Katsuki Does Not Dream of Pink Cheeks
Chapter 28: Comeback
"Yeah. Busy's a good word for it." said Kendo cheekily, appraising his bindings.
"You really have time to waste pissing me off right now?!" Katsuki snapped, trying to force his fingers through the scarf.
"I'm killing time at this point, actually." she clarified, raising her enlarged left fist.
"Well good for fucking you!" he scoffed, now on the verge of getting a finger through.
"Yaoyorozu's tough. Would've gone for someone easier if I were you."
"Mind your own business! The best don't need shortcuts."
"It's not like I can't relate. I had to lug her around with a literal canon last year. She's probably the best strategist here."
"Don't project your issues onto me. I couldn't care less how scared you are of her." Katsuki replied dismissively, the last of his right hand's fingers surfacing from the wrap.
"Scared? If anything, knowing how capable she is just makes me want to beat her even more."
"Then what the hell were you lecturing me for?!"
"What's wrong with your nose?" Kendo asked curiously, plucking the tissue from his face cautiously before eyeing the blood that colored it. "Did she deck you? Wouldn't have thought she had it in her…"
The ginger's amusement was audible, but there was also an air of skepticism to her appraisal. Since she'd fought Yaoyorozu, Kendo knew firsthand that her rival wasn't in the habit of throwing punches. Katsuki would have been better off taking a cannonball to the face. At least then he would've had an explanation to offer in response. As things were, he'd sooner blow the whole place to hell before he admitted to going completely gaga over Yaoyorozu.
"You should get a look at her when I'm through! She's gonna regret screwing with me!"
"You could get away with going for the best right away last year. Since it was a race, there was basically only one route for everyone to take anyway. Can't exactly play an objective game the same way and expect good results."
"No one asked for your stupid advice!"
"All I'm saying is maybe you should save the stiffer competition for the later rounds. The way things are going now, you're going to have trouble just making it to the next stage."
"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?! Don't look down on me just because you already managed to get a bunch of eggs with your man-hands!" barked Katsuki harshly, on the cusp of freeing his other hand.
"What was that?! I was actually going to help you, you know?!"
"Lift a finger to help and you're dead!"
"What's the deal?" Kendo asked offhandedly. "I thought you were able to accept help from others now? Did I miss the memo about you regressing or something?"
"Regress my ass! This round's not a group effort!"
"Well it's the only round you'll be in if you keep it up, smart guy."
"Tch," spat Katsuki with a cocky grin. "I only accept help when I need it. So if I'm turning you down, what's that mean?"
"Was that rhetorical? Or do you actually expect me to answer that?"
"IT MEANS I'VE GOT THIS! SO WATCH AND LEARN!"
In his grandest launching feat since escaping the League of Villains, Bakugo sent himself outrageously high into the air with two powerful blasts to the ground. Falling in line with his plan, the scarf that bound him rapidly loosened, eventually expanding all around the boy midair, freeing him entirely. Down below, Katsuki could detect a slight grin from Kendo as she observed his success.
"That idiot… I didn't need a stupid pep talk." Bakugo reflected grudgingly, taking a hand to the scarf and pulling it all to his right while it was still malleable and hung loosely.
Now that he no longer had to worry about triggering Yaoyorozu's alloy with a blast, Katsuki raised his left palm to the sky and sent himself plummeting down, forming a dust cloud upon landing. Kendo let out a brief violent cough as it cleared.
"A little warning would've been nice…"
"I told you I was getting out of this thing," he replied dismissively, gesturing to her with the scarf in his hand. "That should've been incentive enough to clear out."
"Well, it worked at least. What gave you that idea?"
"She thought she was so clever using my quirk to set off her little trap. That pissed me off… So I figured I'd use my quirk to get out of it too."
"Wasn't a very effective trap then. That doesn't sound right…" Kendo pondered aloud.
