Chapter Fourteen

Eri walked as calmly as she could towards the entrance to the arena, taking a deep breath, squaring her shoulders, and smiling as she stepped into the light to be greeted by the roar of the crowd. Keeping the many times that Lemillion had given her advice on presenting a cheerful and confident face to the crowds, she lifted a hand and gave a classic pageant wave.

As she walked up the steps, her smile faltered with distaste at the tall, strapping boy she was set to fight. Objectively, she could say he was handsome, even if big guys were not her type. But with his broad shoulders, thick neck, and slimmer legs compared to his beefy arms, he looked top-heavy. And the cocky sneer he always wore made her skin crawl.

In regards to judging personalities, Eri had developed a habit of comparing heroes, hero students, and most recently her own classmates, to the students of Classes A and B who had helped raise her. Satsuki was so much like Tsuyu, and yet so different once you got to know her, that it was both comforting and a little bit confusing. Kota was more like Bakugo than Deku, no matter how he'd deny it, even if he wasn't near as crass. Within Katsuma, she could see so much of Deku that it was sometimes a surprise that they weren't somehow related.

As for Yayoi, well … He reminded her of two of Class A in particular. His ego came off as a mix of Bakugo and Aoyama, with whom she still sent the occasional letter and reply. She sensed a massive chip on Yayoi's shoulder, just like she'd heard about Bakugo, particularly in his early days at UA, and a clear thirst to prove himself the best. And like Aoyama, he was an attention hog who tried to shove his way into the spotlight. He boasted and bragged and belittled others, but his efforts never seemed to stand out beyond these antics.

"Here we are, sports fans," Mic crowed from the speakers. "Up next is a study in contrasts. From Class A is a sweet little girl with a nasty right hook. Eri Togata!"

Eri sighed through her nose and a smile flickered at her lips in thanks to Present Mic for not commenting on her relation to Lemillion. She wanted to stand out on her own merits, and it seemed yet another of her uncle figures understood that.

"And up against her, the Goliath to her David, is a towering ton of muscle wrapped in metal," added Kaminari. "Also from Class A, Kin Yayoi!"

"Scared, Togata?" Yayoi asked snidely, already rolling up his sleeves to bear his huge biceps.

"You wish," she replied coolly, flexing her fingers to pop the joints.

"Contestants ready?" Lady Nagant asked, and both nodded. "Fight!"

Eri had a brief moment to laugh inside at how she was rushing an opponent to close the distance just as Katsuma had done and Hito and Wani had to each other. In the time it took her to cross half the distance, Yayoi had covered himself in his bronze shell — it occurred to her that he probably couldn't armor portions of his body like Wani, but had to choose between being uncovered or all-covered — and prepared to attack.

It was a bit of a surprise given his general personality that he didn't rush her back and try to overpower her. Instead, he plunged his hands into the concrete and tore a huge slab to throw at her. Eri yelped and folded backward to slide on her knees with her back parallel to the ground, the slab sailing over the front of her with inches to spare. She twisted her hips to flip back onto her feet and continue running, narrowing her eyes at the sight of Yayoi tearing up another slab and breaking it into chunks the size of his fist that he began pelting at her.

Eri twisted out of the path of the next projectile and then bent to avoid the next, all of her anticipation training under Lemillion paying off to avoid injury. She'd seen how strong Yayoi was and knew that if even one of those connected, she'd be in for a rough time.

'Think, think, think!' Eri told herself. This wasn't going as she had expected. She'd shown her hand that first day after the QAT, that her Quirk could Rewind his gilded armor and now it seemed that he was smart enough to come up with a counter-strategy that kept her at a distance. Well, at least he wasn't stupid as a hero student.

She could conceivably wait him out until he ran out of ammo, but this entire stage was made of cement. That, and she kind of doubted that Lady Nagant or Cementoss would stop the match just because of some destruction. She'd seen clips online of Deku and his class's first sports festival and the sheer destruction that he, Todoroki, and Bakugo had dealt to the arena in their matches.

Plus, she wasn't entirely sure she could outlast him anyway. True, Eri had been forged in the fire of Lemillion's workouts, doggedly keeping up with her big brother as best she could for years. But even her stamina had limits, and on a practical level she was unwilling to bet on herself outlasting Yayoi's enhanced strength and throwing arm.

