It's time for the final part of the HPSC Evaluation mini arc. This time Izuku and Bakugo spar against each other. Then a small break at the end to wrap everything up. Then the next two chapters will be another mini arc, to help form relation in the future.
SidRyuu14: I hope better explained how Izuku's quirk transforms hi arm. To bring up your point of gaining something from his father, I do plan on adding a bit to Izuku's quirk to make it, let's say more fun and interesting to write. Though don't show up until the entrance exam arc.
As always I do not own MY HERO ACADEMIA or any of their characters.
With that, let's start off with a bang
Once inside the changing room, Izuku and Bakugo went to their separate rooms to change. They quickly stripped out of their normal clothes and into their martial arts gi. Bakugo had to redo his top as he had accidentally put it on inside out. Once Bakugo corrected his mistake, and tied his belt he stepped out and found Izuku leaning against the wall. Izuku looked up from the ground and said, "What took you so long."
"Had to rehydrate, target practice took a bit out of me," Bakugo said, holding up an empty water bottle. He then crushed it flat and then tossed it into the trash bin that was on the other side of the room. The two of them watched as the water bottle fell into the trash bin in nothing but net style. Izuku laughed, causing Bakugo to lightly punch him in the arm, "Shut up, I wanted to make a good impression."
"I figured since I did the same," Izuku said, clenching his right hand and then releasing it, the numb feeling in his hand he had since his first shot was still there but was starting to disappear. Bakugo noticed but didn't say anything. Without anything else to hold them back from facing their next test, the two boys walked over to the door and headed to the training area.
As they walked up to the group, they found a section-off area that had been covered with practice mats. On the practice pats was a white tape circle marking the boundaries of the fighting arena. As they walked up to the group, Izuku readjusted the shoulder of his martial Gi, while Bakugo tightened his blue belt. Through their training they had both received blue belts with a black dash in Karate and Judo, making them proud of their achievements.
Mareo looked up his laptop and over at the boys, he gave a small smile to them, then motioned them to follow him. Mareo led the boys over to the practice mats and overstepping onto one he turned around and said, "The rules of this match are simple, it will be a ten-minute round. However, for the first five minutes. You are not allowed to use your quirks, we want to have a show of your martial arts skills. Then if you reach the five-minute mark, you will then be allowed to use your quirks. Understood?"
Izuku and Bakugo both answered with a nod, as it was the normal rule they fought with whenever they spared each other. Sensei Hitumo had actually been the one to suggest the rule set, stating that it was good to have the skills to fight with and without their quirks, while also gaining the skill of knowing how to switch fighting styles mid-fight.
"Good. Are you ready?" Mareo said and gestured for the boys to get in position. Izuku and Bakugo responded by moving to opposite sides of the circular arena. Izuku jumped in place for a bit and rolled his shoulders, while Bakugo cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck. With both of them now being ready, they turned and bowed to Mareo. They then turned to each other and bowed.
Mareo looked behind Izuku and Bakugo, both of them looking ready. Mareo then took a step forward and held out his right arm. He shot one last glance at each boy then quickly brought down his arm as he yelled, "Fight."
Izuku and Bakugo initially waited for a second, to give Mareo a chance to step back. Once Mareo had stepped back, everyone expected Izuku and Bakugo to throw themselves at each other. Yet for the next 20 seconds, the boys just looked at each other. Through their fights and spars, they learned how each other fought, how they threw punches, how they attacked with kicks, but most importantly how they opened their fights. Izuku and Bakugo didn't break eye contact, where to see how the other chose to fight. Bakugo kept his eye on Izuku, in the past whenever they had sparred with quirks Izuku was usually the victor. Despite Bakugo's quirk being better suited for Close Quarters Combat, using his enhanced eyesight, Izuku was able to keep up with his speed and dodge his attack.
Though the same could be said without quirks. As Izuku's quirk suited for CQC, he had to train in two different skills, his focus was split, allowing Bakugo to focus more heavily on CQC and become more proficient more quickly. This meant Bakugo's chance of winning would decrease the longer the battle went on. That meant Bakguo knew that if he wanted to increase his odds of winning then he would need to end the fight before the five-minute mark.
