Chapter 15: Doko vs Ibara
Up in the box, the students of Class A watched Katayama and Shiozaki walk toward each other in the ring. The match was about to begin.
"Man, didn't that girl get fourth in the obstacle race?" Sero asked, stretching. "I certainly hope Katayama's got this, but...I don't know."
Mina and Aoyama had just left to prepare for their match, but Yaomomo and Tokoyami had just returned. "Has it begun yet?" the creation girl asked, sitting down.
"About to," Jiro reported. Midnight was walking out to ask the combatants if they were ready.
"Midoriya-chan," Tsu suddenly asked. "What do you think Dokkun's chances are?"
Ochaco watched as Deku leaned forward, a focused look in his green eyes. He'd been muttering a lot before, but now he spoke up to Tsu. "I don't know enough about Shiozaki's Quirk, but it seems that she can create vines from her hair. Depending on how fast she can grow them, she might be able to restrain her opponent...the only problem is that her opponent is Katayama. Other than maybe Iida, he's probably the hardest person to catch in the entire festival. Knocking him out of bounds isn't really an option. You have to try and knock him out or tire him out, without getting tired yourself. A disadvantage Katayama might have, though, is that his strength is unenhanced. If he truly can't teleport other people, then...HIS only options are to try and push them out of bounds or knock them out, physically."
"And that won't happen," a smug voice said, "because Shiozaki's Quirk protects her quite handily. Your little warper will never get in close."
They all looked up in confusion to the boy peering over the wall, from Class B's box. He was blonde, named Monoma if Ochaco recalled correctly.
"Is that all you have to say?" Jiro asked him, earplugs flicking in annoyance.
"This is where we'll show you you're not better than us!" The other boy, Tetsutetsu, had joined Monoma at the wall. "Shiozaki came fourth in the entrance exam! He can't beat her!"
"Oi!" Kirishima shouted back at him. "Have a little respect!"
"What, you wanna fight early? I was looking forward to smashing you into the ground in front of the crowd!"
Monoma laughed. "It's okay, Tetsutetsu. These Class A freaks aren't worth it. All they have is their pride. And Shiozaki is about to pull that out from under them."
"You," snarled Bakugo, and all of Class A froze. Ochaco especially. Ah, I have to fight him soon!
"Listen, extra. We have pride because we earned it in events, unlike you. You did poorly in both events and were eliminated. Unless I'm misremembering?" He gave Monoma a sadistic grin, lifting up a threatening palm.
Ochaco was stiff with shock. It was a side of Bakugo she hadn't seen, much more cold and calculating. And he said we, including the other students in the class. Does that mean he acknowledges our accomplishments?
"Fifth match." Present Mic's voice cut through them like a knife, turning all previously distracted heads back to the ring below.
"Here we go," Monoma whispered in giddy excitement.
"STAAAAAART!"
...
Clearly the best option is...
Doko flashed toward Shiozaki in three quick warps, his legs striding widely in what he called a "warp-sprint", stretching his distance limit as far as it would go.
To attack quickly!
The girl's pretty eyes widened in surprise, as if she'd forgotten what his Quirk was, and she turned her back on him as he arrived. Doko's vision was suddenly filled with swarming green, like writhing snakes, and he felt his arms get cut up by thorns. Panicking, he warped backward. So that's what her Quirk does.
"SHIOZAKI'S HAIR COMES ALIVE! IT'S LIKE A MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY DARK SHADOW!"
"Is that the best you could come up with?" Aizawa complained.
Doko warped sideways, keeping his eye out for the borders of the ring as he bobbed and weaved. The vines followed him whichever way he went, pursuing him across the platform at high speed. Isn't this her hair? The next time the vines swooped at him, he tried to block them with his forearms, which turned out to be a mistake. They were much stronger than he'd anticipated, and they tore through him like little daggers, cutting up his face and arms.
"EEEEK! YIKES! Shiozaki draws blood! That's...gruesome!"
"Are you afraid of seeing blood?" Aizawa asked, genuinely curious.
"NO! Well, it's just...my Quirk generally allows me to stop fights bloodlessly..."
"Oh, please. I've been practically bleeding from my ears this whole time I've sat next to you."
Shiozaki seemed to suck her teeth in and turned around to look at Doko, a shocked expression on her face. She'd been turned away for her entire attack, as if the hair had just been using a mind of its own. "I...cut you..."
Doko's eyes twitched, and he held a defensive position as the vines retreated back to the girl's head. The purple energy sputtered erratically within him. He felt a wetness dripping down his cheeks, and some of it spilled a bit into his mouth. He tasted the red iron of his blood.
