"You did great out there, Gen-chan! I'm so proud of you!" Oki cooed from outside the shower room.
"Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself too," Genki admitted as he stood in the hot shower, washing away the sheen of oil on his body as he thought back to his fights thus-far.
While Mineta was quite literally "small fry", Ashido Mina was a more-serious contender. Were it not for his Goki Oil Flow: Acid Armor, Mina might've given him more than just a chemical burn or two, and thankfully he'd been able to preserve his modesty once the acid started flying.
Most of his dignity, at least.
While one concern over the whole debacle was what kind of weirdos and pervs might want him to intern at their agencies, assuming he advanced far-enough that the Hero Course would want to take him in, even if he got a reputation as a pervert, heroes like Kayama Nemuri aka "The R-Rated Hero: Midnight" was proof that even with a rep like that, you could still have a fulfilling career as a Pro Hero.
He just hoped he wouldn't have to strip too much in this tournament. He actually wanted to be taken seriously by his peers after graduation, and unlike Midnight, his Quirk didn't necessarily give him an excuse to run around in super-revealing attire.
"You should probably hurry up. Once they get the last of yours and Mii-chan's fluids off the ground, they'll get started with the quarterfinal round. You wouldn't want to miss the heads-up about your possible opponents, would you?"
"Right, I'm just about finished," Genki said stepping out of the shower, toweling himself off.
Getting on his clothes and tightening the laces of his shoes which also had to be replaced, the moment he stepped out of the student showers, a wave of unease suddenly washed over him. His blood growing hot and his heart pounding against his rib cage, the teen's legs buckled underneath him. A hand clawing at the wall as he fell, the teen was barely able to take a knee, his mother catching him before he could fall the rest of the way.
"Before you go out there… you should probably take your medicine," she said fishing a small cylinder wrapped in a handkerchief out of her purse. "You left your dosage at home in your excitement this morning."
"I wonder…" Genki hummed as he propped himself against the nearby wall, looking down at the wrapped cylinder in his hand, then towards the arena down the hall. "Can I really become a Hero… if I have to take something like this all the time?" he asked aloud. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry for what happened to dad."
"Gen-chan, we've been over this a hundred times already. What happened back then wasn't your fault. It was that villain's fault," Oki pouted, resting her fists on her hips.
"Well it sure feels like it's my fault," Genki grumbled as he rolled up his left sleeve.
Unwrapping the handkerchief and pulling the cap off the triple-needled syringe with his teeth, Genki stared intently at the trio of hypodermic needles, their ends glinting in the light as his thoughts turned to the most-intimidating members of Class 1-A. The inescapable walls he'd have to overcome if he wanted even a shot of promotion.
"If only… If only I were stronger…" Genki said as he pressed the needles into the bottom of his bicep.
Gritting his teeth as the dark-blue drug entered his bloodstream, his blood cooled in his veins, and the danger passed.
*MHA*
"So, what did I miss?" Genki asked of Hitoshi as they got back to their seats.
"Not much. Kirishima and Tetsutetsu arm wrestled for the tiebreaker," the indigo-haired teen answered. "Also, Midnight started getting real weird about it."
"Though if you ask her, she'll just say she's 'passionate' about her work as an educator," Oki sighed.
"So who won?" Genki asked.
"Kirishima," Shinso answered. "Apart from yourself and Shiozaki, most of the battle tournament looks like a bunch of 1-A infighting."
" . . . You still bummed out you lost?"
"Even if I was, would that change anything?" the indigo-haired teen asked. "Don't you worry about me, I'll make it into the Hero Course my own way. You just focus on getting there yourself, otherwise you'll have to wait another year for a chance like this."
"Yeah, I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Genki hummed as he rubbed his left bicep, the first match of the quarterfinals starting with earnest. "I'll even put in a good word for you when I get there."
"If you get there," Shinso retorted. "Best chance you'll have is winning this thing, so don't count your chickens before they hatch."
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Genki said turning his eyes to the arena, orbs of brown drinking in every detail on who he might have to fight later-on.
