Chapter Seven
"-Hanta Sero of the hero course and Mei Hatsume of the support course!"
"A support student versus one of ours," Ochako commented to Tenya.
"She's carrying quite a bit of gear," Tenya replied. "Could that be the deciding factor?" He glanced at Izuku. "Any thoughts?"
"Wha-? Uh, m-me?" Izuku asked.
"Analysis seems to be a hobby of yours," Tenya pointed out. "Please, tell us your thoughts."
"Oh! Well, uh," Izuku took a breath to order his mind and flipped through his notebook. "Sero sometimes gets a hard time when people overlook his Quirk and call it 'boring,' but it's actually really useful. He's creative with it, too, which makes it even better. He is incredibly quick on the draw and can tie knots in a flash, giving him a viable distance tactic. He can also draw it back in to use the tape to increase his agility and mobility. We've also seen him use it to create traps, but that's not really viable in the ring. I've wondered about its electrical or heat resistance, but haven't had a chance to talk about it. He could even use it to bind up wounds in an emergency, so-"
Izuku cut himself off and looked at his friends, who were looking at him with wide-eyed interest … and their lips in tight lines from being creeped out.
"Oh, jeez! Sorry! I know I have a tendency to ramble, I just-!"
"It's fine, Deku," Ochaco giggled. "It's actually kind of growing on me."
"It was rather jarring at first," Tenya said, adjusting his glasses, "but I agree. It only takes some getting used to." His glasses flashed. "As long as it's outside class."
"From Class 1-A, we've got the sticky man with elbows you'll never mistake, Hanta Sero! And from the support course, our personal mad tinker, Mei Hatsume!"
As the combatants take their marks, all three of them blink, raise their eyebrows, and-or widen their eyes at the harness that Sero is wearing. When Midnight announced that hero course students must fill out the proper paperwork for support items such as Aoyama's belt, Hatsume practically begs her for permission for Sero's use. It wouldn't have surprised any of them if she'd gotten on her hands and knees. Midnight eventually agreed if all parties were onboard and the match began.
What followed next was … certainly something to behold.
Izuku turned to the back of his notebook to begin a section on support technology, writing down everything he could about everything he saw. It seemed that Hatsume had decided to use this match as a way to show off her creations, her "babies," as it were. Sero's harness was meant to speed up his running and stabilize his movements, but it seemed awfully disorienting. Hatsume's own backpack was some sort of evasion rig that moved her out of the way every time Sero lunged for her or sent his tape spiraling her way.
Soon enough Sero was able to extricate himself from the harness and fight on his own terms, but the number and sheer variety of tech that Hatsume was carrying meant he spent the entire match either on the chase or the defensive as Hatsume painstakingly described every device she used, all personally made and all in the grating tone of a showman.
After a solid twelve minutes, Hatsume dropped all of her gear and spread her arms when Sero launched the last shred of tape he had in him to wrap her up and pin her arms. She smiled brightly as Midnight declared her incapacitated and the match over.
"How disgraceful!" Tenya declared, hands chopping in agitation. "She tricked a fellow U.A. student into being a presentation dummy for her equipment!"
"Gotta admit, though," Ochako said, "she made some pretty impressive stuff."
"It makes you think about how effective support items can be," Izuku commented, gears turning in his mind.
"I feel for Sero," Tenya said, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. "He put on a show of his own, but only under the puppet strings of that girl."
"At least he'll get another chance," Ochako chirped, and elbowed Izuku. "Right, Deku?"
"Yeah, he will," Izuku said firmly. They continued to discuss various combinations of students until the next round began.
"Our next match pits the great creator, admitted into U.A. by recommendation, Class 1-A's Momo Yaoyorozu!" Present Mic declared. "Versus, the assassin of Class 1-B. Even the most lovely flowers have thorns, folks! The hero course's Ibara Shiozaki!"
As Ibara stopped in her tracks and passionately decried being called an assassin — sunbeams seeming to shine down as she did so — Izuku was furiously writing down observations and predictions about her Quirk. "A mutant Quirk involving flora rather than fauna, that's kind of uncommon," he mumbled. "Given similar Quirks such as Kamui Woods's Arbor, she can probably control and extend her vines at will. Her range must be pretty extensive or else she wouldn't have made it this far. And it can probably work for both offense and defense. But do the vines react to lack of sunlight or water? What about-?"
"Deku, the match is starting," Ochako said sweetly.
"Oh! Right!" Izuku said, blushing as he put down his notebook to watch.
"Begin!" Midnight declared with a crack of her whip.
