My Hero Academia - Under Pressure - Season 2 - Chapter 7 - The Chosen and The Worthy
At the Sports Festival, the final rounds event had been determined. 1-on-1 fights to see who would advance, and eventually with the Festival as a whole. The first match pitted Class 1-B against each other with Chuya vs Ueno.
Projection started the match and Chuya immediately went into her aqua form and shot a blast of water at Ueno. He didn't move from his spot though, he just tilted his head to his left and the blast went in that direction.
Unfazed, she tried again, this time with two bursts of water. Ueno again tilted his head, this time in alternating directions, and again the gushes of water went away from him without so much as wetting his outfit.
"A very interesting opening set of moves!" shouted Projection into the mic. "Chuya Taki's attacks would usually be problematic, but Ueno Gematsu's ability to twist momentum has rendered that skill virtually useless!"
In the stands, the remaining members of Class 1-B were huddled together to watch the matches.
The Twins were shocked by this first volley, "How interesting!"
"Ueno may seem like a dizzy fool, but he's clearly powerful," pointed out Doza.
"It's just hard to remember at times given how he's always wobbling that head of his," joked Ikaim.
Azujima was another surprised by Ueno's ease of deflecting attacks, but as he turned, he noticed that some of the others in his class weren't as surprised, in fact, they were rather stoic. Key among them was Fenella and Wasuke.
"What's wrong, guys?" he asked them.
"You're giving Ueno too much credit right now," replied Wasuke. "Yes, he was able to do those things to her attacks, but this match isn't close to being over."
"Aye," added Fenella, expression very stern, "she might have been ex-communicado with us, but I saw her training on her own. She's pushed herself hard to get here. She won't be taken out easily, you can bank on that."
"You make her sound even scarier than she already is," stated Kanagita with a shiver.
"Sorry lass, but trust me when I say...we haven't seen her angry side yet."
"She's about to move," said Iha with a point to Chuya.
Sure enough, with a scowl on her face, Chuya raised her arms up growing them in length and then slammed them onto the floor of the battlefield. The upwelling caused a tidal wave of sorts to head at Ueno.
"Huh," Ueno said nonchalantly.
This time he didn't even move his head, but merely blinked and the wave cut itself in two and moved just enough to not touch him. But that was the intended result.
"Got you!" cried out Chuya as she rushed the opening and slammed Ueno's head with a powerful punch.
Ueno hit the ground hard and rolled right to the edge of the ring. With a grunt, he was able to stop and then reverse course, rolling him to a safe distance so that he could get up.
"Ow."
"What a sequence!" Projection praised. "Chuya forced Ueno to take care of a bigger threat, allowing her to get in close before he could push her away."
"I'll admit, Ueno, I wondered if that punch would take you out for good. You're not exactly a muscular figure," Chuya pointed out.
"I don't need to be," answered Ueno with a shrug. "That was clever, you know I need time and effort to move bigger objects. But I hope you don't think I'll fall for that twice. I'm Dizzy, I'm not an idiot."
"I'll be the judge of that!"
With a spin, she sent out whips of water from her arms at Ueno. When he would move one, she lashed out with the other. But to her surprise, Ueno would move them enough to dodge damage, and still give him enough time to react to the other attack.
This frustrated Chuya, who kept up the onslaught, which was what Ueno wanted. Because after dodging one whip attack, he saw Chuya's arm spinning around to strike again, he focused his Quirk on that arm and sent her into a spinning frenzy. One she couldn't get out of because of Ueno continually spinning her around.
"Folks, I'm not going to lie...I can't watch this, I might hurl," admitted Projection from the booth as she turned away.
Eventually, Ueno had to stop the spinning. Chuya reverted to her human form and, fell to one knee as she gasped for air once the ordeal was over.
Though she stopped spinning, Ueno's head started wobbling again, "Now you know how I feel."
"You think...ugh...this is...funny...?" asked Chuya as she tried to hold down what was trying to come up her throat.
