Chapter 18 - Tournament - Round 2 - Quarter-Finals
"Let's start the first match of the second round!" Present Mic called out as the cheers from the crowd built up yet again. "At this year's Sports Festival, both contestants have shown top-class performances!"
Eijiro grinned as he walked on the grass again towards the stage, watching as the screen displayed his grinning face and Peter's calm smile.
"Kirishimaaaaa!" Present Mic said, dragging out the last syllable as the crowd responded to his words. "Versus… Parkerrrrr!" Again, the syllables dragged out longer.
Eijiro reached the steps and saw Peter walking up at the same time as him. He grinned at his friend, happy to be fighting him in this round. He knew early on that Peter was stronger than he let on, especially after that apprehension test, but Peter rarely showed it.
He had wondered just how strong his friend was, someone who felt no need to brag or challenge everyone he met. Even when he and Koda described his achievements to their other friends, he was always modest and didn't lord his strengths over others. He was passionate and willing to argue chemistry, physics, Quirks, or even anime with Pony. But he always became shy when they praised him for his physical capabilities.
Eijiro was looking forward to facing him and finding out just how strong his friend was. It would be a great challenge, and he'd get to show others how awesome his friend was.
"These two powerhouses were teammates during the Cavalry Battle, and I've heard rumors that they have teamed up before on other occasions and are friends! But this will be the first time they have faced each other!" Present Mic said.
Eijiro grinned, knowing that their English teacher liked to stir up drama during these matches. That had always interested him when he had watched the festival on T.V. years prior.
"Hopefully, their friendship will survive this fight between them!"
Yes, he certainly did like to stir up drama. Eijiro had a minor flashback to his worries about his match with Mina, but that fight had ended in a great spot, and Eijiro was determined to do the same thing here—even if he lost badly.
"Now, fighters, get readyyyy…" Present Mic started, dragging it out as everyone prepared. Eijiro lowered his profile, allowing his legs to bend and react more quickly. Eijiro noted that Peter was doing the same, though even lower than his own, as he was close enough to easily rest one of his arms on the ground while the other was held off to his side.
"Start!"
Eijiro sprinted forward, observing Peter's arms for the activation of his webbing. He had tested against it in that first Battle Training match and found it too strong for him to rip through with physical strength. The only way he had to deal with it was the activation of his Quirk, which caused his skin to get hard and in some places sharp enough to cut skin.
But Eijiro knew that would only work if he could get the leverage or positioning to do it. If he was completely pinned by it, he would not escape before Peter would win the fight. So, he needed to always be careful and observant of his hands and wrists. This was another small thing he had adapted to due to facing Toru and Ochako so many times in training.
Peter remained where he was, letting Eijiro close the distance, and effortlessly dodged the first punch. The right-handed punch had come in low, like a gut shot or the beginnings of an uppercut. The follow-up of two more punches, his left and right again, were avoided as Peter's adjusted height was more in line with his own, and Eijiro tried to get his attacks to flow together like Ranma had taught him.
"Sup, Eijiro-kun," Peter said calmly as he stepped backward from the first low kick, sidestepped the mid kick, bobbing out of the way of two more before bending over backward with ridiculous ease to avoid the high kick. Peter was grinning a little as he returned before continuing his conversation. "Having fun?"
"Yep!" Eijiro said, returning the grin as he continued to try to press Peter, going over every combination attack he knew, including the ones he had trained on in the last few weeks. "Man, I knew you could dodge, but you make it look so easy! It's like fighting against Ranma!"
"Huh," Peter said, continuing to move around, jumping occasionally by a meter at most for now.
"Yeah!" Eijiro yelled out, trying to find some way to land a hand on Peter, but nothing worked. He stopped his assault, backing away to reassess his strategy. "Though, against Ranma, it's more like you don't know what he's going to do one minute to the next. But against you, it's more like everything is anticipated! Even if I do something unusual!"
"Interesting," Peter said, waiting to see if Eijiro would pick things up again. He had figured Eijiro was all about just the physical fight, especially after that Battle Training and his desire for a straight-up fight. "And good to know, especially if I have to fight against him."
Eijiro snorted, giving him a smirk. "You mean
when you have to fight against him, right? Parker?"
Peter looked slightly upset at that, appearing ready to deny it and defend him, but Eijiro wouldn't let him.
"Oh, we both know you've got this in the bag! Come on, man, I want to see what you can do
before you face Ranma!" Eijiro yelled, showing Peter that he wasn't upset by the situation. "And why aren't you using your web-shooters? You've had, like, a dozen chances where you could have used them!"
Having been silenced by Eijiro's words, Peter blushed at that. "I… I know you like, I think you call them, man-to-man fights?"
"Course I do!" Eijiro said, "But that doesn't mean you have to always follow them! Especially in an important tournament fight like this!"
Peter blinked at that, surprised at Eijiro's change of opinion. "Did Ranma… train, I guess, that out of you or something?"
Eijiro grinned, preparing to start his next assault. "Partly. But it started because of our team-up on the first day of school. You were right about there being situations where it has to be set aside. Ranma just drove the point home."
"Huh," Peter said, surprised by how much that meant to him. He then grinned and launched himself forward a second before Eijiro. Limiting his speed and strength to something closer to what Eijiro was capable of, he started giving out a punishing series of punches to his torso and arms. He also stopped listening to his spider-sense as much, allowing Eijiro to finally land some blows on him.
The two went at it for almost a minute, but it quickly became clear to Eijiro that Peter was still winning this fight. The impacts were starting to sting, even through his enhanced durability from his Quirk. That told him that Peter could pack a very hefty punch indeed. He focused on dodging as many of his blows as he could. It helped somewhat, but it became apparent it wouldn't be enough.
After a particularly rough blow to the gut, Eijiro was flung back a few meters as his feet slid across the cement. He grimaced and rubbed the spot. "Ouch!"
"You okay?" Peter asked, having stopped his assault. Peter looked a little concerned since he didn't tend to use his punches to win most fights. He was slightly worried he had gone too far, but Eijiro stood up and resumed the attack.
"Yeah! Show me more!" Eijiro shouted in joy, trying another combination. What he found interesting was that the sharp edges created by his Quirk barely hurt Peter. His shirt had been shredded in a few spots, but the skin under it only displayed a few brief red lines of blood.
Peter also had remarkable endurance and stamina, not appearing to be slowed down at all. But Eijiro knew his own was beginning to flag due to how much punishment he received.
By every metric Eijiro could note, Peter had him outclassed. As much as he tried to bury it, a small part of himself was envious, but he mentally swept those feelings aside.
"Come on, man! The fight has gone on long enough; finish it!" Eijiro said eagerly.
Peter sighed before nodding in agreement. "Okay. Well, sorry about this!" Peter said before nearly blurring forward.
Eijiro knew he couldn't evade these attacks, so he tried to tank as much of it as possible. He pushed his Quirk to the limit, covering as much of his arms, torso, and gut as he could with his rock-like skin. The first few blows made him flinch, and he could hear the loud cracks from the fist hitting his more durable skin. Those first few blows occurred within a few seconds, with the subsequent blows growing in strength. He had to wince as he was really beginning to feel it.
Eijiro dug his feet into the ground as much as possible to keep himself from being pushed further back. But the blows just kept getting stronger and stronger. He knew he could take a beating and withstand blows with multiple metric tons of force behind them, but this was like getting smashed by cars, then trucks that were gradually increasing in size all focused into fists. He felt his Quirk fail on a few parts, causing him to try to cover the new weakness and force his Quirk to recover, to let him last as long as he could under the punishing barrage.
Eijiro held on for another ten seconds and thirty punishing blows before it finally broke through. He cried out as Peter's heavy swing cracked the air and sent him flying across the arena to smash into the cement wall, damaging the concrete from his landing. After his momentum finally ended, he fell to the grass and could barely catch himself on one knee.
He winced internally, struggling to keep at bay the dizziness he felt. His stomach, arms, and ribs were screaming at him to stop. He stayed like that, trying to gain enough strength to stand. It seemed he had taken his time, too, as he soon saw a hand held out in front of him.
"Want some help?" Peter asked, grinning down at him.
Eijiro grinned as he grasped it and was pulled up. "Oooh, ow! Man, how many trucks did you hit me with?"
"... Twelve. Though, that depends on the kind of truck."
Eijiro barked a laugh, the absurdity of his friend knowing the exact number breaking through the pain before he was forced to cringe as the pain fought back for his attention. "Okay, laughing is not a good idea until Recovery Girl looks me over."
"Ahhh, I wanted to tell you about all these new knock-knock jokes I heard!"
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Pony straightened her back and shoulders, taking several deep breaths, before walking down the steps toward her classmates. She waited for the anger her classmates likely held for her, for failing to get further than she did and letting them down. As her hoofs clomped onto the cement, her presence was noticed by some in her class. A lump caught in her throat at the prospect of the mental anguish that would now start.
"Pony-chan! Great job out there, girl!" Setsuna cheered, putting her arm over her back and giving her a one-armed hug. Setsuna's lower half was still sitting in a seat several meters away; the sight was common for her classmates as the floating upper half of her body greeted her. Setsunna's smile disappeared, however, as she became serious.
"While all of us would have liked for you to have gotten further than you did, to show the world what Class B can do, you
did get dealt one of the worst hands! It's like getting dealt a two-seven in poker or something. The only one that might have been worse was Saotome," Setsuna said. She then turned back, her wide grin returning as she rubbed the top of Pony's head, "But even with that hand, you had us going for a second that you might have actually won! You should have seen Monoma's freak out!"
"I did
not freak out!" Neito yelled out, getting to his feet and pointing at the green-haired girl. Most of the class laughed at the byplay, silencing the blonde. He returned to his seat and resumed his pouting.
"Oh yes, he did!" Setsuna said, grinning at the boy.
"What were his words?" Juzo said as he looked upwards, acting like he had difficulty remembering. "Oh, right, it was 'See! Not so hot now, Class A!'"
Pony giggled, happy that her class didn't appear upset with her. Though her face still turned downward, as she needed to get one thing out of the way.
"I am sorry I couldn't get farther, everyone…," Pony said. After a moment, she remembered to add a deep bow.
"You're fine, Tsunotori-kun," Itsuka said, warmly smiling. "Like Tokage-kun said, you were facing an extremely difficult opponent. If Haruno-san had been careless and treated you as someone to underestimate, then that strategy likely could have worked. The fact you made sure she treated you as someone not to underestimate means you have her respect."
Pony blinked at that, not having considered that a possibility. It returned a smile to her, making her feel better. Especially any concern about Sakura's sincerity.
"Seriously, though, how many of us knew she could create clones, illusions, or whatever the hell that thing was? Or the ability to move underground like that?" Sen said, shaking his head as he thought it over. "Whatever the hell her Quirk is, we don't have a handle on it, and its versatility is insane. Couple all that with whatever that water dragon was and her destroying Zero-pointers with her fists. Any way you look at it, we lacked information."
"She isn't the only one from Class A. Saotome and Parker, not to mention some of the others that are fairly powerful," Kosei said, his elbows resting on his knees as his hands allowed his chin to rest on them as he looked out into the arena. The usually enthusiastic and competitive brown-haired boy was being serious. "Before today, I wouldn't have given Monoma's complaints about Class A's favoritism a second look. But now, it does feel like they stacked the deck in their favor."
"See! I told you they did! But you didn't want to believe me!" Neito said, almost getting out of his seat. "They get to play favorites. We're just the scraps to them!"
"Hey, don't speak badly about Peter!" Pony said, pointing at Kosei for disparaging him. But she felt less sure of herself than she would usually have liked.
Kosei blinked as he turned to her, seeing she was just upset for one of her friends. "I wasn't. I am just noting that he is strong, and from what you and Honenuki-kun have told us, a super genius of some sort," Kosei said, trying to calm his classmate down.
"It's okay, Pony-kun," Juzo reassured her, even as she sat beside him. "We're just acknowledging a trend. We don't know
why it happened like this. Whatever selection process the U.A. Staff used to distribute us, do you, or any of you, think that Kan-sensei would allow it without an excellent reason?"
The fact that their entire class, including Neito, was silent on this was proof enough for everyone.
"It is not out of the bounds of reason to inquire with Sensei about the reasoning. He may or may not tell us, but we can at least express our concerns over it to him," Juzo said.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Oooo, that was awesome!" Kota shouted in excitement, hopping around like a bunny in the limited space he had.
"It was," Katashi said, smiling as the two boys walked out of the arena together. "That fight reminded me of some of my earlier days. Parker seems like he will be an interesting fight for Ranma. And I saw some hints of Ranma's training in Kirishima."
"Yeah, Sensei said he's in his club," Kota agreed, having stopped moving and was now nodding while his arms folded across his chest. He looked as if he was trying to impart deep wisdom.