"Shit wasn't built to last, just to slow me down. Yaoyorozu doesn't think I have time to get payback… She couldn't be more wrong!" Katsuki trailed off with a vindictive grin, an explosion crackling in his free hand.
"No nickname, huh? She must really have you boiling," Kendo noted with grim amusement. "I know better than to tell you not to get carried away, but don't forget that you have to actually get an egg or two if you want to advance, okay?"
"What kind of idiot would forget such basic fucking rules?" he grunted, relocating the raven-haired hero.
"Okay, I know that one was rhetorical." she joked dryly.
"Save the comedy routine for when I beat you later. It'll help cheer you up."
"Big talk, coming from the egg-less."
"Keep running your mouth and you can be egg-less too."
"Already going to settle our tiebreaker?"
"Pfft. It's your lucky day. The quota of asses I need to kick's already full for this round."
"Lucky me." Kendo replied with an eye-roll.
"Enjoy it while you can! Your time's coming!" Katsuki concluded, shooting himself forward with a backward blast that sent him surging toward the found target.
Yaoyorozu was otherwise occupied with taking on what appeared to be three fodder students who attempted to overwhelm her. Another one of Icy Hot's ice walls was to their side, cutting off the ideal escape route - though the three boys looked more likely to need it than her. Two of them were large and slow and the third was more nimble, but hardly any taller than Ballhead. A small pile of eggs laid behind them; The presumed inspiration for their current engagement.
Bakugo felt supremely confident as he neared the commotion. The nobodies would fall to the wayside. If they were willing to triple team Yaoyorozu, it stood to reason that none of their quirks alone could measure up to hers, much less his own. And as for his unreasonably well endowed classmate - Well, he even had a plan for her.
"Alright, you backstabbing body… You don't wanna work with me, huh? Fine! Two can play that game! By the time I'm through today, you're gonna be groaning in agony! I'll tear every muscle and spend every last ounce of energy you have to your name! Then you'll think long and hard before you EVER leave me gaping like an idiot again!"
"ANNNNDDD WE'RE AT THE EIGHT MINUTE MARK! GET READY TO BRING IT HOME EVERYBODYYYYY!" Present Mic updated everyone from above.
"Two minutes, huh? More than enough time."
Yaoyorozu acknowledged him with wide eyes, inciting her three groupies to do likewise and instantly turn tail running, grabbing what few eggs they could from the pile as they fled. It seemed confronting the creation girl had taken every ounce of courage they possessed. Just a frightful glimpse of something else had sent them over the edge.
"Bakugo?!"
"Miss me, Ponytail?!" Katsuki greeted, flashing a cocky grin as he readied his right hand from behind, as if preparing for a pitch.
"You're certainly relentless." she replied, confidence quickly replacing her initial shock.
Given how well she'd fared against him earlier, Yaoyorozu was visibly filled with unprecedented poise and though it didn't come off as anything to be mistaken for arrogance, it was clear that she now felt as if she could take him down. The grace and composure suited her well; So well that in the back of his mind, he could hear base urges pleading their case to him once more. If it were up to them, he was in for another stint of gawking at unbelievable cleavage.
However, Katsuki's wounded pride by far and away proved to have the louder voice. Hormones be damned, he was going to pay his buxom opponent back and win the day.
"LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!"
Diverting her attention with the right arm he hid suspiciously, Katsuki followed up his taunt and distraction by releasing a stun grenade with his left hand. Ever sharp, Yaoyorozu avoided blindness by expertly shielding her face with the tungsten shield she wore. Impressive as her reflexes were, Bakugo only grinned more wickedly, for she hadn't saved herself from the real threat yet.
In what appeared to be an attempt to fortify her defenses, Momo created another shield for a dual defense, placing it in front of the first as if bracing for heavy fire. Now free to reveal his right to her while she sought cover under the shields, Katsuki tossed Yaoyorozu's loose creation back at her. Upon confirming it would fall in place on the target below, the boy shot out a formidable blast toward the tungsten defenses facing him as the scarf fell over its creator. In response, the shape memory alloy snapped back into its original shape, thoroughly entangling Yaoyorozu as she fell to the ground, one of her shields falling and hitting the dirt before her, seemingly a result of having jumped to avoid the trap too late.
