"Are you folks ready!? I bet you all were for this one!" Present Mic said, as the crowd made a riotous uproar far louder than for any of the previous fights. "He's big, he's small, he's fast, he's strong! He can fly, he can shoot lasers! What can't this guy do!? It's the World's First Alien Hero, Hiroshi Furinji and Ultraman Heeeeeeeero!"
"I guess we should've figured they'd include you too, Hero," Hiroshi laughed, though he shook his head a bit. "Wish that this crowd was this loud for everyone else, though."
"Can't be helped, I'm sure they're just excited to see what we can do," Hero said, as Hiroshi closed his eyes and slicked back his hair, letting him take control. "After all, we're here to show what we got, right?"
"And up against what could be impossible odds, facing against their former ally in the Cavalry Battle, is the spunky horned horse, the upbeat mare, the hoofed heroine! Horsegirl Pony Tsunotoriiiiii!" Present Mic said, as Pony trotted into the ring, flexing her arms as she gave Hero/Hiroshi her serious face.
"Booyah!" she shouted, as people cheered for the plucky girl. "I hope you're ready to lose, you two!"
"We won't be going down without a fight, if that's what you're thinking," Hero/Hiroshi smirked, as the two readied themselves for the fight.
"Are you both ready? 3! 2! 1! START!" Midnight shouted, cracking her whip.
Pony wasted no time launching her horns at Hero/Hiroshi while another pair flew underneath her and she leaped onto them, flying into the sky. Hero/Hiroshi moved left and right dodging the horns, and punched one of them, breaking it in half causing it to fall onto the ground useless before grabbing the other one and throwing it onto the ground, breaking as well.
"There's more where that came from!" Pony said, launching another pair of horns off her head. They flew fast towards Hero/Hiroshi, who dodged them, letting them hit the ground, only for a new pair to take their place. She kept launching new ones after new ones, making the two back up with each one.
"I see what you're trying to do!" Hero/Hiroshi said, as he rolled to the side, and started running forward. "Sorry, but if you think making me back up out of the ring is gonna work, you need to think of something else!"
"What a battle! Hero and Furinji have yet to change into Hero's alien form, but they kept dodging and breaking all of Tsunotori's horns! They better think of something quick, since she's airborne!" Present Mic said.
"A sound tactic, as it seems like these two can't fly with just a simple possession," Aizawa muttered.
"There she goes! That's my student right there! You can do it!"
"Don't expose your biases, Vlad King."
"They're right, though, Hiroshi, let's not spend all our time dodging and breaking these horns," Hero/Hiroshi said to himself. They closed their eyes, and Hiroshi's gray eyes returned.
"Hold out your hand and call out-"
"I'm not letting you!" Pony shouted, as she launched more horns at high speeds, growing and launching new ones at them. "Thunder Horn Hailstorm!"
"HEROOOOO!" Hiroshi shouted, thrusting his right arm into the air as light covered him, and in an instant, Hero took his place. He leaped into the air, dodging the rain of horns, and flew towards Pony, and grabbed her head before she could grow new horns.
"Ack! Let go!" Pony said, as her last two free horns fly up and hit Hero in the back, shattering into pieces, leaving the ones she was standing on the only ones left. "Uh oh."
"Sorry, Miss Tsunotori, but I think this is my win, since I don't think you want me to just hold you by the head," Hero said, letting go of her head and grabbing her in a bear hug in an instance, flying as fast as he could towards the ground, before slowing down and planting her just outside of the ring.
"Pony Tsunotori is out of the ring! Hiroshi Furinji and Ultraman Hero move on to the next round!" Midnight decreed, as the crowd went nuts and Hero disappeared into light with Hiroshi taking his place.
"Aw nuts! I didn't think it'd be that quick!" Pony lamented, flopping onto the ground on her back. She laughed though, and smiled. "But that was a lot of fun, Furinji! Hero!"
"It was fun for us too, Tsunotori!" Hiroshi said, smiling as he offered her a helping hand. She took it, and he pulled her up. "If Hero and I hadn't changed, you'd probably could've gotten us with that attack! Nice thinking on that!"
"Thanks! And don't think I'm gonna stop improving after this!" Pony said.