Sorahiko noticed that he was physically paralleling Katashi's pose, causing him to chuckle as he watched the boy mimicking his old friend. The quiet comradery with his old friend and the youthful exuberance of Kota were a fantastic pairing with this outing. It had been an excellent decision to join Katashi and Kota, helping to quell some of the loneliness he had felt in recent years. He was going to need it before the day was finished.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Peter found the oddity of their nurse's lips amusing. Even though her Quirk didn't directly list it, it seemed to allow them to bend far more than regular lips, giving her great reach for her little kisses.
"There you go, dear," Chiyo said as she watched her Quirk get to work on Eijiro.
Eijiro felt around his stomach and other sore spots, finding the pain was gone. He gave her a big grin. "Thank you, Recovery Girl!"
"You're welcome. Please be careful out there and try to avoid taking so much damage in the future," Chiyo said as the boy with spiky red hair stood up, looking a little embarrassed at the admonishment. "But it seems it is finally getting through to you that you don't have to take every hit."
Eijiro winced, remembering how the old Pro-Hero had threatened him to learn his lesson. The threat of withholding her Quirk's ability to heal and the danger of repeated 'lessons' from Ranma had done a number on Tetsutetsu and himself.
"Now, run along, dear, I need to finish looking over Parker so he can head back as well," Chiyo said.
"Right! Thank you very much, Recovery Girl!" Eijiro said, giving her a bow and walking towards the door. "I'll wait for you outside, Peter!"
"Okay," Peter responded as Eijiro closed the door behind him.
"Alright, dear. Come over to the table so I can take a quick peek at your injuries," Chiyo said.
Peter blinked, forgetting he actually had injuries and it wasn't just a quick checkup. He looked down and saw the tiny red lines and the shredded gym shirt but nothing else. They didn't hurt; his mind had dismissed them while his body started healing. Either way, he lifted his shirt off, showing his impressive abs and musculature for a biologically fifteen-year-old. Though considering what kind of school this was, most of the students in the Heroics classes had physiques that were better than the general population, so he didn't particularly stand out like he did back at Midtown High.
Chiyo put some latex gloves on and inspected the wounds. Most were on his torso, though a few were on his sides. However they were all shallow and showed signs of his advanced healing. "Hmmm, yes, healing up nicely. Your Quirk registry does note a small healing factor, significantly better than normal, but not applicable immediately like some healing factors can do."
Peter remained silent as she inspected him. It didn't take her long to examine any particular cut, but since Eijiro's hands could create multiple cuts from a single punch, he had dozens of them. When finished, she removed the gloves and deposited them in the appropriate bin for proper disposal.
"Alright, Young Parker. Lean down, and I'll give you a quick smooch, and you can get on your way," Chiyo said, smiling at him.
Peter almost obeyed her suggestion when he remembered another tidbit about his body and the person inspecting him. "Ummm, please ensure you do not ingest any of my blood, Shuzenji-sensei."
"Hmmm?" Chiyo responded, more surprised than curious.
"My blood is… slightly toxic, especially to those that are immune compromised," Peter said, trying and failing to give a reassuring smile.
"You mean due to the slight radiation your blood puts out?" Chiyo asked.
Peter winced at her being more accurate in her brief explanation than he had expected her to be. That made things potentially complicated
—really complicated.
"Oh, don't worry yourself, Boy," Chiyo said, tapping his knee. "No, I have not tested your blood, heard that information from anyone else, and it was not in any of the paperwork we have on file regarding your medical files. I just know the symptoms of radiation poisoning. It isn't extreme radiation, or there would have been, or at least should have been, additional warnings. But the elderly and those with weaker systems are more vulnerable. So thank you for your concern."
Peter rubbed his head, bashful of how well she had called him out on that. In hindsight, he should have guessed that might have been something to realize in advance. "Sorry, it isn't usually something I have to worry about, but I realized with your age, you might be susceptible to it."
"Thank you, Parker-san," Chiyo said, smiling at him. "It's always nice when patients also try to look after their doctors and nurses that are treating them."
Peter happily smiled at her, finding her a bit like his Aunt May. Stern when needed, but also incredibly kind and warm. The memory pained him briefly, but he soon put it behind him.
"As for any other concerns you might have regarding your body, I am aware of the warnings on incinerating any blood samples quickly and not to perform tests on them. I can recognize when someone has secrets they want to keep hidden," Chiyo said.
Peter winced. Yet another example of secrecy biting him in the ass. "Sorry, it's just really sensitive information that could cause some trouble."
Chiyo snorted, sounding odd coming from such a small and old woman. "That is typically why secrets are kept, is it not?" She asked, smiling at the interplay she had with the boy. "While I can make some educated guesses as to what might be going on, it is not something I would reveal without an exceptional reason."
Peter nodded, not wanting to underestimate her intelligence.
"Though, and I presume you would need to speak to Dr. Shield about it, it would be wise to inform me of at least some of those particulars," Chiyo said as she locked eyes with him. "If there is a medical emergency, then I can give more accurate medical treatment
or know what to do to avert potential problems your secrets might cause."
Peter paused before sighing and admitting she was right. He wasn't sure about bringing her into the loop, even with as little as the secrets of his 'Quirk' would reveal.
"I can see it still bothers you some, so let me make a suggestion. Your Guardian, Dr. Shield, knows one of my patients very well: All Might."
Peter widened his eyes, though it did make sense that she might be one of the doctors most likely to treat him if he became injured.
"We can ask All Might to be an intermediary between us, as Dr. Shield and I can attest to All Might's character. Just a suggestion for the future."
"I will bring it up with Dr. Shield," Peter said, nodding as he found her proposals and reasoning sound. "He's been meaning to contact All Might, but we were waiting for a few things before we did that."
"Hmmm, well, I would suggest you come to a decision no later than the end of the semester to be on the safe side," Chiyo said.
"I think we can do that."
"Good, now, lean down so I can give you a smooch, grab a clean shirt, and get back to watching your friends beat each other up so I have more work to do!"
Peter laughed, leaning down so she could kiss his cheek. While he knew some people found it weird, he was used to it. After all, he grew up in New York, and his Aunt May was Italian.
"Thanks!" Peter said, turning towards the spare clothes. He grabbed one in his size and quickly put it on.
"You're welcome, dear. Please let me know what you decide to do. And go have fun!" Chiyo said, with a bit of excitement in her voice.
Peter waved goodbye to her and walked towards the door when his spider-sense tingled.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Alright, everyone! Prepare yourselves, for it is time for a colossal fight! One of many we will get as we near the finals!" Present Mic yelled, the crowd screaming in excitement. "The next match is between
the standout star, Saotome Ranma!"
Shoto glared at the screen as they stepped onto the field. The screen had changed to showcase Ranma winning the first event and Ranma's female form dodging a series of attacks at the end of the second event. He typically wouldn't care about the attention Ranma was getting, but it just added to his aggravation and how it had attracted his father. Yet that anger was a simmer compared to how he had let it build up earlier.
He was thankful that Kyoka woke him from that state, unsure if he would go too far in blind anger and seriously injure someone. Kyoka wouldn't have deserved it, and neither would Ranma. Even though his father warned him that he didn't stand a chance if he didn't go all out, he wouldn't let himself get to that state. The consequences would be too severe.
"Versus…" Present Mic said, "The child of a Pro-Hero, the legacy from one of our Top Ten, a boy that has trained for a decade and has a powerful Quirk inherited from his parents! Todoroki Shoto!"
Shoto glared at the man for mentioning his father, but he also knew it was the man's job to drum up attention. At least the man hadn't mentioned his name and had included his mother, something few people would ever do.
He finished walking up the steps and saw his opponent doing the same thing while wearing that carefree grin he liked to sport, and his body was completely relaxed with his hands in his pockets. When they stopped at the appropriate distance from each other, Shoto went over his plans for the fight.
Saotome's speed and strength made him someone he did not want to allow within his attack range. The memory of their first fight told him all it might take was a single blow. The memory of the second encounter, during the Cavalry Battle, was also at the forefront of his mind. Ranma could readily destroy sections of his ice, meaning it needed to be extremely thick, or it would only be a minor impediment. He needed his ice to pin him down and hold him long enough to push him out of bounds or immobilize him long enough for the judges to call the match. He could do it, but he had to be careful.
"Are you ready?" Present Mic asked them.
Shoto lowered his profile, his right leg correctly touching the ground while his right hand hovered above it. His training had allowed him to split his control and let his Quirk do several things simultaneously, but the tasks needed to be almost automatic with no deviation. He would need that given his self-imposed limit, as he needed a way to attack and defend simultaneously. Having to switch between the two would be too dangerous.
"Start!" Present Mic yelled.
Shoto threw his first attack, a wall of ice that grew to several meters in height by the time it reached Ranma's location. It missed, like he anticipated, as Ranma flickered to one side. Shoto was ready for it, though, as another wall of ice had gone out the instant Shoto figured out which direction the pigtailed boy had gone.
The second wall of ice had missed Ranma by several meters, causing the black-haired boy to tilt his head as he tracked its movement. Shoto wasn't foolish enough to assume he was honestly distracted and continued his assault. With the pigtailed boy caught between the two walls, he launched the second phase of his assault as his hand touched down to increase the control of his attacks.
Ranma stood there as Shoto didn't appear to do anything for a moment before he flickered backward and avoided the spear of ice nearly as long as the gap between the two walls that emerged from one of the walls. The martial artist repeated to dodge a dozen times as spears of ice exploded from the walls on both sides. The long and sharp icicles made the audience gasp at how quickly they appeared as they sought out Ranma.
When that attack finally halted, Ranma was still visible amongst the spikes and was grinning in Shoto's direction. So Shoto started phase three of his assault as his Quirk once more flowed through the ice. It was imperceptible by most of the audience, but those capable could see the thin coating of ice that flowed along the already-created ice as it moved to its desired location.
Almost all at once, the spikes of icicles grew even more icicles from all over. Then an immense number of icicles grew out of those and covered
everything between the two walls in only a few seconds. A loud grinding noise was heard as ice ground against ice as it filled the void.
Even as his latest attack finished, Shoto glared upwards at Ranma as he stood atop the massive ramp of ice that had formed. Ranma's smirk did not help his mood. Shivering as the cold began to impact his body, Shoto's breath came out as mist and again he tried to capture his elusive prey, this time from below Ranma's feet.
Ranma flickered to various points of the ice block, avoiding the pillars of ice that shot up from below where he was standing. A dozen such attacks happened within just a few seconds until Shoto became confused as Ranma was no longer visible.
"Not bad, but can you do anything else?"
Shoto jerked to his left, trying to distance himself from Ranma, who had appeared to his right and only a meter away. His right hand touched the ground as he lowered his body while moving away, sending out another wave of ice, this one growing faster than any of his other attacks. This attack was more vicious because he had been startled, his control wavering.
Again, Ranma flickered to the side, avoiding the attack. He wasn't even looking at Shoto. Instead, he leaned forward to start inspecting the ice from up close, tilting his head slightly and then the other way every few seconds while his arms adopted a thinking pose.
"Hmmm, faster and stronger that time. I'm guessing the speed of the attack increases based on the power behind it?" Ranma asked. "Looks like you lost a little control there, so you mostly try to limit yourself, right?"
Shoto hesitated since he had failed multiple attempts, and Ranma wasn't doing anything. Ranma's movements left Shoto off-balance, happening so quickly that he couldn't even perceive it. It was unnerving him so severely that his anger finally broken through, only to be drowned out by another emotion.
Now that he was facing him directly, he realized his father had spoken the truth. He tried to think of anything else he could do to fight the pigtailed boy and pin him down, but he was drawing blanks. His breathing began to increase as that hidden emotion, one that his anger had covered up and hidden from view, was being revealed in all of its ugly glory.
Shoto's eyes widened significantly as his breathing hitched, and he began to panic. He eyed Ranma carefully, like a trapped mouse watching a cat lounge casually in front of it, waiting for its meal to make its day more entertaining.
Ranma turned away from the ice, and his grin returned as he looked toward Shoto. It relaxed when he observed his behavior. "Sooooo…," Ranma awkwardly said, "you haven't answered my question. Can you do anything else?"
Shoto didn't respond, his brain frozen between fight or flight. It dragged on for an uncomfortable amount of time, long enough for Ranma to cross his arms and tap his foot in boredom.
Ranma finally sighed, clearly not happy about how things were playing out. "Man, your speech from early got me all excited. You said you were going to fight me with everything you have! While that last attack was a little faster than some of your others, it wasn't that much better than what you've already used. Is that really all you can do?"
Shoto's internal war with himself was shifting at Ranma's words. One side was winning and beginning to claw forward.
