Chapter 53: Weights

"We move onto our next match now!" Mic announced, "On one side, it's the outstanding Hattori Watanabe! He has finished first in both the previous rounds and is one of the favorites. But are his combat skills as good as his intelligence!?" Mic asked rhetorically.

The crowd roared as a mix of opinions was heard. It didn't hurt that Watanabe's quirk discussions had affected his standings. Surely someone with foresight or even erasure could not be defeated?

"On the other end, we have one of the dark horses of this competition. She wowed everyone with her performance in the cavalry battle. It's Asui Tsuyu!" Mic announced as the crowd cheered her on loudly, "It will be interesting to see whether Watanabe can keep up with her agile movements," Mic analyzed as the contestants made their way onto the grounds.

"Good luck, Watanabe," Tsuyu smiled.

"You too, Asui,"

"Call me Tsu-chan,"

"Are the two of you ready?" Midnight asked. The two grinned and nodded, "START!" She loudly announced.

Both contestants moved towards each other to engage in close combat, but Tsuyu was faster as she landed the first blow; an open palm strike to the back of Watanabe's head. Watanabe staggered but managed to retreat to a safe distance, or so he thought.

Tsuyu was immediately back on top of him, this time her tongue lashing out wildly. It connected to Watanabe's cheek, leaving a nasty sting. Tsuyu, "I can't let him think," she thought as she used her acrobatic and jumping skills to weave in and out of Watanabe's defensive stance as well as making feints.

"I knew she was fast, but I underestimated just how much," Watanabe grimaced as he narrowly blocked a spinning kick, "I can't even get enough space to think!" Watanabe grunted as he laid flat on the ground to evade Tsuyu's tongue.

On the other hand, Tsuyu had a problem of her own, "The way I have been attacking, Watanabe should have skidded to the boundary a long time back… but he is still in the same position. Yet, the attacks are having an effect," Tsuyu analyzed, puzzled by this.

Tsuyu lashed out her tongue again but this time Watanabe caught it and flung Tsuyu away. Tsuyu crashed onto the ground, mere meters away from the boundary. "This is my chance!" Watanabe thought. He lifted up one of his sleeves and started to remove it, but Tsuyu had already gotten up and barged into him.

Watanabe felt his breath leave him but he had at least managed to remove one of the bracelets.

BOOM!

There was a loud noise as the bracelet fell to the ground and created a substantial crater. Tsuyu looked at the bracelet in shock, "What the hell! Were those weights?" She asked rhetorically. She got her answer soon after as two more bracelets were flung at her.

Tsuyu noticed them from the corner of her eye and narrowly dodged the first one but the second one caught her at the wrist. She winced as she heard the bone crack at the impact. Whether it was broken or dislocated, she did not know and had no time to ponder either as she was forced to dodge the fourth one.

Both of the dodged bracelets landed right below the stands and created dents of their own, rocking the stands.

"Phew, I feel lighter already," Watanabe grinned as she suddenly appeared behind Tsuyu and delivered a roundhouse kick forcing her away.

Tsuyu managed to land on her feet and stared at Watanabe while holding up her limp wrist, "How much weight was that?"

"Well… 300 total, so 75 kg on each limb," Watanabe replied with a grin.

Tsuyu stared at him like he was a monster but she also felt ridiculed, "So you were holding back?" she asked angrily, "Were we not worth your effort or something?"

"Of course, you were," Watanabe replied, choosing his words carefully, "I just wanted to see how far I could go while wearing weights. Plus, it's not my fault that none of you could capitalize on it,"

"What do you mean?"

"Tsuyu, I was wearing weights!" Watanabe exclaimed, "I was less agile and you should have used it to your advantage,"

"I suppose that's right," Tsuyu agreed, "But that doesn't mean you'll still be able to keep up!" Tsuyu snarled and resumed her barrage. Watanabe took a deep breath and also launched himself into the middle of her attack, his speed now allowing him to go toe-to-toe with his opponent.

"Are weights even allowed in this tournament?" Mic asked as he saw the high-speed battle in front of them.

"Of course, they are. It should have been a disadvantage, but the fact that Watanabe still managed to come out on top shows his potential," Aizawa replied.

"But he used it as a support weapon too, right? I mean look at Tsuyu's hand. It's probably broken," Mic beckoned.

"That's for the referee to rule," Aizawa said. The two commentators looked at Midnight who waved her flag, "The weights were supposed to be disadvantageous to Watanabe. The fact that he has made it an advantage for him doesn't discount the fact that Tsuyu could have ended the fight earlier. Play on!" She ruled.