*MHA*
"Barring one dark horse in the Sports Festival, both of these competitors have won top marks thus-far! On one side we have Midoriya Izuku from Class 1-A, the guy with the crazy strong right hook! On the other side we have Todoroki Shoto also from 1-A, this kid's too cool for school! Just who will win this epic opening bout?"
"Quarterfinal first round! START!"
Todoroki's immediate opening move was to summon a giant glacier, the massive wall of ice shooting towards Midoriya. The next moment however, Izuku flicked out his middle finger, a massive blast of wind ripping the glacier to shreds and sending Todoroki backwards. The two-toned teen would've been sent completely out-of-bounds if he hadn't made a wall at his back.
"WHOAAA! He smashed through!" Present Mic whooped.
"Urp! God, that looks like it really hurts," Genki retched, almost on the verge of hurling as the process repeated itself four more times, Midoriya's fingers left purple and broken as he expended them one by one.
"Yeah. It's like he can barely control his own Quirk," Shinso said as Todoroki leapt up from atop his own glacier and swooped down on Midoriya from above.
"Maybe he's a late bloomer?" Oki questioned as the greenette dodged, Todoroki palming the ground and sending another wave of ice out to close the distance.
The teen's right foot getting caught, the next moment another blast of wind kicked up through the arena, dust and ice shards sent flying in every direction. The clouds clearing, it was then revealed that nearly the whole of Midoriya's left arm was purple and bruised, blood dripping from numerous lacerations.
"URP! God, this is hard to watch…" Genki groaned on the verge of hurling. "These front-row seats are more trouble than they're worth."
"Only defending and dodging?" Todoroki asked. "It's taking a toll on you."
Suddenly all around Genki, the audience started muttering about how Todoroki was "already stronger than most pros" or things like "as expected from the son of the number-two Hero" and so-on. Personally Genki found it all quite offensive because they were basically treating him like an extension of his father instead of his own person.
"Sorry for all this. I appreciate it, though, Midoriya. Thanks to you… he doesn't look too happy," Todoroki hummed as he looked to the side, watching Endeavor silently fume up in the stands as he continued to use only his [Subzero] Quirk. "Anyway, with both your hands destroyed like this, you can't fight anymore. Let's just end this."
"Whoa! And Todoroki continues his relentless assault! Could this next ice attack win it all?" Present Mic asked.
"WHO SAYS I'M DONE?!" Izuku demanded, Todoroki going wide-eyed as yet another "smash" blasted through the air, Todoroki barely a meter from being knocked out-of-bounds as Izuku flicked out with his broken fingers.
"Why go that far?" Todoroki asked as he got up from his barricade.
"You're shivering… Todoroki…" Izuku said as his body trembled. "Quirks are still just physical abilities. You have a limit to how much of that could you can bear! But then… You could always use your left side to thaw yourself out, right? Everyone's… giving I their all! To win… To achieve their goals… To make it to the top! And you're gonna win with half your power? You still… haven't put a scratch on me! GIMME EVERYTHING YOU GOT! COME AT ME!" Todoroki shouted, clenching a hand with broken fingers as he tried egging his opponent on.
"Geez, what's this idiot planning? Does he even want to win?" Shinso asked, noticing that Todoroki's body was starting to freeze over.
"Hard to say, but he definitely egged Todoroki on just then," Genki hummed as Todoroki scowled angrily, closing the distance between them on-foot. The two nearing one another, Midoriya suddenly shot forward the moment his opponent raised his left leg mid-stride, the teen diving in with a right punch that nearly folded his opponent in half, his left arm getting frozen over in the exchange.
As a result of said hit, Todoroki was sent tumbling across the stage like a ragdoll, the spectators wincing at the sounds his body was making with each bounce.
Todoroki's ire rising, with a stomp of his right foot he sent out yet another wave of ice. However, this one was far weaker; weak-enough that Midoriya could sidestep it, even as messed-up as he was.
Todoroki moving in for another attack, Midoiya then slipped his broken thumb into his mouth, flicking it out with his cheek and sending Todoroki flying once more, the two-toned teen the closest he'd ever gotten to being knocked out-of-bounds.
