Deku: Perhaps... Perhaps not...

Anyways, time to kick off the finale! Only one more chapter after this to end Season One.

And with this chapter today, we've got our first character theme! That's right I didn't forget, I hope you all enjoy!

Season One, Episode X

Finale Part One

Grudge Match

. . .

Kaiji Adachi

. . .

The crowd had gone silent, or maybe it was just the pounding in my ears that blocked out all other noise. As I stared across the ring, in stunned disbelief at Ryoko standing over Mako. Her clawed hand gripping him firmly by the throat, as she slowly pulled him up from the arena cracked arena floor. He was barely moving, but still had one eye open looking back at her, filled with fear.

What is this? What is she doing?

Those were the only thoughts I could manage, before Ryoko threw Mako's limp body from the ring. He tumbled to a halt in the grass, and instantly Midnight ran to his side. While the announcer attempted to keep the show going, "And in a brutal display of power! One of the combatants has already been eliminated!"

"Haiyasu!" My eyes darted to the stands, seeing what I could only assume were his parents rise from their seats, looking horrified.

My fists clenched tightly, "Hey!" I barked, my own reptilian eyes narrowed to slits as I glared at Ryoko. "What the hell was that!?"

Ryoko turned a malicious, fanged grin back at me. "What do you mean? I just did you wanted, and flexed a little..."

Suru appeared on the opposite side of Ryoko from me. Her face was blank, but I could see her hands trembling. "You think this is funny? Alright you psycho bitch I'm about to warp you right out of this-"

"This is bad!" Midnight interrupted with a gasp, "His windpipe has been crushed! We need to get him to Recovery Girl NOW!"

"What?" My head whipped towards them, my heart clenched with fear, while mutters began to spread through the crowd. Many having no doubt heard the diagnosis. This wasn't just an injury, Mako's life was in danger!

"Dammit!" I looked back to Suru's voice, but she was already gone. "I'll take him!" She'd appeared beside Midnight, outside the ring, meaning she was out as well. "I'll get him to Recovery Girl!" Before she placed a hand on both Midnight and Mako, disappearing with them both.

"One more fighter down! Voluntarily leaving the ring to help out her classmate!" Present Mic called out, "If that isn't noble than I don't know what is!"

"Good," Ryoko sneered, clenching all four fists. "No more tricks and games, time for the REAL fighters to get started!"

I looked to Sen, but she was frozen in place. Staring back at Ryoko with horror in her eyes, hands trembling and fists slowly clenching. But I didn't care what she was doing, all I could see now was red. "HAAAAH!" Transforming as I ran, my footsteps cracking the floor as I grew in size. "RYOKO!"

This wasn't right, this wasn't how things were supposed to go. She ruined everything, and I wanted her to pay.

We collided in the center of the ring, Ryoko locking grips with me using her two upper hands. "You'll have to do better than THAT!" The feral girl snarled, as her two free hands slammed into my exposed ribs. Digging claws into the scales, or driving knuckles into my stomach.

"Gnngh!" I cringed in pain, struggling to keep the deadlock as my blood dripped to the arena floor."Nnngh! Y-You won't... I won't let you win!" I tightened my grip on her hands, swinging her up over my head and surprising her with my strength. "HRAAAAGH!" Turning, I slammed her back-first into the arena floor. Shattering tiles and spreading cracks all around us.

But she wasn't down for long.

"You don't have a choice!" On her feet in an instant as she rolled over, Ryoko charged and drove two elbows into my damaged ribs. The impact and pain made me double over, as I felt my ribs cracking. Before she threw her head back up, slamming it into the bottom of my jaw. Striking my weakpoint, I was reeling, and she knew that.

I heard her movement, and lunged forward, opening wide and snapping at her with my massive jaws. But the four armed girl dodged, rolling past me and taking hold of my massive tail, "Ngh!"

"NOW GET OUT OF MY RING!" She pulled hard, digging her claws into my tail as she turned. I was yanked right off my feet, as she spun around and threw me as hard as she could. I came crashing down in the grass outside the ring, the wind knocked out of me on impact.

