Here comes chapter eight and here come the fights. I hope you all enjoy this, fights can be fun but tough to write sometimes. Now on to the reviews.
Althea Sirius: I never planned on Weiss singing but, now that you mention it I might use it as a way to introduce her to the cast as like a pop star figure. Either way she's gonna be in a hero course.
Katana of the Blade: Ochako is supposed to have an kansai dialect, though she tries hide it. To my knowledge the closest thing to it in English would be a southern or country accent.
Now onto the chapter.
New World Arc
Chapter 8: Fight On!
Ruby and Shun charged full speed at each other. Ruby held the speed advantage and was able to close the distance much faster. Coming out of her burst Ruby swung her leg towards Shun who in turn met it with a kick of her own. Ruby grunted while Shun smirked. In a instance Shun leapt up and switch legs and threw a kick straight at Ruby's head. Quickly bursting away Ruby narrowly avoided the attack. Coming out her burst Ruby focused on were Shun was.
After flipping back onto her feet Shun leapt up into the air. She came down directly on where Ruby was. Ruby bursted out of the way quickly as Shun slammed her foot onto the ground cracking it. Ruby skidded on her feet as she came to a stop. The minute she looked up she was meet with Shun's leg coming straight at her. Quickly she brought up both arms to block the strike. Shun slammed her leg into Ruby sending her tumbling back.
"GAH!" She exclaimed she skidded across the ground.
When she came to a stop she was mere inches from falling out of bounds. Shun charged her ready to knock her out of bounds. Acting quickly, Ruby leapt up and over Shun. She sprung off her back narrowly kicking Shun out of bounds. While surprised by Ruby's move, She didn't let it distract her for long and turned back to face Ruby.
"Your pretty good." Shun complimented still full of energy.
"So… are you." Ruby returned breathing heavy somewhat.
Meanwhile…
"I wonder why Ruby decided to fight her?" Jaune questioned.
"I don't know but this definitely an interesting fight. Both primarily use kicks and rely on speed." Itsuka noted. "But it looks like Usagiyama holds the edge in power."
"Indeed, while Ruby's speed is far superior to Usagiyama and even my own, it doesn't seem to be enough to overcome the strength disparity." Tenya noted. "Not only that her quirk seems to be draining her stamina fast."
"Yeah I hope she figures out a way to win." Itsuka expressed.
"She will." Jaune stated.
"Hmm…" Tenya expressed. "How can you be so sure? To me it looks like she's at a disadvantage."
"Just watch and see." Jaune stated.
Shun charged forward Ruby readied to burst out of the way and behind her. However the minute she went for an attack Shun spun around and kicked her square in the gut. Ruby coughed out some spit and was sent flying back. She tumbled on the ground till she came to a stop. Ruby held her stomach as she coughed even harder.
"What?" She expressed.
Before she knew it Shun was already on top of her. Quickly she burst out of the way. What happened back there? Did she predicted my attack. Shun charged her again. Alright let's get creative. Right as Shun launched a kick towards her, Ruby burst out of the way. She moved above her head acting as if she planned on attacking from there, only to shift to Shun's side and attack from there. Again Shun was quick to counter with a strong kick which Ruby managed to block. Bursting back away Ruby remained focused on Shun as she assessed her situation. Did she predicted that too. No, she didn't react till the moment I attack. So how is she doing it. Shun again resumed her assault this time leaping in the air. As she did Ruby focused in on a specific part of her, her rabbit ears. Could that be it? Is she hearing me? I don't know anything about how bunny's hearing work but it seems possible. But if that's the case what's she hearing. The shifting of the wind? Ruby burst out of the way of Shun's slam. She skidded to a stop a little ways away from Shun. No the wind would be to wild and unpredictable, there has to be something else. Wait… every time I either burst forward or stop I tense up my body. It's possible she's hearing the twitching of muscle when I do that.
"Hey quite dodging and fight seriously this is no fun if you keep running away." Shun stated with a pout.
"Sorry if I'm trying to win!" Ruby returned.
"Win… to me it looks like your losing." She pointed out.
"Yeah I am… for now." She returned.
Ruby burst forward towards Shun. Right when she was on top of Shun she came out of her burst and sent a kick straight towards the bunny girl. Said attack was blocked with easy. Quickly Ruby burst around behind her. Shun turned to kick only to strike a trail of rose petals.
"What?!" She exclaimed before receiving a kick straight to the head.