"Just trying to meet expectations! A smiling… dependable… cool hero…" Izuku muttered as he dove after Todoroki. "That's what I wanna be! That's why I'm giving it everything! For everyone!" he said headbutting Todoroki, sending him reeling. "Your experiences… Your determination… I can't even begin to imagine what all that's like, but… If you want to reject your father, that's fine… But you don't have the right to be number one if you aren't going to use your full power!" he shouted drawing his right arm back. "That's why… I'm going to win this!"
Todoroki rendered dumbstruck by Izuku's words, memories he'd long-suppressed flashing before his eyes, the two-toned teen was completely open for the right straight that Izuku landed in his gut, sending him flying through the air.
"No… I'll show my father…" Todoroki muttered.
"Your power… IT'S YOUR POWER! NOT HIS!" Midoriya shouted, trying to get through to Todoroki, even now.
Of course, Genki didn't have the whole picture to know what they were going on about, why they were blabbering so much during the middle of the fight, but just like many others, he too was completely shocked when Todoroki began spilling out tongues of flame from the left side of his body, a mantle of bright orange fire that billowed around him, the ice dominating his right side thawing.
"YES! SHOTOOOOO!" a voice suddenly bellowed, Genki looking up to see that the blabbermouth was none other than the No.2 Hero, Endeavor. "SO YOU'VE FINALLY ACCEPTED IT! YES! EXCELLENT!" he proclaimed as he walked down the stairs with bold, almost violent strides, the flames masking him burning with an almost manic glee. "IT ALL STARTS FOR YOU NOW! WITH MY BLOOD PUMPING THROUGH YOUR VEINS, YOU WILL SURPASS ME… YOU WILL FULFILL… MY AMBI-"
Before Endeavor could finish his rambling speech, a shadow loomed over him before a massive hand suddenly clamped down on his shoulder, heedless of the fires that burned there and tightening like an industrial vice.
"All Might… This is my moment… Don't you dare get in my-"
The moment Endeavor looked over his shoulder however, it became obvious that this was not All Might he was dealing with.
Easily taller than him by half a foot in stature, the massive man whose hand gripped his shoulder was incredibly muscular with thick, dark-brown skin. Bearing a large physical resemblance to the Homo Erectus, the man's hair was incredibly short with pair of bug-like antennae sticking out atop his head, his eyes beady with an emotionless expression on his face. The man was clad in a similar triple-extra-large suit to All Might, only colored white with a black tie.
Though he'd been retired for several years now, his identity was unmistakable; at least to Endeavor.
The massive hulk of a man staring down at Endeavor with a completely neutral expression, he then raised a digit to his lips, shushing the No.2 Hero as though he were naught but a petulant child.
Bristling with rage, Endeavor was about to snap back at the "has-been Hero", only for the massive hand from before to clamp itself around his face instead, silencing any protest he had before he was dragged off, leaving Midoriya and Todoroki to fight uninterrupted.
"Well… Someone's got issues," Shinso muttered as he watched Endeavor being dragged away.
"Yeah, no shit," Genki hummed. "Still, nice to know my dad was able to get here in time for the big event. Never thought I'd make it this far to be honest."
"Wait, that thing was your father!?" Shinso gawped in complete and total shock as he beheld the larger-than-life figure in the distance.
"Shush, the fight's still going on," Oki shushed, Midoriya and Todoroki exchanging a few more words before they dove back into the heat of it once again.
A mantle of flame enveloping the left side of Todoroki's body, a massive sheet of ice spilled out his right foot with renewed vigor. At the same time, Midoriya squared his feet, his left pant leg ripped away by an invisible force while arcs of lightning danced across his right arm. The green-haired teen lunging over Todoroki's ice, the two-toned teen in turn called forth a massive wall of flame, the two threatening to meet in the middle, five walls of cement rising up mere moments before contact.
"HIT THE DECK!" Oki cried as she tackled Genki -who was in the process of tackling Shinso to the ground- the moment she sensed the air pressure changing.
