Chapter 10
"ARE YOU ALL READY?!" Present Mic screamed into his microphone. The crowd responded with a roar of cheers. "The final round of the first year stage is about to begin! Who will win the Sports Festival?! But first, which eight students will advance from this first set of fights?!"
"Without any more delays, we'll get into our first two students," Aizawa interrupted Present Mic's efforts of hyping the crowd more than they already were.
"From Class A, we have class representative and speedster, Tenya Iida!" Present Mic called out. The tall teen with engines on his calves confidently strode out of his entrance. From the zoom the huge screen showed of Iida's face, he did not look nervous about the crowd or his upcoming fight. "And also from Class A, she often looks very relaxed and friendly but also has a fierce competitive side! It's Ochako Uraraka!" Uraraka walked out of her entrance with a far less confident look than Iida.
"She seems like she wants to look confident but is actually really nervous," Kirishima remarked from Killua's right side. He turned his head to his silver haired friend. "Don't you think?"
"Yeah, I mean, it's a normal feeling," he responded, not turning his head to make eye contact with the redhead.
"Who do you think will win? I think it's pretty even and tough to decide," Kaminari stated on Killua's left.
"What makes you say that?" Killua asked. "Curious about your thought process."
The blond hesitated for a moment. "Well obviously, Iida's really fast. A kick from those legs would hurt a lot. But Uraraka just needs to get her fingers on him once and it might be over."
They heard a whistle from the row ahead of them, and Jirou turned her head around. "That's the smartest thing I've heard you say, Kaminari," she said with a smirk at the boy's offended look.
Killua and Kirishima snickered, and the blond glared at them. "I'm not stupid! I can have good ideas too, you know!"
"Quiet, let's hear the rules!" Ashido shushed and quieted everyone from the seat in front of Kirishima. Between her and Jirou was Yaoyorozu who nodded her head in agreement.
"The rules for this are simple," Midnight began before the fight did. "Either force your opponent off the stage, which is the boundary, or make them give up. Intentional brutality will be looked down upon, however."
"Uraraka, Iida, I hope you both do your best. Both of you are my two closest friends, so I want both of you to win, but only one of you can," Midoriya began muttering at extreme speeds. "I know you both have strategies to take each other out, and neither of you wanted to tell me, and that's okay! But-"
"Deku, shut up!" Bakugo exploded from the back row of Class A's seating area with small explosions popping off his wrists. Midoriya instantly closed his mouth and paid attention to the fight that was about to begin.
"Are both players ready?" Midnight asked. Iida nodded without a moment's hesitation, and Uraraka took a deep breath before nodding a second later. "Alright, begin!"
For the first few seconds, there was no fight. Both students stared at each other, thinking about how they should go about this.
If Uraraka touches me, it will be hard for me to win. I can still use my engines to redirect myself, but it is harder to move like that. I have to end this quickly!
One hit. If I can trade and take one hit, and land my fingers on Iida at the same time, I should be able to win!
Iida made the first move after a few seconds. He closed the gap between himself and Uraraka in a second. The brunette girl prepared her hand to land all five fingers and make her friend float out of the boundaries. However, her eyes widened when Iida changed directions at the last moment. He shot off to a corner of the stage before pivoting on his left foot and running back at her, only to go to another part of the stage. He continued his feints for a few more seconds before Uraraka got impatient.
She took the offensive, and as she saw Iida approach, she took a step forward to extend her reach and slapped her hand out in hopes of getting all of her finger pads on Iida. The boy swiveled out of the way, again at the last moment, before running in with a kick aimed at Uraraka's midsection.
Now! Uraraka thought. She swung a hand out which hit Iida on his arm. She grabbed hold for not even half a second before the air got knocked out her lungs. His kick was not too powerful, likely on purpose, but Uraraka stumbled backwards a couple meters and grit her teeth at Iida, who remained surprisingly calm while in the air.
Iida constantly kicked his legs forward to maintain a steady momentum. He's weightless now, Uraraka reminded herself. One push and he should be out of bounds.
This is what I was trying to avoid, I should have kicked harder, but I did not want to hurt her,Iida frustratedly told himself, but he did not let it show on his face. I have to adjust by fighting in the air. Not my specialty, but I can manage it.
"After one interaction, Iida is in the air, and Uraraka took a hefty kick!" Present Mic commentated.
"But Iida stays on guard for sudden movements and is keeping himself stable through his small but precise leg movements," Aizawa added. "This is going to be tough for him, but his Quirk does allow for good overall movement, which I believe he will use extensively here."
Sure enough, Iida accelerated in the air and swung down with another kick. Uraraka ducked to her left side below his leg and punched her right hand out. Iida got pushed far out, almost off the stage, but he used his Quirk to slow down his momentum and move inbounds again.
