The Tournament, Part Four!

Hifumi stood just before the exit of the tunnel, casually twirling his blade around. He bounced on the balls of his feet, emptying his head of any concerns. He had had a few; Sandatsu was no pushover. He, along with everyone else, had seen the firestorm released by Chris, that Sandatsu had withstood with little damage! Granted, his quirk gave him healing abilities, but that fire was out of the arena! It was clear that he wasn’t an opponent that was going to go down to some bonks. That meant he would need to be fast. But – and it hurt Hifumi to admit this as it felt like betrayal – their friendship would drastically improve his chances of success.

Sandatsu was twitching. His symptoms were being alleviated by the pills, but not by much. They weren’t making him feel better, they just made him…not feel. Just kind of numb. Even the flames from Chris stacking two of the strongest fire quirks hadn’t really made him feel anything. His head was foggy, his thinking clouded. What was he doing? What his mother wanted? What did she want? Him to be an ultimate secret weapon? Then why want him to go as hard as he could in this tournament? And beyond all this, what did he want?

I want to kill my mother

As the thought entered his mind, he instantly shook it out. Such thoughts were insane! He couldn’t let himself think that! Even if it was honest…

Sandatsu was extremely grateful when the call came through that the match was about to start, it got him out of his own head.

“Time to begin the second half of the top 16!” The Narrator called out. “These two had some of the most pulse-pounding matches of the opening round, and now they’re going up against each other, we’re going to have one incredible bout! NOW! Takeda Hifumi VERSUS Owari Sandatsu”

Something’s wrong with him. Thought Hifumi. Sandy just didn’t look right. He looked…just kind of hollow. His head lolled down; his hair was unkempt (although that was hardly uncommon for him.) But Hifumi knew. There was something wrong with Sandatsu, and as both a hero and as his friend, Hifumi was going to do his best to solve it!

“TWENTY-FIRST ROUND! HAJIME!”

There was an expectation that the pair would charge at one another, that Hifumi would teleport in for a strike, or that Sandatsu would display the same strength he did with Chris’ threads. But instead, the pair were stationary. There was a moment of silence, as the shock of the non-action permeated. Majestic thought of repeating himself, but before he could, Hifumi started walking, not running, walking toward Sandatsu.

“Hey Sandatsu!”

He barely responded, but his head did raise. That was enough for Hifumi to continue with his Hero Speech. He kept walking closer, showing that he trusted Sandatsu enough that he would not sucker punch him, that he did not need to use his quirk.

“I know that you and I are buddies, but we’re also on our way to becoming the best heroes we can be! So, let’s put any concerns aside, and simply do our best!”

As Hifumi finished, he gave a classic grin and thumbs up. Sandatsu, despite how pitiful he felt, couldn’t help but smile, even if it was a “barely upturned corners” kind of grin. Yeah, he DID have friends, and while they may not remain his friends if (or when) they ever find out what he actually is and what he’s done, for now they are his friends.

Sandatsu nodded and bought his fists up, ready to fight.

“OOOOKAY THEN!” yelled The Narrator “After that short intercession, looks like they’re ready to go!”

Sandatsu bought his arms up, and with a grunt, over a dozen additional ones sprung from his back. Hifumi showed the same fighting spirit, drawing his weapon, and closing his eyes!

The next instant, Hifumi was behind Sandatsu. He couldn’t activate Slowmo, as he didn’t have time to hold his breath! He didn’t even have time to raise his additional arms before Hifumi brought his weapon down onto the back of his head. The current ran through his skull, causing his vision to blur from the electricity. As quickly as he could, he activated his time-slowing ability, and spun to face his foe. But even before he had finished turning, Hifumi had already opened his eyes and returned to his starting point. Sandatsu looked back at him over his shoulder, seeing Hifumi with a serious expression on his face. Hifumi may be his friend, but he wanted to be the Number One Hero, and like so many top heroes before him, he wished to make a name for himself by winning a School Tournament!

One of Sandatsu’s many hands rubbed where Hifumi had hit him. He turned again to face him but felt another smack on his head! Sandatsu grunted in pain, but before he could even react, he felt another blow, this time from the side! What was this technique?

Hifumi was focusing as hard as he could as he used his second new technique: Blinkspeed Slash. His skill in Kendo had long given him an incredibly fast attack, but by combining it with rapid blinking, he could effectively surround a target and hit from all angles! However, it required a great deal of focus, each blink accounting for the small movements between each attack, and as such it only really worked at close range where he could see in between the blinks (if only slightly) as well as in areas that he was highly familiar with. Fortunately, here at the tournament, he had both.