The crowd cheered. The match was too absorbing for it to be ended via disqualification.

"Watanabe is so manly to be able to carry so much weight!" Kirishima pumped his fist in approval.

"He must be pretty strong to be able to carry all that weight. Tsuyu is in trouble, isn't she?" Jiro asked.

"Hmph, idiot," Bakugou grunted.

Jiro tensed, "What do you mean?"

"All those exercises, didn't you notice?" Bakugou asked, "Watanabe is a hard hitter. Tsuyu can still run circles around him with her speed,"

"But removing the weights must have sped him up," Jiro defended her opinion.

"But will it be enough to match the speed a mutant quirk offers?" Bakugou asked rhetorically.

Back on the field, it was just as Bakugou had said. Watanabe's speed had increased drastically after removing the weights but Tsuyu was still able to hold him back. Watanabe was lucky that one of the bracelets had connected with Tsuyu, and had broken her wrist. At least that let him favor one side over the other.

Tsuyu was no pushover either as she used her tongue to account for her wrist and match Watanabe's attacks. Unlike herself, Watanabe had a combo of moves to use which were mostly predictable. But Watanabe liked to throw in a few wild moves here and there that unsettled the opponent. And that was exactly what had caught Tsuyu off guard.

For the fourth time, Watanabe was able to push Tsuyu to one of the corners but Tsuyu was able to escape by jumping over his head and landing on the adjacent side.

The two locked eyes and simultaneously agreed to catch a breath. Tsuyu looked at her wrist with worry, "If we keep going at this rate, the fight will be decided on stamina. I don't even have anything up my sleeve to trick Watanabe," she huffed.

Watanabe was also running out of energy because of the fight. "I knew Tsuyu would be tough, but I expected to be easier," He thought as he took a few deep breaths, careful to observe any move Tsuyu might make, "Her jumping ability will let her escape every time since I can't catch up. And her tongue is problematic too,"

As their breathing slowed, the two stood up straight, waiting for the other to make a move. Tsuyu had already made a plan and jumped up high. Watanabe fell into a stance to intercept her attack but Tsuyu used her tongue to beat onto the ground and rotate to his right.

"No problem, I can still intercept her," Watanabe thought and readied himself to defend. He turned to punch Tsuyu, but that's when he noticed that Tsuyu had left her tongue trailing behind him. Watanabe quickly activated his infrared and hit the part of Tsuyu's tongue that was in front of him.

Tsuyu felt her tongue suddenly go numb. She couldn't retreat as she would be forced to land before she could jump pack. Watanabe knew this and planted his feet firmly before punching Tsuyu in the face, knocking her back.

Tsuyu managed to skid to a stop. She rubbed her face, wincing as she felt the pain. Watanabe sure packed a punch, but that wasn't important right now, "Was ziz u zo tho my thongue?" Tsuyu demanded.

"I'll tell you after the fight," Watanabe grinned and rushed at Tsuyu, not wanting to give her time to think. However, Tsuyu had already reset the pressure point on her tongue and used it to smack Watanabe, releasing a sound akin to a whip.

Watanabe fell face-first onto the ground and rolled back to release his momentum and lessen his injuries, "How did you know how to fix it?" he asked, shocked.

"I'm a mutant. We need to know how to look after our special features kero!" Tsuyu said loudly and kicked Watanabe in the jaw, launching him upwards. Tsuyu jumped after him and got ready to land a kick on his chest but Watanabe barely blocked it with his hand as he fell to the ground with a thud.

He slowly got up, coughing very badly. Tsuyu let him do so as she too needed a moment to fix her tongue, "If you already knew what I did, why did you ask?"

"Your temporary feeling of superiority gave me enough time to reset my tongue," Tsuyu replied with a chuckle.

"If it was anyone else, I could last on stamina, but I think Tsuyu will be able to keep up," Watanabe thought to himself. He was at a crossroads and unclear on what his next action should be.

"Wanna give up?" Watanabe asked Tsuyu.

"As if!" Tsuyu replied back, "Why? Are you tired already?"

"Nope, just wanted to check," Watanabe replied, "Well, that didn't work," he thought to himself, "Guess I'll have to knock her out of bounds. Or it will end with one of us dropping to the ground," he determined.

Unlike Watanabe, Tsuyu already had a plan and rushed at Watanabe again, careful not to have her tongue in his reach. She had learned her lesson on that already. Watanabe grunted and moved forward to block her off. The two clashed as their punch met each other. Watanabe used his free hand to try and grasp Tsuyu so that he could throw him out, but surprisingly, Tsuyu brought out her broken hand to block it off.

