Outsider Chronicles: Split/Second Hero

Getting reborn into a world of superheros is annoying. Eh, at least I get awesome powers out of the deal. Now if only I didn't have that bloody line in my head...

And we are back! I don't have any messages or warnings, so lets dive right in. Enjoy!

Chapter 11

After my match with Gabrielle, the next few matches rolled around quickly, with Fumikage smacking Ashido around with no problem and lobbing her out of the arena with his Shadow. The match between Bakugou and Eijirou was pretty much a super powered brawl and it was difficult to actually see anything behind all the smoke and dust thrown up by Bakugou's attacks. It ended pretty much how I was expecting, with Bakugou managing to land a powerful blow on Eijirou that took him out of the fight.

"Well, time to go," I said, getting to my feet.

"Good luck!" said Su.

"Knock him dead," said Gabrielle, who had been sitting with us since our match ended.

I grinned and gave two thumbs up. Two minutes later, Todoroki and I were staring one another down in the ring. I was a little tense. This was going to be the toughest battle yet. Sure, I'd practiced how to avoid face planting if he froze the floor, but that was only the beginning. Todoroki was strong, one of the strongest in the class, and his control over his power was incredible. Not only that, but he fought from a range, placing me at a disadvantage since I didn't have any ranged attacks. Normally that wouldn't matter because of my speed, but I knew better than to underestimate his reflexes. If I screwed up even once in this fight, I was done.

"BEGIN!" shouted Midnight.

I immediately darted to the side, avoiding the wave of ice Todoroki sent at me. I spun and charged straight at the other boy, cranking my brain up to its maximum speed so I could react in time to avoid his attacks. I flexed my fingers, instinctively calling on the energy that I could now feel flowing through me. The energy crackled out as yellow lightning around my fingers as I aimed a punch at Todoroki's solar plexus.

"Flashpoint...GAH!"

Before I could land the blow however, my opponent released a blast of fire that forced me to break off my attack or risk getting burnt. I skidded to a stop, only to be forced to move again as he sent a wave of ice at me.

"Crap, what should I do?" I thought, ducking under another burst of ice, "I can't get close to him with that fire and sooner or later, I'm gonna slip up and he'll hit me. God damn it, if only I had some ranged attacks!"

"Hey Yuki, is it just me or are you slowing down?" shouted Todoroki, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What, no!" I said, "It'll take more than ice to slow…"

I was cut off as Todoroki sent another blast of ice at me. My sped up brain and senses saw it coming a mile away and my body should have been able to dodge it with no problem. However, as I moved, I realized that Todoroki was right, I was slowing down. It wasn't much, but it was noticeable.

"The hell? Why am I…?" I thought, before my gaze fell on the ice around me, "Oh hell!"

I sighed and stopped moving. I raised a hand.

"I give, you win Todoroki," I said, making my opponent blink in surprise.

"Huh?"

I gave a rueful grin.

"I just discovered a weakness in my power," I said, "Its not one I ever came across before because of how rare temperatures as low as what you can produce are."

Todoroki looked confused for a moment, before understanding bloomed in his eyes.

"Ah, right, the cold slows you down," he said, "The colder it gets, the greater the effect."

"Exactly," I said, "And since I can't get near you, you could just grind me down. I can't win this fight as I am now."

I grinned and flashed a thumbs up.

"It was fun though and I owe you for showing me a weakness I didn't know about. We'll have to do this again once I figure out a way around it."

Todoroki smirked and nodded.

"Sounds good," he said.

I turned on my heel and stepped out of the ring.

"WINNER, TODOROKI!" shouted Midnight.


"Why did you give up?" asked Gabrielle as I rejoined my classmates.

"Because I couldn't beat him," I said, "I didn't have any way to get at him without him stopping me and the longer the match went on, the more my speed would be drained by the cold. Until I figure out a way around those weaknesses, I won't be able to fight someone like Todoroki."

"That makes sense," said Su, "Knowing when to avoid a fight is as important as being able to win one."