“Woah, that’s giving me a headache!” joked The Narrator, “if you don’t like strobe effects, you may want to look away! Hifumi must have trained his eyelids, because that’s some fast blinking! Looks like Sandatsu is having difficulty keeping up with the teleporting!”

Sandatsu had no choice but to take the quick hits as he held his breath to build up his Slowmo. Hifumi was blinking in and out of hitting him incredibly quickly, striking him multiple times a second. But each second that passed, Hifumi seemed to slow down. Each time he hung in mid-air bringing his sword down on Sandatsu, he took longer to swing, and longer to vanish. Finally, after aching seconds, Hifumi, and the rest of the world from Sandatsu’s perspective, had slowed enough that he could perceive the sudden appearances of his teleporting opponent. As soon as he saw Hifumi materializing, now slowly coming into existence from some kind of pale blue donut?

I’ve never seen what it actually looks like when Hifumi appears somewhere, that’s freaky. Sandatsu thought to himself.

But it made no difference in terms of the match. Sandatsu moved his closest arm, achingly slowly compared to his new level of perception but much faster than he normally could and grabbed Hifumi’s arm.

Hifumi felt the connection as though a bullet had hit him. Blinkspeed Strike moved as fast as he could, well, blink. But if he had to teleport another being, then that messed up his concentration, especially if it was on his return trip and he wasn’t expecting it! The result was that he was not able to open his eyes again, not until his mental image was updated to factor in the new matter. This delay was only a second, but it was enough. Sandatsu grabbed Hifumi with another of his many arms, and with a roar, slammed his friend down upon the arena!

“OOF, that had to hurt! It was incredible enough that Sandatsu was able to react so quickly to Hifumi’s teleports, but to be able to counter as well! Will Hifumi even be able to stand up after that?” queried The Narrator, wincing as talked from the brutality of the slam.

Hifumi opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw as his vision returned, was the mini-crater that Sandatsu had made with his body!

“Damn, man! I knew you were strong, but that’s some next level stuff!” he managed to choke out as he forced air back into his lungs. His tongue ran across his teeth, and a gap revealed what his eyes next spotted, a tooth knocked clean out.

Fortunately The Doctor can cover dental! Hifumi thought. At this point, I don’t know what else I can do. If he’s able to keep up with Blinkspeed Slash, then I shouldn’t even bother with anymore physical attacks. That only leaves… Hifumi was sad that it would come to this, it felt like a betrayal. But what felt like more of a betrayal was not showing Sandatsu his full respect, and that meant using every available tactic. He got his thoughts in order, preparing for this last move.

Sandatsu watched Hifumi stagger to his feet. He had inhaled now, seeing no need to keep holding his breath, not with how much damage that swing did to Hifumi. His goal may be to become the Number One Hero, but his quirk gave him zero physical buffs, while Sandatsu had both Branching Grasp and Rewind’s strength increase. The thought crossed the back of his mind that he should feel worse for doing such harm to his friend, but for the life of him, he simply didn’t feel bad at all.

Hifumi lifted his arm, and even as Sandatsu stopped breathing to reactivate Slowmo, the injured boy appeared next to him. His outstretched arm in contact with Sandatsu, Hifumi opened his eyes, returning the pair to his original spot. Time was already slowing down for him, but not enough for him to get his bearings, not before Hifumi enacted the next part of his plan. Hifumi, still in contact with Sandatsu, closed his eyes again.
The pair reappeared over out of bounds. Hifumi had teleported both of them in mid-air, and now all he had to do was reopen his eyes, and gravity would give him the win over Sandatsu.

He wouldn’t have been able to do this to anyone but The Boys. The thought flashed across Sandatsu’s mind, even as time slowed from Slowmo.
The thought may have buoyed Bobby or Inigo, seeing this as a sign of friendship, but to Sandatsu’s diminishing sanity, it came across as an insult. No, worse than that, a manipulation. Just like his mother. The anger the thought of his mother combined with the pain of inferred betrayal, leaving him furious, a fury that accelerated his time dilation perception and slowed everything down to a crawl.

