Chapter 11
Gon and Killua were sitting next to each other in Class B's seating area. Most of Class B had gotten up during the quick 10-minute break they had before the round of eight started.
"I'm thinking that, because the people we have to fight from here on are stronger than the people from the first round, we have to set a limit to the amount of power we can use in each fight," Killua told his friend who listened intently. "If we set a limit, we shouldn't go over it. If you can't beat your opponent before you reach the limit, you have to lose. It'll look fishy if we have a never-ending reserve of power."
"Limit ourselves to their level, right?" Gon asked, and the silver haired boy nodded. "Well, because people expect us to be strong after what we've shown so far, we should tone down to around Bakugo's level. Maybe a bit higher," he added with his tongue out.
"Yeah I agree. After Iida, I'm pretty sure I'll have to fight Todoroki. I honestly don't know how to beat him by limiting myself to his level. Based on my supposed Quirk, I have a bit of a disadvantage against him."
Gon slowly nodded multiple times. "You're right. You can't just break his ice with your hands like I would, or else people would wonder how you're so strong if your Quirk is electricity."
Killua nodded too, thinking deeply about his likely upcoming fight. How do I beat him? Or – do I just lose? Is that the solution? He chuckled to himself, and Gon looked puzzled over what he was laughing about when nothing had been spoken. Nah, I can't give him the satisfaction of winning after he challenged me in the waiting room. I'll have to beat you, Todoroki. How, though, I don't know. This is actually worrying me!
The break was coming to an end, and Killua said bye to Gon and headed to the waiting room where he would remain until his fight with Iida, which was soon to start.
"Welcome back everybody! I hope you're ready for this second round!" Present Mic shouted, and the audience cheered. "Let's jump into it. Here we have the two fastest students from Class A fighting each other! Tenya Iida versus Killua Zoldyck!"
Both boys faced each other on the stage with calm looks of confidence. Midnight could tell there would be no banter between these two, so she called for it to start. Without missing an instant, the two boys charged at each other at the same speed. Iida made the first attack and balanced on his left foot to swing his right leg at Killua.
The kick was aimed at Killua's ribs, so the silver haired boy fell to the ground, and his opponent's leg swept cleanly over his head and brushed his hair. He shot back up and already had electricity gathered in his right hand by the time he was standing at full height.
Iida eyed the upcoming attack and jumped backwards to narrowly avoid the Lightning Palm, but Killua did not stop there. He reacted to Iida's defensive maneuver quickly. He blasted the electricity from his Lightning Palm in the form of a bolt. It struck Iida, and the taller boy with glasses cried out in pain and was momentarily paralyzed.
The silver haired boy wanted to end this quickly, so he lunged with an outstretched hand aiming for Iida's throat to wrap around. The other boy spun on a foot and leaned back to dodge the hand, followed by a kick of his knee into Killua's stomach.
The kick was not too powerful, but Killua could feel vague pain even through his Ten and years of endurance training. He stumbled back a few steps and regained his balance. Iida charged with another kick, and this time, Killua planted his feet firmly on the ground and leaned all his weight forward. He crossed his arms in front of him and blocked the kick. His body leaned back momentarily, but his legs remained rooted.
Iida's leg's momentum slowed considerably after being blocked, and Killua ignored the pain and grabbed hold of the falling leg. Iida's eyes widened as he saw the threatening sparks fly out from his opponent's body. He pulled back as hard as he could, causing himself and Killua to fall over. Iida's leg was free, and he pushed to his feet as fast as he could, and Killua did the same.
The ex-assassin put some space between the two of them by hopping back a few times. He fired a bolt of electricity, but the blue haired teen was already running away before the electricity even left Killua's body. Iida ran farther back in the side of the stage he started on, and Killua blasted off his feet with sparks flying out. He cornered Iida near the edge of the boundaries.
Iida stopped for a couple seconds, and Killua knew he was preparing his special move. Sure enough, the engines in the calves fired up, and Iida zoomed towards him. The silver haired teen underestimated the speed and could not ready his attack in time. Iida barreled into him and dragged him along to drop him outside the boundary like he had done to Uraraka the previous round.
Killua activated his electricity, and the small bursts of shocks Iida felt were enough to disrupt his running. Killua then gave his classmate a real shock by zapping him. The electric attack gave enough time for the electricity user to grab Iida by the throat and slam him to the ground with electricity threatening to hurt Iida more.
"I surrender," Iida called out. Midnight called the fight off and announced that Killua advanced to the next round.
"That was so cool man, you should teach me how to be that awesome with my Quirk," Kaminari hinted to Killua once he neared his seat in the spectating area.
Killua chuckled. "Sure I could. We'll have to set that up if you're serious." Sero shot a look of approval at Kaminari which went unnoticed by the silver haired teen.
Iida came up as well and spotted Killua who already sat down. "Killua! That was a good fight! I am glad you did not hold back against me." He bowed his head.