"My deepest apologies, Yaoyorozu," Ibara said, hands clasped before her chest in a pose of piety. "But I will not be ending here." She turned her back on Momo and the vines of her hair stretched and plunged into the ground to emerge halfway between them, then they spread out to attack from various angles.
Momo flicked her arms and produced a shield and a machete, blocking vines before slashing them out of the air. She grunted and dodged as several vines wove together to strike like a serpent, hacking at them and only cutting halfway through.
"That's not enough," Izuku said, his tone neutral as his analytical side took over. "Yaoyorozu will waste too much energy slashing away at the vines. Shiozaki's limits are unclear and may easily outlast her."
"C'mon, Yaomomo!" Ochako cheered. "You're smarter than her! Think!"
Whether Momo heard her or not, she clearly had a plan. She ran toward the mass of vines, producing a pump-action grenade launcher that she settled against her shoulder and fired one-handed while fending off vines with her shield. Ploot, ploot! Two canisters lodged in the mass of vines before erupting with pressurized gasses. Ibara's vines seemed to shrink back in pain, and the girl herself screamed in shock. She tore the vines free from her main head of hair cut at the waist and ran around the rapidly-shriveling plants, her eyes wide with panic.
And that left her open to Momo drawing close to slam her shield into Ibara, knocking her to the ground.
"My apologies to you, as well," Momo said firmly before hitting her again, knocking Ibara out cold.
"Shiozaki is knocked out!" Midnight declared. "Yaoyorozu wins the match and moves on to the next round!"
"She won!" Ochako cheered, jumping up and down.
"As befitting our class representative!" Tenya proudly declared.
"Brilliant!" Izuku said, eyes sparkling. "Those canisters must have contained a powerful herbicide! Shiozaki has probably never encountered a tactic like that and was completely unprepared, which means she panicked and left herself open." Izuku kept scribbling notes. "But really, her Quirk is excellent for both offense and defense. It looks like she could sense her vines' surroundings, which may add a reconnaissance factor to it. But even without that, it would be perfect for restraining villains-"
"Izuku~" Ochako interrupted with another fond smile. "How do you do that? I mean, you don't really take breaths."
"Oh, I dunno," he replied. "I don't really think about it."
"Clearly you are thinking too hard about the Quirks to recall to breathe," Tenya said with fond exasperation, pressing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "You're going to make yourself pass out one of these days."
More friendly ribbing filled the time before the next match.
"For our next matchup, we've got the guy with the electric personality! From the hero course's Class 1-A, Denki Kaminari!" Denki waved with all the swagger he could muster and Izuku flipped to his section of the notebook to make a few quick additions. "Versus! Gotta wonder if those horns actually do anything …! From the very same class, Mina Ashido!"
"Begin!" Midnight declared.
"Hey, hey, sorry about this, Ashido," Denki said casually, electrical current visibly building up. "But this is gonna be over in less than a minute!" His current built up to its highest and, with a shout of "One-Point-Three Million Watts!" was sent blasting at Mina. One her part, Mina looked intimidated, but sunk down on one knee to let the energy pour over her.
"Ashido!" Izuku, Ochako, and Tenya shouted with concern.
When the electricity dispersed, Denki was clearly out of it and stumbling around … and Mina stood up as if nothing had happened besides her clothes getting smoky. Well, that and she stumbled a little as she stood up, but with a shake of her head she seemed fine. "You know, you're right, Kaminari," she said sweetly. Then she rushed forward and punched him across the face to fall to the ground, out cold. "It was over in less than a minute."
"Kaminari is unable to fight. Ashido wins!" Midnight cheered.
"How'd she do that?" Ochako asked. "I mean, I thought she was toast!"
Izuku was closely watching, the wheels in his mind turning … and he noticed Mina begin to wipe herself off as if she were sweating. "I think I know," he said, eyes bright. "Ashido's Quirk allows her to produce acid from her body, but she can also control the viscosity and, more importantly here, the pH of the acid." He wasn't mumbling now, he was outright lecturing. "Strong acids are exceptionally good electrical conductors. But weak acids don't conduct electricity well." He was practically yelling now! "She must have coated herself in a thick layer of very weak acid to insulate herself from the worst of the electricity!"
Izuku looked at his friends with a wide smile … only to find them staring at him in shock.
"Izuku, that is quite a brilliant deduction," Tenya said, adjusting his glasses. "But, erm, well-"
"That was also really intense," Ochako said with a wobbly smile. "I, uh, I think I prefer the mumbling thing. Like I said, it's kinda grown on me."