"I wouldn't have it any other way!"
"Nice job, you two!" Setsuna said, giving Pony and Hiroshi a thumbs up as they walked back into the Hero Course viewing box. "You guys really went for it, didn't you?"
"Yea, especially you, Hiroshi!" Pony said, slapping him on the back. "Even if Hero was possessing you at the beginning, you really managed to dodge a lot of my horns!"
"Thanks, but again, that Thunder Horn Hailstorm of yours was a really cool move," Hiroshi said, laughing. "And you staying in the air was a smart idea. You were out of my reach since I don't have any long-ranged ones with only Hero possessing me."
"So it's you two who're next, right Yaoyoruzu, Kirishima?" Fuka said, turning to the two.
"Yep! I'm gonna be go all out on my manliness!" Eijiro said, flexing his right arm's bicep.
"And I shall do my best to fight with everything I've got," Momo replied, as the two headed out to their waiting rooms.
"So which one do you think has this in the bag?" Manga asked, as a drawing of a bag appeared on his face.
"Honestly, it all depends on how fast Yaoyoruzu thinks," Hiroshi said, thinking.
"Yea, her Quirk is incredible, but one of her weaknesses is that she needs to think fast about what she needs to do," Fuka pointed out.
"And if Kirishima is anything like Tetsutetsu, he's going to have a very straightforward fighting style, right? Get hard and throw punches?" Setsuna added.
"Don't compare me to him!" Tetsutetsu cried.
"We're just gonna have to see what they do, I guess," Itsuka said, crossing her arms.
"And from this side, we have the man with literal rock hard abs! It's Rock Man Eijiro Kirishimaaaaaaa!" Present Mic said as Eijiro ran onto the ring, raising his fists to the air.
"Yea, that's what I'm talking about!" he shouted, reveling in the crowd's cheers.
"And on the other side, is the woman with a million ways to beat you! She thinks it, she makes it! It's Miss Million Momo Yaoyoruzuuuuuu!" Momo walked onto the ring, composed as she took deep breaths.
"Stay calm, Momo," she muttered to herself. "Kirishima's straightforward, so he should be easy to predict..."
"Are you both ready? 3! 2! 1! START!" Midnight yelled.
Eijiro wasted no time and hardened every each of his body, and charged at Momo. She made two shields to block his punches, and tried to figure out what next.
"A-a foothold! I need to stand my ground!" she thought, as pointed steel rods shot out of her lower back and calves, going straight through her clothes and into the ground and stopping her from going backwards any further.
"Nice try, but that's not stopping me Yaoyoruzu!" Eijiro shouted, as he kept up his assault.
"C-come on! What should I do next!? Kirishima's got me beat in the strength department! What- what would Hiroshi do!?" she thought, as she thought back to one of their training sessions a few days ago.
A Few Days Ago...
"Not again!" Momo shouted, bemoaning that Hiroshi had managed to shove her out of All Might's training ring, earning him his fifth win without using Hero.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over this, Yaoyoruzu," he said, helping her up. "Just take this in stride."
"I just... how do you confidently fight against people without a Quirk?" she asked, as the two grabbed their water bottles to drink.
"Well, after fighting with some of the teachers during my pre-UA training, and during that Hero vs. Villains exercise, I figured out that for the most part, I'm not going to outpower most people," Hiroshi said, scratching his head. "I have to think fast and move fast."
"That's must be very easy for you. Meanwhile I have so many things that I can think of doing thanks to my Quirk," she muttered.
"Hm... there's also another trick that you can do," Hiroshi thought aloud. "You remember how you gave me that canister gun? Think of it like this; use and say whatever you can to distract your opponents-"
"- So I can take that time to think!" she finished, as a small cannon popped out of her stomach, ripping the front of her shirt. She moved her shields, and a canister flew out of it, hitting Eijiro hard enough to knock him backwards a few feet away from her. She popped herself off her rods, and sidestepped away, revealing that on the ends of the rods were small grenade-like devices with strings attached to their pins that were still in her back. "Say cheese, Kirishima!"
"What!?" he shouted, as she pulled the strings while she was closing her eyes. A bright flash went off, illuminating the ring.
"What's with the lightshow!?" Present Mic shouted.
