Chapter 12: An Uneventful Calvary
An Uneventful Calvary
Kaine smiled as he shook Shinso's hand, "Well, I can make it so that the headband will never be removed from your head." Shinso nodded, seemingly more intrigued than he was before. "Plus, I noticed that this group had a 1-A rep, a 1-B rep, and yourself who's in General Studies rep. So I figured it'd be best for an oddball like myself."
Shinso rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger, "So, how can you keep my headband from being removed?"
"I can use my quirk to make it stick to you." Kaine said with a nod, "But to fully understand you have to let me join you first." It took a little bit, but eventually Shinso agreed.
Shinso smirked, "I like you. You're genuine. I see that you actually want to team up with me. Okay." he nodded, "Should I tell you the plan?" Kaine nodded, wanting to not be in the dark as much as possible. Shinso nodded, "The plan is to be as inconspicuous as possible. That makes it a little more difficult with you since you cam in fourth, but our overall point total should still put us near the bottom." Kaine looked to the score boards to see where they stood, it seemed that before him they were at 290-points, but with him added they were at 485-points. Not a bad number, but it still placed them in the lower middle area. "So as you can see, lower-middle is still low on the totem pole, but it just means we have to make our moves more precise."
Kaine nodded, "If that's the case...I can tell you who I know for sure won't bother us." Shinso raised an eyebrow in intrigue, "I feel bad for telling you...but at this point it's a challenge to rely on your current teammates. I can't let my classmates get in my way...I want to move onto the next trial as much as anybody else." Kaine gulped, "Monoma, the blonde haired student from 1-B, has a bit of a haughty attitude, he's going to be gunning straight for Bakugou."
"The arrogant one." Shinso nodded.
Kaine nodded in return, "Right. Midoriya is gonna be playing keep away, so they'll be too distracted to come after anyone. Especially with our low number UNLESS they lose their points early. Tetsutetsu is a friend of mine, good guy, really. Might be too good in this case, I have a feeling he'll avoid me. Most of 1-B will likely avoid us and focus on 1-A, because a lot of them are taking this rivalry to heart. We'll be in the clear as long as we don't arouse too much suspicion right off the bat like you said."
Shinso smiled, "I knew I liked you. You have a different air about you compared to most these Hero Course students. Despite having a quirk that is beneficial to you in combat, you like to use your head." Shinso emphasized his point by tapping his head a few times, "Then it's settled. We'll hang back the whole time, then when the count is getting low we strike." Kaine nodded.
Shinso walked away, he looked like he was getting water or something, and Kaine took the opportunity to talk to Shoda. "Yo, Shoda. What do you think of this guy, seems a little...off, right?" he asked. Shoda didn't respond, instead he had a blank stare, not blinking at all. Eventually he had some sort of response, but it was more like a light groan. "Worried? Don't be, I think even with our hodgepodge of a group we can make it through. Just you wait, there's gonna be at least two members from 1-B in the next round for sure!"
"Alright, has everyone gotten their teams?" Midnight asked. Looking around it looked as if there were between 12-14 teams in total, "Good. Allow me to go over the quick rules then. First!" she said with a crack of her whip, making many of the students jump in surprise, "The time value is fifteen minutes! And depending on who you are that is either a long time to protect yourself from losing your points or not enough time to get the points you need. Next, as stated the point values add together and will be placed on a headband. The wearer of said headband will be the horses rider. Until time is up, you'll all be fighting to get as many headbands on you as possible. Along with that, headbands shall not be worn below your neck! It's a HEADband. Not a bracelet, not a belt, not a ring. A Headband." Midnight seemed to really put a lot of emphasis that it was a headband, it made Kaine feel like they have people every year that try to weasel out of it.
"Now," Midnight continued, "The most important aspect of our Human Calvary game, is that if you should lose your headband or crumble as a horse configuration, you are still not out of the game!" she smiled waved her whip around before continuing, "Quirks, of course, are allowed! So I want to see some fine brutality out there. That being said..." she paused, "This is still just a human calvary battle game! If you attack any other group with the malicious aim of breaking them up, that'll be a red card and your group will be forced to sit out the entire match!"