"Well, if that's it, I'll just go ahead and end the fight no–"
Shoto's internal war ended. Anger overtook fear, consumed it as fuel to reach new heights and crushed even his unconscious limits to unleash the full might of his mother's Quirk. His Frost poured out of him like a dam that had suffered a complete and catastrophic failure, not at a singular point, but the entire thing breaking instantly.
And the world turned white.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Mt. Lady, you need to pay attention to the crowd!" Kamui Woods said, having found her attention locked onto the large screen outside of the stadium once more.
"But I can't miss this!" Mt. Lady said, her eyes gleefully watching the boy, who was also a girl, dominate the fight.
Kamui growled under his breath at his coworker. Any time Saotome appeared on the screen, her focus immediately shifted to it and ignoring everything else. She was far from the only one, as most pedestrians looked at it as the pigtailed boy fought Endeavor's son.
He shared a look with Death Arms, who merely shrugged his shoulders to indicate he was as lost as he was on how to get her to concentrate on their job. He shook his head before turning to watch the gaping crowd as they watched the fight. It made his job easier since he didn't have to concentrate as much on the ones actively watching. Still, it was good to be vig–
"Ahh!" Mt. Lady cried out, along with others around them.
Kamui started to turn around to see what was wrong, but then he felt the Earth shake beneath him for a few seconds. His eyes widened as much as everyone else's as he looked at the stadium. The screen had gone dark, and the connection appeared lost. Though the mountain of ice sticking up out of the top of the stadium was rather hard to miss.
"Wha—what just happened?" Kamui asked no one in particular and didn't receive an answer since no one appeared to have one.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Holy shit!" Chihiro yelled out as she ducked down from the massive ice wall that had formed right in front of their faces. The brightness and then the building mass had both arrived with such an intense speed that she had barely ducked down before it was on them.
She felt the coldness once she knew she wasn't hit by the ice. It was like stepping outside a mountaintop resort at night, that abrupt difference between a cozy warmth and the sudden bite of freezing temperatures.
She took her jacket from the chair it hung on and tried to wrap it around her more thoroughly to help combat the cold as she looked upwards. She stared in shock as the mountain of ice went past the roof. It appeared to have damaged the roof, parts of it piercing it.
"Look away and cover your heads!" Etsurou yelled, causing everyone, including Chihiro, to do just that. They realized why as pieces of icicles and debris fell around them. Everyone remained still while they waited for the danger to finish trickling down. Their past experiences with hazardous situations were helpful.
"Please step away from the stadium's edge for your protection," a voice said to one side. Chihiro noticed it was a Pro-Hero working today's event. "Once we have verified it is safe, you can return."
Chihiro looked towards their equipment, finding a layer of frost had appeared over the wall; though it was mild compared to other areas, she could tell. Some of the equipment at the edge had also been affected, potentially damaging some of the equipment due to the sudden change.
Chihiro turned to Etsurou and gave him some orders, "Get the camera! We can't miss this!"
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Toshinori stood up rapidly, concerned, as he saw the massive attack form from Young Todoroki. As he saw how close the mountain of ice was to some of the bystanders, he activated–
"
Don't!" Thirteen shouted, grabbing his thin arm with her thick gloves to ensure she had his attention. When he turned back to look at her, she gave her reasoning. "Don't, Yagi-san! You are too visible here, too many eyes and too many cameras. Your secret will be revealed too easily if you transform here!"
Toshinori knew she was right about the dangers, which caused him to hesitate. He still debated whether he should do it anyway, damn the consequences.
"You can relax, Yagi-san," Sekijiro said, still remaining in his seat as he looked down at the arena. It had taken him a moment to get over his shock at how much power Todoroki had just unleashed, but he quickly evaluated the situation. "Look at the Pros on the other side of the stadium, the ones that can see the damage more accurately than us. While many of them are shocked, they aren't rushing as if it is an emergency. The audience is fine."
Toshinori turned his gaze back to the other side of the stadium to observe the same thing, causing him to breathe a little easier. He then looked at the center of the arena, where Shoto was recovering. But he saw no signs of Ranma, and that worried him. "Young Saotome, I think he's trapped in there!"
"The same Saotome that was trapped under the Zero-Pointer at the entrance exam? With added debris from some of the collapsed buildings it pulled down with it? The same boy that had
dived into it to save a girl none of us had realized was there until it was far too late? And held it up for fifteen minutes? That same boy?" Vlad asked, his eyebrow rising as a tiny smirk formed. "I think he'll be fine."
"What I am worried about is any damage to the ceiling caused by the ice," Power Loader said, staring up at the structure near the open enclosure that most of the ice had gone through. "It punctured through a few spots and might have bent some of the metal. Possible hazard for those below, so before that ice can be removed, we need to inspect it and clear the area below."
"I'll create some clones to float up there and do a quick inspection," Kaito said. "Some of the robots with flying capabilities can also take images for others to look at and inspect."
Toshinori sat back down as he had stopped panicking, glad things were well in hand. But that feeling of sitting back and letting others work when he should be out there helping stung him deeply. It wasn't his pride that was injured; Toshinori cared very little about his pride. It was his compassion that stung from his inaction. They were right though; the need was not there. Yet.
And he had to trust that Ranma was an extraordinary young man.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
All of Class A, who were currently present in the stands, save one, stared in shock at the new feature in the middle of the arena that had formed from Shoto. They knew he was strong, but to create something
that massive and
that quickly? It went well past their expectations.
The thing was absolutely enormous, especially for those close to the ground level like they were. For them it loomed quite menacingly. At its base, it exploded sideways and then expanded towards the other end of the arena, stopping just before the audience and shooting almost directly upwards; massive ice crystals that looked more like a jagged mountain range moved ever upwards.
"Ho– holy crap!" Denki cried out, causing many of his classmates to just nod along with the sentiment.
"Impressive," Sakura said, observing and calculating the scale. She would estimate that if that was a ninjutsu technique, it would have been at a Jonin level to possibly kage, though the speed of its creation was another selling point. Then again, she was desensitized to attacks of this scale. The primary question she had was its durability.
"Only impressive?" Mina asked, turning to look at her friend, incredulous at how she had reacted. When Sakura turned to her, tilted her head, and gave her a slight but arrogant smirk, she remembered everything she had seen her do. Mina gulped as she gave her friend a weak smile. "... right. Only impressive."
"Hahahahaha!"
A loud and annoying voice laughed, making most of Class A grimace at the tone before looking to their left to see someone from Class B looking over the divider. His face sported a smile between a smirk and a grin as if he was looking down at the people in front of him as trash. The fact that the smile didn't reach his eyes just reinforced it.
"Look at how your Ace from Class A was utterly defeated!" Neito enjoyed this chance to finally mock Class A and take them down several pegs from their undeserved position. "I guess the rumors about Class A have been blown way out of proportion! Now, no one will take you seriously ever again! Hahahaha– Ack!"
"Sorry about that!" Itsuka said, her head peeking over the wall after grabbing him with her enlarged fist and holding him in the air. She usually would have just knocked him out, but she had a feeling she didn't want to miss his expression when he watched this match's completion.
Class A listened silently to his tirade, most of them sweating or grimacing at how obnoxious he was. Two, however, were smirking.
"That would only apply, Monoma-san, if Saotome actually
loses this fight. You're a fool if you count your winnings before the fight ends," Sakura said before using her thumb to point at the giant ice fixture, "and you're also leaving out the fact that someone from our class just did
that."
Her words punctured Nieto's ego-fueled balloon, not enough to keep him from trying to respond, but they had hit home more than he would like to admit. He was ready to retaliate but never got the chance.
"I wouldn't worry so much about Pigtailed Bastard's fight and more about your
own upcoming fight, you Extra!" Katsuki yelled out, grinning at how that had further deflated the arrogant boy. Though, he didn't account for everyone turning to look at him in confusion.
"His own fight?" Itsuka asked, truly curious about what Katsuki was talking about. "He has an upcoming fight? He's not in the tourney, so it isn't part of the school festival. Who's he fighting?"
"Monoma-san has a fight?" Mashirao asked, poking his own head over the wall.
"Who? When!?" Tetsutetsu asked, demanding as he looked on as well.
Neito panicked, realizing just how bad of a situation he was in now. While he didn't care about Class A's opinion, he knew his own Class would not be happy with him when they realized who he was fighting. He
really did not want to do it, but he had no choice and pleaded with his eyes at Katsuki to remain silent–
crap.
Katsuki's evil grin told everyone else that he would
enjoy this. "Oh, he just decided to pick a fight with
Mini-Pigtail!"
"
Mini-Pigtail?" Everyone asked, their heads tilting to the side as they tried to piece together the puzzle.
"I think he means Kota."
Class A looked to the side and saw Peter and Eijiro had just arrived, both having hurried back.
"
Kota-kun!" Itsuka asked, her voice nearly shrill as it raised an octave, something that none of them had heard from her before. After getting a nod from Katsuki, she turned and glared at her classmate. "Well, it looks like someone will get some extra lessons on controlling themselves!"
Almost everyone wanted to continue that conversation, but a massive crack in the air interrupted them.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Shoto breathed heavily, the moisture freezing as it left him. Even after his attack had finished, it took him some time to get his bearings and realize what he had done. He took several steps backward, nearly tripping, as he saw how badly he had lost control.
He had created a sheer block of ice in front of him, starting barely a meter in front of him and taking up almost his entire field of vision. It dug into the ground and spread out, moving towards the edges of the stadium. He looked around to the sides, seeing a layer of frost and ice covering dozens of meters in every direction in front of the mountain's base.
He began to panic when he realized he might have seriously injured people with that attack. He looked to the sides to find Cementoss and Midnight still in the same positions. Midnight, with no natural protection, was trapped in a layer of ice that had formed on a quarter of her body as it traveled up her leg. She was shaking from the cold and the lack of appropriate clothing for such an occasion, but it looked like she was okay. Cementoss had also been caught in it; his feet and the outer edges near his chair had a layer of frost. Though a wall of cement had risen up and protected him from the worst of it. The ground to their sides and further out was in worse shape.
"Midnight! Cementoss! Did my ice trap anyone? Is everyone alright?" Shoto shouted at them, terrified that he had hurt anyone and desperate to get them out of the danger he had put them in.
"On- one- one mome- ment," Midnight yelled back, the words stuttering as her teeth chattered uncontrollably. She then put her finger to an ear and spoke into her microphone. After several seconds, she spoke even louder, and he had heard her use his English teacher's first name. Her annoyed glare told him she wasn't getting a response or didn't like what she heard.
The stadium speakers crackled from the cold air that was impacting some equipment. "Todoroki, this is Aizawa. You can calm down. Only Saotome was caught in the ice. There are a few minor injuries from falling debris but nothing worse than bumps, bruises and scratches. They are being directed to Recovery Girl for treatment. You still have a match to continue."
While Shoto did relax from the news that only minor injuries were reported, it was undone when he realized Ranma was still trapped inside. "Stop the match! We need to get Saotome out of there!"
"That would only be a problem if Saotome couldn't get out," Aizawa said. His calm voice seemed at odds with the situation, and his words didn't match reality.
"Eras- er- -chan, I- I think you are- overestimating- Saotome," Midnight said while working to break the ice covering her leg.
"Yes," Cementoss said, standing up and not appearing to be severely affected by the cold like the others. "We need to call the match and free Saotome before he runs out of oxygen or suffers from hypothermia or frostbite."
"Unnecessary," Aizawa said.
"
Unnecessary?" Shoto shouted, shocked by the dismissal of the danger his student was in. "How could it possibly be–"
Shoto was halted when a massive crack pierced the air and shook the ground throughout the stadium. It was soon followed by more minor secondary cracks, causing Shoto to turn his head and look at the mountain of ice. He stepped further away and saw those cracks become visible in the ice, even as a few large chunks fell, breaking the ground when they hit and shifting the dirt as they sank in.
Shoto backed up far enough to impact the original wall of ice he had created at the start of the match, causing him to trip. He managed to catch himself though as he only went down to one knee. He then noticed that the deep cracking noises had ceased, leaving only the sounds of small chunks of ice shifting around as gravity settled matters.
Shoto stood back up, wondering what had happened and if it had, somehow, been Saotome or just a structural weakness of the ice. Everyone held their breaths as they waited to see what would happen next. When Shoto, and most others, thought it was finished a massive impact shook the ice, causing the loose frost, ice crystals, and some larger bits to fall. Those more familiar with such scenarios noted that the impact had been muffled as if it had to travel through multiple walls.
Moments later, another impact, this one louder and stronger than the previous, reverberated from the ice. And then another. They heard it occur another five times before they could see cracks appear near the mountain of ice in front of him. There was a momentary pause before another impact caused those cracks to expand significantly.