With that Bakugo broke the stalemate and rushed forwards, pushing so hard against the mat that it would have flown back if it wasn't anchored to the ground. Bakugo easily cleared the entire arena, yet Izuku already had his hands up ready to block Bakugo's opening attack. Bakugo had his hands ready to attack, but when he got in range, he suddenly dropped down and tripped to sweep Izuku's legs out from under him. His attack nearly connected, but Izuku managed to jump up and flip over Bakugo. Landing behind Bakugo, Izku used his momentum to roll under Bakugo's follow-up roundhouse kick.
Izuku rolled to the middle of the arena, where he popped up. As Izuku turned around, he had to raise his left arm to block Bakugo's right cross hook. Izuku smirked and jabbed at Bakugo's gut, but Bakugo deflected the attack. He then doubled down on breakthrough Izuku's block. He began to lean forward, even putting his left arm into pushing against Izuku's left arm.
This forced Izuku to bring his right arm up and match Bakugo's force. In this power struggle, they locked eyes again and Bakugo began to yell and apply more pressure on Izuku, as he saw in Izuku's eyes that he wasn't going to give up. He was going to be the number 1 hero in the world, and that started by winning this match.
Yet as Bakugo continued to increase the pressure, Izuku just matched Bakugo's force with a straight face. But unfortunately in this power struggle., Bakugo had the height advantage, which meant not only was Bakugo pushing Izuku back, but also down. This was forcing Izuku to not only work against Bakugo, but against gravity as well.
As the power struggle continued, Izuku's feet slowly slid back and the muscle within his arms and legs strained against Bakugo's attack. Izuku felt heat in his legs as he struggled to keep his ground. Izuku began to grimace against the pain when he suddenly felt his knee hit the ground. With Bakugo and gravity, Izuku was losing the battle of leverage. Making it clear Izuku wasn't going to win a prolonged power struggle.
He had to think of something quick or the rest of his body would join his knee on the ground.
Suddenly Izuku got a wicked idea, that if he succeeded in it, it would throw Bakugou off guard long enough for Izuku to reclaim some ground in the fight. He just needed to time it perfectly, lucky timing was Izuku's speciality. Izuku shoved as hard as he could against Bakugo, then let himself fall to the ground.
As expected, Bakugo was thrown off guard by the sudden lack of resistance. He began to fall forward and over Izuku, however, Izuku was waiting for him. The moment Izuku's back hit the ground he brought his right foot up and held it in place for Bakugo to land on. And the moment Bakugo's chest collided with Izuku's foot, Izuku brought his right leg in and leaned back. As Bakugo cleared Izuku's head, Izuku pushed his right leg as hard as he could to send Bakugo flying to the edge of the arena.
As Bakugo crashed and rolled to a stop, Izuku got to his feet. Izuku turned around and looked over at his best friend, who was taking deep breaths, showing that Izuku's attack had forced the air out of his lungs. And while Izuku would have normally allowed his friend to catch his breath, so they could continue, this wasn't a spar. So Izuku launched himself at his opponent
Izuku landed right in front of Bakugo and brought his right arm up to bring it down on Bakugo's neck But Bakugo must have been more recovered than he appeared as he easily caught the attack. Izuku drew his arm back in and then brought his right leg up to do a front kick. Yet before Izuku could kick his foot out, Bakugo shot his hand up and shoved Izuku's knee back to the ground.
Yet this is what Izuku was hoping for, as Bkaugo's arm went shooting up past his chest from the recoil. Izuku quickly shifted his weight his to right leg and brought his left leg up to kick Bakugo in the gut. Izuku felt Bakugo's right side cave inwards from the attack.
The air in his lungs was forced out as Bakugo went flying to the side and hit the mat, only stopping a foot away from the edge of the arena line. He was coughing and trying to catch his breath, he slowly got his knee. He hadn't been able to fully catch his breath and Izukus's kick was making it harder as his diaphragm was threatening to go into spasm and that would take him out of his fight. Luckily Bakugo finally managed to get his breathing under control, and just in time to see Izuku could rocket towards him.
Bakugo raised his hands to defend as Izuku got in close and went for a headlock, intending to choke Bakugo in submission. However, Bakugo used both of his hands to knock Izuku's arm away from his throat, then with the back of his hand slugged Izuku across the jaw. Izuku took a step, more of a surprise than pain, but that gave Bakugo the chance to go once again on the attack.
