"Both of these competitors come from renowned hero families! It's a fight between elites! Iida Tenya versus Todoroki Shoto!" Present Mic announced as the user of [Engine] and the dual-wielder of [Subzero] and [Hellflame] stepped into the ring. Iida himself looked pumped, but Todoroki had a far-off look in his eye like he was thinking about something else.
"Semifinal first round! START!"
Todoroki stomping his right foot forward and sending a sheet of ice sailing towards Iida, to everyone's amazement, Iida circumvented the instant-obstacle completely with a standing long jump of all things. Iida transitioning into his Recipro Burst mid-flight and sweeping out with his leg, Todoroki scarcely dodged getting his head taken off, only for Iida to transition that sweeping right kick into an overhead attack that slammed Todoroki to the ground. The moment Todoroki recovered, Iida had already grabbed him by the back of his shirt, hauling ass toward the out-of-bounds before his ultimate move crapped out.
Halfway there however, all of Iida's momentum died out as his [Engine] stalled, a caking of ice stopping up the mufflers on his left leg. The momentary surprise that followed was all Todoroki needed to get his feet back under him, freezing Iida from the feet up, his left arm following for good measure. Frozen up to his neck, Iida could only struggle in vain while Todoroki shook off that hit he'd taken.
"Well… That ended quickly," Shinso hummed as Midnight announced her verdict. "So…" the indigo-haired teen hummed as he regarded the man from earlier who'd taken Genki's seat after the teen had wandered off to the waiting room. "You're Genki's father?"
The massive man inclined his head towards Shinso, nodding his head with a neutral expression on his face.
"He's a man of very few words," Oki clarified.
"Yeah, I noticed," Shinso hummed. "So… I hear you're a retired Hero. What do you do for a living now?"
In the time they'd known one another, he and Genki didn't really bring their home lives onto school grounds, so this was obviously Shinso's first time meeting them. He'd never seen any pictures of them or anything, just their names and that he'd taken after his mother.
On one side you had the youthful Gokiburi Oki on the "softcore" end of the Mutant-Type spectrum. On the other end of said spectrum was Gokiburi Ares, sitting firmly in the "hardcore" part of the Mutant-Type spectrum. Sure, the guy looked big standing next to Endeavor, but up-close and personal… The guy felt larger-than-life.
Ares glancing over at Shinso, when it became obvious he wasn't in the mood to talk, Oki took that cue to step in for her husband.
"After my husband retired from being a Pro Hero, he pulled some strings with United Studios thanks to the work he did for them and started a talent agency," Oki began. "In the event we lack the expertise to manage any talent that wants to sign on with us, we reroute them to a reputable manager in our network of associates, and vice versa," she explained, Ares reaching into his suit and handing Shinso an immaculate business card with practiced mechanical efficiency.
"God of War: Ares Idol Agency…" Shinso read aloud as he gave the card a once-over.
The card itself was chalk-white, regulation-sized. On the left side of the card was a sunflower logo with multi-colored petals, the letters G.O.W. printed in white over the black center of the sunflower. The full name of the talent agency set in the middle of the card in addition to contact information, revealed that the main building was located in Akihabara, which even in the twenty-third century was still considered an otaku cultural center, still remaining as the most-renowned shopping district for video games, anime, manga, and computer goods in addition to maid cafes and idol groups.
On the side, Shinso wondered how the giant of a man could handle such a small piece of paper with such thick fingers.
'Seriously, he looks like he could crush watermelons with those things,' Shinso thought glancing at the man's hands before turning his attention back to the card. "So that's what he meant by 'an army of Onee-samas'," he hummed. Idols did tend to be female.
It hadn't really come up between them whether or not they were only children, so after hearing that little tidbit earlier, he'd briefly assumed Genki was the only boy amongst an army of female siblings who loved to embarrass the living daylights out of him.
Putting those thoughts to the side, Shinso turned his attention back to the present.
"So… You think he's going to win?"
In turn, Ares inclined his head towards Shinso, the massive man raising up an equally massive arm and giving him a thumbs up.
"That… tells me absolutely nothing," Shinso deadpanned.
When Genki said his father was a man of few words, he wasn't joking.
*MHA*
Elsewhere…
"Oh man! Iida was so close!" Ochako whined.
