There is a certain somebody in the reviews who claims that the Peter x Toga ship is overused. Normally I'd ask about this through private messaging, but like many others, this person hasn't enabled it. Now my friend, what exactly do you mean? There are a lot of reasons I chose this ship, and one of the biggest reasons was that I've never seen it anywhere. If what you're saying is true, can you please tell me where to find these stories, because I've literally never even seen one.
Now that that's out of the way, it's time to move on. The final round of the sports festival has begun, and now it's time for the 1 on 1 battles.
Peter had returned to the viewing area where the rest of his class was waiting for him. He was greeted by Kirishima and Kaminari, while everybody else remained focused on the arena below them.
"So who do you think is gonna win?" Sero asked nobody in particular.
"Hard to say. Bakugo has plenty of power, but so does Mina. Plus, I've been training with her for the past week and she's shown some pretty impressive growth. Honestly, I could see it going either way." Peter informed him as he took his seat. Below him, Cementos had finished creating a large arena for the matches to take place on, and currently, Mina and Bakugo were standing on opposite ends of it.
They stared each other down as Midnight explained the rules.
"Obviously, killing is out of the question. You may use your quirks as much as you want, and the match will be called if one of you is pushed from the ring, knocked out, restrained, or otherwise unable to continue the match. Do you both understand?" They both nodded their heads in response. "Then in that case, there is no reason to wait any longer."
"YOU HEARD THE LADY FOLKS! IT'S FINALLY TIME FOR THE EVENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! ON ONE SIDE, WE HAVE THE HOT BLOODED ALIEN QUEEN, MINA ASHIDO! ON THE OTHER SIDE, THE VIOLENT BERSERKER KATSUKI BAKUGO! WHO WILL WIN?! LET'S FIND OUT! THE FIRST MATCH HAS NOW BEGUN!" Present Mic screamed through the speakers. As soon as he finished both Mina and Bakugo dashed towards each other.
Bakugo reared his arm back, prepared to strike her. Mina avoided the attack at the last second by sliding underneath him, creating acid in her hands and slapping his legs as she went. Bakugo groaned in pain and quickly whirled around, sending an exploding fist onto the ground and causing Mina to fly away. As she landed, Peter saw on the monitor that she formed some diluted acid on the back of her head to soften her landing.
"Good. She remembered to use the gel shield." Peter silently praised her as she picked herself up off the ground.
"AND RIGHT FROM THE START THINGS ARE EXCITING! THESE YOUNG HEROES CLEARLY CAN'T WAIT TO START FIGHTING!"
Once she got back up, Mina sprinted forward again, throwing acid at Bakugo as she ran. The blonde boy simply created small explosions, the blasts sending the acid flying back at her. Thankfully, her skin was mostly acid-proof, so her quirk didn't do that much damage to her.
She was only a few meters from Bakugo now. She formed a large amount of acid in her palm, holding it down in her fist as she tried to strike him with it.
"Tch. Damn extra, thinking you're worth my time." Bakugo raised his arm, shooting off an explosion. The blast was large, and smoke erupted outwards after his attack. He clearly expected Mina to be sent flying back, so he was caught off guard when she jumped from the smoke and smacked her acid-coated palm into his chest. He yelled in pain as a hand-shaped mark was burned through his clothes and onto his skin. He created another explosion, this one successfully blowing Mina away.
"WHOA! How'd she do that?!" Kaminari yelled from the stands.
"I knew it'd be useful." Peter smiled down at her.
"Hm? What are you talking about Peter?"
"The gel shield Uraraka. She covers her skin in diluted acid and uses it to soften the impact from attacks. It's not as good as Eijirou's hardening for physical attacks, but for air based attacks like explosions, it's perfect."
Indeed, as she stood up again, pale green liquid was dripping from Mina's face and arms. She had tanked the first explosion, running straight through it with the help of her shield, but she was caught off guard by the second one. Still, she looked far from finished.
Bakugo was not amused, growling as he stared down at his burnt shirt.
"I'll kill you…YOU DAMN EXTRA!" He raised his right arm in front of him, steadying it with his left. "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" A huge explosion was released from his hand, covering the entire area in front of him with fire and ash. There was no way to dodge it due to everything being covered. The explosion covered the arena, creating a huge smoke cloud. For good measure, or just because he was pissed off, he sent 3 more similar explosions her way.
