Chapter 40 – Torneo V
...
<UA / Participant's Bleachers>
After seeing the table of participants, the entire 1A class turned to look at Iida with rolled eyes.
"You're a lucky man!" Karishima said with his usual smile. "Share some of that luck with me man!"
"Go gamble in a casino" Kaminari muttered with a frown.
"STOP THAT!" Iida exclaimed as he rubbed his temple. "It was just a bit of luck.... I made a fool of myself in my fight because I didn't want to hurt that girl..."
"I-It's okay Lida... a little luck never hurt anyone right?" Midoriya said comforting Lida as best he could, before noticing one thing. "Where's Katchan?"
"Bakugo..., he didn't take too well not qualifying for the final round, I tried to cheer him up but you know how he is" Karishima explained while making a thoughtful face and before shrugging his shoulders. "Although he seemed a bit off... anyway he left after your fight against Shoji, most likely to the recreation area or the dining hall."
"Katchan..." Midoriya muttered as he worried about his childhood friend (?).
"I think he deserves it a bit, he's really... stupid" Toru commented as she tried to look for the right word but failed miserably. "It's not that I don't like him... no, scratch that, I don't like him."
"Yeah, maybe bringing his pride down a bit will help her come down from his cloud" Momo said as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Don't you have to fight Lena... right now?" Tsu said as she glared at Momo.
Momo blinked for a moment before she shot off towards the preparation room, she hadn't realized that Lena had already left a while ago.
"Relax Izuku, I'm sure she's fine!" Said Uraraka trying to cheer up his friend.
What no one noticed were Uraraka's slightly reddened eyes, and if anyone did they didn't mention it....
"Yeah, you're right, I have to concentrate on the competition" Midoriya said while directing his gaze towards the calm Todoroki who was lying with his eyes closed, but Midoriya had the feeling that he wasn't sleeping.
***
<Momo vs Lena>
"THE QUARTERFINALS ARE ON! THIS TIME WE HAVE..."
"THE GHOST SPRINTER! FASTER THAN DEATH ITSELF! DON'T BLINK BECAUSE YOU'LL MISS IT! THE CLASS 1A VICE PRESIDENT! OXTOOON LENAAAA!"
"ON THE OTHER SIDE WE HAVE..."
"THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD ITSELF! SERVANT OF THE HAND OF GOD! THE CLASS 1A PRESIDENT! YAOYOROZU MOMOOOOO!"
Both girls were already on the platform looking at each other as if they were two predators ready to finish each other off.
"Faster than death eh, how precise..." Lena muttered sarcastically before pointing at Momo "Hey! Momo! I'm going to tear you apart so give it your all!"
"You're the one who's going to get smashed!" Momo replied as she adopted a close combat stance, as she painfully learned during the training at Momo's House, she knows how to fight very well hand to hand.
"We'll see about that..." Lena said quietly as she adopted a low Taekwondo stance.
"BEGIN!"
Momo was the first to make a move creating the Bo Staff and adopting a defensive stance without taking her eyes off Lena.
Without taking their eyes off each other, both girls began to slowly walk in circles with their guard up looking for an opening to attack the other.
Suddenly, Lena instantly appeared in front of Momo trying to punch her in the chest, but Momo managed to block it with her staff but did not take into account Lena's superior physical strength which made her move back a few meters.
Momo managed to keep her balance just in time to dodge a series of Lena's kicks by the skin of her teeth. Momo swung her staff to attack Lena from below, but Lena jumped back a bit before returning to attack Momo with another kick.
But with a twist of her staff she blocked Lena's attack easily before counterattacking with one end of the staff.
Lena was barely able to move out of the way in time from the counterattack, jumping backwards they both circled back around while looking at each other.
Lena frowned realizing that she couldn't break Momo's guard easily....
Suddenly both girls were once again engaged in a close battle.
Lena quickly launched a high kick at Momo's head but Momo did something that surprised Lena.
Momo dropped her staff and in less than a second replaced it with a small shield which blocked Lena's kick in its tracks.
Lena was surprised by this and could not react when Momo pushed her back with her shield making her lose her balance for a small moment. But that moment was more than enough for Momo to pick up her staff and give Lena a hard punch in the stomach.
"Guh!" coughed Lena as the air escaped her lungs.
Momo took the opportunity to try to hit her in the head in an attempt to knock her unconscious.
But Lena had already disappeared from her position leaving a light blue trail.
'Shit!' Momo thought as she quickly turned around only to get kicked in the hip, throwing her a few feet off the platform and dropping the staff in pain.
