Chapter Seventeen
"Here we are, spectators! We've made it to the sports fest semi-finals! So many of these kids have worked hard to show their stuff and we present to you the final four of the tournament!"
"You got that right, Mic. Down to the top twenty-five percent. Or should I say up to the top two-five."
"For the first of the final three matches," Mic declared, "in one corner we've got the lioness with something definitely to be proud of. She's chased her way up the ladder and is ready to show her strength again. Akame Tategami!"
"And standing against her is the walking water cannon in a nice hat. He's surfed his own way through the ranks and looks like he'll never stop! Kota Izumi!"
The cheers rang in Kota's ears as he stood solidly opposite Tategami. He curled and uncurled his fingers like an Old West gunslinger from the old American movies, water already running and dripping down his fingers. Despite his boasts to his friends, he actually was nervous about this match. He had been aware up to this point that he relied a lot on his heavy-hitter Quirk, and he was probably — by default, if nothing else — the least physically capable of his friend group.
Tategami, on the other hand, had all the strength she needed in her Fu Lion form, and a ranged option with that roar of hers to counter his far-reaching power. Heck, if she had the chance to fire off one of those roars at the very beginning, it would be over before it had a chance to get good.
Therefore, his plan had to go off without a hitch.
"No hard feelings, Izumi?" Tategami asked, having not quite gotten close enough to the group of four friends to be comfortable using their given names, especially with a boy. Her eyes were hard and determined, glinting like chips of amber. "I won't make it easy for you."
"Right back atcha," Kota said, grinning with only semi-false confidence. He may admit to himself that Tategami was a strong competitor, but he was very sure of his own skills. His aunt and her team had taught him well, and he'd picked up a thing or two from Lemillion, Froppy, and many others over the years. Not to mention he was the proud son of the Water Hose heroes. "Whatever happens, no hard feelings."
"Fighters ready?" Lady Nagant asked. They each nodded. "Fight!"
No sooner had she spoken than Kota brought the full might of Water Gun to bear, a torrent of water like a great waterfall. Hence the title of the ultimate move that he'd been working on that he shouted loud and clear, "Raging Falls!"
Tategami leapt to the side and fell into a forward roll, avoiding the onslaught by inches. As she had moved, she transformed into her leonine form, finishing her roll on her feet like a true cat and digging her claws into the concrete. She took a deep breath, chest welling, and let loose one of her great roars to send Kota flying from the ring.
But Kota had planned for that. He diverted his spouts of water to the ground, launching himself skyward and allowing the wave of compressed air to soar beneath him and blow against the crowd. He knew that Tategami would be too out of breath to try that again for a while, and so shifted his arms backwards to sail through the air towards her, gathering momentum before shifting his arms to face his hands forward, slowing his fall and blasting at Tategami.
She pounced out of the way with a very housecat-like hiss, and he couldn't help a bark of laughter at the image of such a majestic creature hissing at getting wet. He landed in a roll of his own, finishing in a solid stance and firing again with Tategami weaving away from the deluge.
"Damn cat reflexes," Kota growled, keeping up his full-force torrent. He had to ease the sheer force of it in order to turn properly, keeping Tategami moving as he tried to catch her and flood her out of bounds. But she ducked and dove under and over the jets of water, seemingly taking advantage of it. He realized the irony that he had to be properly anchored to the ground to unleash the force of Water Gun when she, too, had to secure herself for that roar of hers.
"Really need a better name for that," he grunted, distracting himself from the pain rising in his wrists.
Tategami roared — the normal, non-concussive but still very intimidating kind — and made one last leap towards him before clouds reemerged around her. Kota lifted his hands quickly to blast her away, but all he caught was wisps of white. Which, of course, left him open to Tategami landing nimbly in front of him in her human form and then kicking him full in the chest.
He coughed and gasped as the breath was driven from his lungs, stumbling backward from the force and to try and get distance. But she didn't let up, making short, sharp cries as she swung punches and knee-kicks at him. Tiger's training kicked in and Kota reverted to hand-to-hand combat, but off-balance as he was he could barely fend her off, each blow battering away at him.
"Not- gonna- roar?" he jerkily bit out, somehow sparing concentration for some banter between shakily blocking her hits.
"I'm not a one-trick pony, Izumi," she snapped back, focused on finishing him.