"She created flashbangs on the ends of those rods from her body to blind Kirishima. A smart move," Aizawa stated.
"Ow my eyes!" Vlad King cried.
"Don't look directly at the light Vlad King."
"Holy shit, my eyes!" Eijiro yelled, rubbing his sore eyes. "Ugh, that was so bright!"
Momo didn't waste anytime. She pulled a large hammer from her stomach, and charged at Eijiro, swinging it towards his gut.
Unfortunately she was also slightly dazed from the light, and her aim wasn't high enough for his stomach.
A loud hard crunch emanated throughout the stadium. Many male heroes winced and cried out in sympathy, and even female heroes felt what had just happened.
Eijiro fell onto his knees before falling over to his side, curling up into a ball. A high pitched squeak escaped his mouth. Possibly the most unmanliest sound he could make, but it was understandable why he made it.
"O-oh no! I am so sorry Kirishima! I didn't mean to aim that low!" Momo apologized, realizing what she had just done. "Honest, I swear!"
"C-can you move, Kirishima?" Midnight said, rubbing her eyes as her sight returned to her.
"... No," he whimpered, tears in his closed eyes. "I give."
"Eijiro Kirishima forfeits! Momo Yaoyoruzu moves onto the next round!" Midnight announced, as the crowd clapped slowly.
"G-g-good job," one of the heroes said, as many repeated those words.
"G-good job!"
"Good job!"
"D-do you need me to help you up, Kirishima?" Momo said, holding out her hand. "Again, I am so sorry!"
"N-no... just let me lie down here for a few minutes, I'll be okay," he murmured, as robots rolled onto the ring, and put him on a stretcher to carry him to Recovery Girl.
"I-I-I hope we all learned a valuable lesson here, folks!" Present Mic said, still feeling Eijiro's pain. "Always wear a cup if you're in situations where a blow down there can be crippling. Guys and girls alike."
"You mean you haven't been?" Aizawa said flatly. "But I'll admit, this is probably something I should've told my students..."
"That's definitely something I need to instill in my students," Vlad King muttered, shuddering.
"Oooooooooooooooow!" a majority of the Hero Course guys said, their hands covering their most vulnerable parts. The Hero Course girls did the same, the loud crunch making them also feel Eijiro's pain. Only Hiroshi hadn't, being busy going through his phone to check something after seeing the attack.
"Oh wow, I'm checking sports cup sales online, and they're like, skyrocketing," Hiroshi said as he scrolled. "Guess this was a wakeup call for a lot of heroes."
"I'm getting one for my costume now," Fuka said, shivering, everyone nodding in agreement.
"I... I guess we know now that when Kirishima's body hardens, everything hardens," Kyoka said, blushing at the thought while also still feeling the sympathetic pain.
"Hopefully the Support Course kids won't be too swamped with requests to add cups to costumes," Setsuna said, watching Eijiro being wheeled away, and Momo walking offstage with her head in her hands.
"I-I guess we should go to the waiting rooms now, huh, Tokage?" Ochako said, trying to change the subject.
"Y-Yea, of course."
"I-I-I hope you're all ready for these next two fighters! One is a gravity master, just a touch and you're in the sky! Gravity Girl Ochakoooooo Urarakaaaa!" Present Mic said, as the crowd cheered, if only to let the feeling of sympathetic pain go away.
"I'm gonna do my best!" Ochako shouted, her intense face making another appearance.
"And against her is a girl who'll fall apart with a stare! Don't lose your head, 'cuz she'll do it for you! It's Lizard Queen Setsuna Tokaaaaaaage!"
"It's true, I will," Setsuna chuckled, popping her joints while stretching, as her head slightly floated off her body. "Let's have a great fight, Uraraka!"
"Are you both ready? 3! 2! 1! START!"
The two rushed towards each other, Ochako's hands outstretched to touch Setsuna, only for Setsuna to dodge her by splitting her body apart and flying around her.
"Sorry, Uraraka, but it's gonna take a lot more than losing gravity to get beaten!" Setsuna stated, as her split body parts flew at Ochako, hitting her in the gut and back.
"Ooooooh what a relentless assault from Tokage!"
