Lightning – My Hero Academia
Chapter 50: Ako Takes On Deku!
Here I thought that Chikashi being able to match my speed and copy my moves was bad enough. But fighting Midoriya? That really taught me just how hilariously unprepared for a fight someone could be.
"Alright, Midoriya. Just you and me. Let's see what you got!" Ako grabbed onto Deku's head, pulled him into a choke hold, and used his speed to pull him out of the hallway.
Ako was only able to pull Deku down to the end of the hall before Deku wrenched himself free. He grabbed onto Ako's arm and twisted it over his head, forcing Ako to let go and pull himself free.
The both of them awkwardly came to a stop. Ako pressed his hands on the floor to catch himself, stopping in a crouched position.
"I need to get Kaachan and Mineta free. I can't control my new quirk well enough right now to pull it out here." Deku thought to himself, clenching his fists.
"You gonna make the first move or should I do?" Ako asked teasingly, adjusting the mask covering his nose and mouth.
"I don't have to beat you here. I just have to stop you." Deku said before getting into his fighting stance.
"You'll be lucky to keep up." Ako taunted before shooting forward.
Ako attempted to tackle Deku, but Deku sidestepped him. Ako turned and threw several kicks at him. Deku slid his foot back and blocked them with his forearms. Ako intentionally drove the toe of his metal boot into Deku's arm. Deku growled out as a hot flash of pain shot up through his whole arm and into his shoulder.
"I gotta be careful. I don't have my suit on, but he's fully armed and he's not holding back at all." Deku realized.
Ako turned on his foot and shot forward again, throwing a wide right hook at Deku. Deku dodged it and attempted to counter with an uppercut. Ako leaned back to avoid it, but he felt a forceful gust of wind shoot up past him, throwing him off balance.
Deku shifted forward and kicked Ako in the chest, making him stumble back.
"What the hell was that?!" Ako exclaimed in surprise.
"You wanted to train with me, right, Tanaka? You're probably one of the only people I know who could do this. Let's see how you keep up with my Shoot Style!" Deku exclaimed before shooting forward.
Deku jumped into the air and spun sideways, throwing three downward kicks at Ako. Ako blocked the first two before having to step back to avoid the last one. Deku landed on his feet and spun around, throwing another kick at Ako's head and just barely missing the front of his faceplate.
"Jeez! It's like fighting a faster version of my dad!" Ako thought to himself, quickly realizing that this fight was gonna be a lot harder than he thought.
Deku jumped forward and threw a punch. Ako leaned to the side to dodge it, grabbing onto Deku's arm and flipping him over his shoulder. Deku yelped as he flipped forward before landing on his feet. He bounced a little and ran forward away from Ako.
"If I can get to Kaachan and Mineta, that'll guarantee that we win!" Deku thought to himself, turning the corner and running towards them.
"Hey!" Ako shouted and ran after him.
As Deku reached the corner of the hallway where Bakugo and Mineta were trapped, he slid to a stop and turned towards Ako again, "Hang on, guys! I'll get you out!" He said to them.
He jumped up and threw kick towards Ako's shoulders as he approached. Ako stopped immediately in front of him and caught his leg with both hands. A huge burst of wind from Ako's sudden stop slapped Deku in the face, throwing him back off balance and pushing his ski mask off his face.
Ako grabbed Deku by the ankle and the thigh then hooked his arms around his leg. He then ran furhter down the hall, away from Bakugo and Mineta, while dragging Deku along at a fast enough speed to make him bounce in the air like a waving flag.
Reaching an intersection of hallways, Ako grabbed Deku's chest and slammed him into the wall at an angle that made him spin and hit the ground after the violent impact. Deku cried out in pain and growled as he hit the carpeted floor. Ako looked back at him and relaxed his fists.
"That all ya got, Midoriya?" Ako asked, feeling confident.
"Urgh, you could've broken something." Deku grumbled.
"You're welcome to take that home with you. I didn't come here to lose now, you know. I've still got too much to prove. Now get up!" Ako commanded, getting into a boxing stance with his fists up.
Deku let out a huff as he pushed himself up onto his forearms. He then sped right into Ako, taking them both further down the next hallway. He grabbed onto Ako and jumped into the air, hitting him in the side with his knee before shoving him into the ground.
Ako rolled backwards a few times and scrambled to his feet. Deku turned away from him, looking to make another run for Bakugo and Mineta. Ako quickly ran at him and threw a punch. Sensing this, Deku ducked underneath it, but now he had Ako blocking his path once again.
Ako turned around just in time to dodge a kick aimed right for his head. Ako threw a few quick punches right into Deku's stomach then went for a spinning kick to his head. Deku ducked underneath it and pushed Ako back with a forward kick right to the chest.
Ako stumbled backwards until his back smacked against the wall behind him. Deku jumped forward and went for another kick. Ako moved to the side to avoid it. Deku's foot hit the wall and he bounced off of it. Ako bumped right into a small decorative table right next to him, knocking over a vase.
Ako stepped away from Deku and pushed the table between them. Deku walked into it awkwardly before pushing it aside. As he did, Ako went for a left hook to Deku's head. Deku leaned back and barely dodged it. He tried to kick Ako in the stomach, but Ako deflected it with both hands.
"This isn't working. I'll have to pull out something else...I have an idea! I haven't actually tried this yet." Deku thought to himself.
Deku hopped backwards away from Ako then crouched down, taking a moment to concentrate. He jumped to the side, moving at an even faster speed now. He bounced off the wall several times around Ako before coming up behind him.
Ako turned around just in time to take a hard punch to the face. The force of Deku's fist broke his goggles and dented his faceplate.
