My Hero Academia - Under Pressure - Season 2 - Chapter 8 - The Psychic, The Shifters, and The Shark

At the UA High Sports Festival, the first two matches had come to a close, and as Tonen Keitomo went off the battlefield after his victory in his match, he looked to the entrance and saw Hana, Kuroda, and Eri all waiting for him.

He smirked at them as he approached, "My my, such a crowd, were you my cheerleading squad and I didn't realize it? Because if so, you're in the wrong outfits."

"Ha ha, Tonen," mocked Kuroda with a smile of her own. "We're just getting ready for our matches since we go one after another."

"Fair enough. Oh, and Copycat, I hope you appreciated me finishing that match with that move you taught me."

Eri did her best to hide how proud she was, "I was happy you used it, and that it indeed worked for you. Sometimes it doesn't work first-time out for new users."

"First-time lucky, I guess."

"I guess."

They gave a small laugh to one another, but as the silence grew between them all, Tonen looked to Hana, who was right next to the other two, but her mind was clearly somewhere else.

He waved his hand in front of her face, "Shifty?"

Hana snapped to, "Huh? What?"

"Thinking about your match with Goya?"

"Yeah, that's one way of saying it..."

"She's nervous," pointed out Kuroda with sympathy for her friend. "Can't say I blame her."

"Nor can I," added Eri. "His Quirk is powerful, and few can mess with it. I know I couldn't. You might be able to Tonen if you get some blasts off quick enough. As for Hana..."

"I'm up a creek," she lamented with a heavy sigh. "Unless you have a brilliant idea, TK?"

Tonen looked at Kuroda, who gave him a pleading look, making it clear that if he could help, he should. He gave a sigh himself as he looked across the field and could just make out his rival. As he thought about how he wanted to beat Goya himself, an idea popped into his head.

"Shifty?" he said, getting her attention. "You can merge with the battlefield right, if you touch it?"

Hana looked at the field, "Looks like solid stone, so yeah."

"Ok...there is a way you MIGHT pull this off...but you got to follow this plan point for point..."

He told her the plan, and both Kuroda and Eri were surprised at its nature. No sooner had he finished than a familiar tapping of a microphone caught their ears.

"Alright, everyone! Break's over, and now it's time for the third match!" announced Projection from the booth above them all. "And once again it's a battle of Class 1-B students! First up, one of the top students of the class whose Quirk might just shoot him to the top, Goya Ramasu!"

Goya entered the field of play and gave a light wave to the crowd as if he were a legend and they were all his adoring fans. He didn't have his spheres with him as they weren't allowed in this kind of fight. But the smirk on his face showed his confidence was at an all-time high.

"And his opponent, a girl who can turn any terrain into an advantage for herself, Hana Yasuyomi!"

Tonen, Kuroda and Eri each gave her a thumbs up and smile before she departed for the battlefield. The crowd cheered, but unlike Goya, she remained focused. Hana steeled herself for what was coming, as she knew that Tonen's plan was the only chance she had against him.

The two reached their opening positions, but didn't say a word to one another.

"How tense!" noted Projection as she looked on. "No witty banter to start this time around. So, let the third match, begin!"

Goya smiled and extended his hand, but just before he used his Quirk, Hana shouted out, "You're a freaking dick, Goya!"

Her insult took Goya aback, as well as much of the crowd, who naturally didn't know the bitterness that Class 1-B had for him.

"Excuse me?" questioned Goya, anger plastered all over his face.

"You heard me! You've been nothing but trouble since we started here. You think you're better than all of us, refused to help us when we needed you most, and now you think we're just going to let you waltz through this competition? You're a bigger idiot than we thought if you feel that way."

A vein in Goya's head pulsed violently at the insults being thrown, "Let me? You think that any of you stand a CHANCE AGAINST ME? You may be the No.2 in terms of our representatives, but know your place on the leaderboard! My Quirk towers over yours in terms of raw power, and once I show this to the crowd-"

Hana watched him carefully during his monologue, and as he mentioned the crowd he turned his head and gestured to them. Which was the opening she needed. She quickly touched the ground and fused with it.

Goya realized this too late and tried to grab her with his psychic field, but failed.