"You were right, Eraser Head! Iida is going to rely on his Quirk a lot here!" Present Mic was impressed with how quickly Aizawa's prediction became true.
Iida increased his aerial acceleration and flew at Uraraka, this time aiming for a push to knock her out of bounds. However, she dodged again, but the teen with glasses was ready for it. He lashed his arm out and hit her forehead with a chop of his hand. Kicking his legs to make a full circle, he turned around and prepared his finishing blow.
Uraraka was stubborn, and she touched her fingers together before Iida could get the kick on her. "Release!" she yelled, and Iida fell to the ground, surprised by the quick and unexpected action. He landed awkwardly and was not in a good position to dodge her next attack. She slapped his right shoulder to make him weightless again followed by a palm to the chest to launch him back.
My backwards momentum is strong, and if I don't use it now, I'll fly out of bounds! Iida thought in panic. "Recipro burst!" His calf engines fired up and blasted him forward. The sudden change in his direction from his special move was too fast for Uraraka to react to, and Iida pushed her along as he moved. He dropped her outside the boundary, and the girl fell on her back with mild pain.
Midnight raised a flag. "Uraraka is out of bounds! The winner is Iida!" The crowd roared for both students, and Iida felt himself floating away because his engines stalled from using his special move.
"Uh, Uraraka-" he began, but he instantly felt his bodyweight return, and he fell on his feet, making sure he kept his balance. He walked off the stage to where Uraraka lay, panting with her hands touched together. He smiled at her and held out a hand to help her. The brunette smiled back and took it to help herself up.
"What sportsmanship! And what a fight that was!" Present Mic yelled out with a huge grin from within his commentary box. "It seemed so back and forth, but ultimately, Iida was able to take it with excellent control over his Quirk, even in midair!"
"That was well done by both of them," Aizawa added his own bit. "They each recognized what they needed to do in order to win, and they worked towards that."
The audience was still cheering for Iida and Uraraka while Killua sat in his waiting room with Gon. "That looked cool to watch, but we missed a part of it while walking here," Gon said with a frown. He was referring to the little amount of time it took for them to get to the waiting room because Killua was up next. They had reached just in time to watch the screen in the room show Iida's engines firing up to push Uraraka out of the boundary.
Killua shrugged. "I still don't know what to do about my 'fight', and I'm up next. I think the safest thing would be to not let Monoma get a hand on me. What do you think?"
The green haired teen hesitated with his mouth open. "Well, maybe," he started slowly, and Killua nodded his head slightly to encourage Gon to continue. "If you let him Copy you, we'll be able to understand the relation between Nen and Quirks better," he finished.
"You're right, but the important thing for us is to not blow our cover," Killua easily responded. "I want to know too, but that's not the priority. I don't even know how much it would tell us, to be honest."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, say he copies my electricity. What does that tell us? He can copy Nen abilities? Or are our Nen abilities really just Quirks in this world? It also doesn't explain why we're naturally stronger and faster than them; that might just be an evolution difference between our two worlds, though."
"There do seem to be some differences in evolution, both good and bad for us, now that you mention it," Gon piped up. Killua raised an eyebrow, so he continued. "I don't think the people in our world are superior to the people in this world. Since Quirks use Nen, or life energy, as the actual energy to power the Quirk itself, everyone has a resistance to Nen whether they have a Quirk or not. They may have evolved that way. In our world though, if you hit someone with Nen who doesn't know Nen, they get hurt really badly."
The silver haired teen was impressed. When he first met Gon, he seemed pretty simple and relied on himself, Kurapika, or Leorio for knowledge. His friend had become much better at analyzing since becoming a Hunter. Overall, he's way smarter now than before, Killua thought with a fond smile.
Killua heard Monoma's name being called to the center stage for his fight. He stood up and said, "I gotta get going now. I'll just beat him without letting him touch me. He won't get a chance to Copy whatever he can." Gon nodded and followed Killua out the door.
As Killua walked out towards the arena entrance and Gon walked back to his seat, he could hear Present Mic saying something to hype Monoma up. And then Present Mic got to him. "From Class A, we have the speedy electric boy, it's Killua Zoldyck!"
Killua raised his eyebrows with an unimpressed look right before he entered into the light of the stadium. Really? That's the best you could think of, Present Mic? He walked up to the stage and faced Monoma who looked focused on winning rather than provoking the silver haired boy.
But Monoma proved that wrong as soon as he opened his mouth. "It was destiny for me to crush a Class A student in this fight," he smirked provocatively. "I know your Quirk and what you can do. You don't know mine."
