AN: Professor Donger: Merry Late Christmas and Happy New Year, we hope you guys enjoy the first chapter of Flintlock in 2024!
Damian: It was a pain in the ass to write, but we enjoyed it all the same, and we hope you do to! Happy New Year!
"This feels… dumb," Pony mumbled, looking at the cookie in her hand as she sat on the bed.
"You wanna elaborate on that?" Izumi asked from her seat in a chair she had dragged over as she took a bite of her cookie.
"I mean," Pony sighed. "It's just, it feels kinda dumb. I'm eighteen! I shouldn't need to be comforted by milk and cookies and ice cream and shit."
Izumi raised an eyebrow as she swallowed. "Who made that rule? Trust me, Pony, you'll feel better with something delicious gracing your taste buds. Come on, take a bite! Twice made 'em."
Pony frowned but shrugged. "Screw it." She took a bite and started chewing on it for about a second before her eyes went wide, and she took the rest of the cookie in one massive chomp. "Holy crap, this is delicious!"
Izumi laughed as she watched Pony grab more cookies off the plate and devour them. "Told you." She grabbed the glass of milk and held it out to Pony. She thanked Izumi as she grabbed the glass and downed its contents. "How're you feeling now?"
Pony sighed as she finished drinking, then blinked in confusion. "I feel… a little better? Why did that actually work?"
Izumi shrugged as she grabbed another cookie. "It may have been basic as fuck, and yeah, it's something that usually works on children, as you said, but that doesn't mean it stops working because you're older. Simple, basic, and delicious." She emphasized that last point with a bite of her cookie.
"Huh…" Pony mulled it over as she grabbed another cookie and began eating it more reasonably. "I'm surprised Twice had them ready so quickly."
"Yeah, Jin's a psychic about this kinda stuff, I swear. Sometimes he just knows when someone will need something sweet or savory and starts cooking or baking ahead of time," Izumi explained.
The two sat silently for a few minutes, slowly working on the large plate when Izumi finished the cookie she was eating before finally addressing why they were there. "So… you wanna start, or should I?"
"Hm?" Pony gave her a confused look before she realized what her teacher meant. She whined and looked away, acting as if nibbling on her cookie was a good excuse for not talking.
"Alright, guess I'm startin'." Izumi adjusted herself in her seat and got comfortable. "It was just a gun, Pony. I know sometimes I act like they're as important to me as my firstborn child, but I ain't gonna be pissed at you because it got broken during a fight. I can just make a new one. Or repair the old one."
Pony continued pretending to be too busy nibbling away at her cookie, stalling so she wouldn't have to respond for a few moments before lowering the dessert and sighing. "That's… not it." She paused momentarily before saying, "It's because it was yours."
Izumi hummed. "I get that, but I didn't think it mattered this much to you. I know you probably don't want to, but it'll help me to understand if you explain it all to me."
Pony groaned and sipped her milk a little bit, trying to gather her thoughts before she started talking again. "It's just…" She trailed off a little before steeling herself. "I look up to you a lot, ya' know? Well, I mean…" She shuffled in her seat nervously with a small giggle. "To be a bit honest with you, the Lone Ranger used to be my favorite hero… he's just so cool, you know?"
Izumi opened her mouth to respond, but Pony cut her off with her rambling. "Of course you know! He was your mentor, and that's unheard of! So when I started hearing about this super cool and badass lady following the Lone Ranger on raids and adventures, I couldn't not be interested! I mean, he's the Lone Ranger for a reason! He never takes on apprentices or sidekicks!"
Izumi chuckled a bit nervously. "Ranger's a bit of a softie once you get to know him…" She mumbled, but Pony heard none of it, and her rambling continued.
Pony was bouncing in her seat now, "It's just, it was unheard of! My favorite hero suddenly has his first and only sidekick! I had to know who you were and how you managed to get his attention! I remember thinking you had to have some super awesome quirk, something that lets you… I don't know… control bullets with your mind or something!"
"I mean, my uncle can do that-"
"That, or be The Ranger's daughter."
"Well… At this point…?" Izumi trailed off as Pony just continued to bulldoze past her.
"But of course, it was none of that. You. Were. QUIRKLESS! You didn't need a quirk to be that awesome! You just were!"
Izumi felt her face start to heat up at the praise she was getting, and she silently let Pony continue, not trusting her mouth to say something that wouldn't embarrass herself in front of one of her favorite students.
"After that, I kept up on everything I could about you. Even your foreign excursions. I've even heard the ghost stories of La Vaquera Verde!"
"God, I love that nickname."
Pony ignored her and continued on. "It's just… with every new thing I heard about you, you seemed to be more and more unbelievable. And, yeah, I know that probably doesn't really mean much in a world where we have people like All Might and Stars and Stripes running around, but still…" She brought her knees up and rested her head against them. "Seeing you do all these incredible things, helping people and protecting them, it… I don't know; it made me feel like I could be strong like that, too." She gestured up to her horns. "Like yeah, I'm strong, and my horns are great, but back when I was a kid, I got made fun of for them a lot, I broke a lot of things, and I didn't think I could be a good hero… but seeing you do all these crazy things made me think that I could be! You helped me believe that I didn't need any of that absurd strength that All Might has or the reality-warping bullshit that Stars and Stripes has got. I didn't want to be like them." She glanced over at Izumi, her face flushed red with embarrassment as she realized she had just spilled her heart out to her personal hero, but also in too deep to stop herself, as she said, "I want to be like you."
Izumi stared at Pony, unsure of what to say. "...I- Ahem, I… okay. I'm gonna be honest; I wasn't ready for that. I had no idea I inspired you so much." She paused as she tried to think of something to say, something, for once, appropriate.
Pony though spoke before she could. "Flintlock? Are you crying?"
Izumi blinked as she reached up to her good eye with her fleshy hand and felt the wet tear that had started making its way down her cheek. "Huh… guess I am," she laughed. "Sorry, it's just… I'm just really happy I managed to inspire someone like that. Guess I just never thought it would happen."
Pony sniffed as she felt tears leak from her eyes as well. "Dammit, Flintlock, you were supposed to stop me from crying, not make me cry more!"
"Your crying was infectious! It's not my fault!" The two shared a laugh before wiping their tears away. Izumi looked at her student with a soft smile as she said, "Look, Pony, I get that my opinion means a lot to you; like, I get how powerful hero worship can be." She placed a hand on Pony's shoulder, "So let me make it clear what I'm thinking so you don't have to worry about it. First off, Sweet Business? It's a gun me and my support tech made. We made it before; we can make it again. Second, don't think I've never broken any of my guns before. Hell, I've broken whole arms before. I didn't expect you to keep the thing in pristine condition or anything; it's just something we'll work on. And lastly… you're amazing."
Pony blinked. "H-huh?"
"Yeah. Do you want to know what I think of you? I think you're a hard worker. You pay attention, try your best, fight your hardest. You step up to the plate when you need to and do what you can to get shit done. You're respectful, kind, hella damn good with a gun. Not to mention your strength. Seriously, it's not exactly normal to be carrying around a gun that's more than half your size like it's nothing. I think you're going to make an amazing hero, and I can not be happier to be one of your teachers helping you to get there." Izumi leaned back in her chair and took the last lone cookie on their shared plate. "So yeah, that's what I think of Pony Tsunotori," she finished saying before proceeding to eat the cookie.