You think you can just drop me like this?! Sandatsu’s thoughts burned through his brain, and his growing sociopathy latched onto a solution. He reached out with Psyking’s telekinesis, and with as much force as he could without squeezing Hifumi’s eyes out of his sockets, pinned his eyelids down.
Hifumi had an instant of panic, but no time with which to process it, before the many arms Sandatsu still had out grabbed him, spinning him down again. This time, instead of slamming him onto the hard slabs of the arena, it was onto the soft defeat that was represented by the out of bounds. Then Sandatsu fell from gravity, right on top of him “friend”.

“OWARI WINS!” Roared Majestic.
“What? That was quick, even by my standards! No-one read into that!” The Narrator quickly covered his accidental double entendre. “It seems that Sandatsu was able to counter Hifumi’s teleport out of bounds, securing himself the win!”

Sandatsu stood up and walked off. He did not look back.

Imai’s third eye spun on his forehead, as he couldn’t help himself but reach out to the surrounding minds. There were so many of them, and while a scant few had some mental training to conceal their thoughts, the vast majority of people in his range were broadcasting on all frequencies. Why was he doing this? Paranoia, really. The ominous last words, or thoughts, from Damien had sent a shiver down his spine, and it had gotten lodged there. If there were an attack by some villain group, Imai had enough faith in Damien that he would have alerted the adults to prepare, but there was something in the nature of the thought that just didn’t sit right with him. Maybe it wasn’t a coming disaster, but something that would impact his classmates in 1-D? He closed all three of his eyes and shook the thoughts, both his own and those of everyone else, out of his mind. He had a fight to fight, and there was no point in being distracted.

Minerva smiled to herself. She hadn’t forgotten the event that her fellow students had dubbed “The Fight Club”. Imai had revealed then that his mind-reading quirk was far more powerful than he had let on, but she suspected that he hadn’t told the whole truth. Yes, he could read minds, but was that really all he could do? She had kept an eye on him throughout the months since, and while she didn’t think he was necessarily a bad guy, she held reservations about what he could really do. She’d heard rumors from the student body, and combined with what she knew that mental quirks, it all added up to her: Imai wasn’t just a one-way mind reader, he could send commands as well. Well, maybe more suggestions than commands, but close enough! Minerva grimaced. She had a plan to deal with the potential that her opponent may be hiding, and while it was no sure thing, if her reading on how the brain works then it was the best approach she could think of.

“Time for the 22nd round!” Cried The Narrator. “Young Imai’s last match was one of the more befuddling, while Minerva’s was shocking, to say the least! With that pun out of the way, let’s see what happens in what’s sure to be an electrifying fight! The Twenty-Second Round! Soujyuuro Imai VERSUS Kim Minerva!”

“TWENTY-SECOND ROUND! HAJIME!” roared Majestic.

As soon as the declaration was uttered, Imai’s third eye span up, activating his quirk. His eyes bore into Minerva, peeling away the layers that separated him from her mind.

As soon as Minerva saw the eye spin, she knew it was now or never, that if Imai got into her mind then she would not be able to even trust her own actions. She raised her wand up, activated her own quirk, and let the energy loose.

All at once, the wand erupted with electricity, arcing off the device, and surrounding Minerva in a corona of light. The air crackled as the sheer power involved caused the air to ionize.

This is it! Minerva thought. Either this worked, or it didn’t.

“Woah look at that lightning! What’s Minerva planning with that? Some kind of shield, perhaps?” pondered The Narrator. He could just about see Minerva through her new defence thanks to his goggles, and while he had an inkling of what she may be planning (he always had had a way of figuring things out even before he realized it), it wasn’t to the point which he was going to blurt it out (yet).

Imai’s eyes reflexively shut from the bright light of Edith’s electricity. He squinted through his eyelids at her. Before she had startled him, he had managed to see that she had some kind of plan against his quirk. If she thought that blinding him would prevent him from using it, then she had fatally misunderstood the scope of his power. He had no need to see; his quirk allowed him to sense the minds of those in range around him, a range that Minerva was very much within. He reached back out, his third eye spinning beneath its eyelid, and saw – nothing but static!

His eyes shot open in shock. What was this?! He could sense that Minerva was there, but when he tried to peer into her mind, he just saw static! It was like looking at Hoge when she was flustered; he couldn’t make out any details beyond presence. It was as though she had created an artificial epileptic seizure!
Minerva saw Imai’s face and grinned. She may not be able to read minds like him, but a lifetime of rubbing elbows in high Korean society meant that she was excellent at reading faces, and his face said panic! Now, unless he was a very good actor, she could be sure that she had countered his quirk and could now proceed to go on the attack.