"Dang it!" he shouted and looked around to see where she might be.

"What a plan by Hana Yosuyomi!" shouted Projection with clear intrigue. "She knew that her terrain skills wouldn't work if she got caught in Goya Ramasu's psychic force, so she tricked him into looking away so she could use her Quirk uninterrupted! I wonder where she got that idea from?"

At the entrance, Kuroda had a beaming smile at her friends' success, and playfully nudged Tonen, "Who indeed?"

Tonen shrugged in appreciation of the praise, "Goya's an arrogant fool. You insult him enough? He'll monologue."

"And someone who monologues will take their eyes off their opponent just long enough for a move to be made," concluded Eri.

"Let's hope it's enough. I gave her the setup, she had to do the rest."

"Come on, Hana," muttered Kuroda to herself. "You can do it..."

Back on the battlefield, Goya searched around for any sign of Hana, even trying to use his Quirk in a broad sense on the ground, but he could tell he had no hold over anything but the arena.

As he kept trying to see where she was, Hana waited for his back to be turned, and she popped out of the ground and rammed into him from behind. The forced knocked him flat on his front, and before he could counterattack, she was gone once again.

"Attack me from behind huh? Let's see you do that twice..." Goya said to himself as he got up.

He once again started to search for her, but every once in a while spun around quickly so that he couldn't be caught off guard once again.

"Come on...I know you're there, make a move!"

"Ok," Hana said, her voice permeating from all around.

Quick as a flash she shot out of the ground like a bullet and gave Goya an uppercut right on the chin. The force was so great it sent him flying into the air, and then crashing onto the ground. But once again, before he could counter, she went right back into the arena.

In the stands, Class 1-B, now with Ueno among them, watched in surprise as Hana had the upper hand in the fight.

"Holy cow, she's winning!" said Ikaim shocked.

"Aye, that hit-and-run strategy is really working," added Fenella impressed.

"Can she win this way, brother?" asked Ryo curious.

Ryu pondered the question, "It's possible, sister. She's clearly going for a KO, as a ringout would be too difficult given Goya's powers."

"True, but she has to be careful," interjected Ueno, head wobbling, "the moment she gives him a chance to strike back, she's done."

Doza leaned in more to watch the fight more intently, "Then let's hope that doesn't happen."

"You can do it, Hana! Show him who's boss!" cheered on Kanagita with rare passion.

In the fight, Hana was indeed showing Goya who was boss. Not unlike a stealthy predator attacking unsuspecting prey, Hana continued to pop in and out of the ground in order to strike quickly before diving back into her safe space.

Just as important though, Hana went made sure to never attack the same way twice in a row. Ensuring that Goya had to be seriously on edge as he never knew where she would come from, or how she would attack next.

Each strike made Goya more frustrated that he hadn't gotten in a single hit on her. Which was punctuated when Hana only had her hands come out of the ground to literally sweep him off of his feet.

The crowd was very entertained by this exchange, their laughter at Goya's plight was filling the air, and his ears.

"They're laughing...at me?" he said with teeth bared and eyes bulging. "No one laughs at me!"

He got up, and his psychic aura encircled him. With focus and patience he waited for Hana to strike again, and this time she tried for another attack at his back. But the moment she was out of the ground Goya sent his aura out in all directions, stopping her in midair.

The crowd, including Class 1-B, gasped at the twist and use of power. Goya was the only one smiling as he turned around to see his opponent frozen in place, her eyes full of fear.

"I'll admit, you played that game very well. But you were always on a timer, and your time...has run out."

Goya gave a casual flick of his left arm and Hana shot out of the battlefield and right into the outer wall of the space. Her body made a crater in the wall, but eventually gravity took hold and she hit the ground, ending the match.

Projection made the sound to end the match officially, though the shock in her voice could be felt as she spoke, "And another shocking end to a match! Hana had Goya on the ropes for some time, but he waited for his moment and took her out with one move! He's going to be hard to stop in the future rounds, ladies and gentlemen!"

"Darn right I will be," Goya said as his typical smirk and posture returned. But his stance and expression changed as he looked over to where Hana had landed.

Going up to her was Kuroda, Tonen and Eri, each worried about their friend.