Oh, I held back a lot alright. "Yeah, that was a good fight. Now quit bowing, it's weird." Iida put his head up looking like there was nothing wrong with what he did, and a few people around them laughed at the scene.
Tokoyami versus Todoroki started next. As was expected, Todoroki started off with a big ice wall, but Tokoyami's Dark Shadow broke through much of it and protected its user. The ice that stayed unbroken left a bit of darkness, but it was not enough to power Dark Shadow more. From a distance, Tokoyami's shadow monster continued breaking the ice until Todoroki sent more.
Even still, the path that Dark Shadow cleared left some breathing room, and now it was dark enough where it mattered. The shadow monster grew a bit in size and smashed through the ice easier than before. It cleared a path straight to Todoroki, and the heterochromatic boy created more ice to block Dark Shadow. The wall instantly broke and was approaching Todoroki unless he did something to stop it.
Todoroki took a deep and frosty breath and released all the ice he could muster. The huge ice wall froze Dark Shadow and covered Tokoyami and pushed them both out of the boundary.
"Tokoyami is out of bounds, so Todoroki advances!" Midnight announced. Todoroki shot a glance at Class A's seating area, searching for Killua with a glare. He stopped looking and exited the stage.
"Our next fight will be between these two students who have shown eerily similar powers so far! They both also have green hair! It's Izuku Midoriya versus Gon Freecss!" Present Mic shouted.
Midoriya nervously smiled at Gon from across the stage, but Gon looked very expressionless. The fight started, and Midoriya waited for Gon to make a move, but the other green haired boy did not.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Midoriya pointed a finger at Gon and charged up his energy. That is when Gon decided to move. He pounced at his opponent with the swing of his right fist. Midoriya cancelled his attack and scrambled to his left to avoid the attack. Although the punch would not connect, Gon stopped short once he recognized this, so the wind blasted out from in front of Midoriya rather than Gon passing him and the wind blowing behind him. The curly haired boy regained his balance, but Gon was after him again.
He bounced off Midoriya's right arm with a light kick which only served to unbalance the boy. After landing, Gon stepped forward and pushed his palm in the center of Midoriya's chest, but he did not push as hard as he did against Kirishima.
The push sent the Class A student skidding to the edge of the boundaries. Midoriya stopped his momentum right before a foot went out of bounds by leaning on one leg more heavily than the other. I need to go on the offensive before he out-attacks me! He readied a finger flick again while Gon seemingly stood there.
What Gon was actually doing was activating his Gyo. He could see lots of Nen concentrating around the finger Midoriya was meaning to flick. It's like Ko, I guess. Why doesn't he use his Quirk like I would use Ren? "Midoriya," Gon called out, and the other boy lost his concentration and focused on Gon. The spiky haired boy could see the Nen disappear from the finger. "Why do you only focus your Quirk in your finger? Why not spread it evenly around your body?"
Midoriya froze, and his eyes widened at the implications of that. Up in the commentary box, Eraser Head and Present Mic were confused at Gon's words. "What's this? Is Freecss helping Midoriya?! Is he that confident in his ability to win?!"
Focus my Quirk evenly around my body…why didn't I ever think about that?! Midoriya thought in wide-eyed realization. All this time I've been using 100% of my power concentrated in one part of my body. Maybe, with this, I can… He attempted to use his Quirk and spread it around his body. I can only use a bit, maybe 3 to 5% of my power. But still! Sure enough, Midoriya's entire body glowed with green bolts of energy. Everyone in the audience watched, fascinated, and Class A watched especially closely as they saw their classmate improving in front of their eyes.
Midoriya tested out his new technique. He ran at Gon, and he panicked at how fast he was moving as he had never moved this fast before. Gon jumped back and to his right, but Midoriya followed him with the swing of his right fist. Gon put his arms up to block, but once Midoriya's first attack got blocked, he followed up with a punch from his left hand. His second punch hit the spiky haired boy in the chest and pushed him away. He fell on his back but got up instantly and shrugged off the attack.
Yes! I hit him! Midoriya exclaimed with a huge grin, and several Class A members jumped up in excitement for him. A few Class B members, namely Monoma, jumped out of their seats in anger because Gon was the last Class B student left, and they thought he would lose here because he helped out his opponent.
"That's awesome! Midoriya's so much faster now!" Kirishima exclaimed, turning his head to Killua with a look of amazement.
"Why did Gon help him? He just turned the fight around in Midoriya's favour!" Ashido stared at the curly haired boy with huge and excited eyes.
"Let's go, Deku!" Uraraka cheered with a fist pumped into the air, and even Iida looked on in awe.
But then Midoriya felt his energy falter and disappear, and he no longer felt superpowered. The green arcs of energy were no longer visible, and he felt quite a bit more tired than he was expecting. "Huh?" Midoriya stuttered and looked at his arms, not seeing or feeling the energy. I'm not trained enough in it, he declared to himself. I need to practice it.