Shoto could now feel the shockwaves from those blows reverberating through the air. This caused him to quickly climb up the large ramp of ice opposite the mountain, putting distance between himself and his latest creation. When he was halfway up, he turned back and saw one last massive blow had shattered the wall of ice near the base, sending the broken ice flying and smashing into his previous position.
The air was filled with frozen moisture, acting like a cloud of dust. Shoto had to cover the front of his face, protecting his eyes. When he felt it was safe enough, he looked again. His previous position was covered in destroyed debris, and a massive hole was carved out of the glacier. Everyone once again held their breaths, waiting to see what would come from it. The plume of frost took half a minute to finally begin to settle, and there, standing outside of the mountain, was Ranma.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"What was it you were saying to Class A, Neito-chan?" Itsuka asked playfully while sporting a Cheshire grin.
Neito would have slunk into his seat, utterly depressed, if he had been able to finish rebooting. The laughs from his classmates helped speed that process along.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Holy shit!" Etsurou said softly as he continued to take pictures of the boy casually walking out of the mountain of ice. Every photographer wanted to take photographs that defined the world, something that drew people in and told a story with a singular image.
He looked around and found everyone could only stare in awe as the boy removed the snow from his hair and clothes. And he was smiling.
Every photographer or cameraman he knew remembered the images of All Might's debut. In them, he appeared after a disaster, carrying injured and terrified people while sporting a smile that just lifted people's hearts. It was the epitome of their craft.
Etsurou wondered if he had just taken a similar image.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Phew," Ranma said, swishing his hand around to get rid of the excess frost in front of his face before swiping at the loose bits of ice on his clothes and hair. He was being thorough, making sure nothing was left. "That was close! Any longer in there might have melted the ice enough. Once is enough!"
Shoto was silent from shock as he watched him walk away from such a devastating attack and not appear any worse for wear. Ranma then started flexing his body, cracking joints in his limbs and neck to ensure everything was in working order.
Ranma then turned to look at one of the referees before turning to the other and looking them over. "Hey, are you guys okay?"
Midnight and Cementoss both nodded. Despite their professionalism, the events had taken them by surprise.
"Okay, that's good… so, am I out?" Ranma asked, his face scrunching with worry as he dreaded the answer.
"Excuse me?" Midnight asked, unsure if she understood what he was asking.
"Am I out of the match? I technically went out of bounds with the ice holding me over the ground. I can't remember if that counts as technically being out or not…" Ranma asked, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.
"No," Cementoss said, his voice calm as he answered the question. He also used his Quirk to readjust the cement wall he had created. "You did not touch the actual ground, and it was physically connected to being inside; thus, you are still in this match, Saotome."
"Really?" Ranma asked, his mood reversing as he was given the good news. The nods from the two teachers cemented it for him. "Great! Had me worried for a second there!"
Shoto could only gap at the audacity, as Ranma seemed more concerned about losing the match on a technicality than an attack that might have killed him. An attack that would have severely injured most heroes. Yet he had shrugged it off as if it was nothing!
Shoto's mood altered again when Ranma turned his gaze to lock eyes with him, causing him to gulp and his fear to resurface. At that moment, the smirk Ranma gave him would have previously sent his anger off, but it had been buried by the aftermath.
"Nice try, Todoroki! Had me worried there for a second with that technicality, but it didn't work!" Ranma was smiling now, emphasizing how worried he was by closing his eyes. "Though I wish it wasn't ice, almost activated my cu-- Quirk, again! I'm trying to go through the festival in guy form!"
"Wh- what?" Shoto sputtered, taken off-guard once more, his anger resurfacing. "Why are you complaining about your Quirk? I could have killed you!"
Ranma blinked at him, saying nothing for several seconds as they and their observers watched. "From that?" Ranma asked, throwing a thumb over his shoulder at the ice mountain. Shoto nodded. "It wasn't
that bad. Certainly more impressive than what I thought you could do before. You definitely pack some power in that ice Quirk you have."
"The ice could have trapped you and left you without enough oxygen!"
"Eh, I was fine, not that hard to get out of it. Just had to make sure no one else was caught while I was getting out."
"The collapse could have crushed you!"
"Not as bad as a mountain. Those can suck."
"The cold! Hypothermia!"
"I've had worse."
"What the hell is wrong with you, Saotome!" Shoto shouted, trying to understand why he was so cavalier about everything.
"My psychologist said it was some sort of extreme resilience to physical danger, almost too much," Ranma said, shrugging his shoulders. "I tend to require extreme danger to get my adrenaline pumping."
"
That wasn't dangerous to you?" Shoto asked, wondering if he should trust him at his word.
"Nah, I was mostly worried about everyone else. Was glad you had it under control, though," Ranma said, giving him a happy grin.
Shoto was at a loss. His emotions had been on a rollercoaster and
had spiraled out of control, but luckily for him, it hadn't resulted in a disaster. These latest revelations had just resulted in a constant cycle, with no one emotion able to gain control.
"Sooo, look, I can answer your questions later or something, and hopefully, you can tell me what I supposedly did to your dad or whatever, but we should probably get this fight over with. I think people are getting a little impatient," Ranma said, throwing a thumb towards Midnight.
"If you wouldn't mind," Midnight said, tapping a foot to help get warmth into her previously trapped leg.
Shoto's fear resurfaced, realizing he was about to be attacked. He had looked away briefly to look at Midnight, so of course Ranma had used that time to disappear. Considering how often that had happened to him, he knew what was coming and tried to get his right side to spread his ice to defend himself.
"Sorry about this," Ranma said from Shoto's
left.
Shoto's fear spiked further as he felt Ranma grab his left shoulder and arm and lifted him off the ground. His leg was no longer in contact with it and that prevented him from being able to spread his Quirk.
"I'll just go ahead and set you down–"
Shoto hadn't meant to, but with his emotions in such turmoil, his Quirk being overused, being lifted off the ground and being in physical contact made him lash out. Since he couldn't use his right side, he used his right. The side that controlled the other half of his Quirk. The one he had sworn to never use in combat.
Shoto unleashed a burst of flames, akin to a flamethrower in Ranma's face at point-blank range with far too much power. It wasn't as out of control as when he created the mountain of ice or some other attacks, but it was far too much to use on another human.
Shoto felt Ranma drop him but was surprised he was closer to the arena floor than a moment before, and the impact was light. He was able to catch himself on a few chunks of broken ice as he fell. Ranma had already returned him to the middle of the ring so quickly? He had barely felt it.
As for Ranma, he saw the leftover smoke that his flames had created, obscuring where his pigtailed opponent had been. When he was revealed, he wasn't sure how he should feel, as again, the other boy didn't appear to be hurt. He was more worried about his clothes having caught fire and was stamping them out.
"Phew got them all out!" Ranma yelled as he finished inspecting himself. After he was done, he turned and grinned at Shoto. "So you
did have more you could do! Fire and Ice? Oh, you could do some interesting combos with those!"
He didn't know how much more he could take, but a part of him was getting used to Ranma's cavalier nature to danger. "Of course. You're fireproof as well."
"Eh, close enough. But, like I said, you could do some
interesting combos with those. Kind of interested to see if you could pull off a Hiryu Shoten Ha by yourself," Ranma said, thinking deeply about it. Ranma eventually shrugged before smiling at Shoto. "Either way, if you can use fire as well, we can go ahead and–"
"
No."
Ranma blinked in confusion.
"No?" Ranma asked.
Shoto nodded to confirm.
"Why not?"
"Because I made a pledge to become a Pro-Hero
without using that man's Quirk," Shoto growled in anger.
"That man?" Ranma asked, tilting his head as he tried to resolve the puzzle.
"My
father's," Shoto answered yet again.
"You're father's?"
"
Yes."
"Why? And who is your father anyways?"
Shoto's glare shifted, less from anger and more into incredulity. "My father,
Endeavor!" Shoto nearly shouted, getting tired of this.
Ranma adopted a thinking poise for several seconds. "Yeah, I got nothing. No idea who that is."
Shoto almost lost his balance; the ice and mental equilibrium nearly spilled him to the ground. "How can you
not know who Endeavor is? The number two hero in Japan?!"
"... yeah, still nothing," Ranma said, worried about Shoto as he seemed to be having trouble breathing for a moment. "Maybe describe him? Never really paid attention to the leaderboards."
Shoto paused, wondering if this was reality or not, before diving in. "Tall, red hair like mine covers parts of his body in flame, such as his head and beard!" Seeing that it still didn't appear enough for him, he decided to explain another reason he might know him. "He had a case I think you were involved with last year?"
Shoto noticed that
that might have triggered something, as Ranma halted suddenly. His eyes widened and narrowed rapidly as he worked it out. "Ohhhhh! Riiiight! That was that guy's name! Ha! Now I recognize the family resemblance!"
Shoto could hardly believe that was what it took to remember his father, almost taking pleasure in how
forgettable he was to Ranma.
"So, what's your beef with him? He was a little annoying at first, but he seemed pretty cool when he left," Ranma said, curious about why his son had such a problem with him.
"Because of what he did to me, what he did to my
family!" Shoto growled, only partially aware they were technically in a public setting.
"To your family? To you? What'd he do that was so bad?" Ranma asked.
"He created and raised me as a
tool, someone to surpass him. To surpass
All Might! To become the strongest Pro-Hero! All because he
couldn't!" Shoto shouted, his anger getting the better of him at that moment, no longer caring who heard him. "He separated me from my siblings! Trained me excessively since the moment I was born! He tore my family
apart!"
Ranma blinked, appearing to have difficulty processing the information. Most people did when they learned the horrible truth about his family. Part of him hated himself for revealing it here, realizing he was airing some of their dirty laundry like this, especially with how it might impact his brother, sister... and mother. But the other part took some
glee in inflicting pain on the man.
"Sooo…" Ranma started off, "he just trained you hard? I… fail to see the problem."
Shoto couldn't believe it. Ranma was just dismissing it.
"I mean, sure, it can be rough, and probably all sorts of arguments between your parents due to training methods popped up, but it isn't like he took you away for a ten-year training trip, right? You still got to see your mother and your siblings?" Ranma asked, then shrugged, turned his head down and away, and mumbled his opinion. "I'd say you got lucky to know them at all."
At first, Shoto thought Ranma was just being dismissive of him again. But Shoto was intelligent, even if he lacked social interactions, and he was able to barely detect… envy? Why would he–
It suddenly connected for Shoto, something he hadn't seen or recognized in the other boy before. He didn't see the signs because Ranma had reacted differently than he had. His strength, skills, attitude towards combat—all of it suddenly made a great deal of sense to him—because it was like looking in a mirror.
It hit him like one of the martial artist's punches. He didn't know how to respond now, he had so many questions. He was desperate to understand, and this was something he had never felt before. That also meant he was frozen, unwilling to continue this private conversation out in the open like this—not just for his own family but also for Ranma's.
"If you are both done… can you please finish the fight and take your conversation elsewhere?" Midnight asked, getting their attention one more time. "We're waiting."
"Oh, sorry, Sensei!" Ranma said, having turned to her for a moment. He turned back to Shoto with a stern look. "You still want to hold your pledge to not use your fire?"
For a brief moment, Shoto considered
not holding to his pledge. It had nothing to do with fear. He wasn't afraid of Ranma anymore. Even with as much power as he wielded, it didn't scare him anymore. He considered it because he wanted to fight Ranma with
everything he had now. And it wasn't from a desire to win, but because Ranma had wanted it. But… he would hold it. For now.
"Yes," Shoto finally responded.
Ranma smiled at that, confusing Shoto a little further. "Alright, let's get this fight over with."
"Yes–" Shoto said before realizing he had already been picked up and moved. He felt his feet touch the ground casually as Ranma set him down. He blinked and saw Ranma was still grinning.
"Out of bounds!" Cementoss yelled. Shoto looked down and noticed that he had been set down just past the boundary. "Saotome Ranma wins!"
"Why didn't you incapacitate me or hit me to win?" Shoto asked, no anger in his voice, only curiosity.
"Well, if you're having to recover, it's harder to talk, right?" Ranma shrugged his shoulders before looking in another direction. "Besides, we should probably do something about your ice before anyone might get hurt."
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"I can see how Muscular lost to the boy," Sorahiko said, his eyes watching as the two students worked together to safely dismantle the large block of ice. Present Mic and Eraser Head had said there would be a fifteen-minute wait for the next match as they cleared the stadium. Sorahiko also noted that someone was inspecting the top of the stadium, where minor damage was caused to the roofing. "His strength and speed are impressive, but his skill with both is amazing to see in one so young."
Taking a peek to the side, he saw Kota grinning, likely from hearing all the discussions around them praising his sensei and feeling proud of that.
