And we're now 25 chapters down! Gotta say, I'm super happy with everyone helping this story keep pace as we get closer to the Sports Festival's end. We're already approaching the end of the second round, so you'll love what's in store! But before we get into it, let's respond to a new guest review!
Guest: Hero Killer arc after this. Wonder who else will fight with Deku, Shoto, and Lisa against Stain… Anyway, keep it up with the tourney matches.
First of all, thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the tournament fights! As for the Hero Killer Arc, I think you'll be interested in some of my decisions in regards to that. I'm looking forward to showing it to everyone!
Now then, let's get back into "Through the Rough"!
"Yikes, I give! I give!" Setsuna exclaimed in a panic, having narrowly evaded the first giant ice wave shot her way by Shoto. Needless to say, she knew the match was going to be one-sided. But she did want to give it a shot...
"Huh..." the Half-Cold, Half-Hot Quirk user exhaled as a cold breath left his lips. Homura glared down at him from the stands. He was now a step closer to fighting her. But first, he'd have to defeat Izuku, while she'd have to take down Tenya.
"Hey Shiki, isn't your match up next?" Ochaco asked, getting the attention of the Satan Gravity Quirk user as he blinked in surprise.
"Oh yeah, right!" he confirmed, hopping onto his feet, "See ya later!" he called out before letting his green-glowing markings appear along his arms. He then floated up and flew out toward the stage. Falling down, he landed on the concrete with a big grin on his face.
"You know, you should just come through the tunnel..." Midnight insisted as a drop of sweat rolled down the side of her head.
"But it's not fun that way!" Shiki retorted as he chuckled, causing her to sigh in exasperation. In the meantime, Momo nervously walked onto the stage, holding onto her left arm. After seeing how the Satan Gravity Quirk user's mere display of power had intimidated Yosetsu enough to withdraw, she wasn't feeling that confident in herself. She remembered just how capable he was back at the U.S.J.
'Even so... I've made it this far!' she noted to herself, taking on a ready stance, 'I'll do my best!' she declared inwardly.
"And... begin!" Midnight exclaimed, swinging down her flail. Shiki shot forward. Momo gasped.
"Magimech Attack..." he began, rearing his right fist back, "Gravity Fist!" he yelled, thrusting it forward. The Creation Quirk user reacted quickly, creating a shield over her left arm. It blocked the punch, but was immediately dented from its force. Momo clenched her teeth together, feeling herself slide back. She created a metal pole from the palm of her right hand, slamming it against the ground to stop herself.
"Whoa!" Ochaco yelped in surprise.
"Yaoyorozu's amazing!" Toru exclaimed, "Even if that was a power-packed punch from Shiki, she's amazing to take it like that!" she pointed out excitedly.
"Yeah, go Yaoyorozu!" Mina cheered, pumping her right fist into the air. Taking quick breaths to calm herself, the Creation Quirk user left her shield fall off from her arm before ripping her jacket open.
"Huh?" Shiki uttered in surprise as he blinked. A multicolored light shined from Momo's stomach as she glared ahead fiercely.
"Whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Mic exclaimed repeatedly over the loudspeaker, "Yaoyorozu's not only stepping up to take on Granbell, she's gonna go all-out!" he noted excitedly as the Creation Quirk user had made a large cannon.
"Huh..." she exhaled in exhaustion.
'Creating something as big as this uses up a lot of my lipids...' she inwardly noted as sweat trickled down her face, 'If I'm going to become a hero, I need to take big risks like this!' she declared through her thoughts.
"A cannon, huh?" Shiki said, "That's amazing!" he exclaimed excitedly to his opponent's surprise as his eyes sparkled, "Anyways, bring it on!" he insisted, taking a ready stance.
"Wh...What?" Momo stuttered out in confusion.
"It's always good to try and push past your limits and go Plus Ultra, right?" her foe inquired, "In that case, hit me with all you've got!" he requested. The Creation Quirk user was baffled. But she didn't want to waste this opportunity. She pulled the lever and fired the ammunition from the cannon. Seeing it approach, Shiki grinned. And in that instant, everyone gasped. They saw that the cannonball that had been shot was stopped just inches away from Shiki's right palm, which glowed in a greenish light.
"No way..." Momo uttered in disbelief as her eyes widened. The Satan Gravity Quirk user reared his arm back.
"GRAVITY'S GONNA CRUSH YOU!" he roared, firing the cannonball back. It struck the cannon, blasting it apart. The force of the attack blew Momo back as she fell out of the ring, grimacing all the while. Everyone watching had shocked expressions, though not as much as when Shiki made Yosetsu forfeit. With her hair undone, the Creation Quirk user sat up and saw that she had been defeated, tensing up in frustration as her eyes shook.
