Maybe it was petty of her, but Avery Ho did not like busses. Hell, she didn't like any vehicles, really. She wanted to be running! With her Quirk, she could get to the USJ so much faster than this hunk of metal. But, she had to admit to herself, it was more practical (and more fair) to ride with the rest of her class. After all, she was going to need to use her speed in the fight, and she didn't want to use too much charge when she didn't need to.
Of course, the slowness wasn't the only reason she wasn't exactly going to sing the praises of the internal combustion engine. Sitting on a bus, sitting next to some of her classmates, only dredged up bad memories. It hadn't been too long when she'd rode city busses not too different from the one UA was letting them use...back when she'd been normal. Before she'd received her Quirk.
Nope! Avery was not going to think about that anymore. Mr. Allen and Mr. West had made it clear that was to avoided as much as possible, what with the fact that there were more than a few people out there with the ability to read minds, including the Martian on the bus with her. Avery wasn't going to complain about keeping that part of her past out of her mind, either. It was...stressful, contemplating that.
Still, it wasn't really too long before their bus stopped, and the whole class from Titans Academy filed out, half of them ready to fight, the other ready to watch. Another bus pulled up next ot them, and from that came all of Class 1-A from UA. Together, they all entered the frankly enormous dome structure, and Avery was pretty impressed by what they found inside. Built for disaster simulations, the USJ contained mini-environments, dozens of them, and that just made Avery more excited for what was to come. Using things like these for their battles would be so much more fun than some stupid indoor Quirk training room. More variety! More opportunities!
On the other end of the spectrum, the kids from 1-A weren't looking nearly as happy about the locale. In fact, Avery started to notice them looking around, sad looks on their faces, and wondered what that was all about. But before she could zip over to ask Iida, Mr. Grayson and Mr. Aizawa walked out in front of them all. The exhausted looking Japanese pro hero looked at the students murmuring to themselves and glared. "Quiet down." The noise disappeared, and the teacher went from looking upset to bored instantly. "As you can see, for the second round of the Joint Combat Exercise, you'll be fighting here, at the USJ. I know some of you in my class have some bad memories tied up here, and while we're taking every precaution, if you would prefer not to spend time here, talk to either myself or Nightwing, and we'll help you."
That just made Avery more curious, but she had to refocus on her own teacher as he took up talking with a smile. "Over to our right is a seating area Cementoss made this morning, where all the spectators will sit. There are also monitors and drone cameras, which you can thank Power Loader for. That way, you'll all be able to actually see the fights pretty well, along with us teachers." It was then that, looking over at the seating area, Avery realized other UA teachers, and Ms. Clay, were already seated, and several of them waved. Even All Might was there. "Now, I bet you're all wondering how the fights are going to work, huh?"
In fact, yes, Avery had been devoting quite a bit of brainpower to that question ever since the first round, more than a week ago now. Mr. Aizawa took up explaining that, with his usual lack of enthusiasm. "Instead of three fights per match, this time there will be four. No fancy cards or other gimmicks, either. We choose one team leader to suggest their fighter, then the other leader says who will be fighting that person. Then, the one who had to choose first gets to pick which environment the fight will take place in. Each team gets two chances to go first and two to go second." Avery had to laugh at what came next: half a dozen students all raising their hands while staring at their teacher. Most were team leaders, and some weren't even still in the running! Speaking of whom, with a sigh, Mr. Aizawa focused his attention on one student in particular and asked, "Yes, Iida?"
"I have a question!" the bespectacled hero in training began, clearly speaking from his diaphragm. Avery couldn't believe he started his question by telling everyone he'd be asking one, the guy was a laugh riot. She wondered if he ever took that stick out of his ass, or if he just liked having it there. "What will happen in the case of a tie? It is clearly possible with this system for each team to secure two wins, which would lead to no clear winner!"
With what everyone had been thinking out in the open, it looked like Mr. Grayson was happy to tackle it. Pointing a gloved finger at the seating area, he replied, "That's what we're here for. Not only will everyone be getting detailed feedback, but we'll also be here to watch in real-time, and if there's a tie, we'll call the winner based on who acted as a better team leader." The vagueness of that qualification boggled Avery's mind, but there was no time to ask more questions, because Mr. Grayson was waving a hand towards the seats. "Alright, everyone not on Tim or Avery's team, go over there. Let's get this show on the road!"
