I only own my OCs, everything else belongs to their respective creators. Warning, may contain Out of Character moments.
"Thirty seconds left! Go for broke or lose your chance at our Festival's final event." Present Mic announced.
Eri dodged the geyser of water that came her way, countering with a burst of shots from her gun. Her opponent simply let out a stream of water to the side, causing him to quickly side step the attack. He then charged forward at the girl, fists readied as he stepped into Eri's personal space. But while he threw the first punch, she evaded it due to the relatively sloppy form of her attacker. With a quick shove followed by a kick to the stomach, Eri created some distance.
She did, however, hold off from shooting her staggered opponent.
"Come on Kouta, you know I'm better than you at a fist fight. Throwing in the towel?" Eri asked with a slight smirk.
"What about you? You could've used this time to shoot me instead of lecturing me." Kouta retorted, the same smirk appearing on his face.
"You got me there. But there's no point in wasting anymore ammo when–"
"TIME'S UP! Stop right there!" Present Mic shouted. All around them, the sounds of battle halted as only the sounds of cheering could be heard. Both Eri and Kouta relaxed, the tension between them dispersing into nothingness.
"I know I said I won't hold back… But I really don't like it when we go at each other like this…" Kouta said, taking in a few deep breaths.
"Same… But you've gotten really strong Kouta, that water pressure's no joke…" Eri said with a nod.
"You too… With your reflexes, I was lucky to even get in some hits…"
Eri let out a tired giggle before she walked over to her friend and patted him on the back. The two felt the ground beneath them rumble as the walls and floor began shifting again. This time however, they noticed that they were going down. So sticking close together, Eri and Kouta waited as they and the other students were lowered back onto terra firma.
The tower took only ten minutes to fully submerge into the ground, leaving the students in a flat field once more. And as Eri looked around, she took note on how the student clusters were arranged. They were all in a spiral, marking down who was where when the event ended. It was honestly a rather clear indicator of where everyone's limits laid, though that would be bold of Eri to assume.
And that was because this is but one scenario. If placed in another, things would most definitely turn out differently.
Eri kept that thought in mind as she turned to the students who were at the center. There was Yusaku and Mei, with the former rubbing his temples and the latter looking tired for once. With them was Niji from 1B, a foreign, possibly European, girl with long black hair, and… An arm on the ground?
"Kouta… Am I seeing things?" Eri asked, her skin turning paler than usual. The boy followed her gaze and similarly lost his skin tone upon making eye contact with it. Kouta shook his head as his eyes continued to focus on it. Others began taking notice of it too, causing many to distance themselves away from the lost limb. And this in turn caused the audience to become concerned, murmurs spreading through the stands like a bush fire.
Then something broke through the noise, the voice of an exhausted teacher.
"Egbert! Retrieve your arm! The event is over!" Aizawa shouted. It was here that the arm began emitting blue smoke, slowly rising off the ground. The limb then flew into the group of students, whom all scrambled away from it, and hit one of them in the shoulder. The blue smoke proceeded to disappear as the person gave an apologetic wave to just about everyone.
"Sorry about that! I forgot I took it off!" He shouted, his Japanese sounding a bit rough. Eri hummed at the sight of the young man in glasses laughing off his somewhat macabre display. She then had her eyes wander to that black haired girl who stood patiently as the uproar died down. While foreigners did attend UA in the past, they were usually of Japanese descent. But here, standing in this stadium, was a Caucasian prankster and a gloomy European.
Truly, she and Kouta came to UA at an interesting time.
Now that the crowd has settled, Aizawa let out a cough that drew in everyone's attention. Above him was the score board, the screen displaying nothing to build anticipation for the results. "Now that that's been dealt with… Let's get to the one thing you've all been waiting for, the tournament lineup. First place goes to Green Team's Shintou Niji, Mishigane Zero, and Kaigara Kaji!"
The crowd applauded as the team raised an arm in victory. Though in Niji's case, he was just screaming at the top of his lungs. And as his teammates began to calm him down, Aizawa continued with the ranking call. "In second, we have Red Team's Kagari Atsuko, Kazuku Mei, Midoriya Eri, and Osoroshi Rei."