Kuroda cradled Hana in her arms as she tried to awaken her friend, "Hana, Hana! Talk to me!"

Hana weakly opened her eyes, but managed to get a smile up when she saw who was around her, "Hey guys. Guess I lost, huh?"

"Only after a great effort on your part, Shifty" praised Tonen.

Eri gave a kind smile to Hana, "You were dominating that match, if it was anyone else? You likely would've won."

Hana laughed but groaned in pain soon afterward, "Thanks guys, I could use some healing though."

"We'll take care of that," said the voice of an attendant who had just arrived. "You can visit her later."

All three of them watched as Hana was taken away. Then both Kuroda and Tonen turned to Goya, who was still on the battlefield. The two glared at him for his excessive use of force, in response...he shrugged while grinning widely. Then walked off without a care in the world.

Kuroda made a move towards him but Tonen stopped her, "K-Rep, stop! That's what he wants. Besides, your match is next! You need your head on straight for that."

"I just- I can't- ...you're right," admitted Kuroda. "Thanks Tonen."

Eri motioned to Kuroda to get her attention, "I know it's hard, but him out of your mind. You know who you're up against next, and the last thing you want is to be distracted. Hana wouldn't want that, right?"

"Right. You two head to the entrance, I'll take a moment before walking onto the field."

Tonen and Eri looked at each other with concern, but respected her wishes and left. Kuroda closed her eyes and took several breaths in order to steady herself for what was coming, as it was coming very quickly.

"Ok then!" announced Projection from the booth. "We now head into Match 4 of the first round! And trust me when I saw this one will be interesting for sure! First up, we have the beastly behemoth from the deep sea, Anno Mako!"

From the entrance Goya went to came Anno, whose expression was more focused than it usually was. But to play the part, he gave a very shark-like roar in his pumped up form when he looked to the crowd.

"And, also from Class 1-B, the representative of the group, Kuroda Fuji!"

Kuroda, now back in the right headspace, went up the steps to the battlefield and did her best to appear calm for the crowd as she waved and smiled to them.

"A Quirk of strength versus one of versatility, who will win, let's find out as the match...begins!"

Kuroda aimed to make the first move, but as she took a few steps she stopped as Anno did something she didn't expect. He reverted back to his smaller form and with his hands made a "T" pose.

"Time out," he said simply. "I want to parley with you for a moment."

"Uh...for real?" she asked, still very confused.

"Yeah."

"No offense but...how do I know this isn't a trap?"

"I'm a shark, Kuroda, I don't need underhanded tactics to win. Besides you'd be able to react before I could transform fully. Please? I really want to run something by you."

"...ok."

The two approached one another calmly, much to the confusion of their class, the audience, and especially Projection, "I have no idea what 's going on, folks...but we might just get a victor without a punch being thrown if this goes how I think they're trying to get it to go."

Once together in the middle of the battlefield, Kuroda crossed her arms and looked at Anno intently, "Ok, parley, so what's up?"

Anno sighed heavily, "That day Tonen got kidnapped, remember what you and I talked about before we headed out to save him?"

"I recall you saying you wanted to kill Goya. That still the plan?"

"I have a spot on my dorm room wall reserved for his head."

The two looked at one another and then laughed. Kuroda was the first to recover, "Is that why you asked for the parley? To ask if I'll fold so you can get him next round?"

"Pretty much, yeah," he answered with a shrug. "Usually, I wouldn't even think of asking this. But let's be honest, based on what we both showed in the first two rounds, we're going to get Pro-Heroes asking us to be interns for them, right?"

"True..."

"And one of us beating the other is only going to enforce that point. So, since you agreed to let me get him back then...I ask that you allow me to follow-up on that."

Kuroda strummed her arm with her fingers, she could tell that this meant a lot to him, but there were some clear points that had to be addressed, "Under certain other circumstances I'd happily let you rip his head off."

"But..."

"But you can't do that here. It would send the wrong message for one student to kill another with everyone watching."

"How about near-death? Life Force can heal him that way!"

"Ha! I appreciate the creativity, but no. Furthermore, if you remember the other half of our conversation, I want Chuya, badly. And though I feel Tonen can beat her..."