The very next moment, a loud *WHAKOOOOM!* filled the arena as a massive blinding light erupted from the center of the stage, a blast of rising air and shards of concrete nearly blowing the people in the front row out of their seats, the blast of hot air colliding with cold even managing to hit those in the nosebleed section.
"What… What the heck just happened?!" Present Mic gawked, mirroring everyone's thoughts as Genki and his mother poked their heads over the railing, beholden to the nearly-unmitigated destruction the two's ultimate moves had wrought.
"All that chilled air was heated up in an instant, making it expand," Aizawa said matter-of-factly, seemingly nonplussed by what he'd just witnessed.
Coming up with a textbook explanation like that so-quickly was a credit to his many years of experience as a Pro.
"Not that I'm not glad he's still in one piece, but how the hell is he still in one piece?" Genki asked as he looked to the left, spying the prone form of Midoriya leaned against the far wall as the dust began to settle, his body amazingly intact despite weathering what may as well've been a tactical nuke dropped in their laps.
"Midoriya is out-of-bounds… The winner is Todoroki!" Midnight announced moments after Izuku slid down the wall and dropped to the ground.
*MHA*
Suffice it to say, with the way Midoriya and Todoroki ripped the stage a superfluous new asshole, the faculty definitely had to call an intermission as they repaired the stage. So much of the stage had been borderline vaporized they had to whip up a completely new batch of cement. Even though Yuuei bought the stuff in bulk, this wasn't something you could just slap back together with a hope, a prayer, and some duct tape.
While repairs were being made, many spectators left their seats to either refresh their snacks, or for those in the front row… get a fresh change of pants…
It took a while, about as long as it took for Cementoss to repair the stage, but eventually the fanfare for the first quarterfinal match died down, giving way to the second which in comparison to the first was rather… underwhelming.
*MHA*
"In the exciting second match of the quarterfinals… The not-an-assassin of Hero Course Class 1-B, Shiozaki Ibara, versus… The boy that never skips leg day, it's the engine of destruction, Iida Tenya also of the Hero Course!"
"Quarterfinal second round! START!"
"Ultimate Move…" Iida intoned as he got into a runner's start the moment the match began, Shiozaki's vines creeping towards him like a wave of tentacles as his legs let out a keening whine. "Recipro BURST!"
Blue flames spilling out of his calves as the roar of a jet engine filled the air, in an instant Iida was behind Ibara, the [Engine]-user grasping her shoulders before shooting off once again, the [Vine]-user's eyes squinting until she came to a stop, eyes wide as she found herself out-of-bounds in all the time it took to blink.
" . . . Shiozaki is out-of-bounds!" Midnight announced once she processed how-quickly the match had ended. "The winner is Iida!"
"Holy shit that was fast," Shinso gawped, realizing if he'd faced Iida in the first round and he wasn't able to get under his skin in time, it could've been his fight that ended just-as-quickly.
"Yeah, but it looks like he's a one-pump chump," Genki hummed as he noticed smoke sputtering from his mufflers after all of ten seconds, Iida looking like the little car engine that couldn't.
"Gen-chan, where'd you learn that kind of language?" his mother demanded with an angry pout.
"My army of Onee-samas…" Genki replied, suddenly trembling with fear. "So many marshmallows… So many oil massages…" he shuddered as he hugged himself. "The horror…" he trembled with wide, manic eyes.
"Dude . . . You've got issues," Shinso said bluntly while his friend had brain-melting flashbacks.
"For the love of kami, please tell me you left them at home!" Genki pleaded on bent knees, his eyes darting around to very dark corner as though something would jump out at him.
"Don't worry, Gen-chan, your father has them working out-of-town today. You don't need to worry about them embarrassing the living daylights out of you," Oki giggled with a wave of her hand.
"Oh thank kami…" Genki said as he crumpled tiredly like a wet sock.
"For today at least. No telling what those girls might pull tomorrow," Oki said cheekily, causing her son to wail into the heavens.
" . . . So many issues…" Shinso felt the need to repeat as nearby spectators gave them weird looks.
