Howdy folks, how's it going?
Man, here we are already at the tail end of the year. Time sure flies by quick. And moreover, with my new update schedule, this'll be the last update of this story for the year, instead of the usual at the 31st. Weird.
Anyway, more to read at the bottom if you so wish.
As always, huge shout out to Chaos Productions for his continued assistance.
And as always, I own neither BNHA nor 40K.
So, without further ado, enjoy.
/
It should come as no surprise to anyone that, while they barely interacted at all since the beginning of the year, Sato did not have the best of opinions of Bakugou. Like, sure, the guy was strong, and far more clever than his explosive demeanour might imply, which were qualities that were certainly handy for their chosen line of work, but that had done little to endear the ashen blond teen to the rest of the class, given how much of a raging asshat he tended to be most of the time.
Heck, it wasn't even the hair-trigger temper that was the worst of it, given that was more often than not mainly targeted at Midoriya (and frankly, Sato really just couldn't understand how Midoriya could be so chill and even downright happy at all the threats and insults, but then again that guy was crazy, so…). It was the fact that he barely seemed to acknowledge the existence of everyone else except for Midoriya and sometimes Todoroki.
Like sure, the other two main powerhouses of the class could be unapproachable in their own unique ways, but at least Todoroki knew how to be civil and Midoriya could be downright friendly in his own weird way. Bakugou just acted as if everyone else were just background noise, like they weren't even worth his time. Needless to say it was a behavior that grated and led to the teen in question to more often than not be left alone by most of them, except by Midoriya, who as previously established was crazy, and Kirishima, who was just that nice a guy.
So yeah, with all of this in mind, Sato didn't much care for Bakugou. But all the same, as the next match of the tournament was about to begin, and the explosive teen just got up and walked off, prolly to get ready for his own soon to come turn, with nary a word or a look to anyone else, Sato felt the need to speak up. After all, he knew what his classmate was up against. He himself didn't quite figure out the exact details of what went down (heck, he still had not freaking clue what that guy had been saying…), but surely some fair warning would be the right thing to do, right?
"Hey, Bakugou?" The bulky teen called out.
"The fuck do you want, you bloody extra?" The blond ground out crossly, glancing back with a look of contempt for what he probably thought was a waste of his time.
And you know what? With that contemptuous glare being thrown his way, for some reason Sato changed his mind.
"Oh, it's nothing, just good luck out there." He said simply and politely, masking very well the hidden undercurrent of annoyance.
"I don't need luck." Bakugou growled, looking as if Sato had just insulted his mother.
"Course ya don't, Ol'Katsu." Midoriya interjected with a wide grin towards his so called "bud". "Have fun, but not too much! Gotta save it fer later!"
Bakugou's eyebrow twitched at the encouragement, and Satou could swear a vein was bulging in his forehead, but the explosive teen just snarled and then stomped off without another word.
"…Ok, for real, Midoriya," Sato commented towards the green-haired teen as soon as the jerk was out of sight. "How do you put up with that guy?"
"Eh, dat'z just how ol' Katsu's always been." The green-haired teen replied with a cheery shrug, not really looking his way, entirely too focused on the arena. "He get'z like dat when he'z spoilin' fer a fite. Undahstandable, really."
"Of course…" Sato muttered to himself, not really surprised by the reply.
Not more could be said before the speakers around the stadium blared out loudly once again.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, and so we proceed to the third match of what is already proving to be an intense first round!" Present Mic bellowed to rousing cheers. "In this corner, sending sparks flying and ready to bring the thunder, it's Denki Kaminari of 1-A!"
The teen took the cue to walk forward, basking the cheers of the crowd, even waving back a few times.
"And his opponent, the last girl standing of the support course, she's clever, she's resourceful, she's Mei Hatsume of class 1-H!"
And there she was, Izuku noted, staring at the one who had nearly pulled a sneaky on his team right at the end of the last event, with curious interest. Much like himself, the pink-dreadlocked girl was sporting goggles, though hers had some odd parts jutting out from the sides the purpose of which he couldn't help but wonder, but compared to how kited out with hardware she was in the previous round, right now she only seemed to be carrying some sort of metallic staff…
Izuku blinked, noticing even at this distance how her oddly piercing, yellow eyes seemed to meet his own for a brief moment.
Soon as the two contestant entered the arena, Midnight addressed them both and some dialogue between the two ensued, Kaminari looking somewhat nonplussed at whatever the girl had told him in reply, and then the heroine called for the match to begin while stepping back.
The boy wasted no time, immediately pumping all the power he could into one massive burst, the massive jolt of electricity lashing out all around him and rushing towards his opponent.
Hatsume in turn, just jabbed the staff into the ground before her, several prongs popping out from the tip as she let go. Immediately the admittedly impressive attack diverted toward the contraption, and countless volts ran along the metallic length before dispersing harmlessly.
A lightning rod, clever.
"Wowzah, Kaminari went for a devastating assault, but Hatsume stopped it in its tracks without breaking a sweat!"
"He tried to play to his strengths and end the fight quickly, if way too flashily. Alas, his opponent was ready for it, and that cost him the match."
True to the teacher's assessment, the boy could do nothing but stand there and smile dumbly, his brain too overloaded by his own electricity, and Midnight swiftly called the match in Hatsume's favor. Once again, as she walked off, she looked Izuku's way, grinning widely. Uh, weird.
"Yep, kinda what I expected from that dunce." Jirou commented, unsurprised as her classmate was carried off the arena in a stretcher, thumbs up all the way. "It's really all or nothing with him."
/
"And now for the next match! In this corner, the gentleman ready to let loose the beast inside, give it up for Jurota Shishida of class 1-B!"
"My word." The polite boy commented as he stepped forth, the only outward sign of a reaction to the introduction was a quick readjustment of his glasses.