Shun was sent flying back but was quick to recover in get on her feet. Ruby smirked. She burst forward again. Right as Ruby was near Shun, Shun kicked forward only for Ruby to fly up over her and strike her from behind. She staggered forward a bit now slightly angry. She turned back to kick Ruby but stop. Ruby smiled and kicked her square in the gut.
"Gah! What the hell is going?!" She shouted.
"Come on haven't you figured it out. I found out your little trick." Ruby stated.
"W-what are you talking about?" She questioned.
"I'm talking about you hearing the twitches my muscles make when ever I use my quirk." Ruby answered. "I figured out you picked up on them using your hearing and was countering my speed that way. So all I'm doing is twitching without actually using my quirk"
"What?! B-b-b-b-but When? No HOW did you figure that out." She questioned.
"I wasn't attacking you for no reason back there. I was figuring out a way to win." Ruby answered.
"Wow… you are good. I'm actually getting really pumped for this fight!" Shun exclaimed. "Let's keep going."
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Ruby returned.
The two charged at each other again.
Meanwhile…
"Incredible…" Tenya muttered.
"Told ya." Jaune stated.
"But Usagiyama's quirk looks so strong and she's pretty good at fighting." Ochako pointed out. "How is Ruby beating her so badly now?"
"Ruby along with Ren, Nora, and myself have been in plenty of tough fights. Training is good but it can't hold a candle to real combat experience." Jaune point out. "People seem to forget that quirks are like tools. Their only as good as the person using them."
"An excellent point but where would you all have encounter any kind of dangerous situation?" Itsuka questioned.
"That's… a long story I'll have to tell you another time." Jaune replied nervously.
"Will Jaune Arc and Haruka Yamamoto please report to Arena Ten." Was announced.
"Welp looks like I'm up." Jaune expressed nervously. "I'll be going."
"Good luck Jaune!" Nora cheered.
"Do your best." Ren added.
"Will do." Jaune replied. "See ya."
"Later, we'll let you know who wins." Izuku replied.
"Thanks, but I pretty sure it's gonna be Ruby." Jaune returned as he walked away.
"Let's hope so," Ochako expressed. "Go Ruby!"
Ruby and Shun danced across the arena exchanging blow after blow. Ruby however, had to limit the use of her quirk to prevent her growing exhaustion from getting worse. Her little discover from earlier gave her an edge at first. But her growing exhaustion quickly took that away and slowly Shun was gaining the upper hand.
Shun swung a kick which Ruby narrowly blocked. She skidded back a bit but remained standing. Her arms were badly bruised and going numb from the various powerful kicks she had block. Slowly she lowered her arms, which were shaking from the impact. Shun gave her little time to rest and resumed on the offensive. Crap this is tough. Her endurance is insane, at this rate I might be too tired fight and she'll win by default. Ruby leapt out of the way as Shun slammed into the ground.
Come on Ruby think my little discover earlier isn't going to help now. There seems to be no weakness in her quirk that I can exploit. So I'll have to find a flaw in her strategy or wait for her to slip up. Shun gave her no time to recover and charged forward again.
"Your little trick ain't gonna work with how tired you are now." She taunted. "This match is mine."
Ruby's eyes narrowed. She's getting cocky that might be my key to victory. As Ruby continued to evade and block Shun's attacks, she slowly concocted a plan in her mind. This is gonna be a gamble but right now it's the best option I have. As the two fought Ruby let herself be lead to the edge of the arena. She was careful to hide that this was her intention, instead she acted as though she were on the ropes. This fueled Shun's assurance of victory. Right when Ruby was near the edge, Shun delivered a powerful kick straight towards Ruby. While she blocked it, Ruby acted as though her guard had been broken and was flying out of bounds. Her remaining friends watched in shock at Ruby's apparent lose. With her victory seemingly assured, Shun let her guard drop. Ruby smirked. In that instance Ruby burst around behind Shun and kicked her straight out of bounds.
"Shun Usagiyama is out of bounds, Ruby Rose is the winner." The examiner announced.
"I won…" Ruby breathed out.
A big smile crept onto her face.
"I won!" She cheered as she leapt into the air.
After reveling in her victory for a bit she went over to check on her still down opponent.
"I lost…" She muttered somewhat depressed.
Ruby felt a bit bad for the girl. However five seconds later, Shun sprung up.
"Oh well better luck next time." She expressed cheerfully.
While confused by the sudden change in demeanor, Ruby smiled, happy that her opponent was taking her lose well. She hopped off of the arena. The minutes she landed Shun was already in her face with a big bright smile.