Pont was stunned, silent, staring at Izumi in disbelief. She couldn't believe Flintlock thought all of that about her! This was probably the best moment of her life, and there was no possible way it could get better.
She wasn't ashamed to admit that she started crying a little.
Izumi immediately dropped her cookie and brought Pony into a hug. "Oh, sweetie, I didn't mean to make you cry!" Pony didn't answer, instead hugging back.
Just then, the door burst open. "Pony?! Are you okay?!" Ochako looked at the two and growled, "Did Sensei make you cry!?"
"First off, I'd literally shoot myself in the foot if I did that," Izumi explained as she pulled back from Pony. "And second, we're all good, just clearing some things up."
She looked past Ochako and noticed Yu poking her head from around the corner of the door. She made a gesture with her head that said, "Come on." Izumi gave her a look in return that told her she'll be there in a second, causing Yu to roll her eyes and disappear from view, probably just waiting next to the door.
Ochako didn't seem to care about Izumi's exchange with whoever was behind her. She narrowed her eyes at Izumi before nodding and glancing at Pony, who smiled softly and waved shyly at her friend. "Are you alright?" Ochako asked softly as she approached the two; she glanced around for a chair before Izumi stood up and offered her the one she had been sitting in.
"I gotta get back to work; the TV over there should show the rest of the matches, so you guys can stay in here for a bit; just don't get in any of the nurses' way." She started to walk away before she paused and looked at Pony. Her bionic eye flashed for a second, and Pony felt her phone buzz. She quickly pulled it out and noticed two new contacts had been added.
"Text me if you need anything, Pony, and I added Jin's in case you guys wanted more snacks." Izumi winked and waved as she walked away, joining Yu just outside the door and heading back to the commentator booth.
Ochako waved back and then turned to ask Pony what Izumi had said, only to see the other girl looking at the phone in her hand with disbelief, a subtle shaking slowly growing in intensity throughout her whole body.
"Uh, Pony?" Ochako was about to ask Pony if she was okay before recognizing the state her friend was in and what was about to follow. Thus, she was able to cover her ears in time before the yelling started.
"HOLY SHIT! I HAVE FLINTLOCK'S NUMBER!" Pony squealed as she held her phone close to her chest.
Ochako laughed, her worries over Pony disappearing upon seeing her best friend so happy. She got up onto the bed and laid down on it next to Pony, who blushed as Ochako looked up at her.
"So, is everything okay?" She asked.
Pony looked at her phone, at the new contact, and her smile somehow got even brighter. "Yes… yes, everything is good," she said as she laid down too, looking over at Ochako.
"Glad to hear that." Ochako adjusted herself, snuggling up to Pony, who went nuclear. "Hey, are you sure you're okay? You feel really warm?"
"Yep!" Pony squeaked. "Peachy."
First, Flintlock called her awesome, then gave her number, and now Ochako is snuggling with her?!
'Best fucking day of my life!'
Ochako nodded "Well, I'm glad, I was worried I'd hafta give you a pep talk to get you cheered up and ready for our match; I'm glad I didn't have to."
Pony's smile twitched, and she looked away from her phone at Ochako…
'Oh shit… Ooohhh shit...'
Pony looked up towards the heavens (really the ceiling), and whatever deity may exist that would be cruel enough to fate her to fight her best friend.
"You just couldn't let me have this, could ya'?"
Ochako adjusted herself to look up at Pony with a raised eyebrow. "What was that?"
Pony just waved her off and hugged her friend with one arm, bringing her in close. "Nothing."
Whatever, she'll deal with the existential panic of fighting Ochako when it's too late like a true procrastinator would. For now, she would just enjoy the moment.
Izumi and Yu had managed to make their way back to the booth with a few minutes to spare before the ten-minute break was up.
"So yeah, I just had to make sure she was okay," Izumi explained.
Yu huffed a laugh. "You've always had a heart too big for your tiny body," She grinned as Izumi shoulder-checked her. "It's just so weird. I never thought in a million years that you'd be a teacher, let alone a good one."
"Okay, first, ow, have a little more faith in me." Izumi lightly punched Yu in the shoulder. "Second, I have an apprentice back in the States, plus I homeschooled Himiko a bit. Teaching these kids isn't that different, just on a bit of a larger scale since it's a class and not just one person. Either way, I'm not completely inexperienced."
"Fair enough." Yu let herself fall into her seat, letting out an "Ooh!" when she noticed the bottle of whiskey that was sitting on the snack table. "Your brother is the best!"
"Did you really tell him to leave you alcohol?" Izumi deadpanned as she put her headset back on.
"You bet your sweet ass I did! Did it just before we split up earlier." She quickly opened it and sniffed the opened bottle. "Oh, that's some good shit. Do you want any?"
Izumi glared at her. "I literally told you that I'm not allowed to. That, and, unlike you, I'm actually on the job."
Yu shrugged, "Fine, lightweight, more for me!" She quickly poured herself a finger of whiskey and rushed back into her chair.
"Also, I'm surprised you asked for straight whiskey instead of a mixed drink… like why not a Jack N' Coke or a martini?"
Yu shrugged as she sipped her Whiskey. "I just told Jin that I wanted to get drunk; I didn't specify how I wanted to get drunk. I let the alcohol gods decide for me."
"If you start saying weird shit over the mic, I ain't stopping you," Izumi warned.
Yu chuckled. "Oh, my dear friend, you say that as if this alone will get me drunk."
"Uhm, it's an entire bottle of whiskey that you're drinking by yourself!"
"Yep!"
"...I'm about to be mad at you, aren't I?"
"Probably."
"You know what?" Izumi shook her head. "Let's just get ready for the next match… Who's next again?'
Yu hummed as she looked over the bracket. "Let's see… Yaoyorozu versus Hagakure."
"Ooh," Izumi chuckled. "This one will be fun. They've got super interesting quirks!"
"Blow up the arena."
Momo paused her reading of her notebook and blinked before closing it and shaking her head, looking up at Katsuki. "I'm sorry, what?"
Katsuki shrugged. "Blow up the arena. If you're worried about not being able to see her to hit her, then leave her no room to dodge."
Momo stared at him for a moment before shouting, "No!"
"Why not?!"
"I'm not trying to kill Hagakure! That's why!"
"I don't know, Yaomomo; blowing the arena up is a pretty metal strategy," Kyouka added as she twirled one of her jacks.
"Thank you!" Katsuki threw a hand up.
"Don't agree with him!" Momo yelled before sighing and opening her notebook once more to look over more potential items to make. "Regardless, I'm still not trying to kill her."
"Okay then, how about you threaten to blow up the arena?" Kyouka proposed.
Momo closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and closed her book with a snap. "I should not even be entertaining this ridiculous line of thought, but…" She turned and looked at Kyouka. "Continue."
"Threaten to blow up the arena if she goes invisible," Katsuki answered for Kyouka, who snapped her fingers and pointed at him.
"Exactly."
