Chapter 19: Sport Festival: Tournament, Part Four


I let loose a grunt as I stretches out my back, the satisfying sounding cracks is music to my ears. Okay, it's time. Keep your focus, Genko…

"Welcome back, my beloved audiences!" Prescent Mic shouted out over the speakers, "It has taken a while, but we are finally ready to continue with our quarter-finals! I hope you are prepared not to blink for a while! You might miss the whole match if you do!"

"Neither of them is that fast–"

It's time for the second match of the quarter finals to begin! Are you excited, Ladies and Gentlemen!?"

I let loose a nervous chuckle as the entire arena vibrated with cheers from everyone in their seats. "Present Mic-sensei really knows how to hype up a crowd…"

"Heroes' jobs also included raising morale." Iida stated, pushing his glasses up, "It's only natural that Present Mic-sensei is so great with it."

Although his co-host isn't that interested in it… Well, every Hero has something they are better at than others…

"She's as quick as the wind, strike hard like lightning! She is the queen and future empress of speed itself, it's Tatsuya Genko!" I scratch my cheek as I feel my blood rushes into them. I'm not sure I'm supposed to be flattered or embarrassed at his description at all. "Versus! He is the straight-laced class president on jets! The second son of the prestigious Iida family, younger brother and future holder of the title Ingenium, it's Iida Tenya!"

"…Tatsuya-san." The glasses-wearing class got into a running stance, "I know I'm repeating myself, but I'll be coming at you with all I've got. I expect you to do the same."

"No need to tell me that." I assures him as I got into a ready stance too, a button battery already inside my clenched fist charging me up, "I won't hold back, either."

"It's a match of unrelentless speed! They are the fastest people in the block, the rulers of speed themselves! Only one shall earn the title of the true ruler of speed today! Ready…"

I saw his calf engines already firing up. Iida's Engine quirk definitely is worth noting in the speed department, especially compared to mine. He overall mobility is very limited compared to mine due to being based more on propulsion, but maybe because of that he has an upper hand in the power and strength department

If I were to make a comparison between the two of us, it would be a Nazca race car to a racing motorbike. One may run circles around the other, but if the car crashes into the bike, usually the larger vehicle wins out.

Not only that, mine has a set time limit especially with how much charge I am able to maintain through the whole match. If I used up too much charge at the start, I would be a sitting duck for him to take out.

If I'm to win this, immobilizing him might be the best move out there. But considering the fact that he is taller than me and is build like a tank, not to mention grappling techniques are my weakest assets, I find that option highly unlikely. As such, there's only one option left for me to do.

"START!"

Once the signal start, I speed forward towards my opponent. If I can't pin him down, I have to push him out or knock him out. Preferably, I hope for the former.

Apparently, Iida has a similar idea, as he too ran towards me at full speed with a turbo charged kick coming straight towards me.

I quickly duck down as the kick went through above my head and speeds away from him. I slowed down a little as I swerved around and skids to a stop, just as Iida did the same, before blasting his engines and dashes towards me at full force. As he got close, I make a run for it and speeds away. He then made the obvious decision and speeds after me.

Maintaining the distance between us is my best option right now, even if it's going to look stupid to everyone. I hope this doesn't lower Ingenium's view of me…

"And it's a high-speed chase, folks! It's lightning speed versus turbo power!"

I have to conserve the energy I have right now. I doubt Iida would give me an opportunity to recharge myself, given how big of an advantage he has if I don't.

As I zips around the arena, making sure not to go too fast as to deplete my energy reserves too quickly and not slow enough so that Iida would catch up, I notices that he has trouble steering himself every time I made a sharp turn. Now that I think about it, he has shown trouble steering himself around tight corners during our Heroics practical lessons.

I could use this to my advantage.

With that in mind, I dashes towards the edge of the ring, making sure to curve my trajectory so not to give my plans away. Sure enough, Iida followed suit, engines running at full power as always.

Once I'm close enough, I quickly made a sharp swerve around, before dashing past Iida at my top speed in hopes in disorienting him so that he would not see the edge until it is too late. I skids to a stop a good distance away, having use up all my energy before giving him a small salute, "See ya!"

So far, my plan works as intended, with Iida still keeping his momentum and is on his way out of the ring with no possible way of curving back on time.

But then, he did something I did not think he is capable of doing.