"I'll let you keep it. Looks a lot better on you than it did me." he mocked her from above.
After squirming for a moment, Momo seemed to accept her fate as a pained, shameful expression formed on her face.
"How could I let this happen?" she said, more to herself than to Katsuki.
Surprised she could still speak, Bakugo inspected his captive. The scarf had indeed bound her as it had him, the only exception being that she hadn't been gagged in the process. He'd forgotten that the recommended student was slightly taller than him.
"Still think I chased down the wrong person?" Katsuki gloated as he began gathering eggs from the pile.
Despite the pile's more modest size, there were still more than Katsuki could hope to carry. He could only comfortably hold half a dozen between his hand and chest, which he upped to nine in a somewhat risky balancing act. If anyone closed the distance and remotely threw him off, then the eggs would be as good as broken, hence why he left himself a free hand. Apart from a few exceptions, most of his competitors would be kept at bay by just the one. Particularly so late in the game. Those who were already reluctant to confront him in the first place weren't likely to suddenly find a burst of courage in the last minutes of the contest.
"I've got a minute left at best. Wonder if nine's -"
"ONNNNEEEE MINUTE LEFT! IF YOU DON'T HAVE EGGS, BETTER GET SOME FAST!"
"As if on fucking cue," Katsuki thought, shaking his head. "So's nine enough to get me first place or not?"
He scanned the field diligently. The three who'd fled earlier were all fighting one another for a single egg, which eventually broke after a fall brought on by their pitiful struggle. Many eggshells could be seen around the trio, implying infighting had begun over what few eggs they'd secured earlier.
Another student near them was visibly panicking as her egg appeared to develop a will of its own by leaving her and darting away in thin air. Katsuki intuitively recognized this as Invisibitch's work. Elsewhere, Shiozaki cradled several eggs in her arms as well as her hair, which multitasked by not only holding excess eggs, but by suspending six immobile competitors in the air above her.
"Extras really thought they could handle Ivy? What a joke. She might even have more than me thanks to those morons. And with what I already have on me, I can't exactly take the fight to her and without my gauntlets I don't have the reach to mess her up from a distance either."
Frustrated by his limited time and mobility, the boy continued looking around the arena. Somewhere, within one of the myriad ice walls that dotted the field, he knew by now that Icy Hot had to be holed up near one of them with eggs of his own. Naturally, there was no time to seek him out for a confrontation. In looking for his stoic rival, he found Deku atop one of the ice walls with a few eggs secured in Black Whip.
"That lucky nerd. If he hadn't pulled that trick out of one of the successors' asses, he'd be in the same boat as me and Kirishima. Still… even with Black Whip, he doesn't have as many as me. So I'll leave the chosen one alone for now."
There was too much commotion. Katsuki hadn't noticed it before as preoccupied as he'd been, but now that he was trying to take everything in and see how the competition was stacking up, it proved overwhelming to try and sort through all of the chaos in the last minute. Shouting, clanging, and numerous other indistinguishable sounds bombarded his ears in every direction. It had only been a few seconds worth of observation, but everything indicated the same problem.
"Yaoyorozu! You wanna move on to the next round or not?!" he called down to the bound bookworm.
"Of course I do!"
"Then you better be ready to make a deal! If I get you out of that annoying trap of yours, make a basket, pronto, you got it?"
"...Okay!"
"Basket first!" Katsuki ordered as he knelt down and efficiently pulled the scarf up enough to free her right hand, careful to avoid dropping his eggs while he did so.
"You can't be serious!"
"30 SECONDS LEFT!" proclaimed Present Mic.
"Do I look like I'm fucking joking?! Make with the damn basket already! This isn't a negotiation!"