"Oh! Uh, well," Izuku blinked in surprise. No one had ever in his life complimented his mumbling out loud, not even his mom. She'd only ever smiled bemusedly and snapped him out of it where necessary. "Thanks?"
"Naturally, my friend," Tenya said.
"One thing I don't understand is how Mina came up with a strategy like that," Ochako mused. "I mean, I love her to death but she's not the most academic person ever."
Tenya considered that and glanced around before finding Momo's spot. "How likely is it that she asked Yaoyorozu for some pointers?" he wondered.
"Pretty likely," Ochako chuckled.
"I cannot decide how I feel about that," Tenya added. "On the one hand, it seems unsportsmanlike that Ashido would not rely on her own skills. On the other, cooperation and sharing of intelligence is a crucial hero skill."
"There's nothing in the rules that forbids asking for advice," Izuku pointed out. "And Kaminari could have asked for help, too. He just assumed he could power his way through it."
"Guess that bit him in the chargebolt, huh?" Ochako laughed. The entire trio laughed together, continuing to comment on the match until the next round began.
"Offense and defense in one!" Present Mic announced. "A stalwart samurai and his darker side ready to take the top! The hero course's Fumikage Tokoyami!" Their bird-headed classmate merely bowed, politely and formally, in acknowledgement.
"And his opponent: Let's hope that gaudy belt can carry him through the round! Yuga Aoyama from the hero course!" Yuga waved exuberantly with his inexplicable sparkles, always eager to be in the spotlight.
"Begin!" Midnight announced with a crack of her whip.
Predictably, Yuga opened the match with a blast from his Navel Laser. Everyone in the class was aware to one degree or another of Fumikage's powerful Quirk and his skill with it. Like many of them, Yuga had clearly reasoned that getting in the first shot may mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Equally predictably, Fumikage unfurled Dark Shadow from his body with a verbal command and sent him on the offensive. What many didn't expect was for Fumikage to maneuver himself out of the line of Yuga's laser fire rather than have Dark Shadow shield him. As Dark Shadow swerved and wove his way across the ring to strike out at Yuga, he naturally drew Yuga's shots.
Izuku, watching as closely as ever, couldn't help but think that was … odd. He'd noticed that Fumikage tended to favor using Dark Shadow — as Present Mic had commentated on — as a simultaneous defense and offense. It was an effective general tactic that served him well in training. But now, seeing Dark Shadow apparently avoid the laser blasts … something seemed different.
Regardless of how strange it seemed, Dark Shadow slithered through the air like a snake and lashed out with his talons. Not at Yuga's body … but at his belt. With a few deft strokes, the belt was shredded and Yuga yelped in shock. He clutched at his belly and looked like he was going to throw up. Then Dark Shadow lifted him by the scruff of his shirt and tossed him lightly past the boundaries.
"Aoyama is out of bounds!" Midnight declared. "Tokoyami advances!"
Tokoyami silently called Dark Shadow back and bowed with evermore silent courtesy before making his way back into the stands.
"Poor Aoyama," Tenya said. "Such a quick match with little time to show his skill."
"Did anyone else notice that Dark Shadow wasn't tanking the hits for Tokoyami like he usually does?" Ochako asked.
"Yeah, I noticed, too," Izuku commented. "I can't help but think that it's important somehow."
The friends offered bouts of small-time chatter during the wait for the next match, but mostly they stayed quiet as they thought about the previous match … and the one to come. Bakugo would be facing off against Eijiro. One one level, Eijiro's bullheaded friendliness had made him the closest thing to a companion Bakugo had found at U.A, making this something of a fight between friends.
On the other hand, especially from Izuku's perspective, that meant little. Bakugo was almost as ruthless as he was determined. He yearned to prove himself the best of the best, and no fledgeling friendship would deter him. Granted, Eijiro's Hardening Quirk was among the best match-ups against Bakugo's explosions, but Izuku knew Bakugo better than anyone.
Kaachan would not give up. Ever.
"For the fifth round of the day," Present Mic crowed, "we've got the guy whose explosive Quirk is only exceeded by his explosive temper! Katsuki Bakugo!" Bakugo sneered with his hands in his pockets, the image of an uncaring delinquent. "Versus the tough guy with a cheerful spirit! From the same class 1-A, Eijiro Kirishima!"
"Begin!" Midnight declared.
Eijiro charged straight for Bakugo, his skin creased with the crack-like streaks of his Quirk, with a shout of enthused drive. He dove straight into a flurry of punches that seemed to put Bakugo on the defensive, the blond dodging instead of going for the kill.