"Me neither!" Kota snapped through a grin, blasting a wide mist of water from his palms to douse and disorient Tategami. She yelped and stepped back, allowing him to find his feet, and he grunted as he punched for her head … only for his fist to be stopped cold by a massive feline paw wreathed in wisps of cloud.
"What the-?" he wondered in complete shock before he was punched in the face with his own fist and then flung bodily away. Rolling a few times to a stop on the concrete, he grunted and rose onto his elbows to look and find Tategami glaring at him, with one of her arms from the elbow down grown into the massive forearm and paw of her Fu Lion form. It kind of reminded him of the gloves the Wild, Wild Pussycats wore, only a little more disturbing.
In a burst of cloud, she seemed to fully transform, and then she charged snarling at him. Kota tried to stumble to his feet and barely made it to standing before Tategami skidded on her claws and slid to bump him with the side of her body, sending him stumbling a few steps further back. He growled and took a deep breath-
A gunshot rang out. "Izumi is out of bounds!" Lady Nagant declared. "Tategami moves on to the next round!" Kota's stomach sank in horror and he looked down to find his shoe settled just past the white boundary line.
"Son of a-!" he hissed and slapped a palm to his forehead, knocking his cap off kilter. He snatched it by the bill and tossed it to the ground in frustration, then sighed and massaged his forehead, grinding his teeth. "Dammit," he sighed, his face relaxing from frustration to acceptance.
"No hard feelings," he said, crouching to pick up his cap and brushing it off before brushing his hand back through the ebony spikes of his hair and settling the cap back in its rightful place. He fixed his arms to his sides and bowed to Tategami. "Nice work," he said stiffly.
Tategami's leonine form was wrapped again in those wispy clouds before they dispersed to reveal her true self. "Right back at you," she said, offering an identical bow.
"You're up against either Satsuki or the chompy guy," Kota said, glancing over her shoulder at the approaching medic bots that would escort them both to Recovery Girl for a quick check-up. His gaze hardened and he leveled a pointing finger at her. "You better win, Class Rep," he said severely, though the corner of his mouth was twitching upward and he pointed at her. "I'm not going to be kept off the podium just because you couldn't seal your victory."
This pointedly ignored the fact that, technically, the losers of the semi-finals shared third place.
"I'll certainly do my best," Tategami said, her expression still remote, but her eyes glittering. She spun on her heel and marched away, meeting the medic bots halfway. Kota snorted and started walking, too.
He'd hate to get an earful from the old lady — he could call her that in the safety of his mind, away from Eri's wrath — for being late to his own check-up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, honey," came the endearingly awkward voice she'd long fallen in love with.
"Deku?" Ochako said in surprise, soaring above the streets of Musutafu with her gravity negated and the air cannons in her boots acting as propulsion for true flight, her fingers pressed to the communicator butting in her headset. "You naughty hero," she said, grinning widely, "calling me during my patrol."
"I just wish you were here, Chako," he said warmly. "The kids are doing just amazing."
"Ah, c'mon," Ochako whined. "Don't tempt me to try and watch it on my phone! Last time I tried watching while flying I crashed into a turbine balloon!"
"Sorry," he said. "And sorry about you having to work during the festival."
"Eh, I drew the short straw," she said casually. Literally, as the entire 1-A Agency had drawn straws to see who would be manning the agency itself, who would be on security detail, and who would be off for the sports fest. It was a genuine necessity for agencies to watch the sports fest to scope out rising talent for internships, and the concentration of heroes on UA campus, and therefore off the streets, often made crooks and thugs more bold — hence why 1-A had some of their people patrolling.
Deku and Jiro had been exempt from the drawing as genuine UA staff members, even if part-time and a teaching assistant respectively, and Kaminari had also been exempt for his announcer gig. Tsu, Tokoyami, and Shoji had each been drawn to be off work, while Ochako, Tenya, and Shoto were among the patrollers. She also knew that Mina and Kirishima were among the security detail hired by UA, on opposite sides of the stadium to keep those particular lovebirds from getting distracted. All of the rest were split further between patrols and festival security. Momo, as it turned out, was manning the desk to coordinate patrols, a job she excelled at — and probably splitting her attention between that and watching live feed of the festival, given how smart she was.
"How's Eri doing?" Ochako asked.
"She and Katsuma lost out in the quarter-finals," Deku sighed. "They both worked hard, though, and I'm proud of them."
"Of course you are," Ochako said fondly.
