Momo had returned Tenya's whistle and he now resumed his role as referee. The next battle was against Denki Kaminari on a plain, grassy battlefield.
"Bessie's quirk puts Kaminari at a slight advantage." Yaoyorozu's knowledge of matter gave her a minor insight. "Fire is made up of air in plasma phase, which makes it an excellent conductor of electricity. Moreover, fire is rich in positive ions. If he holds a positive charge of his own, he can divert fireballs away from himself."
"I wonder if he knows that." Kyoka mused.
As it turned out, Denki was unaware that he was able to divert Bessie's fireballs, but it did not take him very long to discover it for himself.
"This is so cool!" he exclaimed as he sent back Bessie's attacks as quickly as they came.
After a while of toying with Bessie's attacks and missing a few of his own, Kaminari decided it was time for his trump card. He hastened to more or less the center of the battlefield, arched his arms over his head and let the sparks fly.
"Idiot" is not a particularly polite word, but no other word does Kaminari justice after releasing his maximum power. With two thumbs in the air he carelessly shambled outside the boundaries of the circle. An action that would have cost him the victory had Bessie not fainted from electric shock a few seconds earlier.
"Kaminari wins the battle!" Tenya announced. "…and Bessie's out cold…" he added.
Aizawa brought Bessie back around and sent her to Recovery Girl for a quick check-up. He also picked up her glasses – which were fortunately undamaged – and handed them to her. Soon after she was ready for the next battle which was against Katsuki Bakugo.
This is the scary boy who sits behind me. Bessie thought. I hope I don't get on his bad side. So intimidating was her opponent that Bessie considered throwing the match just to be safe, but decided against it, thinking it a better idea to treat him like anyone else.
Bakugo paid no mind to Aizawa-sensei's instruction to go easy on Bessie at first.
"DIIEEE!" he shouted as he thrust an exploding hand at Bessie the moment the battle started. It frightened her so much that she shot backward, only just missing the impact of the blast.
This guy's intense! Bessie thought, racing through her mind for a strategy. Keeping her distance she looked him up and down for the slightest hint of a weakness. Grenades at his belts. What are those things on his wrists? This guy's armed to the teeth! What do I do?
Much like Izuku had done before, Bakugo surprised Bessie with his range: He reached out a fist and fired explosive liquid from the device mounted just behind his hand. The liquid landed near Bessie's feet where it detonated. Thanks to the nature of Bessie's quirk she was used to minor burns. Had it not been for that the pain would have compelled her to surrender. She gritted her teeth and kept at it, avoiding the next explosion by a hair.
This new information gave Bessie an idea, and using small fireballs to keep Katsuki on his toes she kept her distance and bode her time, watching carefully for the moment he was ready to fire at her again. When he stuck out his hand she did the same, and a precision fireball went straight into the nozzle of Bakugo's weapon. It exploded marvelously, right at the end of his forearm.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Katsuki roared at the sight of his hand after it tanked such an intense explosion – and the pain that accompanied it – "YOU FOUR-EYED FREAK! I'll KILL YOU!"
Knowing better than to open his other hand up to the same danger he rushed at Bessie attempting to use his quirk normally, but since he was missing the use of his dominant hand he was notably less coordinated. Bessie sidestepped his advance but he drove his knee into her side. She curled in pain and he grabbed her arm, ready to swing her round and toss her out of the battlefield.
A fireball to the back forced Katsuki to release Bessie before he had worked up an adequate swing. She embraced what little force Bakugo had worked up and created distance between herself and her opponent.
"DIIEEE!" Bakugo screamed again, charging at Bessie with another blast from his left hand. This time, instead of sidestepping Bessie jumped, and propelled herself further into the air with two downward-aimed fireballs. As she cleared her attacker she launched an aerial kick backward which caught him in the back and sent him hurtling out of the battlefield. Once he realised what had happened he roared his disappointment at the clouds while setting off large, dangerous explosions.
This is it. Bessie thought. This is how I die.
