Chương 51: Sports Festival (13)
Izuku came back to the booth to a shocked class, their jaws opened wide. It seemed that Ojiro had spread the word of Shinso's quirk and knowing that it had affected Todoroki of all people, was a bit worried that it would work on him.
Too bad for Shinso, Izuku was too much for him. He noticed that his mind was being assaulted when Shinso used his quirk on him, but it was laughably easy to just flick them away like they were ants crawling on his skin.
Ignoring the stunned crowd, Izuku plopped himself back onto his claimed seat, his classmates staring at him like he was some kind of freak of nature, not that it wasn't already established in previous spars and exercises against him. Perhaps they thought that he would lose in the mental department, but that was far from the case.
He didn't survive Lordran just for shits and giggles. It took a certain amount of willpower to not go stark raving mad after dying hundreds of times in gruesome, horrifying ways. And who knows, maybe Shinso's quirk wasn't fully developed yet. Quirks were biological in nature, after all, and just like any muscle, the more you use it, the more it develops.
And now Izuku was left pondering the same question that plagued him every time he saw quirks being squandered and wasted away. Why weren't children allowed, or even encouraged to use their quirks? And then he remembered that children were assholes, and that thought was erased from his mind.
Just look at what happened to him when he was younger, even if he couldn't remember all of it.
"Uh, hey." Somebody tapped him on the shoulder. Looking at the source, Izuku saw Ojiro giving him a sheepish smile. "So… Uh… You okay?"
"Yes? Why're you asking?" Izuku tilted his head slightly to the side, eliciting an embarrassed chuckle from the plain looking teen.
"N-nothing." Ojiro slowly inched himself back to his seat, before stopping for a brief moment to speak. "Also, sorry about doubting you…"
"Eh, no biggie. You were worried, understandable." Izuku waved him off and Ojiro silently continued back to his seat. "By the way, isn't your match next, Katsuki?"
"… Oh shit." The sudden voice caught everybody off guard, even Izuku, before he nodded in understanding. It was him versus Katsuki in the next match, after all, "Oh fuck."
"It was nice knowing you, sparkplug." Jirou patted him on the back. The electric blond gulping loudly. Katsuki looked at the electric blond, and Izuku didn't know what went through his head, but he knew the ash blond was going to have fun.
"Get the fuck up." Katsuki stood up from his seat and approached the electric blonde. Said blond meeped as he sunk into his chair, only to be grabbed by the scruff of his neck and dragged towards the exit.
"Can I at least write my will?" Kaminari joked, only to have his ass dragged even harder. Crocodile tears streamed down his face as the class looked on with teasing jeers and smiles. Kaminari then took on a determined face and looked at the rest of the class. "Remember me!"
"No." Jirou was quick to respond, gaining even more laughter from the group. Even Izuku chuckled a bit, just because of how amusing it all was. As the two left, the door closing on their way out, the booth was once again bathed in silence.
"So, anyone wanna bet?" Mineta was quick to ask, before getting shut down again by the girls.
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Katsuki let go of the dumb blond once they were outside of the door. Shoving him to the ground lightly, he clicked his tongue and headed for one of the tunnels leading to the arena. As he did so, he heard sparkplug call out his name, prompting him to stop.
"I won't hold back, you hear me, Bakugo." He could hear the confident tone hidden underneath those quivering lips. Smirking to himself, Katsuki continued onward. Looks like spark plug had moxie after all. This'll be a fun fight.
Walking through the hallways, while simultaneously ignoring all the other extras that gaped as he passed by, Katsuki slowly sunk himself into his thoughts, his feet moving on auto pilot.
He knew spark plug was going to be an easy fight. That is, if he survived the first onslaught. He doubted that his body, conditioned to take the force of his own blasts, could survive the voltage spark plug can generate. He saw that with ponytail.
If he wasn't fast enough to end it in one shot, then he could see his chances for the next round going bye bye. But how do you outrun literal electricity?
However, there is one thing he did note. Spark plug had a range with his quirk. He wasn't able to get a good look during their sparing sessions a few days or weeks back, but up there in the stands, with a good view over the entire arena, it was pretty obvious.
He had about two meters of range, but any more than that and the effectiveness goes down by a substantial margin. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath when no one was looking, he allowed a breath of relief to escape him.
