A/N: Thank you all for the favs, follows, and reviews! Please keep them coming because I love hearing what you think of the story so far. It really inspires me to write, so please comment what you think of this new chapter and where you'd like to see the story progress, as I am curious!
Chapter 10: Overkill
Katori watches as Iida finishes his round, smiling to see more of her classmates advancing to the next round. She stretches and prepares herself in the waiting room, shaking a bit at the idea of fighting Tokoyami, wondering if she will be able to control Dark Shadow as she hopes she can. She will not be able to use the same tactic she used on Yaoyorozu, so she will have to figure out another way to fight Tokoyami if her Quirk does not work on him, or else she will lose here.
She is called to the arena and she walks out with a thunderous applause along with her classmate. "You know her for that jarring display in the last round, draining and copying her way to the top, it's Katori Satsuma!" Present Mike announces her.
She scrunches her face in annoyance at the tactless introduction, hearing Aizawa's voice quietly ask, "what's wrong with you?"
She prepares herself for the battle, getting into a fighter's stance, preparing herself. She knows that Tokoyami will act fast, and that she will need to act faster. She steadies her breathing and when Present Mike gives them the queue to go, she immediately takes his Quirk. "Dark Shadow!" they both yell at the same time.
She watches as the creature releases himself from the boy. "Attack!" they command in unison and the shadowy bird freezes at their command, confused as to who to respond to. She smiles to herself, realizing it is working how she expected it.
There were three outcomes she could see with her fight against Tokoyami. The first and worse was that she would be unable to use his Quirk as she was unable to use Yaoyorozu's. The second was that she would develop a Dark Shadow of her own to fight him off, but that seemed like the most unlikely. And lastly, her Quirk would drain and copy Tokoyami's power over Dark Shadow, giving her the ability to control the shadow with as much power as Tokoyami. Now, with the same amount of control over the creature, it does not know who to obey.
"What is this?" Tokoyami staggers back. "Dark Shadow! Attack!"
"Dark Shadow! Stand down!" she commands and the shadow begins looking back and forth between the two, scared and confused.
"Wow, she has power over Dark Shadow!" Uraraka calls out with wild excitement.
"She must be honing in on his control of the shadow," Iida says, "If only Midoriya was here to see this!"
"They are evenly matched, how's this gonna pan out?" Kaminari asks looking at Sero who shrugs back at him.
Katori presses her eyes against Tokoyami, grabbing his Quirk and draining more of his power over Dark Shadow, but being mindful of how much, not wanting a repeat of her fight with Yaoyorozu. She smiles to herself when she feels comfortable with the amount of power that she holds over Dark Shadow.
"Dark Shadow, fly yourself out of bounds!" she commands him sternly.
The ghostly bird frowns, turning towards Tokoyami and grabbing hold of him, lifting him in the air. "What? Dark Shadow, put me down!" he commands but he does not, and Tokoyami is forced out of bounds by his own Quirk.
"Tokoyami is out of bounds! Satsuma advances on!" Midnight calls out and Katori smiles, shutting her eyes and saturating them.
She walks over towards Tokoyami, bowing to him for a good match. "I am shocked," Tokoyami says to her. "Your power over Dark Shadow is amazing."
"It's your power over him," she reminds him with a soft smile. "I guess if we were both in the dark, we would be screwed," she laughs and Tokoyami smiles at her.
"It was a good fight. Thank you," he tells her kindly as he bows to her.
Katori quickly returns to the stands, excited to see the fight between Bakugo and Kirishima, as the two of them are her closest friends here, and if anyone is resistant to Bakugo's attacks, it's Kirishima.
She watches as Present Mike announces the match, and Kirishima immediately runs for Bakugo, launching himself at the explosive boy and sending a wild array of attacks his way. "Woah Kirishima is fast, he's got Bakugo on the defensive, I've never seen this." Sero says with widened eyes as he leans forward.
"He's going to have to finish this match quickly if he plans on winning," Katori says and the boys look over at her. "Kirishima's hardening can only last so long, especially if he needs to harden his entire body as he would need to in a fight against Bakugo. Eventually he's going to exert himself. Notice how Bakugo isn't using his explosions as often?" she asks and the two boys glance over at the fight, seeing that Bakugo is using his explosions much less than he did when he was with Uraraka. "It's because using his Quirk will just over exert himself as well, and unlike his fight with Uraraka, Kirishima will be able to hold against his explosions. So Bakugo's best line of action is to draw out the fight as long as he can, until Kirishima can no longer harden his body, then he can go in for the final blow."