With her team at her back, and Tim's at his, they approached their two teachers. Avery's heart, which was always more than a little faster than a normal person's, sped up even more with anticipation. She'd always seen Tim as her greatest rival, and this was a chance to show him up. Her confidence was at all time high, and when she was told that she got to choose first, she immediately said, "I'll start things off!" A quick look at her opponent showed that he'd expected that.
Her decision had come to her quickly, and once out there, Avery just waited to hear who she'd be fighting. Tim took a little longer, but he finally chose with, "She'll fight Cyborg." Ooh! Now, there was something interesting! Thus far that year of school, Avery had never gone toe to metal toe with the half-man, half-arsenal, and the opportunity wasn't one she was about to pass up.
Suddenly, Avery realized all eyes were on her again, she needed to choose where they'd be fighting. Looking from the higher elevation of the entrance area, over the various environments, before quickly saying, "The cityscape!" It had a lot of flat, open area to run through, while still giving her places to hide, if she needed it. No sooner had she made the decision than she ran down the stairs using her Quirk, reading the main street of the fake city in a second. She had to wait a bit longer for Vic to meet her there, and they took battle ready poses.
"Alright, a few last rules," came Mr. Aizawa's voice through loudspeakers. "You lose if you're rendered immobile, surrender, lose consciousness, or leave the bounds of the cityscape. Seriously injuring your opponent will cause you to lose the fight, and bring disciplinary action on you. You can fight now." With that innocuous declaration, Vic didn't waste any time. His dominant hand transformed into a sonic cannon, and it was pointed at Avery. Or rather, pointed at where she'd just been. With a tank of an opponent like Vic, Avery wasn't just going to stand around. In fact, she'd already zipped away, leaving a light trail of purple lightning behind her, into alleyways and into the dense cityscape.
As she expected, Vic reluctantly entered the narrow space between buildings to search for her, not even considering that she'd run up the side of a building after a few twists and turns and was now watching him from a rooftop. She took a deep breath, and readied herself for her plan. It was risky, but she was Avery Ho. Risk and reward came hand in hand. She lined herself up with a corner of the building she was on, and a quick peek confirmed Vic was walking closer, and at a steady space. Taking a deep breath, Avery waited for what should have been exactly the right moment and hoped her timing was perfect.
Burning through almost all of her stored electricity, maxing out what she was capable of getting for the Speed Force, Avery vibrated her body, so fast that she stopped interacting with the matter around her. She fell through the roof, four floors of faux office building, and landed as she stopped vibrating her feet for a moment, before leaping through the wall while vibrating to become intangible once more. Avery wasn't exactly like any of the other Flash's, they all had their unique foibles that made them who they were. She wasn't able to vibrate through matter without interacting with it at all, the way Barry Allen could. She also wasn't as bad at it as Wally West had been as a freshman, when he'd made things explode. No, for her, the only problem was that she had a tendency to scramble electronics when she passed through them.
Her timing had been spot-on. Victor Stone had been walking past that exact part of the alley when she'd jumped, and she'd gone right through his torso before she'd stopped vibrating and smacked into a cement wall. It was painful, but as she got up from the ground, she saw Vic was immobile, though clearly still awake. "My system's rebooting," he barely managed to say, considering most of his face was metal. "There's no way I can keep fighting...I give up." With that win in the bag, Avery zipped back to the entrance, trusting the teachers would help Vic out with his computer systems and whatnot. Tim's eyes were on her once she got back, a mix of appreciation and condemnation written on his face.
Walking over to them from the seating area, Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Grayson didn't look very happy with her either. "That was dangerously close to actually hurting Vic, Avery," her homeroom teacher told her, his displeasure dripping from every syllable. "You've won that fight, but it doesn't reflect very well on you." Avery did not like hearing that, and she looked back at what she'd done with confusion. Vic was okay, right? Sure, she couldn't have been 100% sure what that would have done to him, but the result was what mattered.
Unbidden, she remembered the notes she'd gotten from the first round. On the whole, she'd been complemented for making good use of her heavy-hitters, but she'd gotten some feedback about maybe waiting to throw herself in the ring until later on, and that sending out Cassandra while her opponent still had long-range fighters available hadn't been a smart move. Almost out of spite, Avery had made sure to go first again, and...she'd won, right? Trying not to let that weigh on her too much, she listened as Tim's choice for the second fight was Changeling, and she could guess why. Avery knew Gar was a great all-around fighter, his animal shapeshifting abilities giving him the variety to face down opponents that would seem to be way outside his weight-class and still take them out. Of course, Avery had someone like that on her team too.