Shiozaki was appalled. "I didn't realize..."
"Yeah? Well, you should have," Doko interrupted her. All his exposed skin was stinging. "Did you make the conscious choice to include thorns?"
The crowd seemed confused at the halt in their fight, just as the action had been picking up.
"What's the holdup?"
"The kid's bleeding kind of a lot..."
"She did that to him?"
"Normally I would root for the girl in this situation, but..."
"Root? Was that a plant pun?"
"Literally shut up."
...
In the Class A and B boxes, Monoma was laughing maniacally. "All the flashy powers of Class A can't stand up to Shiozaki's all-encompassing defense and offense! Your warper is toast!"
"He's not manly at all for this!" added Tetsutetsu.
Shoji stood.
All of Class A went into complete hushed silence as the massive, multi-armed boy walked over to the wall. A grim mouth formed on one of his arms.
"The powers of the girl down there do not belong to either of you, so stop taking ownership of them. And Katayama is stronger than you know. Insult him again and you'll wish you hadn't."
Monoma and Tetsutetsu both trembled with fear as Shoji quietly returned to his seat. Ochaco was practically trembling herself. When she turned back to the arena, she found herself thinking...Katayama-kun, I don't know you very well, but you've got to prove those jerks wrong!
"He doesn't look good," Yaomomo whispered. Sure enough, Katayama was bleeding from a lot of places.
"Hey," he called to Shiozaki, loud enough for most of the arena to hear as well. "I get the feeling that you don't want to hurt me. You're just nice like that. I can respect that. I like to be nice too. However...it's okay with me. Don't worry about the blood." Ochaco saw his fist clench. "Let's finish the fight properly."
The crowd erupted.
"YEAAAAH!"
"What an honourable child!"
"Both of them, honourable children!"
"I feel like this is the realest match so far, I'm getting pumped!"
"THAT'S MY BOY!" Kirishima roared from the back row of the box, standing up and pumping his fist. He looked across the wall to Tetsutetsu. "How's THAT for manly, huh?"
"He still has to live up to those words with his actions!" the steel user shot back.
...
Ibara had been afraid, deathly afraid. She knew that fear could lead down a sinful path, but fighting a boy just seemed like an insurmountable challenge. Plus, he was really tall for a Japanese person, and his looks were intense. All of that had come to a head when the match started, and he suddenly flashed toward her, holding up his hands as if he was about to do something horrible. Oh, she'd just had no choice but to turn and use her ultimate attack right away, with the thorns and everything! But then she'd realised...this boy didn't have any strength enhancements. His powers allowed him to flash around. But...in terms of attack...she was stronger. And she'd HURT him.
I didn't want it to be like this!
But here he was, giving her permission. Saying it was okay. "Let's finish the fight properly." Those were his words.
Well, alright then. She could do that.
Ibara gave him an enigmatic half-smile, and plunged her vines into the ground. The crowd gasped, and the cement of the platform cracked in long tendrils that raced toward Katayama at high speed. He flashed back and forth uncertainly, his purple eyes darting frantically across the ground. She tried to analyse his pattern.
Up far left, now!
The vine burst from the concrete, sending debris everywhere and snaking toward him. His teleporting seems tied to his leg movements, as if he's running through spacetime. If I constrict his legs...
But he was too fast. Up now, middle right. In front of him, up. Turn, tie. Up together, both from the left. The vines burst up in little explosions, making their attacks. Katayama bobbed and weaved and dodged, avoiding them all. She was catching him off guard with every attack, but his speed was such that it didn't matter.
The crowd was going wild now. "LOOK AT THEM GO!" shouted Present Mic. "FINALLY, TWO EVENLY MATCHED STUDENTS! I've...I've been kinda bored by every match before this one, in all honesty."
"Stop letting your bias show through," Class A's teacher snapped.
Ibara tried something else. Detach. Go round! She controlled half her currently deployed vines from the front while the others went around behind him. Katayama whirled, confused. Front, attack now! She managed to wrap one around his arm, but before she could get his legs, he struggled free. He stomped on one of the front ones with a boot, causing a brief pain that spiked all the way back to the roots of her hair. Ibara let out a small squeak of agony.
Katayama's violet eyes looked up sharply. He'd heard, and understood. Oh no. Back! Attack now!
If she could detach most of her vines, he'd be unable to cause her pain. But you'll have less control, and you'll run out eventually, another voice told her. But she ignored it, and sent in the surprise attack anyway.