"Won't hurt to try!" Ochako said, managing to touch Setsuna's foot. No good, she was still able to move around. "Nuts!"
"Looks like this is a bad matchup for Uraraka! But can she turn the tides!?" Present Mic said.
"Seems like you won't be getting me with your Quirk!" Setsuna said, grabbing Ochako by the armpits and lifting her up into the air.
"Ah! No!" Ochako shouted, getting dropped out of the ring. She used her Quirk on herself, slowing down her descent, but unable to move back towards the ring without touching the ground. She struggled to wiggle her way back to the ring, but nausea got the best of her, forcing her to release her Quirk and landed on the ground.
"Ochako Uraraka is out of the ring! Setsuna Tokage moves onto the next round!" Midnight decreed.
"Man, this just wasn't the best matchup for me!" Ochako said, sighing.
"Better luck next time, Urara- wha!?" Setsuna said. When she reassembled her body together, she started to float up a bit, losing her footing. "Huh, I guess you did get me. Thank goodness my Quirk lets me control my body parts."
"Oh, let me help," she said, releasing Setsuna from her Zero Gravity.
"Thanks!" Setsuna said, laughing.
"So that was quick, and as expected," Hiroshi said, smiling. "Looks like you're next, Fuka-"
Hiroshi turned to his sister, and saw her taking some shallow breaths to prepare herself, as she returned a glare at Katsuki.
"... What a prick," she muttered. "But a strong one, regardless."
"D-do you want some advice on facing Kacchan?" Izuku asked, as he dug into his backpack. "I'm sure that-"
"No, it's alright," Fuka said, holding her hand up to stop him. "I've got plenty of ideas of my own. He won't be winning this easily, that's for sure."
"Knock him out, Fuka," Hiroshi said, grinning.
"Of course," she replied, punching him lightly on the arm.
Katsuki scowled as he walked through the hallway. No doubt that the airhead was going to use long range aerial combat with her Quirk and gear. He has to close the distance between them so that she'd be forced into close combat against him. Not that he isn't incapable of long ranged combat, but it's much more satisfying when he's up close and personal with his explosions. He also needs to aim for her support gear. She might've had it designed to be durable, but it's still a weak point he can use, and if he does break it, she'd be forced to only use her Quirk, which means she can inhale the smoke from his Explosions, incapacitating her and letting him take the win. After that, he'll need to break that lizard face into tinier pieces, since after her is the Quirkless bastard and his alien.
"Are you all ready, it's the final round of the first bracket! Coming in hot with his explosions, the only thing hotter is his temper! It's Explosion Man Katsuki Bakugoooooo!" Present Mic announced as Katsuki walked onto the field.
Fuka took another deep breath, adding more to her gear's compressed supply. She needed to be careful. Katsuki's Quirk is perfect for aerial combat like hers, but he has an edge in close combat. Not to mention that smoke he makes with his Explosions is going to make it difficult to breath in more air, since it'd likely make her sick. She can't let him get behind her at any moment, he'd target her backpack. While she made sure that it could withstand all sorts of punishment, any of his Explosions could end up making the compressed air inside explode and that could really, really hurt (thank god she had a special barrier made between the pack itself and her so to prevent potential shrapnel getting into her body). Honestly this was probably the worst matchup she could've gotten here. But she can't quit now. Hopefully Katsuki understood how dangerous trying to explode her backpack directly would be.
"But swooping in from the skies, with lungs full of air, is the Skyward Sister Fuka Furinjiiiiiii!"
"Oh man, I really should've asked him to use anything but the word 'sister', now all that everyone's gonna call me is Hiroshi's sister instead of just 'Fuka'," Fuka grumbled as she walked onto the field. She shook it off, though, since she can still show off how she stands on her own.
"Are you both ready? 3! 2! 1! START!" Midnight shouted. Immediately the two took to the air, and Fuka started firing blasts of air from her gauntlets and her mouth at Bakugo, who kept maneuvering by changing the angles of his Explosions, while Fuka did the same to keep away from him, while continually adding new air to her backpack, constantly recompressing as much air as she can to keep afloat.
"And we start things off with an explosive air battle! Who needs a ring when you can take to the sky!?" Present Mic announced.