"Yeah, a bit. I know you can't see how you look right now, but the water is looking mighty green..."
Ueno stopped spinning and thought about what he said, then snorted, snickered, and let out a very monotone laugh. Each act got Chuya angrier. A fire that rose within her and was able to block out the spinning and sickness that was building up.
"Yes, go ahead, laugh! Because that's all you are, Ueno, a joke! I see how the others look at you, you and your never ending spinning, your deadpan voice, they think you're a joke as well! And lest you forget, this isn't a comedy competition, it's a fight, and you'll never win by making me dizzy! So stop being a fool for once and FIGHT!"
Her words echoed through the arena, silencing all who heard it. Many of Class 1-B were furious at her words, and her presumption as to how they felt about Ueno.
But to all of their surprise, the only one not fazed by her words, was Ueno.
His spinning again stopped, and for the first time, there was anger in his eyes, "Joke? The only joke here is you, 'Aquagirl'. Because you don't know a thing about me."
In his mind, Ueno flashed back to years before his time at UA. At a Jr. High, Ueno was doing some classwork, head spinning as usual. Someone from behind tried to sneak up behind him and press his head against the desk, but Ueno could tell it was coming and sent them flying backward.
"You'd think you'd learn," Ueno said in a matter-of-fact way.
"Yeah, back off, Kaze!" came a voice.
Ueno paused his work and turned to see a female classmate standing beside his desk. She had a colorful outfit to match her rainbow-colored hair, and she was not amused by the situation, "Do that once more and I'll color your skin pink, again!"
Kaze begged for forgiveness before rushing off. Ueno looked at the girl and gave a small smile, "Thanks Nagi."
"Anytime, Ueno. I wish they would stop picking on you, especially since it never ends well for them."
"Bullies are bullies, it's what they do."
"And friends do what friends do. Walk me home after school?"
Ueno shrugged, "Ok."
"Good, see you then."
She winked at him and walked off. He watched her go back to her desk and blushed a bit before going back to his work.
Later in the day, Ueno, head spinning as usual, walked the girl named Nagi down a busy street. The two didn't talk for a while, despite Nagi clearly wanting to. But Ueno's spinning made it easy for him to miss the looks she was giving him.
"So..." she started in a way to get his attention, "school's almost done."
"I'm thrilled we're almost out," Ueno replied with a small laugh.
"It has been pretty rough."
"Says one of the most popular girls in school."
"Oh, stop it, Ueno! You know I don't care about that."
"Yeah, I know."
He gave another laugh as his head continued to wobble, which got Nagi to laugh herself at the goofiness being shown.
"So...have you thought about what hero school you might apply to once we graduate?" she asked with intent.
He shrugged, "Not really, just trying to get through this school first."
"Have you...thought about U.A. High?"
This got him to stop, both in body, and in head wobble. He looked at her with clear suspicion, "Why would I go to U.A.? My Quirk is...interesting...but that's about it."
"Interesting? Ueno I've seen you move a Semi-Truck on a whim! You've stopped me from falling and hurting myself multiple times, same with many other people, and who knows what you could do if you push yourself! You can be a true Pro-Hero!"
"...I guess..."
"You guess? Ueno, of the two of us, my power isn't hero worthy. I can change the color of objects and that's it! You can save lives, don't you want to do that?"
Ueno hid his face by scratching the back of his head, "I just...maybe...wanted to go to where you where heading to school next..."
Nagi smiled and pulled his arm down to make him look at her, "That's very sweet, Ueno, and I'm glad you like me as much as I do you. Right?"
She put a bit of teasing in her smile and this got Ueno to blush heavily, "Yeah..."
"But this is about more than feelings. The reason I like you so much is that you're a powerhouse, but you don't boast it. You just keep being...you, spinning head and all."
"I wouldn't know what else to be."
"And that's very heroic. People pick on you because on you only barely fight back, they think you're a joke, but I don't! I want you to go to UA so that they can see that you aren't a fool with a wobble, but someone who can save them when needed. The world deserves to see that Ueno."