"Yeah, for a second there I thought he'd synched this thing," Kyoka admitted.
"The next fight's between Bakugou and that General Course student. Think he stands a chance?" Ojiro asked.
"No way! Have you seen what Bakugou's capable of?" Kirishima asked. "I have, first-hand, and there's no way Gokiburi can top that!"
"But isn't that exactly the sort of mentality that allowed him to elude defeat against all of us?" Momo questioned aloud, the others wilting slightly. Without realizing it, they'd completely underestimated the oily-haired teen, and by the time they started taking him seriously, it'd already been too late to do anything about it.
Mineta, Mina, Tokoyami and Momo by-extension had all been beaten by him, and because the specifics of his Quirk had been hidden while Mineta had given him the down-low on theirs, none of those he'd fought directly had been able to create a countermeasure.
Speaking of which…
"Um… Izuku…?" Ochako asked as she nudged the boy in the shoulder, eyes going wide as she beheld the incredibly-detailed profile and compilation of research notes into what Genki's Quirk could be, numerous what-ifs scratched out as he continued to narrow it down.
Even though his arms were still busted up from surgery, he was still able to pour over the notes he'd already made.
"Come on, Izuku. Think. Thiiiiink…" the green-haired teen muttered to himself as he dove down into his own little world. "Gokiburi-san has been showing off his Quirk almost non-stop since the Obstacle Course Race. You should have everything you need to know to figure out what his Quirk is all in your notes."
The world around him fading out of focus, within his mind's eye was a world of pure white and blue, a single streak of red flying ever-further into the distance.
Cue Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies OST – Synaptic Resonance
"Okay, best place to start is from the beginning. What was his most-prominent attribute shown during the Obstacle Course Race?"
Speed? – Strength? – Durability?
Three mental blocks appearing in front of him, Izuku's train of thought broke through the correct answer like a pane of glass, the streak of red shooting off into the distance before more mental blocks barred his progress.
Speed!
"That's right. Of all the attributes he displayed, it was his speed that was paramount in his victory. That narrows down what breed of Mutant-Type Quirk he is quite a bit."
Thinking ahead to the Cavalry Battle, the next question immediately came to mind.
"Beyond his speed, what defense mechanism connected to his Quirk's ancestry did he display?"
Flight? – Armor? – Oil?
Like before, three mental blocks appeared before him, and like before, his train of thought broke through the correct answer like a pane of glass, the streak of red shooting off into the distance before even more mental blocks barred his progress.
Oil!
"Gokiburi's Quirk let him secrete a near-translucent oil that served as a lubricant. Not many insects have secretions of that nature. The sheer volume can be accredited to him having the proportionate ability of whatever insect his Quirk is based upon."
The next clue laid in Genki's physical attributes. Oily hair and antennae notwithstanding, the only major physical deviation from the baseline human form were the shiny dark-brown elytron that shielded his wings. That in of itself normally wouldn't be enough to narrow his Mutant archetype down since his mother was also a "Softcore Mutant-Type". However, after looking down into the stands and spotting the oily-haired mother and son joined by the family patriarch, an old memory, one from five years ago he hadn't thought about in a long time, was jostled loose.
"The odds that that man down there being Genki's father is incredibly high. Now, where was it that I'd seen his face before?"
A Body Builder? - A Retired Hero? - A Pro Athlete?
Delving deep into his memories, Izuku racked his brain for the memories of every hero video, interview, poster, and paraphernalia he'd ever laid eyes upon as a kid. The man's build, size, and expression, or rather, a lack thereof, jostled the old memory completely free once he looked down into the stands and laid eyes on him once more.
A Retired Hero!
"That's it!"
The answer
is in
his genealogy.
End OST
"I know what his Quirk is!" Izuku shouted as the last of the pieces fell into place.
"Holy crap, you figured it out?" Kirishima gawped.
"Well don't leave us in suspense! Tell us!" Mina begged.
"I have to tell Kacchan! I have to warn him!" Izuku said running off after his old friend.
"Wait, warn him!?" everyone gawped.
*MHA*
With Todoroki moving on to the final round, Bakugou only had two obstacles remaining between him and his ambition. That kid from the General Course, and then Todoroki himself.