"I... didn't..." she started to whimper out.
"Hey," her opponent said, getting her attention as she looked up to see him extend his right hand out to her, "you did great!" he complimented to her surprise, "You taking my Gravity Fist was awesome," he pointed out, "So I'm sure there's someone out there who'd wanna have you at their agency!" he added assuredly. With shaking eyes, Momo took his hand, allowing him to lift her up back onto her feet. The crowd cheered at the show of sportsmanship as she took a moment to collect herself. The bright grin on Shiki's face didn't fill her with frustration, but encouragement. Whatever happened next, she'd do her best to be ready for it.
"Looks like Granbell beat Yaoyorozu..." All Might noted as he checked his phone from the nurse's office.
"Yeah, that sounds pretty one-sided on paper..." Sister mentioned, leaning over the number one hero's shoulder to take a look at the update on his device.
"Would you two stop getting distracted?" Recovery Girl requested, getting their attentions as they looked over to her, "Honestly, you should focus on helping if you can..." she pointed out, having just tended to Izuku's broken ring finger, which was healed and in bandages. Rebecca was beside him, taking the energy drink bottle away after he guzzled it down.
"Huh..." he sighed out, "Thank you so much, Recovery Girl," he said in gratitude, "I'm sorry if I'm causing you trouble with all this..." he apologized in advance.
"Well, I'm glad you're at least appreciative..." the Heal Quirk user noted as a reply, "But please, try not to make matters worse in the next round..." she requested seriously.
"Not sure if that's gonna be possible..." Izuku admitted, glancing down in thought as he knew that Shoto would be the person he'd face in the third round. Rebecca stared at his troubled expression with concern.
"H-Hey, don't worry about it!" she stuttered insistently, causing him to perk up in surprise, "You only had to break a single finger to win in the last round!" she pointed out, "So I'm sure you won't be breaking anything else!" she assured with confidence.
"From what I've seen, you're overestimating the guy..." Sister bluntly noted, causing the Leaper Quirk user to flinch.
"Ivry!" Chiyo shouted in a reprimanding tone.
"No, she's right..." Izuku admitted to her surprise, letting out a deep sigh, "Todoroki's strong, and I'm definitely at a disadvantage..." he pointed out, balling his right hand into a fist, "But even so..." he continued, "I'll do what I can to win," he stated firmly, "That's what I vowed to do," he added.
"Izuku..." Rebecca uttered out, giving off a worried look.
"Well, if you find yourself getting pretty banged up from the next round," Sister began, motioning to herself, "you can let my Dispel Driver help-!"
"NO!" Recovery Girl exclaimed angrily as she whacked her fellow nurse across the back with her cane.
"Dammit, ya old hag!" she shouted while glaring, "I should kick your ass for that!" she yelled. Ignoring their bickering with a nervous chuckle, All Might approached the bed where his successor sat.
"Young Midoriya," he began, getting his attention, "I have no doubt that you'll do whatever it takes to surpass Young Todoroki," he noted confidently with a pump of his fist, "But please, don't overexert yourself," he insisted.
"I won't," Izuku assured in response.
"As for you, Young Bluegarden," the number one hero began to the Leaper Quirk user, causing her to perk up, "are you ready for your next fight?" he asked of her. She blinked twice.
"My next...?" she started to repeat, only to stop as she paled upon realizing that she would be fighting Katsuki soon, "...Honestly, I'm a little nervous..." she admitted, balling her hands into fists over her knees as she lowered her head for a moment.
"Rebecca..." her best friend uttered out.
"But I have to fight," she stated to his surprise as he blinked, "Because I'm aiming for the top, too," she mentioned firmly. Back in the stadium, fans watched the match between Fumikage and Itsuka go on for quite a while, with the latter being forced onto the defensive by her opponent's shadowy entity. It finally knocked her out of bounds, much to her frustration as she slammed her right fist against the ground.
"Tokoyami wins!" Midnight announced while raising her flail, "He advances to the third round!" she declared. Bowing politely, the Dark Shadow Quirk user left the ring.
"Fumikage's so awesome!" Shiki pointed out excitedly as his eyes sparkled, "I can't wait to fight him next!" he mentioned aloud.
"Now we've got two more matches before the third round..." Tsuyu noted with a finger upon her cheek.
"So far it's gonna be Iida versus Kogetsu, Midoriya versus Todoroki, and Granbell versus Tokoyami..." Hanta listed off, "No Class B student's left..." he added.
"Yeah..." Mashirao said with a nod, "In fact, the only other guy left not in our class is Husert from General Studies..." he pointed out, seeing the Tears Lover Quirk user make his way onto the stage after Mic's introduction, followed by Weisz. The Machina Maker Quirk user blinked twice upon noticing something.