Just as quickly as the excitement in the crowd had built up, it vanished. The looks of awe from Class A died down. "You guys really thought Midoriya would beat Gon because he figured out a new application of his Quirk?" Killua asked with narrowed eyes and crossed arms at the same time Midoriya noticed his new technique had faded. "Learning something new in a fight is good and all, but Midoriya is inexperienced with this new technique. He needs to practice it before he can use it effectively in a fight. Landing one hit isn't good enough."
The class spun to Killua in disappointment, but he had a point that they could not argue. "I guess you are right, Killua," Iida said dejectedly and turned his head to watch the fight again.
Midoriya was back to his old fighting style, and he was significantly less confident about winning now. He ground his teeth and watched Gon's face anxiously, but the other boy did not make any expression.
After staring at each other for a few seconds, Gon spoke. "You got hopeful that the new technique would help you, right?" Midoriya nodded slowly. "It's good, and you should learn to master it. But right now, you'll have to fight like you normally would." Without waiting for a response, he pushed off his right leg and blurred at his opponent. Midoriya could not even raise his hands to defend before taking a direct punch to his chest.
Midoriya stayed balanced and aimed his left ring finger at Gon who was standing still. No time for strategy! Gon's going to beat me if I don't go on the offensive! He released his pent-up attack that left a little recoil for the curly haired boy to manage. The wind from his attack rustled through Gon's clothes, and he closed his eyes to avoid having dust blown into them. He felt his body leaning back from the power of the wind, so he moved his feet back to keep balanced. I'm too far from him, Midoriya told himself and clutched his broken finger.
Gon took a few quick steps forward and punched his fist in the air with the intent to knock Midoriya out of bounds with the wind. The curly haired boy crouched down to keep his weight lower and more centered to stay within the bounds. Once he no longer felt the wind, he stood up and flicked both index fingers. Midoriya grit his teeth in pain, and the power of his attack blasted Gon close to the outer boundary. Neither of the green haired boys were willing to lose so easily.
Okay, this is going for too long, Gon told himself. He blurred his body once again and ran around in zig zags to confuse his opponent before appearing directly in front. Midoriya had been trying to use his new technique again, and the green bolts of energy came out right as Gon was in front of him ready for a final push. Gon stuck a hand out, but Midoriya ducked under it and ran to a more open space away from the boundary he was previously close to. He felt his power run out soon after.
Midoriya could hear the pounding on the stage behind him. He spun around on a foot and flicked his left pinky. The wind from the powerful attack stopped Gon from approaching closer. The curly haired boy surged at Gon to close the distance. He held up his less-damaged right fist that was in the trajectory to hit Gon's face, but the spiky haired boy raised his left hand to cover.
Midoriya's punch was a feint, however, as Gon did not feel his opponent's hand hitting his own, and he could not see what the boy was doing either because he blocked his eyesight with his own hand. The Class A student let rip his right middle finger with a flick which launched Gon through the air and about to land out of bounds on his back.
Gon noticed he was facing the sky and flying in a position like he was sleeping on a bed. He darted his eyes to the ground and guessed that he was not very high up. He kicked his right leg down at the ground to slow his momentum, and he felt a leg muscle pull really hard. The sudden change in momentum gave Gon a rocky and painful landing on the ground. He slid across the stage on his back and felt his shirt tearing up, and the stage was burning his skin. He almost skidded out of bounds. Wincing, he shakily stood up, and he could really tell something happened to a muscle in his right leg because momentarily swinging his foot down while being launched at a high speed was not something his body was supposed to handle.
Okay, time to finish this, Gon told himself before wincing again at the pain he felt from moving his right leg. He pushed off his left leg and took light steps with his right to close the gap between him and Midoriya. With a huge smile on his face, Gon swung his right hand from a distance, and Midoriya flicked his remaining fingers with a challenging grin, recognizing that this was the final attack.
The powerful attacks collided and brew up a windstorm that could be felt outside the stadium. The spectators had to turn away and cover their faces, and even the strong glass that covered the commentator box Eraser Head and Present Mic sat in was shaking. Midnight had to close her eyes and turn away, but once the wind stopped, she opened them and checked the status of the two competitors.
Gon was on his back near the edge with clothes that were shredded in many places, but she could see he was still moving as he got up in a sitting position with his legs stretched in front of him. Midnight glanced over at the other side of the stadium near the entrance to the stage where Midoriya was faced down and likely knocked unconscious. His gym clothes, like Gon's, were also ripped in numerous areas. She eyed his broken fingers and winced at what the pain must feel like if he was conscious.
"Midoriya is out of bounds! Gon advances to round three!" Midnight declared. Gon slowly got to his feet and ignored the immensely sharp pain in his right leg, the burning on the skin of his back, and the bruised bones he had in his back after his fall to the ground. He limped over to Midoriya and noticed the boy was unconscious. He bent over and picked him up to take him to Recovery Girl…along with himself.
"That's really manly! He picked himself up, then he picked Midoriya up, even though he was injured himself!" Kirishima crowed at the scene in front of him. Killua smiled, remembering the smile Gon and Midoriya had right before the massive windstorm kicked up.