"Woah, you sound like Midoriya," Kaminari laughs and Katori smiles.
"So Kirishima doesn't have a chance against Bakugo?" Sero asks.
"Not necessarily, if he is able to get Bakugo out of bounds, he has a chance, the only problem is getting Bakugo there without his notice."
They watch as Kirishima lands a punch on Bakugo, sending him back a bit. But the explosive boy counters with a blow to the hardening boy's face, that does no damage. Kirishima comes in with a left hook that Bakugo narrowly dodges, only to counter on him and come back with an explosive attack to the boy's stomach.
Katori winces as the hit sticks, and Kirishima has over exerted his Quirk. Bakugo notices this, and immediately goes on the offensive. He begins sending a wave of explosive attacks his way, one after the other, not giving the hardening boy enough time to react and defend. A cloud of debris covers the arena and Katori is unable to see what is going on.
Eventually, the dust settles and Katori watches to see the results as she predicted. Kirishima is on the ground and immobile, and Bakugo is announced the winner. She swallows hard, seeing him advance to the next round. She looks up at the leader-board to see that Todoroki, Iida, Bakugo, and herself are going to the semi-finals. She takes in a staggered breath, hoping her next fight is with Iida and not one of the other two hotheads.
She looks over to see that Yaoyorozu has returned to the stands with a bandage over her forearm. Katori holds her own scarred forearm, hoping that she did not lead to permanent damage for the girl. She swallows hard and lifts herself from her seat, heading towards the girl with an apology hanging in her throat.
"Yaoyorozu," she begins as she approaches the girl sitting with their other classmates. "May I speak with you for a moment?" her mouth is dry and her heart beats in her throat as she speaks to the girl.
The black-haired girl nods to her, and follows her down towards the hallway. Katori turns towards the girl, wringing her hands nervously as she keeps her eyes fixated on the floor, unable to look up at her as she says, "I wanted to apologize to you," she begins with eyes still glued to the ground. "I didn't have a proper plan in fighting you, and I resorted to using a part of my Quirk that I don't fully understand for the sake of winning this game. I could have really hurt you, and it was all at the expense of winning this stupid game. I should have been thinking about—"
"Satsuma," she begins with a soft tone and Katori looks up at her with wide watering eyes. "I am not angry with you," she says with a sweet smile and genuine eyes. "You did what any of us would have done out there. I just wish I was able to fight you off longer," she forces a laugh as she scratches at the back of her head.
"But your arm, I could have done serious damage to you if I drained your Quirk fully."
"But you didn't," she reminds her. "And my arm is fine, just a few scratches that Recovery Girl couldn't fix up because of my stamina." Katori clutches onto her scarred arm, feeling the roughness of the skin left by that decaying villain. "Don't beat yourself up about it," she says placing her hand comfortingly on Katori's shoulder. "You've been amazing out there, I've been watching you this whole time." Katori looks up at her with wide eyes and she returns with a genuine smile. "Now go out there and show those boys what girls are made of!"
"Thanks, Yaoyorozu, I will!" she promises her, wanting to win this for her.
Katori heads to the player waiting room where she looks at the television that shows the new bracket. Their pictures are all displayed next to one another and her heart sinks to the deepest pits of her stomach when she sees who she is up against. She looks at his photo as narrowed indifferent eyes look back at her. His body is turned from the camera, and his lips turn downwards into his signature scowl. Out of all the boys, did she really have to be put against Bakugo?
Her throat contrasts as she begins to feel sick. Stress sinks in as her body temperature rises and her hands shake wildly. She needs to formulate a plan against him. Uraraka had a flawless plan against him, and he was still able to counter with his brute force. He knows her Quirk better than anyone else here, and he will surely know how to fight against her. She wonders what he is thinking in this moment, knowing that he will have to fight against her. She can only imagine the shit eating grin crawling up his face as he imagines all the ways he's going to kill her.
Meanwhile Bakugo looks up at the television that shows the next standings for the semifinals round. He stares at the face of his opponent, looking back at him with an awkward pressed smile that hangs lopsided on her face. She looks almost scared in the photo, like she wasn't ready for them to take the photo, but was stupid enough to attempt a smile at the last moment. Her brows are turned upwards and her purple eyes are widened and glistening. Her black hair is down with pieces of it falling in front of her face. Bakugo scoffs at the photo and looks away from her. She looks like a damn nerd in that picture.