Having practised with Bakugo for the last two years, Izuku knew Bakugo's default routine. First, a sidekick to Izuku's rib, which he blocked using his forearm though it made his arm scream out in pain. Seeing this Bakugo quickly brought his foot back down and brought his arm back to do a strong punch. Through his fuzzy vision, Izuku saw the punch coming, so he took the chance to end Bakugo's routine early. Izuku ducked his head to the left and then took a step forward. This allowed Izuku to get in close again and thrust his palm into Bakugo's sternum, right where he had kicked Bakugo's earlier.
Bakugo's chest heaved backwards and what little air that was in his lung was forced out again. As his brain registered that the blood within his body was not getting the proper level of oxygen that threw Bakugou into a bit of a panic. In this panic, Bakugo threw a haymaker, which Izuku backflipped away from. Izuku then handspring to push him further away, in hopes of using the distance to give him time to also recover. Which he was able to get, so as soon as he landed back on his feet, Izuku closed his eyes and shook his head to clear his vision up.
Once his head was clear, Izuku opened his eyes to see Bakugo rushing forward, clearly he had taken the break in a fight to get this air back into his body. Which Izuku had taken into account, but it seems Bakugo had been able to recover faster than Izuku was hoping for. Bakugo stopped only a foot away from Izuk and brought his right foot up with the plan of bringing it back down hard onto Izuku's shoulder. Izuku managed to roll to the side and dodge the attack, but Bakugo was hot on his heels with another sidekick to Izuku's ribs.
Izuku knocked the sidekick away then Bakugo threw a punch. They began to exchange punches as both of them threw them, but neither was able to land a hit. Bakugo would throw a right hook, and Izuku would block it and counter with a kick to which Bakugo stepped back from. Izuku would go for a grapple, but Bakugo would slip out of his grip and go for a leg sweep, and Izuku would jump over. Their coordinated dance of a fight, continued until Bakugo came in hard for a karate chop to Izuku's neck and Izuku punched Bakugo's arm out of the way. This gave Izuku a big enough opening to take a small step forward and then launch forward with another front kick.
Expecting Izuku to do the same trick as before, Bakugo caught Izuku's ankle, stopping Izuku's attack and forcing Izuku to hop on one foot. Izuku tried to pull his foot out, but Bakugo kept it in a vice grip. Bakugo looked up from Izuku's foot and smiled. He then took a step forward and shoved Izuku's ankle in an attempt to make Izuku call backwards. However, Izuku hopped backwards and managed to keep his balance, Bakugo was going to try against but then he saw something in Izuku's eyes.
Izuku thought he would have fallen over but when he was able to keep his balance, he looked Bakugo in the eyes and smiled. Izuku lifted his right fist and then wiggled his index finger in a 'no-no' motion. Bakugo's smile dropped as he realized what was about to happen. Izuku jumped up with his left leg and using Bakugo's hold as a pivot, Izuku spun around and kicked Bakugo in the side of the head. As Bakugo's head was whipped to the side and then he fell to the ground, he cursed Sensei Hitomu for teaching Izuku that move.
It was fine that Izuku knew it and was able to do it, while Bakugo typically landed on his butt. What made Bakugo pissed about the move was the fact Izuku found the need to use it every time he could.
Bakugo's face hit the mat, but he wasn't ready to give up. He fought through the pain in his head, punching the mat. This flash of anger gave him the clarity through the pain to get his knees under him. As Bkaugo raised his head, he saw Izuku coming in with a right karate chop. Instincts taking over, Bkaugo reached up and grabbed Izuku's wrist, stopping the attack. Then using Izuku's monument, Baugo grabbed Izuku's entire arm and lifted him to the ground. Izuku began to scream as Bakugo then slammed him into the ground.
Izuku groaned as he hit the ground and Bakugo kicked him in the gut. Izuku went flying from the kick and landed on the other side of the mat, rolling when he hit the ground. Bakugo laughed as he saw Izuku begin to cough, "That's for kicking the air out of my lungs."
Izuku continued to cough as he got to his hands and knees. He forced himself to stop coughing and take a deep breath. As air filled his lungs a sharp pain exploded out of his chest. This caused Izuku's eyes to go a bit wide and a small "ow" escaped his lips.
Bakugo laughed as he jumped up onto his feet and rushed forward. Bakugo's speed didn't let up until he was ramming his knees into Izuku's chest. Izuku was thrown back down onto the mat, allowing Bakugo to grab Izuku's right arm and twist it while he pressed down on Izuku's chest with his foot.