"That was a great fight, Midoriya!" Gon exclaimed quietly to not anger Recovery Girl with a loud voice. Midoriya was barely conscious, but the spiky haired boy could see that Midoriya offered a small smile. "I really enjoyed it!" he added.
Recovery Girl shushed Gon and kissed Midoriya. Gon fascinatedly watched with Gyo as Recovery Girl's Quirk worked its wonders on Midoriya's broken fingers. Instead of using her own Nen, her Quirk used the Nen of the person she touched, thus making the patient more tired. Midoriya fell asleep very soon after even though he regained consciousness for a brief when Gon brought him to the nurse's room.
"Now for you, Freecss," the old lady said and walked over to his bed.
"Call me Gon, Recovery Girl," he told her. She nodded and did not even inspect him for a second before speaking again.
"I saw your fight with Midoriya. You did a very reckless thing by kicking down with your leg while moving at such a high speed. Things like that could break your leg or injure you for months! I'm surprised you could still move as fast as you did after that." Gon recognized that he was actually getting scolded. Recovery Girl was not commending his action. "I would've lost the fight rather than doing something so dangerous."
"Umm, sorry about that, I guess," he said sheepishly. "Maybe my Quirk makes my bones stronger too?" he offered lamely.
Recovery Girl sighed and shook her head. "Let's see your back." Gon turned in his bed and showed his back which was scratched, bruised, and burned, but it did not look anywhere near as bad as the nurse was expecting. "This is…unexpected. You were sliding on the ground for a few seconds. This should be burned a lot more."
"Well, that was an…explosive match," Present Mic remarked. "But our next match will have real explosions! It's Mina Ashido versus Katsuki Bakugo!"
Ashido and Bakugo stood at a distance and stared at each other. Bakugo was silent and expressionless, no doubt a little shaken up about the previous fight, but he would never admit that to anyone. The fight started, and both students charged at each other.
Ashido slid on her acid and threw some of the low-intensity version of the substance at Bakugo's feet. He jumped over it, remaining stationary and looking extremely focused and intense. He landed and ran in front of Ashido. He was starting out with his signature right hook, but she was predicting that after Midoriya pointed it out way back in the heroes vs villains exercise. She ducked under his hand.
Bakugo predicted the prediction and had his left hand ready for an explosive punch. He swung at her stomach and blasted her back with the explosive force. He did not give her any time to react and was on her in a second with another attack. An explosion rocked her even farther back, dangerously close to the boundary.
The pink skinned girl stood up and wiped some soot off her face. She threw acid at Bakugo from the longer range, but Bakugo used one explosion to blast it away. He dashed in with threatening explosions visible in both hands. Ashido put up a wall of acid between her hands to deter her opponent, but the boy did not care. He went to the sides and grabbed her arms which were sticking out and released his explosions. Ashido yelled in pain, and the force of the explosions was enough to knock her out of the boundary.
"Ashido is out of bounds! Bakugo advances to the third round!" Midnight declared. Bakugo was glaring at the stage before he turned around and walked back through the entrance to head up to his seat.
"With the second round complete, we will soon start with the third round! Here are the matches!" Present Mic announced. "First we will have Killua Zoldyck vs Shoto Todoroki! And then after that will be Gon Freecss vs Katsuki Bakugo!"
"We're going to get into the third round in a few minutes," Aizawa droned. "Don't go anywhere," he added because Present Mic was begging him to say it.
Killua sat in the waiting room while Gon paced around him. "You know, I'm actually worried about this fight," Killua admitted. "If I could use my full power, then it's a piece of cake, of course. But limiting myself to their level…I'm at a pretty big disadvantage here."
"Why do you say that?" the green haired teen stopped pacing and raised an eyebrow.
"I can't run as fast as I want to. Todoroki's ice can trap me in because of that. And I can't use my full amount of electricity because then it gets suspicious of how I can use so much with no drawback. I don't know how I'm supposed to beat Todoroki. Dumbing down my abilities puts me at a huge disadvantage because his Quirk has an advantage against electricity."
Killua frowned at the table in front of him, thinking of a way he could beat Todoroki while seeming reasonably powerful. "I suppose I could play the long game and wait for him to exhaust himself of his ice. But I can't really dodge his huge ice walls." He facepalmed, and Gon looked at him with a confused expression. "Why couldn't I just say I had the same Quirk as what you said? It'd make this so easy! You can break your way through everything, but if I do that, it's weird!"
Gon put up two hands sheepishly. "Calm down, Killua. I'm sure you'll beat him!" he exclaimed cheerfully.
Killua narrowed his eyes and stared at Gon. "Idiot. I'm going to lose this. Probably. But I don't want to, because I can't let Todoroki win his challenge on me."
"That's the spirit! So you will win!" Gon cheered again.
The silver haired teen got to his feet and headed for the door. "Have to get going now. See you later." His friend waved in return.