The detached vines snaked up toward Katayama's legs. She watched as the boy's eyes widened...and then he lifted his hands, and did what he did to the cavalry bandanas. Purple energy erupted around her vines, and for a moment Ibara's head felt strange, as if there was another person in there. It was oddly...comforting.
The detached vines flashed out of the ring, falling harmlessly off the platform.
Panicked, Ibara detached more and sent them underground, bursting them up on all sides of the boy. He brought his glowing fists close to his chest, and then threw them outward. With a strange booming noise and a burst of purple light, her precious vines flashed away in a widened circle, as if blasted from an impact point with him at its center.
The crowd went nuts.
...
Deku leaned so far forward Ochaco feared he might fall from his seat. "They've covered each other's openings," he muttered.
Iida turned to Deku, inquisitive. "How do you mean?"
"I mean...Katayama tries to attack, and Shiozaki's hair will block him. Shiozaki tries to attack with her hair, and Katayama can exploit her pain. She attacks with detached vines and he can warp them away."
Kaminari and Kirishima had been listening in. "So..." the electric boy swallowed. "That means...what, exactly?"
"It means their only option is to exhaust one another," Tokoyami cut in, answering the question.
"One thing's for sure," said Kirishima. "The crowd is finally getting that prolonged fight they've been aching for."
Ochaco turned back to watching the fight, worry spreading across her face.
...
As soon as Doko realised he could teleport Shiozaki's vines when they were detached, he got more aggressive.
Two flashes forward, and a vine shield came up to block him out. More vines snaked toward him, detached. He warped them out of the way, but a third came and swiped at him, knocking him back. Another flash forward from another angle. If I can just squeeze through an opening, push her out of bounds...Shiozaki put up another shield, practically impenetrable. He flashed backward, avoiding more offensive vines, and then sideways in a circle, probing for his opening. She matched him, closing herself off.
"Doing that so much must be tiring you, sir," she called to him, completely unsarcastically.
"And you're running out of hair." For every detached attack she used on him, she had less base hair to work with. Clearly she can grow more quickly, but that must sap her energy.
Hehe. Sap. Trees. God, Doko, get a grip.
She had an excellent point about him. He WAS getting tired, and the sustained high adrenaline from both his Quirk's general hyperactive boost and the fight itself was making his heart beat too fast, making sweat pour down on his face and stinging his cuts. It must end soon. I've got to end it!
"Don't give up, Shiozaki!" a voice shouted from the stands.
"Show Class A that they don't rule the finals! They're not one ounce better than you!"
Was the crowd chanting more for the girl now? He couldn't tell. I have to remove her defenses. I have to...
I have to try and warp her hair while it's still attached to her body.
Doko swallowed. He could only imagine the pain he might cause the poor girl. He didn't want to do this. If this was truly his only option, then wouldn't it be more noble to call off the fight? Wouldn't he rather lose honourably than win dishonourably?
But then, everything I told Todoroki will have been for nothing.
Doko wiped sweat off his face with his forearm, and flashed forward again. Shiozaki put up her shield. Instead of blocking the incoming detached vines, he lifted both hands...and focused power toward the shield itself.
The crowd gasped as the core of Shiozaki's vines began to glow lavender, a light that crept its way up to the roots of her hair.
"WHOA!" shouted Mic. "Katayama tried a new strategy! But isn't that gonna hurt?"
"Does he mean for him or for her?" someone asked from the crowd.
"Hey, I don't know about this..."
Doko clenched his fists, flexing his arms. I don't want to rip your hair out, just...MOVE!
Ibara Shiozaki wailed in pain.
His arms fell. He stopped the attack instantly, and the light faded.
Her shield fell as well. For a moment they stared at one another, dumbfounded.
Tears swam in her eyes. "You...you stopped...I..."
"NO MERCY, SHIOZAKI!"
"HE'S FROM CLASS A!"
Sniffling, Shiozaki took on a determined expression, and closed her eyes. Doko took a wary step backward, confused.
And then...all the detached vines he'd teleported out of the ring came snaking back in. A rapidly closing circle of green, converging on him.
What the hell? She can still control them with her mind after that? I...he tried to warp back and out, but two vines met him where he flashed to, and snapped tightly around his torso. Confused, Doko struggled instead of trying to get away, and paid the price. More vines wrapped his legs. More around his arms. He thought about warping away at that point, but his panic was breaking over, and he knew that if he tried he might end up leaving a limb behind.
