least adapt her tactics.
Grimacing at the feeling of the sludge cement, she tried to focus her thoughts.
Her current plan, which involved spreading her vines out like the tendrils of a man o' war, had the dual purpose of both expanding her surface area – which would hopefully make it easy for her to remain close to the surface – even as they acted like the strands of a spider's web. The fact she was comparing her Quirk to a spider's webbing made her cringe internally. But at the same time the comparison was apt, after all she could sense vibrations through her hair even in the surrounding ooze, and so could easily pick up on her opponent the moment he made contact with even a strand of her hair.
Kicking her legs uselessly and flapping her arms, she continued to try and keep her head above the surface.
At this point it was a battle of attrition.
Her opponent was just too quick for her to capture with her vines, but at the same time she was far too aware for him to ambush.
Slowly extending her vines through the thick, liquid cement, she spread them both around her and beneath her like an ever expanding rosebush as she tried to find Honenuki.
Every now and then she was able to occasionally sense him as he accidentally brushed against one of her vines, but unfortunately he was moving too fast for her to catch.
Gasping as she felt her head suddenly dip below the surface, her eyes narrowed as she once again felt his presence over near the edge of her net. Kicking her legs, she resurfaced and looked over in the direction she had sensed him.
A disturbance in the molten earth was the only evidence of his presence, as his head slowly emerged from the grey ooze like some kind of swamp monster, his dark eyes locking with her own.
Narrowing her eyes a fraction, she saw his lips quirk up for a moment, before he once again sank into the earth.
Splashing around, she tried to manoeuvre herself, so she could fully face his last known location, even as she extended as many of her vines as she could in his direction.
This was her last gambit.
Her arms and legs were burning as she continued to tread water, and her lungs stung as she struggled to gulp down breaths of air.
Her fitness just wasn't up to scratch.
It would be something that she would need to work on in the future.
Forcing that thought aside for the moment, she instead focussed her attention on her vines.
They weren't moving through the earth as fast as they normally would due to its sludgy consistency.
Which was annoying as it meant that she just wasn't fast enough to catch him.
Already she could sense him brushing accidentally against several of her vines as he shot towards her.
He was closing in on her, and quickly.
Dragging as many vines towards her as she could, she tried to create a dome-like shield around herself.
Before she could, however, he hit her.
With what, she wasn't sure.
But something struck her hard in the abdomen, knocking the air out of her lungs, and sending her head back beneath the earth as she all but folded in two.
Gagging as she felt the earthen slurry slip down her throat, Shiozaki reached down and grabbed a handful of bristly hair – he'd headbutted her – and started weaving her available thorny vines around his body, twisting them viciously around his arms, legs and neck.
In response, he dragged her deeper into the ground.
Struggling, she could feel her lungs starting to burn, and her eyes sting as she clenched them shut too late.
Gripping onto the hair, she continued trying to ensnare him as best as she could, even as she lost all access to the rest of her senses.
It felt like she was sinking into an endless void.
She couldn't hear, smell, taste or see anything but the earth around her, and the only thing she could feel was Honenuki's struggles as he freed what she thought was his arm and started to brutally punch her in the kidney.
Gasping in pain, she felt more earth flood into her throat.
She was choking, her vision was darkening.
If she held out any longer, then this would be it.
She would be drowned on land.
Releasing her grip on Honenuki, she withdrew her vines, freeing his remaining limbs.
Her thoughts were muddy, and her lungs were burning.
But she already knew she had lost.
In response, she felt a pair of arms wrap tightly around her waist.
In normal times such a presumptive act would annoy her to no end, but right now she could barely bring herself to care as her consciousness continued to waver.
The arms tightened their grip, even as she felt the earth start to slide rapidly over her skin.
Closing her eyes, the last thing she saw was a bright flash of light, before everything once again went dark.
( - )
(With Izuku)
"And the winner of match three is Juuzo Honenuki!" Present Mic shouted, his voice echoing around the stadium as he continued his bombastic commentary.
In Class 1A's box, Izuku forced a smile and clapped along with everyone else.
The fight had been… underwhelming, to say the least.