A few moments later, Killua was standing on the stage in front of Todoroki. "Let's get the semi-finals under way! From Class A, we have Killua Zoldyck versus…also from Class A, Shoto Todoroki!" Present Mic introduced. The spectators cheered louder than they ever had. They knew this was going to be good.
Screw the limit, Killua told himself and gazed at Todoroki who stared back. If I can beat him with any amount of electricity, that means people will think I'm roughly even with him. That's what I need.
The challenge I gave him has lead to this, Todoroki gave himself a pep-talk. All that's left is for me to win, and I will have followed through with my declaration. He curled the fingers on his right hand into a fist and released to stretch it out a bit.
"Start!" Midnight yelled. Todoroki bent to the ground and placed his right hand down. A mountain of ice burst out and made its way to Killua who was ready for the attack.
With some electricity in his hands, he punched his way through the ice. Once he was sure the ice covered him, and that no one could see him, he used his bare hands to break through without using his electricity. That left him with some more electricity he could use later that the crowd did not see.
After many punches, he smashed through all the ice and opened a hole above the ground on the other side where Todoroki watched intently. The teen swung his right hand forward, and a spear of ice launched at Killua.
The silver haired boy jumped down from the ice and ran to avoid the attack. Todoroki instantly stopped his previous attack and aimed a new one where Killua currently was. A wave of ice approached Killua, but the ex-assassin's right hand sparked, and he slashed his hand in an arc. The electricity collided with the ice and shattered it.
Killua glanced at the red-and-white haired teen. He spotted patches of frostbite on his opponent's skin. Is that his drawback? He gets frostbite over his body? But doesn't he have the fire Quirk too or something? Pretty sure I heard someone say that before.
Pushing off his legs, Killua lunged at Todoroki with a Lightning Palm. The heterochromatic teen put up an ice wall, but the silver haired teen palmed through it and continued moving closer. By now, the frostbite was very noticeable.
Killua feinted a punch from Todoroki's right then moved to the left and delivered a strong kick to his opponent's side. Todoroki propped up an ice shelter behind him to stop his momentum from going too far. Killua did not want to give him any chance to counter, so he rushed at Todoroki again. He tried avoiding Killua's grab, but he was getting too slow. The silver haired teen zapped his opponent with a little bit of electricity.
Todoroki felt like collapsing. He was hurt, and he could not move as fast as he wanted to. "What's the matter?" he heard Killua ask with a smug look. "Thought you were challenging me before this whole thing started? Can't win now?"
Todoroki took a deep breath. The air he exhaled was all cold, and he began to shiver. He had gone past his resistance to the cold. "I can, still beat you," he said in between breaths.
Killua shook his head. "No, you can't. You're cold. Shivering. And your Quirk gave you frostbite all over. That's your drawback, isn't it? Why don't you use the other half of your Quirk?"
The heterochromatic teen glared at his classmate. "I told myself I'd win without using my left side. To reject my dad, I can't use his Quirk."
Killua raised his eyebrows. Don't know what to make of this… "I don't know what you're talking about. What I'm saying is, you think you can beat me with half of your Quirk? With half of your power? That's not gonna happen." The tone in his voice dropped several octaves. "You'll never beat me by holding back." He rushed Todoroki, and the boy tried ducking under the attack but Killua adapted and shoved Todoroki away and to the ground. The other teen fell, but he staggered to his feet and launched another wave of ice at Killua. The silver haired boy blasted it to smithereens with his electricity.
"Come on, use the other part of your Quirk!" he provoked. "You say you don't want to use your dad's Quirk? So it's some fire thing?" Killua questioned with wide eyes that glared his opponent down. "Well let me tell you something, Todoroki: you aren't him. And it's not his Quirk. You have it. You get to decide what to do with it." Why the hell am I telling him all of this? Killua asked himself after he finished speaking, noticing Todoroki was looking at him with wide eyes. Does he, kind of remind me of…myself, from before? Killua's eyes widened with realization. I was born and raised as a weapon. A killer. Then, when I had the chance to do something else…I didn't quite know what to do. I didn't want to kill anymore, and Gon showed me a different way to live. That there were ways I could do what I wanted rather than what my family did. And then they took Alluka away from me, Killua's expression darkened as he remembered his sister and his purpose here.
I didn't want to become like my family. I wanted to live, not kill. Todoroki doesn't want to use the other half of his Quirk because he thinks it's his dad's. But it's not. We're similar; not the same, but kind of similar. I want my life to be my own, not my family's. Todoroki needs to realize his Quirk is his own, not his dad's.
"You can't beat me with half of your power. Look at you, you're already moving so slow," Killua snarled. "I could beat you right now." This is so not me. I'd never say this to anyone. I should just end this right now. He darted for Todoroki's throat to grab hold and threaten the electricity. Right as he got close, Todoroki's left side flared to life. The boy who now used his full Quirk slapped his fiery left hand out at Killua's face.
Killua reeled back with a yell of pain. That was Nen, and I wasn't prepared for it. That actually hurt a lot… His thoughts were distracted by a sudden roar from the crowd. He and Todoroki darted their eyes to where the sound came from to see Endeavor going wild in happiness.