"Why you-" Yaoyorozu cut herself off, reluctantly producing a wicker basket from her available hand. "There!"
Katsuki grabbed hold of the basket and quickly - but with due caution - placed his eggs at its base.
"What're you waiting for?! Make another!"
"Huh?!"
"NOW, DAMN IT!" he screamed back, veins popping on his forehead.
Too late for his liking, Momo forged another basket, which Bakugo immediately took and brought to what remained of the pile of stray eggs. He laid both baskets to the ground and began distributing the eggs between them as quickly as possible.
"10 SECONDS LEFT! COUNT IT DOWN WITH ME EVERYBODYYYYY!"
"10!" chanted the crowd.
He eyeballed roughly 15 eggs, meaning each basket could get at least 7 more. Katsuki hadn't proposed an even split, but given that he was already 9 eggs up on her, an equal divide didn't pose any threat to him. Not even Shiozaki had gathered 16 and she possessed more than anyone else he'd seen.
"5!"
The audience's countdown pierced his concentration after he'd finished the split, leaving one lone egg on the ground. No time left to deliberate, Bakugo placed it in the second basket before hurriedly rushing to Momo, who'd managed to free her upper body of bindings.
"4!"
She gauged him with a wary expression, clearly suspicious of her antagonistic classmate.
"3!"
"Here." he stated gruffly, handing the basket off to her.
Yaoyorozu grabbed the handle, looked down and finished unfastening the scarf from her legs. Now free, she inspected the basket before looking back to Katsuki. If he'd known there'd be such skepticism beforehand, he would have taken the extra egg for himself. It was offensive. Contest or not, if he'd given her his word, who was she to question him?!
"2!"
Katsuki glanced down at his eggs. 16 in total, with no visible cracks.
"Hmph. Let's see Deku and Icy Hot beat that!"
"1! AND THERE WE HAVE IT!"
"Hold your places everyone!" Mt. Lady followed up. "Eggman will be returning to tell us all the results!"
The crowd shifted into audible small talk while the students got their bearings, many of them approaching one another to converse now that there'd been a ceasefire. Katsuki had no such interest in striking up conversation with any of his peers, he just wanted the damn results already. Unfortunately, in keeping with their nature, his classmates refused to allow him a quiet intermission.
"Aww man! The clock ran out so fast that I didn't get a chance to try and swipe your eggs!" Ashido greeted him lightheartedly from behind.
"You ought to be thanking the clock then, cause it just saved you a first round knockout." the boy replied, unfazed by the taunt as he turned to her.
She hadn't come out too badly, all considered. 4 eggs could be seen in each of her hands, poking out in nearly every direction due to how she had to hold them. With her quirk being what it was, 8 wasn't unimpressive.
"I may not have had a chance even if the time hadn't run out on me. Yaomomo seemed to keep you pretty busy. What happened with that? Did you two wind up teaming up? What's up with the baskets? No fair!"
"We made an arrangement…" Yaoyorozu offered reluctantly.
"More like a hostage negotiation," corrected Katsuki gruffly. "The idea of not coming in first because of one of these extras' annoying quirks pissed me off, so I had Ponytail make herself useful."
"Do you have to make it sound so crude?" she groaned back in mortification.
"However you came to it, I'm jealous! Having to lug them around by hand was nerve racking!"
"If it was that big a hassle for you, it's your own fault for not planning around it like me."
"Well my plan was just to steal some of your eggs since I knew you'd have a bunch by the end." replied Ashido mischievously.
"Why you - Like you'd have had a chance in hell!"
"Guess we'll just have to see next round. Looks like we're all moving on." Mina commented, inspecting their baskets further. "Just how many did you guys manage to get?"
As she spoke, Katsuki noticed that Eggman had joined Mt. Lady on the podium, a clipboard in his hand as they talked something over, surprisingly heatedly.
"If you wanna know that badly, just wait until they announce first place."
"Well look who's oozing with confidence again. Rough start sure didn't keep you down for long."