"I'll send out Traci Thirteen." Avery had every confidence that her resident witch could take out the green geek without much of a problem...up until Tim revealed where they'd be fighting: in a lake. Sure, there was a boat on it for Traci to stand on, but Avery's confidence started to falter as she and Tim sat to watch the fight play out. Traci did some cool looking spell slinging, but when a green giant squid started pulling the boat under and quickly collected her into one of his tentacles, the fight was called, in Tim's favor. It was her turn to choose first again, and she had the name out of her mouth the second she was asked. "Orphan's next." Avery had a tendency to jump to a decision quickly, go with it, and then stand back to see how it played out.
Tim Drake, on the other hand, was pretty different. The brainy guy liked to think through everything from every angle before coming to a decision, and even then, he always looked like he was still thinking the problem over, despite the fact he couldn't change his choice. So, after a bit of ruminating, Tim had chosen to fight Goth with Goth. "Raven." After idly choosing the fight's location as the inside of a factory, Avery was confident Cass had this in the bag. Sure, she was more of a hand to hand fighter, but she could usually deal with just about anyone, elemental princes not-withstanding. But the low lighting of the factor proved to be to Raven's advantage, and with levitation, telekinesis, and other magic, she was able to bind Cassandra with steel cables with the martial artist least expected it, and the fight was called without Orphan getting to throw a single punch. For the final fight, Tim was actually pretty fast to answer, a smile on his face. "I trust Starfire."
Oh, so he wanted to send out his heaviest hitter, huh? Well, two could play at that game. "She's no match for Blue Beetle." The battlefield was to be a particular section, a city on fire. She wasn't sure if Tim thought Jaime's scarab had a weakness to fire, or if he thought there was some other advantage to that landscape, but whatever, Avery knew her bug boy could take out the orange alien amazon, easily. What she'd failed to consider, in hindsight, was personality. Once the fight had begun, both competitors were in the air, and while Jaime was arguing with the scarab over what weapon to use, trying to ask what would hurt, but not really injure or kill, a Tamaranian, Starfire had flown closer with fists flying, hands surrounded in a green glow. Jaime, under all his armor and alien tech, was a pretty regular guy, and he had a soft heart. Koriand'r was a warrior. He tried to dodge and weave while looking for the right level of weaponry to use, something that would actually do anything against Starfire without disintegrating her, from what Avery could overhear through the fight audio, but his opponent was constantly closing the distance to wail on him, fire starbolts, throw cars, everything she could to win. With a palm on her face, Avery watched as Jaime was knocked hard enough to fly through the environment enclosure and land outside it, meaning he was out of bound, meaning he lost. Meaning Avery lost. Gritting her teeth, she shook Tim's hand, anger and self-loathing starting to bubble up inside her.
From the second that the rules of this new round were announced, Katsuki Bakugo had been putting his mind to the task of how to beat that damn nerd. Opportunities for he and Deku to compete directly like this didn't come up every day, and with all the teachers and students there, this was a chance to show everyone that he was the real #1 hero of Class 1-A! Of course, the thinking was more difficult when everyone sitting around Katsuki wouldn't stop gabbering on during the fast girl and Robin's fight, no mater how much he cursed at them to stop.
More irritating was that, whenever he looked over at Deku, his eyes were on the fights going on, but Katsuki knew him well enough to know he wasn't just watching these fights, he was planning for his own at the same time. Pick one and do that, nerd! How was he supposed to succeed All Might if he couldn't manage his time well?!
Finally, one of the Titans kids beat the other, and it was time for Deku and Katsuki to assemble before the teachers for their fight. Deku was going to pick first, and, with too much reluctance for Katsuki's taste, said, "I'll go first." A brutal grin spread over Katsuki's face: he'd guessed right on what Deku would do.
With all eyes on Katsuki, he knew everyone thought they knew who he was going to pick from his gang of losers, but they were wrong. "You're fighting the grape one," Katsuki pronounced, and like he'd guessed, no one had expected that, least of all Deku. Emotions flashed over his face: surprise, frustration, and pity for his opponent. Deku chose for the two of them to fight in a forest, the perfect place to use his Shoot Style, and Bakugo wasn't surprised to watch Deku take out the brat wearing a diaper in no time at all.