Bottom line, she had to get in close if she wanted to finish this. God, she wished now more than never that she'd been allowed to bring her capture scarf. A certain unique trait of her particular scarf would give her the ranged option she needed.

A chance to close in came when Yayoi ran out of ammo in the second slab he'd torn up and he had to move and tear up a new one. It was only a handful of seconds, but she pivoted and raced to close as much distance as possible. And now that she had a handle on his tactic, she smiled. He tore up another slab and began breaking up and tossing more head-sized chunks, but Eri leapt in a zigzag like a bounding doe, dodging the stones while still drawing closer.

As she drew in close, whirling around Yayoi's attempts to brain her with a chunk of rock clutched in his fist, Eri went through the mental process to unleash her Quirk. With training under Uncle Aizawa's watchful eye, and with advice from Mirio and Izuku, she had slowly devised the analogy of imagining her horn as a dial that she could turn to control the flow of the mysterious energy stored within it. Once turned, the "dial" would stay in place and let the power continue flowing until she either cut it off or lost consciousness. And with so many years of training, Eri had learned to turn that mental dial any which way in the span of a heartbeat.

For something as quick and simple as reverting a Quirk transformation, Eri really only had to turn the dial a little bit to release a trickle of Rewind. One who was familiar with her could tell such a state by the faint golden-yellow glimmer of her horn and the tiny motes that fell from it like dust.

Right now … her horn blazed with power, strands of energy lashing out like lightning. She caught an opening in Yayoi's form — did he have any combat training? — and planted both of her hands flat against his chest to let the power of Rewind race down her limbs and into him, imagining exactly what she wanted the power to do in the few long seconds she was in contact. His armor vanished as if it had never been, and Yayoi reflexively knocked Eri away from him with a swing of his powerful arm. Eri took the blow and rolled with it to get some distance, hissing at the impact that would definitely leave a bad bruise, willing her power back into dormancy as she did.

As Eri recovered her balance, she couldn't help a smirk at Yayoi's expression. He seemed confused as he flexed his muscles … that remained wrapped in skin instead of bronze. His confusion turned to a look of terrible panic as he looked at her, and he covered his fear with a mask of rage.

"What have you done?" he demanded, his voice shaking with rage.

"I Rewound your Quirk factor," Eri explained, "into its latent state."

As it turned out, there was a reason that samples of her blood and cells that carried only traces of her power had been needed to create Quirk-erasing bullets. Quirk factors evidently had a unique relationship to Rewind's effects. It seemed that the factors themselves stood outside the effect unless directly targeted, as the factors could only exist in a state of latency — the official term for the time between birth and Quirk emergence around age four — or active. It was why All For One had still been able to use his arsenal of stolen Quirks while under the effects of Dr. Garaki's Rewind drug that had been making him age backward, as the drug targeted the body instead of Quirks or their factors. And it was why it took a relatively small jolt of Rewind, carefully focused on the Quirk factor, to disable a Quirk.

"You …!" Yayoi snarled. "You destroyed my Quirk?!"

"More like put it to sleep," Eri corrected. "It'll reemerge in about an hour or so just as strong as it was before. But by then we'll see who comes out in a Quirkless match." She took a breath and eased her body language, working to soften her gaze. "Surrender is still an option, Yayoi. I know this must be frightening."

"Surrender?" Yayoi asked, with an unbelieving huff. "SURRENDER?!" he roared. "Never!" He bellowed like a bull and charged like one, too, just like he had during their fight after the QAT. Eri settled into an open stance, fists curled, and waited for him to come to her so blinded with rage.

She dodged his first whirling punch and slapped his arm away, leaving his torso open for a flurry of lightning-fast, targeted punches from a half-dozen fighting styles delivered with every bit of strength in her arms, shoulders, and core. He was a big guy and certainly tough, but no one was above applied physiology. Yayoi's breath was driven from his body under such impacts and he staggered back until Eri delivered her finisher of an uppercut to his chin that knocked him backwards off his feet to land flat on the arena floor with a meaty thud. He gasped and coughed, struggling for a long moment before giving up against every inch of his front aching.