"Rough start?!"
"When Aizawa Sensei put you on blast, I gotta admit, I thought you were actually done for for a second there. Guess I should've known better."
"Done for?! In your dreams! I don't lose! How long's it take for that to click with you idiots?!"
"I have to admit… It seems I underestimated you too, Bakugo." Momo added, a tinge of embarrassment evident in her voice. "I never dreamed you'd escape so quickly. Much less that you'd use my own creation against me…"
"That makes two of us…" Katsuki grunted, quite embarrassed himself. "Those creations of yours can be a real pain in the ass."
"..."
"That's about as close to a compliment as Bakugo gets." Ashido laughed with a shrug.
"THE RESULTS ARE READY!" announced Mt. Lady. "Now that I have your attention, let's turn things over to our special guest himself, Eggman!"
"First off!" he started with an outraged finger in the air. "I've never seen such reckless abandon in all my years! My eggs are an extension of my central nervous system and the way some of you little demons DESTROYED them without a thought made me want to hurl! Literally and metaphorically!"
The nasally retired pro seemed to glare directly at Bakugo as he gave his sermon.
"If I weren't in my mellow twilight years, I'd scramble each and every one of you fiends! And don't think I'm not fully aware of the guilty among you! My eggs aren't just extensions of myself, they're effectively trackers! That's right! I can see and hear everything they can pick up! So count your ever loving blessings that I don't make the rules, or so help me, I'd -"
"We'd hate to waste any of your precious time, Eggman," Mt. Lady cut him off professionally. "It's a great honor to have you here at all! How about we announce the results and then we can escort you to the guest lounge?"
"Hmm. Indeed, quite right. It's unbecoming to get all in a tizzy over the slights of youths," Eggman composed himself, coughing before carrying on. "Very well then. Since so few eggs were left to gather thanks to the delinquents who shall remain nameless, only 34 students managed to secure a place in the next round. Less than we anticipated, but we can hardly justify passing those who didn't get any at all. Partial points were also deducted from your final score for damages. The more cracks in your eggs, the more you lost. That being said, in 1st place with a stunning total of 31 eggs, we have Ochaco Uraraka!"
"31?!"
Katsuki joined his peers in turning to see the truth of this for himself. None could identify her by her face, but the pile of eggs that stood so high as to block a student's head in the distance was the only clue needed to determine where the rosy cheeked gravity manipulator was.
"NO WAY! I WON!" Uraraka rejoiced, removing her arms from the pile of eggs only for them to remain floating as she raised a triumphant arm in cheer.
It made sense, in hindsight. Ochaco had most likely used her quirk in much the same way she did against Katsuki the year before. Assuming she just managed to make a bunch of eggs float, that effectively took them out of play for practically everyone else while simultaneously claiming them all for herself at the very end. Given their light weight and her training in quirk control, the endurance required was surely well within her capabilities.
"Coming in 2nd place with 23 eggs, Itsuka Kendo!" continued Eggman efficiently.
Katsuki found the ginger much quicker and was promptly greeted with a wily smile aimed right at him. Reflexively furrowing his brow and feeling his entire face contort in anger, the blonde looked away to brood.
"Not far behind in 3rd with 19 eggs, we have Momo Yaoyorozu!"
"WHAT?!" Bakugo burst with guttural rage, looking at the studious girl in demand of an explanation.
"Don't tell me you assumed I'd broken all my eggs?" Momo replied, raising her shield hand to allow further inspection.
Not unlike before, eggs could be seen attached to the inside of the shield via some adhesive. The five from before.
"Okay, fine! But where the hell are the other six?!"
"It wouldn't have been very tactful of me to put them all in one basket." she replied with a proud smile, retrieving a nesting doll from her trousers and gesturing to him. "Thankfully these offer versatility. I used a few to hide weapons and in the end that allowed me to hide extra eggs nearly in plain sight."