As Bakugou made his way down to the arena, plans of stomping that General Course student under his heel forming in his mind, a hurrying of footsteps met his ears. Choosing to ignore it, the task became more and more difficult as the footsteps drew nearer, an irritating cry of- "Kacchan!" –meeting his ears repeatedly until finally-
"WHAT, DEKU?! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING!?" Bakugou demanded as the green-haired nerd ground to a halt in front of him.
"K-Kacchan, listen to me!" Izuku stammered as he cradled his notebook in his busted-up arms. "I figured it out! I know what kind of Mutant his Quirk makes him! If you listen to my plan, I think you can beat him-UWAH!" he then cried as Bakugou rounded on him, a furious snarl on his features as explosions peppered his palms.
"WHAT WAS THAT?! YOU THINK I CAN'T WIN WITHOUT YOUR STUPID PLAN!?"
"N-No, I didn't s-s-say that! I just think your chances w-will improve if-"
"PISS OFF! I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I'M STOMPING THAT GUY INTO THE GROUND, AND THEN, TODOROKI'S NEXT!" the explosive teen raged, completely rebuking any contributions Izuku could've made as he stormed off, angrier than he'd been all day.
*MHA*
"In the red corner we have the guy you love to hate! Class 1-A's own ticking time bomb, Bakugou Katsuki, versus… Who ever thought he'd make it this far? The dark horse of the General Course, it's Gokiburi Genki!" Present Mic whooped, Gokiburi's growing fanbase making their approval known as the downtrodden and the drop-outs cheered louder than anyone else.
"Semifinal second round! START!"
"Hey Bakugou," Genki spoke up. "One thing before we start."
"What?" the blond asked gruffly.
" . . . I'm gonna win," Genki said with a tilt of his head and a cocky smile.
Instead of a murderous uproar being kicked up however, it was instead a hushed silence that spread across the arena.
" . . . OHHH SNAP!" someone in the audience said a hushed minute later.
"What… did you just say!?" Bakugou growled as angry red sparks popped in his palms, an angry vein pulsing in his forehead as his own words from before were thrown back in his face. In the semifinal round of the Sports Festival of all places.
"You heard me. The one who's going to win this fight, is me!" Genki said with an infuriating smile as he thumbed his chest. "I beat you in the Obstacle Course Race, and the Cavalry Battle after that. Way I see it, since I've been kicking your ass all day… I might as well make it three for three," he said with raised fingers as his eyes crinkled. "What ya gonna do about it?"
"You… I'm gonna SQUASH YOU LIKE THE BUG YOU ARE?!" Bakugou raged, a murderous rage pouring off of him like when Monoma stole his headband.
"And I'm going to mail my shoe to the principal. And the gift-wrapping? It's gonna be YOUR ASS!"
"Whoa! Things are heating up and no-one's even thrown a punch yet!" Present Mic whooped.
"This will definitely be a fight to remember," Aizawa hummed.
Cue My Hero Academia OST - The Threat of Offense and Defense
"DIE!" Bakugou raged as he stormed towards Genki, palms peppered with explosions as his nitroglycerin-laced sweat oxidized.
"Heads up!" Genki said peeling his shirt off his body as he shot forward, throwing it into Bakugou's face before they clashed.
"DIE!" Bakugou roared as he thrust out his hand and blasted the cloth to smithereens, his opponent nowhere in sight. A shadow flickering across his vision a moment later, Bakugou looked up in time to see Genki fluttering in the air above him, the oily-haired teen grabbing his extended wrist and hauling himself downward with a declaration of- "Goki KNEE!"
*SPLACK!* went Bakugou's nose as the falling knee strike was driven into his visage, followed by a falling one-two kick to his chest that threw him to the ground.
"Man, you must really suck at this. Are you sure you scored the highest in the Entrance Exam?" Genki asked as he hopped away, bouncing on his feet with his fists raised, ready to move at a moment's notice.
"That was just a lucky shot…!" Bakugou growled as he snapped his nose back into place and shot out a glob of bloody phlegm.
"A lucky shot that got me first blood," Genki said with a cocky smile.
"Cocky bastard…!"
"It isn't cocky if I get results, now is it, Baka-gou?"