Ueno again looked away, but this time in thinking about her words. It was true he had been picked on a lot because of his vertigo and his head spinning, and he wanted to shake off the stigma around him. But could UA really do that for him?
His thoughts collided in his head, which made him unsure, "You're not wrong...it's just I don't...I don't..."
"Let me put this to you another way," overrode Nagi and she tapped him on the nose. As she did, it turned rainbow-colored like her hair. "Go to U.A. Academy, or I'm going to keep changing your skin colors, and leave them that way!"
Ueno used his phone to see his nose and could tell that she wasn't joking with a single look to her. He sighed and nodded in agreement, "Ok, I'll try out for UA."
This got her to laugh purely and she changed his nose back to how it looked before, "Wonderful, and don't worry, while I won't be at that school should you make it, we can still chat, and maybe I'll see you at that Sports Festival."
As Ueno returned to the present, his fiery eyes hadn't died down, and he looked at Chuya with malice, "A dear friend got me to come to UA, and everything I do is to show that her faith in me wasn't misplaced. She was the only one who believed in me, and the bullies that picked on me acted a lot like you. You can call me a joke, or a fool, but the joke's on you. Because between the two of us...I'm on better footing. I'm fighting my way, and I refuse to change because of people like you."
"Ueno! Ueno! Ueno!" came a chant.
Ueno and Chuya turned to see that in the section of the stadium where Class 1-B sat, they were all chanting for him. The Twins, Iha, Azujima, Doza, Ikaim and the rest were all there, chanting as one.
This made him very happy, "As for your earlier assumption, I think that proves it false. So, if you're done with your temper tantrum, I say we get back to the fight."
He motioned to Chuya, and she happily answered the call by returning to her aqua form and shooting out a barrage of water-attacks at him. She mixed it up this time and did burst of water with one arm and a whip attack with the other.
Ueno stayed calm throughout this and did his best to redirect all the attacks that came. At first he moved them in big ways, but as the onslaught grew bigger in scope, he went the path he did with the tidal wave and moved them just enough so that they wouldn't hit them.
Chuya wouldn't relent though and did whatever came to mind in order to trip him up, occasionally getting minor hits on him. But in exchange, this usually left her open to his own attacks, including repeated spins that threw her for a literal loop.
It was a true case of offense vs. defense and for a while, it was unclear who was getting the advantage. But after a bit, Chuya again ceased her attack as she tried to catch her breath.
As Projection watched this in the booth, she was in awe of it all, "Ladies and gentlemen this is truly spectacular! Chuya has thrown all sorts of attacks at Ueno and yet he's been able to dodge or redirect almost all of them! What will happen next? I honestly can't say! The real question is which one will diverge from their chosen path first?"
Hearing this, Chuya clasped her head in pain, hearing the word "chosen" over and over again as her own memories kicked in.
A younger Chuya sat near a heavily bandaged man in a hospital bed, eyes full of tears as she gazed on him. Her mind shifted to a point a bit later on. When the man, her father, was in a wheelchair, watching her as she did some practicing with her aquatic Quirk.
After a sequence, she fell to her knees as she failed to do a certain maneuver. The younger Chuya quickly got up and bowed to him, "I'm sorry, father! I'll get it right next time."
He didn't respond, but merely wheeled himself over to his daughter and gently raised her face to look at him, "Oh, my dear daughter. I feel so bad for you. You have the burden of trying to get our honor back, chosen to be something more than yourself to help your family."
"I do it proudly, father! I won't let you down."
"I know you won't, daughter. You are strong, and though you are a being of water, the fire within you won't be quelled easily. I look forward to seeing your victories, for I have no doubt they will be many."
He gave her a kind smile, and she returned it with a look of clear relief before returning to her exercises.