"Don't try to kill someone because you'll lose. Basically, don't be a spoiled sport. Got it." Kaine said with a nod.
Midnight gave a large grin once again, "Well then, if your teams are all made then let's get to the stage! Time for the second round!"
"Ugh. Calvary Battle?" Mirko groaned as she left her seat to get something to drink, "So lame. Let's go and focus on trusting our partners!" she said in a mocking tone, "Bunch of pansies, the whole lot of them. I say to just make it a giant battle royale! They all go at each other, they can go anywhere as long as they remain on school grounds, then they beat the shit out of each other! Or, just have a giant tournament! Close quarters for the first couple or so rounds, have like eight brackets. Winners of those brackets will face off in quarters, then semis, then the best two will face against each other. Like wrestling or that...American sport in college..." she snapped her fingers a few times trying to recall what she was thinking of, "BASKETBALL! That's it! Just like Wrestling or college basketball."
Mirko continued walking around the stadium...well actually she got lost. She didn't attend UA and usually didn't go to the sports festival. Hell, she hardly ever watched the thing, she just hears the results online or from passer-bys in the street. Eventually she made it somewhere she could get a drink, but it wasn't a stand, it was a break room building they had for the heroes working security. "Ma'am you can't-"
"Shut up, dumbass." Mirko interrupted, walking past one of the heroes and grabbing something to drink, "Seriously, they couldn't make it easier to find a place to get something to drink?"
"The festival is out there, lady." Mirko squinted her eyes and turned to a table where she saw Death Arms, Kamui Woods, and Mount Lady all sitting at a table on break. Death Arms took a drag of his cigarette and blew smoke up in the air, "Civilians aren't allowed in here." he replied.
"Hey, hey, hold on, big guy." Mount Lady interrupted as she pushed Death Arms down and rushed over to the rabbit hero, "Like, this is Mirko! The sixth rank hero? Oh my god, it is such an honor to meet you. You know, up close it's crazy how short you are!"
Mirko's eye twitched slightly at the comment, "Funny, I was about to say the same to you."
Mount Lady snorted and waved her hands, "Ha! Such a kidder. But seriously, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't care about these types of things? You don't take in interns or anything like that."
Mirko grabbed a water from an ice chest and opened it, "What? No beer?"
"This is a school, ma'am." Kamui Woods pointed out.
"Stark has alcohol!" the rabbit argued.
Death Arms took another drag of his cigarette, "He also funds practically the entire event."
"Bureaucratic bullshit." Mirko mumbled before taking a drink of the water, "Look, I don't usually do these things. But I'm intrigued this year, yeah? There's a kid I'm watching, I think he has potential. Actually, if I'm being honest, save for maybe that Endeavor brat, I think he's the best of the bunch so far." she took another and smacked her lips, "If you want my genuine opinion, I think these trials are a waste of time."
Death Arms shrugged his shoulders and twirled the cigarette in his fingers, "I don't know, I think there's some merit to this. I mean, just look at the last event, the Obstacle Course Race, it's essentially a simulation for the survival of the fittest competition you'll find in the real world. Even you must resonate with that in some way since you came up completely on your own." he said as he pointed to Mirko. "This current trial has to do with team work, sometimes you are forced to work with others, sometimes you don't know who they are, but you have to rely on each other."
Mirko had an expression that showed she didn't believe what Death Arms was saying, "Yeeeeeah, I doubt that. Seems more like cheating if you ask me." she shrugged, "I mean, a hero is only as strong as themself. Relying on a bunch of 'teammates'." she said in quotes, "makes you look weaker by comparison. I mean, look at Kamui Woods. Did half the work, but needed Mount Lady to finish the job and capture the villain. Is he remembered? No! Mount Lady is!"
"Pretty sure she was remembered for a different reason." Kamui mumbled.
Mirko waved her hand back and forth, "Regardless, it being her large ass or her saving yours, the point is that you weren't remembered and she was. And it's because you relied too much on your teammates. You need to be more self reliant, a true hero, like me!" she boasted, giving a devious smile.