"You want to advance just in case," Anno finished with a knowing nod.

"Yeah. Not to mention Goya tossed away Hana like trash and that doesn't sit well with me at all. So while I appreciate the parley, and your being honest with me from the start, we both have reasons to advance."

Anno sighed heavily once again, but straightened up right after, "I had to try."

Kuroda smiled kindly at him, "I'm glad you trust me enough to try."

"You're our rep, and you've earned our trust. So, how do you want to handle the restart?"

"Umm...ten paces then fight?"

"Sounds good. Good luck."

"Same to you."

With a nod of respect to the other they both turned around at the same time, and with equal steps moved forward.

Projection realized what was going and relayed it to the still confused crowd, "Well, looks like negotiations didn't work, so the fight will happen! And if I'm counting right, they're going to start it at the count of...10!"

Just as she called it out, Anno transformed back into this full-on shark form and rushed at Kuroda. She reacted by touching the ground with her hands and converting the majority of the battlefield to ice. Anno slipped on this and fell flat on it.

But, he didn't complain. Rather, he plunged his shark hands into the ground and gave a toothy grin to Kuroda, "Not bad! But all you gave me was a perfect opportunity to get right to you! I'm not just a shark, I'm a Sha-Rammer!"

Not unlike a slingshot, he used his hands to propel himself forward and right towards his foe. Kuroda knew this was going to be tight, so she timed her jump perfectly to get over him. HIs momentum continued onward past the ice, but he used his hands once again, this time to stop him cold before he fell out of the ring.

Kuroda realized that this was about to get very hairy, so she quickly took off her shoes and socks to give herself more contact with the environment in order to transform it. She did so just in time as Anno did another attack.

This time though, he dug into the ground with his shark feet, and then slowly moved himself towards her, but while his feet were pushing him forward, his arms were going into the ground, breaking it up with incredible force and shattering the ice where it stood so that the hard layer that didn't get transformed would be exposed.

He did this with surprising speed and effectiveness, and Kuroda had to constantly use her feet to create rubbery patches for her to bounce on and off of to get away.

"This is something I didn't expect, folks!" called out Projection. "Kuroda Fuji's elemental shifting ability would usually give her an advantage as she can transform things into materials that work for her. But Anno Mako's strength and shark-like tenacity is rendering that all but moot at the moment! He's breaking down the arena bit by bit so that it can work better for him!"

Kuroda was very aware of this fact, but had to keep moving, and she knew all too clearly why.

"If he grabs me, I'm done!" she said in her mind. "I need to change things up, and fast! Wait, why is he stopping?"

As she landed in a relative safe spot, Anno had stopped his jackhammer-style attack. The battlefield had been pulverized, with rocks large and small now filling up the place. Anno's toothy grin returned as he picked up a chunk of rock and tossed it up and down.

"Hope you don't mind..." he said in a menacing manner, "I decided to make me some ammo."

Quick as a flash he hurled the rock at Kuroda forcing her to dodge. But just as she got upright another rock was thrown at her. She dodged, but another came just as quick.

Anno was hurling rocks and debris from the field he smashed up at Kuroda so she couldn't have a moment to breathe or counterattack.

She went from spot to spot, hoping that the onslaught would end, but it didn't. The only saving grace she had was that Kuroda saw a large enough chunk of rock she could hide behind and lunged to get within its saving grace.

"Ok, think fast," she said as she caught her breath, "you either need a sword or..."

She looked to her right and saw a thing slab of arena in front of her.

"A shield."

Kuroda grabbed the slab quickly and turned it into a dense metal. She quickly shifted some rocks into a malleable substance so she could create handholds and fused them with the metal base after turning them magnetic.

After her crafting was done she rose up and rushed right at Anno. Who happily hurled more rocks at her. But because of the denseness of the of the shield, she was only slightly hindered and was able to keep going forward.

As soon as she was in range, Anno lunged to grab her shield, but Kuroda was expecting this. She again used her feet to make a rubber cushion to bounce her up, and she got right above Anno's head as she shifted the shield to where her feet were and slammed it right into him with a stomp.