In the present, Chuya rose up and steadied herself before gazing back at Ueno, "You think you're the only one trying to prove that someone's faith isn't misplaced? I'm fighting for a greater purpose than anyone in this tournament! So you will fall!"
With her right hand she reached out to Ueno, he quickly made it go in another direction, but this is what she wanted. She wrapped it around to go back at him, and Ueno diverted it again. Until eventually, he was surrounded by her singular arm in a helix shape that boxed him in.
She then fired water blasts from it and Ueno did everything he could to redirect them away from him. The intensity of the attacks grew, pushing Ueno to the brink, but he didn't back down. With a shout he used his Quirk in all directions and flung her elongated arm up and away from him.
He paused to catch his breath, and when he did, he noticed that while her right arm retracted, her left arm was positioned behind her and was also elongated, but not in a way that was facing him.
A realization occurred and he groaned, "Oh crud."
From behind him, her elongated arm emerged and she wrapped her enlarged palm around the upper half of his body. Stunning him long enough so that he couldn't think and use his Quirk.
"Out you go!" she yelled as she thrust her arm towards the outside of the ring, and with a slam, put him on the ground, ending the fight.
Projection let loose a horn sound, "And this first match is over! Chuya Taki used distraction to keep Ueno at bay while she prepped for a sneak attack! She is the first to advance to the next round!"
The crowd cheered for Chuya, who took a brief moment to sigh in relief before straightening up, bowing to the crowd, and leaving the battlefield.
On the other side, Ueno slowly got up, disappointment ripe on his face. As he trudged towards the entrance a voice caught his ears, "Great job, Ueno!"
He turned and saw the Class 1-B students cheering him on still, he smiled and bowed to them before walking off. As he did, Tonen was there in the entranceway with a smile of his own.
"Good job, Dizzy," he said with clear pride, "You had her on the ropes, that's impressive."
"Thanks TK," Ueno replied.
"And I'm glad you didn't fall to her psych tactics. We all dig you, Dizzy, and if you ever want me to stop using that nickname-"
Ueno held up a hand to stop him, "I like the name, I know you mean it with respect, unlike others, unlike her."
"Good."
"Go win your match, ok?"
Tonen nodded in acknowledgement of the wish, "I'll do my best."
He patted Ueno on the shoulder and started his way to the arena. As Ueno went by a table he picked up his phone and saw he had a text message. It was from Nagi, and read, "You were wonderful out there, Ueno. Call me when you're free?"
Ueno did his best not to well up, but a few happy tears came out as he dialed up his friend to talk.
Outside, Projection readied the crowd for the next match, "Alright everyone! Next up we have a battle of the main classes! Approaching from one side is Class 1-B's Tonen Keitomo!"
He waved to the crowd as he got on the stage.
"And from Class 1-A, we have Mizukite Ennotsune!"
Tonen looked to see a very familiar person coming towards him. It was the student in the battle royale that assailed him and Eri with energy blasts. He had a fiesty look about him, including in his hair which was choppy in all directions.
"Bet you wish you took me out in the last round, huh?" said Mizukite with a smirk.
"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you," joked Tonen in response.
"Well, only one of us will go on, so let's see who made the bigger mistake."
"By all means."
"They seem ready," called out Projection, "so let the second match of the final round, BEGIN!"
Without hesitation, Mizukite fired out his energy ball blasts at Tonen. This time though, unlike the battle royale match, he fired them in rapidly one after another.
Tonen dodge rolled away from some of them, then exhaled sharply at others to hit them square on with his air pressure. The energy balls exploded upon contact with the counters and smoke filled the air around them. He waited for a bit, then Tonen cleared the smoke away with another gust. But when he did, his foe was waiting with a rather large energy ball...and a smirk on his face.
"Mizukite Ennotsune. Quirk: Energy Ball. What, that wasn't obvious enough for you? He uses his own life energy to fuel his spheres. Which means he can fire as many as his body will allow. Trust me when I say, this guy trained hard to have maximum stamina."