*MHA*
"In the third quarterfinal match, it's a clash of 1-A heavy hitters! The living nuclear warhead, Bakugou Katsuki, versus… Manly and passionate hardening stronger than steel, Eijirou Kirishima!"
"Well, at least he mixed things up a little," Kirishima sighed, Bakugou cracking his knuckles off to the side.
"Quarterfinal third round! START!"
Kirishima moved in with a right hook the moment the match started, his jagged [Hardening]-enhanced knuckles drawing blood from Bakugou's cheek as the dodged at the last second. In return, Bakugou blasted Kirishima under the right arm at point-blank range, sending Kirishima staggering back.
"Ha! Nice try! That's not gonna work on me!" Kirishima said with a toothy grin, his shirt blown away revealing his torso too had become hardened. The red-headed teen diving in once again, Bakugou forced to dodge Kirishima's Quirk-augmented fists lest they damage his future marketability, the blond-haired teen was forced onto the defensive for a good minute until an opening presented itself, blasting Kirishima under his left arm.
However what was different was that while before Kirishima only staggered, now he was reeling, the red-haired teen soon smothered in another explosion at point-blank range, the teen guarding his face with his arms. The dust settling a moment later, Bakugou dove straight in, peppering his opponent with a one-man bombing raid that painted the air bright shades of yellow and orange. Kirishima weathered the staccato of explosions admirably, but in the case of the immovable object and the unstoppable force, the unstoppable force won.
"Now DIIIIIIIIE!" Bakugou raged as he swept his arm up with a final explosion thrown in, his opponent sent sailing through the air before landing flat on his back.
"Kirishima is unable to battle! The winner is Bakugou!" Midnight announced a moment after checking on him.
"Yeah, no shit he's unable to battle," Shinso deadpanned. "Seeing these other fights, I'm starting to think I got off easy."
"Maybe, but I have the feeling it'd be really easy for you to get under that guy's skin," Genki hummed.
"Yeah, it did seem like he was the sort whose skin you could get under easily," Shinso nodded as he rubbed his back from when Midoriya threw him. "So… How do you intend to beat that?"
"I'm… not completely sure," Genki admitted. "I've still gotta worry about this match before I even think of going up against explosion boy."
*MHA*
"In the final match of the quarterfinals, we have the lord of darkness himself, the Hero Course's own Chuunibyou, Tokoyami Fumikage, versus… the General Course's own master oil wrestler, Gokiburi Genki!"
"I am not a chuuni…" Fumikage grumbled, blushing under his feathers.
"Hey, at least you didn't get called a 'master oil wrestler'," Genki grumbled, wondering if he'd have to cater to that part of the fanbase.
Japan invented tentacle porn. It could invent just about anything else porn-related.
Let's just say after the advent of Paranormality, Mutant-Type Quirks in particular, hentai started to get a bit more… creative.
And disturbing.
But also more-creative.
Internet Rule #35.
"Quarterfinal's final match! START!"
"I don't care if you're a chuuni, if you do anything to the change of clothes that I just got, I'm suing your feathery ass!" Genki raged.
"Believe me, that is far from my intention," Fumikage said, trying to remain as-stoic as possible. "Go! Dark Shadow!"
"Hai, aibou!" Dark Shadow said as he shot forward, aiming for a massive claw swipe.
Genki backpedaling to see just how much slack the "umbilical cord" connecting the two had, the oily-haired teen noticed that Dark Shadow slowed down after roughly half of the stage's length. And not only was he on the "end of his rope", but his physical movements seemed to slow as well. Like it took longer for [Dark Shadow] to "receive instructions" from the "brain" controlling it.
'Okay. I can work with this,' Genki said dropping down onto all fours an zipping forward, the teen an oily blur as he shot past [Dark Shadow] towards the bird-headed Tokoyami like an oily bullet.
"Dark Shadow! Return!" Tokoyami called out as he reeled his projection back into his body. Genki's antennae twitching, right as Dark Shadow was about to overtake him, the oily-haired teen leapt up and coiled his arm around the dark "umbilical cord", riding the line towards Tokoyami like a fish on a reel. The suddenness of this maneuver was so-shocking that Tokoyami couldn't raise his arms in time to block the reeled-in flying double-kick aimed at his chest.
