539AN: Been playing a lot of Persona 3: Reload recently. Beat the game and have to say I genuinely hate the ending. For those who know, you know. To me it felt like betraying the point of the story that it had been building up.
A Fool's Bonds
Chapter 27
-Todoroki-
Taking slow deep breaths, Shoto exited his tunnel as he made his way to the ring. He was going up first for the second round, set to face Kirishima and he couldn't just win this fight the same way he had the last one. Another wave of ice that large wouldn't do anything but exhaust and chill him, and thanks to his vow he couldn't use the flame half of his quirk from Endeavor to warm himself.
As they stepped into the ring, he saw the small tension in Kirishima's frame that indicated he was preparing to harden his entire body, recognizing it from group training. At the very least that meant his opponent was taking this fight seriously, rather than the method Kirishima had used against Tetsutetsu.
As soon as Midnight leapt back out of the combat square, Shoto shot out a surge of ice. It was far, far, smaller than what he'd used against Sero in his anger but still should be more than sufficient in freezing Kirishima in his place. Although, speaking of Sero, he should probably apologize again for how that had gone down. Sero hadn't deserved to be taken out like that, hadn't deserved Shoto's anger. Maybe Sero would like a fruit basket? That was what people gave as an apology, right?
He was cut off from his musings when he realized that not only had Midnight not called the match, but Kirishima was free and running toward him.
Eyes wide in shock, Shoto let loose another wave of ice, this time keeping his eye locked onto his opponent. He saw Kirishima leap to the side, ice enveloping one of the redhead's arms. Shoto only had a split moment where he noted that the stone transformation looked larger than normal before Kirishima turned off his transformation. His now much smaller arm slipped free of the ice with ease, Kirishima barely slowing down as Shoto realized how he'd gotten out before.
"Don't underestimate me Todoroki!" Kirishima grinned as he charged in, leaping from side to side to avoid surges of ice that were moving slower than Shoto would like.
"Stop fooling around already and finish him Shoto!" his 'father's' obnoxious booming voice managed to reach him from wherever the bastard had decided to watch the fights.
Tuning out the 'Number 2', Shoto dodged Kirishima's punch, lashing out with his own as he released ice from the fist at close quarters, the ice shattering against Kirishima's chest as his opponent was sent sliding back, albeit remaining in the ring.
"So, close quarters doesn't let me make enough ice against him." Shoto murmured to himself as Kirishima rolled his shoulders, the minimal ice buildup easily breaking off of the redhead's stone-like skin, "I'll have to play this smart." Shoto had made his vow years ago, been planning ways to get by with only the ice half of his quirk.
That meant he had at least a few ideas in mind for a situation like this.
"Ice rink." Shoto stomped his foot on the ground, the surface of the combat square being covered in a layer of ice as he began to move across the surface like a skater. Kirishima on the other hand rendered this moot through the simple action of making his hardened spikes grow enough to pierce through his foot and act like cleats.
Shoto's blood was pumping, he could hear his father's fury at him 'continuing to squander his potential', but the rest of the crowd was eating up the intense match.
Again and again, he tried different techniques, Kirishima pulling out counters that ranged from creative timing to brute force, until Shoto only had a single idea left.
An idea that required perfect timing and if he failed to win with this one then Kirishima would be ready for it going forward.
Clearing some distance, Shoto lashed out with the largest wave of ice he'd done this fight, wanting Kirishima to think he was just getting frustrated. As expected, Kirishima used the same technique that he had to get out of the first waves, but was caught off guard by the smaller wave he'd sent in right behind the big one. It caught Kirishima before he could re-harden, trapping the redhead who couldn't exert enough force to break out of the thick ice Shoto was quickly reinforcing to be safe.
"Kirishima, can you get out?" Midnight called over as the redhead continued to struggle, straining to break the ice before slumping in defeat.
"No, I can't." Kirishima sighed, "Good match Todoroki, you got me."
"You pushed me hard." Shoto admitted, moving over to thaw Kirishima out, offering a hand to his opponent. He was still angry, he still wasn't here to make friends, but that didn't mean he couldn't at least try to have respect for his opponents. It's what his 'father' wouldn't do after all.
-Momo-
Standing tall, Momo walked out of the tunnel to the arena, a grin still on her face thanks to the encouragement from her friends. After Kirishima's loss, where Izuku promised him a match later so they could have the fight they'd planned to have in the tournament, they'd waited for the rest of the ice to be removed from the ring.
With it clear, the roulette wheel had spun once again as it declared she'd be facing off against Ida who would definitely be out to make an impression after his last 'fight'.
Momo's mind was already racing with calculations and formulas, planning out what to make and when to help her best win the fight. Although amusingly enough, one of her more promising ideas unintentionally came from Todoroki.
"Begin!" Midnight cracked her whip as Momo instantly leapt skyward, putting all her strength into her jump even as she had oil come out of pipes extending from her calves, making the ring slippery and almost giving her the win, Iida barely able to stop himself from shooting out of the ring.
"Hah, nice try Yaoyorozu!" Iida's glasses gleamed as he took a firm stance, eyes flitting to where she was set to land, "But I fully intend to win here today."
"Hope you're ready for disappointment then." Momo shot back, raising her arm to fire rubber bullets at her speedster opponent, Iida rapidly moving to dodge them even as Momo worked on trying to think up a new plan. While she had One for All it didn't give her the same degree of physical enhancement that All Might had. She was still stronger than before undoubtedly, but it had instead worked on enhancing her existing quirk, allowing her to make more things faster and at less cost. Without that full speed boost, she wasn't sure if she could keep up with Iida going all out so close quarters with the ring out rules would be a risk.
Unless…she could make him come to her.
She began to slightly space out her shots. Not by much, but just enough that Iida had a chance to notice, to make it look like she might be running out of steam after all the various competitions that day. As she did so, she took a half step back, letting spikes grow from her feet, drilling into the concrete at an angle. She saw Iida's eyes light up, the speedster zig zagging as he dashed closer and closer to her, arms outstretched to try and push her from the ring.
"Not today!" Momo caught Iida by the arms, the spikes standing strong although it was only thanks to the reinforcements from One for All and her own training that kept her ankles from breaking.
"What in the-?!" Iida was caught off guard by the sudden stop, staggering in place and his engines stalling as Momo spun, cutting off the spikes from her foot as she hurled Iida from the ring.
"Iida is out of bounds!" Midnight declared as her opponent rolled, Momo already rushing over to help her classmate up "Yaoyorozu is the winner!"
-Izuku-
"Way to go Momo!" Izuku grinned, catching his Empress as she leapt into his arms for a hug, the others joining in to the action with eager laughs, "Now I'll just need to win my match. I look forward to facing you in the finals."
"And I look forward to beating you in the finals." Momo teased with a grin, "Got a promise to keep to Kyoka after all."
"Oi, them's fighting words." Izuku tried to give his best 'stern' face but was snickering too much for it to be effective, ending up just making Momo laugh harder.
"Hey, the wheel is spinning!" Mina called out as the group looked up to see who'd be fighting next.
'Bakugo Katsuki versus Fumikage Tokoyami'
Izuku already had a hunch on how that fight would go, and it meant he'd soon be going against Hitoshi Shinso. With the glare that Shinso had given him before, he had a feeling this wasn't going to be simple.