"..." Momo stared at the both of them for a few moments only to throw her hands up into the air after they kept staring at her expectantly, almost like children expecting praise for doing something stupid.
"That's stupid! What would that accomplish!?"
Kyouka held her hands up. "Hey, we're just trying to help."
Katsuki snorted. "I'm not. I just wanted to make her mad." He flinched as Momo manifested a sandal and slapped the back of his head with it. "Ow! Bitch! When did you even get up- OW!" She slapped him again. "FUCKING STOP!"
"You took Kyouka blasting you in the face with soundwaves; you can handle a sandal!" Momo went to hit him again, but Katsuki grabbed her by the wrist.
"You done?" He asked.
Momo struggled for a moment to pull her arm away, but when Katsuki's grip didn't loosen, she sighed. "Fine, can you let go?"
"Drop the sandal,"
Momo hissed a sigh through her teeth before complying, sitting back in her chair with a pout.
"Alright, do you actually want my honest advice?" Katsuki asked.
"Yes," Momo rubbed her temples. "Please."
"Alright," Katsuki crossed his arms. "You think too damn much."
Momo stared at him silently for a few seconds before sighing after he refused to elaborate further. "...This is the part where you just explain it to me." Momo sounded done with the situation.
"You have a tendency to overthink when you fight, especially when you get caught off guard or overwhelmed. We already talked about the fact that you hesitate a bit too much, but your overthinking and overanalyzing of shit causes that hesitation. Deku used to do the same damn thing when we were little. I guess she finally grew out of the habit or learned to manage it a lot better in a fight." He paused and shook his head. "My bet is on the latter; she's still a bit neurotic."
Momo was about to respond when Kyouka interrupted.
"He has a bit of a point, Yaomomo; you need to start going with the flow more."
Momo frowned at the strange terminology but understood the basic gist of what her two friends were saying. "I need to be more flexible and make things up on the fly, is what you guys are saying?" She asked, uncertain.
Katsuki scoffed, "Somewhat, but you also need just to stop second-guessing yourself in the middle of combat." Katsuki scratched his cheek. "Do you think I second guess myself when I'm about to blow a hole through a wall? No, I know exactly the amount of force I need to break the wall and not cause unnecessary damage to the building or anyone behind that wall so that I don't need to make unnecessary calculations or guesses. You need to do the same thing."
Momo crossed her arms on the table and looked down. "...Do I really think too much-"
"Yes!" Both Kyouka and Katsuki said in unison.
"Okay! Okay!" Momo held her hands up. "I'll… I'll try to… 'stop thinking,' I guess."
"Or you'll get an invisible boot up your ass," Katsuki warned her before both fighters were called for over the intercoms. Katsuki and Kyouka both got up and made their way back to the stands, but not before Katsuki sent one last "Kick her ass!" Momo's way.
She made her way to her tunnel, mostly on autopilot, as she continued to try and think up a plan. They may be right that she was probably overthinking this, but she needed to have something in mind for when the fight started.
She quickly made her way to the arena, mind running through scenarios up until the moment she stood in the arena. She didn't even realize when she had made it to her starting point, only being broken out of her thoughts by Flintlock and Mount Lady introducing them.
"For our next match," she heard Flintlock begin to say, "We have an interesting one for you guys! From the east gate, we have the girl who lives her life in creative mode! The 3D printer heroine! Momo Yaoyorozu!"
Momo mentally groaned at her sensei's antics. 'Please don't let 3D Heroine become my nickname once I graduate…'
Her prayers were ignored as Mount Lady continued. "And from the west gate! The girl you just have to see to believe, one that'll be here one moment and gone the next! Toru Hagakure!"
Toru hopped her way onto the stage in her hero suit, jumping and waving at the cheering audience around her with both hands, taking the moment to really bask in the attention and cheers of the crowd.
After a moment, they both focused on Midnight, who looked at both of them before nodding. "I want a good clean fight," She doubted these two would give her any trouble, so she didn't give them the full run down. Instead, she cracked her whip and jumped back after receiving a nod of affirmation from both combatants. "Begin!"
Toru's hand immediately went to her belt and activated her suit's cloaking device.
Momo, in response, rolled up her sleeve to reveal her arm, a bright light appearing as what looked to be a pair of infrared goggles appeared out of them.
Before she could put them on, though, they were slapped away from her by an invisible hand, and before she could respond, a strong punch to the gut knocked the wind out of her. She was then kicked toward the edge of the stage but quickly regained her footing, coughing before managing to gain control of her breathing.
Toru's voice came from her right, "Nice try, Yaomomo, but you're gonna have to be quicker than that!"
Momo didn't give her time to respond. She immediately lashed out with a swing of her arm, creating a staff in her hand as she did so. Thankfully, she hit something solid as the staff was being created. It felt like an arm, though, so the strike, while painful, wasn't very effective.
"Ow! Right, no talking while fighting…"
Momo walked toward the voice. "No, no," She twirled the staff and got into her most comfortable stance. "Keep talking."
"You've been hanging out with Bakugou too much, Yaomomo. I miss our classy and sophisticated Class Rep."
'Behind!' Momo turned and swung her staff, only to hit nothing. A moment later, a kick to her side had her hissing in pain as she stumbled to regain her footing once more. However, what felt like a leg sweep had her on the ground a moment later, her back aching as it hit the concrete and her staff falling from her hand.
She heard Toru a moment later above her saying, "Hey, question: how do those feel? Sensei put me through hell to make sure I had my form right. Do they hurt?"
Momo reached out to grab at the voice, eliciting a squeak from Toru as she heard the invisible girl jump away from her. She got on her knees and went to grab her staff, only for her weapon to be pulled out of her reach and start to float in the air.
"I'll take that, thank you." Toru sounded so smug it made Momo want to throttle her.
"You do realize I can just make another one, right?"
"I mean, duh? But then I wouldn't be able to whack you with this one if I just gave it back!" With that, Toru tried to swing at Momo with the staff; it was a rudimentary overhead swing, something Momo had learned to do properly when she was ten.
This caused Momo to grin as she pulled out her old sensei's favorite move for when Momo made a mistake during practice. Reaching out, she caught the staff with one hand before quickly pulling it with all her strength. Toru reflexively tightened her grip, which was what Momo had hoped she would do as she immediately slammed her free hand, palm flat, directly into what she thought was Toru's chest.
That caused her to let go of the staff and fall back with a wheeze.
"Hah! That's my girl!" Flintlock said.
"You could try sounding less biased." Mount Lady laughed.
"What? I'm just displaying my pride in my students for learning! I'm not surprised Yaoyorozu managed to pick up on disarming techniques; she's a recommendation student and a quick learner. On the other side of things, Hagakure definitely surprised me with how fast she picked up on close quarters combat. She's not perfect, but for only two weeks of training, she has made great progress." Izumi's voice glowed with so much pride that it was making Momo and the recovered Toru blush. "My babies are growing up." Oh, now it sounded like she was going to cry.
"Izumi, I swear to God, if you start crying–" The microphone cut off, and the two combatants awkwardly stood there for a few seconds before looking back at each other (or, in Momo's case, she looked in what she thought was Toru's general direction).