Eri let out a sigh as the crowd roared around them, every muscle in her body relaxing. Her team made it, she made it. But now comes the hard part, battling the best fighters this festival has to offer in a one on one. Would she have enough ammo to get her through all the battles? Would she even be strong enough to face whoever her opponent was?
The girl would have to wait and see.
"In third place, we have Blue Team's Fujiki Yusaku, Izumi Kouta, Masaki Takeo, and Fukutsu Taki."
Eri smiled as the crowd cheered once more, of course he made it. She turned to him and found that he was a little sheepish at the attention he was getting. Still, Eri could see the pride dwelling within his eyes and felt her own determination burning brighter. Kouta noticed how his friend was looking at him and gave her a nod, conveying his thoughts to her.
"Let's do our best, no matter who we fight."
"In fourth place, we have Yellow Team's Seirishokuensui Kichi, Shanoa, and Gin Haruka." Aizawa continued. Another cheer, but only one person on that team was really enjoying the applause. The grey skinned girl was waving back at the crowd while the foreign girl didn't really care about the attention. Then there was the rather rotund fellow with them, who seemed to be shrinking as he clutched at a salt shaker more tightly. It was a bit disheartening to see someone show such an adverse reaction to attention.
However, Eri knew that this person was strong if he made it to this point despite his fears.
Then another though hit her. Right now, there were 14 people who can participate in the third event and there were only two more open spaces. Would the next team have to choose which members would move on? While that wasn't too farfetched since she saw that occur in previous Festivals… It must be quite frustrating to make it this far but get cut due to a full roster.
"Lastly, and as luck would have it, we have Purple Team's John Egbert and Engo Jin filling in our last two openings. With that, we have our sixteen participants for our tournament." Aizawa said, the scoreboard behind him listing the last two students.
Though with that, there was a bit of confusion in the air. Looking at the two students who made it through, there was conversations going around that they were closer to the bottom. And as Eri listened, she gathered that the two weren't really trying to break through to the upper levels to obtain more points. And how was it that this team of two got enough points to be amidst the top five?
All those questions were answered and then some when that John Egbert raised the arm he reattached earlier in triumph. Along the arm were three of the colored badges that each team had on their person. Then it came to everyone who saw it. The severed arm, it was the one gathering points for his team. And due to all the action and chaos going on, no one noticed until the event ended. So what was thought to be a macabre prank was actually a clever tactic to get ahead of all the other participants.
Eri stared at John Egbert with eyebrows raised, he was no ordinary trickster.
"Well shit, looks like we got a real joker to fight." Mei commented as she appeared between Kouta and Eri, hanging off their shoulders. The one horned girl let out a hum as she already began thinking about what this trickster had in store. Certainly whatever he could do, the blue smoke he emitted to retrieve his arm was part of it. She then felt Kouta shrug through Mei and turned her attention to him.
"He'll definitely be a pain to fight… But let's be honest, the real joke around here is you." He said, a smirk forming on his face.
Eri let out a snort and had to restrain any more laughter from leaving her body. The last thing she expected out of her friend was a point blank insult. Then again, this was Mei they were dealing with, so it was definitely worth it. The special eyed girl just stared at Kouta before her lips were slowly pulled into a mischievous grin.
"You still upset about the train sighting?"
Both the cheer that Eri and Kouta once had disappeared and their cheeks began to turn pink. The two simultaneously took a step in opposite directions, causing their classmate between them to fall flat on her face. And as the girl got up, Aizawa reigned in the attention of everyone once more. It's time to get this show moving along.
"Now, before we leave for the one hour break, we'll be announcing the tournament bracket. Take this moment to study who you'll be facing and ready yourself, there will be no second chances if you lose." Aizawa said as the screen behind him changed. Eri studied the match ups and felt a cold sweat build on her skin. Not because she was afraid for herself, but for Kouta.