No, that was unfair.
The match itself had probably been pretty gripping. But unfortunately, due to the nature of Honenuki's Quirk, it had been all but impossible to follow considering most of it had taken place underground.
Focussing his attention on the main stage, he watched as Honenuki hardened the earth and dragged a now unconscious Shiozaki out of it. His face was flushed, his P.E. uniform was all but shredded, and there were trails of blood trickling down his arms and legs. But despite that, he still had a wide grin on his skull-like face as he lowered Shiozaki to the ground and basked in the adulation of the crowd.
It might not have been the most exciting match to watch, but he had still won.
Glancing around, Izuku could hear his classmates muttering about the end result, and honestly he could understand why.
In terms of capability, Shiozaki was one of the strongest and most versatile in the class. She was definitely one of Class 1A's heavy hitters, and yet Honenuki had soundly defeated her.
It was worrying, especially considering the fact that his Quirk was far more dangerous than he had first thought.
After all, at first it hadn't seemed like much to be concern over.
But, after seeing how the other student used it, he couldn't help but feel troubled.
The Quirk had a wider range than he initially thought, and gave Honenuki almost complete control over his environment, which meant that he had the home field advantage no matter who he was matched up with.
Biting his lower lip, he couldn't help but drum his fingers nervously against the knuckles of his other hand.
If he were to be matched up with Honenuki, how would he overcome his Quirk?
Right now, he wasn't sure he could.
Worrying his lower lip, he continued to watch as Shiozaki was stretchered off the stage by a pair of robots, even as Present Mic continued to shower the two fighters with praise.
"Damn, I thought she'd win for sure." Kaminari muttered from beside him. The blonde looked pretty tense as he watched yet another member of their class getting stretchered off the field.
"Yeah, I mean, how do you even counter that?" Mina nodded grimly, her own concern showing, though not for herself, but for the others that would be fighting, as she reached out and placed a comforting arm around Hagakure's invisible shoulders.
"Swim I guess? That's what he seems to be doing." Sero said, grimacing as Honenuki left the stage. "Are any of you good swimmers?"
"Nope," Izuku muttered. Swimming hadn't really been on the curriculum at Asphodel, the best he could do was tread water and a bit of front crawl.
From around him, the rest of those that would be competing shook their heads in the negative, or in Todoroki's case grunted.
Not even Kirishima looked all that confident. "I can swim, but I've never tried swimming in through cement, or whatever it is that guy is doing to the ground."
"It looks like he is softening or liquefying it." Iida said, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Considering the range of his Quirk encompasses the entire stage, I am not entirely best to counter it."
All around them, the crowd continued to roar and clap, though noticeably not as loud as they had for Todoroki once the shock of his devastating match had worn off.
"He's tough," Yui said quietly from Izuku's other side.
Glancing sideways at her, Izuku nodded.
"I don't think I would be able to beat him." She continued softly, the slightest hint of worry entering her tone as her blue eyes locked with his.
"Yeah, same," Kaminari said uneasily.
"I've no chance," Hagakure said glumly.
"Nah, you're both fine! All you need to do his hit him hard, and hit him fast." Kirishima grinned, throwing his arm around Kaminari's shoulder, even as he looked over at where Hagakure's clothes were seemingly floating.
"Well, I'd need to beat you first." Kaminari replied weakly.
"True, true," Kirishima hummed, before with an excited grin he slapped Kaminari on the back. "Just give it your all like I'll be doing, and then the best man will win!"
"Great…" Kaminari grimaced, his tone less than convincing.
Patting him awkwardly on the shoulder, Izuku could understand his concern.
He wasn't sure how well Kirishima could deal with electricity, but if his rock-like form was anywhere near as insulated against electricity as actual rock, then Kaminari probably had a bad match up ahead of him.
Tearing his eyes away from the duo, Izuku turned his attention back to the field, even as the next pair of students; Setsuna Tokage and Itsuka Kendo, stepped up onto the stage.
Leaning forward to watch the next match, he tried to tune out the ongoing conversations around him, as he instead focussed on analysing the upcoming fight.
He didn't feel much like talking right now.