"And then there were TWO! Can anyone hope to defeat this absolute beast!?"

I opened my eyes wide, sitting up and hissing in pain as I gripped my stomach. The wounds weren't deep, and bled steadily, but my ribs were definitely damaged. My eyes then focused on the ring, as Ryoko turned away from me, her eyes going right back to the final challenger.

Sen wasn't focused on her though, the martial artists eyes drifted around the ring, to where Mako had been crushed, over to me, and even to the teachers up in the stands. They looked worried, one glance at Cementos ringside told me he was ready to end the match in an instant. But they wouldn't stop us just yet, the show had to go on. While the crowd looked on, no cheers or boos, just waiting to see what was going to happen next.

They wanted to see what Sen could do, if she could do anything...

"Your turn wonder girl," Ryoko's voice drew my attention back to her as she marched forward. "What's the matter? Still no Quirk? You should have dropped out while you had the chance!" She sneered, getting closer every second.

Dropping into a fighting stance, she finally spoke. "Why Ryoko? Why would you do this? This was supposed to be our chance to show the world what we can do!" Her words reached far, the crowd silently listening.

"That's exactly what I'm doing," She assured, never slowing in her advance. "Showing everyone that I'm the strongest, and that the rest of you are a waste of time!" The moment she was in range, Ryoko lunged for her. "Now be a good girl and GET OUT OF THE RING!"

But Sen jumped back, putting a little distance between them before counter attacking. Spinning into a roundhouse kick, she planted the back end of my foot against Ryoko's jaw with all the force she could muster. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the blow had no effect and the beast before her didn't budge. She backpedaled to try and gain some distance and think of a plan, but Ryoko wasn't going to give Sen time to think.

Stepping forward right after her, Ryoko drew back two of her four arms and slammed them into Sen. The blow landed with nearly bone crushing force, sending Sen tumbling across the hard stone floor of the ring. "Come on Sen! I thought you were so much better than the rest of us," She mocked, while Sen rolled back up onto her knees, sliding to a stop. "Show me how good your martial arts are, show me how well trained you are!" It was hard to watch, I struggled with the idea of charging right back into the ring. "Oh wait, you CAN'T! Because your Quirk is useless!" Sen pushed herself back up, but resuming her fighting stance again only seemed to anger Ryoko further, "Why are you still trying? Just give up already!"

"I didn't make it this far by giving up!" Sen barked back at her finally, letting anger show with a powerful glare. "You're absolutely right, my Quirk isn't very good... And I've had to rely mostly on my own abilities to make it this far, but that's only made me stronger!" Her fists clenched, chest swelling with pride. "Stronger than you will ever be!"

I know she wasn't talking about physical strength, and maybe it was arrogant of her to say such a thing. But it got under Ryoko's skin, and that was good enough for me. "Grr... SHUT UP AND GET OUT ALREADY!" She jumped, bringing both fists above her head and slamming them down as she closed the distance between them.

Sen had to go forward, back would only drive her closer to the edge. She rolled beneath Ryoko just as she made impact, the floor of the ring was torn up further and a shockwave was released by the sheer force of her attack. Was she really trying to kill Sen? I couldn't be sure, but the shockwave and flying stones had Sen stumbling, bits of rock scraping and bruising my body.

I was afraid of what might happen if this continued, I didn't want anyone else to end up like Mako. But if Sen kept pushing her-

"COME ON CINDRA!" My head whipped around, as cheers rang out suddenly from the crowd. I tracked the sound, and felt my heart skip a beat as I saw it coming from the student section. "DON'T GIVE UP!" It was the hero course students, Class 1-A.

"YOU CAN DO IT!"

"BEAT HER!"

"KNOCK THAT BULLY DOWN!"

The cheers were spreading rapidly, as the narrative of the match changed entirely. It wasn't a competition anymore, it was a good guy against a bad guy. Even though she was a student too, the crowd had decided for now, that Ryoko was the villain. And I honestly couldn't blame them.

