Howdy, folks, how's it going?
Far as I can tell, the site is still fucking up, so I hope it doesn't take too long for people to realize this is out.
As always, shout out to Chaos Productions for his help.
And as always, I own neither BNHA nor WH 40K.
Now, without further ado, enjoy.
/
Needless to say, with an event so heavily publicized, and broadcast for the world to see, not everyone interested in what the next generation of prospective heroes had to offer had to go through the trou00ble of finding their seats in the crowded stadium. And as was the case in one particular, out-of-the-way seedy bar, not everyone was watching solely for the sake of entertainment.
"Sensei, why are we wasting time with this fake hype-fest meant to hypnotize the sheeple into believing the bullshit of the heroes and their "perfect" society?" Shigaraki commented from the bar stool he was sitting at, glaring at the large TV showing the unfolding events with undisguised contempt. "Wouldn't it be a better use of our time to look for new recruits and plan our next move?"
"In due time we'll be looking into the former, Tomura," The voice from the smaller, static-riddled screen drawled out in patient amusement. "But for the time being, we are doing the latter. It costs us nothing to learn from what the enemy is so generously letting us see. After all, you didn't think the students were a variant that merited attention, and they have already proved you wrong once, didn't they?"
"I suppose…" Shigaraki grunted unhappily, glaring down at his finally fully healed hand.
"Come now, Tomura, do not sulk. Surely, what you've seen so far as given you something to think about, no?" The voice replied, with cordial encouragement. "Watch, observe, learn. Who knows, you might even find something useful to our plans. Inspiration can come from anywhere."
The gruesomely-masked villain didn't reply with much more than a grudging, if acknowledging grunt, eyes narrowing as the bigger screen once again drew his attention.
/
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Intermission has come and gone. I hope the contestants had their time to rest and refuel, because now that we've cleared out the arena, it's time for the next round! And once again, we are starting strong, Ladies and gentlemen!"
As was becoming increasingly frequent throughout the tournament, the crowds broke into cheers at Mic's hyping, chattering among themselves about what further surprises could be awaiting in a tournament that already stood out from previous years, as the contestants started making their way towards the arena.
"In this corner, a kid who knows how to leave an impression. He is green, he is lean, he is one mean, fighting machine! Let's hear it for Izuku Midoriya, folks!"
Izuku grinned at the proclamation. All prior setbacks aside, the green-haired was probably among the select few people in the stadium genuinely enjoying these introductions.
"And in this corner, his opponent, a lady with the patience of a saint and a killer-"
"Excuse me." A polite, serene voice suddenly interrupted. How exactly did it manage to make itself heard above the din of the crowd and the announcer's own quirk-boosted voice was anyone's guess. But it did have the intended effect, the entire stadium turned to look towards Shiozaki, who herself was staring up towards the announcer's booth.
"My sincere apologies for interrupting your job, Mic-sensei." The girl demurred with mild disapproval. "But I feel the need to point out that comparing me to a Saint, and then using such aggressive and violent adjectives to describe me in the same sentence, feels somewhat hubristic and disrespectful of my personal beliefs."
"…Uuuuuh, right, sorry about that. Didn't mean to offend." The chastised man replied with awkward uncertainty, but to his credit as a showman he recovered quickly. "Anyway, who will prevail in this epic match of green vs green? Let's find out!"
Seemingly satisfied with the apology, the girl turned back to her opponent, and bowed slightly.
"My apologies for delaying the proceedings, but I simply could not let such commentary pass without notice." She stated (somehow, it seemed that now only those in the immediate area of the arena could hear her), and Izuku could only blink owlishly.
"…Ya do realize we'z supposed tah be havin' a scrap in a few moments, roigt?" He inquired, to which the girl nodded her understanding.
"Of course, I have seen enough to understand such a thing appeals to you." Shiozaki conceded the point, hands clasping together as if in prayer. "It is not for me to judge, but I myself have no taste for violence, nor for any of this grandstanding."
"…Ya don't like tah fite. And yer studyin' tah be a hero?" Izuku stated, looking completely flabbergasted, like the very concept was a foreign thing. "So wot, you'ze just gun stand there, do nothin dah whole time?"
"One thing hardly precludes the other. Rescue heroes do exist, after all, to offer safety and salvation to those in need." The vine-haired girl pointed out. "And I have had the good fortune of being blessed with the power to ends conflicts relatively peacefully, as you no doubt saw in the previous match."