"I don't think you've seen the whole picture yet, Torino-san," Katashi said, catching his fellow retiree by surprise. "Saotome-san, both here and when he faced Muscular, hasn't been challenged. I didn't say that Saotome had beaten Muscular. I said he
humiliated him. Purposefully."
Sorahiko was surprised and confused by the comment. If the boy was still holding back, he could understand that. He understood it better than most, considering who his old friends had been as well as who he had taught how to fight. But to purposely humiliate a villain usually meant they had done something that personally offended you. "Why? He's seeking to become a Pro-Hero, so why would he do something so unprofessional as to humiliate them?"
"First, your presumption that Saotome's primary goal is to be a Pro-Hero is false," Katashi said, causing the other man to be surprised again. "His primary goal is tied to his Quirk, so you will have to forgive me for withholding that for now."
Sorahiko sighed but nodded his acceptance. "Alright, I can accept that. What else?"
"Saotome was brought up to be a martial artist. Not like most that try to use that title, but those of more ancient times and traditions. Before Quirks even appeared," Katashi said. "The kind of environment he grew up in and learned was more of policing your own. If another martial artist stepped out of line, it was your duty to interfere and handle the situation."
"Vigilantism?" Sorahiko asked, raising an eyebrow at such an admission, especially in this day and age with Pro-Heroes. Maybe back in his prime or before, it would be seen in a different light, but as society was now, they wanted and needed to follow the rules.
"Of a sort, but only from our own perspective. They were expected to police their own because many of the skills and techniques they learned could be deadly in the wrong hands. Even in the age of Quirks," Katashi said, then smirked when he saw that Sorahiko didn't believe that last line. "With that, Saotome was taught to treat offenders equal to the offenses."
"His culture of Martial Arts had an expectation of danger to one's life and others who took up their ways. Attacks that would be deadly in nature to normal people would be considered like sparring to him. It was when it would endanger
others, non-combatants and innocent people, that they would step in."
"Alright, I think I am following along for now," Sorahiko said.
"Intent had everything to do with determining how far he was to take action. If your action was an accident and was not from being careless, you might receive a light scolding at most. Carelessness would receive a more stern response, demanding them to stop. Not caring about the consequences of your actions would result in a severe beating. But if you intended to
hurt someone uninvolved or, as in the case with Muscular, tried to kill a clearly beaten opponent, then he would make sure that they would remember it for the rest of their lives."
Sorahiko couldn't fault him for that, finding it to be something he had been tempted to do with several Villains. Though, there was one part of that explanation that did not line up with what he knew. "But Muscular has killed scores of people, especially many civilians, if I remember the information on the man correctly."
"That was the one thing that saved Muscular that day," Katashi said seriously, leveling his eyes with his shorter colleague. "Saotome-san was ignorant of his past crimes. If he had known what he had done to others, Saotome would have left him a broken mass of flesh that could never recover, having more in common with paraplegics. Muscular would have begged for death by the end of it."
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Ranma grumbled as she exited the arena with Shoto at her side. The one downside to trying to melt so much ice was that it tended to turn into its liquid state rather quickly without constant cold. Though it was a minor grumble since it wasn't during the fights and therefore didn't count.
While Shoto didn't react to it other than general curiosity, she did hear and feel more people pointing at her from the audience. At least the reactions to it were still better than what she had gotten in Nerima and leagues better than places outside her old home.
As they entered the hallways leading to the many different rooms that served the arena's purposes, Ranma started looking around and hoping to spot what she was looking for. No such luck.
"What are you looking for?" Shoto asked.
"Ah, looking for a bathroom or kitchen where I can get some hot water," Ranma replied, not spotting it down another path.
"Why?"
"To change back into a guy," Ranma replied, confused as to why he was questioning it.
"Let me rephrase, 'Why do you need hot water to change into a guy?'" Shoto asked again.
Ranma almost retorted angrily when she realized he might not have been around any of the conversations where she had explained the dynamics of her 'Quirk.' "I guess you might not have heard me explain it. I change with cold and hot water; cold changes me into a girl, and hot changes me into a guy," she said as she started hunting for what she needed again.
Shoto raised an eyebrow, another oddity to Ranma added to the many on his list. Though, with Ranma's resistance to temperatures, he wondered if that was how it was achieved. He also realized it was something he could help her with now. "How hot does it need to be? How much do you need?"
Ranma looked at him, wondering why he was asking, but decided to answer. "Around sixty degrees, sometimes less, sometimes more. Usually, a good splash on the head or face is enough, or submerging some of my body. Washing hands isn't usually enough, weirdly."
Shoto nodded. "Cup your hands and hold them out towards me."
Ranma wondered what he was up to but complied. She watched as Shoto used his right side to create a small layer of ice on her skin before it expanded to become an ice crystal that filled her hands. As he brought his left hand up, she finally realized what he was suggesting, which put a massive smile on her face. She watched as he melted the ice and heated it to the desired temperature.
"That's good enough, thanks!" Ranma said, glee in her voice at such a handy solution. It was
so much better than Nerima, where hot-water heaters were a rarity outside of onsens. She dumped the water on her head after leaning forward. He increased in height, hair changed color, and bits of body altered and changed. Inspecting his hands, he was extremely pleased that it had worked. "Wow! That is handy to have around. Almost tempted to sling you over my back as a portable water heater or something!"
Shoto nodded, glad to help his classmate, which surprised him slightly. Though now that they were more alone and Ranma's issue had been dealt with, his curiosity couldn't be held back. "Saotome-san, you said some things that surprised me. You obviously have training, but how were you trained?"
Ranma raised an eyebrow at the wording but shrugged past it. "My old man trained me most of my life, took me on a ten-year training trip. Tended to go from place to place, whether different training grounds, environments, or dojos to challenge."
Shoto had been correct. Ranma had been trained like him, trained from a young age by their fathers. However, from the description, his original guess as to who Ranma's father was wasn't likely. "Did you get to see your mother? Do you have any siblings?"
Ranma finally recognized why he was asking some of these questions, especially in the context of what he had said earlier. Since it wasn't anything he considered sensitive, he didn't mind telling him. "I don't have any siblings, though I call some of my Guardian's that," Ranma said. It was required according to them, otherwise they would pout. Pouting was more difficult for him to deal with than any yelling. "As for my mother, I didn't get to see her until the trip had finished, about two– err, one and a half years ago."
"She let him take you?" Shoto asked, surprised that she would do something like that since the memories of his own mother were to try to protect him from his father's training. "What was she like?"
Ranma winced at the first question. It was loaded and dealt with far too many personal issues. It also brought up other aspects of his mother's personality that were difficult to describe without giving that context. He decided to leave that part out for now.
"She was kind to everyone around her, willing to help others with their lives and households, and a wonderful cook. But she could also be stern when you did something she considered wrong. She was a traditionalist, wearing a kimono all the time and how she interacted with others," Ranma said, smiling at some of his fond memories of her. "As for her letting him take me, her… traditionalist upbringing tended to require her to follow the man of the house's decisions. But even with that, she didn't want to let him do it."
Shoto thought Ranma's mother sounded much like his own. He wondered if the two could have been friends. What would it have been like for the two of them to share their life stories with each other?
"My Old Man had started training me at home, but he didn't like how Mom was 'coddling' me and wanted to get serious about my training. So he wanted to take me on the trip. He proposed it to Mom, but she didn't like it. From what I was told, they had a bit of a fight until he finally convinced her to let him take me with some promises," Ranma said, hoping Shoto wouldn't ask what those promises were.
"They fought?" Shoto asked.
"The way it was explained to me, yeah. He raised his voice and tried to be strict while she hit him over the head with nearby furniture," Ranma said.
Shoto blinked at that, finding it a strange reversal of his own family's history. "Did he hit her?"
"No, he'd never lay a hand on her."
Shoto could only feel a bit of envy, wondering what would have happened with his family if his father had been more like Ranma's. But his father hadn't taken him away from home either. At least not in the way that Ranma had described. "What did your father do? Was he a Pro-Hero?"
Ranma had to pause to remember other people's understanding of his history. "No, he wasn't a Pro-Hero. He did take odd jobs here and there to finance our trip, but he was primarily a martial artist—one of the best in the world. That was what he trained me to be."
"He didn't train you to become a Pro-Hero?" Shoto asked, slightly confused by his assumption having been wrong.
"A Martial Artist can sometimes act like a Pro-Hero, protecting the weak, helping in natural disasters, and stepping in to stop various dangers. But we don't work for an agency or the government, except maybe if they come forward with a request to stop a particular danger," Ranma said with a shrug.
"So they were vigilantes?"
"...kind of? But we didn't go around with costumes or anything, hiding who we were. We tended to wear our training dogi or other appropriate clothing, usually whatever we had on," Ranma said.
Shoto nodded at that. It was something his father wouldn't have been able to do himself, tied to his agency as he was. So far, while he had been taken from home, it seemed that Ranma had received the much better deal. "How did your father train you?"
"Whenever he wasn't busy working, or with me at school, he would train me. Katas, techniques, physical training, sparring, all that. He tried to turn everything into training, from eating, walking from place to place, and more."
"Was he… rough with you? Did he strike you, even when you were young?" Shoto asked, holding his breath for the answer.
"At times, yeah. It hurt like hell most of the time; I was almost always sore and exhausted. But I got used to it and adapted well enough," Ranma answered, grimacing at a few of his oldest memories. "While it is hard to remember some of those times, I think I was really missing my mom and wasn't happy about it. I noticed that the training gave me results, allowing me to do things no one else my age could do. It made it easier to swallow."
"So your father trained your Quirk from such an early age?"
"My Quirk?" Ranma asked, confused as to why he would ask that. "No, he trained me in martial arts. I was a… late bloomer, for my Quirk."
"But when your Quirk did manifest, it made your training easier, didn't it?" Shoto asked.
"No, why would it? I already told you what the deal was with my Quirk at lunch," Ranma said, annoyed at having to bring this up yet again.
Shoto blinked before realizing why Ranma was behaving this way. "I wasn't with everyone else for lunch."
"You weren't?" Ranma asked, thinking it over and quickly realizing he couldn't remember seeing him there. "Oh, right. Ugh… okay, before I go and explain it
again, I gotta make sure no one else in our class has missed it before I tell you. Don't want to have to keep explaining it all the time. Or, hopefully, after the Festival is over."
Finding it acceptable, Shoto nodded his head and let the matter settle for now. He got enough of an idea that Ranma had grown up like him, though with some notable differences.
Ranma continued their slow walk with Shoto before he decided to ask his own question. "So what was that whole deal with your old man? Why did you think I fought him?"
Shoto blinked, not remembering having said Ranma had fought Endeavor. Then he remembered the exact word he had used and realized Ranma had misunderstood him. "I meant you had defeated him, not an actual fight."
"Huh?" Ranma asked. He tried to scratch his head as he went over his encounter with him, not remembering any sort of defeat the man had gone through. Though, maybe there was one. "Are you talking about my one-upping him?"
Shoto raised an eyebrow but decided to give his new friend more context. "Last year, my father changed. Without an explanation, he stopped training me and stepped back from my family, becoming more detached. He told me I could do what I wanted. We could never figure out why."
Ranma blinked. He failed to understand how that connected with his interactions with the man. "Yeah, I've got no idea. Like I said, the only thing I did that could be considered a fight was to 'one-up' him. He was a bit pissed about it, but he settled down. Though he also didn't like my answers when he tried to grill me, he seemed fine with them by the time he left."
It still left too many unanswered questions, and neither of them was able to connect the dots to explain away the change in his father's behavior. Maybe if he was told in more detail what had happened? "How did you meet my father?"
Ranma mulled it over but decided everything but the sensitive details was fine to relay. "Well, it started with me being in the area due to some mishap, but I saw some smoke in the distance…"
-o-0-o--o-0-o-
Katsuki was still slightly drained from his previous match and the required healing. He had just finished chewing the last of his sugar candy as he walked to the arena. He would have to be careful and try to win this next match as quickly and cleanly as possible since the matches past this would be extremely difficult. He didn't want it to impact his endurance for the next matches.
He also knew to be cautious of Ponytail since she hung around and had trained with Forehead. If Glasses and Sparky were any measuring stick, he should expect her to be devious. With the amount of things that Ponytail could make, he could face a range of different items. He wasn't worried about much since his Quirk could destroy most of the things she might use, but it was still something to be cautious of.
"We have two more standouts for our third match for the second round!" Present Mic said. "The boy that has refused to quit and has shown a tremendous drive and talent, there's Bakugo Katsuki!"
Katsuki grinned at the introduction, finding it fit him rather well.