Several more veins throbbing in his head, Bakugou's face was soon split into a Glasgow grin as he threw his right arm forward, bracing it with his left.
"Let's see you try and dodge this!" he growled as veins angrily throbbed up his arm, a staccato of explosions peppering his palm as he squared his feet.
"Holy crap! Is he doing what I think he's doing?!" Present Mic yelped.
"All of you behind Genki, GET DOWN!" Aizawa shouted, Cementoss raising as many walls between the stage and the audience as he possibly could.
"I won't let you!" Genki said dropping into a runner's stance, his wings raised up as numerous pores across his back and his legs dilated. "GOKI BUUUURST!" he roared as he shot forward with the roar of a jet engine.
"DIIIIIIIIE!" Bakugou roared as an explosion comparable to the one he used against Ochako's clutch move spilled out of his palm.
The deafening *KA-BOOOOOOM!* of Nitroglycerin going off shaking the air, an enormous cone of destruction exploded in front of his palm, a massive trench dug into the stage. The massive blast tearing into Cementoss' concrete walls, the hastily-made structures barely held together as the spectators in harm's way fled for their lives, all others dumbed into hushed silence. Smoke and debris raining down onto the half of the stage he'd utterly annihilated, Bakugou let out ragged breaths, a shit-eating grin on his face as he beheld the destruction in front of him.
"That'll teach you to screw with me… you fucking insect…" he said proudly, utterly assured of his victory.
"That's the thing about insects," a familiar voice said from behind him, the blond's eyes going wide as he stood frozen in shock. "Sometimes, we really bite!"
*SQUELCH*
"GAAAAAAAH!" Bakugou roared as teeth suddenly sank into his left shoulder. Bringing his right arm around and blasting past his ear, at the last moment his attacker zipped out of the way, the blond whirling around to the oily shadow. "You…? How the hell are you still alive!?" he demanded. "That blast should've turned… INTO A FUCKING GREASE STAIN!"
Aside from a few lacerations on his chest and arms, his opponent was completely unharmed.
"For a second there… I almost was…" Genki panted raggedly, spitting blood from his mouth. "If I didn't take notes from Iida-senpai's fight, I might not've been able to accelerate fast enough to slip around the cone of your explosion," he said hiding the hitch in his shoulders as the vents across his back and legs throbbed angrily, the teen light-headed after emptying out nearly every gasp of air from his body.
"Heh. Looks like I didn't totally miss. You're bleeding all over the place!" Bakugou said with a self-assured grin, feeling victory still within his grasp.
"What, you mean this?" Genki asked running his fingers across his teeth, his fingertips coming back red. "Clearly, someone here has a short memory, and spoiler warning… It isn't me."
"That's right, you… You fucking bit me!" Bakugou growled as his hand went to his shoulder, rivulets of blood running down his arm.
"It's no worse than what would've happened to the audience if Cementoss-sensei hadn't stepped in," Genki growled distastefully as he rose to full height, the vents across his back contracting while he drew in as much air as his spiracles would allow.
"Bakugou! One more attack of that magnitude aimed towards the audience and you'll be disqualified!" Midnight announced the moment no casualties were confirmed.
"Tch! Fine. I don't need my big guns. It's not the size of the weapon, it's how you use it," Bakugou said with a self-satisfied smirk as his palms became alight with peppered explosions.
'Yeah… That's right… Keep that adrenaline pumping you smarmy bastard,' Genki thought with a grin as he glanced at Bakugou's reddening shirt. 'You've already painted yourself into a corner, you just don't know it yet.'
"Bring it on you oily bastard!" Bakugou grinned as he launched himself like a bullet. Genki aiming a punch at Bakugou's smug grin, the explosive teen fired a blast beneath himself before grabbing onto his opponent's hair and shoulder. Before he could throw him however, his hands slipped off, coming away oily. The blond's eyes going wide, he soon found himself being grabbed, his own momentum being used to brutally slam him back-first into the ground with a loud *WHACK!*
"News flash. I can change direction in mid-air too. You're not the only one that knows that trick."
"SHUT IT!" Bakugou growled as he palmed the ground above his head and fired a cone of shrapnel, his opponent zipping out of range at the last moment.