He could work with this.
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Denki was scared shitless for the next fight. Sure, he steeled his balls and called Bakugo out that he wouldn't go down without a fight but fuck him if he ain't shitting his pants right now.
He was currently in the tunnel that connected the arena, and every step he took, his mind treacherously kept on saying to give up. But no, he won't. He's had enough of being the class clown, the jokester of class 1-A… Actually, now that he thought of it, didn't that title fall on Mineta too?
Nah, he had the class pervert title, something he wouldn't want to have even if he was indeed, a closet pervert. Not that any of that mattered. He didn't want to be known as the one who just went with the flow of the class. He wanted to exceed, damnit. To go plus ultra!
Also maybe get some hot babes while he's at it, but what woman would even want a second-rate hero? No, he has to be at least top 100 when they graduate, and to even be in the top 100, he needs to be better.
And the first step to that is finding his courage. Sure, he's scared of Bakugo, hell, he doesn't even want to fight him in the first place, but if he needs to just to be better, then sign him the fuck up. He'll go down swinging.
The Quirk Apprehension Test placed him at 19th out of the 20 students in the entire class, and it was a wake-up call when he first stepped foot into this school. Ever since that day, he'd continued to push himself, even if he did have cheat days, which was about four times in a week… Fuck, he really needed to shape up.
Gulping down the fear and steeling his resolve, Denki forced a smile on his face as he walked out of the tunnel, sunlight blaring down on him as if it supported his determination. The crowd cheered and roared for the two of them, but to his ears, it felt like they were pushing him onward, egging him forward to face his fears.
He'll show them that Kaminari fucking Denki ain't just the class jokester. He's a motherfucking tesla conduit.
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Well now, wasn't that a surprise?
Izuku hummed as he spotted both Kaminari and Katsuki exit their respective tunnels. In contrast to Katsuki, Kaminari looked like a bundle of nerves, but the facade he was putting on was fooling not just himself, but the others as well.
He smirked. That was a good look. When death stares at you, what use was crying? Laugh at it. Laugh right in its face, because at the end of the day, courage is only found when all hope is lost. What else could a person do, but struggle until the bitter end when faced with that simple fact?
But anyway, enough of those thoughts. Now was the time for observing. As they stood just a few meters shy of one another, Midnight gave the two the opening spiel about the rules and whatnot, even if they had already known of it during the first round. As the pro heroine continued blabbering on, Izuku looked at his classmates, most of those reasonably acquainted with the electric blond — specifically Jirou and Mineta — had shocked looks on their faces.
"Damn, spark plug looks like he's ready to go to war." Jirou muttered to herself, the midget managing to pick it up with his ears.
"I hear ya." Mineta cupped his chin. "Idiot probably wants to go down swinging against Bakugo…"
He then muttered about things like he's being left behind and how far he still has to go. Izuku smiled at that. At least the purple midget was finally recognizing he was slowly fading into the background, like those in the audience stands.
He could do with lowering his perverseness, but people can't really change their core being, and not a pervert Mineta wasn't. At least he could control his urges.
Izuku's head perked up when he heard Midnight suck in a breath — his enhanced ears doing all the work once again — and he looked at the arena. The flag was raised high as the crowd waited with bated breath for the flag to fall. Izuku leaned forward, eyes scanning the stage for every inch of movement, his vision catching Kaminari trembling slightly and Katsuki with his hands in his pockets, no doubt already sweating up a storm due to how hot it was inside with his specific PE pants.
The flag was swished down, and immediately the two burst into action, with Katsuki making a run for it while Kaminari chased him around. This got the class scratching their heads for a while until they realized why Katsuki was running.
He didn't have resistance to electricity. Izuku snapped his fingers, as the thought entered his mind. Of course, he wouldn't. His quirk was explosions. If anything, he would have resistance to blasts, impact, and heat.
So, all Kaminari had to do to win was touch him, or if that didn't work, make it so that his quirk would be able to reach him and knock him out before he went into derp mode.
Izuku sighed. Here he thought he would see a real fight, but instead, he got to watch a high-stakes tag match. Oh well, at least it was entertaining enough, watching Katsuki maneuver himself around with his quirk, but if this kept up, he would slowly get tired, increasing the chance for Kaminari to catch him.