"Versus… the girl with the Quirk who can create almost anything, a certified genius, and rightfully deserved her recommendation to U.A., we have Yaoyorozu Momo!"
Ponytail didn't respond to their sensei's introduction. Instead, she was calmly standing there and focusing on him. She had a plan, which meant she was predicting his movements and how to respond to them. And as their sensei had said, she was a genius. His best shot was getting close to her and overwhelming her like he had done to Uraraka.
"Ready?"
Katsuki spread his legs and readied himself. Ponytail did something similar.
"Start!"
Katsuki flung some of his sweat forward as an opening to launch an attack. He wasn't surprised to see her create some heavy cloth from her arms and throw it at the oncoming sweat. What did surprise him was that when it intercepted his attack mid-air, his sweat didn't explode, except for minor explosions from a few droplets that were not captured.
While she had done that, she had loosened her shirt and released multiple balls from around her waist that fell to the ground on all sides of her. Katsuki wondered what they were as they rolled away. He considered trying to counter them, but his eyes traced back to her as she had thrown another object his way. He looked up just in time to find a grenade flying through the air towards him. He didn't want to risk letting it go off near him, so he used his Quirk to intercept the grenade. This resulted in him having to turn away and wince. The bright flash of light and slight ringing in his ears told him it was a flashbang.
He was used to such things, his Quirk giving him a heavy amount of resistance to both, but it was still a bit brighter and the sound harsher than usual. He could see well enough that those small balls were smoke bombs, as they all went off simultaneously and created a massive plume of smoke, making it impossible to see a meter in front of him.
He made a significant enough shockwave to disperse some of the smoke using his Quirk, but it wasn't as effective as he would have liked. The biggest issue, however, was that she wasn't visible from her previous position. He was about to step forward and repeat the process when he heard and felt more grenades land around him, one right in front of his face.
They all went off at the same time, creating a deafening shriek of noise that nearly took out his hearing, the flash was enough to sting his eyes and leave him temporarily blinded. Even in the midst of suffering from her attacks, he knew that he needed to move. Now!
His spatial awareness was strong, as he needed it to safely perform many maneuvers with his Quirk. He knew where he was even while blinded and deafened. He sprinted to the side, getting some space from his previous position. And it was good he had, as he had felt
something large brush against his leg just as he had moved.
Due to the smoke and his other senses being dulled, he didn't know what it was. Considering who he was facing, it was likely to be some sort of net or capture device intended to incapacitate him or drag him away while he was disoriented. It would have worked if those grenades had been more effective on him or if he had been too stupid to figure out how to escape. She would use the opportunity to hit him with more stuff as he tried to escape. She'd been having it her way so far in this fight, and he would not let that continue.
"Yaoyorozu has opted for a game of hide and seek! Who knows what is happening here, folks? That smoke cloud has really obscured the arena. Something is happening, and it's best to keep your eyes peeled!" Present Mic said over the speaker system, giving Katsuki a better grasp of how large an area she had covered.
After putting a little space between his previous positions, Katsuki took an approach most of them wouldn't think he would do. He walked silently as he hunted for her, moving towards where he heard the hissing noises of the smoke grenades that continued to put out some smoke. He found one, picked it up, and threw it out of the arena, hoping to slowly reduce her area of operation. He made his way to the next grenade, about to repeat the action when he was attacked again.
This time, he heard a loud thump sound before he found himself hit hard in the stomach by some kind of round object. Katsuki grunted, forced back, and held his stomach in pain. Katsuki focused beyond the pain, moving a meter away and listening closely to where the sound had come from. He heard another thumping noise, trying to trace the noise and see it with his eyes when it would pass his previous– "Shit!"
This one had hit him directly in the torso, and he nearly toppled over. His breathing was rough for a few seconds as he tried to figure out how the hell she had done that while moving away from his previous position. He waited and heard another thump after a few seconds before diving to the side, barely avoiding another passing object. He searched the ground where he had been hit the second time and found a small sandbag that had broken open.
She was hitting him with sandbags and had accurately predicted his motions three times in a row? Yeah, no. Another thump forced him to dodge again, ensuring he wasn't too close to the boundaries. Moving to the boundaries to invite her attack would be foolish without figuring out how she was doing it.
She wasn't physically strong enough, and her Quirk dealt with creating things, so it was obviously some sort of launcher. Considering the size and weight of the bags and the speed, it was a portable cannon of some kind that allowed her to easily guide it. That would require it to be bulky and possibly stationary. While he hadn't figured out how her aim was so good, he could at least track where the projectiles came from.
And now, another excellent little bit of training he had gone through under Peter was knowing how fast sound and
shockwaves could travel. As well as estimating the speeds of other objects as a side benefit. He was surprised when he started to be able to do those calculations in his head more accurately and quickly than he had before.
Using that training now, he had the approximate direction but not the distance. He listened again, careful, for the next thump. This time, he ducked, hugging the ground closely as he estimated how much time had passed since he heard it, and then observed the bag of sand that shot over his head. It traveled around forty to fifty kilometers per hour, and the bag was around the size of a softball.
Considering she had to be careful not to fatally wound him, she had limited herself to such speeds. Slower speeds meant that the launcher wasn't nearly as loud, making it harder to track. However, it was slower and thus easier to dodge, so give and take. Either way, he crunched the numbers, finding the attack had taken about one point four seconds difference, placing her at just over eighteen meters away. But the sound also took time to get to him, which, when you estimated the speed differences, netted you just shy of adding four percent to the distance, to barely under nineteen meters away.
Now that he had a direction and distance, Katsuki flung some of his sweat in the direction, visualizing the distances involved in his head and the travel times. He sprinted forward, hoping to use any opening this might create. He grinned when he heard her yelp. His sweat set off a small explosion just to her side, breaking
just enough of the smoke to catch a glimpse of her arm.
He wanted to see more, so he shoved a hand forward and used his Quirk to clear more smoke. The explosion ripped and cleared the smoke between him and her, allowing him to glimpse her over-the-shoulder cannon and some sort of helmet he couldn't make out well because the cannon blocked his view. She had fallen to one side, thrown off balance from his first explosion, and he dived for her with a feral grin!
This is when his peripheral vision saw an object become visible on the ground, his second explosion clearing enough to see part of it appear. He panicked, using his Quirk and his body to stop and reverse his forward momentum just as part of his foot touched down on it.
As his weight had pressed down, he felt the trap activate as a capture net sprang up, catching his leg and dragging him upwards. The arms of the device lifted the net and its intended target into the air, leaving him dangling on the side of the net. Katsuki scrambled to get out of it, pulling his body up to get at his trapped ankle.
His hand came up, about to use his Quirk, when he heard another thump. Katsuki tried to dodge and turtle up to reduce the chances of a sandbag hitting something vital like his head. It hit one of his shoulders, resulting in loud grunting and losing track of what he was working on for a moment. But he barrelled past it fast enough and activated his Quirk by the netting near his foot so that it was destroyed. Just in time too as he heard another thump as he dropped towards the ground, his other hand catching and pushing him off the ground with better-than-normal strength.
Now on the ground, he listened carefully for the next thump as he finished removing the destroyed netting from around his ankle, freeing it in time for the next one. Ponytail had moved, putting more distance between the two of them. He still barely dodged in time, as correcting for the new direction had nearly been too much for him if she had remained the same distance away.
Listening closely, he could faintly hear her footsteps as she maneuvered to a new spot. She was likely either setting up or moving to another trap she had prepared. It depended on how quickly she launched her next attack, as the sooner it was, the more likely she had another one set up in advance.
He used this time to solve one of the enigma's of her tactical advantage. She
clearly knew his position, even how his body was placed, and could accurately shoot at him with her launcher. He hadn't seen any sight on it, so it wouldn't likely be her weapon. Sound
might work, but he wasn't familiar with any echolocation technology that wasn't a support gear item and extremely finicky. While it was possible, he thought it unlikely. Normal light was obviously blocked, but there were more types of light than what was visible.
Another thump and another dodge. Katsuki just focused back on the problem and waited for more attacks.
He had seen something on her head in that brief moment, which was probably what allowed her to see. He grinned when it came to him. Thermal sights. It could detect infrared through the smoke, enabling her to see him clearly enough. She was rich and clever enough to create her own after getting her hands on some schematics, which would be far more easily acquired than an echolocation device.
He didn't know them very well, but if she was using goggles, then her peripheral vision would be poor. He didn't have an ideal way to hide from it or move fast enough where she shouldn't see—not with him not being able to see her himself. But his Quirk put out a bit of heat when it was used, like most explosions. He could use that.
Katsuki waited patiently for the next attack. He didn't have to wait long. Another thump, this one to his side, told him where she was. He backed up, avoiding the attack, before cupping both hands in front of him. Moving them together to focus the majority of the energy released in a singular direction he set off a more powerful blast than usual. He had braced himself, prepared as well as he could, and watched as the smoke dissipated, blown back by his attack, far enough to reveal Ponytail and beyond.
She recoiled, the shockwave knocking her back, her eyes turned away. Katsuki grinned, scanning and finding the multiple traps she had set up before he started sprinting toward her.
When she turned her gaze back towards him, Katsuki held a hand in her direction and performed his little trick of multiple minor explosions going off rapidly. His 'sparkler,' as Pigtailed Bastard liked to call him. It was working somewhat as she struggled looking at him. It wouldn't blind her like night-vision goggles would, but it should make it far harder to identify parts of his body. She probably didn't realize how much of the smoke had been removed if she was concentrating on just trying to see him. She started stepping to the side as if disappearing into the smoke from some of the smoke grenades still present, but there wasn't enough to hide her properly.
He grinned and kept moving as if he were going after her previous position. She lined up a shot at close range to hit him in the side, so he waited until she was prepared. Right before she shot, he dove backward and then towards her, his hand readjusting to blind her again.
It caught her off-guard, and he was too close, so she dropped the cannon into his path and pushed her goggles up. She tried to drop more smoke pellets to disappear, but he used another explosion to fling them away and throw her off balance. As he neared grappling range, she formed two more items, one from each hand; a sword and a cattle prod, shown by the momentary burst of electricity sparking off the end.
He had to avoid her one-handed swing, not wanting to get sliced and also not risking diving in while she still held the prod. He dodged a few more swings while continuing to press her before he moved in, his hand setting off a focused explosion at the blade. The shockwave redirected the momentum, sending the blade wide, and his other hand moved in towards her chest. The cattle prod took the bait, and he ducked down while grabbing her wrist. He kicked at her knee, causing her to cry out in pain and topple. He held her by the wrist, dragging her closer to him so she was flat on the ground.
When she looked up, she found one of his hands held close to her head, lightly crackling with his Quirk. He was also sporting his feral grin, daring her to do anything but surrender. It seemed she knew when she was good and caught. Her muscles relaxed, and she called out to the referees.
"I surrender."
Katsuki stood up; his grin had disappeared as he rubbed the sore points on his body and moved his joints around. "You're a pain in my ass, Yaoyorozu."
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Izuku fidgeted as he waited for his match, reading and re-reading every little note he had made on Sakura since that first day. She wasn't as overt about it as Ranma was, but she fell within a similar class of speed and strength that he did. From the respect that Ranma gave her, his desire to fight her, and Izuku's growing appreciation of technique, Sakura was certainly a formidable opponent.
He had researched ninjas after Ranma had mentioned it, finding various discussions on what they could do or their fighting styles. They were masters of deception, often tricking or misleading their opponents into traps and taking them out in ambushes. Everything they did tended to factor into it, from disguises, stealth, poisons, and more.
A master of deception, while powered by a Quirk like hers and her physical capabilities, was a nightmare to consider. He had already noted she could manipulate the ground and water, with some texts suggesting other elements were utilized by ninjas of the past. He had to keep that in mind as a possibility.
Then there was her ability to trick people's minds. Izuku had heard Ranma say she had sent her energy into them, causing a disruption of their internal energies that she then used to manipulate their senses. He didn't know how far or strong they were, but he had to be cautious. Thinking about it further, he got an idea that might allow him to counter it, so he gripped his pencil and noted it.
While he worked through and thought of ways she could use her Quirk, he still came back to two primary problems. He saw no workaround without severely injuring himself. And that was against just her speed and strength, things he would generally have some advantage in.
Her insane strength to smash
multiple Zero-pointers with a single punch, something he had nearly crippled himself doing with just one arm. He had noted something to her technique, wondering if it was something he could do with his own Quirk, but he wouldn't have the time to test it. He might attempt it if he couldn't win without it.
He continued working on it, making small notes here and there for possibilities and possible counters. Extrapolating further out from his observations. It got so involved that he didn't realize how much time was passing until he heard voices outside of the room.