"Holy shit, is he trying to kill her?"
Everybody heard Jiro's question, but nobody responded. They were too busy staring at the arena with a mixture of shock and fear.
"Jesus Christ, is she okay?" Peter scanned the arena, trying his hardest to catch a glimpse of the pink girl. This was useless though. The smoke covered everything in front of Bakugo. "Bakugo, this is a damn sports festival. If you seriously injured her over this, you and I are gonna have words." Peter silently promised.
Nearly 30 seconds passed before the smoke dissipated. And standing there shakily was Mina, half buried in the ground. She unsteadily pulled herself from the hole in the arena, facing Bakugo once again.
"AND SHE'S STILL STANDING! MINA ASHIDO CAN STILL FIGHT!" Present Mic shouted.
"How the hell is she still standing?" Sato stared down in amazement.
"She created a bunker." Peter thought out loud. "She melted the ground underneath her and hid in the hole while the explosion passed over her. It doesn't look like it worked all the way though."
Mina was covered in burns and was clearly fighting to stay on her feet. Her strategy wasn't perfect, but the alternative was being blown out of the arena entirely. She took a few steps forward, forming a tiny amount of acid and throwing it at Bakugo.
"She's done. It probably took a lot of acid to melt a hole that size that quickly. And she has to be hurting after taking those explosions, even if she mostly avoided them." Peter commended his friend, but he could clearly see who was going to win this.
Mina continued throwing small amounts of acid, all of which Bakugo easily dodged. She continued forwards until she was right in front of him, raising an arm to try and hit him. Bakugo just raised an arm and created another explosion, pushing her off her feet onto the ground. She was still conscious, but she didn't get back up.
"MINA ASHIDO IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE. KATSUKI BAKUGO IS THE WINNER!" Midnight announced that the match was over. The crowd cheered over Bakugo's victory while medical robots came to assist Mina. She only pushed them away, insisting she could get to the infirmary on her own. She had fought very well, Bakugo was just too strong for her. Peter made a note to congratulate her in person later.
"THE SECOND MATCH WILL SOON BEGIN! WILL THE NEXT TWO CONTESTANTS PLEASE MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE STAGE!" Midnight called for the next two students.
"I suppose it's my time now." Iida stood up, heading out of the viewing area to make his way to the arena.
"Good luck Iida." Midoriya waved his friend off as he left.
A few minutes later, both Iida and Mei were facing each other on the arena. There was something strange though.
"What is Iida wearing? Did he have that stuff a minute ago?" Peter stared at the bespectacled boy, very confused by what he was seeing. Iida was covered in strange devices and machines, looking more robot than human. Midnight started to tell him that he wasn't allowed to have the items, but as Iida explained himself, Peter understood what was going on.
"Oh boy, he's getting played."
"What? How do you figure?"
"Believe me Momo, I know Mei pretty well. She doesn't care about making things 'fair' or whatever it is she told Iida. Just watch, this'll be a disaster."
And he was right. The round began, and as Iida moved to attack Mei, she pushed herself aside with some kind of metal pole. As Iida tripped over it, he was saved from falling out of the arena by the device on his back. After that, Mei's voice came over the loudspeakers, explaining how her machines worked.
Everybody in the viewing area turned to Peter, who was caught between laughing and apologizing. He knew this was going to happen, and he felt bad that Iida had to go through this.
10 minutes. For 10 minutes Mei advertised her inventions while Iida flew around the arena. When everything had been presented, she willingly stepped out of the arena, making Iida the winner. Peter couldn't help it. He laughed as Iida screamed at her in anger.
"Peter! How can you laugh at this?!" Momo scolded him.
"Because it's funny Momo. I laugh at funny things alright? Sue me." Peter gasped out between laughs. A few of his classmates were also laughing, but unlike Peter, they were trying to hide it. They had their hands covering their mouths and were turned away from the others, staring at the ground or the ceiling.
"Uh, um, al-alright then. TENYA IIDA IS THE WINNER! WILL THE NEXT TWO CONTESTANTS PLEASE MAKE THEIR WAY DOWN?!" Midnight announced, clearly very confused by the last match.