Fully charged, Mizukite fired the energy ball at Tonen, thinking fast, he did his Air Wall technique and once again an explosion occurred upon contact though.
This time though, it was Tonen who was smirking when it cleared away, "I'm sorry, was that supposed to hit me? I've been working on my defensive techniques, glad that one can take your best shots."
At this, Mizukite laughed dryly, "My best? I've barely shown you anything."
"Then you may have the next move."
"My pleasure."
With a roar, Mizukite fired another set of rapid fire energy spheres. But unlike before, he fired them in all directions and seemed to guide them towards Tonen so that he would be assaulted on all sides.
Tonen remembered his training with Fenella and with a small shout sent a wall of air in all directions to stop them cold. This didn't deter his foe though as he went full-tilt and unleashed volley after volley at Tonen.
At first, Tonen mainly played defense, as he was trying to gauge how far he would have to go to win without blowing his reserves. But even when he went on the offense with some attacks meant for a ring out, Mizukite used his spheres as a makeshift shield in order to ensure he didn't get pushed back.
The two went at it for a while until they had to pause to reassess where they stood.
"This is incredible, ladies in gentlemen!" shouted Projection, much to the delight of the crowd. "This is a clash of wills and it'll interesting to see who is the first to crack!"
"That's going to be you, Tonen" said Mizukite in a challenging tone.
"Oh really? I'm pretty sure I'm holding up rather well," he boasted in reply.
"You are, but I can tell you're holding back where it counts. More than likely because you're playing the long-game and ensuring you have enough stockpile for your later matches. Am I right?"
Tonen didn't reply with words, but merely shrugged playfully. His foe laughed at that loudly.
"That's what I thought. You're afraid to go all out and use your Quirk to the fullest because you want to make it to the end. I would rather crash and burn than play it safe with my Quirk. I have no fear over what I can do, and that's why I'll win."
Silence fell between then, then a low laugh emerged. It slowly got louder, and louder, until Tonen could barely contain it anymore.
Mizukite looked at him in disbelief, "What's so funny?"
Tonen's laughter died out and a very serious look came upon his face, "If you're not afraid of your Quirk, then you're a fool..."
His mind flashed back to when he was younger. Tonen and his father, Shitaka, were in the junkyard near their home.
Shitaka was setting up some targets for Tonen, then once clear he guided him on what to do, "Ok TK, just like before. Sharp exhale, focus on those cans I set up, and hit them all in one blast!"
The young Tonen took a moment to steady himself and then did as his father told. He exhaled sharply and with a burst of air from his body he hit all the cans at once.
"Way to go, TK! That was really good."
"Thanks dad, that felt good. I think I had more control that time."
"That's good!" stated his dad with a kind boop on the nose, "Control is important for our powers, that's something you especially will have to learn as we continue. Now, let's do the next exercise. Ok?"
"Ok!" the young Tonen replied happily.
The next hour was spent doing training, and with every burst, Tonen got more and more confident with his power. Shitaka would do variations of the target test to see what Tonen could do, and if it was too much for him to handle, they went to a different test.
After the hour was done, Shitaka couldn't help but clap at the wonder of his son, "That was really good, TK! I can't imagine what you'll be able to do once you...you...what's wrong, son?"
He looked at Tonen, who suddenly had a very worried look on his face, "Dad, is it...ok...to fear your Quirk?"
"Fear your Quirk? Are you afraid you'll hurt someone, TK?"
"A little. It's just...this Quirk I have...it's not just powered by the stockpile within me, it's my very breathing! If I breathe wrong way, sneeze the wrong way, I could hurt someone. Plus, you said that Quirks get stronger over time, right? Like with mom?"
"Yeah, your mom could only shoot a few wires out of her body at first, but now can do dozens. Quirks have been known to grow and escalate-"
"Exactly! That's why I'm worried. If I do something wrong, I could put someone into a wall on accident!"
This example got Shitaka shook up, "What do you mean? Have you done that?"