"With Quirks like theirs, taking flight is preferable over standing on the ground," Aizawa pointed out. "Now it's a question of whether or not Furinji's long range abilities can overcome Bakugo's short range abilities."
"It's obvious that Furinji's got this in the bag, of course," Vlad King huffed. "She's my student after all."
"Wow, Fuka's actually keeping up with Bakugo!" Ochako said, as they watched their friend dodge and blast Katsuki with air blasts. "She might actually give him a tough fight!"
"Yea..." Hiroshi muttered, as he bit his thumb.
"Hiroshi, is something wrong?" Izuku asked, as the Hero Course students turned towards him.
"Nothing, it's just... I really, really hope that Bakugo isn't stupid, reckless, or insane enough to go directly after Fuka's backpack," he said, watching as she kept moving around to make sure her back was always away from the explosive teen.
"Why?" Kyoka asked, as Momo and Setsuna began to think about it, before horror settled in on their faces.
"You don't think-!"
"That if he manages to heat up her backpack with an explosion, that it'd be much larger than he thinks, thanks to the compressed air inside?" Hiroshi said, as everyone's eyes went wide. "If he's ever messed with aerosol cans with his Quirk, he should know that containers of compressed air heated up will create a powerful explosion, and that metal shrapnel can fly everywhere."
"T-There's no way he wouldn't take that into account!" Itsuka said. "He must know about something like that, right!?"
"I don't think so!" Setsuna said, pointing at Katsuki. He kept trying to move around Fuka to get to her backpack. "He keeps trying to get around her to get to it!"
"Shit, this is the worst matchup possible! He's smart, but he's still a big enough idiot!" Hiroshi said, his grip around his chairs armrest threatening to tear it off. "I... I have to go tell the teachers!"
He got up, and started running to the teacher's viewing box as fast as he could. He couldn't risk this fight. Not with his sister.
"Dammit, Bakugo is a big enough jackass and idiot to keep trying to get behind me!" Fuka thought, as the explosive teen kept dodging her air blasts to try and get behind her. For her part, she's managed to be successful at keeping her back away, never taking her eyes off of him. "Has he never tried reading up on the dangers of exposing aerosol cans to strong sources of heat!?"
In retrospect, she should've asked Midnight if she could mulligan or swap opponents upon realizing the dangers Katsuki would pose to her and her backpack, so this was also on her. She just got caught up with thinking about teaching him a lesson about his attitude and whatnot. Hopefully she'll be able to come out unscathed and with a valuable lesson learned.
Katsuki was furious. She was able to keep her distance away, and the fact that she never let her eyes off on him didn't give him a chance to get behind her. But maybe-
"All Might! All Might!" Hiroshi cried, managing to get near the teacher's viewing box. All Might on instinct entered his muscle form, since none of his coworkers knew that Hiroshi and his friends were in on his weakened form. "Someone has to stop the match!"
"Stop the match? What for? Young Fuka has been doing marvelously against Young Bakugo," All Might said, scratching his head.
"You don't understand! Bakugo keeps aiming to get behind her and hit her backpack with an Explosion!" Hiroshi said. All Might was confused at Hiroshi's concerned panic, but Power Loader's eyes widened as he overheard the teen and realized where he was coming from.
"We have to call off this match, this is highly dangerous!" he yelled. "If Mr. Bakugo uses his Explosions on her compressed air backpack-"
"- And Bakugo's managed to finally get behind Furinji! For the first time in this fight, she's wide open!" Present Mic announced.
"NO! NO NO NO! STOP THE FIGHT!" Hiroshi said, running to the edge of the teacher's viewing box. "FUKA!"
It all happened in a flash. Katsuki in the air clapped his hands together to make a giant smoke cloud, forcing Fuka to hold her breath. To her horror, Katsuki had gone over her head, and right behind her.
"Gotcha, airhead! Get ready to fall to the ground!" Katsuki shouted, as a spark began to form in his hands. He sneered as the sparks grew and grew.
"Bakugo, wait stop-!" she cried.
But it was too late.
A giant explosion consumed the two, sending the two plummeting to the ground. Fuka landed on the grass, outside of the ring, while Katsuki had managed to angle himself towards the ring and landed safely.