Mount Lady pulled Mirko into a hug from her back, in actuality the two aren't that different in height so Mirko just felt a face against hers and frowned, "Awe, this like, totally what I expected the sixth rank hero to be like! Spunky, brash, and absoultely beautiful to boot! You could probably work on the femininity a bit, but other than that, not bad!" she gave a goofy smile and gave a thumbs up.
Mirko frowned and broke free of the hug, "Alright, ALRIGHT! I see I'm not wanted here, I'm going." she growled. Before she stomped off she stopped at the door of the building and looked back, "Hey, how the hell do I get back?"
Death Arms sighed and rubbed out his cigarette butt, "Take a left, go back through the tunnel, up the steps and you'll be back in the bleachers."
Mirko left in a huff and stomped back to her seat. As she sat down she looked down to see the event had already started. Scanning the area she saw that, as she had expected, the kid with 10,000,000-points was being hunted down by different teams like big game. The Class B students were doing as she predicted as well and were mostly going for Class A teams. When it came to the two classes the hero definitely noticed that 1-A had more of 'Me' attitude instead of a 'We' attitude. Which is good, Mirko liked that. However...They said the kid is in Class B. Which seems insane to me. That kind of quirk, the hell did he do to not be placed in the highest class? Mirko thought with a frown. She then bit her thumb and began searching for him and his group, Dammit, kid, show these pansies up already. No way in hell are you on the same level as the short purple haired dweeb or the girl who's invisible. You're definitely on par with the Endeavor brat and you are DEFINITELY better than that blonde kid with the explosive hands. C'mon! Show me your mettle!
She finally found Kaine and his group and clenched her teeth in frustration. While every other group was doing their best to actively try and get points from other teams, Kaine's team was slowly moving around the outside ring of the arena, trying not to draw attention to themselves. A strategy Mirko could semi-understand if they were in third or fourth, but instead they were closer to ninth or tenth. Mirko's eye twitched in frustration as she slider her hands down her face and frowned before grabbing her ears and gripping them, "COME ON! MOVE YOUR FUCKING ASS, KID! QUIT HIDING IN THE CORNER LIKE A PUSSY!" she yelled out. She noticed a lot of stares coming her way from heroes in attendance and civilians as well. "The hell are all you looking at? The kid is frustrating me."
"So, what was this surefire plan you had to make sure I don't lose the headband?" Shinso asked with cocked eyebrow. Kaine motioned for Shinso to hand him the headband and the General Studies student did so. Shinso watched Kaine turn around and move his hand along the headband before tying it around Shinso's head. "I don't understand, what did you do?"
"Trust me, that isn't falling off any time soon." Kaine said with a nod, "Now let's do this real nonchalant like, yeah?" With the tail guy in the back, Shoda on the left and Kaine on the right the three lifted Shinso up onto their shoulders. "Okay, we just need to follow the plan. Stay out of the way and swoop in at the end, right Shinso?"
The purple haired boy nodded, "That's right. They won't know what hit 'em."
Midnight held up her whip in the air, a smile present on her face, "Teams, are you ready?" she gained a couple pumped up cheers from the different teams and chuckled, "Audience, are you ready!?" she gained a loud roar from the crowd that Kaine felt drowned out every other sound in the city, "Then let's begin! Show your brutal spirit!" she yelled out as she cracked her whip down, signaling the teams to begin.
"Move left." Shinso ordered and the trio holding onto him did so. The first goal was to get out of everyone's way. While everyone was infighting each other the rag-tag group would swoop in under the radar at the last second and advance to the next stage...at least, that was the plan. There was, of course, the off possibility that people decided to focus on them, but hopefully it didn't come to that. "Strafe around the arena, avoid the 10,000,000-point kid. We have to make it so we are the least suspected group." Again, the trio complied.
"Hey, Shoda, if someone comes close, maybe pat their back and use your quirk to knock them down, huh?" Kaine suggested, "You know, as a counter measure?" he waited for a response, but received none from his classmate. "Uh...Shoda? Are you, like, ignoring me or something? Did I do something wrong? Something to upset you?" again, no answer, "Is this because we don't really interact with each other? If so, I'm sorry. I just...kinda have a lot on my plate." still nothing. Kaine groaned in frustration and peered his head around Shinso's legs to get a look at his classmate and saw his eyes looked glassed over. They seemed lifeless and blank, as if his brain was shut off but his body wasn't. What the hell? Kaine thought. He looked behind him to see the 1-A student looked the same. What's going on here?