He swallows hard, thinking about fighting her. Since she launched Kirishima into the air and took first place over him, he's wanted to destroy her here. No, before that. Since she saved him from those villains using All Might's power, she shoved in his face that she believed she was stronger and better than him. He has to show her that she is mistaken. He is the strongest one here. He is the only one here that is worthy of being Number One, and he will not let some purple eyed loser tell him otherwise.
Bakugo looks up at her picture one last time, feeling a twisting in his chest that he doesn't recognize looking up at her. He will kill her and become Number One.
Katori frowns that she is unable to see Todoroki and Iida's fight, only hearing pieces of it from Present Mike's announcements, but figures that maybe it is for the best. She needs to focus on her strategy for Bakugo and moving onto the finals. She thinks about her father's consistent words of never allowing herself to be the best. She thinks about how these warnings are the complete opposite of the expectations that Endeavor places on Todoroki and wonders why that is. Should she throw the match with Bakugo and ride comfortably in fourth place, or should she fight for the top? She knows she will never hear the end of it from Bakugo if she forfeits the match, but maybe her father has a point. Maybe she shouldn't be gunning for the top.
Katori hears her door click open and she stands up to prepare for her fight when she notices it is not one of the staff to escort her to the arena, but Todoroki.
"Todoroki, what are you doing here?" she asks him with confusion pressing her brows together, not realizing his fight is over.
He looks at her for a moment, contemplating telling her why he is truly here, not fully formulating what to say to her. "Katori," he begins, "You're fighting Bakugo," he says awkwardly and she nods at him, unsure what else to say to him, waiting for him to explain why he is here. "I will be sitting in the stands watching you," he continues vaguely and she simply blinks at him. "If you are facing east, you should look to your right. Three rows from the top is where I will be seated."
"Okay," she lingers seeing there is intent in his eyes but not reading why he is telling her this.
"I will be standing so you can get a better view of me," he says and she still doesn't understand. He looks away from her, not wanting to say it outright. "You are fighting Bakugo," he repeats with more conviction in his tone. "I will be there watching you, with my eyes," he says awkwardly, not wanting to fully tell her that he doesn't believe that she can win this fight without using his Quirk.
Recognition finally reaches her eyes and her shoulders sag downward with disappointment. "I can't use your Quirk, Todoroki, you'll be too far away from me to drain it from you." His jaw tenses and his eyes advert from hers, formulating another plan when she pulls him from his thoughts, "I appreciate your worry, but I can do this," she tells him strongly. "Don't worry."
"His fight with Uraraka… He will expect more of a fight from you," he says knowing the hotheaded blonde will attack her with vicious force.
"I know," she tells him. "I expect him to," she says strongly as a fierceness covers her eyes.
"Then I'm sure you will do your best," he says with a flat tone. "I will be watching."
"Don't worry, Todoroki, I'll have plenty of opportunities to use your Quirk on you in the next round," she says with a wide smile that forces an even smile to his face.
She is called for her next match and her heart begins to race all over again. Once she is nearing the arena, she looks to the leader-board, wondering which one of them will be set to fight Todoroki. She shakes her head and moves towards the arena where she sees Bakugo ascending the stairs with slugged shoulders and hands dug deeply in his pockets. It's clear that he is painting a disinterested persona, and she wonders if he is truly not worried about how this match will pan out.
Katori looks up in the stands to see if she can see Todoroki in the area that he told her he would be watching her, and she cannot see anything but indistinguishable body shaped blobs staring back at her. Katori shakes her head, knowing that she is at an advantage here; she didn't know if her Quirk would work against Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu and still managed to best the two. She has used Bakugo's Quirk many times and knows how much of it to drain to be useful, as well as how effective he is with his Quirk slightly drained. They are both familiar with one another, and are probably the most comfortable battling with each other from their class, so this match will be interesting to say the least. The only way she can hope to win, is to out explode the exploding boy.
Once she is standing in the ring, she realizes that she doesn't even hear Present Mike announcing them as the panic of fighting him sets in. She looks over at him and his hard red eyes reach her soft purple ones. He sneers at her as his lips turn upwards in a scowl. "Give it your all, Copy-Paste, you hear me!" he barks at her.
"Ditto," she returns with less ferocity in her voice.
They step away from one another and for a moment, there is a complete and total silence. Katori hears nothing from the crowd, her opponent, or Present Mike. Just a simple calming silence. She closes her eyes and takes a moment to breathe as she saturates her eyes.