"Man, Kirishima's got good instincts, too," Izuku commented.
Bakugo hissed and struck with an explosive swipe of his hand, but it barely slowed Eijiro down. And the brief opening let him get in a strike that sliced Bakugo's cheek before he could fully pull away.
"Like I told ya," Eijiro said with fiery confidence, "you can't touch me even with your dynamite!"
"I guess that proves it," Izuku said quietly.
"Proves what?" Ochako asked just as quietly, leaning in to whisper with him.
Izuku flinched and blushed hard at having a girl so close to him, even if she was basically his best friend at this point, and squeezed the words through his constricted voicebox. "Oh, uh, I've thought for a whole that Kirishima's Quirk didn't just harden his skin but his organs, too. It protects him from more blunt force than just hard skin, y'know."
"Oh! That makes sense!" Ochako giggled before leaping to her feet and pumping her fist. "C'mon, Kirishima! Go for the chin!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, eyes blazing. "Give him a left! A left!"
The match carried on, and Bakugo kept evading Eijiro's punches with a calculating look in his eye, striking with explosions where openings presented themselves. Too soon, the scales began to tip and Eijiro seemed to feel more and more pain from the blasts.
"There it is!" Bakugo shouted. "You've been straining to keep yourself hard this whole time!"
"Phrasing," Ochako giggled, to Izuku's confusion and Tenya's blushing cheeks.
"You're overusing your Quirk," Bakugo continued, oblivious to his double entendre. "And soon enough, you'll crumble like a stone tower under cannonfire!" He struck out with a rapidfire string of explosions. "C'mon, Hair-For-Brains, let's see how long you can stand the heat!" He shouted like a madman as he swung blast after blast at Eijiro, each one hitting harder and harder as the redhead's Quirk began to fail.
"And now for the finisher!" Bakugo snapped, releasing a more powerful explosion than ever before. "Die!"
Eijiro was sent hurtling across the stadium. Bakugo stepped forward to check, but Midnight beat him to it, checking on Eijiro's condition and stalling Bakugo with a simple open palm. She stood and cracked her whip. "Kirishima can no longer fight! Bakugo advances!"
"Damn," Ochako sighed. "I figured Kirishima had a pretty good chance."
"He did," Izuku agreed with simple honesty behind the words. "But Kaachan's just that good."
"If you both will excuse me," Tenya said, rising to his feet, "I must prepare for my match." He offered them both a tense smile before making his way up the stands.
"Who's Tenya up against again?" Ochako asked. "I know you'll know, right, Deku?"
"Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu," Izuku said dutifully. "He has a Quirk that works a lot like Kirishima's, turning his body into metal."
"Huh," Ochako mused. "That might get tricky for Tenya, right? I mean, he's got some mean kicks, but not exactly crazy-level firepower."
"Oh, I dunno," Izuku replied, eyes narrowed in thought. "There's more than one way to win these fights." The duo continued to debate how the match would go until Tenya and Tetsutetsu faced each other in the ring.
"In one corner, we've got the sterling, shining fighter of Class 1-B, with nerves of steel and an iron will! From the hero course, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!" With all of the cheering and fistpumping Tenya's opponent was giving the crowd, Izuku and Ochako simultaneously wondered if he and Eijiro were separated at birth or something."
"Facing off against him is the vice-rep of Class 1-A! A speedy hero-to-be with legacy to uphold and the heart to make it happen! Tenya Ida!" Tenya nodded and bowed, much like Fumikage had done before.
"Let the match-!" Crack! "Begin!"
Tetsutetsu wasted no time in activating his power, his body turning into shining steel in a mere moment. Much like Eijiro, he rushed toward Tenya with intent to finish it quickly. But unlike Bakugo, Tenya raced even faster to close the gap, his engines' speed getting him to Tetsutetsu before he could build up his own momentum.
Tenya opened up with a whirling kick that Tetsutetsu blocked, the sound of metal clanging audible even to the audience. Tenya followed up with a kick off of Tetsutetsu to spin into a diving heel-kick, with equal results.
"Ouch! That looks like it hurts!" Izuku said sympathetically.
"Get out of there, Tenya!" Ochako shouted. As if responding, even though that was impossible given the noise of the crowd, Tenya raced away for some distance and seemed to begin planning, while also massaging his legs in clear discomfort. Tetsutetsu was just as clearly unwilling to let him catch his breath and raced toward Tenya, who idly kept out of range with his speed as he seemed to continue to think.