"You know, Gon told me about your Quirk, right? Copying others' Quirks is cool and all, but you don't really have your own identity then, do you?" Killua thought back to a person in his own world, the leader of the Phantom Troupe, who had a similar Nen ability to Monoma's Quirk.
Monoma got riled up, and Killua's lips curved up ever so slightly. The blond shot a furious glance in the direction of Class B's seating area to spot Gon. "Of course I have my own identity! I can fit the Quirk I use to what I need to do! What a traitor Gon is, anyway. I'll still beat you."
"Famous last words," Killua smirked and got ready.
Midnight called the fight to start, and Monoma immediately sprinted towards Killua. Too slow, Killua thought and escaped to an open area before Monoma was even close to him. With the flick of his fingers, Killua sent a little bit of electricity at the Class B blond, but he was quick enough to sidestep, impressing the electricity user.
Monoma rushed Killua again, but this time the silver haired teen held his ground and blasted a bolt of electricity. Monoma twisted away from most of it, but a part of the attack singed his shirt but did not do any damage beyond that. He came within a few inches of Copying Killua, but the ex-assassin ducked under his hand at the last second and shocked him with a bolt of electricity.
Even after taking a direct hit, Monoma impressively remained standing. Killua fired off a second blast of electricity from a distance which was another direct hit. Still, Monoma did not fall over.
"Two direct hits and Monoma is still standing! That's incredible! Is he resistant or what?!" Present Mic shouted out.
"Zoldyck has an impressive amount of control over his electricity," Aizawa commented. "Being able to localize electricity in that way takes a lot of time and effort." As he was saying it, Aizawa raised his eyebrow as he questioned the boy himself. He's so young. It takes a while for most heroes to learn that. Sometimes they'll learn that going through a hero course, and others may take longer until after they become a pro.
"Fight me properly!" Monoma seethed through shaky teeth. "Stop running away! Fight me, ACTUALLY!"he repeated.
Killua nodded his head so slightly the camera did not even catch it. He put some Nen around his feet and blurred at Monoma at a speed that would match Iida. "Your attitude isn't very befitting of a hero, is it?" he whispered into Monoma's ear, the low voice sending chills down the Class B student's spine.
Behind me! Monoma snapped out of the fear and yelled inside his head. He rotated slightly and punched his right arm out behind him and turned his head around, but his eyes did not see a silver haired boy.
"Too slow," Killua whispered again, and Monoma's eyes widened. The blond experienced a zap in his neck before he collapsed to the ground.
"M-Monoma is down! Zoldyck is the winner!" Midnight declared hesitantly. The audience cheered madly while Midnight stared at Killua. "How long will he be out?" she asked without speaking into her microphone.
Killua shrugged. "Five minutes, give or take. Depends on the person." She nodded after hearing his response, and he went back to his seating area.
It took six minutes until Monoma woke up with a nasty headache for a few seconds before it faded away. "Monoma! You're up!" he could hear Kendo's voice beside him as the girl was sitting there.
Monoma ignored her and immediately found Gon and gave him an angry glare before wincing at a sudden jolt in his body. He glared again at the green haired teen. "Gon! You traitor! How could you tell a Class A student about my Quirk?!"
Gon looked at his friend with a straight face. "He's my best friend. Why wouldn't I tell him about my classmates?"
"You didn't have to tell our rival class about our Quirks," Monoma seethed, quickly losing his argument after hearing Gon's easy and sensible response.
He shrugged in return. "It's okay, Monoma! You did well! That was a good fight!"
Monoma's purple eyes flared up for a second before dying down. "You make it sound like I wouldn't be able to beat him if he fought properly," he grumbled.
"Dude, he was so fast when he ran behind you!" Tetsutetsu shouted from behind Monoma, making the blond boy feel like his classmates may not have had confidence in him being able to beat Killua. The blond scrunched his eyes and bore his eyes into the crowd on the opposite side of the stadium.
"Killua, that was amazing!" Sero shouted out as soon as the recent winner entered the seating area for Class A. Several other class members gave him praise for playing the long-distance game. Killua could sense a pair of eyes glaring at him from behind. He met the glare with his eyes, but Bakugo turned away at the same second to face the stadium.
"What's with the long face, Bakugo?" Killua asked casually, but he was trying to see what the usually angry boy was thinking about.
Bakugo shot his eyes at him again. "Something ain't right," he grumbled and studied Killua's face closely from his seat in the back row. "You made that look so easy. Like you're holding back."
Midoriya and Iida overheard Bakugo's comment and looked at Killua puzzlingly. "Th-here's no way that's true…r-right?" Midoriya stammered.
