Chapter 55: The Quarter Finals Start
"Hatsume's fight was freaky," Kaminari praised with a grin, "Makes me scared of her too. Can you imagine how hard it will be to fight against her?"
Izuku nodded but didn't talk. He was clearly already formulating an analysis on how to counter her. Watanabe noticed this, and laughed, "You realize you have to defeat me first?"
"I do," Izuku replied shortly, causing Watanabe to smirk at his cousin's confidence, but he didn't speak further to antagonize Izuku. He needed to come up with his own plan to defeat his cousin.
Kaminari grinned, "You know Watanabe, you're both smart but with Izuku's OP ass quirk, you can't really match up to it,"
"Yeah," Watanabe admitted begrudgingly, "But, it doesn't hard to try!"
"Now listeners, without further ado, we'll move directly to the quarter-finals! The first fight will be Tokoyami and Tetsutetsu!" Mic announced.
The latter tensed at the announcement, "We won't get any interval between the two rounds?"
"I guess UA wants to see how well we fight even when we are trying to cope with low stamina," Tokoyami told in his usual demeanor, "Come, let's get it over with,"
Tetsutetsu shook his head at Tokoyami's uncaring attitude but looked past it, "Oi Kendo! Tell Monoma I'll see him after my fight!" he shouted as he ran past Tokoyami to the ring.
"Who do you think will win?" Kaminari asked his classmates.
"It has to be Tokoyami!" Iida assured. At the weird looks his friends gave him, Iida huffed, "I know I lost to Tetsutetsu but Tokoyami is different. He has the perfect defense, and it's not like Dark Shadow can be hurt, I think at least. To sum it up, Tetsutetsu needs to go close and Dark Shadow won't let him,"
"I'm sure Tetsutetsu can put up a manly fight!" Kirishima pumped up his fists.
"Izuku and Watanabe have been too quiet," Ashido grinned teasingly, "You two scared of each other or what?"
"They both know the other is a difficult opponent. It will be a fun fight to watch!" Kaminari stretched lazily, "Speaking of, looks like I'm up," Kaminari said. 1A turned to see Tetsutetsu sprawled on the ground, out of bounds.
"Wow! That was not even 2 minutes! Tokoyami brilliantly used his quirk to grab Tetsutetsu and throw him out of bounds, and there was nothing he could do about it!" Mic summarized the fight.
"That was boring. The kid didn't even put up much of a fight,"
"I mean, it was expected. Some quirks just don't work against another type," A member of the audience defended the prideful Tetsutetsu.
"Sorry if I humiliated you," Tokoyami apologized and stretched his hand to help Tetsutetsu up. The 1B student smiled and accepted the hand, "It just means I have to work harder!"
"My turn," Kaminari shouted and headed towards the ring, "Watanabe, Izuku, good luck on your match!" Kaminari wished them well as he hastily made his way down. The blonde only got a curt nod and a smile in reply.
Uraraka whispered to the rest of her classmates, "They're really focused on planning for their fight, huh?"
"As they should be," Iida praised.
"But still. They aren't even talking anymore," Uraraka pointed out.
"It will be a difficult fight for both of them Ochaco-chan," Tsuyu explained, "Izuku looks destined to be the winner on paper. He's smart, his quirk boosts his strength rapidly, and he has stayed with Watanabe long enough to know his tricks,"
"But Watanabe has stayed with Izuku too, so he'll know Izuku's plans as well," Ojiro pointed out in favor of his martial arts friend.
"That is also true, Kero," Tsuyu said.
"Both are adept at strategizing, so it will be a clash of brains. But Watanabe cannot hope to match up to Izuku's strength," Momo analyzed.
"Not that Watanabe is weak Kero. He packs quite a punch but I don't think it will be enough against Izuku," Tsuyu admitted.
"Are you being serious?" Hitoshi asked sarcastically, "Have you seen what he did in the first two rounds? He always manages to pull off something crazy that gets him the win,"
"That is true," Shouto agreed, "The fight will be close but I think Izuku will be the overall winner,"
"What about you Bakugou? You were with them for a while," Kirishima asked. Bakugou just grunted and looked away, refusing to give a straight answer.
Suddenly both Izuku and Watanabe started to move without a word, "Where are you guys going?" Uraraka asked.
"Kaminari lost," Watanabe pointed to the ground. The rest of the class turned and sure enough, Kaminari was sprawled on the ground, unconscious, while Shiozaki was standing, unharmed.
"How on earth did Kaminari lose!?" Jiro demanded.
"His electricity got grounded by Shiozaki's vines," Kendo explained from the other stand, "There's always a quirk that can counter," Kendo winked with a grin, "Speaking of, two of the toppers from your class are going to have to fight it out, huh?"