"Good luck guys." Peter wished both Momo and Sato luck as they walked down to the arena. Sato was lucky that he'd been allowed to bring candy bars with him. He'd sent in a request to the sports festival committee, and they'd approved his request as he needed them for his quirk. Without them, he had no hope of winning.
"OUR THIRD SET OF CONTESTANTS HAVE ARRIVED! ON THE LEFT SIDE, WE HAVE THE GENIUS CREATOR, MOMO YAOYOROZU! TO THE RIGHT, THE JUNKIE WITH A SOFT SPOT FOR THE SWEETER THINGS, RIKIDO SATO! Sato was clearly uncomfortable being called a junkie, but he shook it off.
Once they were both ready, Midnight announced that they could start. Sato immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out a candy bar, shoving it into his mouth while Momo created a staff and shield. Sato, now buff, raced towards her and wildly swung a fist her way. Momo raised her shield to protect herself and was pushed back by the impact. There was a large, fist-shaped dent in the shield now.
Sato continued his assault, rushing towards her and hammering the shield. She tried her best but Momo was unable to return an attack of her own. Momo was quickly being pushed towards the edge of the arena. She needed to come up with a new plan and she knew it.
As Sato raised his fist once more, Momo baited him by raising her shield. Just before his fist struck the metal, she dropped it and rolled to the side. The dark-haired girl stood up behind him and smacked the side of his knee with her staff, dropping him to the ground.
As he turned to face her, she continued hitting specific parts of his body. His knees, his elbows, and his neck were her primary targets. Finally Sato had enough. He grabbed her pole as she swung it at him, yanking it from her hands and bringing it down towards her head.
She created another small shield, raising it above her head to defend herself. She held one outstretched palm in Sato's direction and a metal pole shot out of it, hitting him directly in the chest. This knocked him slightly off balance and Momo, seeing her opportunity, forcefully kicked him, sending a short distance away. He crashed past the line, landing out of bounds.
"AND JUST LIKE THAT, IT'S OVER SO QUICKLY! MOMO YAOYOROZU HAS WON! WHAT AN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY OF CLOSE COMBAT!" Present Mic screeches. Momo helped Sato off the ground and they both headed back to their class' viewing section.
"Congrats Momo. You did great. You too Sato."
"Thank you Tooru." Momo smiled at the invisible girl, looking very happy. Sato looked a bit sad, but he also nodded politely.
"That means you're next Tsuyu. Think you can handle this?"
"I'll be fine, ribbit. Don't worry about me Peter." The frog girl stood from her seat headed out the door to the arena.
"In all seriousness, who do you think will win? I don't know very much about Ibarra, so I'm not sure." Midoriya turned to Peter.
"Well, Tsuyu has really good mobility. She can move fast and unpredictably, plus she's pretty strong. On top of that, she's got her tongue for attacking at a distance. As for Ibarra, Tetsutetsu and Kendo have told me a bit about her." Whenever Peter wasn't training his friends, working at the development studio, or visiting the bar, he was hanging out with the two 1B students.
"From what they've told me, she can freely manipulate the vines on her head, even if they separate from her, and she can increase their size as well as rapidly regrow them so long as she's exposed to sunlight. If she plays her cards right, she can have the entire battlefield covered in just a few seconds."
"So, who should win then?" Uraraka asked.
"...If I'm being totally honest, the winner is probably going to be Ibarra. Tsuyu does have a chance, but it's a small one, and without any knowledge of her opponent, it's pretty unlikely that she'll win. So yeah, Ibarra is probably going to win this." Peter turned his back on his classmates. As soon as he said that Tsuyu would probably lose, they all started glaring at him.
"Don't ask my opinion if you're just going to get angry when I tell you." Peter hated when people did that. It was probably one of his biggest pet peeves.
"AND NOW WE'RE ON TO THE FOURTH ROUND! FROM CLASS 1A, WE HAVE THE AQUATIC HEROINE IN TRAINING, TSUYU ASUI! FROM CLASS 1B, WE HAVE THE DEADLY ASSASSIN IBARRA SHIOZAKI!"
"Um, excuse me, but why was I referred to as an assassin?" Ibarra tenderly raised her hand to question Present Mic's introduction.
"Why do I feel like this is going to be awesome?" Peter was a bit confused by the feeling filling his mind.