“That’s it!” cried The Narrator, gesticulating wildly as he spoke. “I had a suspicion! You see, Quirk experts have long theorized that telepathic quirks utilize the neuro-electrical activity within the brain, both when it comes to reading and controlling other minds! By surrounding herself with electricity that is under her control, Minerva must have interrupted this electrical field, thereby defending herself from his quirk! What will Imai do now?!”

Imai’s mind was scrambled, racing, trying to figure out what to do. He went through his mental flow-chart of what to do: if he failed at reading his opponent’s mind, then his next step was to suggest a new bad plan. But he couldn’t even access his opponents mind! He darted across the flow-chart; there wasn’t anything for when he couldn’t read their minds! He was in utterly uncharted waters, with a massive crowd staring at him, and despite his efforts he couldn’t help but begin to panic.

Minerva decided now was the time to go on the attack. She crouched down and broke into a dash, getting herself in range of Imai. She may have the defense sorted, but she still needed to actually win! She could only control electricity within 4 meters of her, so to win she had to get closer to Imai. More electricity crackled into being, this time around her feet, as she ran towards Imai. As she closed in, Imai stepped back, trying desperately to think of a plan.

“Oh ho! Looks like Imai’s not sure what to do without being able to use his quirk! This is an important lesson to all heroes, no matter your experience! Overreliance on your quirk can lead to you being caught off-guard when it cannot be used!”

Minerva was close enough now. She threw one hand forward, electricity arcing off her fingers, shooting toward Imai.

What do I do? New plan, swayed, suspect? Nothing for what if I can’t even access their mind? Wait, before you can even make a plan, you’ve got to DODGE!

The boy just barely dodged to the side, snapping out of his stupor, and not a moment too soon. The bolt raced through the spot where Imai had been rooted to the ground. It passed by him harmlessly, with the only damage done being to ground out of bounds, where it collided with the ground, leaving a small crater.

It didn’t stop Minerva. She launched another electric bolt, forcing Imai to roll if he didn’t want to get zapped. He had already been off-balance from his sidestep/lunge, and any other attempt to dodge would have failed. He felt the tiles of the arena pelt his back as he rolled, the ground where he had been blasted apart from the energy of Minerva’s attack.

Unfortunately for Imai, he was not so fortunate with evading the third attack. Minerva was not simply launching bolts of lightning now; she was firing an entire discharge of electricity that resembled a lightning storm, or an antagonist from a popular old film franchise. No dodge would have saved him from this one; Minerva was not going to waste any more time or charge, and was going for the secure hit, no matter the cost.

Imai crumpled to the ground, jerking and twitching from the jolt. Imai was not out yet, he was clearly still conscious, but struggling to get to his feet. Minerva smiled; all she had to do was secure the victory! She closed in, looking like a predator descending on crippled prey.

THINK, IMAI, THINK!

He was desperate. He was in pain from the electric shock, wasn’t able to stand, and the closer Minerva got, the slimmer his already-anorexic odds got.

WAIT!

It hit him. Just because he couldn’t read her mind, didn’t mean that she was immune to Mindbreaker’s commands! He kicked himself mentally for not thinking of it earlier; even just a couple of seconds could have saved him being hit. No matter. He concentrated as hard as he could, before launching as many thoughts as he could at Minerva. What he was feeling, what he was seeing, even what he had for breakfast (steamed rice with grilled fish). Just as many things as he could think of. All of it was launched in an invisible wave at Minerva.

As Minerva prepared to descend on Imai for the win, she was suddenly overwhelmed with static in her mind. The thoughts that Imai had hurled at her hadn’t survived the journey through her shields intact, but their mental momentum had still carried them onward into her, like a bullet that gets melted by a heat quirk will still be dangerous owing to its speed. She clutched at her head, staggering about, as she felt her control slip.

“Huh? What’s going on with Minerva? She looks like she’s gotten a migraine! Is this the sign of a last-minute comeback?!”

Minerva swayed back and forth, feeling like she was going to be sick, but mentally instead of physically. It was a bizarre sensation, one that was utterly unpleasant. Her control over her electricity slipped, then gave way entirely. She vomited an electrical storm, as her entire built-up charge blasted into her surroundings. Everything within 4 meters of her got wreathed in electricity, and unfortunately for Imai, that included him. This one was even worse than the previous zapping, and it was only thanks to his borderline-superhuman toughness that he even survived. Even so, he was clearly knocked out this time, with his eyes rolled back into his head. Minerva meanwhile was conscious, obviously in a great deal of pain herself but conscious, nonetheless.