I sighed.

"Yeah, and better I learn this now than during a fight with a Villain," I said as Bakugou and Todoroki stepped out onto the field for their match, "So, who do we thinks gonna win this?"

"My money's on Todoroki," said Minoru, "Hes way stronger than Bakugou!"

"I think Bakugous gonna win," said Gabrielle, narrowing her eyes at the two squaring off in the arena, "Todoroki might be stronger, but he's also distracted by something. Of course, if that wasn't the case, my money would be on Todoroki as well."

"You really can't afford to be distracted in a fight of any kind," I said, "That way leads to a painful lesson."

"Hey, shouldn't you and Tokoyami be fighting?" asked Ashido.

"Oh, he forfeited the match," I said.

"Like you did with Todoroki, I know a match I can't win when I see one," said the bird headed hero, "Between your speed and that new electricity you can generate, my Dark Shadow wouldn't be able to catch you."

"Yeah, I get it," I said, "Still, I'd have liked to fight you nonetheless."

"Maybe another time," said Fumikage with a smirk.


The match between Bakugou and Todoroki went pretty much as expected, with both breaking out some really impressive moves that blew away the audience. However, the fact that Todoroki was confused and not fully focused on the fight played against him and he ended up ringing out, much to Bakugous fury.

"Jeeze, calm down man," I said as said explosive hero struggled against the, rather excessive, bonds that prevented him from trying to tear Todoroki's head off, "You won't make a very good impression on the Pros acting like a maniac."

Bakugou just gave a muffled snarl.

"And so we have our winners!" said Present Mic, "And to award the medals, we have…"

"IT IS I!" roared Almight as he came plummeting from the top of the arena walls to land with a crash.

I sighed. Always one for big entrances. Then again, it did go with the job description of being a Pro. The big Hero approached the winners podium with a box of medals, placing the bronze one over my neck.

"EXCELLENT WORK, YOUNG SETSUNA," said Almight, "YOU DID VERY WELL TO GET THIS FAR AND YOU LEARNT SOMETHING FROM YOUR DEFEAT, KEEP GOING LIKE THIS AND YOU'LL MAKE A GREAT HERO ONE DAY!"

I smiled at the Pro.

"Thank you sir," I said, "I just wish I'd known about that weakness sooner. Still, theres always next year."

"THATS THE SPIRIT MY BOY!" said Almight, slapping me on the back hard enough to make my knees buckle.

He moved onto the others and I had to hide a chuckle at Bakugous reaction to his victory. He really wasn't pleased by the idea of winning while Todoroki wasn't at his best. I guess, in his own way, the kid really was a good person.

"AND THERE WE HAVE IT!" said Almight, "THE WINNERS OF THIS YEARS FESTIVAL! HOWEVER, TO THOSE THAT DIDN'T MAKE IT, DO NOT GIVE UP! THERE IS A POSSIBILITY FOR EVERYONE HERE TO STAND HERE! JUST LIKE ALL OF YOU, THEY WORKED, FOUGHT AND CLIMBED UP TO THE TOP THROUGH THEIR OWN POWER. THIS IS THE NEXT GENERATION OF HEROES, ALONG WITH EVERYONE WHO COMPETED! I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HOW FAR YOU WILL ALL GO! AND NOW, SAY IT WITH ME, THE FINAL WORDS TO END THIS TOURNAMENT!"

The entire crowd took a deep breath and shouted the Academy's motto to the heavens.

"PLUS ULTRA!"


After that, the festival broke up and we all went home. With the festival over, we received two days off to recover. I spent those two days practicing with my newly upgraded ability and managed to figure out how to use the energy that now suffused my body in various ways without damaging myself. However, while the energy did provide me with a large boost in power, it was also a power hog, making it the sort of think I'd use in a tough battle and stick with my standard skillset for more normal fights. Interestingly, whenever I used the energy, the skin above my left eye would break and start bleeding slightly. Now, normally I'd heal from a cut like that within a few minutes, but I didn't actually notice until I started getting blood in my eye and by then, the repeated damage had overwhelmed my healing factor and caused scar tissue to develop. Now I had a very faint, lightning bolt shaped scar above my eye. Something told me that was going to cause me trouble in the not too distant future.