Momo couldn't see what Toru looked like because of her quirk, but if the invisible girl was feeling the same way Momo was, then they both knew that this fight was about to become a lot tougher.
Neither of them planned to let Flintlock down.
'I just need a way to see her.' Momo had to be honest; if the fight kept progressing the way it had been so far, Toru would wear her down and beat her through attrition. Most of the hits Momo had landed were superficial at best, with the palm she did earlier being her most successful hit so far, while Toru was landing solid blows during each engagement.
She needed to take away the advantage Toru's quirk gave her so she could be the one to get more hits in and win this.
Just then, she saw a few pebbles shift off to her side and was only able to brace herself as a punch to the side of her torso made her gasp in pain. She swung her staff to make Toru at least back off but then immediately lost track of where her invisible classmate had gone. She looked around the arena, a seemingly useless idea against someone she couldn't see when her eyes landed on the pebbles.
Then the idea hit her.
And so did Toru. In the back of her head, specifically.
Momo hissed and gritted her teeth, keeping her mind focused on her plan. She ignored the stinging pain from where Toru had hit her as she started using her quirk. She didn't know how effective it'd be, but she didn't have time to think about it. She mentally put together the atomic blueprints in her head and then did something nobody, not even Toru, expected.
She grabbed the fabric of her top and, with one swift pull, tore it off.
"Ayo!" Toru shouted in surprise as the crowd gasped.
There was seemingly a bright light shielding Momo until it faded to reveal that underneath her gym top, she was still covered by a sports bra.
There was a collective sigh of relief from most of the crowd, with a few groans of disappointment.
"Yaomomo, you're very attractive, but I don't think flashing me is going to get me to surrender, especially since I don't roll that way." Toru mocked.
"Wait? What?" Momo looked genuinely confused. "Flashing you with what? I'm just getting more skin exposure."
"You're far too innocent for this world… and to be hanging around Bakugou."
"HEY!" A shout was heard from the 1-A booth but was promptly ignored.
That moment of distraction was all Momo needed as every bit of exposed skin, from her arms, neck, lower torso, and even her face, started glowing from the telltale signal for her quirks activation.
Was it using a lot of her lipids? Yes.
Was it potentially worth it? She was about to find out.
Out of her body came flying dozens of what looked like grenades, which began rolling along the arena floor.
"YES! NUKE HER!" One could guess which bloodthirsty blonde yelled that.
"Momo, sweetie, I am proud of you, but please don't nuke her!" Flintlock could be heard from the announcer's booth.
"SCREW YOU, DEKU; MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION IS THE ONLY PROPER WAY TO FINISH THIS!" Katsuki then devolved into devious giggles that had everyone around him trying to scoot away from him.
"Uhm, the grenades were already armed." Mount Lady chimed in, "I doubt Yaoyorozu would nuke her opponent, though; that's, like, instant disqualification… And- and death."
Momo rolled her eyes. Of course, she wasn't going to blow up the arena, but that didn't mean Katsuki's idea couldn't be repurposed and used in a different way.
As the last of the grenades finished rolling, they all let out a beep before exploding, letting out a collective blast of-
"WATER?!" Katsuki yelled in outrage, "Where's the kaboom!? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!"
"Wow, that's a dated reference if I've ever heard one." Flintlock chimed in, laughing as Katsuki flipped off the announcer's booth.
Meanwhile, down in the arena, Toru yelled as she was drenched. Her suit was waterproof, so the cloaking didn't deactivate, but that ultimately didn't matter as she raised her arm to shake the water off and saw that her arm was covered in red.
"What the fuck?" She quickly raised a hand to her hair and pulled at it, noticing that it was visible and that it was turning the same red as her suit.
"You're very pretty, by the way, even if I can't see your eyes," Momo added from where she was standing. She was in the process of taking off some sort of large sheet she had made to shield herself from the water bombs.
Toru squeaked "Wh – what?!"
Momo knew she was wasting time, but she thought her friend deserved to see, somewhat, at least, what she looked like. She quickly made a small hand mirror and tossed it to Toru, who caught it and looked into it.
Her entire face was as red as her hair, and while she could see her lips and she assumed her eyelids, she couldn't see her eyeballs or her teeth and tongue…
It was terrifying now that she thought about it.
She quickly threw the mirror away and glared at Momo. "What the hell did you do!"
"When I was a child, I wanted to learn how Easter Eggs were made," Momo said as she took a step forward, one far more confident than any she had taken in the match so far. "I looked up a bunch of different dyes and ended up learning enough about them to make it with my quirk." She smiled as she made a jacket to replace the one she tore, shrugging it on as she walked. "My parents weren't too happy that I accidentally dyed one of our rugs pink, but I was seven. I didn't know any better." She twirled her staff, "As Katsuki likes to say, enough talk, more ACTION!" She lunged at Toru, not even bothered by the wet flooring beneath her.
Toru leaned back just in time to dodge the swing of the staff, but only just barely. She didn't dodge the follow-through strike, however, receiving a hit on the back of her legs that had her falling to her knees.
Momo brought her staff up to strike her while she was down, but Toru swept her hand across the ground to splash the dyed water on the arena floor toward Momo, trying to blind her. Momo raised her arm and quickly created a towel to block the dyed water from getting on her face and into her eyes. While she was distracted, Toru raised her leg and aimed a kick at Momo's stomach, sending her stumbling back.
Toru took the opportunity to get up and went in to try and hit Momo in the head with a punch. Momo, thanks to Toru being covered in dye, was able to see the attack coming and ducked under the fist, moved behind Toru, and kicked her without really paying attention as to where.
Toru yelped as she stumbled forward and stood frozen for a moment. "...Did you just kick me in my ass?!" She yelled.
Momo took the pause in the fight to really think about it. To heavily analyze the last few seconds of the battle. In her thorough assessment, she came to one conclusion.
"...Yes. Yes, I did." was her simple response.
Toru turned around and raised her arms. "Why? Why my ass?"
"In my defense, Katsuki wanted me to kick your ass."
"I don't think he meant that literally!"
"STILL PROUD OF HER ALL THE SAME!" They heard Katsuki yell from the stands. "NICE ONE, MOMO!"
"Little Kacchan complimenting someone. Now I've seen everything," Mount Lady laughed.
"SCREW YOU!"
"Ugh, this is gonna be sore later," Toru mumbled, rubbing the spot she was hit before shaking her head and refocusing on the fight.
Or at least she would have if she didn't get slapped in the face with a wet towel.
"What the fu-" She didn't even get to finish before her legs were swept out from under her, and her back hit the floor. She removed the towel from her face only to get a foot to her chest, and the end of a staff pointed at her face.
"Forfeit or head trauma? Your choice," Momo said, her eyes sharp as she stared Toru down, managing for once to look right into her eyes and unsettle Toru that little bit more from the fact she was actually being looked in the eyes for once.
"Okay, okay!" She held up her hands. "I.. ugh… I quit. Damn, you're terrifying."
A whip-crack later, and Midnight announced, "Toru Hagakure has conceded defeat! Momo Yaoyorozu wins!"
The crowd cheered, but even over the roar of applause, a certain gunslinger could be heard crying and shouting out, "I'm so damn proud!"