"The green haired kid and that ice guy are coming this way. Start moving right." Shinso ordered and he gained a slight grunt of acknowledgment from Shoda and the student with the tail.
Is it possible he's...manipulating them? Kaine gritted his teeth in frustration, I have no way to prove it, but that has to be it, right? He's using them! I want to stop him...I want to stop this whole thing. I should tell someone or throw or...something. But I... Kaine bit his lip in frustration, I'm scared. I want to move on. I want to be noticed by someone. I've made it to the second round and I have to keep going, but if moving on means using my classmates as stepping stones...It just doesn't feel right.
All Kaine could hear now was the sound of explosions as Bakugou and his group seemed dead set on taking down Monoma and his group. Kaine wasn't surprised, Monoma seemed like the guy who would try to get under the blonde's skin the quickest. He also saw Midoriya's team who was trying to avoid practically everyone, but none more so than Todoroki's team who had a speedster of some kind helping them out, as well as Todoroki's ice.
The next thing Kaine knew at least half the arena was frozen in ice and some of the groups were stuck to the ground, including Kendo's. "Not even a minute left folks and Team Todoroki boasts four, yes four headbands!" Present Mic announced. What? less than a minute? Already? Seems unbelievable. Kaine thought. "Because of that, Team Midoriya has fell all the way to 6th place!" Kaine looked up to the scoreboard to see that his group was in fifth, just behind Kendo and her group.
"Not ideal." Shinso muttered, "Now's the time to act. With less than forty-five seconds remaining let's go ahead and snag that frozen group's points and take fourth." Shoda and the tail guy began moving their bodies towards Kendo's team, but Kaine with all his strength stuck himself to the ground and made it impossible for them to move.
"Hold on!" Kaine yelled out, "We can't go for them because..." C'mon, man, think! "Because if we do that will leave only four teams on the field with points, and we could have a bunch of people after us. We should go for Team Monoma or Tetsutetsu. They have a lot of points and if we steal enough to take third or fourth, but not enough to completely shut them out, then we'll leave more variety on the field and let people ignore us for easier prey first."
Shinso thought a moment before nodding, "Agreed. Let's go for..." he looked up to see Bakugou heading straight for Monoma, sending a blast directly at him. Shinso cringed slightly and looked towards Tetsutetsu, "That team." he pointed to Tetsutetsu's team and the group marched forward.
"And with those three headbands, Team Bakugou has shot back up to third place!" Present Mic yelled out. The crowd cheered and Kaine gulped, Hopefully it ends soon. "Even in the final stretch the score board's in a lively flux! With that we now have six teams on the board and only thirty seconds to go!" Kaine wasn't exactly sure what was happening, but the next thing he knew he heard another explosion and suddenly Monoma's team was off the board. "NO MERCY FROM KATSUKI BAKUGOU!" Present Mic shouted, riling up the crowd into a tremendous roar, loud enough they probably landed 6.0 on the Richter Scale.
"Twenty seconds!" Kaine now saw his group getting closer to Tetsutetsu's team. What do I do? Do I stop here? Do I let us keep going? "Ten seconds!" I have to decide, it's now or never, what am I doing? "Five!" Stop, stop! Kaine stuck his feet to the ground and tried to prevent his group from going any farther. "Four! THREE!" Kaine successfully stopped his team from moving any farther, if he won, he would prefer it being so he didn't manipulate someone else by force. Losing was his choice. "TWO! ONE! That's time folks!"
A loud bell sounded off across the stadium and Kaine let off a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Well, shall we see who our top four are?" Present Mic laughed, "In first place we have Team Todoroki! Second place, Team Bakugou! Third place, Team Tetsu-WAIT WHAT!? What happened here?"
"Thanks, you were a big help." Shinso said as he crawled off the trio.
"Um...correction, Team Shinso! Finally, in fourth place is Team Midoriya!" The crowd roared from the announcements and practically drowned out everything else. "The final event will be after an hour's lunch break! Hey, Mummy Man, let's grab some grub."