"And right behind in 4th with 16… Katsuki Bakugo." Eggman commenced gloomily.
He wanted nothing more than to Howitzer Impact the place to hell in that moment. Not only had Yaoyorozu beaten him, but he'd helped her do it! A twisting time bomb of an expression claimed his face for an instant.
"I even gave her that extra egg like an idiot! Fuck! It's worse than that… Even if I'd taken the spare for myself… She still would've had more than me! That's what I get for making a stupid fucking deal with her! And what pisses me off most… If I hadn't asked her for a stupid basket and just stuck with my 9… She STILL would've beaten me since I didn't break any of hers! DAMN IT!"
"You really got me…" Katsuki acknowledged, eerily calm.
"It pays to be cautious. You underestimated me."
A strange feeling came over him. Neither unbridled fury or overwhelming lust, but rather, something distinct and between the two. A crossroads of intermingling between the two dominant feelings that had been vying for control all week. The buxom bookworm wasn't petrifying him anymore. Instead, his maintained eye contact with the Medusa only filled him with a uniquely relaxed brand of excitement.
"The way she is now… I couldn't be more excited to crush her if I fucking tried!"
"Do me a favor and stay that cautious. Now that I've seen what you can do, I gotta beat you at your best." Katsuki replied with a fierce, avaricious gleam in his eye.
"Just you try it." Momo retorted, seeming equally formidable with her proud smile.
Having already heard his placement, he drowned out the rest of the results as he daydreamed of destroying Yaoyorozu in the next round. He realized now why he'd subconsciously made a point of ensuring he'd given her enough eggs to move forward. It hadn't been some semblance of a soft streak in him. Bakugo merely wanted to make sure he'd have another chance to dismantle this worthy competitor in a future round. A proper victory for all to see.
After Eggman finished the last of the names, they were all posted together on the screen from before that revealed the first event. Bakugo and his newest rival broke their deadlock of eye contact and looked to the complete results.
1st Ochaco Uraraka 31
2nd Itsuka Kendo - 23
3rd Momo Yaoyorozu - 19
4th Katsuki Bakugo - 16
5th Setsuna Tokage - 15
6th Ibara Shiozaki - 13.9
7th Kojiro Bondo - 12.4
8th Tsuyu Asui - 11
9th Yui Kodai - 10
10th Neito Monoma - 9.8
11th Jozu Honenuki - 9
12th Yosetsu Awase - 8.2
13th Izuku Midoriya - 8.1
14th Mina Ashido - 8
15th Shoto Todoroki - 7.9
16th Minoru Mineta - 7.8
17th Hanta Sero - 7
18th Tenya Iida - 6
19th Eijiro Kirishima - 5
19th Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu - 5
21st Hitoshi Shinso - 4.7
22nd Mei Hatsume - 4
23rd Reiko Yanagi - 3.6
24th Fumikage Tokoyami 3.5
25th Kyoka Jiro - 3
26th Yuya Aoyama - 2.9
27th Rikido Sato - 2.7
28th Mashirao Oijiro - 2.5
29th Toru Hagukure - 2.2
30th Daisuke Tokei - 2
31st Manga Fukidaishi - 1.6
32nd Shihai Kuroiro - 1
32nd Denki Kaminari - 1
34th Togaru Kamakiri - .7
"Looks like Deku and Icy Hot fucked up even worse. This damn egg hunt didn't suit any of our quirks. What a shitty excuse… Looks like with shit like this I can be just as overly quirk reliant as those idiots. The frontrunners this year are almost all different. I think Ivy and me are the only ones even close to where we were last year. And this time THREE bastards came in ahead of me! I'll destroy those stupid girls next round so everyone knows exactly who the best is!"
"Wow, 4th place. That'd be a slight downgrade for you, right?" Kendo baited, joining him and the others.
"Enjoy the view from the top while you can. I'm gonna make the next stage hell for you. Those man-hands have gotten you as far as they're gonna!"