Momo helped Toru stand, and the two walked out of the arena together, Toru with a little limp.
"Ow! Seriously, why did you kick it so hard?" Toru groaned as they walked through the hall.
"I'm sorry, I really wasn't trying to," Momo apologized.
"Apology accepted, I guess," She rubbed at her hair. "Can you get me something to wash this gunk off? I don't wanna be pink for the rest of my life."
Momo chuckled and quickly made two small bottles of soap, "That should get the dye out. Luckily, the locker rooms have showers."
"Thanks." Toru took the bottles and turned to go towards the locker rooms for a quick rinse.
Momo was about to head up to her class booth when the sound of something unzipping caused her to turn around. She saw Toru's hero costume coming off the invisible girl as she walked away and presumably held the suit in her arms. Momo was tempted to tell her off for walking around naked when she decided not to.
"It's not like anyone can see anything… except a floating head with no eyes…" Momo furrowed her brow. "I suppose trauma is better than seeing her naked or something?"
Deciding it was better not to question it further and risk an existential crisis of some sort, she shook her head to clear it of those thoughts and proceeded to head back to her seat and wait for the next match.
Meanwhile, up in 1-A's booth, Minoru hopped out of his seat to head down to the tunnel. He personally didn't see the point of going to the waiting room and would have preferred to sit with his classmates and watch the matches with them. Now, it was his turn to fight.
To say he was nervous was an understatement. Sure, he had done well against a bunch of robots, but this was a flesh-and-blood opponent! The USJ and the villains he fought flashed to the forefront of his mind, and he shook his head.
This was just for fun, nothing life-threatening. He slapped his cheeks. He spent the better part of two weeks training with Nagant-Sensei, working on his maneuverability.
The training also reinforced his better behavior toward women that Flintlock-sensei had started encouraging in him. It was hard to perv on a beautiful woman when she was shooting at you…
As he headed towards the exit of the booth, Tsuyu looked over and asked, "You mind if I walk with you? My match is after yours and I figured I may as well wait in the waiting room."
Minoru paused for a moment but nodded and said, "Oh, uhm, yeah. S-sure."
"Thanks, kero." She git out of her seat and walked with him out of the booth.
As the two entered the hallway, they spotted Denki walking towards them, presumably coming back from the restroom. Their friend raised his hand and was about to speak before another certain blonde came out of the entrance for Class- 1-B's booth and bumped into him.
"Oof! Hey!" Denki backed up and looked at Neito Monoma with annoyance.
"Oh, my apologies," Neito said. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble."
Tsuyu put her finger to her chin. "What are you still doing up here? Your match is next."
"I can ask the same about him," Neito gestured to Minoru. "I assume we both wanted to witness the last match with our classes and not alone in a waiting room.
"Touché."
"Now, if you'll excuse me." Neito turned and walked away, not saying another word.
Minoru meanwhile raised an eyebrow at the entire situation. "Yeah, would he care about watching a match that involved none of his classmates?"
"That's… actually a good point," Denki scratched the back of his head. "That guy hates us, why would he care?"
"Honestly, does it really matter too much?" Tsuyu asked. "Probably best not to think too hard about it and focus on the match."
"Yeah, Tsu's got a point." Denki walked up and gave Minoru a playful punch to the shoulder. "Good luck out there, man," he said before entering his class' booth.
"Let's get down to the tunnel," Tsuyu said before she and Minoru began to make their way down once more.
The two walked in silence for a moment before Tsuyu piped up. "Are you worried about your match, kero?"
"I mean, yeah, I'm not the best combatant, and I'm sure Monoma has a pretty powerful quirk…"
"'Pretty sure'? You don't know what it is?" Tsuyu questioned.
"I mean, not exactly," he admitted. "Yeah, he was in the hell class with us before Sensei kicked him out, but during the time that he was there, all I ever saw her giving him were some kind of brain teasers—scenarios to make him think a bunch on how to approach them and stuff like that." Minoru shrugged. "And both of us were knocked out during that big climactic battle at the end of the last event, so I didn't get a chance to see it in action."
"I looked up footage posted of the final fight against Vader," Tsuyu said. "It looked like Monoma has a fire quirk, and apparently Todoroki has fire and ice. That last part isn't important for you, but I thought I'd mention it, kero."
Minoru swallowed his nerves, cursing his luck that the Jerk of 1-B had such a powerful quirk, but he steeled himself and started changing up his plans. He wouldn't disappoint his teachers or his new friends. The two made it to the waiting room, and Tsuyu turned and looked down at him with a curious look on her face.
She stared at him for a few seconds, making him nervous enough to quickly stutter, "D – do I have something on my face?" Tsuyu then grabbed his shoulders and leaned down to whisper in his ear. A red blush appeared on Minoru's face as she spoke, progressively getting redder until Tsuyu finally pulled away.
"But of course, that's only if you win, kero," she said matter-of-factly. She didn't even wait for him to respond before turning and walking into the waiting room. She paused at the door and looked over her shoulder at him. "Good luck out there, Minoru," she said before disappearing.
Minoru Mineta was not a brave boy; at least, he didn't think he was, and he knew he wasn't the most heroic of his classmates… He had come to UA to pick up chicks, after all. He was slowly starting to better himself, to walk the path of a true hero, and to make everyone proud to know him.
But dammit, was Tsuyu making that walk hard!
He slapped his cheeks once again, his eyes alight with determination as he marched toward the gate he was supposed to come out of.
Now, he definitely had to win.
Was his reasoning a little selfish? Probably.
But he was going to get that prize Tsuyu promised him!
After a few more moments of psyching himself up, his name was called, and he marched out toward the arena.
As he walked out, Flintlock began his introduction. "Up next: from the east gate! Living proof that big things come in small packages. Don't let his size fool you. He packs a huge punch! Minoru Mineta!" Hearing the crowd cheering for him had Minoru's chest swell with pride, and he stood a little taller.
He hoped his parents were watching him; he knew they probably were…
He'd best put on the show of a lifetime then.
"From the west gate!" Mount Lady chimed in after the crowd had calmed down somewhat. "One of Class 1-B's last two remaining combatants. Some would call him a magician! Others would say he's a bit of a copycat, but either way, he's here to stay! Neito Monoma!"
Minoru looked at his opponent in confusion, an eyebrow raised.
What the hell sort of introduction was that?
Midnight stepped forward on her podium. "You both know the rules by now: no killing each other, stop when I call the match." She grinned. "Don't get too frisky, you two." She winked at both of them; Neito ignored her, keeping his glare set on Minoru as if he had personally offended him.
Minoru, however, flushed red.
Years of bad habits don't change overnight; cut him some slack.
The point is, he wasn't getting distracted by Midnight's innuendos.
"Fighters, ready!" She raised her whip before cracking it across the ground and jumping back. "BEGIN!"
Minoru decided he'd quickly try to end this before Neito could blast him with fire or do anything crazy. He reached up and began to chuck a bunch of orbs so Neito wouldn't be quick enough to dodge all of them. Even if the orbs didn't fully immobilize him, having them stuck to him would slow him down.