At that moment, both Shoda and the other boy snapped out of it. "Shoda!" Kaine yelled out as he rushed to his classmate and gripped his shoulders, "Are you alright?"
"K-Kaine?" Shoda asked with a confused expression, "What happened?"
"We just finished the second challenge. I think you were manipulated." Kaine said with a nod.
"That sounds right." Shoda replied, "The last thing I remember was that we just ended the Obstacle Course, and I was supposed to join Tsunotori's team. Then the purple haired guy came to me and asked me if I wanted to be on his team, I said 'No' and then...blank. I blacked out." Shoda frowned and cupped his chin, "That must have been it. I think he has the ability to manipulate people's minds after they respond to him." Shoda looked up at Kaine with a curious expression, "So did the same thing happen to you?"
Kaine shook his head, "No. Shinso never did that to me, even though he could have at any time." Kaine frowned, "I...I don't think I'll participate in the next round." he said as he clenched his fists.
"WHAT!? WHY?" Shoda was flabbergasted by what he was hearing, "Kaine, you did everything your way, you can't quit!"
"It wouldn't be right!" Kaine said as he shook his head, "Knowing I got here because I used my classmate and some 1-A student as a stepping stone is wrong. It goes against everything I stand for!"
Now Shoda was grabbing Kaine's shoulders, "Kaine, listen to me. You didn't use us as stepping stones. You were in complete control of your actions. I trust you didn't just use us." he looked at Kaine, his eyes full of determination, "I know you by now Kaine, you're hard working and you always take others into consideration. You never manipulate others or use them to help you for some personal gain. More than that, I know how hard you worked for this. Arguably more than any of us." he smacked Kaine on his chest, "So you are not forfeiting. You are going to keep going because YOU deserve it."
Kaine sighed at Shoda's kind words, "But...what about you?"
Shoda also sighed in return, "In all honesty, it doesn't feel right for me to continue because I don't even remember anything. I'm going to forfeit my position. I don't know about the 1-A student, but if he has dignity, he should do the same." Shoda then looked back up to Kaine with a determined expression, "Show them what you're made of Kaine. Show them that Class B can stand toe-to-toe with Class A too." Kaine nodded in response and the two shook hands.
Kaine's eyes then squinted as he saw Shinso not too far away. He gritted his teeth and all he could see was red. If there was one thing Shinso would learn today, it's that those who hurt those that were close to Kaine, will get hurt themselves. "Uh...Kaine?" Shoda asked as he saw the tall teen stomp his way towards the General Studies student.
"Hey, Shinso!" Kaine called out. Shinso gave an annoyed grunt before turning his head. As he did so, the teen was immediately met by a fist to his eye and was knocked to the ground. Those who were still in the audience gasped in surprise. Mirko, was probably the only one cheering. "You want to play dirty?! Let's play dirty right here where everyone can see us!" Kaine scoffed, "Manipulate others go do your bidding, how about I manipulate your jaw into breaking away from your face!" Kaine felt his spine tingle and suddenly a pink mist surrounded his face. His body began to feel numb and he collapsed to a knee.
"Yellow card, Yoshida!" Midnight announced, "Another outburst like that and you'll be out of the competition." she warned as she cracked her whip.
Shinso stood up and chuckled, "So blood thirsty all of a sudden. What, is a hero class type like yourself actually upset about using others. Isn't that something you guys do?"
Kaine knew that the teen was trying to get a rise out of him, but he still wanted to say something back. Kaine opened his mouth but his mouth was quickly covered by Shoda. "Don't, Kaine! If you respond, that's when he gets you, remember?"
Kaine took a deep breath and stood up, turning away from Shinso to look at Shoda. "You're right. Can't let him get to me now." Kaine straightened his tracksuit and cracked his neck, "But he should know this," he spoke up, to make sure Shinso heard him, "I really, REALLY don't like it when people hurt those close to me. And he should know...when people hurt those I care about, those people get hurt. Regardless of what we get next round, he better pray he doesn't get me as his opponent...because I will not hold back." With that, Kaine walked away with Shoda patting his back. Meanwhile, Shinso was left behind, rubbing his eye in pain. "Let's get some lunch. I get hungry when I'm pissed off." Kaine grumbled, his stomach following soon after.