"SHOTO! You finally acknowledged your power!" he boomed with a huge grin, ignoring everyone in the stadium who was watching him.
His son glared at him from the stage, his fire still burning. The frostbite he had over his body had melted away due to the heat from the fire. "Killua, you made me use it. So don't regret your decision now," he said in a low voice. He grimaced in the realization that he broke his vow to never use his fire.
"Nah, I don't think you'll win," Killua said, still experiencing some stinging sensations from the fire, but it was mild enough to ignore.
With more strength than previously, Todoroki created another huge ice wave aimed to trap Killua. How can he keep going still? He should be exhausted after all these attacks…oh wait, he is, Killua confirmed after seeing his opponent clench his jaw while using his attack right before the ice blocked his vision.
The silver haired teen coated himself with electricity and ran through the ice, breaking it as he went along. He burst through the other side and surprised Todoroki with his speed. Todoroki activated his fire again, but Killua ducked under the flaming arm and pushed his classmate away with one electric hand. Todoroki stopped his momentum with a thin ice wall that almost cracked from the force he hit it with.
Knowing that the battle would soon be over, Killua soared into the air. Todoroki put up an ice wall to stop the teen in the air, but Killua blasted it with a Thunderbolt. The ice shattered all the way down to the bottom, and the silver haired boy began his descent with a Lightning Palm. Todoroki's left side flared up again to blast a long-range stream of fire.
The two attacks connected, and smoke began to rise up from the ensuing explosion. Fire was getting launched into all directions because Killua's hand was redirecting it. Killua used as much Ten as he could to protect himself and endured the pain. He felt his hand touch Todoroki which slammed the heterochromatic teen into the ground because of the downward momentum Killua had.
A final loud thump was heard as a body…or maybe two…hit the stage floor. The smoke settled, and Midnight was able to get a clearer view of the stage. Black burn marks littered the ground where the fire scorched it, and there were some puddles of water which once were, without a doubt, ice that had been on the stage before the final fiery attack. Near the boundary of one side, Todoroki lay unconscious with a dent in the ground beneath his body, and the upper half of his left side had no clothing because it all burned away. Standing above him, panting heavily and wincing in pain, with limited clothing on his entire upper half, was Killua.
Midnight called the match. "Todoroki is unconscious. Zoldyck is the winner!" The crowd roared, and Midnight made a sigh in relief. Below her was Cementoss who was watching the whole round to stop anything Midnight said was too far.
"That was a splendid fight, but do you think we let it go too far?" Cementoss asked as the crowd was still roaring.
"Neither of them looked very harmed until this final attack. Considering the power these two have, I'm not surprised it turned out like this," Midnight said thoughtfully as she stared ahead at Killua who was now looking up at the sky while taking deep breaths.
That was, painful as hell, he told himself. Even with my Ten. I don't have a natural resistance to Nen like these people do. Getting hit by a Quirk in this world is…incredibly dangerous. Gon will need to watch out against Bakugo. He checked over his body. He had some burn marks over, but none were too serious thanks to his Ten protecting him. Nothing Recovery Girl can't heal, he reminded himself.
After Cementoss essentially remade the stage for the next round (he had a feeling he would have to do this again after this next fight), Gon versus Bakugo was about to head underway.
Bakugo grinned madly. "I finally get to face you, Freaks. After I beat you, I'm going to pummel your buddy into the dust too!"
Gon was unphased by the words. He shrugged with a slight frown. "Start!" Midnight yelled.
Immediately, both boys rushed for each other. Gon was moving faster, and he aimed a punch for Bakugo's head who was gliding through the air with his Quirk. At the last second, Bakugo used an explosion from his left hand to propel himself to Gon's left. The fist harmlessly missed, and Bakugo took the opportunity to launch a quick point-blank explosion. Gon made sure his Ten was up, so he was not too damaged, but he could still feel vague stinging over his body.
He jumped right back into it. He fired numerous punches in rapid succession, but Bakugo countered with his own explosive punches. Gon felt he was on the losing side of this because the explosions hurt him more than his punches hurt Bakugo.
The green haired teen leapt back a few times for a distance covering several meters. Once he was back on his feet, he took a page out of Midoriya's fighting style and flicked his left index finger. It did not break like Midoriya's would, but the wind it created was impressive, but it only rustled through Bakugo's clothes.
"You think a little breeze is going to beat me?" he asked with a smirk.
Gon shrugged. "Just wanted to try out Midoriya's type of attack." The green haired teen jogged forward while Bakugo stood still. He was cautious of the ash blond teen's attacks after having experienced them already.
Bakugo ran to catch Gon. Explosions were popping from his right hand, so Gon ducked under the hand. He was prepared for the right hand being a distraction as well, so he raised his right arm to block Bakugo's clenched left. The ash blond then tried kicking Gon in the stomach with his right knee, but the green haired boy threw his left fist into Bakugo's stomach and launched him away before the knee could hit.