"And wot happens when yer fancy schmancy powah ain't enuff? Even rescue heroes need tah be ready tah fite when it's needed. Thirteen did back at USJ." The goggled-teen countered with a deepening frown, surprise quickly giving way to annoyance even as he let out a frustrated groan. "Zog dammit, why do nobody but Bugsy Boy understand how tah do this proppah…?"
"…This is an interesting debate, one I'd be more than happy to continue some other time." Shiozaki commented sincerely after a moment's consideration. "But I do believe we have a match to get through, and we have delayed enough already."
"Right you are, Shiozaki, it's about time we got this thing going." Midnight promptly took the cue to speak up. "Now, you both know the drill, so let's get right on with it. Are both contestants ready?"
"I am." The vine-haired girl replied serenely, even as her thorny locks began to wave and weave like live serpents.
"Yeah…" Izuku grumbled, hand reaching for his pocket. If the teacher noticed the sudden tenseness in his posture, she did not comment on it.
"Then begin!" The teacher called out.
"WAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!"
And no sooner had the words passed her lips, than the boy charged forward with a furious below, the large, crimson gauntlet of his power klaw pulled over his hand as he went.
Shiozaki was not rattled in the slightest by the sudden advance, standing in place with almost statuesque stillness as four of her vines surged forwards to meet her opponent, each one wrapping itself around the boy's wrist and ankles and bodily lifting him off the ground.
"That did not seem particularly well thought out." She commented, in a somewhat chiding tone. "I'd prefer it if you surrendered now."
The goggled teen's reply was tug and pull with his gauntleted hand, ripping it free from the snare. A sudden hum and brief flash of green energy spread through the steel talons before he swung it at each of the other binds, landing on his feet with a grunt.
Shiozaki made to speak further, but as soon as the boy's head rose and their gazes met again, she found words failed her. Something felt… off, about her opponent. It felt almost like a flip had been switched, and someone else entirely stood before her. There was something looser about the way he held himself, something more primal, more savage his entire body wracked by ragged breaths. Where before he had been frowning in annoyance, now his expression was a downright feral leer, lips parted to show clenched teeth and eyes wide in a way that felt borderline manic.
The girl couldn't help but feel like she was staring down a wild animal, one that she had somehow provoked.
"WAAAAAAAAAGGGHH!" Midoriya bellowed defiantly at her, talons clenching and unclenching expectantly.
"…So be it, then." Shiozaki muttered with a focused frown, sending more of her vines to restrain her opponent. With yet another bellow, Midoriya swung wildly, tearing each and every vine that came within striking distance to shreds, with far greater ease than should have been possible even for those crude claws, the girl couldn't help but note, well accustomed as she was through the years to the hardiness of her own hair.
"And Shiozaki seems to be trying to restrain Midoriya for the win, but Midoriya's hacking at her attempts like the angriest gardener ever! Who'd you reckon is gonna give first, Eraser?"
"Too early to tell. Shiozaki has a very strong and versatile defense, but then again, Midoriya's nothing if not too stubborn to know when to quit."
Sure enough, a full minute of this was enough for the girl to realize things were going nowhere. Her vines could reach her opponent, some could even start wrapping around him, but despite clearly being cautious enough to keep them away from his weapon, Midoriya was fighting like a man possessed, and any purchase she could find was momentary at best. If anything, he was slowly gaining ground, having managed to take a few steps in her direction. She briefly considered letting him, like in her previous fight, but she had the feeling letting that with that claw in play such an exchange would go poorly for her this time.
"You are persistent, I will admit." She praised humbly. "But at this rate, you will be tiring long before I do."
"WAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!" Came the reply to her appeal to reason, some frustration crossing the girl's otherwise serene expression.
Despite his staunch refusal to act civilized, however, her words did seem to trigger another reaction from the boy, as he took advantage a slight lull in her assault to reach into a pocket with his free left hand.
"Oh boy, seems like Midoriya's got another trick up his sleeve! Or in his pocket, such as the case may be."´
Indeed, Shiozaki couldn't help raise an eyebrow in cautious confusion as the boy pulled from his pocket what appeared to be… some sort of rifle? No, not a rifle, she swiftly realized, it looked more like the spray gun of a power washer, if a clearly shabby one, with the slightly crooked nozzle and clearly tacked on red paint, the hose attached to the bottom of the handle, going all the way down into her opponent's pocket, and… was that a lighter attached to the tip?