Killua looked at them before turning his eyes back to Bakugo. Then he gave a big smile. "Of course not. I was trying my hardest. You think I could do that without using all my power?" He tilted his head to see if Bakugo had an answer to that. Instead, the ash blond huffed and watched the stadium as the commentary for the next fight started.
"From Class A and on the winning team from the last round, he had those fearsome electric shocks, it's Denki Kaminari!" Present Mic introduced the blond. "Versus! Also from Class A, a quiet but observing student with a fearsome Quirk himself, it's Fumikage Tokoyami!"
Both students headed to the stage and were waiting for the signal. "Who do you guys think will win?" Killua asked Sero, Kirishima, and Ashido.
"It has to be Kaminari! He needs one attack and it's over!" Ashido shouted, and Kirishima nodded in agreement.
"Tokoyami's never told us any weaknesses his Quirk has," Sero thought deeply, staring at the boy on the stage with the head of a bird. "There has to be something. I don't know what, but maybe Kaminari can figure his weakness out."
Down on the stage, Kaminari asked, "You ready to lose, Tokoyami?"
Tokoyami was unphased by the banter attempt. "I withstood your attacks before. I will prevail again."
"Yeah, but now I got a direct target to focus on!" he shouted, and Midnight signalled for them to start. "Alright! Indiscriminate Discharge 1,000,000 volts!" he started out with his signature attack. Electricity flooded the stage, and Tokoyami called for Dark Shadow to take the brunt of the attack.
Once the attack was over, Tokoyami was paralyzed for a bit, and Kaminari took the chance to push Tokoyami out of the stage. However, Dark Shadow, much smaller than normal, snapped out of it a few seconds before that could happen and knocked the blond boy away.
Tokoyami grit his teeth as he was able to feel again. "Man, you should be out by now!" Kaminari wore a small frown on his face.
"That was a simple attack I prepared for in advance," Tokoyami replied with closed eyes. He opened them fully and yelled, "Dark Shadow!" The shadow monster extended forward and pushed Kaminari farther back, but Kaminari let out another blast of electricity. Tokoyami withstood the attack and yelled out in pain. While the second attack was weaker than the first, he still took a lot of damage between the two combined attacks. Dark Shadow shrunk into an even smaller form than before.
"I will make it out to the light," Tokoyami whispered to himself and stood his ground. He felt like collapsing, but he could see his blond opponent not too far away looking like he short-circuited his brain. Tokoyami felt his feet feel heavy when he stepped forward and commanded Dark Shadow to place Kaminari out of bounds. Not having any sort of defense, Kaminari allowed for that to happen.
"Kaminari is out of bounds! The winner is Tokoyami!" Midnight called out. As soon as she said it, the teen with the head of a black bird collapsed in pain. Even with Dark Shadow taking a lot of the electricity, Tokoyami still endured a lot himself.
"Tokoyami's Dark Shadow became smaller after both attacks from Kaminari," Kirishima pointed out after the winner had been declared.
"Yeah, maybe his Quirk has something to do with light being its weakness," Killua suggested. He was positive that he was correct.
"I think so as well," Yaoyorozu suddenly said from in front of the two boys. She twisted her body to face them, and Jirou turned her head to look at her friend as well. "Dark Shadow became much smaller after each attack, as you mentioned. I wonder how much difference that makes in its power, and also how much of a difference bright light or complete darkness would make."
"Yeah, that would be cool to know. Tokoyami might know that himself," Sero replied.
"In this next fight, we have a member of Class A with his uncommon mix of Quirks, hair colour, and eye colour! It's Endeavor's son, Shoto Todoroki!" Present Mic shouted out. Todoroki entered the arena with a quick glare towards where his father was standing in the spectator area. Several people in Class A noticed the expression but did not say anything about it. "Now we have a direct and confident member from Class B with a heart of steel! It's Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!"
The Class B boy grinned at the stoic boy from Class A. "Son of Endeavor, huh? This should be good!" His sharp teeth showed from his mouth, but Todoroki did not care.
"Are you ready?" Midnight asked. Both boys nodded. "Begin!"
Tetsutetsu ran forward immediately knowing he needed to close the gap to stand a chance. He had seen what his opponent could do in the first two rounds and did not want to let up any chance he could get.
At the same time, Todoroki looked a little angry at something and wanted to finish his fight quickly. From his right leg came a huge wall of ice that swallowed Tetsutetsu up, but the other teen was not going to lose that easily. He surrounded himself with steel before he got trapped and began breaking his way out. He broke open a hole in front of Todoroki.