Sure, he would have loved to kick Deku's ass again, prove to him who was going to be the real successor to All Might, the hero who would be an even better hero than he ever was, and this time rub it in the face of everyone in the class. But Katsuki wanted to win. And no matter what he told himself, fighting Deku wouldn't be a guaranteed win, especially if the nerd got to pick where they fought. Throwing the weakest person on his team meant Katsuki had lost the first fight, but it also meant that Deku had wasted his best fighter on a fight that meant nothing.
Once Deku got back from his quick fight, it was Katsuki's turn. "I'm up next." No one seem particularly astonished by that announcement, and he watched as Deku tried to think of who to throw at his rival. Uraraka would probably be a good choice, Katsuki had to admit, considering how close she'd come to beating him at the sports festival. Sure, he'd gotten stronger since then, but he'd seen the same was true for her as well. He'd probably still win, but it would be more challenging than the other options.
Of course, if Deku was playing the same game Katsuki was, he'd send out the girl with the weird ear lobes or the guy with all the arms. Neither would have any chance against Bakugo, but it would also free up Deku's better fighters for the later rounds. After spending way too damn long thinking about it, the nerd finally gave his answer, "Okay then, you'll be fighting Chargebolt." The reply boggled Katsuki's mind. The spiky haired moron was too strong to be a chump blocker, but too weak to actually stand a chance against Katsuki.
One look at the electric idiot's face made it clear he was thinking the same thing, sweat starting to stream down one cheek. Aside from that, he was trying to look tough, but one glare from Katsuki ended that charade. Still, Katsuki got to choose the battlefield, and without hesitation he barked, "We'll throw down on the mountain." Then, Katsuki stalked off to where he'd picked, not giving his opponent a second thought. Before too long, both were facing each other, surrounded by rocky hills and boulders, and Eraserhead was explaining the rules to them, again. While that was happening, Bakugo was doing his best to build up a good sweat on his palms, and the second the fight started, he moved into a somersault, then let out a series of explosions that sent him up and away, spinning through the air towards Kaminari as he shouted, "Die!"
As expected, Kaminari tried to move out of the way, despite the fact Katsuki was the best in their class at mid-air maneuverability, a mastery he'd been training for over years. But then, something seemed wrong, and Katsuki realized what it was: Kaminari didn't look scared. He actually looked confident, prepared, and Katsuki realized that perhaps he hadn't played Deku as well as he'd thought he did. "1,000,000 Volt Barrage!" the blond teen shouted, and let loose with an electrical blast that went out in every direction. With no teammates in this fight, he didn't have to worry about collateral damage, and Katsuki may have been fast, but he wasn't faster than rampaging electrons.
The zap hit him mid-flight, and it hurt. Katsuki had been hit by the electromagnetic loser a few times before, but he'd clearly been training his Quirk since then. Still, Katsuki knew he could fight through it, and was ready to change direction with a few blasts, tackle Kaminari to the ground, and end this fight. But that didn't happen. Fear actually started to invade Katsuki's mind as he realized he couldn't set off his blasts. No, scratch that, he couldn't move any muscles, period. Without the ability to keep himself in the air, Katsuki hit the ground like a sack of bricks, actually skipping across it for a few feet before setting into a scrapped up, immoving lump. Inside, he was raging.
Of course that damn nerd would come up with some way for a nobody like Kaminari to be able to fight Katsuki! He was so damn stupid for not realizing this could have happened! Electricity was what powered muscles, and high amounts of it can cramp up or lock them. Kasuki knew that! But he'd still fallen right into Deku's trap! It was that thought, repeated over and over in his head, that made sure Katsuki wasn't just going to give up, let this fight be called. With every ounce of willpower he had, he struggled against his body, trying to get it to move...until it finally did.
Katsuki had no clue if he'd been on the ground for a few seconds or if he'd been lying there for an hour. All he knew was that eventually, he was able to pick himself up and glare at the person who'd done this to him, now reduced to an unintelligible dolt thanks to how much of his Quirk he'd used, unable to fight. Since both fighters had been taken out at the same time, the teachers were probably waiting to see which would come to first. Sure enough, Nightwing announced, "Alright, Bakugo's up! He gets the win!" Grabbing the completely out of it moron by his costume's collar, Katsuki dragged him back to the sitting area. Katsuki was tense. He and Deku each had a win, and their match could still go either way. "So, Midoriya, who did you want to go next?"