After two days, I was on my way back to school, ready to get back to the grind. It was pissing it down, so I had my raincoat and umbrella on and the tram smelt musty.

"Setsuna!"

Called a voice as I got off the tram at my stop. I turned to the source of the voice and saw Gabrielle walking towards me with a grin on her face.

"Hey Gabs," I said, "How've you been?"

"Oh you know, the usual," said the blond.

"Actually, I don't," I said, "We've known each other for about three days."

"Good point," said Gabrielle as she stepped around a large puddle, "I hate this weather."

"Really? I like it," said Su as she stepped up next to me.

Unlike Gabrielle, who was wrapped up tight, and me, Su was just wearing a waterproof coat over her uniform. Then again, the Frog-girl did like the water, so it wasn't that surprising. She was a frog after all.

"Of course you do," said Gabrielle.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" growled Su, fixing Gabrielle with a very out of character glare.

"Can you save the fight for when we're out of the rain?" I asked before Gabrielle could respond.

"Good plan," said Gabrielle.

We sped up, Gabrielle and I wanting to get out of the rain as quickly as possible. At the school gates, we ran into Ochako and Midoriya.

"Hey guys, hows it hanging?" I asked, raising my hand.

"Oh, fine," said Midoriya, looking a little shaken.

"Whats up with him?" asked Gabrielle.

"Hes a bit shaken up by all the attention we've been getting," said Ochako.

"Yeah, it is a bit of a shock, isn't it?" I said, "By the way, hows Tenya? I noticed that he left before the awards ceremony."

Ochako and Midoriya glanced at each other, looking a little awkward.

"Well, hes fine, but his brother was badly hurt fighting a villain," said Midoriya.

"Oh my gosh, is he OK?" asked Gabrielle.

She blushed as four deadpan sets of eyes turned on her.

"Oh, you know what I mean," she mumbled.

Ochako sighed.

"We don't know," she said, "We haven't heard from him since the Festival."

"Well, hopefully he'll be in cla...AH!" I said, only to stop as I felt a stabbing pain in my chest.

"Setsuna? Are you OK?" asked Su as I stumbled slightly.

"I...don't know," I said, "I feel...weird…"

I let out a yelp as I felt something grab onto some metaphysical part of me and fell to my knees.

"Setsuna!" gasped Su.

"Do you think we should get him to the nurse?" asked Midoriya, kneeling down next to me.

"That might be a good…" started Ochako, before she was cut off by a flash of pale blue fire that formed a circle around us.

"Aw hell, that can't be good," I groaned as I felt whatever had latched onto me begin to pull.

I tried to move to push my friends away, but before I could, I was yanked in an indeterminate direction, somehow dragging my friends with me into a swirling tunnel of colour.

"What the hell is going onnnnnnn?!" screamed Ochako.

"A Portkey?" gasped Gabrielle, "No, something else!"

"Whatever it is, if it doesn't stop soon, I'm gonna hurl!" yelled Su, looking rather green around the gills.

At that very moment, the spinning stopped abruptly and we were dumped onto a cold stone floor in a pile.

"Harry?" asked a voice from above in English.

"FUCK ME!" I roared inside my head.

And there we go, done. I don't think I need to spell out where they are now or what the next arcs gonna be, do I? Hehehe, this is gonna be fun!

I hope my reasoning for both Fumikage and Setsuna throwing their fights makes sense. Basically, they were at a disadvantage they knew they wouldn't be able to overcome, so they retreated to fight another day. Setsuna's weakness to the cold is one that the Flash shares since their powers are basically the same.

Next time, the shit hits the fan and I get to have some fun bashing Dumbles. Until then, please leave a review!