He suddenly hops up and spun using his exhaust on one of his leg to propel him around, sticks to the landing as his two feet skidding on the concrete before his exhaust pipes blasts out and slows down his momentum to a stop, right at the edge of the ring.

"OHH! Close! Too close! He nearly got a Ring Out but Iida manages to save himself in the end!"

"I have failed to count how many times I have slammed into my home's wall while working with my quirk." Iida tells me adjusting his glasses so that one lens reflected some light, "It's only natural that I've found some way to stop that from happening."

"Oh, you got to be kidding me…" I muttered out as I dug into my pocket for a battery.

"I'm not going to let you! RECIPRO BURST!"

"Recipro what–!?"

With that cry, his engines roars as he dashes towards me at speeds that I didn't think was possible for him.

In one second, a rocket powered kick flew towards my head. I was only able to dodge his attack when my reflexes kick in and I duck down just his leg flew past my hair.

In another second, another kick comes and I wasn't able to dodge this one and manages to put up a defense with my arms when the attack hits, sending me flying across the ring. I tumble about on the ring, before I manages to right myself in the end, skidding to a stop very close to the ring's edge.

"Very close! So very close! Another almost Ring Out from Tatsuya!"

"Now, you're just repeating yourself..."

"That was way too close…" I muttered to myself, feeling the soreness of the bruise forming on my forearm from his attack

I can't believe I've forgotten about this! He has a super move that dials his speed up by eleven for ten seconds before engine failure, like the Nitro move from that one racing game.

My fist clenches around the battery I was able to fish out from my pocket the moment his kick landed, my charge refilling as Iida charges towards me at full throttle, launching another rocket-propelled kick towards me.

This time, however, I'm ready as I can be as I immediately shoots towards him at my max speed. His widening eyes says to me that he didn't expect such a response from me, which works in my favor.

Once I'm close enough, I slams my fist into his gut hard, his body arcs around as he lets out a gasp of pain. I speeds away, building some distance between us before I skids to a stop. I then speeds back at max speed, using the remaining energy I absorbed in one last burst.

Just as Iida turns around to face me, I leap forward and slams both feet into him, knocking him back at full force. All that momentum I has built up transferred into him, sending him flying and tumbling out of the ring.

"Iida, Ring Out!" Midnight calls out, "Match goes to Tatsuya!"

"And it is over! And we have our crowned ruler of speed today, folks! It's Class A's Tatsuya Genko! She is speeding right to the top!"

I quickly ran off arena towards my opponent, just as Iida slowly sat up with his hand over his stomach. "You okay?"

"I'm… I'm fine…" He panted, letting out a small hiss as he felt his stomach, "A few bruises here, but I'm fine."

"…Need a hand?"

I reached out a hand for him, he grasps it tightly as I pull him to his feet.

"It was a good match." He tells me, shaking my hand, "I've expected no less from you."

"Same here. You are amazing too." I replied back, "When you did that Recipro Burst thing, I thought I was going to lose for sure. Your kicks hit like a truck."

"I'm very glad to hear that! Although that trick you did in the beginning is pretty clever!"

"Thanks! Though your reaction to it is so surprising!"

"Okay, okay, you can talk about your match after you left the ring." Cemetoss's voice tells us, the concrete-bodied Hero nodding with a knowing grin. And I think I saw Midnight looking on with a small blush with a small wink at me, much to my embarrassment.

We both let out a small chuckle as we exited the stadium via the corridor, Present Mic speaking about sportsmanship fading into the background.

"…Congratulations, Tatsuya-san." Iida suddenly stated with a smile.

"…Thanks." I nodded, before rubbing the back of my neck with a nervous chuckle, "Sorry for ruining your chances…"

"It's no big deal!" He assures me with several waving of his hands, "The Sport Festival is all about showing our best to the Pros in the audiences! And our match definitely makes up for my…" He visibly cringed at that, "…less than spectacular match in the qualifiers."

"That's one way to look at things, I guess." I noted with a nod, "But still, it was truly a great match! I'm sure your brother would be proud of it!"

"That I am."

We both stopped when we heard that familiar voice, as we saw Ingenium walking towards us with his helmet under his arm and a smile on his face.

"Ingenium-san? What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I wanted to come congratulate you guys myself before I leave." He tells him as he turns to his brother, "You did an amazing job out there, Tenya! I'm proud of you!"

"Thank you for the praise, brother!" Iida stated with a waving salute.