“KIM WINS!” Declared Majestic.

“I guess not! Let this be a lesson, everyone! Don’t play with electricity or you might get burned!” concluded The Narrator.

Edith fidgeted as she waited for the call. She wasn’t looking forward to this fight. Suzuki was a gorilla that was only out to fight, and after she had caught her in the Fight Club, she had had it out for Edith in particular. The oaf’s pride hadn’t healed since that battle, and Edith could still see the fury on her face when she let her out of her dimension. She had succeeded in that fight thanks to Sora using his gravity quirk to get her away from attacks and opponents into range, but there was no backup in this fight. She had her gauntlets and necklace on; the additional two meters of range should prove invaluable, as it had then against the nerd. The problem was that Kaylee would know about them as well and for as dumb as she was, when it came to fights, she was far from dim.
Damn it! Why couldn’t the arena have been just a bit smaller!
Edith was certain that the decision for the arena’s size was because of her quirk. Karaburan’s rivalry with the Principal of U.A was well-known to anyone inclined to gossip, and she had zero doubt that the reason for this whole debacle was simply to get a one-up over the rodent in terms of publicity. A tournament of “Edith wins via quirk-out!” was not conducive to putting on a good show, resulting in the start points being just out of her range.
Still, it’s just three meters…
If she could close those three meters before Kaylee could get out of range, she’d win. But that wouldn’t be easy…

Kaylee was fidgeting as well, but not out of fear, but an almost bloodlust. She had a bad relationship with the Korean Clique, ever since the first day here at Shiketsu, where they had called her a cow and she had called them flat. This rivalry had had various back-and-forth moments, but the one that stuck in Kaylee’s mind was her loss in Majestic’s class. They had been doing so well, but within what seemed like an instant, they had lost. And Edith was the one responsible. Her quirk, her instant win button of a quirk, had trapped her. Beaten her. She could feel her temper rise as she thought about it, the humiliation of popping back into existence, dropping onto her butt, and looking up into the smug eyes of one of them. But here was a chance for revenge, she just needed to get out of her Edith’s range.

-

“Hey Chris.”
“Oh, hi Kaylee, what’s up?”

She put a piece of paper down in front of him. There were two points marked, with a circle drawn around one labeled “12m”, while the other had arrows pointing away from the first.

“I need help solving this puzzle.”
“Puzzle?”
“Yeah, it’s, uh, a question from some extra credit homework that Rosethorn-Sensei assigned.”
“And YOU’RE doing it?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Chris sighed. “Look, Kaylee. We’ve been friends for long enough for me to tell when you’re hiding something, and it’s not as though you’ve got a good poker face to begin with. Just tell me what this is for.”

For a moment it looked like Kaylee would attempt to maintain the deceit, but the façade crumbled, her boulder shoulders slumped, and she spilt the truth.

“Alright, fine. I was trying to work out the mechanics of fighting Edith.”
“Why, not confident that you can win?”

The look she gave him told him not to continue with that train of thought, not if he valued having all his limbs.

“Look, I’m trying to work out how fast I need to move in order to get out of her quirk’s range, now can you help me or not?”

Chris sighed. He felt that Kaylee’s battle obsession would cause a calamity one day, but right now she was his friend, and presenting him an interesting puzzle.

“Let’s take a look at this.”

Kaylee couldn’t follow much of his workings, as he went through the geometry and trigonometry. Several minutes passed, and Kaylee got bored of waiting, until at last Chris spoke.

“OK, I think I’ve solved it. If you fly at an angle of –”
“Look Chris, I’m not going to have a protractor, OK? Just give me a general direction and speed.”
“Sigh OK, fly backwards, but mainly up, at a speed of at least 33.3 repeating meters per second. I got that figure from dividing 3 meters by her speed in the 100m dash, then dividing the 12 necessary meters you need to get away from by that result. That should allow you to get out of her range before she gets close enough to trap you. Now, this doesn’t cover reaction time, wind resistance, friction –”
“That’s fine, Chris. Thank you.”

With that, Kaylee gave him a quick hug, while walking off, muttering “33.3. 33.3…”
That was doable, she thought, definitely doable. She remembered her first go at the 100m that Chris brought up; even then she was able to go over 20m/s, and she was much more powerful than she was back then.
“33.3…”

-

Kaylee came out of her memories as she walked up the steps to the arena.