"How do you like'em apples, air-"
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAGH!"
He turned to face her, and for the first time, his sneer was replaced with confusion. Fuka was on her stomach, the clothes on her back scorched. Her completely bare back was red with burns, the remains of her backpack laying to her sides. She struggled to get up, but she couldn't, as she kept collapsing, crying in pain. "AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
People in the crowd started shouting, screaming.
"O-oh my god! Someone help her! Someone get Recovery Girl!" Present Mic shouted. "What the- I didn't mean you two! You two stay here! You're both injured still!"
"I need to check on my student!" Vlad King cried.
"I need to talk with Bakugo!" Aizawa shouted back.
"Are you kidding!? Let the people down there handle it!"
"RECOVERY GIRL! WE NEED YOU OUT HERE!" Midnight shouted, as the old woman and medical robots came onto the field. She, Midnight, and Cementoss gathered around the girl, checking her back. Recovery Girl gave Fuka a kiss, healing most of the burns on her, though some still remained.
"We need to get her to the medical offices right away! There's no sign of shrapnel in her back, thank god, and the worst of her burns are gone, but her remaining ones still need to be treated right away!" she said, as the robots loaded her onto a stretcher on her stomach. She whimpered and cried as they straightened her out, her skin tingling with pain.
"FUKAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Everyone on the field looked up and saw Hero flying down, landing onto the ground before changing into Hiroshi again. "FUKA! FUKA!"
All Might had followed him and grabbed the distraught teen by the armpits, holding him back, though Setsuna came down onto the field, carrying Ochako by the armpits. Ochako had used her Quirk to lighten Izuku, Tenya, Kyoka, and Momo so that they could be carried by Pony's horns. "Let me go! FUKA!"
"Oh my god..." Setsuna said, tears in her eyes and her hands over her mouth. Ochako released everyone everyone, and forced back the nausea down so she could focus on her downed friend.
"Holy shit..." Kyoka muttered, eyes horrified.
"Fuka!" Izuku and Ochako shouted, as they tried to approach her. Tenya and Momo tried to keep their composure, while Pony was just crying, her hands over her mouth to hold in the sobs.
"Don't come closer! We need to get her treated as soon as possible!" Recovery Girl said, as they watched their injured friend getting carried away, hearing her pained sobs echo down the hallway. Hiroshi kept struggling against All Might's grip, though he turned his head towards Katsuki, a look of pure fury on his face.
"What the fuck were you thinking, you fucking jackass!?" Hiroshi shouted, as Katsuki tried to find his words again. "Haven't you read up on the dangers of compressed air near heat sources!? I would've thought you'd have enough sense to know how dangerous that is, but I guess you were dumb enough not to!"
"C-calm down, Young Hiroshi!" All Might said, being surprised by how much stronger Hiroshi was than he thought. "She'll be fine! Recovery Girl's on the case-"
"S-she's just a stepping stone," Katsuki said, trying to regain his confidence. Everyone stared at the boy, shocked by what he just said in front of Fuka's brother.
"A stepping stone!? So you get to fucking injure my sister without giving a shit!?" Hiroshi screamed.
"I-I was giving it my all-"
"Don't you fucking use my words against me! When I say that, I don't mean 'Let's hurt everyone at full power'! I've been restraining myself this entire time while giving it my all! SO DON'T YOU FUCKING TRY!"
"T-The Sports Festival is post-" Midnight started to say, before Hiroshi snapped at her.
"NO! I want to fight him!"
"Huh?" Everyone stared at him, as if he lost his mind.
"I want to fight him! Hero and I will beat you fair and square, without resorting to insane tactics like you just did!" Hiroshi stated, pointing at him, his teeth threatening to break from how hard he was gritting them. "I'll teach you a lesson on what it means when I say to give it your all!"
"Well, even if we keep going, Yaoyoruzu and Tokage will need to fight as well."
"That's fine! I can wait!" Hiroshi said. "It'll give me plenty of time to calm down before the fight, and time to check on my sister!"
"Hiroshi, do you really think that's-"
"It's what I want, Setsuna. I want to fight him in a setting where everyone's watching and there's a judge to stop it from going too far. I need to do it that way," Hiroshi said, as he finally stopped struggling against All Might's grip.