Instead, he was more interested in watching the rest of the first round fights and gathering as much useful data as he could on his future opponents.
Annoyingly, he'd already missed Todoroki's match due to how fast it had been, and the last one between Honenuki and Shiozaki had mostly taken place underground and out of sight. Which was a shame as both Todoroki and Honenuki were probably his strongest challengers. Which meant that this would be the first match he got to fully see from start to finish with no distractions.
His eyes narrowed at that thought, even as he reached for his notebook.
Only for his hand to grasp nothing but air. Over the last few weeks of school, he'd fallen out of the habit of writing down notes on interesting Quirks.
He did still have some of his old notebooks back at his apartment, but ever since leaving Asphodel he'd found himself too distracted with other things to continue the practice.
Which was a shame as it probably would have come in handy, after all one of the next two fighters could be his opponent in the next round.
Clasping his hands together under his chin, he leant forward and watched as Midnight started the match, his gaze quickly following his former teammate, Kendo, as she instantly started dashing across the stage towards Tokage, her hands already rapidly expanding in size as she closed in on her opponent.
Her Quirk was pretty decent, but it wasn't that much of a threat, or at least not to him.
It was essentially just a localised Gigantification Quirk which gave her enhanced physical strength and increased durability in her hands, but nothing more than that.
Tokage's Quirk, however, was far more versatile.
Focussing on the other girl, he watched with interest as she rapidly split her body up into several dozen individual pieces.
Her head and shoulders, which remained in a single clump, rapidly flew up into the air and far out of Kendo's range, even as the rest of her body started circling the orange haired teen like scavenging birds.
He wasn't sure exactly what her parts were, as from where he was sitting they just looked like lumps of flesh. But either way, they seemed to be completely under Tokage's telekinetic control, as she easily moved them around. With her easily avoiding Kendo's giant swinging hands.
It was clear to see who held the initial advantage.
Concentrating on the fight, Izuku watched as the green haired girl got her body parts into position and started to bombard her classmate from all sides.
It was pretty brutal to watch as every time Kendo tried to attack, several of the lumps of flesh would zoom down from behind her and strike her in the back of the head, or in the ribs, or kidneys, or arms.
It didn't matter how fast Kendo reacted, there were just too many lumps of flesh for her to keep track of, and they were all moving far too fast and erratically for her to hit them, even with her now massively expanded hands.
Furthermore, every time Kendo swept her hands around to defend herself, or every time she smashed the concrete beneath her into pieces and scooped up the shattered fragments to use as projectiles – which Tokage could deftly avoid with ease – she burned through her stamina.
Just like the previous fight, this one was a battle of attrition, and just like the previous one, it was just as lopsided.
Grimacing, Izuku shook his head.
He hadn't much liked Kendo considering her attitude, but he still felt bad for her.
The Sports Festival was supposed to be a platform for them to show off their Quirks and capabilities in front of the watching Pro Heroes.
But unfortunately for Kendo, it just wasn't to be.
The match-up just wasn't in her favour.
Letting out a soft sigh, Izuku sat back in his seat and watched as Kendo finally went down under Tokage's onslaught, even as Midnight called the match.
She had tried her best but in a superhuman society no one was born equal, and unfortunately for Kendo, Tokage's Quirk was just a bad match for her own.
Watching as the two girls shook hands and departed the stage, Izuku continued to phase out the ongoing conversation around him – which had now turned to the most recent match – as he instead watched Jiro step onto the central stage with Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, her grey haired opponent doing the same on the other side.
"Aww man, I can't believe I'm gonna miss Jiro's match!" Kaminari lamented as he and Kirishima stood up and started heading down to the changing rooms.
Offering both of them a "good luck" Izuku quickly returned his attention to the next match as Midnight raised her riding crop and brought it down with a crack to start off the next match.
With a loud battle cry, Tetsutetsu's flesh turned a shiny metallic silver as he rushed straight at Jiro like a human sized tank.
"Midoriya," a voice suddenly rang out, cutting through his concentration.
Glancing irritably at the speaker, Izuku's green eyes met Todoroki's cold, heterochromatic gaze.