He turned when he heard them but couldn't make out any words or who they were other than being male. Their identities were revealed when the door opened, and Ranma walked in. He noticed Shoto was waiting outside the room, not quite his ordinarily calm and detached self but seeming to be struggling with a few emotions. Izuku couldn't quite identify it, and given the perplexed pinch of his brow neither could the other boy.
"Sup, Izuku," Ranma said as he walked by and headed towards his locker. "Just getting something out of my locker. I'll be out of your hair in a sec."
"Ummm, sure, Ranma-kun," Izuku said, wondering what that was about. He had seen their match, incredible as it was, before rushing out as soon as it was called. While he would have liked to have watched Kacchans, he needed to go over his notes in preparation.
He turned back, mumbling, hoping he hadn't forgotten to think of anything. It didn't take long before Ranma had finished and walked past him again.
"Oh, don't forget Kawarimi," Ranma said as he walked past, "and don't underestimate the clones."
"Huh? Body Replacement?" Izuku asked, turning towards where Ranma was walking away. "What do you mean?"
Ranma halted, tilting his head back to look at him, and saw that Izuku didn't know what he was talking about. He turned around and crossed his arms as he explained it.
"Kawarimi is a technique ninja's use to fake out, to make you think they haven't moved or that they have. Tends to be used right before it looks like you just landed a great attack on them, so you might end up realizing the truth slower than normal," Ranma said with a shrug of his shoulders. "When I use it, I'd leave my clothes behind, propped up or filled with nearby objects to make it seem like you are still there. One more method is if you are near someone, close enough that they are touching you but turn away for a moment, you can substitute yourself with an object nearby like Buddha or Tanuki statues."
Izuku grabbed his pencil and started writing, but when some of Ranma's words filtered in, he wondered how or why Ranma had used such techniques before. But as many of those in his club had learned to do, when that happened, don't ask.
"Right," Izuku said as his mind returned to the matter. "So you think she knows that technique?"
Ranma snorted before answering. "She used it on Parker's friend, changing spots with that clone of hers. She was very subtle about it; I barely noticed it. And don't forget what she did after the villains tried to hit All Might, where she either teleported or moved so fast I couldn't tell which."
Izuku nodded, his eyes wide as he thought of all the combinations you could perform with such capabilities and how to counter them. He wrote for a few seconds, and Ranma calmly waited for him to do so. He then turned back to his friend and asked about the other half of his warning. "What did you mean about underestimating the clones?"
"I think she can make different kinds of clones if what I sensed was correct; some might be pure illusions, while others might have, uh, whatchacallit, substance. I had one old friend who was a kunoichi, and she could create at least four real bodies for a brief period," Ranma said before pointing behind him with his thumb. "I've got to get going, so good luck on your match! I think Sparkler and Yaoyorozu just finished, so it should be soon."
"Thank you, Ranma-kun!" Izuku said, scrambling to insert the new data into his booklet. He heard the door close and heard their muffled voices for a moment before things became peaceful once more. Izuku finished his notes about a minute later, breathing a sigh of relief with a small smile at accomplishing that. He was still worried about the fight, but he had more data to go off of and felt more confident in it. Now he just nee–
The bark of laughter outside his room broke him out of his thoughts. It dwindled for a moment before it got even louder and didn't appear to end. Deciding that now was as good of a time as any, he put his notebook away in his locker and exited the room.
What he found was different from any scene he had expected to see. Ranma stood nearby with his arms crossed, clearly amused as he held his phone. He looked down at Todoroki, who was laughing louder than he had ever seen anyone laugh before. He held his gut and constantly pounded on the ground before rolling onto his back and doing it again.
Izuku was lost as he looked to Ranma, hoping he would shed some light on what was going on. All he got was a smirk that told him he wasn't getting an answer from him any time soon.
Izuku sighed before walking towards the arena for his next match.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Ahhh, poor Momo!" Mina cried out as her friend was taken down, her hands grabbing the sides of her face near the hairlines. "And she had worked so hard to come up with something to beat him!"
"Using thermal sights along with the smoke was a nice plan," Peter said, his arms crossed as he watched Katsuki walk away while Momo was getting up. "But I think she'd need a more robust pair that offers another vision type or two so she wouldn't be caught off-guard with something like her no longer being obscured. Probably best to have some software with pre-configured options for detecting environmental factors around you."
Most of the classmates turned to stare at him. They still found it odd that a super genius who could make incredible pieces of support gear on his own was in their class.
"The launcher was a good choice too, considering the limitations she puts on herself regarding her Quirk, but I think a different type of ammo would have been better," Peter said, his head lost in space as he thought of different possibilities. He didn't do it as often as their resident mumbler, but he could really get into it. The fact that their resident mumbler tended to write down everything Peter said was something they ignored. "If she had used something that functioned as a net or adhesive, it might have been a better choice. Or some sort of electrical shock. There aren't many good chemicals she could use to counter his Quirk from working, at least nothing that could be safely used around humans."
Ochako sighed, feeling sympathy for Momo's attempts. Then her thoughts drifted to the next match, wondering and hoping Izuku could pull off a win. Not because she didn't like their Class Representative but because she was closer to Izuku. She turned and gave Toru a weak smile when she felt her friend's hand land on her shoulder, giving her what support she could.
"Don't worry, Izuku-kun is strong and tends to find ways to win," Toru said.
"I'm not sure if it will make a difference," Fumikage said, his arms crossed as he stared at the arena, though his eyes did glance in their direction. "Haruno is strong too, but she is also brilliant. We never once came close, with any of our tactics or tricks, to tagging her during training."
"Yeah," Denki said, his smile waning at the memories and comparing them to his fight with the boy. "Izuku's sneaky, but Haruno is in another league of sneakiness."
"That doesn't mean Midoriya-kun can't win!" Toru roared, trying to defend her friend.
"There is a difference between can and likely, Hagakure-san," Peter added. "Of course, he
could win, but the likelihood is not good even if he could use the kind of strength he's used a couple of times. Or the strength he reportedly used at the Practical Exam on the Zero-pointer."
The others turned to him, wondering what specifically he was talking about. Peter simply raised an eyebrow at the odd looks he received.
"What do you mean, Peter?" Eijiro asked. He suspected she would outclass his training buddy, but he would root for Izuku either way.
"Midoriya-san's new at this, even if he is good at it and picking things up quickly," Peter said. His words were obviously different from the answer they were looking for. "Look, I've been around some real professionals before. I watched up close how they worked and their attitude on and off the field. Izuku is a quick learner, has some brains, a strong Quirk, and has been getting better control of it lately, but Haruno also has all of that. Haruno also gives me the same feeling as the best of those professionals - a calm confidence that comes with a boatload of experience. That kind of experience is something that can punch beyond your own weight class."
"Parker-san is correct," Tenya said from his seat. He looked out at the field with a stern gaze, eager to see the next match. "My brother was impressed by Haruno-san's experience and said it outclassed his own, and he has been a Pro-Hero for nearly a decade."
Those who didn't know Sakura very well were surprised by that admission. Especially as more of them learned of Ingenium's rising success.
"Also, while Midoriya-san has hidden depths of strength, it is mostly strength he can not use consistently without injuring himself. Haruno-san, however, has yet to truly show any of us what she can really do. We have only ever seen glimpses of her strength."
"Wh-what?" Rikido asked him after he and the others were caught off guard by Tenya's comment. "Are you saying she's even stronger than when she took out four giant robots with a single punch?"
Tenya turned to their large classmate, one of the few in their class taller than him. He smiled as he adjusted his glasses. "Yes. Vastly so, if I have inferred the discussions about her from my brother and others correctly."
The class could only gape at Tenya's claim, watching as their studious and serious classmate turned his attention back to the field as the two fighters entered the ring.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Toshinori listened as his co-workers talked about the next match, wondering what else the Haruno girl would reveal to them. She always seemed to have a new ability or trick up her sleeve, tricks which didn't feel like it came from any one specific Quirk. Most of them were beginning to accept the explanation on her Quirk registry, though they were lost on how that was possible.
Toshnori was worried as his successor entered the field. He had mixed feelings about the coming match—not about who he hoped would win or anyone's safety, but about the plethora of emotions he felt revolving around Young Haruno.
He had witnessed her strength and skill on multiple occasions, seeing her tackle any challenge put in front of her with ease. She was kind and brilliant, cared about her Classmates and those around her, took care to protect them to the best of her ability, and showed real leadership skills. She was also stern and focused on the tasks in front of her.
Her relation to Recovery Girl had caught him by surprise, but he realized it was a good fit due to Haruno's skills and abilities as a medic. Recovery Girl was one of the few people in the world who both knew the real him and his secrets. She wasn't afraid to take him to task when he screwed up but also understood why he did what he did and acted as a shoulder for him to cry on years ago. There were few he could open up to about his fears and thoughts after harsh fights, but she was always one he cherished.
All Might thought he would feel at ease around Haruno, and for a time, he had, but some of her actions left him confused and wary. Saotome's mention of her being a ninja and how she fought - cleaving off the hand of the Villain's leader and then holding him at knifepoint and another with a literal explosive attached to his neck, disturbed him.
But it was her eyes that sent shivers down his back. In those moments, her eyes did not look like those of a child.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Start!"
Izuku remained where he was, careful to observe Sakura as best as he could, taking care not to rush off. It seemed Sakura was perfectly willing to let him, standing there and looking relaxed, doing a few exercises to prepare her joints. Izuku wouldn't rate himself an expert, but he could at least sense it was a deception.
While the arena was open, Izuku knew not to rely heavily on what he was seeing. He was focusing on his other senses to identify disruptions and inconsistencies. He didn't know how her illusions functioned per se, but he knew she could do things like falsify senses while also making things that appeared real.
After she didn't do anything for a while, he felt sure she was already actively preparing for an attack. Sakura seemed too relaxed, waiting for him to make a move, which Ranma tended to do.
Izuku activated his Full Cowl, pushing it to six percent, and then focused on forcing his Quirk to cycle through his body quick– below!
Izuku felt the rumble and movement from beneath him, making him jump back a meter as something popped out of the ground. It was Sakura! Rising into the air, her fist was reared back and was—not real. Izuku almost didn't see it at first, but part of the illusion broke down. Somehow, he could see the Earth
wasn't moving from her exit. Izuku didn't dodge, instead he closed his eyes and focused on increasing his Full Cowl to cycle through his body yet again.
When he reopened his eyes, he caught the last glimmers of the illusion about to hit him as it faded to nothing. His eyes focused on the Sakura waiting around, and he found her fading into nothing.
Izuku dashed forward as fast as he could, turning and finding what was likely the real Sakura, her fist smashing the ground where he had been moments before. She had been behind him! With signs to show that this technique could alert him to her illusions, he tried to keep it constantly moving as he focused on what he hoped was the real Sakura.
As she looked at him, Sakura was grinning, pulled her fist out of the concrete, and stood up properly. "Well, well, well! It's been some time since someone was able to cancel my Genjutsu! Well done, Midoriya!"
Izuku took a deep breath but didn't let himself lapse in controlling his cycles. "Umm, thank you, Haruno-san?" Izuku responded hesitantly. He hoped it was real and not another fakeout.
Sakura laughed before she started walking to the side, making Izuku wonder what she was doing before he realized the significance. Taking a chance, he ceased cycling his Full Cowl as heavily, watching as Sakura disappeared from her previous spot and looked to still be standing where she was before. His eyes darted back and forth before he increased the cycles again. Izuku's eyes widened as a fist was about to collide with his head. He barely saved himself by ducking followed by a minor sidestep, and then throwing a fist with as much force as he could at her midsection.
His fist didn't make contact with its target. Instead, it was caught in the palm of Sakura's hand and didn't budge. She closed it on his fist, and her smirk widened as she sang, "Got you!"
She pulled him off balance, her strength easily outclassing his own as he was pulled towards her. He was glad he had already had something like this happen to him before, his other hand reaching out and catching her wrist. He wasn't surprised he couldn't stop her, so Izuku instead used it as a point to pivot his body upwards and upside down, a more natural rotation since he had to cross over the arm that had been captured to grab hers.
Sakura wasn't worried, looking more pleased than anything as he kicked out toward her face in a straight kick from his awkward position, hoping the speed would be enough to at least tag her. Her head bobbed out of the way, his foot touching a few strands of hair. Her eyes tracked to the two strands of hair his kick had separated, and– oh crap. She was grinning like Ranma when he got excited!
He felt her redirect his momentum by the pull of his hand that held his fist, rocketing him towards the ground. He tried to pull a stunt like what Ranma had done to him, where you got your feet under you before impact, but he was only able to prevent his entire body from smashing into the concrete, causing it to crack, landing on one of his knees badly. Izuku winced at the pain.
