Lightning – My Hero Academia

Chapter 16: Round Two! Number's Game!

"Alright! The first stage of the tournament has come to an end! Let's get right into the second stage, shall we? Let's roll that roulette wheel and see who will be fighting first in round two!" Present Mic announced.

All eyes went back up to the screen as the pictures of the 8 remaining competitors were cycled through on both sides of the board. Finally, two pictures appeared: Ako and his opponent - a guy with black eyes and gray spiky hair.

"It's Ako Tanaka from support class 1-F going up against Eiichi Morita from class 1-B! Let's get it on!" Present Mic howled. The audience cheered and clapped in excitement as the two students came out from opposite sides of the arena and stepped onto the stage.

Ako slowly moved his fingers up and down, staring his opponent down. He had let his emotions get the better of him earlier, so he had no idea what he was up against. That already put him at a disadvantage, but he was confident that he could still overcome it.

Ako and Eiichi stood on opposite sides of the arena. Ako got into his fighting stance. Meanwhile, Eiichi stood there calmly with his hands in his pockets. Ako took in a deep breath, keeping his eyes narrowed on his opponent as Mt. Lady announced the start of the round.

"Ako Tanaka! Eiichi Morita! Are you ready?" Mt. Lady asked.

"Ready!" Ako answered promptly.

"Yep," Eiichi replied in a relaxed tone. "Hey. Tanaka, right?" He asked Ako.

"Yeah...?"

"Is it true that you made those boots yourself? And they can withstand all the force you're putting out with that speed?" Eiichi asked. Ako's eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Just curious. That's pretty cool." Eiichi said with a sideways smile. It was obvious to Ako that meant something, but he couldn't tell what.

"Okay, if we're done conversing, the round will start now. Ready! 3...2...1...fight!" Mt. Lady signaled the start of the battle.

During the countdown, Eiichi slid his hands out of his pocket, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and slid his thumbs against the corners of his mouth. As the countdown came to an end, Eiichi flicked his hands forward. At the end of the countdown, Ako shot forward with a burst of speed.

Two spirals of dust shot up in front of Ako suddenly. He squinted his eyelids so he could still narrowly see just ahead of him. He lifted his foot and kicked Eiichi straight in the chest, knocking him out of bounds and causing him to crash onto the grass below.

After briefly rolling, Eiichi suddenly disappeared into a cloud, his body completely gone. Ako's eyes widened in surprise. He stood there, dumbfounded for a moment. In the next moment, he got punched in the side of the head.

Ako yelped in shock as well as throbbing pain, stumbling to the side. He turned around and his eyes widened. Now there wasn't just one Eiichi on the arena; there were three! Two of them were attacking Ako directly while one stood back. The Eiichi standing back flicked his thumbs out of the corners of his mouth again; two more copies of him appeared out of swirling dust.

"Nice move from the young Morita! He was able to catch Ako off guard and prevent himself from being eliminated immediately! Now he can go on the offensive with his cloning quirk!" Present Mic shouted.

"Cloning quirk! That's it!" Ako realized as he dodged the attacks of the two clones in front of him.

He ducked under a punch and kicked one in the side. The other clone jumped on him and tackled him before slugging him across the cheek. The other three clones quickly jumped in, kicking him in the sides and piling on top of him.

"Can't use your speed if you can't get to your feet." Eiichi said with a smirk, continuing to create clones two at a time and sending them to overwhelm Ako.

"Move! Move! Move!" Ako yelled at himself, wrestling to get his arm free.

Ako yanked his arm out from being pinned down. He was able to use his speed to punch two of the clones; one in the jaw and the other in the side of the head. One of the clones disappeared in a cloud, and this freed up more space for Ako to get to his feet and distance himself from the clones.

Now on the other side of the stage, Ako was able to take a few moments to catch his breath. He took a quick look at the small crowd of clones. Eiichi created two more and posted them in front of him for protection. The longer Ako took, the harder this fight would get.

"You wanna play a number's game with me? I'll take you all on!" Ako said before speeding forward again.

Eiichi ducked behind his clones. Ako jumped up and kicked one of them in the side of the head as hard as he could. That clone immediately disappeared. When he landed, a second clone grabbed him from behind, trying to hold him in place as the other clones came to help.

Ako slammed his head back into the face of the clone holding him, causing it to stumble backwards. Ako turned and punched him in the face again, making him disappear. Now he was free to work. Ako turned and slammed his elbow into the jaw of a third clone, knocking its teeth out before it disappeared.

"Ooh! Look at Ako go! Just when things were starting to look bleak for the speedball, he makes a comeback!" Present Mic excitedly announced.

"He was able to get himself some breathing room to properly assess the situation, and now he has his counterattack ready to go. We just have to see if it works now." All Might added.

Ako turned and slammed his elbow into another clone, cracking its ribs and making it disappear. He turned and jumped up again, kicking another clone in the side of the head and making it disappear. When he landed, his foot stumbled. This allowed the five remaining clones to all latch onto him. They all fell to the ground again. The real Eiichi grabbed him by the hair and tried to punch him.