"What?" He scowled.
He didn't have time for this, as he wanted to watch the ongoing fight.
Additionally, he just couldn't be bothered humouring any more of Todoroki's petty posturing.
"Now that we have both had our matches and had time to rest, I would like to talk." Todoroki said bluntly.
Turning his attention back to the ongoing match, Izuku watched as Jiro was forced to dive to the ground to avoid a brutal looking right hook.
Jiro was very much a support-type hero, specialising in search and rescue. Her Quirk didn't naturally lend itself to fighting, and she definitely wasn't a frontline tank like her opponent.
On the surface, like the other fights he'd seen, it was pretty one-sided.
"Then talk." Izuku finally replied to Todoroki as he continued to watch the match as best as he could. His eye following the fight as Jiro continued to retreat, her extended earlobes weaving about her like snakes as she looked for a gap in Tetsutetsu's defences.
Without her support equipment, Jiro was in trouble, especially against a metallic version of Kirishima.
It really was not a good match-up.
Then again, none of the ones he had seen so far had been good match-ups really, every single one had favoured the victor.
But unfortunately, such was life.
"In private," Todoroki clarified, his tone practically arctic.
From what Izuku could tell, he was not used to being rejected.
Turning to look at him, Izuku felt himself stiffen as he found himself the sole target of Todoroki's icy glare.
Only this time he didn't feel awkward or nervous, not like he had before. Instead, he just felt pissed off.
He was trying to watch a match and do research on his future opponents. He didn't have time to cater to his antagonistic classmate's whims.
"We can talk later after the tournament or during an intermission." Izuku replied, his tone hardening.
Todoroki scowled.
Tearing his gaze away from him, Izuku ignored the other teen's baleful glare as he instead watched Tetsutetsu finally land a clean hit. All around him, he could hear the crowd groaning in sympathy as Jiro hit the ground.
Looking up at one of the massive overhead screens, he could see Jiro's extended ear lobes thrashing about as she tried to defend herself. But it was to no avail as the earjacks couldn't pierce Tetsutetsu's metal flesh, nor could she get them into any of his other orifices, like his ears, as he kept moving around. His fists were silver blurs as he once again broke her guard, and knocked her back to the ground a final time.
With a loud crack of her riding crop, Midnight called the match in Tetsutetsu's favour.
"And after a brave fight, Jiro from Class 1A goes down!" Present Mic shouted.
"Ah, that was rough." Mina grimaced, her fingers nervously drumming along the edge of the box.
"Poor Jiro," Hagakure agreed.
Izuku nodded, his gaze flickering sideways and past the two girls.
From what he could see, Todoroki had finally taken the hint and had moved back over to the other end of the box, where he was now leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
Ignoring him, Izuku turned his attention back to the stage.
There were still three matches to go of the first round, and next up were two of his classmates; Kirishima and Kaminari.
( - )
(With Kirishima)
Taking a deep breath, Kirishima started bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as he impatiently waited for his match to begin.
Watching the other fights had gotten him hyped up.
Where other people might've been put off after seeing the sheer power of the three tournament frontrunners; Todoroki, Honenuki and Midoriya, he couldn't help but feel excited.
Maybe a year ago, he would have been scared at the thought of fighting against one of the first year's 'Big Three'. Back then he would have quailed in fear at the prospect of facing off in single combat with a powerhouse like Midoriya, and he would have probably almost pissed himself at the thought of dealing with Todoroki's insanely powerful Quirk or trying to fight against Honenuki's bullshit abilities.
But he'd changed since then.
Sure he still felt fear, he was human after all.
But nowadays, he didn't let the fear win.
Back before he'd set his sights on going to U.A. he had once been in a situation where he had felt completely and utterly hopeless and useless, and he never wanted to feel that way again.
The image of Mina flashed through his mind at the thought, and his heart skipped a beat.
Exhaling, he grinned.
She was in the stands right now, watching him.
Taking a deep breath, he chanced a glance over at his class's box, and immediately spotted her.
She was sitting next to Midoriya and Yui, with Iida, Uraraka and Sero sitting behind her. The rest of his classmates – those not waiting for their own fights or in the infirmary getting patched up – were also all there.