"Seriously, are you part robotic now?" He chuckles at his brother antics, before turning to me, "And congrats on winning, Tatsuya Genko."

"Eh? A-Ah! N-No problem!" I let out a nervous laugh at his words, "T-Thank you…"

"No need to be so nervous!" He laughed at my words, patting me on my shoulder which did little to relive the tension.

"Are you leaving now, brother?" Iida asks his brother.

"Yeah, the agency called and need me back in Hosu right away."

"Did something happen?" I asked worriedly. At this point in time, Stain must still be in Hosu City… if I remember right, Ingenium got attacked when the first semi-final match is going on. If my math is right, which it is most of the time, there's still a good while till it happens.

If Ingenium leave now to Hosu, the attack might happen…

"It's nothing to worry about." He assures me, "Just focus on the semi-finals. You'll be up against Endeavor's son, after all."

I felt a chill travelling down my spine at that revelation. Ah, right. I have to fight Todoroki next… the guy who can create a giant glacier at will… oh boy, that is going to be a tough match…

"R…Right…"

"Relax! You'll do fine!" He stated with a pat on my back, before walking off, "I have to go now. I'll be looking forward to seeing the recordings later!"

"Safe journeys, brother!" Iida calls out with an energetic wave of his arm as his brother disappear behind the corner.

Ingenium would be fine… there's no way he'll just get attacked from arriving at Hosu City, would he?


When we made it back to the stands, we were bombarded by our classmates who congratulated me on my win as well as praising Iida for his hard work out there. A quick look around is enough to see that Midoriya is still not back yet, meaning that he is probably still on the surgery board.

After that, I sat down in my usual seat and waits the next match to start, which didn't take too long.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to our third match of our quarter-finals! I'm going to tell that this is going to be quite an exciting one too!" Present Mic shouted over the speakers; the audience's cheering getting louder with every word.

"It's going to be Tokoyami up against that Taikou guy from Class 1-B, right?" Hagakure asked, "I can't tell who's going to win this one. Both of them are pretty strong, especially Tokoyami."

"Yeah, Tokoyami's quirk is super powerful." Jirou nodded, "He took out Mina-chan almost immediately once the match begins."

"Dark Shadow's speed and strength is definitely something to look out for." Tsuyu noted, "But Taikou-kun isn't lacking that department either."

"Yeah, Taikou with his flames are pretty fast too." Kirishima stated, "And he can fly too. Though that isn't an issue with Dark Shadow, either."

"Guess we just have to watch to find out." Uraraka stated.

"Burning hot passion, and equally hot feet! He's the hot-blooded man that has blazed through his previous match without any effort! It's Naru Taikou!"

"You just want to make that pun, didn't you?"

"VERSUS! So dark and so COOL! His mannerism is nothing but chilling, it's Tokoyami Fumikage!"

"Win this, Taikou!" I heard Tetsutetsu shouted from the 1-B's booth, "Beat that birdhead and show them what Class 1-B can do!"

Well, since he is doing it too…

"Show him hell, Taikou! Oh, and you too, Tokoyami!"

"Why is Tokoyami an afterthought!?" Sero shouted from behind me.


'I'm kind of regretting reading that old manga Genko showed me…' Taikou thought as he watches his opponent releases his sentient quirk, the shadowy bird-like figure hovering around him with large claws ready to strike, 'Now I can't stop seeing that as a Stand…'

Despite his somewhat careless thoughts, he kept his guard up and prepared for an attack the moment the announcer gave the green light. He has seen Dark Shadow in action, and he saw how powerful it can be. It has reach, not to mention how fast the thing can go and how powerful its strikes can get.

'To beat him, I have strike Tokoyami directly. Dark Shadow may be fast, I have dealt with faster.'

Unbeknownst to him, the bird-headed student is thinking something similar.

'This guy's quirk is no joke.' Tokoyami thought, 'His flames are Dark Shadow's biggest weakness, and he is as fast as Iida. Add his flight and I'm in a tough spot. I need to finish this as fast as I can before he catches on.'

"Who would come up on top!? I'm excited to find out! Ready…"

Taikou ignites his flames in preparation to fight. Meanwhile, Dark Shadow coils around his owner, ready to launch himself towards his target on command.

"START!"

"Dark Shadow!"

"You got it, boss!"