"Kota just lost in the semi-finals and Satsuki is up next. We'll see how she does."
"Suki's in the semis?" Ochako asked. "Oh my gosh!" She groaned lightheartedly, slapping a hand to her face. "I wanna call Tsu so ba-hah-had!" she whined.
"There'll be replays," Deku consoled. "There always are for days on end. Plus," his voice grew mischievous, "I may be able to convince Nezu to let us watch the private UA footage. Rumor has it they've finally perfected the 4-D holographic experience."
"We'll see," Ochako laughed. She may not want to go all-out on the experience like her Quirk-crazy, hero-encyclopedia of a boyfriend. Honestly, she'd rather hear the kids tell her about it themselves before she watched any recaps. "Love you, Izuku," she said.
"Love you, too. I'll see you soon." He hung up and Ochako swerved out of the way of an overpass as she got her head back in the game. As if on cue, she caught the ringing of a security alarm and saw a thug with wheeled feet racing down the street.
"Not on my watch," she said smugly and flew after them.
"It seems she has grown in the time that has passed," Tengai said.
"Indeed," Kurono replied.
Several of the members of Kurono's group that he had assembled — Chronostasis himself, Mimic, Stone Wall, Slice, and Beros, with Confessor at the stadium in person — were dressed in business attire and seated at the bar of a hotel, all of them watching the various sports screens displaying the UA Sports Festival.
Because what else would be playing on this day?
Mimic gestured for more drinks for their party, explained not incorrectly as a business meeting, and checked out one of the screens as he ate his grilled fish. "Which ones are her friends, again? Did 'our guy' tell you that?"
"That remains to be seen," Kurono said between bites of sushi.
"We must know if we are to even begin planning retrieval," Beros said coldly.
"I'll bet you anything the little bitch is pals with the little bastard," Slice murmured, her slowly regrowing hair in an elaborate crimson updo. No one reacted to her vitriol directed at the Shimano boy, all of them used to it by now.
"That would be quite fortunate," Kurono said with the faintest of smiles. "Leverage packaged neatly with our targets." He took a sip of sake and refocused on the feed as the matches resumed.
"Ah, man," Ragdoll whined. "Poor Kota."
"He's a tough kid," Mandalay commented, looking up at the same screen as Ragdoll outside the stadium from their posts observing the grounds. The Wild, Wild Pussycats had volunteered as security for the day, naturally taking the chance to watch the matches when they could spare the attention.
"Hey! My purse!"
Both heroines turned at the sound of commotion, seeing a scruffy-looking man running away in panic. Mandalay narrowed her eyes and focused her thoughts, directing them at the purse snatcher … and mentally screaming at the top of her lungs. The thief wailed in surprised pain, clutching his head at the shrill sound of a woman's screams ringing in his head as he stumbled to his knees and dropped the purse.
"What a dummy trying stuff like that at UA," Ragdoll giggled as she followed Mandalay to arrest and hold the thief until the stationed police arrived.
"Here we are, sports fans," Kaminari declared. "The last of the semi finals and runner up of the whole sports fest!"
"Hey, kid, 'sports fans' is my thing, y'know?" Present Mic complained, though everyone could hear the grin in his words. "But he's right, all you listeners out there. The second-to-last match of this year."
"On one end we've got the man with the cannonballs whose teeth make a shark look friendly. Class B's shining star, Musha Tamashiro!" Kaminari cackled with delight.
"And up against him is the tadpole who's grown into a one-woman army," Mic bantered, inwardly smiling at the play on words that he doubted many in the audience would catch — an army was the term for a group of frogs. "No doubt in my mind her big sis is croaking with pride. Satsuki Asui!"
Satsuki swallowed down her trepidation for this match. She'd been watching closely and knew without a doubt that this would be a tough win. She had nothing but respect for Eri's skills, and her dearest friend had lost to this boy. So she spread her feet and hands, the tip of her tongue snaking out in preparation for what was to come.
At the end opposite her, Tamashiro's toothy grin had muted into a crooked, close-lipped smile. His gaze was intense, his fingers twitching much like Kota's would in such a situation. It seemed that Tamashiro considered her a worthy opponent already and would probably cut any showboating to finish her quickly. That was fine, because Satsuki planned to do the same. Well, with minimal showing off, at least.
Whether or not Satsuki could secure a win, she would do her best.
"Fighters ready?" Lady Nagant asked, and both nodded. "Begin!"