"And his opponent, she has a sunny smile, but mess with her and she'll toss you into the sun, it's Ochaco Uraraka of 1-A!"
Despite how much she was trying to focus on bringing home the win, Ochaco couldn't help but feel mild embarrassment at such an overly exaggerated proclamation, made even worse by how the crowd was eating it up.
"Let us endeavor to have an honorable match, shall we, Uraraka-san?" The thickly-furred boy addressed her, giving a polite little bow as he did.
"Oh, uh yeah, sure, right back at you!" She replied cheerily after a brief moment of surprise at the propriety.
"Now that's what I like to see!" Midnight declared with a crack of her whip. "I guess I don't have to worry about one or both contestants going overboard at least once. So, are the both of you ready?"
Both students gave their confirmation as they took stances.
"THEN BEGIN!"
Shishida did not waste time, his already large body growing even bigger and bulkier, a wide grin sprouting on his bestial muzzle.
"ALRIGHT, LET'S GET WILD!" He bellowed as he pounced towards his opponent.
"Complete 180º shift?!" Ochaco couldn't help but cry out in shock at such an abrupt change in her opponent's form and demeanour, just barely managing to dodge out of the way with a slight 'Eeep' as the mountain of muscle and fur came bearing down on her.
"C'MON, C'MON! LET'S BRAWL!" The hulking teen boisterously proclaimed, as upon missing his target he skidded to a halt and immediately about turned, bringing a now quite large hand clawing in her direction.
Ochaco ducked under the blow, but as it passed over she lashed out to grab on to her foe's wrist. And Shishida could only give a bark of surprise as he found himself suddenly lifted off the ground, as her quirk took hold and gravity loosened its own.
With a determined cry of effort of her own, Ochaco straightened and spun, throwing her now weightless opponent towards the arena's edge.
"Oh wow! It's like David vs Goliath, except it's Goliath himself that's getting tossed! Is it already over for Shishida?!"
It did seem that way, but just as the bestial boy was just about to go over the arena's edge and the girl made to cancel her quirk to send him crashing to the ground, with a defiant growl he reached out to the floor, massive fingers carving into the cement as they found purchase, and just as his whole body was out of bounds but yet to touch the grassy field, with a might heave and a roar, Shishida threw himself back into the arena, rolling into a landing just as gravity reasserted itself, and then kept rushing without breaking stride.
Ochaco barely had the time to separate her hands and overcome her shock at her imminent victory being denied before the boy was again upon her, and this time she wasn't swift enough to dodge as he caught her in a one-armed bear hug, keeping her arms pinned as his other hand once again carved into the concrete floor.
"GOTCHA NOW, IT'S OVER!" Shishida barked out, and indeed, despite all her efforts and struggle to break free or attempts to use her quirk on him, there was nothing that the comparatively tiny girl could do to break out of his hold or make him lose his grip on the ground to float away. After a while, she just resigned herself to the loss, once again releasing her quirk, and Midnight called the match in Shishida's favor.
The boy immediately shrunk back down to a less massive height, and released the somewhat queasy looking girl, helping her back to her feet and keeping her steady with a hand on her shoulder.
"I sincerely apologize for my uncouthness during the fight, miss." The boy stated, once again all prim and proper. "An unfortunate side effect of my quirk, I'm afraid, that loss of inhibition."
Ochaco was too occupied trying to keep the side effects of her own quirk contained to verbally respond, but she did sent a thumbs up his way.
/
"Up next, Ladies and Gentlemen, the last match between different courses of the tournament! In this corner, the surprise from the general course with a killer stare, it's Hitoshi Shinsou from 1-C!"
The purple-haired boy sauntered on towards the arena, with a well-practiced demeanour of aloof indifference.
"And his opponent, from class 1-A, the living definition of a hair-trigger, let's hear it for Katsuki Bakugou!"
The ashen blond didn't even deign to acknowledge the asinine introduction, instead matching his opponents downright bored look with his own contemptuous glare. A nobody like this wasn't even gonna be worth the effort it'd take to blow him up.
Midnight once again swiftly explained the rules, asked if both opponents were ready, and then called for them to begin.
"So, ready to get knocked off your high horse?" Purple hair asked, as casually as if he was discussing the weather, and just the sheer gal of being looked out on like that immediately set off Katsuki's temper, along with a downright feral growl.
"The fuck you-"
"Turn around and walk out of bonds." Hitoshi commanded.
For a split second he felt nervous at the possibility of failure, but as his opponents expression grew blank and he proceeded to do exactly that, the purple-haired boy allowed himself a victorious smirk.
"Bakugou walked out of bounds, the winner is Hitoshi!" Midnight immediately called them match.
…
…
…
"…WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTT?!" Came the bellow from the stands.
/
I did mention last time that I was gonna be speeding things up a bit.
Also, I feel the need to say this, just to nip any potential commentary in the bud.
You see, I do not like Bakugou. I never have. He started the series as a raging asshole, and while I fully admit and acknowledge that he has had significant improvements throughout, he's still an asshole, one who barely faced any consequences for past transgressions. That being said, as I have previously mentioned in other updates and other stories, I do NOT do bashing, even against characters I do not like. So I am not going to go out of my way to paint him as even more of an unlikeable jackass than canon, but as this chapter, the ending of which has been planned pretty much since the start, has showed, I am very much going to have him face the consequences of his own actions when it is reasonably relevant to do so.
And an entirely different note, if Mei seemed way too quiet in that match, that was entirely intentional. The girl's got a goal and a plan, after all.
Anyway, next up, the tournament continues, and hopefully we'll see the end to it during next year. But before that, this time around, the final update of the year goes to Through the Eternities, two weeks from now, so look forward to that.
Cya all on the next one, stay safe and take care.