Across the field, Neito smirked as he watched the barrage of orbs about to rain down on him. Then, electricity crackled throughout his body, and with incredible speed, he blitzed forward toward Minoru, dodging each and every orb as they came raining down with ease.
Minoru's eyes widened in disbelief. But he hardly had a chance to react before Neito was on him and slamming an electrified fist down. Minoru tried to jump out of the way but couldn't escape the following burst of electricity's area of effect. He rolled across the arena floor before stopping, a jolt of electricity going through his body and making him twitch as his body went slightly numb.
He looked back at Neito and saw his opponent standing tall with a grin on his face and electricity coating his body.
"WHAT THE-"
"-FUCK?!" Denki yelled angrily, jumping out of his seat and pointing down at the arena. "That- th-that's my quirk! Why does that asshole have my quirk?!" He looked down at his fingers and snapped them, a small spark of electricity arcing between his fingertips "Oh, thank God. He didn't steal it or something."
Katsuki grunted. "Didn't you guys notice during the boss fight? He was using Icyhot's quirk at the end."
Momo frowned and held her hand to her chin in thought. "Yes, I watched the footage to see what I missed. How do you know the fire was Todoroki's? Monoma could have just had his own flame quirk?"
"He was only shooting fire out of his left side. Also, where the hell is that flame quirk right now?" Katsuki gestured to the arena where Monoma was tossing electricity like it was going out of fashion. "Not to mention he's only just now using electricity when he could have used it in the last event. It's obvious. The bastard can copy quirks and at some point, copied Pikachu's."
Denki blinked before his face lit up with clarity. "Outside, in the hallway! He bumped into me. He has to touch someone to copy their quirk."
"And considering he's not using Todoroki's fire or ice, there's probably a time limit," Momo mumbled.
Kyouka chose that moment to butt in. "You know, that still doesn't explain how he's using Kaminari's quirk like that." One of her jacks pointed down at the arena. "I mean, all he could do before his quirk upgrade bullcrap last match was let out electricity and go stupid."
"Hey!"
"So why is copycat down there able to use the upgraded version too?" She finished.
"I'm… not certain," Momo furrowed her brow. "There are a few copycat quirks that can copy a quirk to some extent, though they are incredibly rare, more so than healing or even warp quirks, and from what I understand, all of them have trouble copying quirks that have gone through an awakening… They tend to just default to what the quirk was before that drastic change."
Katsuki grunted. "Well, Deku always did say quirks were bullshit."
"Yeah, this is bullshit!" Denki shook his fist in the air. "Stop using my cool quirk, dammit!"
"I don't think he hears you, Jamming-Whey," Kyouka chuckled.
Back down in the arena, Minoru bounced off one of his orbs that had missed Neito and stuck to the arena, quickly moving out of the way just in time to avoid another arc of lightning, but he flinched as he was once again caught by surprise when Neito appeared next to him and delivered an elbow to his side, sending him flying toward the other end of the arena.
"What's the matter, 1-A dog?" Neito mocked him from where Minoru had been. "Can't handle being thrashed by one of your betters?" Minoru stood as quickly as he could but winced as he held his side.
It felt like one of his ribs was cracked…
Minoru reached up to his head and was about to pull a few more of his orbs to try and attack, but he quickly had to bounce out of the way as Neito utilized his greater speed once more to try and attack him. He had once again managed to dodge a punch from his opponent, but the electricity had still grazed him, burning his arm and making it fall limp to his side, numb to the world.
Minoru was panting at this point. He was in a lot of pain, and he was having a bit of trouble thinking straight. Neito was just too fast.
"HA ha! This has to be one of my new favorites! I should have copied it sooner!" Neito flexed his fingers, sparks flying off them, and his grin widened. "The speed, the power! Wasted on a 1-A stooge!"
'And yet he isn't using Todoroki's quirk, which means maybe…' Minoru thought with whatever clarity he had.
People didn't seem to realize this, what with how Minoru acted, but he was smart. He listened when people spoke, he understood advanced math well enough to know how much force he needed to bounce his quirk or himself off a surface, and he had a decent grasp on combat analysis if his grades in Herorics were anything to go off of.
So when Neito mentioned copying quirks, he latched onto that line of thinking and ran with it.
Now, the 1-B student could have meant copied in one of two, maybe three ways; the first was that he had a stockpile of copied quirks ready and waiting to go for further use during the battle, but based on the fact that Minoru had only seen Electrification so far, that conclusion seemed unlikely. The second option was the most likely; he could only copy one quirk, but that tied into the third option, which was more an extension of the second, the idea that he could copy one quirk and it had a time limit…
It was a gamble, but he really had no other choice than to hope it was the third guess. This meant he could win, but not now, not while Neito was powered up. He steeled himself and focused on trying to stall Neito instead of defeating him.
Now, his current objective was to survive.
He tried to throw some orbs, testing not only his aim but also Neito's reaction time. Neito dodged them effortlessly, side-stepping them or ducking under them nearly faster than Minoru could track…
That meant he had to stall some other way.
Remembering one of Flitnlock's lectures, he decided to gamble. Neito was about to lunge at him again, so Minoru quickly opened his mouth and asked him a question.
"What's your issue with 1-A anyway!?"
Neito paused momentarily, Minoru internally grinning as he took the bait. "My issue?"
'Thank you Flintlock-Sensei' Minoru said in his head as he answered. "You always harp on about us? You keep going out of your way to start something with one of us when we literally wouldn't interact normally anyway! We didn't do anything to you, but you still act like we wronged you somehow!"
"To be perfectly honest, I don't really have a problem with you as individuals; it's more the collective as a whole," Neito admitted, much to Minoru's confusion.
"What?!" He yelled. "You're making no sense, man!"
"The USJ," Neito began. "All anyone could talk about was Class 1-A. 'Oh, did you hear about that class that fought villains their first week? They must be really powerful. The best of the best.' Everyone thinks my classmates and I are the 'great-value' version of you. Well, we aren't! We worked just as hard to get into the hero course and put in the same amount of effort, and we didn't do it all to have our own hard work made completely irrelevant because you had the chance to fight actual villains! Now everyone thinks you're leagues better when we haven't even been given the same chance!" He held his hands out to his sides, the electricity growing more violent. "As you can see, Mineta, you aren't as strong as everyone thinks you are!"
Minoru barely had time to dodge before Neito was on top of him. He was able to pinball himself away, bouncing off of his orbs scattered around the arena. He kept bouncing around, trying to keep his movements as unpredictable as possible so Neito couldn't predict his patting and lead any attacks. Eventually, the blonde copycat grits his teeth before a smile appears on his face. A moment later, Minoru felt an invisible force strike him in his side, the same side Neito had elbowed him earlier; only it felt so much worse than when Neito had done it.
The hit from the blow knocked him off course, and he went rolling across the arena floor, coming to a stop and groaning in pain.
Neito had a proud smile on his face as he slowly approached Minoru's downed form. He raised his hands and cracked his knuckles. "Alright, I think we're done here."
"...Tell me," Minoru groaned, not getting up. "How long does your quirk last?"
"Huh?" Neito raised an eyebrow. "What are you on about?"