"Are you done yet?" Bakugo asked as he put more weight on Izuku's chest. With his bruised chest and the weight from Bakugo's knee, Izuku nearly bit his tongue out of the pain. As Izuku continued to fight through the pain, he suddenly tasted blood in his mouth. This told Izuku Bakugo's kick to his gut had caused more damage than he had first thought.
"And that's five minutes." Mareo said, drawing Bakugo's attention.
Izuku spat out some blood and said, "No." Izuku then flexed his entire right arm and smoke came off of his forearm. Bkaugo noticed and he began to release Izuku, however, Izuku was faster and his forearm transformed. It extended out and the barrel rammed itself into Bakugo's chin. With the speed and force behind the attack, Bakugo was lifted into the air.
Yet Bakugo was completely caught off guard and he was able to light off some explosions to ordinate himself in the air. This allowed him to flip around and land properly on his feet. Once Bakugo landed on the mat, he almost took a knee as his body screamed from the pain from Izuku's attack, as it had felt like he had been punched by a cinder block. He looked up and knew he should yield, Izuku was already back on his knees and had his weapon trained on Bakugo. Bakugo knew he wasn't faster than a speeding bullet, the fastest he had ever gone using his explosion was 56 kilometres per hour.
And Bakugo knew he wouldn't be able to beat Izuku to the punch. With his enchanted eyesight, Izuku's reflexes were some of the fastest, so if Bakugo tried to launch himself towards his friends. Izuku would be able to react and that would give Bakugo even less time to dodge the bullet. And Izuku knew this as he began to smirk
"Your move Kacchan." Izuku said, as his arm made an audible loading sound of a gun being cocked. A sound that was in no way needed for his quirk to actually work, Izuku just used the sound for intimidation.
Bakugo knew Izuku had the advantage, but his pride would not allow him to surrender. Yet no matter how he attacked, Izuku would be able to follow his movement. Izuku and his damn eyesight. Bakugo then smiled. He didn't look away from Izuku, but pointed his arms down to the ground, "You think flying was the only move I've worked on. Smoke grenade." Bakugo lit explosions from his hands, it was a gamble as Bakugo had been able to get it working like he wanted it to. Yet he wanted to win and if he had to take a gamble then he would, so instead of a large explosion, Bakugo folded the explosions in on themselves resulting in a cloud of smoke engulfing him
Izuku raised an eyebrow at the smoke screen. He had talked with Bakugo about being able to create a smokescreen, but he hadn't seen his friend trying the idea out. Yet Izuku and Bakugo knew the purpose of a smokescreen so he kept his eyes trained on the entire smoke cloud. Izuku's eyes darted around, yet for the next few seconds, nothing happened, Izuku didn't hear any explosion or see the flash of ones. Yet Izuku didn't look from the smokescreen, knowing his friend was cooking something up. Then suddenly Bakugo came flying out of the smoke cloud, he had his right hand primed to blast Izuku's right in the face.
Izuku's eyes went a little wide as he had no time to dodge. Bakugo was blocking forwards and would have been able to easily cover the side, meaning the only way Izuku would do was to go backwards. So that's what he did, Izuku began to step backwards, but then his right buckled. The strain of kicking Bakugo so much had caught up to Izukus. The pain made Izuku's right knee fold and Izuku fell to the ground. Izuku's back hit the mat and just in time, Izuku looked up and saw Bakug flying over him.
It was as if time slowed down as Izuku and Bakugo locked eyes. Bakugo began to say something but then time resumed and he went flying over the mark off the area of the mat.
"Katsuki Bakugo has left the circle and thus is disqualified," Mareo said. Bakugo quickly used his quirk to stop himself from flying into a wall, while Izuku rolled up and slowly picked himself up. He didn't put much weight on his right leg but also tried not to show that his leg was in pain. He did a good job of it as only Bakugo, Mareo and Inko noticed Izuku's discomfort. Izuku and Bakugo walked back to the main area, with Mareo right behind Izuku in case he fell again. Once the trio was around the main group, Mareo turned to the boys and said, "Well done both of you. Now I would like you to analyze each other's fighting styles."
Izuku and Bakugo thought about how the other had fought for a bit then Bakugo answered first. "Izuku was going for more speed than power, his attacks were quick but when they landed they didn't do much damage. He was aiming for the same thing over and over again, slowly breaking down my defenses and sapping my stamina. So when the timer hits five minutes, I would be exhausted, putting him in a position to end the fight with his quirk."