"Come on, Tenya," Izuku whispered. He jolted as he felt something warm on his hand and looked to find Ochako holding it, her eyes fixed on the match as she bit her lip in excitement. He had to tear his thoughts away to refocus on the match.
After a few minutes of evasion, Tenya seemed to settle on a strategy.
Tenya said something to Tetsutetsu that they couldn't catch, while also spreading his arms and curling his fingers inward. The message was clear: Bring it on!
Tetsutetsu took the bait and charged with customary reckless fervor. But rather than block, Tenya stepped to one side to barely let Tetsutetsu pass, then activated his Recipro Burst — as evidenced by the orange fires from his engines turning blue — and spun in a blur to kick him square in the back. The force of Tenya's kick both unbalanced Tetsutetsu and added to his own speed, sending the student of Class 2-B tumbling end over end and out of the ring.
"Tetsutetsu is out of bounds," Midnight called. "Winner: Tenya Ida!"
"He won!" Izuku shouted, jumping up with joy even as his hand stayed in Ochako's. "And what a brilliant move! He didn't try to outmuscle Tetsutetsu, he used his own strength against him!"
"He did it," Ochako said quietly. Izuku looked at her in shock at such a subdued response. Ochako was smiling, but she also looked … sick. "Now it's my turn," she said and stood up.
Izuku wracked his brain for Ochako's opponent … and suddenly understood her reaction with perfect clarity. Oh god. "Ochako, hold on!" he said, taking her shoulder. "I, uh, I have a plan or two in here to handle him," he explained, showing her his notebook. "If you'd like, I could-"
"Don't," Ochako said. The words were not angry or offended or rushed. They were … firm. Determined. Ochako looked up to meet his eyes, and Izuku sucked in a breath at the barely-restrained fires held within the chocolate irises. "I appreciate the offer, Deku, I really do." She put a hand over the one he had on her shoulder. "But I've been practicing a lot, learning more, and … I want to show everyone what I can do. Not just all of them-" she gestured at the crowds with her free hand before placing it on her chest, "but to myself, too."
"Okay," Izuku said, nerves roiling in his belly even as he nodded decisively. He could certainly understand that. "I'll be waiting for you in the next bracket, eh?"
"You know it," Ochako said with a wobbly smile before she raced away to the waiting rooms.
Izuku's smile crumbled into naked fear for his friend and he dove into his notes to update them as a distraction. He realized that this is what the matches had been to Ochako, at least in part. A distraction from her opponent. It was one reason she had been so invested in them up to now. He was halfway through his new notes when Tenya returned.
"Is Ochako ready?" he asked, nervousness in his voice, too. Clearly he remembered her matchup.
"Yes," Izuku said, willing himself to believe it. To cast aside any and all doubt.
"And for the final round of the first bracket," Present Mic declared, "we have yet another match-up within Class 1-A! First up is the sweetheart with a force of the universe at her fingertips! The hero course's Ochako Uraraka!"
And up against her, the icy-chill dude who doesn't play around, admitted on recommendation! Give it up … for Shoto Todoroki!"
"Here we go," Izuku mumbled, eyes hard and determined not to miss a thing.
Hi there, everyone! Been a while, huh? My apologies for the wait, but I've been swamped with work and other commitments. Hope this chapter and the matches makes up for it! Yep, Ochako vs Shoto in the next chapter - poor girl can't catch a break, huh?
*Every single match here was drawn randomly, as I mentioned before. I figured it was the only way I could keep myself from completely favoring certain characters. And yes, a lot of them are rather quick - but then, most of them were in canon, too.
*Izuku's analysis of the Tape Quirk strongly mirrors my own (duh, given it's my own story). It may not be overpowered, but it is certainly useful and a great tool for a resourceful hero. Almost as much as Spider-Man's webbing!
*While I can certainly see why Fumikage won in canon, I still think Momo was done disrespect with her match. Here, I wanted to give her more of a show. And yes, it will affect her during the final exams.
*Ashido's defense against Kaminari comes from my own time in chemistry class in college. Would weak acid protect something? Probably not. But who said this all has to be perfectly accurate, eh? I thought it was clever, myself. And yes, I am all about students giving each other advice on matches if both are willing.
*With Tenya's matchup, I thought him simply pushing Tetsutetsu out of the ring would not work well like he did in canon with Ibara. So I gave it a different … spin. Hahaha!
As always, I hope this was a fun read! Leave a review if you like! And may your own works be even more awesome than this!