They were all up there watching and supporting him.
His heart beat faster, and warmth flooded through him.
The comradery and competition at U.A. was just as great as he had hoped it would be.
The school truly was a proving ground where the best of the best competed against each other to become the greatest heroes they could be.
Dancing back and forth on his feet, he glanced over at his opponent, Kaminari.
And now it was his turn.
"Hey Kaminari, good luck!" Kirishima shouted out, flashing the blonde a thumbs up.
Kaminari smiled nervously in response, and waved his hand.
"Oh, what sweet sportsmanship." Midnight purred from the side-lines, before with a grin she turned her attention to the rest of the arena. "Well, it seems both Kirishima and Kaminari are ready! The question is, are you?!"
The crowd roared their approval.
Pushing down his fear and anxiety, Kirishima instead activated his Quirk and fully hardened his body. The flesh on his face, arms and hands visibly turned craggy as they gained a rock-like composition, even as the rest of his body did the same.
Back when he had been a snot-nosed kid, he had truly hated his Quirk. He had thought it ugly and useless. After all, when he used it, he didn't look at all heroic. Instead, he looked more like a villain than anything else.
Taking another deep breath, he locked eyes with Kaminari.
His Quirk wasn't as flashy as the blonde's, but that didn't mean it was useless.
In his opinion, it didn't matter how strong a Quirk was.
No, all that mattered was how it was used!
Across from him, he could see yellow lightning beginning to crackle around Kaminari, even as the blonde raised his hands in preparation for the fight to come.
Raising her riding crop, Midnight favoured them both with a sultry smirk.
He could hear Present Mic's commentary in the background. But it was indistinct, barely audible over the roar of the crowd and the thundering of his heart.
"5….. 4…. 3… 2.. 1." Midnight shouted, bringing her crop down with a swish and crack. "And begin!"
Exploding forwards, Kirishima ignored the hooting and howling of the crowd.
They didn't matter right now, nor did the thousands of Pro Heroes watching.
No, all that mattered was what was happening at that moment.
Exhaling, he could feel the freshly repaired concrete beneath his feet crater as he pushed off.
In front of him, he could see Kaminari summoning yet more lightning, his eyes wide and his face pale.
He didn't look confident.
If anything, he looked scared.
Pushing his concern away for the moment, Kirishima continued moving.
He could hear his hardened body cracking and groaning with every step he took. It was so loud it almost masked the crackling of Kaminari's lightning, as the other teen extended his hands and aimed them right at him.
Lowering his head slightly like a charging rhino, Kirishima made sure to keep his eyes on his opponent as he rushed him.
Dashing forward, he got within a few metres of the other teen, before with a yell, Kaminari unleashed his charged up attack.
Flinching at the explosion of sound that followed Kaminari's attack.
Stumbling forwards, the first thing that he saw was a blinding flash of light which forced him to shut his eyes, after which came a surge of heat and the uncomfortable tingle of lightning crackling across the surface of his hardened sin.
Blinking the spots out of his eyes, and suppressing the urge to twitch in response to the painful tingling in his limbs, he was just about able to make out the blurry outline of Kaminari as the blonde staggered backwards.
Exhaling, he bent his legs, lowering his body position as he did so, before moments later he lunged forward and upward, shoulder first.
With a grunt and cry of shock from his opponent, he spear tackled Kaminari off of the ground.
Taking a few more steps forward, he wrapped both of his arms tightly around the partially airborne blonde's legs.
Grounding his feet, he then twisted on his heel, using the momentum of his tackle to spin himself around, even as he bodily hurled the dazed and breathless Kaminari out of the ring.
"And that's it! In a stunning display of physical prowess and resilience, the victor is Eijiro Kirishima!" Midnight's voice rang out, calling the match.
Staggering forwards a few steps, Kirishima stopped using his Quirk, even as he then proceeded to rub his stinging eyes.
He was still seeing spots and his arms and legs still felt a little numb, but otherwise he was fine.
Hearing the roar of the crowd, he snapped his eyes open and looked around, his fist thrust in the air in a sign of victory.