The match begins and Bakugo is quick to act. His first attack is an explosive assault targeted at the ground, and swiping up debris into the air. She staggers back as dirt gets in her eyes and she begins to panic as she rubs at her eyes, trying frantically to clear her vision. She hears him charging at her and she jumps out of the way, continuing to wipe at her eyes to clear the dirt. Of course he would attack her eyes, but she did not expect he would in the first assault.
Tears fall down her cheeks as her eyes attempt to heal themselves of the foreign debris irritating them. She relies on her hearing for now, perking up her ears for his next attack.
"As expected, Kacchan attacked her eyes and the only way for her to use her Quirk," Midoriya narrates as he watches the fight from above. "She will have to clear her view, but like his fight with Uraraka, he's focusing his attacks on the ground to rouse up debris so she won't be able to look him in the eyes and drain his Quirk through the clouds of dirt he surrounds himself in."
"What an ass," Kaminari grunts as he looks down on the fight with a frown on his face. "We can't even see anything."
"Don't count her out yet," Kirishima says firmly, "Katori's a fighter, she'll get one on Bakugo, just you wait and see!" he says slamming his fists together with a firm nod, while Todoroki watches behind them with a tightened stance.
Another explosive hit booms near her, and the hairs on her body shoot straight up at the proximity of the burst. Her heart races, and she continues to rub her eyes as she desperately tries to open them. She can hear him occasionally release a war cry before he slams an attack her way, and she is able to affectively dodge the assault.
He's created a barrier between them of debris and dirt, so she cannot see him until he is right in front of her, where she puts herself at risk of a blast to the face, that will undoubtedly blind her temporarily, and she'll be KO'd if she lets that happen. She groans to herself as the frustration of her situation builds in her chest. She is unable to use her Quirk and she feels helpless. She needs to get close to him to grab his Quirk so she can go on the offensive.
Katori is finally able to pry open her eyes as her vision blurs into her surroundings. She blinks rapidly as she tries to get a clearer view of what is going on. She remains light on her feet, figuring that if she cannot see Bakugo, then he cannot see her, so she still has an advantage here.
Her vision finally begins to clear and she needs to quickly grab his Quirk. Attacking him from afar will not work, but being close to him is a death sentence with his close quarter attacks. Either way she is screwed with how she approaches it, so she might as well make a move while she can.
She closes her eyes, perking up her ears and waiting for him to come to her. She feels a whine building in her throat as the feeling of wanting to cry lifts her chest. She feels helpless and angry with her situation and just wants to be out of this arena where she can see again and she is not fighting this maniac. She has always been on Bakugo's team, so being on the receiving end of his rage just makes her want to cry and quit.
She hears him approaching and she takes in a deep breath, trying to get this over with. Katori quickly lunges forward, snatching his arm and kneeling down. He comes in with a right hook, only to hit nothing but air since she kneeled down. She quickly pulls him down and out of the cloud that he hides behind. She catches his wild red eyes and immediately takes his Quirk, placing her hand on his face and blasting him in the face with his own Quirk.
He doubles back in shock and she presses forward, blasting him in both ears as her hands come in and smack his head from both angles. He falls to his knees and she kicks herself into the air off of his shoulders, jumping in the air and blasting him in the back to force him to the ground faced down.
"Woah Katori! Get it!" Kirishima cries out as he stands up from his seat, watching as the girl ascends from the clouds with his Quirk.
"Damn you, Copy-Paste!" Bakugo cries out as he begins shooting wild unaimed attacks towards her.
She launches herself with his Quirk away from him until she lands a few meters from him. He places both his hands together and her eyes widen, knowing what he's about to do. She quickly places her hands in the same formation, knowing that she will lose his power with this attack and will need to regain it again.
"Stun grenade!" Bakugo howls out as they both send the same attack at one another. Katori closes her eyes once she releases her attack, losing his Quirk as she is knocked to the ground with his. He sends another attack her way, and it launches her across the arena as she rolls to a stop.
Katori's arms and legs begin shaking as she pulls herself up, feeling her body screaming while she forces herself to stand. She notices that her hair tie broke and now she has no way of hiding that she is attempting to steal his Quirk as strands of black hair obscure her vision. She feels another wave of frustration wash over her as the sensation of drowning in her emotions drags her down. She cannot think clearly, and she feels like she cannot breathe as the lump in her throat grows to constrict her airways. Her eyes water and she wonders if it is from using her Quirk or from the frustration of the match.