The heterochromatic teen raised a surprised eyebrow at the teen who was now running towards him. Taking a deep breath, he created more ice walls in front of his opponent who was forced to smash through them. Todoroki covered the ground beneath his opponent with ice. Tetsutetsu slid across the ice-covered stage and fell on his back. Todoroki took the chance to restrain him by covering his upper body with ice.
"Can you move, Tetsutetsu?" Midnight asked. The boy struggled but shook his head after a few seconds. "Tetsutetsu has been restrained! Todoroki moves on!" Midnight called out, and the audience cheered.
"Sorry," Todoroki began to the frozen boy on the ground. "I was a little upset at something. I wanted to finish this quick, but I didn't expect you to make it past my first attack." He placed his left hand on the ice that covered Tetsutetsu and melted it with displeasure written over his face.
It took some time before the rest of the ice melted, but the final round would continue. Midoriya was in the waiting room to get called out for his fight against Ibara Shiozaki from Class B, mumbling as he waited. "My best chance is to blow her out of the stadium with flicks, but I don't know exactly what she can do. I want to plan as much as I can, but I know I'll have to adapt in the actual fight. Can she block herself from the wind I create? If so, how much will it protect against? All, or some? I should be fast enough to not get restrained by her, but I'll have to wait and see how it plays out. For now, though…I need strength."
Present Mic called Midoriya and Shiozaki out to the arena for their fight. Neither student said anything to the other, so Midnight called for it to start.
The curly green haired boy awaited Shiozaki's move. The girl with green vines as hair extended her hair out in front of her, and it reached Midoriya with its current length. He bounced off his legs and prepared his middle finger on his left hand for the attack he was about to release. Right before letting it go, he cancelled his attack. Can't use a finger like that this early, he told himself as he watched Shiozaki prepare her defense by putting up a wall of vines.
She never felt the wind coming, so she used her vines to break through the stage floor and travel towards Midoriya. It's the same thing as before, essentially. Being underground makes no difference, because I can see where they are! As if on cue, he followed the vines with his eyes and leapt away once they got too close. She overextended! Now's my chance! Midoriya readied his left middle finger for a real attack, thinking he had the opportunity to end it quickly. Shiozaki's eyes grew wide as she recalled her vines to herself and made a hasty wall which the wind from Midoriya's attack blew apart.
She felt the wind drag her backwards, but she rooted her hair to the ground to stay firmly on her feet and in-bounds. She glared at her opponent and separated her vines into two sections. Both sections lengthened and attempted to restrain Midoriya from either side, but before he could get trapped, he ran to the outside of one of them so he would not get stuck without Shiozaki changing the direction of the vines.
In response, the vines closer to him lashed out and slapped his feet. His shoulder hit the hard ground, his eyes facing the vines that were making their way to trap him. Midoriya flicked his right middle finger with as much power as he could muster in the limited time he had, and the wind and close proximity shredded the vines and gave him some breathing room. The recoil from his attack blew him backwards.
Midoriya sighed in relief followed by gritting his teeth in pain. He scrambled to his feet while Shiozaki stepped closer but still stood at a far distance. As fast as he could, Midoriya closed the distance between himself and his opponent. He wanted to test how Shiozaki was in close combat considering she was playing the long-range game thus far.
The teenage boy curled his right hand into a fist and punched. The girl used her vines to catch the punch and pulled him down on his stomach. Her vines wrapped him around and effectively restrained him. Midoriya panicked, and Midnight called out, "Midoriya, are you able to move?"
The trapped teen struggled, and his Quirk coursed through his body into his right index finger. He wiggled his finger, and the vines exploded around him and ripped to shreds. The wind knocked Shiozaki back, and Midoriya staggeringly stood back on his feet, wincing in pain from his now-three broken fingers.
"Midoriya has broken out the vine jail Shiozaki created! That's incredible!" Present Mic yelled, and likewise, the audience cheered both students on. Shiozaki furrowed her eyebrows and awaited her opponent's next move.
A lot of her vines are gone, so now's my chance! he told himself. He stumbled forward and barely avoided the vine attacks which were much shorter in length than previously. His fist connected with Shiozaki's stomach, and the girl yelped in pain. She retaliated with a swing of her vines which smacked Midoriya to the side, but he firmly kept his balance. He charged his left ring finger up at the close distance and released the attack. The wind blasted Shiozaki back, and her vines could not stop her momentum because she could not even dig her vines into the stage floor at the speed she was moving. Cleanly, she landed outside the boundaries.
"Shiozaki is out of bounds! Midoriya advances to the second round!" Midnight called. Midoriya smiled huge, and the audience and Present Mic roared in surprise as Midoriya won the round after looking like he was on the verge of losing multiple times throughout the fight.