"Hey, keep the collateral damage to a minimum. Cementoss-sensei worked very hard to make this stage."
"DO YOU EVER STOP TALKING?!" Bakugou raged as he lunged and tried to blast him again.
"Hey, I could say the same about you. But I won't," Genki said as he dodged effortlessly, the teen an oily blur as he zipped away from Bakugou faster than he could close the gap.
After a few minutes, it soon became obvious that Genki was trying to tire out his opponent, since for all of aforementioned minutes all he did was verbally insult his opponent until he attacked, dodge out of the way like an oily blur, before repeating the cycle. With each successive heckle and dodge, another vein would angrily throb in the explosive teen's head, his ire rising to untold heights as his attempts to "squash" the General Course student time and time again met with failure. Not only that, but the adrenaline pumping through him caused the bleeding of his shoulder to fall into the back of his mind.
"Man, you are out of shape. Really outta do some cardio," Genki taunted as Bakugou panted raggedly, the explosive teen gasping at air while Genki wasn't even winded.
"You… What the hell did you do to me? Why won't my shoulder stop bleeding?!" Bakugou growled as his hand went to his shoulder, his fingers starting to get cold.
"Pop quiz: What does the saliva of a komodo dragon and a cockroach have in common?"
"Nothing! One's a lizard and the other's a bug! Why would their spit have anything in common?!"
"Wow, even when I spell it out for you you're dense…" Genki groaned. "Have you always been this stupid, or did you get high on your own supply as a kid?"
At this, some of 1-A chuckled at the thought of a prepubescent Bakugou huffing nitroglycerin fumes like others huffed paint.
"You know…" Bakugou growled, his brow twitching before a somewhat worrying smile tugged at his lips. "I was saving this for Todoroki… but after that last remark… I think you'll make an excellent training dummy!"
Blasting himself into the air at full blast, a manic grin on his face, Bakugou soared well above the out-of-bound line before he shot himself back at his opponent. Rapidly firing off explosions at his sides, Bakugou began spinning in a corkscrew, summoning a cone of acrid gray smoke as he screamed through the air like a falling bomb. His momentum building as his explosions grew more and more ferocious, the teen let out a cry of-
"HOWITZERRRRR-"
"-CANNON!" Genki roared thrusting both arms forward in the middle of Bakugou's clutch move.
Oil and Nitroglycerin meeting in the middle with a brilliant splash, to everyone's shock, Bakugou's ultimate attack was nullified, the blond's eyes going wide as he began to tumble through the air haplessly, suddenly bereft of propulsion as his explosions were extinguished.
"Gokiiiii…" Genki intoned as a jet of compressed air spilled out the back of his elbow. "GUT PUNCH!" he roared as he drove his bruised and battered right arm into Bakugou's stomach, the teen folded almost-in-half before his momentum carried him into the half of the stage he'd destroyed minutes before.
"Holy crap! Is Bakugou still alive? What the heck happened?!" Present Mic gawped as all of Bakugou's buildup suddenly stalled worse than Iida's [Engine] after his ultimate move.
For a minute it seemed like Genki had won via KO, but suddenly Bakugou's inert body let out a ragged cough, blood and spittle spattering across ruined concrete as he shakily got onto his hands and knees, a thick, viscous slathering of oil mixed with smoke and debris clinging to his form as he forced himself to his feet.
"Holy cow, he is still alive!"
"Whatever it was Bakugou was about to do, it's good to know Genki had the foresight to interrupt it," Aizawa hummed aloud, both opponents panting and wheezing heavily.
"You know… That's the problem with ultimate moves…" Genki panted, his arms throbbing painfully as he gulped in as much air as his body would allow. "If you don't get to the fucking point… anyone with enough brain cells to rub together can cut you off…"
"Slimy bastard…" Bakugou growled as he got to his feet, scooping the thick slather of oil coating his face off with a wet *splat* as it hit the ground. Raising his palms menacingly, after a couple moments Bakugou's eye widened. "What the hell…? Why won't my Quirk work?!" he demanded as he shook his hands, attempting to detonate his sweat to no avail.
"Not even knowing your own weakness… How arrogant can you be!?" Genki roared as he rushed forward and struck Bakugou in the nose with a straight left, the blond's head whipping back before he braced himself and drove his palm into Genki's exposed side, only for his Quirk to once-again abandon him.