"I won't go down easy!" Sen declared, regaining her footing before going on the attack. Charging Ryoko just as she turned on her, Sen leapt into the air and landed a flying kick to the center of her face. Using her nose as a springboard to back-flip out of her reach as all four arms lashed out at the young hero. The moment Sen's feet touched the ground, she sprung forward and drove a fist into Ryoko's stomach, pulling back only to deliver a few more fast jabs to her ribs and one right to her jaw.

"Despite an overwhelming difference in their power! Cindra doesn't appear to be backing down!"

I could hardly believe what I was seeing, "Could she actually win?" I muttered, eyes widening.

"Gah!" Though she was taken off guard by Sen's assault, the martial artist lacked the punching power needed to deal lasting damage. "You are so ANNOYING!" She rushed Sen head on, and forced her to retreat. But the moment she tried to step back, I saw one of her heels slip out from under her.

"Gnngh!" Her eyes widening, as she slipped on some of the loose flooring from Ryoko's previous attacks. And Sen's loss of balance was all the opening the four armed beast needed.

"Now STAY DOWN!" Stepping into it, Ryoko slammed two fists into Sen's body. Both of her right arms striking at once, one to the stomach and other hitting Sen's face. The impact made me cringe, as she drove Sen spine first into the arena floor hard enough to spread more cracks along the surface.

I could taste blood in the air, blood that wasn't my own. From here I could see Sen, and had to assume her nose was broken. A hot liquid was running down her face, and it looked like she was having trouble catching her breath. Her body must have ached, she was wincing in pain, trying to sit up. "R-Ryoko..."

"Sit your ass down wonder girl!" She ordered, before kicking Sen in the face. Knocking her flat on her back again, "And stay down this time... Or it gets worse."

"Worse?" Sen repeated, as the crowd began to boo the performance. Their voices drew Ryoko's eyes away from Sen. "How... How could this possibly get worse?" Sen asked, forcing herself to sit up, "You... You ruined everything... You hurt Mako, you destroyed our big debut..." Her voice, the way she clenched her eyes shut, I could tell she was fighting the urge to cry.

"Huh?" Her eyes darted back to Sen, as she began to force herself up once more. "You want more punishment? Fine! I did what I had to, to win!"

"B-But you haven't won," Sen growled back, hand on one knee as she began to push herself back to her feet. Muscles were visibly trembling, something was wrong, my feathers were standing on end but- "Not yet... I'm still standing!"

The booing was dying down, and I could feel the air around the ring beginning to heat up. Ryoko took a step back from Sen, "What do you think you're doing!?"

I couldn't resist stepping back either, further away from the arena as a familiar faint glow started to form along Sen's body. We'd all seen this before, the brief glimpse of her power from training. "R-Ryoko..." Her words struggled to pass through clenched teeth, as Sen trembled, veins bulging. "I-I won't... I won't let you," The anger in her words, she spoke with barely contained rage, "I won't let you get away... With THIS!" No more flickering, the light surrounded her body completely and remained glowing strong.

((Dragon Ball Super - Ultimate Battle/Ultra instinct | Instrumental Epic Rock COVER))

((By Friedricch Habetler Music on youtube))

There was no denying it now, with that faint glow covering her body, the sweat steaming off her form. Sen's Quirk was working, just like we'd seen during training. But was this it? Ryoko appeared to be on edge, but wasn't about to back down from this small display of power.

"It seems Cindra is finally going to show us what her Quirk is! But will it be enough!?"

"So what? You put on some kind of light show and suddenly you think you scare me!?" She demanded, all four fists clenching tightly, "You think just because your stupid Quirk is working, that you can fight ME!?"

But then, an uncharacteristic smirk crossed Sen's lips. "I guess we're about to find out..." Her sudden rage had vanished in the blink of an eye, Sen was calm once more. But was that a good thing? It looked like her Quirk was barely even active, not that I had a very good example to measure off of though...