Bakugo growls at her, launching himself towards her. She swallows hard as he swipes up at the ground once more, sending another wall of debris her way, only this time she sees the attack coming and is able to dodge, grabbing his eyes and sending an attack at his back.
"That damned Quirk of yours is so damn annoying!" he yells at her, feeling his body draining of his power.
She begins wildly sending as many attacks his way as she can manage, hitting him in the face and sending him flying across the arena. She begins pressing forward, crying out as water fills her eyes, but she doesn't dare to blink as she tries to drive him towards the edge of the arena before losing his Quirk.
He quickly recovers and launches himself towards her, grabbing her by the hand and tossing her in the air with as much force as he can out of bounds. She summersaults in the air until she gains her wits and launches herself back into the arena with his blast, but as she lands, Bakugo blasts her in the face and causes her to lose her power over his Quirk. He holds out his hands and she begins charging towards him as he powers up for another attack. He growls as the explosion begins bursting through his palms, "Howitzer Impact!" he shouts as the maxed-out attack sends her flying across the arena.
She lays on the ground, body shaking from the multiple attacks. She tries to lift herself from the ground, but she falls, feeling her legs giving out as she trembles in pain while she remains doubled over on her hands and knees. She begins crying as the adrenaline drains from her body and she can feel just how much pain she is in. She lets out a sob as she looks down at her hands pressed firmly on the ground while a pool of tears accumulates. She can end it now if she lies down and says no more.
"Get up!" he commands her with a growl as he approaches her. "Don't you dare give up!" he barks at her. He approaches her, looming over her as he points his hand to deliver a final blow, and she knows he is right. She cannot give up.
Midnight moves to approach the girl when she looks up at Bakugo, blasting the immediate area with a wild explosion that sends him flying back. She quickly uses his Quirk to evade him, launching herself in the air with blasts from her palms as she continues to lift herself in to the sky, higher and higher above the arena.
"What is she doing?" Uraraka asks as they watch her blast herself above the arena.
"She's running away from him," Sero says, seeing how she continues to lift herself in the air as Bakugo begins to follow her. "I don't blame her."
"No," Midoriya says noticing what she plans. "She's making him follow her."
Todoroki's eyes widen when he sees her turn in the air, looking down from the sky as she begins freefalling towards the arena when she loses her grip on his Quirk. He swallows hard with the knowledge that she is banking on Bakugou following her, else she would plummet to the ground. Katori looks down, pointing her shaking arms down at Bakugo who launches himself towards her. She catches his eyes and takes his Quirk once more. His eyes widen when he sees her hands placed before him and with a wild war cry, Katori launches the strongest attack she can push out of her, crying out, "Howitzer Impact!"
The students in the stands cover their eyes at the massive explosion that sends a wave of debris across the entire stadium. Midoriya and the other students lift themselves from their seats as they watch with wild enlarged eyes at the fallout of the attack.
Katori breathes madly as she straddles Bakugo with her legs wrapped around his waist and her hand pinning him down strongly on his chest. Her right fist is pulled back behind her head, ready to send a final attack aimed for his face. She cries out, preparing to punch him in the face when she sees the look in his eyes, and the small drop of blood that drops on his cheek. She freezes, blinking as her white hair drops in front of her face. She moves her shaking hand to her upper lip, saturating her fingertips in the blood that drips from her nose. She looks down at Bakugo who returns with enlarged eyes.
She staggers off of him, backing away from him until she's able to pull herself to her shaking feet. She looks around as the crowd watches her with wide fearful eyes, as the indistinguishable body shaped blobs in the crowd suddenly become clear to her, and she can see each and every pair of eyes looking at her with disgusted horror.
"Isn't that Replicant's daughter?" she hears the crowd speak up.
"The villain?"
"Why would they let a villain's daughter compete?"
"How did Replicant's daughter get into UA?"
"She definitely acted like a villain in that round."
"She looks just like him."
Katori begins to panic as she hyperventilates and her legs begin to give in. She glances over at Bakugo who slowly lifts himself to his feet, watching her carefully as he tries to anticipate her next move. She frowns at him, feeling her chin quivering as she backs away from him. She drops her head from his hard gaze and turns away from him, keeping her eyes focused on the ground as she willingly walks out of bounds.
Midnight's voice gets caught in her throat at what transpires before her. After a second and gathering her wits, she finally announces, "Satsuma has stepped out of bounds. Bakugo wins."