"Mm..." Midnight bit her lips. She didn't know what to do. She knew that letting the Sports Festival continue was a bad idea, especially with Hiroshi's current mental state. But at the same time-
"Alright, but only if you promise me that you'll have calmed down before your match."
"I promise," Hiroshi said, after taking several deep breaths. "By the time it's my turn to fight, I'll have calmed down."
"The Sports Festival... The Sports Festival will continue on!" Midnight said, still unsure of what to make of all of this. "We will still have the quarterfinals as planned! Afterwards we'll start the semifinals! But we'll be taking an impromptu break before then!"
Izuku and Tenya looked at each other with concern. Even when fighting Katsuki during the Heroes vs. Villains exercise, they've never seen Hiroshi so furious. It was understandable for sure, but it was just an accident... right?
"Come on, Young Hiroshi... let's go check on your sister," All Might said, as he released Hiroshi from his grip, leading the group of teens towards the medical offices. Katsuki grinned slightly, glad that this wasn't going to stop his fighting. But when he looked at Hiroshi, he was startled by the sheer, unrelenting hate-filled fury the steel blue-haired teen had in his eyes. That wasn't something he'd ever expect to see from someone who usually treated him with apathy. To his surprise, Setsuna turned her head towards him, also glaring with fury.
"Don't think that Hiroshi's the only one who wants to beat you for Fuka," she seethed, her sharp teeth gritted as she fought against her tears. "If you expect me to just roll over and let you win, think again."
Katsuki stood there, not knowing what to say, when he felt a cast on his shoulder. He turned, and saw Aizawa and Vlad King behind him, with a troupe of teachers with them as well, Present Mic having to have run after the two injured teachers.
"Bakugo, come with me," Aizawa said. "There's a lot that we need to discuss."
"Holy shit, poor Fuka..." Eijiro said, as everyone in the Hero Course viewing box stared down at the field. He had instantly forgotten about the pain he went through earlier upon seeing Fuka's burns. So many of them had gone completely silent. Even Neito, who for once, wasn't talking about how 1A had injured a fellow 1B student horrifically. Togaru gritted his teeth and looked away, not enjoying the sight at all. Ibara had clasped her hands together, giving a silent prayer. They could only watch as Hiroshi glared the most hate-filled daggers at Katsuki.
"Is- Is it really okay if the Sports Festival keeps going!?" Toru said, the sleeves of her gym uniform flailing up and down.
"Yea, there's going to be plenty of chances for Hiroshi to teach Bakugo a lesson, right?" Rikido said, sweat dripping off his face.
"Sure, but when will the next chance to humble someone like Bakugo in front of thousands, if not millions of people come? Next year?" Sen pointed out. "That's probably what he's thinking."
"D-do you think he's gonna go postal on Bakugo!?" Minoru said, biting all his fingernails at once.
"I am sure that Mr. Furinji will hold back against him," Jurota muttered. "After all, Mr. Hero is there with him to calm him down."
Shoto stared silently as he ran his hand over his own burn scar. Even if he had issues with the Furinjis, Fuka certainly didn't deserve that. Hopefully after getting immediate treatment from Recovery Girl will make her burns disappear entirely. Not like his.
Yui covered her mouth, tears in her eyes. This was the first time she's ever seen Hiroshi this angry, and for understandable reasons. "Poor... Furinji..." she whispered, only loud enough that Itsuka could hear her horrified voice.
At the seedy bar in a suspicious alley...
"Hello everyone, have I missed anything?" Virus said, stepping off the wall pulling a Stain poster off the wall. He looked down on the ground, and saw Tomura squirming around underneath Illne, who was simply sitting on top of him, with Kurogiri rubbing his mist-covered head, apparently having been knocked out for a while. "Oh my, roughhousing around the bar? How fun."
"Get the fuck off me, you heavy ass alien!" Tomura cried, trying to push Illne off, who was much heavier than anticipated.
"Illne, I think you've had enough fun with Shigaraki. You should get off of him," Virus laughed, as Illne obeyed.
"So... where's the Hero Killer?" Tomura asked, having regained his composure and dusting himself off.