He soon understood why. Present Mic began shouting apologies while Ibarra clasped her hands together and gave some long speech about how she would never be an assassin and wanted to be an exemplary hero. As Present Mic continued shouting apologies, Peter began laughing.
"I knew it! Ibarra, you're now my favorite fellow contestant. Good luck to you." He thought as he laughed at the display in front of him.
Finally, Ibarra finished her speech and Midnight announced that the match had begun. Tsuyu instantly jumped forward, shooting her tongue forward to grab her opponent. The vine-haired girl simply turned around, her hair digging into the ground before erupting back out, a swarm of the sharp vines coming up to grab Tsuyu's tongue.
Tsuyu quickly stopped her action, pulling her tongue back to her mouth to avoid being caught. More of Ibarra's hair dug into the ground and vines shot out from all over the arena, grabbing at her opponent like tentacles. Tsuyu did her best to dodge them, weaving between them and jumping off of them, all the while making her way forwards.
"She has good technique. Her movements are slow and deliberate, and she's picking her time to jump and turn her body carefully." Peter complimented Tsuyu as she moved. "Still, I have a feeling there's still something left."
Just as Peter finished speaking, his suspicions were proven correct. Tsuyu continually moved closer until she was only a few meters away from Ibarra. She tried to jump at her and grab her, but at that moment, a huge mass of vines erupted between them. It was an RV sized tendril made from multiple vines clustered together. Tsuyu was in the air and had nothing to spring off of. The massive tendril hit her dead on, and she was sent flying.
She soared back across the battlefield, past the boundary line, and into the wall underneath class 1A's viewing area. She had lost.
"HOLY SHIT, IS SHE OKAY?!" Peter yelled in concern.
"IBARRA SHIOZAKI HAS WON!" Present Mic announced.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? FORGET WHO WON, SHE JUST GOT SMACKED THROUGH A WALL BY A DAMN BUS-SIZED VINE!" Peter mentally screamed at the blonde idiot as he jumped from his class' viewing area, landing roughly on the ground. In front of him, Tsuyu was unconscious, lying on the ground while the wall behind her was cracked and broken. He whipped his head towards the arena, where the vine girl was picking her way over to them.
"I am so sorry." She bowed deeply to Peter. "I used far too much force. This is a horrible mistake, and I must beg your forgiveness for my error."
Peter turned back to Tsuyu. She was still breathing normally and nothing seemed broken. He sighed in relief.
"It's fine. She looks alright, so you didn't hurt her too badly. I've used more strength than necessary plenty of times as well. It happens to the best of us." Peter reassured the apologetic girl. He lifted Tsuyu off the ground and handed her off to the medical bots that came with a stretcher.
"We'll be taking a short break while Cementoss repairs the damage to the arena. Please be patient while the process is completed." Peter was up next, so rather than returning to the viewing area, he sat down with his back to the wall and waited. It took only two or three minutes for the arena to be repaired, so he was already walking up even before Midnight called for him and Kaminari. He waited for a bit before Kaminari showed up and took his place across from him.
"AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE MATCH YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! ON ONE SIDE WE HAVE THE VIGILANTE TURNED HERO, PETER PARKER!"
Peter's eye twitched a bit. Vigilantes weren't already heroes? They risked their lives for free while all the heroes did it for a reward. If anything, they were more heroic than the actual heroes.
"No, no, calm down Peter. If you get angry, you'll forget to hold back. If you don't hold back, you'll end up hurting Kaminari. Keep it cool." Peter took a few deep breaths to control his temper.
"ON THE OTHER SIDE WE HAVE THE BEACON OF ELECTRICITY, DENKI KAMINARI! WILL HE BE ABLE TO WIN AGAINST PARKER?! HOW IS HE GOING TO DO IT?!"
"That's...reassuring. Thanks for that Mic sensei." Kaminari's shoulders drooped a bit as he got a hopeless look in his eyes.
"Maybe go a bit easy Peter." In truth, while Peter wanted to win, he didn't really care about how impressive his performance was. He didn't care whether or not he got internship offers, but the others did. The least he could do is give them some time to show what they could do rather than just immediately web them up or knock them out.