“Here we go, everyone! Time for the twenty-third round! Lee Edith VERSUS Suzuki Kaylee!”
“TWENTY-THIRD ROUND! HAJIME!” bellowed Majestic.

No sooner had his voice left his lips, both students were moving. Edith broke into a mad dash, desperately trying to close the small gap before her opponent could escape, going for the quick win. Kaylee meanwhile blasted off, her powerful legs augmented with her Ki, propelling her back and away from her opponent. Edith thrust her hand forward, desperate to try and capture Kaylee before she escaped. Kaylee pivoted, having flown far enough back, and now wanting to get as high as possible, desperate to get out of range of Edith’s quirk. It was a race, a race that took less than 3 seconds, but one that would determine the entire flow of the ensuing fight.

I’ve got to – got to – got it! thought Edith, feeling her quirk grab something. But as she looked up, her heart sank.

Kaylee was still in the air. Now a good 15 meters above the arena, she floated there, getting her breath back from her dashing as fast as she could. Edith’s eyes fell to Kaylee’s feet; there was her answer as to what her quirk had grabbed. Kaylee’s shoes were gone, only her socks were preventing her from being barefoot. Edith’s face fell, as Kaylee’s face rose into a smug grin.

“Now that was an explosive start! It seemed both students were fully aware of how much of this match would come down to the first couple of seconds, and both gave it their all! However, it seems that Kaylee was the winner of this first hurdle, getting into the air before Edith could get an easy win! Now the question is; can she secure a victory, while staying out of Edith’s range?” pondered The Narrator.

Kaylee raised one hand, palm toward Edith. There was a flicker, then a ball of light manifested, growing in luminosity with each second. This match was settled the moment she failed to catch me. Kaylee thought to herself.

Edith’s eyes widened. She had failed to get the quick win, and now would have to face the consequences. She reached into her pocket dimension and brought out what she had replaced her walls with; a semi-sphere of metal, a dome. It blinked into existence around her, providing cover of questionable quality.

A laugh escaped Kaylee’s mouth; what good was that going to do? She’d been smashing through such sheet metal since before she could remember, and some foil wasn’t going to stop her now! She fired her blast, the light illuminating her face as it descended down to the ground.

“Will this be it? Is this match already over?” cried The Narrator, as he watched the attack fall.

Then, all of a sudden, the ball blinked out of existence!

Edith, inside her protection, was focusing as hard as she could. She knew that Suzuki would attack from range, not risking getting caught and losing, so she had focused her quirk to capture “this attack on the other side of the dome”. Suddenly, she felt the energy pop into her dimension and smiled. Now, it was hers to attack with!

The ball of Ki reappeared in reality, but now its momentum was traveling in the opposite direction, straight for Kaylee! The giantess’ eyes widened, as she brought her arms up in front of her to protect herself. She felt her own attack explode as it made swift contact. She was momentarily swallowed up in the light.

“WOAH! For those of you just listening, first, thank you! Second, it seems Lee was able to capture Suzuki’s projectile attack, before throwing it right back! Now, is young Kaylee too strong for her own attack, or too weak to handle her own power?”

The smoke cleared, revealing Kaylee still floating where she had been. Her clothes were a bit torn up, but she looked no worse for wear, aside from her pride. She looked furious!

You bitch, you dared to use my own attack against me?! Well, let’s see you catch all of these! she thought, as she started rapid-firing Ki blasts.

Edith felt a few of the projectiles enter her dimension, but she couldn’t see them inside her dome, nor could she keep up with their speed. Hit after hit slammed into her cover, blasting chunks of it off, the sunlight pouring in. The attacks kept raining down on her, more and more of them getting through before she could catch them, but she was catching enough. Enough for her Hail Mary. Her dimension was filling up with the energy. Soon, it would be full. The only question was; would Kaylee manage to hit her before she released it?

Kaylee paused her barrage. The dome which had been hiding Edith was now in ruins, not providing any cover for the Korean. She folded her arms, looking down at her. She was trapped now, no cover, no defense, no nothing. But then, she sensed something, something very familiar. Her own energy! It was flowing out and around Edith!

She must have been catching what she could from my attacks, and it seems that she’s filled up her little pocket!

Kaylee should have been angry about this; it was her own energy that Edith was using against her, but despite that, she found herself smiling! This was interesting, more so than she thought this match was going to be, and everything else aside, she was having fun!