The dark being flew straight towards Taikou, claws ready to grab and toss him out. The brown-haired teen easily jumped into the air; feet ablaze as he flew up to avoid the attack. A quick swerve around in the air, and Taikou is blazing towards his opponent with a flying kick.

Dark Shadow is able to swoop in and block the attack, but let out a small shriek in pain, much to Taikou's surprise.

'Is it… in pain…?'

"Dark Shadow!"

By command, the shadowy being raises his claw and slams it into his attacker's gut, pushing him off him as Taikou somersault in the air before nailing a three-point-landing.

"An explosive exchange right at the start! Taikou's blazing charge didn't work as well as last time!"

'What was that just now?' Taikou thought in surprise, 'Did that dark shadow thing got hurt from my attack? Why? Is that something I did differently than previously?'

"Are you alright, Dark Shadow?" Tokoyami asked his quirk.

"Y-Yeah… Got caught off guard, is all."

'Dark Shadow… shadow…' Taikou ponders for a moment, before realizing, "Shadow…! Could it be…!"

"Once more, Dark Shadow!" The bird-headed teen commanded, "Take him out, quickly!"

"On the double!" With that proclamation, the shadowy beast charges towards his target at full speed, claws ready to either smack him about or knock him out of the ring.

But instead of moving to avoid it, the moment he came close, Taikou decides to just ignites his feet and unleashes a huge blaze of fire around him. Dark Shadow immediately shrieks in pain, getting too close to the flames for his liking.

"I knew it!" Taikou chuckles, "It's light. You're quirk's weak against any bright light!"

"C-Crap!" Tokoyami flinches from having his crucial weakness exposed, Dark Shadow circumvent back around him with a teary expression on his face.

"If that's case…" The brown-haired teen blasts out his flames at full force, "My next course of action is obvious!"

He rockets towards Tokoyami once more, throwing another flying kick at him. Dark Shadow quickly circles around him and went to intercept the attack. The flaming kick hits the dark being, he letting out a shriek in pain.

"Here's some more!"

Taikou unleashes a barrage of flaming kicks at him, each time Dark Shadow move to intercept the attack which all leads to the same result every time. And with each hit, the dark being started to shrink down bit by bit as well.

"Taikou is on a blazing offensive! His attacks blazing away with such ferocity!"

"Are you seriously using that pun for the entire match…?"

At the end of his barrage, he unleashes one last strong sweep kick towards which blasts out a large flame as big as a person, which ended up blasting away Dark Shadow to the point that it is too small to be a real threat to him, leaving Tokoyami wide opened.

The bird-headed teen attempt to defend himself, crossing his arms in time to block a flaming spinning back kick that both slightly burns his forearm while sending him flying back and tumbling on the ground. He stopped near the edge of the ring, getting back up as Dark Shadow circumvents around him once more, only for Taikou to come rocketing in with another flying kick towards him.

This time, Dark Shadow isn't big enough to even block or counter it, leaving Tokoyami to receive the attack to his chest, which sends him out of the ring and crashing onto the ground after the stairs.

"Tokoyami, Ring out!" Midnight announces with a crack of her whip, "Match goes to Naru!"

"And it's finally over! Naru Taikou would continue on with his blaze of glory towards the semi-finals!"

"Please… just stop…"

Taikou slowly walks up to his opponent, reaching out his hand to him, "Need some help?"

"Much appreciated." Tokoyami gladly accepted his hand and got pulled up to his feet, "It was a great match."

"Thanks." He nodded, "How's your quirk? I hope I wasn't too rough with him."

"He'll be fine." The bird-headed teen assures him, "He just time to recover his strength. I didn't think you'll figure out his weakness so quickly."

"With that shriek, anyone could piece it together if they think hard enough."

"That is true…"


"Oh man, Tokoyami lost!" Mina whined, "Even though his quirk is so damn strong!"

"I was sure that Tokoyami could win this." Sero noted, "Guess I thought wrong."

"He's not as invincible as we thought, huh?" Kaminari added.

"Weakness against light, huh?" Kirishima noted, "That's pretty bad match-up, especially with someone like Taikou."

"Tokoyami-kun has the disadvantage from the beginning." Tsuyu stated.

"That Taikou guy is pretty amazing, isn't he?" Uraraka noted.

"He is." I nodded with a smile, "Taikou is one of the toughest guys I know!"

"Fuck yeah, Taikou!" Tetsutetsu shouted from Class 1-B's booth, "Way to show him whose boss!"