Shortly after, Midoriya walked to Recovery Girl's nurse office to get healed for his next round. On his way, he bumped into a familiar redhead. "Ah! Kirishima! You're up next, right? Good luck!"
Kirishima grinned at his classmate. "Thanks buddy! That was an epic fight you had. You broke your fingers to win, that's so manly!"
Midoriya chuckled as he recalled who Kirishima was fighting. "You're up versus Gon, right?"
"Yeah! He'll be tough considering how he's done so far, but I think I can take him!"
"That's the spirit! I'm sure you'll do well."
The redhead nodded. "Yeah, you should go see Recovery Gril…to get ready for our fight next round!"
Midoriya chuckled again. "That's where I'm headed. And yeah, if you win, we'll be fighting next round. I look forward to it!" With that, he hurried off to Recovery Girl's office.
As soon as his classmate was out of sight, Kirishima grimaced a bit. Gon's going to be super tough from what I've seen. He was on the same level as Bakugo, Killua, and Todoroki that first round, and he had that crazy punch in the cavalry battle! He walked to the bright light just outside the entrance and waited for Present Mic's introduction.
"In our next fight, we have from Class B, the boy who placed first in the hero entrance exam, second in the first round, and was on the second place team last round with that incredible punch! It's Gon Freecss!" The crowd roared in anticipation and excitement for what Gon would show them in a one versus one scenario. "And on the other side, a boy from Class A with a soft heart and a hard Quirk, it's Eijiro Kirishima!"
Kirishima stepped into the light and took sight of the thousands of strangers cheering him on. Feels good, but it's also a lot of pressure to perform well. I can see why Uraraka looked so nervous before her fight.
He swallowed his nerves and walked onto the stage where Gon waited for him with a small but enthusiastic smile. "I'm not going easy on you, Gon," he smiled at his opponent. Gon merely nodded, keeping his smile on his face.
"Are both sides ready?" Midnight asked, to which she got nods from both. "Start!"
The redhead hardened his skin immediately and went on the offensive while his green haired opponent stood still. Curiously, Gon activated Gyo to see what Kirishima's Quirk really looked like at a fundamental level. It's like transmutation Nen which covers himself, just like Tetsutetsu's, he confirmed to himself.
Kirishima threw a punch with his right hand, but Gon parried and retaliated with his own. His own punch bounced harmlessly off Kirishima's hardened skin, and the redhead smirked when Gon feigned surprise at the lack of effect. Kirishima brought the same hand back and released it again, aiming for Gon's chest. The green haired teen took the hit with minimal discomfort and stuck out his foot to launch his opponent back. The kick connected with Kirishima's stomach and pushed him back several meters, but he bent his knees and flew at Gon with yet another fist using his right hand.
Gon ducked under the attack, but he did not notice one from his opponent's other hand before getting socked on his shoulder from Kirishima's left hand. Gon's feet wobbled, and he fell to the ground on his stomach. He craned his neck around and saw Kirishima about to punch him in the back, so he rolled out of the way and crawled onto his feet. A loud clank was heard where Gon had just been because Kirishima's fist missed and smashed the ground instead.
The green haired boy launched himself off his left foot and kicked his right leg out. Kirishima crossed his arms in an 'X' to block, but the kick was far stronger than he was expecting. He watched as Gon looked farther away every moment before he finally stopped moving. The kick stirred up some wind in the center, but the only people who felt it were Gon, Kirishima, and Midnight.
"Blows after blows! That's what these two have been trading since the start of the fight!" Present Mic yelled out loud while Gon waited for Kirishima to recover.
Thinking his opponent had recovered, Gon seemingly disappeared from Kirishima's eyesight and reappeared to his right with a punch ready. The attack connected on the redhead's right arm and blew him backwards again. He could feel his Hardening cracking under the force.
That was so fast, and so strong, Kirishima winced while laying on the ground and struggling to get up. I can't do anything! My Hardening is failing, and he managed to damage it! That's insane! Even though I was using it for a while, but still! He ground his teeth and managed to get back up. He rushed Gon with a last-ditch effort. He swung his right hand out, and Gon crossed his arms to block, but he still felt the pain. Kirishima followed up with a kick to Gon's legs. His hope was to injure the boy long enough to push him out of bounds.
Gon did feel the pain from the hardened leg slamming into his legs, and he even tripped over it, but he did not let the sequence go as Kirishima was hoping. The green haired boy made a splendid recovery by putting his hands out in front of him and bouncing back up push-up style. With his right hand, he palmed his red haired opponent in the chest and pushed. The palm blasted Kirishima out of the boundary, and he landed on his back, his Quirk ceasing to work.