Kaylee raised her hand again, collecting her Ki in once more.

“Edith! I can smell my energy coming off of you! What, not enough room left in your pocket dimension? Now, let’s see if you have enough of MY energy to block this!” Kaylee roared, as she hurled the attack down.

Edith screamed in effort, as she pushed forward all the energy that she had caught, mimicking the energy attacks that she had seen her fellow students use so many times. The two attacks, both of Kaylee’s Ki, collided in between the two students, releasing an alien green glow across the entire stadium!

“Man am I glad I still have these goggles!” quipped The Narrator. “A bizarre beam struggle has broken out, as Edith has managed to use Kaylee’s own Ki against her!”

Kaylee smiled. She fired more Ki into ‘her’ sphere. Each blast made it larger and larger, dwarfing and finally swallowing the energy that Edith had stolen! The clash moved down, closing in on Edith!

Edith’s eyes widened seeing the coming destruction. She activated her quirk, trying to trap this energy back in her dimension, but there was simply too much! Just as Kaylee had when the energy had been redirected at her, Edith threw her hands up to protect her face. The energy touched down, and in a green eruption, it exploded!

Edith felt herself go flying backwards, out of the arena, crashing down out of bounds. She cried in pain from the impact, but at least The Doctor would be more than capable of healing her injuries.

Kaylee floated down, gracefully landing, very much in the arena. She made the classic V peace sign, as Majestic roared out:

“SUZUKI WINS!”

Hiro was calm, and not just because of the drugs flowing through his system. He needed to be hyper-focused to keep up with Jugo’s speed. He had double and triple checked his notes on his next opponent: strong, fast, capable of attacking from range. Not a good match up for him. But on the other hand, he also knew Jugo’s personality and his, for lack of a better word, ‘proclivities’. Jugo was a connoisseur of exactly what his quirk produced, and if applied correctly, he should be able to distract Jugo for long enough for his other concoctions to work. No matter how high his tolerance had gotten, it was simply a matter of milligrams…

Jugo was the polar opposite of his stoic opponent; bouncing (almost literally) off the walls. These minutes and seconds were the worst, the ones where he just had to wait for the light to turn green and get to the arena. He kind of had a plan for the match, if “knock Hiro out of the arena or knock him out in general” could be considered a plan. He was still irritated that he had to be in all the last matches of the brackets. Why couldn’t he have been able to go at least a bit sooner? The build up was unbearable, seeing everyone else get their cool fights before he did. Still, Kaga had put up an awesome fight, and Hiro being the genius that he was, should be a cool fight as well.

“AAAAaaaannd here we are everybody! It’s the last match of the final 16! Only one of these students can get through and enter the Quarterfinals! I for one am on the edge of my seat! Time for the Twenty-Fourth Round! Kyoda Hiro VERSUS Son Jugo!”

“TWENTY-FOURTH ROUND! HAJIME!” thundered Majestic.

Jugo released a cry, Ki and wind swirling around him, as he powered up. He had already charged up before the match, but with how bouncy he had been while waiting, he could use a top-up. Not to mention that he simply liked to charge up, especially in front of a crowd. He bounced off of the ground, performed a completely superfluous (but pretty cool looking) spin in the air, before launching himself in a flying side kick straight at Hiro.

Hiro saw Jugo soar toward him and thanked his past self for thinking ahead. He had been working on a drug that could help him level the playing field against these super-fast students that could blitz him before he could process that they’d moved. He called it Slow-Mo. Not the most original name but hey, he was a chemical genius, not a marketing one. what it did was quite simple; it accelerated the thought process of the individual to superhuman levels, allowing them to perceive time as moving slower than it really was. When he had been developing the formula, he had had difficulties ensuring that movement was still possible, that the warp in perception didn’t cause paralysis, but he had long sorted that issue prior to using it here. It was simply a matter of combining it with several of the myriad of combat drugs he knew how to make; drugs that increased his strength and speed to the level of his new processing. The end result was a phenomenal cocktail that could give anyone a taste of what is was to be a superhuman.