'My weakness…? Wait a minute…!' Bakugou thought as he glanced at his palm, at the secretions not his own coating his skin.
"Looks like the final horse crossed the finish line," Genki said with a smirk as he suddenly grasped Bakugou's palm, their fingers interlaced before he grabbed onto the other. "Too bad it won't do you any good!"
The bug-like teen tightening his grip, Bakugou winced as Genki's fingers dug mercilessly into the gaps between his metacarpals. The oily-haired teen bending the blond's hands back at the wrists, the pain in his hands on top of the weakening of his body from his shoulder wound caused Bakugou to fall to a knee. Rivulets of oil pouring down Bakugou's arms as Genki's [Oilpiration] got to work, the teen suddenly felt his fingers going numb for a different reason.
Gritting his teeth, Bakugou dug his toes into the ground behind him and tried to rise up, only for Genki to put a foot to his chest and roll onto his back before kicking him off, turning his own momentum against him once more.
"Geez… Recovery Girl's going to throw a fit when she sees me like this," Genki groaned as he looked down at his bruised-and-battered arms, then toward his opponent as he shakily got back to his feet.
"You bastard…!" Bakugou growled as he reached down to wipe his palms on his pants, only to be met with oil-soaked cloth. "Are you KIDDING ME!?" he raged, seeing his clothes completely soaked.
"Wow. Guess my Double Oil Cannon was super-effective," Genki chuckled heartily, raising Bakugou's ire as the teen laughed "at him". "By the way, the nickname that Midoriya kid called, you, 'Kacchan'. Sounds cute. Like a mascot character."
"You bastard! DON'T YOU MOCK ME!" Bakugou raged as he rushed forward, right fist drawn back before lunging at his opponent's smug grin.
"So tell me… Do you even know any other nouns, or is that all you've got?" Genki asked as he dodged Bakugou's punches with ease, the blond's ire raising with every provocation as he continued to hit only air.
"BASTAAAAARD!"
"I'll take that as a 'no'," Genki chuckled before he whipped his right arm back, his spiracles dilating as his arm inflated slightly. "Goki Lariat!" he shouted as he delivered a jet-propelled lariat to Bakugou's exposed neck, the blond wheezing as he was thrown end-over-end, flipping through the air before landing flat on his back. "Goki Curb Stomp!"
"GUHAH!" Bakugou retched as a jet-propelled stomp was delivered to his exposed gut, knocking the wind and copious spittle out of him.
"So, flat on your back with another man beating your ass. Is it Wednesday already?" Genki taunted before a shaky hand grabbed his ankle, splayed fingers raised up at him.
"Thanks… For letting your guard down-"
"Down low."
*Slap*
"Are you kidding me!?" Bakugou cried as Genki's oily palm slapped his just-dried palm in a low-five.
"You know, when your rage button's pressed, you really suck at this," Genki said grabbing the raised appendage before hauling Bakugou up into a downward punch, blood exploding out of his nose from the hit. "Are you sure you got the highest score in the Entrance Exam? It sure doesn't seem like it."
"Don't you mock me… you Hero Course reject…"
End OST
" . . . I'm going to enjoy this," Genki said with a completely flat expression after several seconds. "I'm going to enjoy this far more than I should."
"WHOA! Viewer warning! The following scenes contain blood and gratuitous acts of violence committed against a minor by another minor! Viewer discretion is advised!" Present Mic yelped as Genki suddenly pinned Bakugou's arms to the ground with his knees and began punching him repeatedly in the face, the ground at the blond's shoulder stained red as he continued to bleed out.
"Give up."
*WHACK*
"No…"
*WHACK*
"Give up!"
*WHACK*
"No!"
*WHACK*
"GIVE UP!"
*WHACK*
"NOOOOOOO!"
*WHACK*
"Man, I have no idea what Gokiburi did, but Bakugou's completely helpless down there, isn't he?" Present Mic asked as Bakugou continued being punched repeatedly in the face.