"Why the hell are you wearing high heels?" he asked of his future opponent upon seeing his footwear.
"They're called stilettos," he corrected in response, "More importantly, I saw what you could do in that last match," he noted with narrowed eyes.
"And I saw everything you could do, too..." Weisz retorted with a smirk, "You ain't gonna make me cry," he remarked confidently.
"Who says I have to?" Laguna questioned back to his surprise, "Anyways..." he continued, activating his Quirk as his blue markings appeared, "are we doing this or not?" he asked, taking a ready stance.
"Oh, you can bet we are..." Weisz growled, readying his watch.
By the time Izuku made it back to the stands, Weisz had already equipped his armored suit. He remodeled it to have jet boots at his ankles, dashing forward in an instant. He wound up getting behind his foe, who didn't seem surprised.
"Get ready for one hell of an ass-whoopin'!" he roared in declaration, rearing his right fist back.
"You do realize that water can crush steel, right?" Laguna questioned rhetorically. All of a sudden, several hands of water shot out and slammed into the armored Weisz, knocking him down onto the concrete ground.
"Whoa!" Mic yelped, "Already, Husert's pulling out all the stops!" he pointed out through the loudspeakers. The Tears Lover Quirk user nonchalantly rolled his neck with a crick.
"Ergh... dammit!" Weisz cursed, shooting up onto his feet and dashing past him, producing a pair of machine guns upon his forearms, "Vise Cannon!" he roared, firing off several shots toward his foe. A wall of water erupted before him, blocking off the rubber bullets. "You gotta be kidding me...!" the Machina Maker Quirk user muttered out in disbelief.
"I didn't think Steiner would meet his match like Tetsutetsu..." Eijiro admitted, blinking in shock.
"But that armor's a lot more well-rounded," Tsuyu pointed out, "Husert's probably going to lose in the end without a way to break through that armor..." she mentioned, putting a finger onto her chin.
"Or maybe he's waiting for something else..." Izuku inferred, getting everyone's attention.
"Water Shot!" Laguna exclaimed, firing off pellets of water that struck his armored foe, making him slide back a few feet.
"Ha!" he laughed, pointing at him, "Your puny projectiles are no match for the awesome might of Arsenal!" he declared, taking a ready stance, "Now I'll finally-!" He suddenly keeled over over onto his knees. His armor peeled away, with its pieces reforming into the watch upon his right wrist.
"Thought so," his opponent remarked.
"Wh-What just happened?!" Ochaco stuttered out of shock.
"He reached his limit," Izuku answered to her surprise.
"You only had that suit on for thirty seconds in the last match," Laguna pointed out as he approached Weisz, who panted heavily in exhaustion, "so I figured it was using up a lot of your Quirk's energy," he concluded as his blonde-haired foe glared at him, "It's an Ether-Type, right?" he guessed. "In any case, you can't possibly fight me anymore," he pointed out, "So either surrender..." he began while glowering down at the Machina Maker Quirk user, "or cry..." he threatened. Gritting his teeth, Weisz lowered his head in defeat.
"I yield..." he finally said.
"Steiner has yielded!" Midnight declared as she raised her flail up, "Husert wins and advances to the third round!" she added as the Tears Lover Quirk user walked off.
"Poor Weisz..." Ochaco uttered worriedly.
"He spent all that time making such a punk rock suit, he forgot to think about how it'd affect him and his Quirk..." Kyoka noted.
"Yeah," Momo agreed as she nodded. Meanwhile, the Machina Maker Quirk user stared at his watch solemnly.
'Sorry... Sibir...' he apologized inwardly, 'Guess this Armored Hero's still got a long way to go...' he realized, looking up to the sky overhead.
"Huh..." Rebecca exhaled as she made it to the end of the tunnel. She was very nervous. Rightfully so. Katsuki was a bully to her, too. Definitely not as bad as he was to Izuku, but still pretty horrible.
'Maybe... Mina had a point about us...' she admitted inwardly, letting out a sigh, 'Izuku, I wish we could've dealt with this sooner...' she confessed through her thoughts, 'But right now, I'm going to do whatever I can to win!' she decided to herself. The crowd's echoing cheers rang through her ears as she exited the tunnel. She made her way onto the stage to find the Explosion Quirk user there.
"Alright, cat girl..." he began with a glare, "let's see if your speed can really keep up with my explosions..." he challenged. Balling her hands into fists, Rebecca steeled herself.
"I'd like nothing more..." she responded firmly.
And we're ending with Rebecca and Katsuki's fight next chapter! Hope you're all excited, 'cause there's gonna be a lot of emotions from that fight! Anyways, I'll see you all later!