As Jugo sped toward Hiro, he was caught off-guard as Hiro suddenly pivoted, far faster than he should be able to move, avoiding his attack. For an instant, Jugo was confused, before mentally hitting himself for not realizing. Of course, Hiro was going to come up with some kind of super-drug to keep up with him! He had hung around with the genius for long enough, sampling certain ‘goods’, to know that Hiro’s stuff was the tippy-top of quality. Anyway, it was no concern. Jugo was certain that, no matter what Hiro had come up with, it wouldn’t be enough to keep up with him! He stopped almost as quickly as he had accelerated, and the foot that had been out in front of him in a flying side kick, now spun around into a hook kick, with his heel heading straight for Hiro’s head!

The Narrator was just able to keep up with the speed of the start. “That’s some reaction speed! Jugo may be super-fast, but Hiro managed to keep up! Now, I have no knowledge of chemistry – sorry Nishima-Sensei! – but Hiro must have used his quirk to make some incredible juice! I wonder if it’ll be enough?”

Hiro felt like everything was underwater. He was able to keep up with Jugo’s speed, but he knew that his classmate had far more experience fighting at these speeds. He ducked under the spinning kick and, knowing that a strike to the liver was the most debilitating, aimed a strike straight at Jugo’s torso.

Jugo had a reputation as something of a delinquent. His enjoyment of narcotics, frequent extracurricular combat, and common outbursts on various conspiracy theories, had led to a general, if largely unspoken, position amongst his classmates that he was on something of the wrong path in life. That may be, but none of it mattered here. Here, there was only the fight. And while Hiro may have custom drugs on his side, Jugo did not need such things to fight, though it was not as though he would turn them down. He easily saw Hiro’s attack incoming, and twisted his leg again, this time to block the strike. Were he not as skilled in martial arts as he was, such a maneuver would be all but impossible. As it was, he made it look easy. Jugo smirked at Hiro’s shocked expression, before firing him across the arena with his Ki. He wasn’t a big fan of ranged combat, as he felt that it took the sport out of fighting, but Hiro was clearly trying as hard as he could, and he would not dishonor his fellow student.

“What a follow up! Hiro hopefully learned a valuable lesson there: that a hero cannot simply rely on external enhancements to fight! We’ve got to work hard to be the best heroes we can be, and there’s no shortcuts to avoid hard work!” spoke The Narrator, rattling off a platitude that seemed fitting.

Hiro staggered to his feet. Good old Tramadol. He thought, as the painkiller took the sting out of the strike. Perhaps he had miscalculated. He had assumed that Jugo’s built up tolerance for many types of drugs would be harder to overcome than his physical prowess, but possibly not. Hiro felt where he had been struck; while there was no pain thanks to the painkiller he used, there could still be internal damage. It seems he was lucky, or Jugo was kind, for he couldn’t find any sign that he had serious injury.

Well Hiro, trying to go hand-to-hand with a guy who does that for fun was not your best idea, so go back to what you do best, and use your mind and not your fists. he thought to himself. He knew that Jugo was resistant to most drugs (as he was the one to provide many of them), but it was a better shot than trying to match him in melee again. Just as he did against Maxine, he started releasing a knockout gas, planning for Jugo to either not notice until it was too late as she did, or give in to his almost-certain drug addiction, and knock himself out via overdose.

Neither scenario took place. Jugo’s quirk made him attuned to the air flow of his surroundings, and he could tell what Hiro was up to the moment that he sensed the change in the atmosphere. His typical happy-go-lucky face dropped into a far more serious expression; his brow furrowed; his smile vanished.

“You won’t get me with this, Hiro! No matter what you pump out, it won’t distract me from this battle! KAAAAAAAAAA!”

With that declaration, Jugo released his wind and Ki once more. It swirled around him, forming a maelstrom, causing his hair to stand on end. Hiro saw Jugo cup his hands by his hip, Ki gathering between his palms, and knew that he had lost.

“HAAAAAAA!”

Jugo thrust his hands forward, releasing the gathered energy straight at Hiro. This was the biggest energy attack of the tournament thus far; there was no way for Hiro to dodge! The held-back genius felt himself lifted off the ground, and the next thing he knew, he was waking up with The Doctor standing over him.

“SON WINS!”

Jugo smiled at this victory. It wasn’t a countdown and it had been a good fight. Even if in real time it had been short, to those who could see fights at their actual speed, it had been full of twists.

“HOLY-! That was one of the biggest energy blasts I’ve ever seen! Well, what else would we really expect, from these students who are certain to go on to great things in the world of Heroism! With this stunning battle, we will be entering into the Quarterfinals of the Shiketsu Tournament! Don’t go anywhere, folks, I know that there’s even greater feats yet to be seen!”