"That was a really good plan to bet me. You must be super duper good to figure all that out on the fly." She complimented, her words running at a million miles a hour. "I'm Shun Usagiyama but you already know that from the announcement. Anyways I hope we get to go to UA together that'd be awesome, no super awesome, no super duper special awesome. What's your name again by the way?"
"OH… ahhhh… I'm Ruby Rose aaaaannnd yeah it'd be nice if we both got in." Ruby replied awkwardly.
She's more energetic than Nora hopped up on caffeine.
"Yep welp cya 'round byyyyeeeee." She sung as she dashed away, likely to her friends.
"Bye," Ruby replied was an awkward wave.
After getting over the overly energetic girl Ruby made her way back to her friends.
"Yeah… way ta go Ruby!" Ochako cheered.
"You go girl!" Nora cheered.
"Truly an excellent display of skill." Tenya commended.
"Thanks, it was a tough fight though." Ruby admitted. "Honestly it was looking dicy at spots."
"Speaking of your fight why did you volunteer for it anyways?" Izuku asked.
"Oh… that's simple I figured that was the secret part to this test." Ruby answered.
"Really?" Izuku questioned.
"How's that the secret part to this test?" Itsuka inquired.
"Honestly it's not that complicated." Ruby stated. "It's about pushing yourself beyond your limits. While we only have three planned fights each you can choose to fight more pushing past your growing exhaustion and injuries."
"I see it's another test of our endurance." Izuku noted. "I wonder why they'd structure the tests like this?"
"Who knows? If I remember correctly UA's tests use to just be a written and a practical exam up until two years ago, not the four tests we've encountered." Tenya added. "I wonder what could have caused it to change?"
"I don't know." Izuku stated.
But I have an idea on what could have happened. Someone from Ruby's world arrived here before her, got involved in the school and thus brought about this change. If so their likely watching us now and will hopefully recognize Ruby, Jaune, Ren, or Nora. If we're lucky they're one of the people Ruby mentioned and will bring us one step closer to finding out what happened to Ruby's world. But who could it be?
"Will Izuku Midoriya and Eijiro Kirishima please report to Arena Seven." Was announced.
"Looks like I'm up again." Izuku noted.
"Good luck Midoriya." Tenya expressed.
"We'll be routin' for ya." Nora added.
"Thanks guys." Izuku replied.
As he made is way towards his next match Izuku continued to mull over what could have cause the change in UA acceptance process.
If he or she's involved with UA they'd most likely be a pro-hero. But who could it be… oh well, I can worry about this later. I should focus on my upcoming fight.
After walking for a bit, Izuku arrived at Arena seven. As he stepped onto the arena so to did his opponent. Facing him was a muscular young man with short black and a toothy smile revealing a set of sharp teeth.
"Better give it your all Midoriya." Eijiro stated while readying himself for the fight.
"You too Kirishima." Izuku replied as he too prepared himself for the coming battle.
"Begin!" The Examiner shouted.
The two charged at each other. The gap between the two closed up quickly. Eijiro was the first to throw a punch which Izuku easily duck under. Quickly, Izuku sent a jab straight for Eijiro's gut.
"GAHH!" Izuku shouted as he pulled back his fist.
The minute his fist had collided with Eijiro pain racked it. He looked at it to see it was red and slightly bloody.
"What?" Izuku expressed.
He had little time to think when a hardened fist clocked him square in the jaw. Izuku was sent tumbling to the ground. He groaned as he rubbed his jaw in pain. Looking up, he saw Eijiro's whole arm had turned rock like in appearance. His quirk must be some sort of hardening. Izuku thought back to when he injured his hand as he slowly rose to his feet. He can probably do it over his whole body. But that means he's a close range fighter, maybe I can use the same trick I used to win against Andavoido.
Eijiro went on the offensive. Izuku did his best to redirect Eijiro's attack, knowing he couldn't take them directly. All the while he tried to lead Eijiro to the edge of the rink to throw him out. However, Eijiro was stronger and swifter than Nurra. Soon he broke through Izuku's defense and landed a punch right into Izuku's side. Izuku gasped but was soon rocked by another punch to the face. While he staggered a bit, he didn't fall to the floor. He stood his ground ready to continue, only for another punch to slam into his face. Izuku was getting desperate. Without think he cocked his fist back, channeled [One for All] into it, and let it loose square into Eijiro's face, sending him flying back a bit. Instead of panic, confusion ran through out Izuku.
"W-what… I held it back but how?" He questioned as he looked down at his hand.
He shook his head and focused back on the rising Eijiro.
"I'll worry about it later." Izuku told himself. "For now I need a new plan to beat him. He'll wear me down before I get him to edge of the rink."