"She has to be more attentive if you want to defeat me" Lena said as she grabbed the staff and threw it off the platform. She didn't use the staff due to the fact that she had no idea how to use one in the first place.
"Ugh..." Groaned Momo shakily getting back to her feet, before taking a deep breath and adopting a neutral stance. "I think you broke a bone."
"They can heal you later, I told you I was going to break you didn't I.... Plus my Secondary Quirk in Minor Super Strength..." Explained Lena as she shrugged her shoulders before taking another stance this one seemed more offensive than the last. "Not to mention I like to work out..."
"Hehe, workout maniac..." Momo said with a chuckle.
"Know-it-all..." Lena growled at Momo's comment.
Both girls smirked at each other before approaching each other to decide the match.
Momo quickly created two metal gauntlets in her hands, without waiting for her opponent's move she threw a strong punch at Lena's shoulder. The latter dodged it by leaning to the left before ducking and doing a sweep with her legs.
Momo jumped backwards dodging the sweep, not realizing that Lena was looking at her with a predatory smile.
As soon as Momo hit the ground, Lena appeared in her fighting range throwing a series of kicks in rapid succession giving Momo little time to think as she dodged or tried to block the strong legs.
Momo was unable to block all the kicks and with a feint Lena managed to land a knee to the stomach that knocked the wind out of her, then she landed a kick to the chest and another to the chin.
Momo fell backwards but still on the platform, when Lena was about to pull her off....
"YAOYOROZU HAS FALLEN UNCONSCIOUS!!!! THE WINNER IS OXTON LENA!!!" Midnight announced to the crowd who went wild for the girls' evenly matched melee.
Lena let out a long sigh as she plopped down on the platform. She originally thought Momo would overwhelm her with a bunch of artifacts but in the end she left it at a solid 1v1.
'Momo is more dangerous than I thought...'
***
"I was hoping Momo would win...". Sighed Toru with a dejected air as she handed some yen to Kaminari who was smiling with joy in her eyes.
"Come on Lena!!!" Karishima said as he received some money for the vice president's victory.
"Pay up, pay up!" Said Kaminari full of joy as he collected a few yen from his companions. He had started a bet on who would win the fight between the class president and vice president. "Time is money!"
"Don't you think it's wrong to bet on who will win out of your classmates?!" Iida exclaimed in her typical annoyed voice and strange robotic arm movements "That's favoritism and-".
As Iida gave his lecture on how the Heroes should behave Toru and Kyoka ran off as they made their way to the preparation room.
***
<Toru vs Kyoka>
"SECOND ROUND OF THE QUARTERFINALS!!!"
"ON ONE SIDE WE HAVE...!!!!! THE SAINT LOST IN THE LIGHT!!!!! HAGAKURE TORUUUU!!!"
"ON THE OTHER HAND WE HAVE...!!!!! THE ROCKER LOST IN THE SOUND!!!!! JIROOO KYOKA!!!"
'Where does he get the inspiration for those ridiculous names?' thought Kyoka incredulously as she shook her head. 'What is it about PresidentMic? Chūnibyō?'
While Kyoka was lost in thought, Toru was concentrating 120% on Kyoka, no, SHE WAS CONCENTRATING 200% ON KYOKA.
Aim. Shoot. Win. Aim. Shoot. Win. Toru thought repeatedly with a military tone in the background and imagining herself as military...maybe she wasn't so focused....
"BEGIN!!!"
Toru without wasting time clasped her hands together and began to charge her Gatling to moderate power while aiming at Kyoka. She was still feeling tired from the fight against Uraraka which put her at a serious disadvantage.
Kyoka meanwhile just ran in a quick zigzag to get to Toru and make it difficult for her to aim.
"Here!" shouted Toru as he unloaded the Gatling raining hundreds of bullets towards Kyoka.
She seeing that she was about to be turned into Swiss cheese quickly threw herself to the ground connecting her Jacks with the ground sending a strong jolt all over the proform knocking Toru down and nullifying her Gatling.
"Shit!" Said Toru as she quickly got up... and saw Kyoka pointing her Jacks at her intently.
"Good match" Kyoka said with a deadpan face before activating her Jacks.
Toru was blasted off the stage by a loud sonic blast in less than a blink of an eye.
'That's not fair!!!' Toru thought grumpily.
***
The last bout, while also fast paced like Toru and Kyoka's, was more exciting because of Todoroki and Midoriya's impressive Quirks.
***
Third Block: Todoroki Shoto VS Oxton Lena |
...