Just then Bakugo's explosions died down under Aizawa's dead-eyed gaze. The boy scoffed, stood up, and headed for the nurse's office. Bessie felt relieved, but her heart was still pounding in her throat.
The next battle took place in the industrial-looking environment where Denki and Mina had their practical exam, and as these coincidences go, Bessie was to face Mina.
Tenya started the battle and Mina immediately slid forward on her acid. The sudden, rapid advance took Bessie by surprise and she stuck out her hands to brace for the collision. Mina, too, stuck out her hands and the met with Bessie's not entirely unlike the double high-five. A fairly goofy opening move, but it was thought out well in advance.
Mina pushed herself off Bessie's hands, giving her a silly smile-and-wave as she glided backwards in the direction from which she came. Immediately Bessie became aware of a tingling on her hands where they had met with Ashidos. The tingle quickly intensified into a sting and Bessie desperately brushed the acid off of her hands using the floor underfoot. The skin on her palms were red and it felt like they were on fire. Bessie readied a fireball but her sensitized skin made the heat unbearable. Bessie's quirk was basically disabled. She kicked off her shoes and removed her socks. Turning the latter partially inside-out she covered her hands with them so she at least had two layers of protection now that she had to face Ashido in hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately for Bessie this was one of Mina's stronger suits – she could even hold her own against a few boys – and after nimbly dodging a few punches Mina gripped Bessie, threw a trail of mild, slippery acid, and pushed her opponent over, sending her across the slippery surface and out of the field. Again Tenya declared the winner and again Bessie took the familiar walk to Recovery Girl's office, but this time she met with Bakugo half way there. She froze in fear and had to strain herself to keep from shaking, but Bakugo just glared at her and kept walking. When Bessie was certain she was in the clear Katsuki's familiar voice thundered behind her.
"Hey, fire freak!"
Fear gripped Bessie anew and she slowly turned to face Katsuki's intimidating scowl.
"Y-yes… Bakugo-san..?" Bessie quivered.
"I'm not losing to you again! So don't you dare hold back next time, you hear me?!"
An old-lady-kiss and a walk back later Bessie returned to find Uraraka waiting in the circle. Her large eyes glittering with excitement and her mouth in an uncontrollable grin.
"It's finally my turn, Bessie-chan!" she squealed.
At the sound of the whistle Ochaco's face shifted to a determined glare. Like lightning she shot toward Bessie, spun to avoid her opening fire and put a hand on her extended arm. The next moment Bessie lifted off the ground and slowly drifted into the air.
"Wh-what's going on? Why am I flying?" she asked aloud.
Do what you can, Bessie. You've still got your reach.
Bessie shot a fireball but the recoil sent her hurtling backwards. Just before she passed over the border she realised what was happening and steadied herself with another fireball in the opposite direction.
Interesting. Bessie thought. I should use this.
Aiming a fireball into the air Bessie charged toward Ochaco. Gripping Uraraka she launched the pair of them into the air again, ready to push off against her opponent just as they neared the edge of the field. Of the two of them, gravity only affected Uraraka but Bessie still had her inertia. The net effect was falling at roughly half the normal rate of speed.
Uraraka realised what Bessie was planning and quickly released her antigravitational hold. Both girls plummeted the short distance back to earth. Back on solid ground, as Bessie motioned to get her opponent into a hold, Ochaco shot into the air and drifted out of Bessie's reach. Bessie watched her carefully, purposely missing a few shots and feigning frustration until the time was right. She shot a fireball at Uraraka that would have connected for certain. Realising this, Ochaco released herself and returned to solid ground, playing right into Bessie's hands. Bessie charged at the point Uraraka would have landed and dove, catching Uraraka in mid-air. The two of them landed outside the circle.
"Both combatants are outside of the battlefield!" Tenya announced. "However as it is due to Bessie's well-timed dive, Uraraka was out first and Bessie is the winner!"
Next chapter: vs Sero, Kirishima, Tokoyami and Todoroki