"What?" asked Tonen, curious about his father's demeanor, "No! I haven't! It's just something that crossed my mind...and I don't want to do that... I want to be a hero, not someone who has to worry about hurting everyone around him."
Shitaka sighed in relief before putting on a more fatherly expression for his son, "Tonen, your worry, your fear right now proves that you're going to be a good hero."
"Really?"
"Yes! Every Pro-Hero out there, especially the ones at the top of the rankings, have Quirks that, to be blunt, are so powerful they could do incredible damage. But that's the burden we bear. Any one of us could make a mistake and hurt people, which is why we have to have that fear, that worry, and then do whatever we can to make sure that mistake doesn't happen."
"So I have to train more?"
"Exactly! And that's the best part, you're not training alone! You got me, your mom, your uncle Brazen, and then one day you'll go to a school that'll help you understand your Quirk even more. The fear, the worry, it won't go away, especially as you learn to do more. But that feeling will make sure you don't get reckless, that feeling...it makes you worthy."
"Worthy?" wondered Tonen, "Worthy of what?"
"Of having people's trust," answered his father. "Their faith. That's what this society is built upon, Tonen. The trust and faith that the heroes will come and be their guiding light, their saving grace, and their protectors. You don't want to let them down, and that's good. You want to be a true hero, and that's great. So don't cast that fear aside. Use it to motivate you so that you're always in control and no one gets hurt...unless it's a villain and you WANT to hurt them, then that's different!"
He stuck out his tongue in a joking matter and Tonen couldn't help but laugh and shove his father back a bit in fun.
"Thanks dad."
"No problem, TK, now come on, let's do some more training!"
Back in the present, Tonen reflected on his father's words, and looked on at his opponent in anger.
"Every single one of us should fear what we can do, because to not have fear makes you reckless," he noted. "And if you don't understand that...?"
With a shout and extension of his arms, Tonen sent out a large wall of air. Mizukite shot out energy balls rapid fire to counteract it, and like before, smoke filled the area. But Mizukite didn't relent and shot the energy spheres through them to the area where Tonen was. They shot right through and even hit the walls of the lower area, getting a bit too close to where the spectators were.
He looked around for his opponent, but as the smoke cleared, he had no clue that Tonen was right behind him, "...then you're not worthy."
Right as Mizukite turned Tonen blasted him again with his air wall, sending his foe flying backwards. Mizukite didn't relent though and fired his spheres at the ground to stop his momentum and get him back to the battlefield. But before he could think of his next move, Tonen was right there. He grabbed Mizukite's arms, twisted them in a way to where he couldn't use his blasts without hurting himself, and then put him in a sleeper hold.
Mizukite struggled to get out, but eventually, he passed out, and Tonen slowly lowered him to the ground.
In the booth, Projection was stunned at the final outcome, but she managed to recover and sounded a horn to signal the fight was indeed over, "And that is that, ladies and gentlemen! In a surprising win, Tonen Keitomo uses a martial arts move to put down Mizukite! He'll advance to the next round and face Chuya Taki! Let's give him a hand!"
The crowd cheered for Tonen, and with a small smiled he bowed to them in appreciation. Before he left he looked at Mizukite, who was still unconscious, but being attended to by some of Life Force's staff. He knew that he wasn't a bad guy, not like Goya, but he needed to learn the truth.
"I hope you didn't think that move was dirty, it wasn't intended to be. I just wanted to show something different while also saving my power. Because Mizukite was right about one thing, I was playing the long-game with this Festival. But hearing his words reminded me of what I was trying to be. Trying to be a 'different kind of hero'. I knew that Mizukite was one of many who had that kind of reckless disregard for things because they felt their powers were enough to carry them through, or that they can just let their Quirk do all the work for them. But I knew better, and I wanted to show them that. The students, the teachers, the crowd, the Pro-Heroes, all of them. Little did I know that before my tournament was done, my own resolve, as well as my mental and physical limits, would be pushed even further than they were in that first match."
*credits*