Satsuki launched her tongue directly at Tamashiro, her only viable long-range tactic without any gear. Tamashiro jerked to the side, missing the strike by inches, and swung his hand much as before like a farmer casting seeds to spawn a dozen chomping balls. Just as fast as she had struck, Satsuki's tongue recoiled. And before it reached her, she was moving in a long, low jump to cover ground without leaving herself too vulnerable in the air.
Tamashiro flicked his hand and one of his chompers raced towards Satsuki at blinding speed. But she focused, time seeming to slow a few precious seconds that let her aim and fire her tongue again. Though the ball's wide mouth was open towards her, her aim was true and she struck it on the side and up, the adhesive tip of her tongue latching on. Then she flexed her tongue with the surprising dexterity of her family's Quirks and swung the ball around in an arc before letting it go to send it flying back at its creator. Tamashiro spat a curse and fell to his front to avoid it, the ball sailing over him to smash into the distant wall with a thunderous crash.
That gave Satsuki enough time to land safely, her long jump having placed her within a few yards of her opponent.
"Whoever says heroines are a step below male heroes," Tamashiro commented, his hands curling and his chompers swelling to nearly four feet wide, "can go have their heads examined. You chicks are crazy powerful."
"Glad you know it," Satsuki commented. "But you don't know the half of it yet."
Her temples began to throb as she sped her perceptions again, the focus it required to pull it off so soon after one bout preparing to give her a migraine. But she needed it if she was going to pull off the move she had planned. A little something she'd figured out with her big sister's help … and from watching videos and demonstrations of Gran Torino, Mirko, and especially Lemillion who had first inspired it.
Satsuki leapt and twisted in midair to present her feet to one of the chompers. She let out a breath and time seemed to return to normal, but that was fine. Her route was already planned. She kicked off the chomper with all the might of her legs, sending it flying backwards and she herself soared through the air … but not toward Tamashiro. No, she was aiming for another chomper.
She kicked off that second chomper and toward a third, then a fourth, then a fifth, each bounce knocking the constructs backward and sending her flying with even greater speed. In a matter of seconds she had zigzagged through the air all around her opponent in a streaking blue-and-green blur, impossible to track or predict as she gained more and more velocity. Before anyone could process what she had done, she was screaming the name of this ultimate move — "Lilypad Ricochet!" — and all but flying at Tamashiro to land one kick that would decide this match.
At such a frightening speed, she couldn't react when Tamashiro produced another chomper straight from his palm, growing like an inflating balloon, and struck forward with both hands to use it as a shield to block Satsuki's strike. The impact sent a deep sound like a gong ringing, the metal-like substance of the chomper deforming under the force … and Satsuki screamed as she felt the bones in her foot shatter.
Her motion abated, she fell to her side on the concrete ground and clutched at her shoe, her teeth bared in a grimace of clenched teeth as she tried to hold back another agonized scream. In the back of her mind not consumed with the sudden pain, she realized that she'd overdone that. And she'd failed to consider a contingency.
She bit back yet another scream, her face turning red and her breathing coming in heavy pants. She thought she heard her friends call her name over the roar of the crowd, but it was probably her imagination. Then again, her friends were the best. It may really be them.
"Lady Nagant," Tamashiro said shakily, his complexion a little greener as he motioned for a chomper to level itself over her head and open its jaws wide while he looked to the referee. "Call it. She needs a medic." He yelped as he felt something clamp around his ankle and looked down to find Satsuki holding onto him with the hand that wasn't clamped around her foot. She heaved and sent him tumbling, only to be caught by one of his chompers swooping in under his arm. "What the hell are you doing?" he demanded.
"Not giving up," Satsuki ground out between her clenched teeth.
"You know I could bite your head off," Tamashiro warned, gesturing at the chomper he had positioned over her, ready to strike.
"Don't care," she said shakily. "I just had to give it my all." Tears were leaking from her eyes as she gave a shuddering sigh. "I surrender," she called, her voice wavering and tinged with the gravel of a frog's croak.
"Asui has surrendered," Lady Nagant declared solemnly. "Tamashiro moves on to the finals."
Satsuki let go of Tamashiro's ankle and cradled her foot, her body shaking with quiet ribbets of pain. Tamashiro looked down on her with wide, concerned, even frightened eyes. As the medic bots arrived to put Satsuki on a stretcher, he was slowly, aimlessly shaking his head.