"NOW, THE FIFTH MATCH HAS BEGUN!" After Present Mic's declaration, Kaminari raised both his hands, shooting bolts of lighting at Peter. He dodged both of them, twisting his body to avoid the crackling electricity.
"TALK ABOUT FINGER GUNS! KAMINARI IS KEEPING PETER BACK WITH SOME IMPRESSIVE RANGED ATTACKS!"
"Nice man, your aim's gotten pretty good. Think you can hit me from there?" Peter dodged another electric bolt, quipping as he did so. He continued dodging the bolts of electricity, and Kaminari was clearly getting frustrated.
"HOLD STILL PETER!" He shouted at his friend.
"You want me to hold still? Okay, how about this?" Peter stopped moving, placing a hand over his eyes before parting his fingers over one eye, earning some laughs from the crowd.
"Never let it be said he's not an entertainer as well as a hero." All Might chuckled down at Peter, who kept opening his fingers just before Kaminari took a shot at him.
"Gaah! Take me seriously man!" Kaminari stopped pointing only 2 fingers at him and pointed all his fingers and both thumbs his way.
"Huh? Wait, he's not thinking-"
Peter's thoughts were cut short by Kaminari's next attack. From all his fingers, a bolt of electricity emerged. They were much more wild and less accurate than his previous attacks, but for the most part, they all headed straight towards Peter. He was caught totally off guard and barely managed to overcome his surprise in time to avoid the attack. One bolt grazed his leg, sending a shock of electricity through his lower body. Rather than shout in pain, he congratulated his friend.
"Kaminari, have you been training without me? That's awesome! When did you learn to do that?!"
"Two days ago. After you went home I kept practicing by myself."
"That's so cool. Hey, can I watch next time?"
"Totally. Why don't yo-"
"EXCUSE ME, BUT YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A MATCH HERE! DID YOU FORGET?!" Present Mic shouted at them both. Taking a look around, Peter saw the entire crowd was staring down impatiently.
"AW COME ON! CAN'T WE JUST HAVE 1 MINUTE?!" Peter shouted up to the booth the blonde man was in.
"FIGHT!" He shouted again. Peter's spider sense went off, and just as moved his head to the side, a yellow line of electricity whizzed by his ear.
"Not you too Kaminari! I thought we were having a bro moment!" Peter cried out with mock sadness.
"Later!" His friend shouted as he continued shooting at him.
"Fine! I tried to be a bro, but if you want to fight, let's fight." Peter shot a web behind Kaminari and yanked himself forward. He spun his body as he flew forwards, avoiding the electricity. He stopped spinning when he neared Kaminari, drawing back his fist to deliver a flying punch. Kaminari raised his arm in defense, and just before Peter made contact with him, his arm crackled yellow.
Peter's fist met Kaminari's arm, and he instantly felt a shock go through his entire body. Kaminari was also knocked back a few meters, falling to his feet and clutching his arm.
"Nice job. He activated his lightning at the last second so I wouldn't change my target. They're all improving." Peter shook his numb arm and ignored the pain in the rest of his body. Kaminari climbed to his feet, electrifying both his arms and preparing for a fight.
"KAMINARI SEEMS TO HAVE ELECTRIFIED HIS ARMS! IS THIS ABOUT TO TURN INTO A BOXING MATCH BETWEEN OUR TWO CONTESTANTS!?"
The boys jumped towards each other at the same time. Kaminari swung low and Peter jumped over him, flipping so he was upside down directly above Kaminari. He fired a web onto his foot before landing behind him and kicking him behind his left knee. Unable to fly forward because of the web pinning him down, Kaminari fell to one knee. He electrified both his legs and swung his free leg behind him. Peter nearly dodged, but the lightning arcing from Kaminari's leg caught him anyway, shocking him.
He retreated a small distance as Kaminari freed himself. The webs were mostly water based, so while they were resistant to fire, they were weak to electricity. Kaminari yanked his leg free and faced Peter again, raising his fists in front of his face like a boxer.
From there, the match became a slugfest. They both rushed each other, trading blows. Peter hit Kaminari lightly, lightly for Peter anyway, and Kaminari, while mostly unable to hit him, constantly shocked him with the electricity coming off his body. Peter saw that this needed to end quickly, so formed part of a plan.