As soon as his mind realized he should try to counterattack and get out of her grip it was too late as he felt himself spinning. Sakura flung him around with one hand before releasing him. He sailed through the air, realizing the ground was coming up far too quickly and that it was cement. He rolled with the impact, remembering his research and training, bleeding off his momentum enough before he reached down and stopped himself, a hand resting on the ground and his feet beneath him as he slid the last little bit.
He had no time to do anything but dive to the side, her fist hitting the ground where he had been an instant before. He focused on cycling his Full Cowl again, in case it was another illusion, but nothing changed. He had to dive out of her warpath several more times, barely able to focus on her before he had to dodge her again. He couldn't keep this up! She was too fast and strong, like an unstoppable tank he could barely avoid. He had to change the parameters but he barely had time to think!
He repeated the rapid dodges, but the ground became uneven and risky. There was a good chance he might trip. When he felt he didn't have any time left, he took a risk. Instead of dodging backwards or to the sides right after a dodge, he moved inwards. His fist shot towards her stomach, but her hand was also moving to intercept it.
For just an instant, he stopped focusing on cycling his Quirk. Instead, while the rest of his body still had Full Cowl running, he put more strength into the arm than before. He used fifteen percent, hoping the sudden increase in speed would be enough. Her hand was a hair too late to stop his fist as it smashed into her belly, and all of the force was directed into her.
Which, to his dismay, was when she puffed out of existence! What just happened? He had been cycling his Quirk, preventing the illusions from impacting him! He looked around but found that the ground and everything else around him was real; the ground really was beat up. But Sakura was nowhere in sight!
He searched for her, yet he couldn't find her anywhere. He considered that she was underground again, but she was tricky and repeating the same tactics she had previously displayed seemed too obvious of a move after all of this. Instead, he thought about what else she might be doing. What other ways did she have to hide herself?
Izuku heard Present Mic and the audience trying to figure out what had happened, too, but he ignored them.
It wasn't an illusion, probably, and she wasn't likely hidden underground. He checked all the corners, randomly moving his head, listening for small noises or brush of air movement. He looked up and to the sides, trying to see if she was somehow elsewhere, but he couldn't find her.
Then Izuku remembered what Ranma had done during the U.S.J. attack, where he, well, she, at the time, had seemed nearly impossible to sense. Sakura had done something similar during the Battle Training, sneaking up on Kyoka and Denki like she had. Even Kota had done something similar, sneaking up and hitting Ranma with a water balloon.
What was it Ranma had said about it? '
She reduced her presence significantly, so your senses would have difficulty detecting her. So even if you glanced her way, your brain and other senses would discount it as irrelevant.' It made him think of camouflage, where you can't just rely on what you think you see.
Izuku took a deep breath, concentrating his focus to ensure he did
not just dismiss something and observed the areas properly. He looked around and then decided to start on the corners, staring at them and willing himself not to look away. When he was looking at the second corner, he found her sitting with her legs crossed and her eyes closed.
He kept her in sight as he reached down to the broken concrete and pulled a piece of rubble loose. He then tossed it towards her, more interested in testing if she was real than trying to hurt her. She casually caught it, causing the audience to respond in shock as they suddenly realized she was there.
Sakura smiled as she held the chunk of cement before standing, her legs pushing her off the ground easily with no hands needed. "Nicely done, Midoriya," Sakura said. "I was curious if you could counter the illusions or take on my clone, and you did wonderfully."
"Haruno-san," Izuku called her name, giving it a slight pause. With how she was treating this fight and what he knew she could do, she likely could have easily ended the battle before this. "You're
scary!"
Sakura burst into giggles for a moment, genuinely smiling at him. "Why thank you, Midoriya! You certainly know how to compliment a girl!" Her giggles returned as his cheeks tinted red, his eyes leaving hers briefly.
Sakura started to slowly walk towards him, making it easier to speak. "Excellent job countering my Genjutsu, as my clone already told you. Finding the real me was also an impressive feat; not many people have been able to do that. But your use of your Quirk to take out my clone was well done. It reminds me loosely of one of the techniques that my sensei taught me. Tell me, did you figure it out on your own, did Ranma assist you, or did you do it by observing someone else?"
Izuku remained focused on her but decided he could answer it. "A bit of all three," Izuku said, keeping himself ready for when she would resume the fight. "Ranma had mentioned there were ways to boost his abilities temporarily, even specific limbs. I thought of trying to do that with my Quirk and then realized you might be doing something similar."
"Excellent, Midoriya," Sakura said as she stopped about five meters away, happy the other boy was doing well. In her opinion, he would have made a fine ninja with his ability to analyze and adapt to situations. He loosely reminded her of a few close friends she dearly missed. "Hmmm, as a prize for doing so well, I'll give you a tip. Your Quirk, as it currently stands, damages you far too much, which you obviously know and have tried to limit. You need to focus on building that energy, only to unleash it at the exact point of impact. It takes a great deal of control to do something like that, so be careful when you practice!"
Izuku thought of her suggestion, finding it might be something he could use. Maybe even in this match? Sakura seemed willing to let him digest it for the time being, and when he finished, she spoke again. "Well, I think it is time I took things up a notch. And this next round of fighting, no tricks. So no illusions or clones."
Izuku narrowed his eyes at her, watching her for a moment before responding. "And why should I believe you?"
Sakura looked hurt at his question, saddened he would think such a thing of her. "What? Why wouldn't you believe me?" Sakura asked.
"Ninja."
Sakura grinned at him. "Good! Always be careful of people making promises like that, especially when there's potentially anything suspicious about them. Oh, and
duck."
Izuku did as she suggested, feeling the air from the fist barely missing the back of his head before he dived to the side as the Sakura in front of him kicked as a follow-up, forcing him back again. They paused to let him absorb the situation, now finding himself up against
two Sakura's. Two that felt
very real. Cycling his Full Cowl showed him his senses likely weren't lying to him.
Both Sakuras attacked, pushing him to his limits, as one was always already in the position he would dodge to escape the other. She was showing him that she was easily predicting his movements, but she was prolonging the fight purposefully. That she was in control. But that didn't mean he couldn't win!
His thoughts on how to fight back were interrupted by his being too slow. He received a series of powerful attacks, each of which would have sent him reeling if the next one wasn't already there to keep him up. After the fifth such attack, Sakura relented, his body crashing and sliding on the ground from the force of the roundhouse kick she had given him, one of his arms barely getting in the way of the blow.
Izuku winced as he rested there momentarily before turning to find both Sakuras patiently waiting. He took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to ignore the pain for the time being, and got to his knees and then to his feet. He didn't think anything had broken, but it had absolutely hurt.
He used the moment to think and knew he only had one shot. He'd have to use the technique Sakura had discussed and hope she didn't try to use some additional ninja tricks. He doubted he would get more than one chance, so Izuku had to ensure he targeted the real Sakura. He just needed to figure out which of them she was.
Sakura resumed her attack, one of the clones diving in first while the other moved to flank him. She was closing the distance in a flash, barely giving him time to respond, but he reacted by putting a tremendous spike of power into his legs and leaped at the Sakura who had done the follow-up. He had put quite a bit into it, causing his legs to sting terribly, more so than his previous match. The speed increase had let him close the distance before she could do more than put a hand in front of his fist to catch it again like she had earlier.
But this time, he focused far more of his Quirk on the exact point of impact, forcing the energy to collect there instead of in the rest of his arm like usual. His blow was the strongest he had ever used, only eclipsed by the one from the practical exam.
A crack rang out as the air was suddenly displaced by a tremendous force that felt like galeforce winds to those in the stands; some of them were forced back in their seats as they protected their faces with their arms. Sakura herself was blown backward, the blow stronger than she had anticipated as she smashed into the wall just below the audience, cratering it with her back.
Izuku's eyes widened in shock, along with the audience at the sudden turn of events. Sakura was out of bounds! He had done it!
"Oh, what an upset! Midoriya has pulled off a miracle!"
Izuku's excitement grew as Present Mic was announcing the results. That is until he briefly felt a hand on his back before he flew after her. The Sakura that had hit the wall, still stuck to it, was now sticking her tongue out at him and giving him a peace sign as he sailed towards her. She didn't even move out of the way as he smashed into– through her and hit the wall. He fell to the ground a moment later.
"Whaaat?" Present Mic called out, shocked like the rest of the audience. "It seems that Haruno has deceived us yet again and has won the match!"
Izuku collapsed, disappointed that he had let All Might and his friends down. He had hoped to come out on top but had been beaten.
"You okay, Midoriya?" Sakura asked as she stepped closer to him.
Izuku looked up at Sakura and saw her look of concern. He started rising to his knees but found his legs were not up to the task. "Ow!"
"Go ahead and just rest for now, Midoriya," Sakura said as she looked to the side. He also turned, seeing a pair of the school's robots approaching him with a stretcher. "Good job. That last hit wasn't perfect since you did damage your hand. Though, for a first attempt with that technique, you did well! You might have won if you had picked the real me instead."
Izuku looked down at his hand, only now feeling how busted it was. It only looked and felt as if he had smashed his fist into a steel door though instead of the warped mound of flesh he'd made of it before.
Izuku sighed but nodded his head in acknowledgment.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Eijiro winced when Izuku smashed through the other Sakura and into the wall. "She really is a ninja, isn't she?"
"
Yes."
The students present turned and looked at the members of Sakura's training group as they had all responded affirmatively in unison. Those more observant noticed it was a kind of tired acceptance of that fact, with Peter and Katsuki chuckling or grinning in mirth.
"What surprises me," Fumikage said, getting the others' attention, "was that Midoriya appears to have been able to break past some of her illusions and found her on the field. None of us were able to achieve that in the end."
"Oh, yeah! It was amazing that he was able to do that!" Mina said excitedly. "We'll have to ask him how he did it. Maybe then we can also break out of her illusions!"
"That would be nice," Kyoka answered, a little joy appearing as she thought of that possibility.
"So Haruno won?"
Kyoka turned to the voice and saw Shoto walking down the stairs to them. "Yes, though Midoriya put up a far better fight than expected."
Shoto nodded as he walked down the rest of the steps and found his seat.
"Are you okay, Todoroki?" Kyoka asked since her previous opponent was still acting detached.
Shoto turned to her and saw her concern. "I am fine, Jiro. Thank you."
Kyoka watched him, trying to see if he was lying to them or himself, but she couldn't detect anything. In fact, he seemed calmer than usual. "Did you resolve your problems with Saotome?"
"Yes, I did," Shoto said. His twitching face, the upward tilt of his mouth, and his relaxing eyes told her he was pleased with the results.
Kyoka smiled in turn, glad that it appeared he had figured things out. She had only heard bits and pieces of what they had talked about, but it obviously had been important to him.
Shoto turned back to her but also looked at the rest of her classmates as he spoke. "About Saotome, he seemed annoyed that I hadn't heard his explanation during lunchtime. What was it about?"
"Oh! You weren't there for that?" Toru said, causing Shoto to turn to look at her, or at least her clothes, before giving her a nod to confirm. "Well, it's kind of amazing and unbelievable, but it turns out that Ranma's Quirk is only…"
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
"Oh, my baby!" Inko cried, holding a blanket clutched in her hands as his opponent seemed to be checking him over after helping him onto the stretcher. She was disheartened to see him lose, knowing how badly he wanted to get further than he had.
But she had also heard about the girl he had faced. Izuku revealed that she had healed him on multiple occasions. That she had helped everyone remain safe during that Villain attack. That she had supposedly saved All Might from some attack, and had apprehended the Villain leaders.
Her son had told her there was a good chance he would have to face her or Saotome and that he didn't think it was likely he would be able to win. But he was also amazed by her calmness, intelligence, and kindness. So Inko thanked the girl on the screen as she tended to her son, glad he had classmates as kind as her to be there for him.
-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-
Chapter 18 - End
Author's Notes - Big thanks to my Beta-readers once more! Especially Boldish, whose been working hard to fine comb his way through the chapters. Additional thanks to Iron, Wiggles, and TheForgetfulAlchemist.
Boldish is currently almost 50% through Ch. 20, with 21 being the last in this Arc. I am about 50% through most of my final edits on 19, hoping to finish it by today or tomorrow.
I have finished my first draft on the next chapter after this arc, with my plans to focus heavily on it for the next month on getting 2-3 more chapters done. It was sluggish getting back into writing new stuff for a bit, but started to get things down and consistently turning out words every day.
With this progress, I have a plan regarding the release schedule for the rest of the chapters: 2 weeks for Ch. 19 and 20, with 4 weeks for 21 as the bookend. I am hoping to be 80-90% done with the first drafts for the next arc by then, with editing and more to take place. Since that arc will be shorter than this one was, going through the drafts should be easier.
Arc 4 I am hoping to start releasing within 2 to 3 months after end of Arc 3.