Sen raised one hand, wiping the blood from her nose and mouth and flicking it aside. My own eyes widened, as the moment the droplets hit the ground-

"HRAAAAGH!" Ryoko charged, her clawed feet tearing into the arena floor with every heavy footed step. And Sen met her head on, both lunging in with one fist cocked back. They collided knuckle to knuckle in the center of the ring. Sen only held her ground for a moment, before pivoting her feet and rolling off the punch. Spinning to Ryoko's exposed flank, before delivering a powerful kick to her ribs. "Gnngh!" She winced in pain, finally showing some sign of actually hurting. "Just STAY DOWN!" She screamed, swinging wildly with two fists, her right arms trying to backhand Sen away.

But the martial arts hero got both arms up, the impact striking her guard and causing her to slide back on her heels. Ryoko charged right after her, throwing her other two fists forward, but Sen backflipped out of the way, landing on one foot before springing forward. Closing the distance between them, she slammed her knee into Ryoko's jaw, making her head snap back.

"Gah! HnnnAAAAGH!" She was furious, eyes bloodshot with rage as she grabbed Sen by the arms. As if she'd forgotten all about the rules, she slammed Sen into the arena floor hard enough to form a small crater as dust and debris were sent flying. My heart clenched with fear, that was the same kind of power that had completely broken Mako! She raised all four arms overhead, ready to bring them down and crush her when Sen exploded from the dust cloud just as fast as she'd entered.

Her glowing fist uppercut Ryoko hard, knocking the brute right off her feet and sending her flying towards the edge. Unfortunately, the beast wasn't out yet, landing on the edge just barely inside the line. She stood back up on somewhat shaky legs, bell rung hard by that punch. But as she wiped away the blood it was clear that the damage was minimal.

While Sen ripped away the tattered remnants of her top and threw them aside leaving her in nothing but the black tank top underneath. Her expression remained intense and focused on Ryoko, "You need a second?" She asked, dropping into her fighting stance.

"Don't get cute," Ryoko spat a bit of blood onto the floor, slowly stepping away from the edge. "You can't fool me with that poker face... You aren't used to that power, how long can you keep it up huh? Enhancement Quirks like that tend to put a pretty heavy strain on the body, and you're already in rough shape." She accused, flashing a toothy grin. It seemed like that blow to the head was enough to bring Ryoko back to her senses, not good. "How long until your body gives out on you? Minutes? Maybe just seconds..."

"Why don't you attack me and find out," Sen challenged, not moving from her place in the center. "Or are you scared?"

The low, wicked chuckle that escaped Ryoko's teeth sent a chill down my spine. "I just needed to catch my breath, thanks for waiting..." She crouched down slowly, placing two hands on the floor, "And thanks for hitting me so hard, gave me a chance to clear my head."

Sen narrowed her eyes, never dropping her guard. "Hopefully you realized what a jerk you've been..."

Ryoko shook her head, lowering it slightly so her hair rolled down covering her face slight. "No, I made it clear from day one, we aren't friends... And I've got no interest in anything but WINNING!"

My eyes widened as she took off, breaking into a dead sprint for Sen at full speed. Running on all fours, moving faster than she had been before. Once half the distance between them had been crossed, Ryoko lunged for her. Her swings were more precise now, no more enraged or wild swings. Sen ducked and weaved between them, blocking what she could. But likewise, any punches she threw were dodged or blocked by the Beast.

"Both fighters appear evenly matched! But how long can they keep this up!?"

I don't know who realized it first, but it was clear that neither could play both offense and defense at the same time. If either of them wanted to do some damage-

"HAAAAGH!" They screamed together, throwing mighty punches and ignoring their own defenses.

The crowd releasing a resounding "Oooh!" As they punched each other right in the mouth, both fighters stumbling back with blood flying from their mouths. Ryoko shook it off first, attempting to follow through with a two handed punch. But Sen went low and swept out her legs with a powerful kick, using her other leg to then plant a might blow in Ryoko's stomach sending her tumbling away from the center.

"Hnngh!" I could tell the wind was knocked out of her, but Ryoko dug her claws into the arena floor to stop herself before charging right back in. "HAAAAGH!" The distance between them was too small for Sen to get clear in time. So she held her ground, digging in her heels and catching two of Ryoko's outstretched claws. The two locked grips, both gritting their teeth as their impact released a gust of wind throughout the arena.