He kicked Kaminari in the chest before jabbing him in the kidney. He then grabbed both his arms, groaning in pain as electricity coursed through his body. Gritting his teeth, he headbutted Kaminari's face, sending him to the ground. Once more, Peter shook out his completely numb arms before webbing Kaminari down, He was unable to move, and whenever he electrified himself, Peter added another layer of webbing.
"Damn it, not yet. I've still got one card left to play!" Kaminari thought as he struggled against the webbing.
Midnight was about to call the match when she and Peter heard something.
"Indiscriminate...shock…" Kaminari muttered.
"Shit!" Peter cursed. He turned to Midnight, webbing her a few times to keep her safe before leaping high into the air, nearly reaching the height of the top row of seats.
"1.2 MILLION VOLTS!" Kaminari shouted as soon as Peter jumped. The entire arena was covered in electricity when he finished shouting. Midnight was hit by the attack, but Peter's webbing kept her from being injured too badly. Peter came falling down while the attack continued.
"Oh crap. Come on Kaminari, stop man. Stop. Just stop. KAMINARI!"
Just before Peter hit the ground, the electricity subsided. He crashed into the ground, a small crater forming around him. He pulled himself from his landing spot and checked on Kaminari. Without his suit to absorb the electricity, he had gone over his wattage limit and was grinning stupidly.
"Denki Kaminari is unable to continue. Peter Parker is the winner! Now get me out of this!" Midnight shouted at Peter after announcing his victory. Most of the webbing was destroyed by the electricity, but some still remained. Apologizing, Peter tore it off of her before freeing Kaminari. He wasn't injured very badly, but his mind was practically crippled now.
"I'm going to take him to the nurse's office Ms. Midnight." Peter draped Kaminari over his shoulder and carried him into one of the tunnels. He knew Recovery Girl set up an office somewhere around here, but he didn't know where to find it. He wandered around for nearly 10 minutes before finally finding the office.
"Excuse me? Ms. Recovery Girl? I've got somebody for you."
Walking into the office, Peter saw Mina laying on one of the beds.
"Peter, thank god! Please, save me! I keep saying I'm fine, but she won't let me leave!" She begged him.
"Quiet now. I keep telling you that you need to rest." Recovery Girl scolded him. She eyed Kaminari, still grinning like an idiot. "I can treat his injuries, but he'll have to overcome this issue of his on his own."
"Great. Thank you. I'll leave him to you then." Peter set Kaminari down on one of the free beds. "By the way, great job Mina. You did really good, Bakugo was just a little too strong. A blast like that would have taken anybody out of a fight."
Mina smiled a tiny bit, though she still looked unhappy.
"Thanks Peter. It's still annoying though. Was I close at least?"
"Um, y-yeah, totally. You almost had him at the end."
"...Peter, you're a really bad liar." Mina deadpanned at him.
"Yeah, I hear that a lot." Peter sighed. "Sorry."
"It's cool. Hey, there's no TV in here. How'd the last few matches go?"
Peter was about to respond when an announcement came over the loudspeakers.
"All round 1 matches have been concluded. Will all contestants please make their way back for the second round matches."
"WHAT!? I was gone for like 10 minutes! How are the other 3 matches over with already? Mina, I'll tell you everything later, right now I need to go." Peter ran out of the room, hoping to find his way back to the viewing area quickly.
"So I decided to split this into 4 parts. Naturally, the first stage is the most boring, so I sped through it while also spending a decent amount of time(?) on each fight. The reason for it being 4 parts is that I wanted to spend time on each fight to flesh it out and make it longer, especially Peter's. Check the way I arranged the matchups in the last chapter and look at the people he'll end up going against. I'll leave it up to you to decide how everything will work out. Along with that, I'll be writing small things that are happening between fights, and it just felt weird to cram all of that into one or two chapters.
Now for the bad news. Today was my final day of winter break. Tomorrow it's back to school, which means less frequent updates while I go back to the joys and wonders of 9th grade. Oh AP tests, how I've missed you. And to you, the cologne-filled locker rooms and overcrowded hallways, I can't believe I ever survived without you. Yeah, this is going to be fun.
Anyway, I can't promise exact dates, but I should be able to finish the sports festival before next Sunday.
As always, thanks for reading and remember to leave a review.
Aren signing off.