Dark Shadow following after his master as he was sent flying, the entity twisted over on itself and aimed to crush his opponent in a massive bear hug, only for Genki to fire his Goki Thruster overhead, dropping him to the ground and out of Dark Shadow's clutches as he returned to his master's side.
"Ngh. That speed of his is no joke," Tokoyami winced as he held his chest.
"Sorry. I couldn't get a hold of him," Dark Shadow whimpered.
"It's alright. The match has only just begun," Tokoyami said getting to his feet. "Wait, where'd be go?"
"I don't know. I only took my eyes off him for a second!" Dark Shadow said as he looked around.
The sound of something dropping to the ground behind them, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow alike whirled around, a blur of oily hair in the corner of their eyes all the warning hey had before Genki took his feet out from under him in a sweeping low kick, the bird boy laid out on his back while [Dark Shadow] "fell upwards", hitting his head on the ground.
"Huh. Didn't think it's work that well," Genki hummed as he watched Tokoyami roll onto his feet while [Dark Shadow] nursed his head. 'So, this isn't like in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure where what happens to one happens to the other," he hummed, noticing they weren't nursing injuries the other sustained. 'Guess I'll have to hit Tokoyami if I want the KO,' he thought, getting low to the ground once again.
"Dark Shadow, you ready?"
"Hai!"
"GO!" Tokoyami ordered, [Dark Shadow] lunging forward only for Genki to begin strafing around Tokoyami's right flank.
[Dark Shadow] following his oily-haired target, who proceeded to go faster and faster, before Tokoyami realized what he'd allowed to happen, the "umbilical cord" binding him and [Dark Shadow] together had been firmly wrapped around his midsection, a sudden low-tackle to his ankles sending him and [Dark Shadow] tumbling to the ground in a literal tangle of bodies.
"Urgh… That's never happened before…" Tokoyami grumbled as he tried to recall [Dark Shadow] and untangle himself, only for a weight to drop down onto his chest, a splayed hand placed in front of his face a moment later.
"I believe this is checkmate," Genki said as a honeycombing of vents dilated across his left palm, an ominous hissing sounding from the depths of his arm.
"Do your worst. He can take it," [Dark Shadow] grumbled from his place underneath Tokoyami.
"I'd rather not."
"Then surrender right now or you'll really regret it," Genki stated firmly.
" . . . What if I say 'no'?" Tokoyami reconsidered.
" . . . Goki Hiss: Hundred and Thirty Decibel Blast!" the teen suddenly roared putting his palm even closer to Tokoyami's face. The hissing from his palm soon turning into the loud roar of a jet engine, Tokoyami's back arched as he howled in pain, the aforementioned 130-decibel hissing roar washing over him.
The bird-headed teen's head whipping about as he tried to escape, his body flailing as Genki tried to keep him pinned to the ground, the moment it looked like [Dark Shadow] was about to escape, Genki turned his honeycombed palm on [Dark Shadow] before clocking Tokoyami across the face with his free hand, his screaming dying out as his head lolled back.
Genki letting out a ragged gasp as he forced away the blackness encroaching on his vision, while [Dark Shadow] whimpered, Midnight came up to them and checked Tokoyami for a pulse before reaching her verdict.
"Fumikage is unable to battle! Gokiburi Genki moves on to the semifinal round!" Midnight announced, the audience exploding into cheers as the underdog won once again, going further and higher than any General Course student before him.
"And with that, the quarterfinal round is over, and our final four have been selected!" Present Mic announced as Tokoyami was carted off. "You all know the drill, people! We'll have a brief intermission, and then start the semifinal round once our four fighters have had the chance to rest up! And for those of you at home, STAY TUNED!"
*MHA*
AN:
A little ominous foreshadowing at the start, capped off with another of Genki's fights.
As for what comes next for Genki, I think that will actually be more-exciting than the final round.
Or at least more fun to write.
GO BEYOND!
EXCELSIOR!