Watanabe was slightly shocked as Tsuyu hissed at the pain that flowed through her body, but she fought through it and controlled her tongue, successfully wrapping it around Watanabe's body.

"I win," she said shortly to a wide-eyed Watanabe before she uncoiled her tongue fully. She rotated her tongue once, twice, thrice, and kept rotating.

"It seems like Tsuyu is building up momentum on her tongue so that she can throw out Watanabe and end the fight!" Mic explained to the audience.

"Oh crap, oh crap!" Watanabe panicked, "Ok, just stay calm We need to think," Watanabe told himself, as he struggled to think with his head spinning wildly.

The little voice in his head spoke, "You could do that,"

"NO THAT'S REVOLTING!" Watanabe argued.

"Only if you don't want to lose," the voice told him.

"ARGH!" Watanabe yelled out loud and did something that caused some of the crowd to stare, and others to gag. Watanabe rotated the opposite way that Tsuyu was spinning him in. This caused her tongue to coil on itself and Watanabe found himself being buried by the coils that he had formed.

Tsuyu immediately understood what Watanabe was going for and tried to release him, but she couldn't untangle him. Watanabe arrived at high-speed towards Tsuyu who could do nothing to dodge since her tongue was the tether! He slammed straight into her, his knee catching her in the face as they both smashed into the ground.

Tsuyu's tongue went limp enough for Watanabe to wiggle out and lie onto the cold ground, "I'm gonna puke," he groaned. At least the fight was over… or so he thought.

"Frogs… have great endurance, kero!" Tsuyu announced as she staggered to get up properly. Watanabe grumbled. The world was still spinning, but he had to end this. He too stood up. Watanabe knew from Tsuyu's face that she'd fall unconscious any moment now, but the same went for him. So, he moved as fast as he could without spilling his stomach and grabbed Tsuyu's tongue, "Sorry about this," he apologized beforehand and pulled on it.

Tsuyu's eyes widened as this time Watanabe took her tongue and lifted her above before spinning her a couple of times and throwing her out of bounds. Tsuyu was too exhausted to stop him and let it happen.

As she flew out, time seemed to become slow for her. She knew that she was about to fall out of bounds, but until she touched the ground, the fight would not end. And so, with a final heave, Tsuyu controlled her tongue to lift one of the weights embedded into the ground and threw it straight at Watanabe.

Watanabe's eyes widened as he saw the weight approaching at high speed but his dizzy vision did not allow him to dodge and it hit him square in the head. Just as Tsuyu landed outside with a thud, Watanabe also fell to the ground, unconscious.

The crowd cheered, applauding Tsuyu's last-ditch effort.

"A memorable effort by Tsuyu to catch Watanabe off-guard but alas, she has fallen outside. Watanabe will take the win," Mic started to say when Midnight interrupted, "Hold up! Watanabe also fell unconscious! We have to check whether Tsuyu touched the ground first or whether Watanabe fell unconscious!"

"Eh, she was out of bounds already, the boy should win," Someone shouted from the crowd.

"Nah, the girl still didn't touch the ground, right?" Someone else interjected.

"In that case, flight quirks could roam all over without breaking the rules," Someone else pointed out. Just as it seemed like there would be a massive argument, Midnight shouted in anger, "How about you let the judges decide you idiots!"

"Yes, miss,"

All for One looked at his computer with utter confusion. He knew that All Might had to pass his quirk on and was watching the sports festival to see who his successor was. He was pretty sure that Midoriya Izuku was the boy who was All Might's successor, but he was also staring at news claiming Kaminari Denki was All Might's son. So, was he wrong?

"No, I can't be wrong. The boy might just be his son, and not his successor," All for One reasoned. The other reason he was scared was that his moles at the festival overheard the heroes and they thought that the boy named Watanabe had a foresight or erasure quirk. That could cause many problems for him.

He hummed in thought for a while, tapping his pen on the desk, "Kurogiri!" he ordered.

"Yes sensei!"

"Those three, keep a vigilant eye on them," he pointed to Watanabe, Kaminari, and Izuku.

"But, sir, you already have grunts following them,"

"That was to monitor their activities as Storm and Chaos. This is for you to seize the opportunity to nab any of them and bring them to me," All for One ordered. He paused as he looked at the screen, "And that shadow boy, Tokoyami to the list as well,"

"Yes sensei," Kurogiri said and disappeared to prepare for his mission.

"Shigaraki will be a surprise blow to that wretched symbol of peace," All for One spat as he thought, "But having his son as a bargaining chip will be even better," he grinned evilly.

A/N: Every little thing can have disastrous consequences.