"Hnnngh! What's the matter Sen!?" Ryoko demanded, grinning wider, "Need a hand?" Before using her free hands to start hammering the martial artist with punches. Sen tried to pull away, but the beast tightened her grip. "Ah ah ah! I told you it would get worse if you didn't back down! YOU ASKED FOR THIS!"

Even as Ryoko's knuckles struck her face and head over and over again, the young hero didn't stop. Gritting her teeth, closing her eyes tight as she tried to hold on. "I-I won't give in!" She shouted back at her, her aura flaring ever so slightly. "I don't know... What drives you to fight like this, to treat your classmates this way... I don't know what dream you're trying to achieve but..." She opened her eyes, and I could see tears at the corners of them. And a bright smile on her face, it actually made Ryoko stop her pummeling for second, made her hesitate. "I've got hopes and dreams too, and as long as I'm still standing I won't give up!"

"Tch," Ryoko narrowed her eyes sharply back at her, "You are so annoying!" I visibly flinched, as Ryoko threw her head forward and delivered a brutal headbutt to Sen's face. The impact staggering her slightly, "You think you can get ahead, just by believing in yourself and clinging to stupid things like that?" She scoffed down at her, "No, you can try as hard as you like but sometimes you JUST! AREN'T! GOOD ENOUGH!" Each word punctuated by another blow to the face, another foot of ground Sen was giving up as Ryoko pushed her back.

But everything she was saying, the venom in her words... I don't think it was aimed at Sen.

"That's why I'm going to win this!" She continued, as they neared the edge. "AND PROVE THAT I AM!"

The light around Sen was starting to fade, that faint glow flickering. Her power was failing, as Ryoko beat her senseless. "Sen!" I called out, fearing for her safety and the outcome of the match. The entire arena on the edge of their seats, cheering Sen or booing Ryoko.

My words wouldn't reach her, but someone else's would...

"SEN!" My head whipped around to the stands, to where my Mom was sitting with the other Class 1-Z parents. And I was surprised to see that woman, the fragile one, on her feet. "I know you can do this Sen!" The old man beside her looked stunned by the outburst. "You're stronger than her! I KNOW YOU ARE!"

I felt a sudden shift in the air, drawing my eyes back to the ring as that heat from before returned, much hotter than before. "No way..." I muttered, seeing that Sen had somehow stopped Ryoko in her tracks, just a few feet from the edge.

"Ngh! H-Hey!" Ryoko shouted, trying to push her again but gaining no ground. "What the hell is- Let me GO!" She demanded, unable to get her hands out of Sen's grip.

Sen lifted her head, looking back at the beast with fire in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ryoko." Before an explosion of energy erupted from the young Hero, that faint glow was now a raging torrent of fiery light surrounding Sen's body. It was almost blinding, but I knew this was the real deal, this was Sen's raw power unleashed in full.

"S-Sorry!?" The beast demanded, desperately trying to wrench her arms free. "Yeah, yeah you'll be sorry once I finished KICKING YOUR ASS!" She threw both of her spare hands at Sen's face, powerful punches striking her in the jaw and forehead but unlike before, Sen didn't budge at all. "No... That's not- AGH!"

She spun around suddenly, whipping Ryoko by her arms, "This is for MAKO!" She shouted, throwing Ryoko with incredible force. The beast hurdled through the air, screaming as she cleared all the way over the far side of the ring and smashed into the nearest wall, becoming stuck in the stonework.

"And The Beast has been eliminated! WE HAVE A WINNER!"

The crowd exploded with Present Mic's announcement, as the brutal battle came to an end. I watched Sen's aura burn out just as quickly as it had formed, the girl collapsing to her knees and wheezing for breath. Midnight was by her side in an instant, having returned from delivering Mako to the infirmary I guess. While Cementos used his power to get the unconscious Ryoko out of the wall.

"Give it up! FOR CINDRA!"

The crowd was cheering, that meant we did good... Didn't it?

So, why did I have a terrible feeling, that things were about to go from bad to worse?