"So it would seem," Aizawa hummed. 'This boy… Until the Sports Festival he'd never seen Bakugou's Quirk in action, yet he was able to parse together that inhibiting his sweat's ability to oxidize was his ultimate weakness in such a small amount of time…' he mused as he watched Bakugou attempt time and time again to detonate his nitroglycerin secretions, only for a fresh spattering of oil on his palms to knock him back down to square one. 'Looks like someone did their homework before this match.'
As the one-sided beating and continued refusal to surrender continued, Aizawa noticed something else about the way the fight was going.
'Hmmm… Given who Gokiburi's parents are and how their Quirks blended together… it only makes sense that with this much exposure to his [Oilperation] sub-Quirk, something like this would happen,' Aizawa hummed as Bakugou's flailing arms grew weaker and weaker with each subsequent exposure to the oily-haired teen's sub-Quirk.
"Hey, Midnight. I'm pretty sure this guy's on his last legs. Can you call the match so I can go to the finals?" Genki asked a couple minutes later. "That is a lot of blood on the ground," he said looking at the area around Bakugou's shoulder.
"Don't you… dare… you fucking… bitch…" Bakugou slurred light-headedly, his arms numbing over.
"Okay, first off!" Genki said as he stood up. "That is not how you talk to a lady! Secondly…" he said ominously as he raised his foot. "Looks like this bug… stepped on you!"
The last thing Bakugou saw of that match was the bottom of Genki's shoe.
Like a cut-to-black transition.
"Bakugou Katsuki is unable to battle! The winner is Gokiburi Genki!" Midnight announced after making sure the explosive teen wasn't dead or anything.
With the way all that blood was pouring out of his face and shoulder, it almost looked like he could be.
"What an upset! Gokiburi Genki of the General Course moves on to the final round!" Present Mic whooped excitedly as the medic bots loaded Bakugou onto a stretcher. "Can you believe it? If I weren't seeing it myself, I sure wouldn't!"
"Indeed. While it isn't really my decision to make… I think Gokiburi has a real shot of making it into the Hero Course," Aizawa hummed noncommittally, the audience exploding into rancorous cheers.
*MHA*
"Holy crap, Bakugou too?" Kirishima gawped as Genki moved on to the final round.
"It's like this guy's unstoppable!" Mina whined from her first-hand experience.
"At least Bakugou didn't blow all his clothes off," Tsuyu chuckled, Mineta wilting at the memory while Mina blushed bright red.
"I told you guys that was an accident!" Mina cried, redder in the face than her usual lightish-red complexion.
"But still, how did Genki know Bakugou's weakness like that?" Kaminari asked.
"Yyyyyeeeeeesss…" a familiar, irksome voice said dramatically. "How indeed did he find out how Baka-gou's Quirk worked and what its ultimate weakness was?" said voice said as they continued to troll them.
"Monoma!?" Sero gaped at the familiar blond poking his head over the divider between theirs and 1-B's class. The blond with the ability to copy Quirks. "You told him how Bakugou's Quirk worked?!"
"Why!?" Mina asked.
"Why indeed?" Monoma asked. "Why indeeeeeeed?"
*Whap*
"To be absolutely blunt, Genki did come up to us and ask before the beginning of his match," Itsuka said poking her head up.
*FLASHBACK*
The moment the quarterfinal rounds had been completed, Monoma Neito had been ushered out of the 1-B spectator box by a hushed tone and a beckoning hand. The blond Quirk-copier stepping out into the hall, he and the members of 1-B that went with him just-in-case this was the makings of a Villain attack, were all shocked to see the recent match-winner standing there.
"Gokiburi Genki?" Monoma asked with a raised brow.
"The heck are you doing here?!" Tetsutetsu demanded angrily.
"Can you keep a lid on it? I don't want 1-A to catch on," Genki shushed.
"Catch on to what?" Itsuka asked.
"Monoma-senpai…" Genki addressed formally, the blond's brow quirking from both the flattering honorific, and the fact that Genki dropped down to his knees to boot. "You know more about Bakugou Katsuki's Quirk than anyone else in 1-A still willing to talk to me. If I'm going to beat him in the semifinal round, if I'm going to have any chance of beating him, I need every edge I can get, so please…" he said placing his hands on the ground and deeply bowing his head. "Please, tell me everything you know about his Quirk. Tell me everything you know so I can beat him."