"Yayoi is unable to continue," Lady Nagant declared. "Winner: Eri Togata!"

Eri lifted a fist to the air and shouted, "POWER!"


The only way that Mirio could keep himself from jumping to his feet and shouting at the top of his lungs, "That's my sister! I'm so proud of you, Eri!" was by locking every muscle in his body down with sheer willpower … and imagining himself doing so with every fiber of his being.

But that would have blown his cover. As it was, he was trembling in place from the strain, his smile as blinding as ever as tears of pride and joy beaded his eyes.

Their papa, on the other hand, had no such compunctions. "That's my girl!" he cheered over the crowd.


"That was awesome!" Katsuma shouted. "Way to go, Eri!"

"GIRL POWER!" Satsuki screamed, smiling full force with joy for her best friend.

"Yeah!" Kota shouted with a laugh. "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

"What a way to end it with style!" Kaminari announced. "Just goes to show, folks, UA's students are full of surprises. 'Course, I'm not surprised," he said with an added all-knowing tone to his voice. "I'm married to one heck of a petite powerhouse, myself. Love ya, Kyoka!"

"It's a real demo that skill trumps strength, Chargebolt," Present Mic followed-up, then everyone heard the grin in his next words. "And I'm sure Earphone Jack'll have something to say about you calling her 'petite' to a crowd of thousands and national TV."

"Wha-? But that's not what I meant!" Chargebolt said in a panic. "Aw, man. She's gonna kill me!"


It took only about ten minutes for Cementoss to repair the arena from the damage Yaoi had inflicted, and most of that was from pumping in new cement. When he had declared it finished and taken his throne-like seat again, with Lady Nagant on the referee podium, the commentators began again.

"Welcome back, sports fans! We've got a match-up between an insect and an arachnid, prey versus predator. But which will turn out which, huh?" Present Mic asked.

"For our arachnid, a lady you can see coming a mile away," Kaminari declared. "Let's hope her opponent can slip through her silvery webs. From Class A, Kashikoi Joren!"

Joren emerged from the shadows on her spider legs, her abdomen swaying back and forth in a somehow flirty way, and she waved to the people much like Eri had done.

"And facing the eight-legged beauty," he continued, "presenting the frightening moth man from West Virginia, USA. Also from Class A, Steve Silver!"

Steve also emerged from the shadows, his snow-white hair in a topknot and his wings draped over him like a cloak. He mounted the steps and looked around, almost striking in on himself even as tall as he was.

"Who do you think will win?" Satsuki asked.

"I've seen Joren in action up close," Kota said grimly. "She's a tough cookie. And all Silver can do is fly."

"I'm not so sure," Katsuma said. "I get the feeling that Silver's been holding back what he can do. I mean, how did he pass the entrance exam with just flight?"

"Toreka did it," Eri pointed out. "Maybe he got mostly rescue points."

"Maybe," Katsuma said, though the thoughtful twist to his lips showed he was unconvinced.

Down in the arena, Joren bared her needle teeth at Silver in a smile, batting her eyelashes. "So, come here often?" she asked coyly.

"Knock it off, Joren," Silver said, the wobble in his raspy voice betraying his nerves. He took a deep breath and straightened up, showing not for the first time that he was the tallest member of their class. "I don't like fighting ladies," he said, his thick Appalachian accent rising to color his Japanese, and he spread his wings in something like a threat display, "but don't expect me to hold back on that account."

"Oh, how fun," Joren said, her grin widening and she curled a lock of her own platinum hair around her finger. "I like a man who plays rough."

"Contestants ready?" Lady Nagant said, pointedly ignoring the banter. At their nods, she fired and shouted, "Fight!"

Silver tore away the band holding his topknot up, letting his hair spill over his face. "Best of luck, Miss Joren," he said, his tone heavy. He bared his teeth and hunched over, popping of sinews barely audible over the roar of the crowd … as Silver's physique swelled from skinny to broad and muscular, his shirt ripping to tatters from the strain as the points of his fingers lengthened into talons and his flat, human teeth narrowed into a mouthful of fangs. He growled at her, the sound deep and guttural.

"Whoa," Joren said in surprise, actually taking a few steps back in surprise. At her word, Silver seemed to broaden just a little bit more.