Gon jumped into the air and descended with a kick from his left leg. Wind was surging around him because of the power in the leg, but Bakugo did not back down. He faced it head on and launched an explosion that blasted his opponent away. Gon braced the pain and checked his leg. Parts of his pants were ripped because of the explosion. He frowned and considered his options. I can attack him from far. That's not a bad idea. It gives me time to avoid his explosions.
"You might've beaten Deku, but he cripples himself with each attack he uses," Bakugo sneered at the boy who was thinking of a plan. "I'm a real opponent." He sprinted at Gon with explosions prepared in both hands and a big wild grin on his face.
Use more Nen, Gon told himself. He stuck his right hand out, palm facing Bakugo. The wind pushed his approaching opponent away, but it was not that powerful. The ash blond boy narrowed his eyes and came to a standstill. Gon was staring at him, and both students wondered what they should do to win.
Gon flicked two fingers at Bakugo, one from each hand. The wind unbalanced him momentarily, and the green haired teen blurred to make his way behind Bakugo. He went for a push with his left hand to knock the Class A student out of bounds, but the boy knew Gon was behind him. He jumped to his left and spun around as he did so. They were facing each other again.
Gon frowned. Why is this so hard? Limiting myself to their level is pretty tough, huh? Killua didn't have it easy either. He flicked two fingers again, and with their close proximity, Bakugo was pushed backwards.
The Class A student blasted ahead after the wind faded by propelling himself through the air with his explosions. Gon wanted to challenge it head on with a stationary punch, but Bakugo used his Quirk to outmaneuver it. He grabbed Gon by the head and flipped him on his back as he landed back on the ground. He crouched down and threatened Gon with some explosions to force the boy into surrendering, but Gon did not give up.
Stubbornly, Gon yanked the ash blond's hand off his head. Bakugo released an explosion from his free hand which was not holding Gon's head up until that point, but he was too late. The green haired teen already rolled out of the way and was on his feet. He charged at Bakugo with a punch, and his opponent greedily met the attack with his own. The two punches knocked both students back several meters.
Bakugo began charging an explosion. He fired the explosion with a yell. Gon countered by punching the air in front of him with his right hand. The wind and the explosion collided and withered out, and the stage was covered in smoke.
Silently, Gon used his superb senses to locate Bakugo. When he knew he was close, he projected his En a few meters and got the pinpoint location of his opponent. Without using Nen, he punched through the smoke aiming for Bakugo's back. The shift in the smoke gave away Gon's location to Bakugo, and he reacted instantly. He turned around and met the punch head-on with an explosion from his Quirk. Another explosion resulted and covered the stage in even more smoke.
Gon flipped through the air and landed on his feet. He took some damage from that attack because he was not expecting Bakugo to react so quickly. He turned his head to the side and noticed he was close to the boundary. Gon ignored the pain and cleared all the smoke with a finger flick. It revealed that Bakugo was near the center of the stage.
The ash blond charged at Gon, but it was clear he was slower than before. He got close, but then he charged up an attack and yelled, "Stun Grenade!" A huge blinding light flashed over the stage, and Gon closed his eyes and turned his head away knowing what was about to come.
He opened his eyes a bit after and saw Bakugo was right in front of him, about to punch his face with an explosive fist. Gon ducked and caught the subsequent kick with his left hand. Trapped, Bakugo tried to pull his leg out of Gon's firm grasp, but he could not. Gon let go of Bakugo's leg right before he palmed the boy in the chest and launched him to the other side of stage.
Bakugo faced his arms behind him and fired out an explosion to keep from going out of the stage. The technique worked, and he panted as he stood with his back bent and watched Gon closely from the opposite side of the stage. He wiped some sweat off his face. I'm going to kill him now, Bakugo told himself. He took to the air and blasted around in a circle to create a vortex of smoke. He stopped at about halfway across the stage. Charging up an explosion, he yelled, "HOWITZER…."
On the other end, Gon recognized this as Bakugo's final attack. It was clear the ash blond was giving it his all. Killua and Todoroki watched the fight from Recovery Girl's room where they were up in their beds. Gon squatted down and held his hands to his side, charging an attack. Killua's eyes widened in recognition of the move. "Looks like Cementoss is going to have to fix the stadium again after this," he chuckled.
Todoroki and Recovery Girl shot him a questioning look, but he nodded his head towards the screen where they were about to see what was going to unfold.
"First comes rock!" Gon shouted, his Ren exploding around him.
"Rock!"
"Paper!"
"…IMPACT!"
"Rock!"
Bakugo released a massive explosion that covered the whole stage aimed to knock Gon out. Gon countered with his special move, Jajanken: Rock and punched the air in front of him. A tornado of wind screamed around the stadium as it collided with Bakugo's most powerful explosion. Parts of the stage began to chip off from the two massively powerful attacks, and the audience was worried the wind would blow the debris at them. This was soon alleviated when they noticed the explosion was swallowing and burning everything.