"Why do you want to beat him so-badly you'd bow your head to me?" Monoma asked, relishing the fact that someone with such an amazing Quirk that had gotten so far into the Sports Festival was prostrating themselves before him.
"Because… He's a prick."
" . . . Well when you put it like that, how could I possibly say no?" Monoma said with a face-splitting grin.
*FLASHBACK END*
"And that's what happened," Itsuka summarized.
"Wait, I thought you hated Genki after what he did to Shiozaki. Why would you possibly want to help him?" Kaminari asked.
"Because Genki did no different than I would have had our roles were reversed," Itsuka spoke up. "Genki aspires to be a great Hero like all of us, but in order to reach that plateau, he needs to win and win and win until the Yuuei faculty acknowledges they won't be wasting their time promoting him into the Hero Course. While it is true that initially I was quite wary of him, now that we've had the chance to cool our heads, I now realize that my previous animosity towards him was wholly unfounded," the [Vines]-user said in an angelic tone.
"And if Ibara saw fit to forgive him, there really wasn't any reason we couldn't either," Itsuka hummed.
"And besides, it's so much fun watching him walk all over you. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Monoma spoke up the moment he recovered, only to get chopped on the back of the neck a second time.
"Anyway, there's only one match left, and Todoroki's Quirk isn't as nuanced as Bakuguo's, but even if he loses that fight, I still like to think he has a really good shot at making it into the Hero Course," Itsuka said with a soft smile.
Even though she lost to him in the Cavalry Battle, she could still appreciate all the time and effort he put into his Quirk to make it that far.
"And with how-much he's been kicking all your butts, it might be one of you on the chopping block! Hahaha! HAAA HAHA HAHAHAA!"
*Whap*
"Geez, it's like this guy's developing an immunity," Itsuka said chopping Monoma once again.
"So wait, what is Gokiburi's Quirk then?" Kirishima asked. "Midoriya, you said you figured it out before the match, right?"
"Well, yes, but, given the answer's been staring us in the face the entire time, I'm a little embarrassed to admit it took me this-long to figure out," Izuku said bashfully.
"…What do you mean?" Kirishima asked.
"He means it's literally in his family name," Kyoka huffed.
" . . . Holy crap you're right!" those not in the know collectively gawped.
"Still, that doesn't explain what happened to Ibara during the Cavalry Battle," Itsuka hummed.
"Well, actually, cockroach saliva contains cellulose-destroying enzymes," Izuku spoke up. "Since that's what Shiozaki's [Vines] are made of, and she's connected to them through her sensory system, it actually makes a great deal of sense she'd react like she were getting an acid bath."
"How do you know something random like that?" Mineta asked.
"Animal Planet."
"Ohhhhhh…" the rest of 1-A hummed, nodding in understanding.
"The sheer majesty of the animal kingdom is a source of tremendous power," Tokoyami stated somberly, his Chuuni tendencies bleeding through.
*MHA*
AN:
My Beta (Spaceman) and I really refined how Bakugou and Gokiburi's Quirks would work against one another in a 1v1 setting, and since Bakugou "runs hot" with wide-open pores to secrete his Nitroglycerin, this just seemed the most-natural way for the fight to end when Genki had the low-down on just HOW Bakugou's Quirk worked. He doesn't magically secrete Nitroglycerin from his palms, there's a biological factor to them as well.
Additionally, even if Genki's toxic oil couldn't infiltrate his body through his pores (and interfere with his nerve endings), Bakugou's nitroglycerin sweat only works when it OXIDIZES, and smoothing ANYTHING with Oil helps prevent just-that from happening. If you've ever opened up a car engine and taken it apart, you'll see channels allowing oil to slide over any moving parts like the camshaft or the valves.
And yes, cockroach saliva contains anticoagulants. We've done our research.
Or at least built-upon what was already done by Murata Shinya, additionally the writer of Caterpillar and Killing Bites on top of Arachnid.
Anyway, this fight with Bakugou where he fought someone from a Hero background other than Todoroki was really fun to write. Especially since he was going up against a Mutant-Type Quirk instead of an Emitter, which operates under way different rules when you write fight choreography, so I hope you'll leave lots of Comments in the Review section.
GO BEYOND!
EXCELSIOR!