Steve Silver.

Quirk: Fear Eater. He can absorb the fear of those around him and transform it into power, increasing his muscle mass and amplifying his strength, durability, and sometimes even his healing. He can use eaten fear immediately as fuel or store it for later.

"Let's go, Spider," Silver said, his raspy voice now gravelly and his lank hair around his face adding to his frightening visage. With a great flap of his wings, he was airborne and hurtling toward Joren, who flowed out of the way on her eight legs with the unsettling grace of a spider. Silver landed with a terrible crunching sound as the cement cracked — one might say "spiderwebbed" — outward from the force of it.

"Ooh, rough indeed," she said, her flirty grin more shaky.

"You could surrender now," Silver rumbled, "and no one would think less of you."

"I would," Joren said, her grin flattened into determination. "And so would my little brother."

With those words, she tensed and leapt in a mighty bound to crash legs first into Silver. He braced himself, the force of her jump making him slide back a few feet, but held firm and pushed back to send her sprawling, eight legs flailing before she got them under her again. She gasped and danced backward as Silver came rushing in, swinging with his talons for her to dodge.

After several swings, Joren caught his arm in her hand and used her greater weight to yank him to the side and off-balance for just a second, enough to do something unexpected: she swooped closer and planted a firm kiss on his cheek.

Steve blanched and jerked backward in sheer shock, ice-blue compound eyes wide. He blinked several times and placed a hand where her lips had touched. Joren, on the other hand, was grinning again, the expression predatory.

"Well, well," she said sultrily. "Do I smell a bit of awkwardness with the ladies, Silver?"

"N-No!" Silver sputtered and shook it off before launching into the air, followed by Joren's haunting laughter. He needed to clear his head, even if the spot Joren — quite a beautiful young woman, especially as he held no aversion to her brightly colored yellow-and-black streaked spider half — had kissed continued to tingle with the phantom touch of her lips.

He hissed to himself and flipped to begin flying downward, aiming to smash into Joren while his fear-fueled muscle mass would mitigate the shock of the landing. He growled in vexation as she began racing about the arena, making him have to course correct. He ended up having to bank sharply as he neared the ground to race toward Joren without the aid of gravity, though still moving very quickly. He braced himself for the impact …!

And was instead hit by something made of cloth that he tore to shreds in sudden frustration. He ripped the remains from his face and found the tatters of a UA gym uniform top. He blinked in confusion before a terrible thought entered his mind and, still hovering above the ground with great wingbeats, he looked up to find Joren almost naked, only a low-cut, strapless, black sports bra keeping her somewhat decent. Under the short, bristly dark hair that covered his body, he flushed with surprise and arousal.

"Come into my parlor," Joren said huskily, her arms behind her back as she jutted her chest forward, "said the spider to the moth."

"Joren-!" Silver said nervously, his wings stopping to let him settle to the arena floor … and land in something sticky. He started and looked down to find his foot stuck on a finger-wide cord of something silvery. His stomach sunk as he looked around to find more lengths of the silvery cord strewn about the ground.

Spider webs. A net of thick, strong, sticky spider webs. And Joren was holding the end of them. She giggled and pulled hard at the rope in her hand, pulling his stuck foot out from underneath him and hauling him closer after falling onto more of the webs and sticking fast. Joren hauled him in and descended upon him with her sharp spider legs, the eight appendages swiftly weaving the loose webs into a binding cocoon to hold him fast.

"Oh, poor American sweetheart," Joren cooed, brushing her fingers along the side of his face. "Defeated by sexiness." She giggled and kissed his cheek again before standing. "It's cute," she said in all seriousness. She looked at Lady Nagant and opened her mouth, but the sound of a snapping cord stalled her. She looked down and reared backwards as Silver was growling, straining against his bonds. More snaps and Silver screamed with effort as the cocoon tore open and he shuffled to his feet, breathing heavily as if he'd run a marathon.

But his broad muscles were visibly shrinking back to his natural skinny frame, his stockpile of fear having run out. He sank to one knee, bracing himself on his hands, breathing still ragged.

"I surrender," he rasped.

"Silver has surrendered," Lady Nagant said. "Winner: Joren."