Iida nodded with a sigh, "To our displeasure, yes,"
"Hattori is the one who'll win, I think. Midoriya can't defeat someone with a foresight quirk, can he?" Kendo asked seriously.
The class stared collectively at Kendo before bursting out laughing, much to her confusion. "You know what Kendo? You might be right!"
"Kaminari, one of the tournament's favorites was shockingly defeated in the last fight," Mic announced, "But now, we move to the most anticipated fight of this tournament. It's two of the tournament's favorites, Midoriya Izuku vs Hattori Watanabe!" Mic announced with enthusiasm.
The crowd roared loudly and applauded as the contestants entered.
Watanabe was nervous. Both Izuku and he knew that he faced a big disadvantage. No matter what the pro heroes believed, Watanabe's quirk was simply just vision change, and nothing more.
"I know I can overcome Izuku's full cowling. But if he uses more than his 5%, I might be done for. The question is whether Izuku will risk breaking a few of his bones for this," Watanabe thought to himself.
Izuku on the other hand knew that the battle lay in his favor. He had all the advantages. Sure, Watanabe had more tricks up his sleeve, but he couldn't really use them in an open ground. If Watanabe had equipment nearby like in the battle simulation arc, it would be a different story.
"Are the two of you ready?" Midnight asked.
Watanabe nodded with determined eyes; a plan already formed in his head. Izuku gave a quick nod as well, readying his finger. He only needed to use one 100% blast and Watanabe would be thrown out of bounds.
"Start!"
Izuku just about energized his finger but Watanabe was already on top of him. Izuku's eyes widened, "His weights! Of course, he's faster," He thought to himself. That's when Izuku noticed his finger charging up. He hastily deactivated the quirk. At that power, he'd blow a hole through Watanabe.
Unfortunately, Izuku's reaction time went towards deactivating his quirk and he could not dodge Watanabe's crippling punch that knocked him to the ground.
Blood splattered from his nose, but Watanabe wasn't letting Izuku go down that easily. He caught Izuku's hands and struck both arms with pinpoint precision. Izuku yelled as it felt like an electric shock pulsed through him. Watanabe readied his elbow to deliver a bone-crushing hit, but Izuku channeled One for All to his feet and jumped away.
"Can't give him any space," Watanabe thought to himself and painfully sped up to keep Izuku occupied. This time he aimed a roundhouse kick to Izuku's chest. Izuku tried to bring up his hands to block but realized they were not working. His eyes widened as he remembered that Watanabe could shut off his blood flow and cut off One for All.
The kick almost landed on Izuku's chest but Izuku managed to divert it by using his knee to launch it to his left. Izuku turned to get behind Watanabe, and tripped him onto the ground, before retreating to a safe distance.
The crowd roared as the first phase of the fight got off to a great start.
"And it's Midoriya who's getting pummeled in the early stages! After the two boring fights in the quarter-finals, it seems we finally have a good one on our hands!" Mic agitated the crowd further.
Nighteye smirked. His soon-to-be protégé looked to be even better than he thought, going toe-to-toe with One for All.
Meanwhile, 1A was confused, "Wasn't Izuku charging up his finger to launch that air attack thing?" Jiro asked.
"Yeah. Why did he stop suddenly?" Uraraka asked. Momo was just as puzzled.
"Idiots. You've been with Izuku for a month and you haven't noticed?" Bakugou growled, "Izuku will fight, but he won't seriously harm someone in a mock battle. Watanabe knows that he can survive Izuku's normal fighting capability but if he gives him the chance to use the finger airwave, Watanabe will lose. As long as Watanabe is close enough, Izuku won't use it in fear of seriously harming Watanabe," Bakugou explained.
"…So, Watanabe is preying on the fact that he knows his cousin won't want to hurt him?" Kirishima asked. At Bakugou's nod, he scowled, "That's unmanly!"
"There's no manly and unmanly in a fight," Shouto said coolly, "It's the only way Watanabe has a shot. He's doing what it takes to win, just like he would in a real battle. It's not his fault Izuku won't take it as seriously,"
The class went silent at Shouto's words. They knew he was right. In a real fight, they would need to defeat the villain, no matter what. Shouto's words had hardened them for what would be coming next in the fight, but of course had to ruin it, "You know, Watanabe seems to have shut off Izuku's quirk? Maybe he's actually Aizawa-sensei's child?"
A/N: Sorry for the dip in writing quality. It was meant to be a transition chapter but there wasn't really much to fill in as part of the transition. And I didn't want to show Izuku and Watanabe's entire fight here, so this is the result. Hope you enjoyed it.
And lastly, fine, I'll write Nezu from now on if it's so important. Honestly, I've seen it both ways, but sure. Anyway, I'll write it Nezu from now on but I won't be editing all the previous chapters because cmon, it's 55 now!