The push silenced the crowd. Nobody was expecting it, and even Present Mic and Midnight were speechless for a few seconds until it had to be called. "Kirishima is out of bounds. Gon is the winner!"
The crowd roared while Gon jogged over to Kirishima and helped him up with a hand, which the fallen boy gladly took. "Sorry, Kirishima, I went all out there with my push," he said sheepishly.
"That's fine, I can't blame you for going all out," the redhead responded. He looked tired, but he was still smiling despite having lost.
"What an incredible performance of hand-to-hand combat!" Present Mic had to get in a sentence. "A fierce show of power from both of them!" Aizawa sat there silently, not saying anything as he thought about the meeting from a while ago where Nezu told the U.A. teachers that two students had forged their applications.
"Wow, Gon is really strong, isn't he?" Sero asked Killua up in the stands. Killua nodded while looking at the boy, and he could see Kaminari frowning over something right next to him.
"What's with the stink eye, Kaminari? Are you sad Kirishima lost? Or maybe yourself?" he asked the blond who furrowed his eyebrows at the question.
"Nah- I mean- yeah. Yeah, that's it," he responded without a genuine tone to his answer.
Sero raised his eyebrow curiously. "Hey, Kaminari, you want to get something to eat or drink from here? I'm getting thirsty, I want to grab something."
Now it was Killua's turn for the curiosity. That was kind of random. He wants to talk to Kaminari, so I'll just stay here. Kaminari nodded to Sero, and the two got up.
Once they entered the corridor to go downstairs, Sero faced his friend. "What's up? Something wrong?"
"Dude, I'm just, like, sad…that Killua has pretty much the same Quirk as me, but he's so much better and cooler," Kaminari admitted with an angry frown. Sero could tell he was mad at himself, not at Killua.
Maybe this is jealousy, Sero thought. He shook his head at Kaminari. "That's fine, he's probably had to work on it before. He has a lot of skill with his Quirk. I think the best thing you could do is learn from him, right?"
Before the blond could reply, they heard footsteps coming closer. It was Bakugo, who narrowed his eyes at seeing his two classmates out of the stands. "What are you two out here for?" he asked in a very calm voice. "Shouldn't you be preparing for your ass whooping?" he asked Sero.
Both Sero and Kaminari chuckled at Bakugo's choice of words. "Maybe I should, but-" he began but was cut off by his blond friend.
"Maybe you should prepare to get destroyed yourself, by Sero," Kaminari retorted challengingly.
Bakugo smirked but did not humour the taunt. "I actually heard what you said. You're jealous of that pale freak?"
Kaminari huffed in annoyance but nodded his head nonetheless. "He has so much control over his Quirk. I can't help but feel sad that I'm not like that. It takes a ton of practice to be as good as him, even some Pros struggle with it!."
The ash blond closed his eyes and walked past them to get back to his seat. "Learn from him. Get stronger. Train harder. Then, crush him. I'm gonna crush him too, if I get to fight him here." He continued walking away as Sero and Kaminari exchanged a look and shrugged.
"In any case, don't be jealous of him. And don't think you're inferior. He's a chill guy, I'm sure he'd teach you if you ask," Sero advised. "I gotta get going, though. Ashido and Yaoyorozu are probably starting soon. I'm going to wait in the waiting room."
Kaminari nodded and watched his friend leave. "Hey, Sero," he called out a few moments later. "Thanks for that. I was feeling inferior and jealous of Killua, but you're right. I shouldn't. He can help me become stronger." The black haired boy turned his head around and smiled, and Kaminari smiled back before walking to his seat.
"In the second last fight for this round, we have from Class A, a girl who will definitely make an impression on all the Pros out there! Mina Ashido!" Kaminari heard as he reached his row of seats. "She will be up against another girl from Class A, the tactical yet elegant Momo Yaoyorozu!"
"Let the seventh match begin!" Midnight called, and Ashido had already started running – no, more like sliding – towards Yaoyorozu.
The tall girl with a spiked ponytail created a shield and held it with her left hand. In her right, she created a steel rod to use as a weapon. "Metal won't work against acid!" Ashido called out as she flung the corrosive substance at Yaoyorozu. However, when the shield blocked the acid, it did nothing.
"This is not metal, it is a type of plastic I made specifically to resist your acid," Yaoyorozu explained. She took two steps closer to Ashido and swung her rod, but the pink-skinned girl ducked under it. Yaoyorozu swung it again, now from the opposite direction, and aimed lower towards her opponent's legs. Ashido slid on her acid and outmaneuvered the range of the weapon while flinging more acid.
The shield covered some of it, but parts of Yaoyorozu's pants below her knees got burned off. The tall girl was grateful Ashido did not throw acid that would seriously injure her. She swung her rod again, but this time it was caught in two pink hands which began secreting acid and melted parts of the rod away.