The grinnin teacher's question got a quick, surprisingly confident answer from Deku. "Uravity." Of course he'd choose the bottom-heavy brawler, Katsuki mused. Considering who he had left to use, it would be hard to find anyone who'd stand a chance against her. Of course, that wasn't to say there was no one on this stupid team Katsuki could count on.
Looking down at the heroine in a green costume, all Katsuki had to say was, "Frog Girl, you're up." Since the moment he'd been forced to try and make something out of the classmates he'd been given, Katsuki had to admit that Asui was easily the most competent one among them. She took things seriously, and was the only one willing to push back against Katsuki without being scared of what he'd say back. Unofficially, he thought of her as his second-in-command, and if anyone could take on the gravity manipulator, it was her.
That's when Katsuki remembered Deku still had to pick where they'd be fighting, and to his surprise and annoyance, the nerd looked conflicted about what he was about to do. That's one of the things that bothered him so much: Deku was too wishy-washy. Either do something or don't, there was no point in doing something and feeling bad about it. Finally, he said, "They'll fight in the tundra." Oh yeah, one of the new environments they'd made when they rebuilt the USJ after the villain attack, Katsuki mused. What Deku had said got some shocked gasps from a few other people in Class 1-A, but Katsuki didn't get what the big deal was.
That was, until the fight started. At first, things were looking pretty even, with Asui being more mobile, and Uraraka able to follow her and send projectiles out using her Quirk. But the more they fought, the slower the frog girl was getting, and the more that Uraraka was able to catch up to her. Suddenly, just as Asui almost looked like she was about to fall asleep, did Katsuki realize the problem: her Quirk! Frogs didn't do well in cold environments, and Deku had chosen the coldest one he could. Katsuki grit his teeth as he watched Uraraka subdue his fighter and win the fight, both furious that he'd been played like this, and grudgingly appreciating the fact Deku, of all people, had set something like that up against his friend.
Still, this last fight got to start with his choice, and it didn't take a lot of thought to throw in the pink acid girl. She was too hesitant to use her Quirk on people for Katsuki's taste, but she was still pretty damn effective in a fight, even if she was annoying. Plus, the only other option was the invisible one, and as much help as she'd been during Investigation Exercise, she wouldn't be winning a fight against either of the people Deku had left to use. The nerd went with the punk rock girl, so Katsuki chose the fight location as a factory. Moving over to sit down in the seats, Katsuki was forced to think over the situation he was in. If acid girl lost her fight, then it was over, and Katsuki just flat out lost. But even if she won, then it would go to the teachers to decide, and he'd never been great at figuring out what they wanted from him.
The two fought in the factory like a game of cat and mouse, the earphone jack girl always on the move and using her Quirk to stay appraised on where her enemy was. Of course, one of the reasons Katsuki had been so confident sending acid girl into this fight was her mobility. Not only could she easily eat through factory walls and floors, but she could use her acid to basically skate on the ground, making her faster than most other people. Once she was cornered, Deku's fighter tried using some sort of sonic attack, but a quick splash of acid on the speakers in her costume rendered that less effective, and the fight was called in the pink girl's favor once her opponent had given up.
Soon, everyone was back in the seating area, their eyes on the teachers, who were all seated in front. They were talking over the various fights in hushed whispers, and Katsuki was so tense his fists were clenched hard enough to draw blood from his palms. After almost ten minutes of deliberating, Eraserhead and Nightwing addressed that class. "Looking at all four fights, we want to commend Bakugo for his strategic thinking, and his ability to look past his own pride to what would work better for himself and his team," Eraserhead started.
For a moment, Katsuki let himself dream that they were about to announce him as the winner. But instead, Nightwing finished off by saying, "However, while it makes sense in terms of game logic, in the field sending your weakest teammate to lose against a strong opponent is a bad idea, both for that teammate and the innocent people they're supposed to protect. This isn't just about winning, it's about applying your mind to your future as a pro hero. Comparatively. Midoriya made smarter choices, especially in terms of environments. He'll be the one moving onto the final round."
Katsuki knew they said stuff after that, something about when and where and how the finals of this stupid little tournament would happen. But he didn't remember any of that. He didn't remember bussing back to school. He didn't remember M'gann trying to comfort him only to be rebuffed completely. The only important thing was that he'd lost. Now, the only times he'd beaten Deku were indirectly during the Sports Festival, and in an unofficial street match. As far as the teachers or anyone in either class knew, Deku was his better. Katsuki had lost, and that was all he could think about.