Ako was knocked down the hall, rolling and bouncing across the carpet before slamming into the wall back first. He slumped down onto his side after the impact, his head hanging down. His hair fell over his face. He groaned a little as he shakily reached up and pulled his goggles off.
"Ako?" Deku momentarily dropped his his hands down, worried that he might have overdone it with that punch.
"Ah...that was a move," Ako let out a weak chuckle. He pulled his faceplate off then looked up at Deku with a smile. His nose was crooked and was starting to bleed down around his lips and into his mouth. "Might have to steal that from ya." He quipped.
"Your nose looks broken. I think you should stay down." Deku suggested before starting to turn away from him.
"Oh ho no," Ako said, slowly forcing himself to get back up to his feet. "We're not done." He said with a tired sigh. Deku stopped and looked at him again.
"You've already spent your energy fighting Kaachan and now me. Keep this up and you'll burn yourself out, Ako. You did good, but it's best you stop now." Deku insisted.
"Heh, come on man. You know I can't do that. That's not what heroes do...Plus Ultra, right?" Ako said sluggishly, clenching his fists tighter.
Deku didn't say anything. His eyebrows furrowed into a serious expression.
"You know how it is, right, Midoriya?" Ako asked, "The pressure to succeed when everyone has high expectations. Heh...since I have this 'flashy amazing' quirk, I'm supposed to have this hero stuff in the bag no problem. It should be a breeze for me, yeah.
"But the truth is ever since I got here I've done nothing but struggle. Every step forward has been a fight. I'm being pushed to my limits by my classmates who are probably a lot more passionate about this hero stuff than I am.
"But I have to keep on fighting, because why would I let all this potential go to waste? If I don't give my all right here right now, why would anyone expect me to give it my all in the real thing? I refuse to be a failure again...
"So you're gonna have to either KO or kill me to stop me, because otherwise I'll just keep on coming until I break you!" Ako said, flashing a toothy bloody smile before shooting forward suddenly.
Ako ran up past Deku and jumped off the wall behind him, bringing his foot up and aiming for Deku's chest. Deku turned and caught his foot with both hands. Ako pushed his foot forward with his speed, using it to make Deku awkwardly slide back and hit the wall. Deku grunted and flinched in surprise.
He tried to move to the side as Ako approached him, but Ako was able to grab onto his shoulder and push him back against the wall. He proceeded to punch him right in the head. Deku's head bounced against the wall, dazing him and making slip and fall to the floor.
Ako ran up to him and tried to kick him in the ribs. Deku blocked it with his forearm, leaning to the side after. As Ako went for another kick, Deku turned and swept his legs out from under him. Ako fell hard on his back as Deku got up. Then Ako kicked back up to his feet.
"Ako's losing his composure. I don't think he cares about the mission anymore. He just wants to beat me." Deku realized, seeing the focused malice in Ako's eyes as he started swinging at him again.
Ako threw several more punches. Deku stepped back and leaned side to side to dodge them. Ako hopped forward and feinted a kick. Deku prepared to block, which allowed Ako to switch feet and kick him from the other side. His shoe connected right with Deku's cheek.
While Deku was still stunned from the hit to his face, Ako spun again and swept Deku's legs out from under him. As Deku's body went parallel to the ground, Ako turned one more time and kicked him right in the sternum with a forward kick that sent Deku rolling down the hallway.
Ako let himself take a deep breath, turning his head and spitting some blood out of his mouth, "You like that move? I'm thinking about it calling it like the Whirlwind Kick or something." He chuckled.
Deku let out a gravely grunt as he got to his feet. He rubbed his chest with his hand as he stood up, "What do you expect to gain from beating me like this, Ako? You won't win this training scenario this way." He pointed out.
"You think I care about a dumb little training exercise right now? I've got so much more to prove by beating you, bro. Just imagine how much further ahead I could get by taking down a second year." Ako said with a wild grin, crouching down and getting ready to attack again.
"He's losing it. He's going crazy. I gotta put a stop to this fight." Deku thought to himself before preparing himself for the fight to continue.
Both of them shot forward at the same time. Ako jumped up onto the wall to his right, running sideways down the hallway. Deku jumped up and bounced off the wall to Ako's left. They met in the middle by leaping at each other. Deku went for a punch while Ako leaned down and wrapped his arms around Deku's midsection.
Deku twisted awkwardly into Ako, which allowed Ako to pull him down the hallway. He slammed Deku into another wall. This time they both went crashing through it to the other side. Ako landed hard on Deku before bouncing off.
Both of them hissed and groaned in pain, laying on the floor covered in chalky dust from the drywall.
"What the heck?!" They heard a girl exclaim.
Both Deku and Ako turned to see that they were in the hostage room now. Yui was standing over Aoyama while Koko was crouched down by Mina who was on her back on the floor. Everyone, including the hostages, were all looking at the two of them with widened eyes.
"Crap." Ako said to himself.
"Huh? Ashido! Aoyama! Are you two alright?!" Deku quickly asked.
"Midoriya! You're here! We were about to lose!" Mina shouted to him.
"I see...Ako threw his all at me and got me so focused on him that I wouldn't have noticed his partners saving the hostages right under my nose. He trusted his team to pull through as long as he created an opening...
"In other words, he was playing me." Deku realized in that moment...
Meanwhile, Bakugo was still struggling to get free. He could hardly move, but getting worked up was allowing him to build up enough sweat. Finally, he ignited it, blowing apart the sticky balls that were keeping him immobilized. He immediately reached up and blew up the last one still stuck to his face.
Now free, Bakugo let out an angry growl as he started making his way down the hall, leaving Mineta still stuck where he was.
"Wait, what about me?!" Mineta tried to call to him with his mouth muffled.
"I'm gonna kill that prick." Bakugo vowed as he started hurrying back to where the hostages were...