The crowd cheered at such an unexpected ending, and Joren stared at Silver with an appreciative look. He staggered to his feet and unzipped his gym shirt before shrugging out of it and holding it out to her. "You may want this, Miss," he said, eyes averted. Only then did Joren recall her state of undress and fought the urge to cover herself, taking the shirt with dignity and a nod of thanks before draping it over her shoulders.


"Okay, I didn't see that coming," Katsuma said, his cheeks red at seeing one of his classmates half-naked and looking anywhere but down into the arena.

"Did she have to do that?" Kota said, glaring unabashedly even as red sat high on his cheeks, too.

"Boys," Eri giggled, also blushing at the shamelessness of their classmate. "Lots of heroines, and even some male heroes, weaponize their sexiness. I remember Ms. Midnight very fondly."

"Oh yeah," Kota groaned. "Heck, most heroine costumes have some kind of sexy element. Even if it's just being skintight.

"Gotta admit, it was effective," Katsuma mused, finally allowing himself to look. "I just hope Silver's gonna be okay."

"I'm sure he'll manage," Kota said blandly, though with a small crooked grin.

Eri looked backward, having noticed when Satsuki left as soon as Lady Nagant had called the match. She doubted the boys had noticed, given they'd had something more, erm, captivating to focus on.

"Good luck, Suki," she whispered.


Satsuki emerged into the arena for the final match of the first bracket round, shading her eyes as she entered the sunlight and gazing up at the crowds. She felt herself try to shrink away out of habit, but steeled her nerves and straightened her back to walk with purpose. The limelight was part of a successful hero's life, even after all of the changes to the job since the defeat of the League of Villains.

She walked up to the main stage and decided to focus on her opponent from Class B. Namerakana she had been called.

The girl was about Satsuki's height, meaning shorter than average, with wide hips and thighs, but a petite upper body. Her skin was rosy, her hair ebony-black and cut in a bob with no bangs, her eyes narrow, dark, and focused.

"Here we are, sports fans, with the last round of the first set," announced Present Mic. "In one corner we've got the froggy queen who'll kick ya 'cross the field. From Class A, Satsuki Asui!"

"And in the other corner we've got a girl who may be quick, but she'll make it far from easy," Kaminari declared. "From Class B, Ogawa Namerakana!"

"Hello," Satsuki said. "I hope we both have a good showing."

Namerakana lifted her eyebrows for a moment before nodding. Ah, a girl who preferred action over speech. How encouraging.

"Contestants ready?" Lady Nagant asked. "Fight!"

Namerakana wasted no time activating her Quirk, shifting her weight onto the balls of her feet and rapidly gaining speed forward without taking any steps, her feet sliding with seemingly no friction on the concrete. Satsuki leapt into the air a good ten feet, up and over to land safely and watched as Namerakana smoothly pivoted and, with barely a loss of speed, darted back at her again.

"Ah, so it's kind of like Skycrawler," Satsuki determined. She caught a small smile from Namerakana as the girl closed in again.

Ogawa Namerakana.

Quirk: Slip and Slide. Her hands and feet produce attractive and repulsive forces that allow her to skim over the ground at high speed without friction or to stick firmly or repel sharply to or from surfaces. It's way more powerful in her feet than her hands, though.

As Namerakana closed in for another pass at her, Satsuki's cheeks welled and she spat her tongue like a sixty-foot straight punch. Namerakana swerved to avoid the appendage, which returned at lightning speed for Satsuki to fire again, her opponent dodging again just as before.

As Namerakana drew close, Satsuki took a deep breath … and time seemed to slow. What few people put much thought into was that frogs were predators, hunters. And their prey were most often insects, creatures that could react four times faster than the average human. Satsuki had long understood that her own Frog Quirk allowed her to, with intense concentration and for only a handful of seconds, slow her perception of time in order to react to singular situations. It wasn't fit for a chaotic melee, but a controlled single-person duel was perfect for it. As would an ambush.

Satsuki therefore had time to appreciate just how Namerakana moved with her Quirk. She looked like a professional ice skater or rollerblader, her movements graceful as she slid over the ground like smooth ice. Even with her movements seemingly slowed, she was closing in fast. Satsuki projected Namerakana's course and, using a skill that Eri had taught her, pivoted on her foot just out of her path just as Namerakana passed by, her cheeks swelling again … to fire her tongue at point-blank range just as Namerakana passed by.