"In the last event," Minoru struggled to get out as he placed a hand on the ground and started pushing himself up. "You used Todoroki's quirk, but you aren't using it now, which means there's a time limit to how long you can use a quirk you've copied. Correct me if I'm wrong," Minoru pushed himself to his knees and looked up at Neito, smiling, "but it's been a while since you copied Denki's quirk, right?"
Neito's eyes widened. He hadn't been keeping track of time. He was reveling too much in the power Electrification offered him. He down at his hands, and almost as if the Fates wanted to mock him, the electricity coating his form ceased to flow, and try as he might, he could not call on it again.
"Yeah, I may not be the strongest, the bravest, or even the tallest in my class," Minoru began to say as he pushed himself up, slowly getting his feet under him. "My quirk isn't the most powerful or the flashiest, but don't you think for even a second that I didn't put in the work!" He stood on his feet as the crowd cheered, and he slammed a fist to his chest. "I'm trying my absolute best! I don't care what anyone says! If there's one thing I have, it's my brain, and you're damn sure I'll use it for all its worth! I'll use everything I have, all my strength, to keep going until I can't anymore! And even then, I'll find a way to keep going again! I'll do whatever it takes to become a hero worth admiring! No one is going to stop me, not even you!"
Up in the commentator booth, Yu took another shot of whiskey before letting out a whistle. "Damn, kid's got some heart. Did you teach him how to give motivational speeches?" She looked over at Izumi, who had the biggest smile on her face as she crossed her arms.
"Nope," she shook her head. She then thought about it and shrugged. "I gave him one once, but we don't teach motivational speeches this early in the year."
Yu hummed as she poured herself another shot. "Credit where credit is due, for a first speech, he did pretty good."
Izumi nodded. She couldn't possibly express how proud she was of Minoru; he had begun taking his first steps to become the hero she knew he could be.
She shouldn't be biased when two of her students were fighting.
But…
"Fuck 'em up, kid," she mumbled and got ready for what she expected was coming next.
Minoru and Neito stared each other down. Neither one dared to move. Neito silently cursed himself for taking his time and not ending the match quickly enough. He tried to tell himself he still had a shot, a chance to beat Minoru.
His hope died the moment Minoru jumped off one of his orbs and shot off, bouncing off another orb and another, pinballing himself around the arena using the many orbs that had been scattered around. Neito tried to keep up with where he was, but Minoru was nothing but a blur.
He grunted when he felt himself get hit as Minoru flew past him. He got hit again and again and, in his panic, started to frantically move out of the way of Minoru as he flew by.
He took a step and gasped when he found his foot had stepped on one of the orbs, and his shoe was stuck. He looked down at it and cursed before looking up in time to receive a kick to the chest that had him falling back, his gym top landing on a bunch of orbs and trapping him.
Minoru twisted through the air and landed on the arena floor with a stumble but regained his footing before standing tall, even when his head was dizzy from all the rapid bouncing around.
Midnight inspected Neito and, after noticing that he was unable to move, allowed him to struggle for a bit longer before calling the match.
"Neito Monoma is unable to continue. Minoru Mineta wins!"
Minoru was breathing heavily as he looked around, almost confused at what was going on before everything caught up to him. "I won?" he muttered before raising his fists in the air with a cry. "I won!"
He smiled as he looked up at the commentator's booth. "Sensei, I did it!"
Midnight tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn around and look up at her.
"Sorry to interrupt your moment, sweetie, but uh." She looked over a Neito, "How are we supposed to get him up?"
Minoru scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "They last a pretty long time; his best bet would be just to ditch his shirt and shoes."
Midnight nodded and went to help Neito do just that while motioning for Minoru to leave the field. "Head on over to Recovery Girl." After helping Neito up, she reached up to her earpiece and began talking to Flintlock and Mount Lady up in the announcer's booth.
"We'll need a few minutes to get the arena set back up."
Minoru entered the infirmary and sat down as the pro-heroine looked him over; he leaned around her and noticed Ochako and Pony watching the fights from a pair of chairs. Their backs were to him, but he could clearly see Pony lying down with her head resting on Ochako's lap, and he grinned.
He waited for the now admittedly very attractive Recovery Girl to give him his kiss on the cheek and energy gummies before shouting out in English. "Yeah, Pony! Get it!"
The two jumped, and Pony immediately shot back into a proper sitting position before noticing Minoru and beaming at him. She got up and trotted over to him, patting him on the back with a grin. "Saw match! You did good, Battle Buddy!"
Minoru smiled at his friend and thanked her shyly, not used to such positive attention from a girl, though he knew better than to try anything with her. He scratched the back of his head as he responded, "Yeah, I struggled a bit at the start there, but I was able to bring it home at the end."
Ochako chose that moment to get up and reach out for a fist bump, which he returned. "Well, good job on pulling through; the jerk deserved the ass-kicking! Also, cool speech."
"Thanks. Honestly, I had no clue what the hell I was saying; I could hardly think. I was mostly trying to figure out my pathing."
Pony and Ochako looked at him strangely, and he shrugged. "I have to use a lot of physics to use my quirk to bounce around like that, so I had to do some math on the fly while I was talking; no big deal."
Ochako sputtered, "No big deal!? I can't do fractions in my head! Especially not when I'm talking! I don't know anyone who could do that shit that doesn't have a quirk specifically made for it!"
Pony, not really understanding the full scope of the conversation but understanding enough, just shouted out, "Math sucks!"
Minoru was about to respond when he heard Flintlock announce the next match. The field must have been repaired. "We can continue this later; we gotta root for Tsu-Chan!" he moved over toward the large television to get a better look at the match while Pony and Ochako looked at each other with a grin.
They'd tease him about it later.
"From the east gate: She carries a bible in her right hand and the ability to smite her foes in her left! She's on a crusade to win this whole thing, and she's a veritable walking Garden of Eden! Ibara Shiozaki!" Flintlock announced, causing the arena to once again burst into cheers.
"And from the west gate: We've got a green, mean, hopping machine! A heroine whose kicks shake entire buildings, The girl with the legs of steel! Tsuyu Asui!"
The two contestants immediately made their way to the arena, Ibara shyly waving to the crowd while Tsuyu ignored them completely.
Midnight verified that the two knew the rules and then called for the match to begin, taking a step back to allow the two to come to blows.
There was no pre-fight banter between the two; they weren't friends, though they knew each other from the hell class. There was no bad blood between the two of them; for them, it was just another fight on their road to being heroes.
Tsuyu struck first, launching her tongue at Ibara fast enough to cause the Vine quirk user to blink in surprise before she dodged out of the way. She could have countered with her vines, but she didn't want to injure her opponent severely. Once she had regained her footing, Ibara turned to go on the offense but had to stop herself upon noticing that Tsuyu wasn't where she had been at the start of the match.
Ibara's only warning was a silent croaking, which alerted her to the fact that someone was behind her. She didn't have time to turn and instead thickened her vines and caused them to lash out past her back.
"Kero!" Tsuyu let out a startled croak as the vines pushed toward her; she used them as a springboard and jumped away quickly before they could latch onto her and trap her.
"That's annoying," the Frog quirk user deadpanned before launching on the offense once again, jumping hard enough to crack the concrete beneath her feet.