They spun and tightened and grew dense together, and then more came directly from her hair, bursting from the concrete and grabbing him, lifting him off the ground. She'd completely wrapped him up and was now holding him. The crowd gasped as Doko tried to kick his feet. His arms were tightly tied up at his sides. He couldn't flex them. He couldn't...move. He couldn't warp.
The crowd was in an uproar.
...
"HA! YES! GET HIM, SHIOZAKI!" Tetsutetsu swung his fist outward.
Monoma laughed. "See? He's gotten himself trapped. A warper, trapped. Ridiculous. I knew Class A wasn't up to it."
Ochaco clenched her fists, trembling with anger and frustration. Next to her, Deku was having a similar reaction.
"Ugh!" Jiro cried, her voice trembling. "Shut up, just...SHUT UP!" Monoma only laughed harder.
They all watched as Shiozaki's vines grew tighter and tighter around Katayama. There was nothing to be done.
...
Doko struggled and struggled, unable to do anything.
Midnight called to him. "Katayama, can you move? If you declare yourself immobilised completely, I will call the match."
Doko didn't want to answer her. The pressure from being squeezed so tight was causing more blood to leak from his cuts.
"Please..." Shiozaki asked him, her angelic voice reaching his ears. "I don't want to continue this, after you spared me pain so nobly. Please give up."
"..." Doko found that he couldn't even speak. His lungs were being punished now. Breathing was getting difficult. No! If they can't hear me, then they won't call the match and she'll just suffocate me and I'll die and I'll die and I'll lose and I'll never see Mina aga...
The limits you've put on your powers? They may not be as hard as you think.
Midoriya's words.
"GET HER, DOKKUN!" Tsuyu's voice. He'd never heard her speak above normal volume before. Her croak-shout seemed to cut through all.
"YOU CAN DO IT, DUDE!" Sero.
"REMEMBER WHAT I SAID!" Midoriya.
"AREN'T YOU A MAN?" Kirishima.
"Hey kid, can't you teleport? Getting out of that should be easy!" someone from the crowd.
"Don't hold back, kid! Just because she's a girl?"
"Show her the same respect she showed you!"
"She made you bleed! It's okay to try to win!"
"Go for it, kid!"
"You can do it!"
The limits may not be as hard as you think.
You can do it.
It's okay...to try to win.
If I can't warp myself out of the vines...then I'll warp the VINES OFF ME!
"Ggh...HAAAAAAAAH!" With a roar of effort, Doko put all his remaining strength into his arm muscles, flexing them so hard that the vines partially ripped. Then the green mass he'd been wrapped up in...turned purple.
The crowd gasped in sync, and erupted, as all of Shiozaki's vines were blasted away. The girl slid backward in shock. Doko landed light on his feet...and ran at her.
Frantically, Shiozaki sent out her hair. Doko warped right. Another hair attack. Warp left. Closer and closer, until when she tried to put up a shield, he was already between her and it.
Doko ducked low as he arrived at Shiozaki, operating off a rush of pure instinct. He drove one elbow into her stomach and put the other open palm over her face, applying all his forward pressure into her pushing her back. Shiozaki skidded frantically, the two of them moving together towards the boundary line. In a last ditch move, she grew her hair out behind herself and created a vine-wall that they slammed into, right on the border. In that moment of recoil, she freed herself from his grasp, ducked low to avoid his swipe, and went on a sideways retreat along the boundary line.
Doko gave chase. She put up another hair shield, and he punched through it. He punched through the next one, too. As they reached the corner of the ring, she threw all her hair into one last attack, and he threw his arms out, warping all of it cleanly away, sending it flying into the stands.
Shocked, Ibara Shiozaki's eyes widened, and Doko teleported behind her, grabbed her under her arms, and lifted her up, leaving one arm where it was and putting another on her back. "You're..." he grunted with effort, all his muscles straining. "...OUT!" He flipped her and threw her over the boundary line, where she landed hard on her butt with a grimace.
The crowd fell silent, stunned.
Midnight chopped the air with her palm. "Shiozaki is out of bounds! Katayama advances to the next round!"
In that split second, Doko suddenly winced in embarrassment. He'd just raced up to a girl, pushed her, and thrown her on her ass. The crowd was going to hate him, right?
They all erupted into applause and cheers, the loudest for any match so far. Doko looked up, in confusion, exhaustion, and elation all at once. He saw Class A waving down at him, whistling and whooping. Panning his eyes downward, he saw...Mina, standing ready in the tunnel for her match, waving at him with a massive grin on her face.