"Wow…" Eijiro stated, now on his feet. "That was a manly punch dude, nice."
He charged at Izuku again.
"But don't think I'll go down so easily!" He declared.
Izuku prepared himself. When Eijiro was on him he threw a punch. Izuku caught it and used Eijiro's momentum to throw him over his shoulder. If I can't throw him out of bounds. Then I'll just have to pin him to the ground and make him yield. Izuku slammed Eijiro into the ground and went to try and pin him down. However, the black-haired boy hardened his body before impact and wasn't fazed by it. He quickly rolled up and to the side before slamming his hardened fist into Izuku's gut. Izuku had little time to reacted before another fist slammed into his face knocking him to the ground.
The count began.
"Ten, nine, eight…" The examiner stated.
Pain racked Izuku's body.
"Seven, six, five…" The examiner continued.
Izuku struggled to get up.
"Four, three, two…" The examiner continued further.
Izuku was almost to the point where he could get up.
"One… Izuku Midoriya is down, Eijiro Kirishima is the winner!" The examiner announced.
"Dammit." Izuku muttered.
He rolled over and collapsed down onto his back. He breathed heavy from exhaustion. Soon Eijiro made his way over to him and extended a helping hand.
"Hey, good job out there. You didn't win but you were pretty manly." He complimented.
"Thanks," Izuku replied taking hold of Eijiro's hand.
Eijiro pulled Izuku back up on his feet.
"Y-you did good yourself. Hopefully we'll get to see each other at UA." Izuku expressed.
"Yeah, it'd be cool if we could become heroes together." Eijiro stated. "I'll see ya 'round Midoriya."
Eijiro head off the arena.
"Same to you." Izuku replied as he did the same.
Izuku made his way over to his friends. They were ready greet him and cheer him up over his defeat when suddenly he heard a familiar angry voice behind him.
"DEKU!" Katsuki yelled.
Elsewhere…
In a cold dark room Neo awoke in a panic breathing heavy. She frantically looked around the room, confused given the last thing she remembered was falling from the Atlesian battleship.
"W-who are you?" A scared voice questioned.
Neo turned to see a scared shaking little girl. She had light grey almost white hair, big red teary eyes and a lone horn a top her head. Neo struggled to come up with a way to respond given her inability to talk. She search for her scroll but could not find it, in that moment she also realized she didn't have her umbrella either. She turned to the little girl she pointed to herself, waved her hands as to say no, and used her hand to mimic a mouth talking.
"Y-you… can't talk?" The girl asked.
Neo nodded. She then pointed to the girl and made the motion of writing something.
"Can… can I write?" The girl asked.
Neo shock her head no. She pointed to herself.
"Do I have something for you to write with?" The girl questioned.
Neo nodded with a smile. The little girl shock her head no. Neo's shoulders slumped over. She continued to mull over what to do, then an idea came to her head. She created an illusion which spelled out 'Neopolitan'.
"Neopolitan…" The girl spoke slowly. "Is that your name?"
Neo nodded. She then spelled out, 'what's your name?'
"Eri…" The girl now named Eri replied.
Suddenly the sound of footsteps could be heard approaching the room. Fear gripped the Eri as she knew what was coming.
"Y-you need to hide." She whispered. "I-if Kai f-finds you he'll… he'll kill you."
The door to the room slowly opened. Before anyone could enter the room, Neo hide herself with an illusion. Soon Overhaul entered the room.
"Come Eri it's time for us to continue." He stated coldly.
Obediently, but reluctantly, Eri complied and followed Overhaul out of the room. While she didn't know what was going on, Neo had a feeling something truly awful was taking place. With this in mind she followed behind in secrecy to find out what.
Ruby: And that's a wrap. Glad I won my fight though I'm worried about that Eri girl. Just me right now. Izuku's the one busy this time.
Katsuki: DEKU!
Izuku: Kacchan!?
Ruby: Yeaaaah... anyways next time Izuku tries to figure somethings out with his quirk.
Katsuki: I'm gonna kill you, you bastard.
Izuku: Kacchan calm down.
Katsuki: I AM CALM!
Ruby: And He also starts his last fight and it looks pretty tough. I hope he does well. Also the bad guys start making their moves.
Katsuki: You have five seconds to explain this shit!
Izuku: Explain what?
Ruby: Would you guys be quiet! I'm supposed to have a lot of text this time around not you guys!
Katsuki: SHUT UP RED TIPS!
Ruby: Anyways, next time Chapter 9: Winds of Change. See ya then.