Ibara barely had enough time to bring her vines up as a shield before Tsuyu came crashing through them, her extended leg missing Ibara and landing on the other side of her opponent.
Neither combatant moved after that. Ibara's face was as white as a sheet as she stared through the Tsuyu-sized hole in her vines that had formed due to Tsuyu's kick.
'If that had hit me…' Had the frog girl missed on purpose? Ibara didn't know, but she didn't want to know what would have happened had Tsuyu hit her. Her vines were strong enough to break through concrete and broken through like tissue paper. Maybe it would be better to cut her losses.
She was about to tell Midnight that she was going to forfeit when her opponent's voice reached her ears.
"Yeah, I give up." Tsuyu deadpanned. Ibara turned to her in surprise, only to see the girl taking her shoes off and shaking them out. "Those thorns hurt, and my shoes are fucked up, kero, so there's no way I'm pulling that off again," she noticed Ibara's stunned face and waved her off. "And besides, whoever wins is fighting either Todoroki or Denki next; I don't wanna get electrocuted, and I don't deal with the cold very well. Have fun with that, kero." Her piece said she hopped off the side of the arena and started making her way toward the infirmary, much to the surprise of everyone present.
"Uh… Tsuyu Asui has forfeited? Ibara Shiozaki is the winner!" Midnight announced, just as confused as the Christian girl felt.
"What… just happened?"
"I'm so fucking screwed!" Denki gripped his hair in frustration as he paced the waiting room.
He was alone, and ever since the end of Minoru's match, he had been trying to figure out how the hell his quirk worked. Try as he might, he couldn't recreate whatever had happened to him in the last event on command. When he tried to use his quirk, it just acted like it normally did. Generating electricity when he called but not enhancing him as it had during the second event.
Why could that copycat use his quirk better than he could?
"What am I doing wrong?!" He looked at his hands and the electricity arcing between his fingers. He had done it with no problem before. He walked toward the entryway he was supposed to come out of and knocked on his head lightly with one of his fists.
"Come on, Denki, use your noggin." He muttered, "You aren't as stupid as your quirk makes you. What are you doing wrong?"
As he was tapping his fist against his head, the electricity going through his hand zapped him, and for a split second, that to him felt like an eternity; he felt it. He had that feeling, the same feeling he had last match when he was juiced up.
Then he realized what the problem was. "Could it be that simple…" he trailed off as the pieces finally landed in place.
He looked at his hand responsible for the revelation and clenched it, generating electricity but doing something he hadn't done before in a long time. He held it in.
The last time he had done this was when he was a little kid. He ended up causing a power outage in his whole neighborhood when he released all that pent-up electricity. His little body couldn't handle that much electricity; he had been knocked out for days afterward.
He didn't try to hold in that much energy ever again…
Because now… his quirk was different. He wasn't sure exactly what happened to him or his quirk, but he knew this time he wouldn't be causing a blackout. This time, he could handle it.
As he felt the electricity slowly begin to build beneath the surface, that feeling began to return.
His hair started to stand on end, and he smiled as electricity arced off him with every step.
"Oh yeah, now we're back in business!"
"From the west gate!"
Denki perked up as his gate was called, and he grinned as he allowed a bit of excess power to escape to give off a nice visual effect, lighting up his tunnel. Sue him; he was feeling extra "showmanly" at the moment.
Had he been able to see himself in the mirror, he'd say it was worth it. His hair, normally spikey as it was, looked like it could be used to stab someone with how spiked up it had become; it stopped laying relatively flat across his head and instead stood on end. The electricity kept arcing off it like some kind of high-energy halo or crown, and his normally blond hair was literally glowing.
Goku, eat your heart out.
He heard Flintlock continuing his introduction. "We have class 1-A's very own flying thunder god! Arguably one of the MVPs for the previous event; if the crowd's reaction to his feats was anything to say about it, lightning given form! Denki Kaminari!"
"Holy shit, sensei way to make me sound rad as hell…" Denki whispered as he charged up and burst out of the tunnel in a brilliant blast of electricity, making a very flashy entrance and taking his starting spot in the arena all within a second.
When Flintlock said the crowd loved him, she wasn't kidding. The moment they laid eyes upon his electricity-covered form, they went absolutely insane.
He was pretty sure he heard Katsuki shout about how bullshit that reaction was.
The crowd was allowed to cheer a bit longer before Mount Lady introduced his opponent. "And from the east gate: with flames that are hot as hell and ice cold enough to freeze it over. The Pride of the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes; Shouto Todoroki!"
"Subtle, Yu. Very subtle." Flintlock deadpanned.
Shouto, unlike his opponent, took his time getting to the arena, but after a couple of seconds, he stood across from Denki, looking unimpressed with the energy he was putting off or the roar of the crowd.
Midnight walked up between the two, though she had to back up a bit from the amount of energy Denki was outputting before giving them the usual rundown of the event. After confirming that they knew not to murder each other, she announced the beginning of the last match of the first rounds before jumping off the field, aware of the potential splash zone these two would inevitably create.
Before either made a move, though, Shouto decided to speak up. "I will admit, your new abilities are… interesting, Kaminari. But it still won't be enough to help you win."
"I mean," Denki stretched his arms and got into a fighting stance, "You never know until you try. Your quirk's pretty rad, but I think I might just shock you."
Shouto didn't laugh, not that Denki expected him to.
"I'll end this quickly," Shouto simply said before throwing his hand forward and launching what could only be described as a glacier at Denki.
Denki, with his increased perception of "slowing down time," was able to really take the time to process the giant wall of ice closing in on him. "...Oh shit… OH SHIT!"
He tried to think of how the actual fuck he was going to dodge a glacier, but even with all the "time" he had, he didn't see a way around the attack, at least not one that didn't put him at risk from further retaliation.
He saw a rock, a piece of the arena broken from the ice carving through the concrete, fly by him, and an idea popped into his head. He grabbed the rock out of the air and held it in his hand as if he was about to flick it.
This was either going to be the best idea ever or the dumbest.
He sent electricity into his hand and grinned. "ANIME DON'T FAIL ME NOW!" He shouted out before he released it right as he flicked the rock. The makeshift projectile shot forward faster than any bullet, crashing into the glacier so hard that it shook.
The glacier held for all of a second before it shattered in an explosion, causing Shouto to flinch as he erected a wall of ice between himself and the explosion, blocking the wind and small particles of ice that survived the energy of Denki's counterattack.
The rest of the ice seemed to come down as snow around the arena, much to Denki and Midnight's relief.
He didn't want to hurt anyone with his counterattack.
"Looks like I'm still in this, Todoroki!" He grinned and beckoned his opponent with two fingers. "Show me what you've got!"
Shouto scowled and raised his right hand again, the air around it becoming cold as he activated his quirk. "Very well, Kaminari, you have my attention."
He was still determined not to use his father's flames, at least not on a classmate, but he realized now that he might have to go all out to win this fight.
Midnight looked at Cementoss with a concerned frown; the two nodded before returning to the match.
They both mentally prepared themselves to step in if they needed to. They both knew that this might be the first match they were forced to intervene in.
They still held out hope they wouldn't have to as the two young men squared up with each other.