"Oh, here he is," Virus said, tossing the poster of a screaming Stain onto a table, his limbs flopping off at the sides. "He got a little... crushed in transit. Happens to many of those who aren't of our species when they travel through our method of shadow teleportation."
"When will he recover from this?" Kurogiri asked
"An hour... a few days... maybe a year, maybe never," Virus said, shrugging. "Depends on the individual, really. I have some souvenirs thanks to this."
Virus reached into his pockets, and pulled out roll after roll of "posters". He unrolled several of them, putting them onto the table with Stain underneath. One looked like a human female with short gray hair, black tattoos underneath her eyes and on her forehead with a purple gem in the center, dressed in a metallic blue dress with shoulder armor, white gloves that went to her elbows, and golden jewelry. She was frozen in horror with her arms above her head.
"This one was princess from a race called Alien Magic. We held her hostage on a planet a few hundred years ago. Unfortunately her family never came up what we were searching for, so we kept her. Hasn't gone undone since."
A more obvious alien landed on top of that princess. This one had strange ridged rocklike skin, with a large metal-like head that no one could discern what were eyes, ears, or a mouth. If it had any of those. "This is an Alien Zarab who tried to win us and join us, but they got on the wrong end of one of our colleagues and so we trapped them in this state."
Another alien flopped onto the table. This one had a metal robot-like appearance with a large fin on their head. "Alien Borg, who tried to mind control me, but failed and was trapped this way."
Kurogiri and Tomura stared as Virus unrolled more and more aliens, some that looked incredibly human-like, some that were more obviously alien, talking about what they are and what they did. It was... unsettling how Virus was just tossing these flattened people casually like they were really like posters, even for the two villains.
"Hm... you know, we could certainly liven this place up a bit!" Virus joked, having finished showing off all the aliens he had taken this way. "Do you have any tape that we can use to hang them up?"
"So this Hero Killer might not even come out of this?" the Teacher said, having caught the conversation.
"Oh no, he should, I hadn't traveled with him in this state for too long," Virus assured him, as he rolled back up the flattened aliens and stuffed them back into his seemingly bottomless pockets. "Not to mention that he's unrolled, being rolled up delays the recovery. So he'll be back up and running within a few days at most-"
He turned his attention to the TV, catching the last few moments of the last fight of the first round, seeing Ultraman Hero's host's sister getting burned on her back. Virus walked towards the TV, watching the camera feed of Ultraman Hero's host yelling angrily at the boy who did it as he struggled against All Might's grip.
"So he got to hurt someone with his Quirk like that, huh?" Tomura grumbled. "Like I said, what a bunch of hypocrites... though I wonder..."
"This is... simply perfect," Virus said, his helmet flashing a red V. Tomura and Kurogiri could swear they heard him smiling underneath his helmet. "Simply. Perfect."
ORIGINAL AO3 NOTES:
- Let me tell you, the whole Fuka vs Katsuki fight was a serendipitous writing decision. Initially I was thinking of just having it be kind of a straightforward/not nearly as painful loss for Fuka, but then I thought "What happens to compressed air when heat is near the container?", and I looked it up, which resulted in what it was now.
- Initially I was thinking of having Momo and Setsuna willingly drop out of the tournament so that they could keep Fuka company to support her as a result of the nature behind Fuka's loss changing, but then I thought that it would be anticlimactic if we went straight to Hiroshi's and Katsuki's fight, so I decided to keep their fights in. Plus I realized that Setsuna would also probably has a bone to pick with Katsuki now.
- I always imagined that while Katsuki does use his Explosions on others, that the only time we see anything remotely close to this attack was with his canon Heroes vs. Villains fight. And that usually when he uses his Explosions on others, that they make a quick pained scream and get knocked out. In this instance, the Explosion was much bigger thanks to Fuka's compressed air backpack, and instead of just a one short scream it was a more continuous scream with a lot of sobbing. Even Izuku's never really shown reacting in a way like this.
- Also, do you really think his parents would be reckless enough to leave aerosol cans near him? They probably had a feeling that this could happen in their house, so they probably never bought any products in aerosol cans. But you know that they're gonna have a lot to say to Katsuki about this. Same with Hiroshi's and Fuka's parents to him.