"Holy!" cried out Projection in awe. "Kuroda didn't just make a shield for defense, she used it to get a massive attack on Anno! That's why she's a standout in 1-B, everyone!"

Kuroda smiled at the praise but knew Anno wouldn't go down so easily. Sure enough, he recovered quickly and with a swipe of his hand was able to knock her shield away, and then he went back on the attack with his barrage of rocks.

Knowing the same attack wasn't going to work twice, Kuroda dodged as best she could and tried to think of a new plan. But that became difficult as Anno switched up his throwing strategy and used his ammo to trap her first and then hit her.

In one attempt he was able to scrape her head with a rock, causing a small cut. She was fine, but she knew she was running out of time.

"You can't dodge forever, Kuroda!" shouted Anno as he threw more rocks at her. "Once you get hit, I'll be there for the final shark attack!"

Kuroda tried shifting some of the rocks around her, but Anno made sure to aim true enough that she had to dodge and thus not be able to use anything.

As she continued to dodge, her mind was racing with attempts to get her out of this mess, "Dang it! I need a plan, and I need it now! What would the others think about right now? What might they be seeing? Hehe, I'm sure Ebirima and Fenella would have a pun at the ready, yet all I can think of is how I'm in a sticky situation. Wait...sticky?"

A revelation hit her almost as hard as the rock that Anno managed to connect on her arm, sending her to the ground.

But she didn't focus on the pain, she focused on the idea that was now growing, "Oh that's mean...but I got nothing else...so let's try that."

Anno saw his foe was down and rushed her once again. Kuroda touched the ground and again shifted things to ice. But Anno was ready this time and lunged forward to try and grab her without needing to touch the ice. She touched the ground once again before rolling away.

Just missing her, Anno landed...but not with a thud, or with a slide. Rather, he found himself in something rather soft. What's more, it was clinging to him, so much so that he really couldn't get out of it.

He struggled and struggled, but for some reason, he couldn't get free, "What the...?"

"Sorry Anno, but you're really stuck in it now."

The crowd couldn't believe what they were seeing, because Anno was quite literally stuck in a big pile of glue.

"You shifted it to glue after I jumped?"

"I knew you wouldn't fall for the ice trick twice, so I faked you out. Seems to have worked out."

"Not quite. You will understand the power...OF A SHARK!"

Instead of struggling, he plunged his arms and legs into the glue, and with a roar, he tried to right himself, and did quite well at doing that. Kuroda backed away as she saw he was literally ripping up the arena that was connected to her glue.

As he got upright he roared even louder to show that he was indeed the strongest there. But gravity had other ideas. The weight of the slab of stone he had lifted, mixed with the still moving glue made him backpedal, and the slab fell on him, pinning him to the ground. Making him quite immobile and unable to continue.

Projection sounded the buzzer with her Quirk to end the fight, "Due to...can't believe I'm saying this, a person literally glued in place, Kuroda Fuji is the winner!"

The crowd cheered, and Kuroda sighed in relief at her victory. It was too close, even for her. As she turned to where her classmates were, she saw them all cheering happily and praising her. Kuroda gave them a wave before going over to where Anno was.

"Let me fix that," she said as she knelt down to touch the stone.

She turned it into water, which fell to the ground. Then she touched the glue and transformed that into water as well.

Ironically, doing so somewhat refreshed Anno, who slowly got up, "Thanks for that, the glue was starting to get into my mouth."

"I have to admit, I didn't expect you to rip up the arena like that."

"Shark's gotta do and all that. Good match, Kuroda."

"Same to you, Anno. And I'm honestly kind of glad we did that, I think we both showed we're more than we appear."

Anno thought about it and nodded, "Indeed. Now go and kick Goya's sorry butt."

Kuroda extended a hand to him to help him up, "I'll do it for the both of us."

He reverted back to his smaller form and grabbed her hand to get up, the crowd cheered even louder at their sign of camaraderie.

"A beautiful way to end the first half of the bracket! That's four matches down and four to go! Due to the damage on the battlefield, we'll be taking a small break to fix it. But get ready because I have a feeling these next matches are going to be just as good as the first four!"

The crowd cheered. Kuroda and Anno went their separate ways knowing that they indeed gave their best, and that was what mattered.

*credits*