"WHAT A MAAAAAATCH!" Present Mic screamed. "That felt like a final showdown right there, folks! That just means there's even craaaazier stuff to come!"
"Don't get their hopes up like that," Aizawa chided.
"Well done!" A pro hero shouted.
"Both of you, excellent! Exemplary!"
"Your powers and skills combined already make you some of the best I've seen!"
"Anyone would be happy to take them as sidekicks, don't you think?"
"Heck, I want both of them right now!"
Doko blinked, unable to believe it. The pros...wanted him? And her! The whole crowd was cheering for BOTH of them!
Ibara was still sitting on the ground, rubbing her head and grimacing. "Owww..."
Doko smiled apologetically. "I'm really sorry about that." He offered her a hand. "It was an amazing fight, you know. Look how happy and impressed we made everyone."
Ibara looked up at him, and then around at the crowd, processing it. "I...see. Even if I lost, this is a desirable result." Then she saw his outstretched hand, blushed, and took it. "The apology is unnecessary, although my scalp and my...ahem, rear are in some pain. I do thank you for avoiding my chest when you came up and pushed me."
Doko felt heat rush to his face. His eyes had nearly gone down to her chest just then, as she'd mentioned it. Bad. "Uhh, well, you know. I was just kind of running on instinct at that point."
"I should be the one apologising, truly." Ibara suddenly lifted her hand up to his cheek and traced the cuts she'd made. Doko nearly recoiled in surprise; not even Mina had ever done something so intimate. "I was the aggressor. I wounded you first. That was unseemly."
"It's...no problem, really." He gently took her hand off his cheek with his own.
"You two!" Midnight snapped. "Stop flirting and get out of the arena! We have another match to get ready for!" Behind her, Cementoss was repairing the platform where Ibara's vines had broken up through it.
The two students blushed. Midnight had shouted loud enough to where everyone had heard.
Some people from the crowd whistled. "WHAT! Young love?!" Present Mic cried. "Is this a twist?!"
"I am incredibly upset," Aizawa grumbled.
"Dammit!" Kaminari swore from the stands. "I mean, I told him to ask her out, but still, dammit!"
Awkwardly, Doko parted ways with the 1B girl, as they had separate tunnels to exit from. Coincidentally, the one Doko left through was the one Mina was about to enter from.
He started as he saw her pink face materialise in the darkness. It was only the two of them in this tunnel, and the noises of the crowd suddenly seemed distant, echo-like.
Mina smirked. "Quite the display you put on out there."
"Uhhh..." Doko stuttered. "Listen, Mina, what just happened out there wasn't what you think, errrr..."
Mina tilted her head, all innocence. "What are you talking about?"
"Umm, me...and Shiozaki, uhh...we were just acknowledging respect for each other, as opponents. And apologising for the wounds we caused. That's it!"
"Hmm." Mina nodded. "Just one question, Doko. Why do you feel the need to justify yourself to me?"
Doko froze. Fuck. "Umm..."
Mina grinned, leaned forward, and kissed his cheek. He felt her soft lips brush against one of his cuts. "I'm no Recovery Girl, but perhaps that'll make you feel better?" she whispered in his ear. When she leaned back and away, her yellow-and-black eyes were glowing. "Well, gotta go kick Aoyama's ass. See you in our quarterfinal." With a final wink, She strutted out of the tunnel and into the daylight.
Doko stood there dumbly for another thirty seconds before realising he was about to collapse in exhaustion, and went to see Recovery Girl.
...
Back up in the stands, a full-on fight had been about to break out between Classes A and B, until Itsuka Kendo had returned from the concession stand and calmed everything down. She'd personally apologised to Class A, saying that if she'd been there at the time she would have put a stop to Monoma and Tetsutetsu immediately. The latter had slumped down to the waiting room to prepare for his match, along with Kirishima. Monoma was currently seething in his seat. Class A was joyous.
"Could you believe it?" Izuku asked Uraraka excitedly. "Katayama actually warped all the vines off of him, like...huh?" He turned. His brunette friend was no longer sitting there. "Hey, Iida. We should go find Uraraka."
"Hmm? Oh, okay." The two of them stood up. As Izuku walked past Kacchan, he gave the boy a brief glance. Uraraka has to fight him. That's probably why she's left; she's feeling the nerves.
Mina wiped the floor with Aoyama in their match.
Sorry for the shorter chapter, but this was a good stopping point. Next time - the quarterfinals. Battle of the two people who may or may not have feelings for one another. See you then.