Midoriya Eri vs. John Egbert
Osoroshi Rei vs. Mishigane Zero
Shintou Niji vs. Izumi Kouta
Fukutsu Taki vs. Engo Jin
Kagari Atsuko vs. Fujiki Yusaku
Kaigara Kaji vs. Seirishokuensui Kichi
Masaki Takeo vs. Shanoa
Kazuku Mei vs. Gin Haruka
The one horned girl swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes slowly went to Niji. The mantis shrimp eyes twitched around for a while before his head tilted to the side, he was clearly confused. But despite that, Eri couldn't shake the image of him smashing through those robots during the obstacle race. With just his fists alone, Niji effortlessly crushed the wall meant to slow everyone down. If that is what he could do to metal…
What could he do to flesh and bone?
"Eri? Are you okay?"
The girl was brought back to reality, Kouta's hand upon her shoulder. Looking over, Eri could see how wide his eyes and how still his breath was. It took her a moment to recuperate, but she shook off the unease latched to her chest. The match was still some time away, so why worry about the outcome now? And besides, Kouta knows how to handle against melee fighters thanks to Tiger.
Eri just has to keep faith. He wouldn't lose after making it this far.
"Sorry, I was wondering what Deku nii-san would say right now." Eri lied. Well, that wasn't a complete lie. Her former caretaker was both doting and strict, acting appropriately depending on what she did. But when she accomplished something great, Deku would jump with joy and, almost, embed himself into the ceiling.
"Bet you he'd be crying his eyes out." Kouta said with a chuckle. And that would be the other reaction he would display.
With the roll of her eyes, Eri began observing her surroundings again and saw how the students were leaving. Looks like she missed whatever closing words Aizawa had for them. But, knowing him, it would probably be something along the lines of 'don't rest easy'. So with that, Eri and Kouta began leaving with Mei hot on their heels. They've only reached one of many entranceways before their classmate began pestering them again.
"Now that we've made it to the big stage, you two got any pro strats to shill out?" Mei asked. She tried to hang off Eri and Kouta's shoulders again but the two sidestepped her. While she didn't fall down like before, it left the special eyed girl stumbling. They did, however, answer her.
"What are we, the Support Department?" Kouta replied.
"Yeah, I'm not that eager to put myself out there. Just being there is usually enough to attract attention." Eri said, nodding her head. Besides, seeing how Hatsume Mei alienated several with her aggressive marketing tactics, the one horned girl was going to avoid doing the same.
"Boo, you guys are no fun. I'm going to hunt the others, see what their awesome plans for the tournament are." Kazuku Mei replied with a pout.
"Yeah, go be a bother to someone else." Kouta said. A breath of relief left him, finally glad that their class devil was finally going to leave them alone.
"Oh I will. But rest assured, I'll be back for you both."
"Great… I'm looking forward to that…" Eri groaned, her shoulders slumping. Mei just snickered and ran off with a wave, disappearing around a corner. Eri and Kouta looked at each other and shrugged, seeing that there was nothing they could do about Mei. So with that, the two continued their walk towards the 1A locker room to put away their equipment. It was starting to become heavy and there was no use for it now.
This was their period of rest. And they're going to enjoy every second of it.
And that has been Chapter 22! With our contestants chosen, we'll be going into the tournament after a not so brief intermission.
"It's about three chapters including this one. But it'll be another three months, so better be hyped."
You know, that's the exact method to get people un-hyped. But I supposed that's the truth given my current update schedule. Any how, are you folks having a good New Year so far? Mine's going alright, except for the fact that I failed to have a chapter ready for one of my other stories.
"This lazy butt was too busy getting mauled by zombies to do any writing. Or any of the other shit he was meant to do."
Guilty as charged. But now, I'm getting my focus back. It won't be enough to go back to my bi-weekly schedule, but I'm motivated to tackle my plate of responsibilities. So wish me luck.
"Good luck, you're going to need it."
Thanks for the vote of confidence. But that is all I have for you this update. Next time, we'll bear witness to the many shenanigans of our crew during halftime.
"Warning, your enjoyment will have varying mileages."
So with that said...
Until Next Time. T1.