Ashido slid forward and aimed an uppercut at her classmate's face, but the shield got in the way again and flew out of Yaoyorozu's hand. Instantly, she created another shield while Ashido launched another punch at her face which connected the second time.
Yaoyorozu reeled back in pain. Though her mind was distracted, she started creating a net and tossed it to trap her opponent. Ashido could not avoid the net, but she melted through the material with ease. Without activating her Acid, Ashido ran on her feet at Yaoyorozu and flexibly ducked under the shield that was used to try attacking her. Yaoyorozu's shield came back, aiming for Ashido's knees, but she leapt over the low height and landed on her feet.
As fast as Ashido tried to grab Yaoyorozu and force her to surrender, it was not fast enough as the shield came back once again and slapped her outstretched hand away. Ashido's body forcefully leaned over from the attack, so Yaoyorozu clenched a fist and released a strong punch directed at her face. Ashido widened her eyes and tried falling to the ground to duck under, but it only served to avoid getting hit in the face. The punch slammed her shoulder and knocked her to the ground.
Even with the slight advantage she had at the moment, Yaoyorozu did not know how to force Ashido to surrender without using a dangerous weapon – which she would not create in the first place.
The momentary hesitance gave the opportunity for Ashido to push up to her feet. She slid ahead and slammed a leg into Yaoyorozu's leg who yelled in pain. Ashido reached with her right hand and curled her fingers around her friend's throat and placed her on the ground. She secreted some acid with her free hand for good measure.
Yaoyorozu swallowed her pride and recognized the position she was in. "I give up," she called out, and Midnight called the match and ruled Ashido as the winner.
The final fight of this first round of 16 was about to begin between Sero and Bakugo. Midnight called for it to start, and Sero faced his elbow in front of him and blasted his tape out to wrap Bakugo. The other boy readied his right hand, and at the right distance, swung it forward with an explosion that redirected the tape.
The explosive ash blond sprung off his feet with another explosion prepared. This time, Sero released tape from both elbows approaching from either side of Bakugo. The subsequent explosion ripped the tape and blew it elsewhere. Bakugo jumped into the air and shot down with another explosion, but Sero dodged the brunt of it by leaping out of the way. Bakugo attempted the same attack but was wrapped by the tape. Just before he was slammed into the ground, an explosion rocked the stadium's floor, and pieces of debris flew in all directions. Small pieces pummeled the black haired teen and looming in the smokescreen was Bakugo with cut-off tape around his midsection.
The tape hanging around him was visible and looked like a karate belt. The ash blond teen with red eyes was annoyed and swiftly approached on foot. He closed the distance so quickly Sero did not even think how he could use his Tape to help him in close quarters. Bakugo let rip an explosive palm in Sero's face, and the black haired teen was sent sprawling on the ground.
He struggled to his feet as Bakugo rushed in with his signature explosive right hook. Sero's Tape sprung out and latched itself onto Bakugo's arm. Sero pulled, and his opponent was forcefully rotated away so his punch missed the target. The explosion that released propelled Bakugo a bit farther in the wrong direction.
Sero pulled Bakugo in close and slammed his opponent's chest with a punch, but Bakugo delivered a vicious kick to Sero's thigh in the same instant. He lost hold of the tape that was on Bakugo, so the annoyed teen took the opportunity to blast Sero out of bounds with one final explosion.
"Sero is out bounds! Bakugo advances to the second round!" Midnight called. "It has been settled! Here are the four fights we will see in the next round!"
1: Tenya Iida vs Killua Zoldyck
2: Fumikage Tokoyami vs Shoto Todoroki
3: Izuku Midoriya vs Gon Freecss
4: Mina Ashido vs Katsuki Bakugo
"We'll take a short break before continuing, so make to come back if you want to see the rest of the first year stage!" Present Mic announced.
Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! If you have any constructive criticism on my action scenes, I'd love to know through a review or PM. I think it's okay, but I know I have tons of room for improvement. I tried following sentence structure and word choices from stories that I think have good fighting scenes, but there are still some things I want to be more descriptive about for the next chapter.
Originally, I was going to have Yaoyorozu win her fight, but as I wrote it I realized I didn't have a single idea of how she could beat Ashido, so I changed it to this. Next chapter will cover the remainder of this final round including the finals. Although, I'm super busy for the next 1.5 weeks, so I'm not going to start writing it until then. Also, the way I set up this bracket was a simple single elimination bracket - there's no seeding, so there was no need for 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc. for this upcoming round. The winner in one fight faces the winner in the fight after them.