The tip of her tongue, moving at incredible speed and backed by its surprising mass, struck with force to nearly break bones and sent Namerakana reeling off course with a wet smack, mucus flying all over her from the strike. She tried to stop, applying backward force with her Quirk but still tumbled to a halt just before the boundary line. She groaned and stumbled to her feet … and then stumbled some more as everything went blurry. She blinked and wiped some of the cloudy mucus from her neck and face … and her hand went numb.

"What …?" she wondered and looked at Satsuki as sudden panic gave her a moment of clarity. "You poisoned me," she realized.

"I licked the mucus from my skin as I came down here," Satsuki said with a nod, rolling up her sleeve and showing her arm that was dripping with the same mucus. "It's even more potent than my big sister's, and I can make it a numbing agent or into a kind of pain killer." There was an actual frog in the Amazon that produced a mucus forty times more potent than morphine, and Satsuki had apparently developed that from her Quirk.

It really was amazing how many people assumed that each of her family's Quirks were identical. Though all called Frog and admittedly very similar in a broad sense, each one of them had their own set of unique minor traits. And Satsuki had yet to reveal everything about her that was different from her family.

Namerakana took a step forward … and then crumpled to the ground as the poison took full effect and she succumbed to temporary paralysis.

"Namerakana can no longer fight," Lady Nagant declared. "Asui is the winner!"

"And that wraps up the first round of matches!" Present Mic boisterously declared. "As always, we'll take a twenty minute break before the next phase of the bracket commences."

"You hear that, folks?" Kaminari asked. "Now's your time to grab a snack or hit the bathroom. 'Cause the next round is gonna be bigger and better!"

What's this? A new chapter a week later? I suppose miracles (and a lot of inspiration) *can* happen! We should have all four matches of the next bracket phase next time.

*Eri's comparing people she's met to Classes A and B came to me when imagining how to explain Yayoi's personality more concretely. It just makes sense that all of these bright and distinct personalities would become something of her baseline.

*I actually really like the analogy for Eri's controlling how much of her Quirk is used at once. The concept actually flowed really fast as I was writing. It was also a very fun time devising the details of Eri being able to Rewind Quirks to cancel them out.

*The banter between Kaminari and Present Mic after Eri's match just kinda spilled out, and into a joke and a confirmation that Earphone Jack and Chargebolt are indeed hitched. Knowing that such insecurities can linger, I figure Jiro - who kept her maiden name - is still a bit sensitive about her *ahem* endowment. She knows for a fact that Denki loves her through and through, but reminding her is enough to get him a jack in the ear.

*I've been looking forward to the reveal of Steve Silver's true Quirk for quite some time and really liked how it came out. For those of you who are wondering, Steve's appearance was inherited from his father, who has a butterfly-esque Quirk, while his mother has a Rage Eater Quirk that allows her to absorb anger from her surroundings and store it as power. Steve's Fear Eater is a rough combination of those Quirks.

*The idea of Joren winning by flaunting her allure came to me a few weeks ago as I was considering this match up and wondered how her natural flirtiness might manifest. Then the details just came rattling out of my brain and they made me laugh - so in they went. I can personally feel for Steve here, as I myself am prone to being flustered by women.

*In case it wasn't established before, Joren's spider half is patterned like Joro spider, which has been gaining media attention as an invasive species on the east coast of the USA.

*Namerakana's appearance was inspired by researched ideal traits for figure skaters, such as strong lower bodies.

*Namerakana's given name is the Japanese for "Brook" as in a small stream or river, both a play on her Slip N' Slide Quirk and the English girl's name Brook.

*Satsuki's reference to Skycrawler is an homage to the "Vigilantes" spin-off manga. The main character Koichi, a trio of minor antagonists, and the main series's Slidin' Go MLA agent paint a picture that such Quirks are not terribly rare, so I thought I'd use that idea. Nameranaka's power isn't so versatile as Koichi's, but it's got good power behind it - she'll have a great chance at being a hero.

As always, I hope you enjoyed it! Leave a review if you can! And may your own inspirations flow freely!