A huge cloud of smoke mixed with wind and small embers rose around the stadium. Even the students, who were seated high in the stadium, had to cover their faces from the strong winds. From the outside, the black smoke looked like someone set off a bomb in the arena as it clouded around the outer perimeter of the stadium.
The window that covered Eraser Head and Present Mic shook violently, and the only visible thing was black smoke. Present Mic sweat dropped at the scene. "Eraser, I think the window might-"
"It's strong enough to withstand this," the bandage-wrapped Aizawa interrupted and assured. Present Mic still looked unsure, but the wind was dying down, so he figured Aizawa was correct.
After some time, the smoke cleared up a lot, but there were still tiny embers falling around the arena. The stage was in a mess. Much of the sides were torn up, and a lot of parts that were intact had big black burn marks. Gon was the lone person standing up, looking blankly through the stage that was almost clear of smoke. Bakugo was far beyond the boundaries of the stage on the ground, unconscious from the clash of the two powerful attacks.
"Bakugo is out of bounds! Freecss advances to the final round!" Midnight officially announced. The crowd began cheering rather quietly, still in shock, but it gradually became a stronger applause for the amazing fight they witnessed. "We'll take a short break to repair the stage and let Freecss recover as well. We'll continue in a bit!"
30 minutes passed before the final fight was going to begin. Gon and Killua stood on opposite ends of the stage and Present Mic was doing his commentating as usual. "The last two fights were crazy! These first years this year are crazy! Now we have the two winners of the previous two fights going against each other for this final fight! Make sure you're watching!"
Midnight called for the fight to start, and Gon made sure he was already running towards his friend. He punched the air, and the wind blasted ahead, but it did nothing to Killua who stood still. Killua sent a bolt of electricity, but Gon twisted his body and let it harmlessly pass him. Now that he was closer, he punched the air again, and this time Killua stumbled. He regained his balance and burst off his feet with sparks of electricity covering them. He lunged at Gon with the swipe of his hand, but the spiky haired boy caught his hand and threw him over his shoulder. Killua slammed into the stage so hard the ground cracked.
"Oops," Gon muttered so quietly he thought only Killua could hear him. "The stage dented." Killua laughed, and the entire country saw his laugh and heard Gon's statement, but most of them were thinking, He cares about the stage denting, and not the peer he just hurt?! They did not understand why he was laughing. Killua sprung to his feet and moved out of the way of another punch Gon threw.
From the small distance, Killua sent another bolt of electricity. Gon did not dodge in time and withstood the pain. His flared his Ren, and he ran after Killua who activated Godspeed and ran around the stage as well. At intervals, they clashed with their attacks and created small explosions of impact around the stage.
Killua stopped and blasted another bolt, but Gon punched the air, and the wind scattered the electricity. The silver haired boy yawned. He and Gon had already planned which of them would win, and he figured it was time for the fight to end.
But Gon did not catch the hint just yet. He still wanted to fight. He ran up to Killua's face and socked him in the stomach. The punch knocked the air out of Killua's lungs, and he was blasted backwards but stayed within the bounds. Furiously, the silver haired teen bolted off his feet and smacked his friend in the chest with a Lightning Palm. The green haired teen flipped through the air and landed on his feet. He frowned, and he dipped his head slightly, signalling he was ready. Killua returned the gesture.
Gon prepared an extraordinary punch while Killua sprinted in with a Lightning Palm. At the last second before Killua made contact, Gon punched the air, and his friend went flying through the air and landed on his back outside the stage. He was a little dazed, but he sat up and made a disappointed face for the camera to fake that he was unhappy with the result.
"Zoldyck is out of bounds, which means Freecss is the winner of the first year stage of the Sports Festival!" The crowd roared with excitement after a long and hard-fought tournament. "Congratulations to Freecss for winning!" Midnight added with a smile at the boy.
Midoriya had been analyzing the whole fight from his seat, and he frowned at what he saw. "They did all that cool and powerful stuff against Kacchan and Todoroki, and now they just let it end like that? Did Killua not want to win, or is Gon just that much stronger?"
"I agree, that didn't look as cool as I was hoping," Uraraka sighed next to him with a frown as well. "Man, I was so hyped!"
"It kind of did seem like Killua just wanted to get this over with, ribbit," Tsuyu said with a finger on her chin. "I would imagine he'd be more creative, but maybe he doesn't want to hurt Freecss too badly with a powerful attack."
Midoriya and Uraraka shrugged. "That's possible," Midoriya said while thinking deeply again. "Either way, that was good to watch. Congrats to Gon for winning!"
"I wish Iida was here to see this…" Uraraka said dejectedly, peering over Midoriya at the empty seat next to him. "He said it was an emergency he had to leave for. I hope everything is alright!"
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Some of the fights are kind of boring, but I hope the others make up for it. Next chapter will be an idea I've had for a few months now (courtesy of a message I received from someone), and I think the timing is right for it in the story. Hope to get it up within a week because I have a week-long break from school, but I still have to study and practice for upcoming exams. See you all in the next one!