"Hey man, watch it!" One of Class 1-B's students cried out, "You nearly hit me in the head!"

"Ah! Sorry about that…"

"Hey, hey~"

We all looked to the side, as expected is Monoma is once again hanging over the ledge with a smug look on his face, "Isn't funny? Isn't that guy one of your strongest? And yet he got defeated so easily? How's is that possible? Isn't Class 1-A supposed to be the best of our year–"

"And enough out of you."

Their class president proceeds to chop him on the back of the neck again, before pulling him back down with an apology echoing afterwards.

"…He really has nothing better to do, huh?" Hagakure stated in either awe, or annoyance if her tone is to be indicated.

"He's definitely committed to it; I give him that much." Jirou pointed out.

The next match with Ojiro and Bakugou went… well, let's just say it went as well as anyone fighting the explosive teen one-on-one can go. A lot of explosions with Ojiro's swift defeat minutes after the match started, which solidify Bakugou as Taikou's opponent in the semi-finals.

He is definitely going to have a field day with that one.

Although, the tailed teen has put up quite a fight against Bakugou, using his nimble ways and martial prowess to outmaneuver him several times and almost scoring a good couple of hits in before being overpowered by sheer ferocity.

Once all has been that's said and done, next up is the semi-finals that Present Mic is hyping everyone up for some reason.

And first up would be me against the glacier maker himself, Todoroki.

I'm so not looking forward to this…

To Be Continued…


Omake

"So, what do you think?"

Taikou looked up from the book at his childhood friend's question, her eyes shimmering with expectation of his opinion on what she quoted as [One of the greatest pieces of old pop culture literature ever conceived].

"To be honest…"

"Yeah…?"

"I do find it an interesting read…" He started, her friend nodding at the sentiment, "I don't really see how this is any good. I mean, the whole muscular men posing is weird enough already, but then it added in vampires, sun energy through breathing, psychic powers in the shape of more posing muscular men, and you get one heck of a weird book that is just weird for the sake of being weird."

"And that's the beauty of it!" Genko stated happily, "It's so weird that it is own brand of weirdness! No one has ever topped that!"

"But still, the book isn't that good."

"Yeah, that much I agree on. I liked it mostly for the memes."

"Memes?"

And that is when Taikou got introduced to the old internet world of JoJo memes, and his life has never been same again.


Hey there, everyone. Sorry for taking so long to finish this! This month has been one wild rollercoaster ride, with great things balanced out with horrible tragedies that took the month by storm.

But before all of that, let's all give a prayer to the great tragedy that could befall on the anime industry, the fire of Kyoto Animation.

It is hard to put into words the emotions I had when I heard the news of the fire. Truly, it is a dark time for the art of animation, and the lost of Kyoto Animation in the animation industry would definitely be one that will be felt across the globe.

A great studio that has some of the greatest artists, animators, editors and directors, Kyoto Animations has been one of the few anime studios that are known for their excellence in the art form, producing many great works over the years since its establishments.

Not only that, their anime has touched countless people across the globe, with great stories match with brilliant camera works, art and animation, and excellent music and sound design in this industry that I'm hard-pressed to find nowadays!

Heck, a lot of my favourite series are made by them! Violet Evergarden and Kyoukai no Kanta to name a few!

If any of you have money to spare, please help donate to them on GoFundme. Even if you can't donate, help spread the word as far as anyone can! A little bit help!

Okay, that's all the bad stuff out of the way.

Again, I'm sorry for taking so long. I've stuck on a writer's block about Genko's fight with Iida and couldn't even start on it.

I've also been distracted by all the anime that released this season, with several having caught my attention since they are announced. And boy, are they amazing. Dr. Stone, Danmachi season 2, Astra Lost in Space, Fire Force, Vinland Saga to name a few!

The Isekai anime for this season on the other hand… a few are a bit too out there for my interest with the rest either too generic or is plain out bad. Better luck next time, I guess.

But boy, this chapter is a dozy. I sure hope I captured Iida's and Tokoyami's personality well enough. The last thing I need is to accidentally wrote them OOC. Also, I'm sure everyone who is a fan of Jojo has thought of Dark Shadow as a Stand at one point or another.

Although, I sure hope people don't find my two OCs too OP or too mary-sue… I really don't want to accidentally write them into one…

With that, I thank you for reading this!