On the other hand, Katsuki had monstrous amount of stamina. Dare he say it, he could probably go all day through sheer force of will, knowing how hardheaded the ash blond was, and Kaminari was less athletic than his opponent. For all Izuku knew, Kaminari could be the first to tap out due to exhaustion.
As Izuku's mind continued on making predictions and calculations on who would win, Katsuki blasted his way out of Kaminari's path, while simultaneously keeping the electric blond back because of the force generated from the explosion.
Said electric blond gritted his teeth and waited for an opportune moment to attack, but seeing as how Katsuki was still making sure he wouldn't step close, he was at an impasse. That is, until Katsuki did something that made his eyebrows rise.
He made a hand gesture, palm open with his other hand creating circle around it, and it was at that moment, Izuku knew what the ash blond was thinking. Grinning with his teeth poking out, he heard Katsuki utter a war cry as he let out an explosion.
"DIEEEEEE!!!" The explosion wasn't large, nor was it flashy. It was controlled, precise… And it sure as hell wasn't melee.
Kaminari yelped as he ducked down, a blast of condensed energy flying past him at supersonic speeds. It impacted against the wall, creating a sizeable crater in the concrete.
Now that was a game changer. Izuku couldn't wait to fight him with that move of his, only to frown when he saw the state Katsuki's hands were in.
They weren't shredded beyond repair, nor was it injured very much, but they were damaged. He guessed that Katsuki was still unused with his brand-new technique, or maybe he could've just come up with it on the spot. There's no denying its applications, however.
Judging by the look on Kaminari's face, even with how pale it was, he knew it was something Katsuki was unused to. And that probably gave him a chance to win this.
The two came to a halt for a brief second, before they sprang into action once more. Kaminari once again rushed Katsuki, while Katsuki tried to keep him at bay with explosions and using his newly formed technique every once in a while.
The more he used his technique, the more accurate he got. Katsuki was a monster when it came to battle sense, and here in this high-stakes, adrenaline pumping match, he was getting pushed harder and harder to improve with every shot he did.
A few minutes later and his hands looked like its skin was peeling off. It must've hurt like a bitch, but Katsuki wasn't even fazed. He still kept on using his technique, even if it ruined his hands.
Kaminari was beginning to slow down, but Katsuki looked like he was inexhaustible. That being said, Izuku knew that the ash blond was beginning to tire at this point, seeing as how his chest was heaving up and down more rapidly than earlier.
Looking at the clock, Izuku hummed once more. A minute left, and going by this rate, it would be a very even match. Who knows who would get to be in the next round.
It was at this moment Katsuki made a last-ditch effort to win. For the entire match, the ash blond kept on running away, ensuring that Kaminari couldn't get to use his quirk on him. Now? He was the one attacking.
Kaminari also knew this was his chance to win, so he powered himself up. Izuku could see sparks coming out from his skins, scorching the ground beneath him black as a thousand birds screeched in unison.
This didn't deter Katsuki, instead, it made him even more determined.
"RAAAAGGGHHH!!!!" Katsuki's yells could be heard throughout the stands, the shocks he was receiving no doubt giving him unimaginable pain. But he was Katsuki, and one thing that Izuku knew about the ash blond, was that he didn't give a fuck if he was getting railed.
He would simply power through it while gritting his teeth and giving everyone involved the middle finger.
A loud explosion echoed throughout the arena, a dust cloud expanding from the point of impact, making seeing what had happened near impossible for the viewers. The stadium, once a cacophony of ooh's and aah's, fell silent as the fight beneath went quiet.
It took a few seconds before the dust cloud dispersed, and the winner was revealed.
Katsuki Bakugo, standing with his hand raised up, Kaminari unconscious outside of the ring.
A beat, and then two, and the whole crowd went wild.
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A/N: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is out, and damn do I love traversing the zone... Fuck the bloodsuckers, though, how many point blank shotgun shells do you need to put them down...?
Shameless Plugs:
patreon.com/IAmGuavaFruitFictionHub (If you want to read 5 chaps ahead, head on over. I'll be limiting this to 5 for now since I'll be focusing on my Fallout fic next. Dunno when it'll go live, but it'll come.)
discord.gg/v9f5kjsfVv
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