The girl suddenly had a very bad feeling about all this, and immediately redoubled her assault, merging her vines into a single surging coil rather than have them lash out individually, and sending it surging forward as fast as she was able. She wasn't fast enough however, as Midoriya brought his new gadget to bear against her vines.
She had only a second to see his feral leer turn into a grin before he pulled the trigger, and suddenly there was fire, her eyes going wide. A flamethrower?!
Unnoticed by either contestants, in the stands, Todoroki tensely leaned forward in his seat, glaring at the ensuing fight with tightly clenched fists.
The assaulting vines were engulfed by the blaze, burning and breaking off from her hair even as she tried to pull them back. They'd be useless for the remainder of this fight, she realized, at least until she could cut off the charred stumps to allow them to regrow.
An indulgence her opponent didn't seem keen on allowing her, as with yet another of his incomprehensible bellows, the boy began approaching. He didn't charge, not this time. Instead, he took a step forward, and then another, and then another, his blood red glare firmly set on her.
Shiozaki sent more vines, making them weave and turn to try to strike at and restrain her opponent from all directions, but each one was easily destroyed, by flame or by claw, completely failing to stop his approach.
Only then, did Midoriya deign to do anything other than bellow…
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
… But the loud, raucous laughter that followed was, if anything, even worse. Between that horrible noise, that seemed to revel in destruction, that piercing, manic stare, and the wisps of smoke and flame that left charred stretches in the arena as he went, Midoriya's approach made for a sight that, to Shiozaki, felt almost hellish.
"Stay back." She said, her calm and serene demeanour cracking.
All he did in return was laugh, and take another step forward. Frightened, the vine-haired girl barely even noticed that for each step he took towards her, she had begun taking a step back, desperately trying to maintain some distance between them even as her vines still tried to entrap him.
"Stay back!" She yelled, knowing even in her growing panic that her usual defense in a wall of thorns would be useless against her opponent's tools.
"WAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!" He bellowed back between bouts of laughter, drawing ever closer despite her best efforts.
Then, when he had crossed half the distance between them, she saw his grin widen. Now he did charge forward, apparently throwing what little semblance of caution he had to the wind.
Shiozaki made to intercept… only for nothing to happen. Eyes wide, she glimpse towards her vines, only to realize in horror that she had lost so many to Midoriya's weapons that her hair had quite simply grown too short to mount any sort of significant defense.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHH!" The boy bellowed one last time as he came ever closer, that wicked claw surging towards her face.
The girl could not help but cry out, closing her eyes against the inevitable blow…
…
…
…
…Nothing?
Realizing the blow never came, Shiozaki slowly and tentatively opened her eyes. A single steel talon was a mere hair's breadth from her face, and as soon as she was looking, its wicked tip pressed gently against the tip of her nose, so gently it didn't even draw blood.
"Boop."
So rattled was the girl, so confused by the sudden turn, that she suddenly found herself lurching backwards, falling flat on her behind.
"Shiozaki is out of bounds. The winner is Midoriya!"
It took a little bit for the words to register, for the girl to look down, to see that, in her panic, she had indeed crossed the lines marking the arena's limits. Then she looked up, staring uncomprehendingly at her opponent. No longer did he seem like a raging beast, his eyes now gleaming with cunning and amusement, his grin cheeky but far more human.
"Well, that match took a curious turn at the end there. What do you think, Eraser?"
"I think… that Midoriya was trying to prove a point."
"Yep." The boy commented casually, as he reached down and easily pulled Shiozaki back to her feet. "S'all well n' gud tah believe in sumthin' and stick to it. But ya shuld really consider being able tah fite for it too. Fink on dat, Planty girl."
With that, the boy about turned and casually left the arena, leaving a thoroughly mystified girl to watch him leave.
/
I feel the need to clarify that, for once, Izuku was only PRETENDING to be an absolute lunatic. Also, if it wasn't obvious from the few lines she's had so far, I have been trying to give Shiozaki a personality that isn't just "Caricature of a Christian", and I like to think I did a decent job of it. She probably would've been reasonable enough to just surrender if she hadn't been left so rattled by Izuku's performance.
Anyway, let me know what you though, be sure to check, and expand on, the Tvtropes page for this fic. Next time, the tournament continues, although we will probably be speeding things up a bit more (Honestly, now I understand why the Manga skipped a few matches…).
Before that though, next up is the next update to "Through the Eternities", so look forward to that.
Cya all on the next one, stay safe and take care.