"God, what is with you Class A chicks, huh?"
"Go beyond, Chompy," Satsuki said, then groaned as she was lifted onto the stretcher and carted away by the robots.
"You got that right," Tamashiro murmured, turning to look up into the stands at his opponent. It was hard to tell, but he thought that the last of these crazy 1-A girls was staring at him.
Mwah!
Satsuki sighed with relief as the warm feeling of Recovery Girl's power washed over her, dulling the itchy feeling of her bones rapidly knitting back together. She pressed her small lips into a thin line, trying not to berate herself for losing. She'd known going in that the odds were stacked against her. But she'd given her all and showed off even more of what she could do.
And no matter what happened, she'd be on the podium in the end.
The door to the infirmary slammed open to reveal Eri, Kota, and Katsuma all racing towards her, asking questions and offering condolences.
"Honestly, calm down, you three," Recovery Girl said, striking her cane against the leg of Satsuki's cot and turning her wheelchair in place to give a soft, admonishing glare at them that quieted the trio in an instant. "Healing a few broken bones is easy enough for me. You, Eri, should know that better than anyone."
"Yes, ma'am," Eri said, lowering her head in respect.
"Hey, guys," Satsuki said, her voice soft with fatigue and faint circles under her eyes. Small bones or not, healing them so quickly took no small amount of stamina. And Eri knew just how much that certain proto-ultimate move could take out of Satsuki. "It's Tategami and Tamashiro for the finals, yeah?" She smiled and shook herself before looking to Recovery Girl for permission. The elderly nurse nodded and Satsuki swung her legs off the cot and stood.
"Wouldn't wanna miss that," she said, making for the door.
"You sure you're alright?" Eri asked worriedly.
"You know how tough I am, Eri," Satsuki said. Then she ribbeted in surprise at the pressure of a hand on her shoulder. She looked at it to find a soft, green glow emanating from it, and a familiar, soft warmth much like Recovery Girl's but still different spread from the touch and throughout her body. She felt her energy returning from that warmth, and then it faded and she felt nearly normal.
"That should help," Katsuma said with a smile, faint shadows now under his own eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, how touching," Kota said, rolling his eyes. "C'mon, let's go watch the last match. It should be starting soon."
As the group of four left, Recovery Girl smiled at their backs. She'd been at UA for decades and had developed an uncanny knack for understanding students. With that, she felt a wonderful bond forming between those four. Three of them already had it, and young Katsuma was now a part of it.
Her smile faded into a concerned frown as a premonition — not from any Quirk, but from experience and old-fashioned intuition — told her that their bond would be tried and tested in due time. If not by villains … than by the pitfalls and general foolishness of the young.
Chapter seventeen and the entire semi-finals! We have our last two standing - who will win it all?
*To answer the question of a guest reviewer on , Wani looks far more humanoid than Spinner or Habuko. From a distance, you wouldn't notice anything different but her lavender coloring and electric-blue hair. It's only up close that you can notice the fine scales covering her skin.
*I had to discuss with a few people who to feature in the asides. I'm glad I got a chance to lightly explore the structure of the 1-A Agency. We get a peek at the antagonists after a while, too.
*Stone Wall is the codename I've given to Hekiji Tengai, the member of the Eight Bullets who can create force fields and seems to be a Bhuddist, paired with Rappa. He's another one who seemed genuinely loyal to Overhaul and so is part of the crew.
*Manadaly and Ragdoll's appearance just came to me and I like the quick look at Kota's family. Plus, I've been wanting to feature an offensive use of Mandaly's "Telepath" Quirk for a while now.
*As it turns out, a group of frogs really is called an army. The pun come to me and I just couldn't *not* put it in!
*I've been looking forward to showing this last little bit of influence on Satsuki's fighting style. Out-of-universe, the move was inspired by Lemillion's "Phantom Menace" ultimate move showcased in the yakuza raid, and renamed "Phantom Threat" in the anime to avoid lawsuit. But I've thought for a very long time that Satsuki would take influence from Gran Torino's bouncing around and Mirko's jump and kick-heavy fighting styles. Lilypad Ricochet usually involves bouncing between walls and ceilings to gain momentum before slamming into a single target with a single brutal kick, or reflecting between many opponents in a random zigzag pattern. It was really fun to devise!
As always, I hope it was a fun addition! Leave a review if you can! And may your own inspirations flow freely!