He had done it!
Grinning as the cheers and adulation from the crowd washed over him, he took a few moments to bask in his victory, before with a heavy exhale he turned away from the cheering masses and instead jogged over to where a dazed and confused looking Kaminari was still sitting just outside the ring.
"That was a good one, man!" Kirishima grinned, extending a hand to his classmate.
He had known ahead of time that his Quirk protected him from minor electric shocks.
But he had never tested it against the strength of Kaminari's lightning.
In many ways, the whole thing had been a gamble.
Kaminari, he knew from combat class, was very much a glass cannon.
He could unleash incredibly fast moving and powerful blasts of lightning, but he was otherwise quite squishy.
One hit would take him out.
But at the same time, Kaminari only needed to tag a normal person once to take them out of the fight, too. Which was something he could very easily do if they got too close to him. His long range control over his Quirk wasn't great, but in terms of short-range, he was capable of unleashing several lethal blasts with ease. Which, considering he himself was a combat specialist, meant that sooner or later he would be getting shocked. The only real question was about whether his Quirk would hold up against Kaminari's lightning, or whether the blonde would be able to one shot him the moment he got within range.
"Kaminari?" Kirishima asked.
"Whay…." Kaminari grinned.
His eyes were unfocused as he gave Kirishima a thumbs up.
Holding back a smile at his antics, Kirishima reached down and helped the dazed blonde up and onto his feet.
Another weakness of Kaminari's Quirk, was that it tended to fry his brain if he used too much electricity.
"You did good man," He said quietly, ignoring the roar of the crowd and Present Mic's commentary, as he instead started to help Kaminari out of the arena. "You did good."
( - )
(With Monoma)
Smirking at the sad excuse for a fight, Monoma couldn't help but roll his eyes as he lazily looked over at his classmates; Kosei Tsuburaba, Hiryu Rin and Bakugo.
Class 1A really was far too overrated.
"You're up next, Monoma," Rin said softly, his dark eyes flitting between Monoma and the stage.
"I know, there is no need to state the obvious." Monoma replied dryly, even as he caught Bakugo scowling at him.
"Do you have a plan for the invisible girl?" Tsuburaba asked, his angular face twisting up into a nasty smile.
Monoma had to stifle a laugh at the sight of it. Truly, the frizzy brown haired teen had the face of a villain. Not that he would tell him as much, after all he still needed him right now.
"Yes, I'm going to beat her so badly that she'll quit the Hero Course in shame." Monoma chuckled.
He had nothing against the girl personally.
No, in reality, she was nothing more than a tool. One which he would use to provoke the person he did have a gripe against, Midoriya.
From what he had observed, the green haired teen was pretty close to several of his classmates, including the invisible girl.
He licked his lips at the thought of how pissed off the other teen would be after he saw what he was going to do to his friend.
It was all part of the plan.
Nodding to himself at that, he glanced over at the stage.
Present Mic had just announced his opponent, which meant it would be his turn next.
"Right, it's time to go." He said, giving each of them a high five as he turned and started striding through the tunnel and towards the stage.
He was already looking forward to the fight ahead.
Not that he thought it would be much of a fight.
No, ritual humiliation sounded far more apt…
( - )
AN: Oh he's a nasty piece of work that Monoma. But yes anyway, what did you think? Sorry about cutting it off at a cliffhanger, but I wanted to have the next fight in its own chapter. That said the next chapter will cover the final first round fights, several tense interactions, and all of the second round fights, as the sixteen fighters get whittled down to eight, and then again to four. There will be a good mix of dialogue and action in the next chapter as things start heating up. So yep, if you're still reading this story, look forward to that I guess.
Also, now we are some ways into this story, what are people's thoughts on pairings? Any suggestions based on the story as it is now?
Let me know, either by review or PM!
Also I am on a discord with a load of other writers, so if you fancy popping over to ask questions or offer suggestions about this story, or any of my other ones, or to find new authors you might not have come across yet, please feel free to use the link in my bio.
Thanks for reading and if you have any suggestions or questions feel free to PM me or find me on Discord.
Catch you later.
Greed720.