Mareo nodded then turned to Izuku, "And how did Bakugo fight?
"He went for more of an aggressive approach, hoping to end the fight before quirks were allowed. With my enhanced eyesight, I've been able to follow his moment, even with him using his explosion to increase his speed. It was clear from the force behind the power struggle, a prolonged fight was never in his mind." Izuku said.
"Thank you, you twos." -Mareo then turned to Prime Minister Renzo and Madam President, "Do you have any other questions you would like to ask."
Madam President shook her head but Prime MinisterRenzo stepped forward. "It's wonderful to see that such young kids with quirks like yours are taking the time to prepare themselves to serve our nation in the future. Your demonstrations today have done well showing your quirk, but demonstrations do not tell a full story so I have a few questions. Midoriya, I'll start with you?" Izuku nodded and the Prime Minister continued, "With your ammunition, how much you can hold."
"Right now sir, I can hold 60 bullets. " Izuku spoke.
"Your file states your quirk only works with your right arm, have you ever tried with your left." Prime Minister Renzo asked. It was a more powerful version of Lady Nagant's, but more powerful didn't simply mean more force, it could be more versatile.
"No sir, a question I had with I first granted more quirk, but I am only able to transform my right arm." Izuku said and Prime Minister Renzo nodded and then turned to Bakugo.
"Bakugo, you seem to have a great understanding of your quirk and the difficulty that it takes to control it, is there a skill you hope to one day gain from your quirk."
"At the moment sir, I have nothing new planned. I plan on practicing my ability to fly and my smoke grenade, as I near perfecting those I will begin to think of new abilities." Bakugo said with a bow.
"Good now you, now a question for both of you." Prime Minister Renzo said, then decided it was time to ask the most important question. The one that would define the boys in their future careers, "What inspires you to become heroes?"
"We wish to be heroes like All Might, saving people with a smile." Both of the young boys said, flashing the biggest smiles they could.
President Renzo had to hold back a laugh at this, and to do so he nodded and then said, "I have no further questions, thank you for having me Mareo."
"Madam President, Prime Minister, thank you for joining us today." Mareo said.
Prime Minister Renzo gave a slight bow to Mareo, and then he and Madam President turned and walked to the elevator. Once the elevator closed, Mareo gestured for Inko to come over. Mareo then dropped a whisper, "Good job you two, now get home and rest for the next week. Young Midoriya, get an ice pack on that knee of your's." -Izuku titled his head- "I know then you're not trying to put too much weight on it and the way it folded wasn't too natural. I suspect it came from throwing Bakugo with your leg. Now, get changed."
Bakugo took Izuku's right arm and helped him to the changing rooms. Then Bakugo changed back into regular clothes, while Izuku just switched out his shirt. Bakugo then helped Izuku out of the changing room and over to the elevator. Inko joined them in the elevator and rode down.
After dropping Bakugo off, Inko helped Izuku inside and onto the couch. As Izuku grabbed the TV remote to turn on the next, Inko headed into the kitchen. Where she grabbed an ice pack, and after thawing it out a bit, Inko brought it to Izuku. Izuku grabbed his right leg with his hands and brought it up to rest it on the ottoman. Inko then handed Izuku the ice pack, which he took and gently laid it over his knee.
Inko watched as her son let out a slow exhale as he leaned back into the couch. Inko looked down at Izuku's knee, and she felt worried to enter her heart. No mother enjoys seeing their children hurt. Inko had to let out her slow breath as she felt herself start to get worked up and she ended her train of worry with the thought that at least Izuku's knee wasn't broken. While injuries were common during training within Project Velocity, the most common being bruises and sprained joints, every once in and while a joint was fully dislocated or a bone was broken.
Yet if Inko was getting this worried about a sprained knee, she didn't know how she would react to a worse injury. Hopefully, she would be able to remember in the moment that it had come from Bakugo and that it wasn't on purpose.
And that's part three of this arc. Izuku and Bakugo show their baseline of what their skills are and talk about where they hope to go in the future.
Next week we get to see a bit more of what Izuku and Bakugo's training within Project Velocity is and how it leads to some mishaps.
Next Time: All that Begins Well...
Review and tell me what you think.