Ako cried out in pain before pushing himself forward, tackling the real Eiichi despite the five clones hanging onto him. The clones all crashed on top of them. Ako clawed at Eiichi's face as the clones recovered and tried to pull him back.

"You better be careful, Eiichi. I'm going all out. Make the wrong move, I might kill ya!" Ako growled, yanking at Eiichi's shirt before the clones were able to get him off.

"I don't make the wrong move." Eiichi brushed himself off. He looked down at his hand. He still had a little bit of Ako's hair. He smirked to himself.

Ako growled out again, getting his foot free. He was putting bursts of speed into all of his attacks now. He sent one clone sliding away with a kick. He yanked his arm free and elbowed another in the side of the head, making it disappear.

Ako got up and grabbed onto the wrist of the clone holding his arm. He swept its legs out with a kick and stomped on its face when it hit the ground, making it disappear. Two more clones left. Ako turned and was about to punch another before he was suddenly smacked in the side by something hard.

Ako went tumbling sideways and nearly slid off the side of the arena. However, he stopped himself and got back up to his feet. Ako looked up and his eyes widened again. Four opponents: two clones of Eiichi, the real Eiichi standing in the back...

And a clone of Ako himself.

"What?! How?!" He exclaimed in shock. Eiichi smirked again and chuckled.

"I got a little bit of your hair just now in that skirmish. It was enough to make one clone. Try and speed your way through this one." Eiichi taunted.

Ako panted heavily and balled his fists again. His hands and arms were becoming numb from all of the attacks he had landed. There seemed to be no end to Eiichi's clones, and now he had to fight against someone else who could match his speed.

"I have to prove myself." Ako thought to himself as he growled again. He shot forward once again.

Ako crashed directly into his clone first. The two met in the middle, slamming their forearms into each other. A shockwave went out as a result of the two forces colliding and stopping suddenly. Ako and the clone each took a half-step back.

The clone threw several rapid punches at Ako. He jumped back a little to avoid being hit before throwing a kick at Ako's side. The clone caught his foot and threw him the other way. Ako slid back and ended up right between Eiichi's clones.

Ako got to his feet and quickly tackled one of Eiichi's clones, stepping on its face and making it disappear. He turned and went directly for the real Eiichi, but Ako's clone stepped in and rescued Eiichi from the beating he was about to receive.

"You want me? You go through him!" Eiichi said once he was a safe distance away.

The clone of Ako went for him again. Ako ran around its attack and used both fists to club the last remaining Eiichi clone in the side of the head. It slammed to the ground forcefully before disappearing. Ako turned around, ready to take on his clone.

The clone went straight for him. Ako huffed tiredly and let himself drop to the ground, causing the clone to trip over his body and crash onto the ground. Ako then got to his feet and caught up with it, kicking it in the chest as hard as he could. The clone disappeared finally.

Feeling beaten down and tired, Ako turned towards his opponent: Eiichi. Eiichi's eyes widened in disbelief. Despite everything, Ako was still standing and still fighting. Eiichi balled his fists and swallowed nervously. This would all come down to how much energy Ako had left.

"Heheh...where's your clones now, buddy? You run outta quirk?" Ako teased as he started stumbling towards him. His vision was a little dizzy and he was having trouble keeping his balance, but he could still narrow his gaze on Eiichi.

"I'm going to lose...I have to try and pull out more!" Eiichi thought to himself. He slid his thumbs into the corners of his mouth and flicked them outwards. One more clone of himself appeared in front of him. It went running out towards Ako.

Ako took in a deep breath as Eiichi's clone approached. He composed himself and stepped back, spinning around and punching it in the side of the head. It fell to the ground. Ako stomped on its chest and planted his foot on its head. He grinned at Eiichi as he crushed its head and made it disappear.

"You're outta gas too...too bad." Ako said before running towards him at normal speed.

Eiichi ran towards Ako and tried to tackle him. Ako grabbed onto his head and pulled him into a headlock. He lifted his knee into Eiichi's chest before grabbing his head and slamming his knee into Eiichi's face. Eiichi's head whipped back and he fell to the ground.

"Eiichi Morita has been knocked out! The winner of this round is Ako Tanaka!" Mt. Lady quickly announced to stop Ako from trying to attack again.

The audience had spent a large amount of the fight watching in anxious silence, but now that the fight was officially over, they erupted into applause.

"What an amazing showing! It was like something out of a TV show! I could barely breathe!" Present Mic laughed.

Ako managed a tired smile and raised his fist up victoriously. As soon as he did though, he felt a sharp pain in his ribs. He hissed in pain and quickly clutched his side. His body began to shake as his adrenaline faded away. Now he could feel the pain and exhaustion coming down on him like a heavy weight.

Ako fell to his knees and let out a long exhale. He couldn't remember if he asked for help, but before he knew it, medical personnel arrived and helped both him and Eiichi off of the grounds...