"Bakugo!" Yaoyorozu chastised, wincing from secondhand embarrassment.
"Don't worry, I'll give you another round to think of a new insult. You'll make it that far, right?"
"Who knew Kendo was such a sass queen!" Ashido praised gleefully.
"Let's just hope your ginger ass can make it far enough to hear what I come up with!"
"Sweet of you to worry. I'll be sure to make it to the finals so you can rest easy."
"Fucking better. If you're gonna place higher than me, you gotta go all the way so I can pay you back. Same goes for you, Ponytail. If you two or Pink Cheeks choke and get eliminated before I get to demolish you, then you're dead. Don't forget it."
"What about me?! Don't I get to be threateningly motivated too?!" inquired Mina expectantly.
"What do I care? You came in below me, so I couldn't care less whether you keep moving on or not."
"That's uncalled for!"
"That's right, you're a frontrunner too, Yaoyorozu." Kendo acknowledged, ignoring their squabble. "Looks like we'll be competing again, so I hope we get the chance to duke it out again."
"Likewise," Momo replied, accepting the challenge with a smile. "It'll be a splendid opporotunity to see how far we've come."
"Hey, congrats guys! I'm glad we all made it through!" greeted Uraraka, joining their growing cluster.
"Who the hell do you think you are getting first place, Round Face?!" Bakugo erupted in response.
"Crazy, right?" she replied, unfazed. "I didn't think I'd manage to keep so many from breaking! Still… I feel kind of bad. I had nearly 50 in the air when I first released… Feel like I really upset the egg hero…"
"Don't worry, Ochaco. Pretty sure Bakugo got him more riled up than you. He destroyed more eggs than anybody!" interjected Ashido.
"So what?! It's not like there was a stupid rule against it!"
"Maybe there should've been. I think you kept more people from making the next round than they anticipated." critiqued Kendo dryly.
"That's their own fault for being weak! They should be thanking me for raising the bar! I'm better at their job than they are!"
"Quiet everyone!" Mt. Lady demanded abruptly, her sidebar with Eggman seemingly ending unbeknownst to the students. "Without any further ado, let's reveal the next round! Those of you who didn't make the cut, don't worry, there will be plenty of games for you later on to give you another case to showcase your talents and treat the crowd to a good time. Moving on, let's hear it for the reveal!"
The crowd cheered as prompted while the screen behind Mt. Lady and Eggman rapidly shifted through all the potential festival games. When it finally landed on the selection, the audience as well as the contestants were audibly more excited by this event than they'd been by the last. Bakugo couldn't blame them. This was way more in his wheelhouse.
"Dodgeball! Brace yourselves everyone, looks like things are only heating up from here!" trumpeted Mt. Lady with a malevolent grin.
Her thoughts were clear as day. This was exactly what the festival needed to amp things up. Something decidedly more brutal than an objective game. Bloodsport.
AN:
The Preview:
The second round now upon them, the remaining U.A. students form teams for no-holds-barred quirk packed dodgeball. Tensions run high as some unlikely suspects show their tenacity and spirit! Next time: Endure. Go beyond, plus ultra!
Yours Truly:
Apologies for the wait. This chapter was honestly over halfway done just days after the release of the last, but a much needed vacation delayed things a bit. Feel free to keep voting in the poll on my page, I love seeing the pairings everyone's rooting for. Hope you all had a good time with this chapter. Happy reading everyone!
More to come,
ER
Review Responses:
Ultimatrix bearer - It's definitely a unique and underrated obstacle of the competitive scene. Boomstick was right on the money there.
Ultimate Savior - Seems to be a work in progress for him haha Let's just hope this was his rock bottom. Glad to be writing a story that someone would miss, thank you!
The Keeper of Worlds - I think you might have hit the nail on the head! Haha
Silverwolf819 - I have to admit, it's a surprisingly lovable ship. Never expected two characters who've never interacted in the series so far to be one of my favorite pairs to write for. Go figure haha.