Chapter 13: Let The Final Trial Begin
Let The Final Trial Begin
"Oh...I can't believe we lost our points at the last second like that." Ibara said with a distraught tone. "I really wasn't expecting Kaine of all people to go for a sneak attack like that, guess that's what we get for being in third." she shoved a spoonful of rice into her mouth and frowned. Currently, everyone was on lunch break. And, likely to not make tensions high, classes were separated into their own small lunch room.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!" Monoma yelled out as he gripped his hair and slammed his head against the table in frustration, "We were so close! The plan was calculated perfectly! How did it all go to shit!?"
"I guess we underestimated them." Tsuburaba replied with a frown as he too shoved rice into his mouth.
Kaine was sitting, playing with his food, after everything that happened, he was excited...but also frustrated. "I tried to stop them you know." he said softly, leading to the others in their lunchroom to look at him, "I recognized something was wrong midway through the match. I thought that if I could slow down the others I could throw the match and let Tetsutetsu move on." he frowned, "I was too late to act. I hesitated, and by the time I stuck myself into the ground, that Shinso guy was close enough to snag the headbands."
Shoda was quick to pat his back, "Hey, stop beating yourself up." he looked up to the others and frowned himself, "Everything that happened was because of Shinso. He has some sort of mind-control quirk. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with responding to him. He manipulated me and that 1-A student into being on his team, and he was why you guys got knocked out of your place, not Kaine."
"Woah." Tetsutetsu said with an astonished expression, "Ah, geez. Real sorry about blaming ya, Kaine. It's really cool you tried to stop him though! Über manly!" he smiled, "May the two of you represent Class B to the fullest!"
Shoda gulped and nodded, "S-Sure."
"Alright everybody, the noonday break is over, so let's get this festival on the road!" Present Mic announced, followed by a loud sound which sounded like him finishing a soda. "Now, before we get started with the final events, there's good news for those of you who dropped out of the preliminaries! In the end this is still a sports festival afterall, so to have everyone continue to participate, we've got some recreational events in store! I mean, just look at how pumped up those cheerleaders we called in from America, are!" At this time the students began to pile out into the field once again, where they were greeted to the sight of cheering fans and cheerleaders. However, they were also greeted to the sight of the girls of Class A, also dressed up in cheerleading outfits. "Woah, hold on, WHAT HAPPENED TO CLASS A!? Talk about showing spirit!"
From across the way, Kaine could see one of the 1-A girls, the one with spiky ponytail specifically, raise her hands in the air and began yelling to one of her male classmates. "Mineta! Kaminari! You tricked us didn't you!"
"At least the 1-A gals look cute." Kaine said with a nod, gaining several nods in agreement from the boys of 1-B as well as a couple groans from Kendo.
"Alright everyone, compete your hearts out!" Present Mic laughed, "And after that, it'll be time for the final event! From four teams, sixteen students have made it through, it's a tournament!"
Mirko spit out her drink upon hearing 'tournament' and seeing the brackets. She jumped out of her seat and began cheering and fist pumping because somebody up there had answered her prayers in some way. FUCK. YES!
"You heard that right folks, we'll be pitting them against each other in one-on-one combat! Now let's get started with forming these brackets, Midnight, take it away, girl!"
Midnight stood the small stage she was on earlier with a small box in her hand labeled 'lots'. "Alright, now I'll determine who fights whom through lottery! Once the match ups are made we'll do a fun bit of recreation and then commence the final tournament. Whether or not the sixteen who will be competing want to participate in the recreation activities is solely up to you. But I'm sure most of you will want to take a breather or preserve your strength." she smirked, "So starting from the team that got first, let's determine the order-"
"Excuse me." Kaine saw the boy with the tail raise his hand from the middle of the crowd, interrupting Midnight, "I'm...I'm gonna have to sit this one out."
"Ojiro, why?" Midoriya asked.
The tail student, Ojiro seemed to be his name, shrugged, "Truth is, I don't remember anything that happened in the Human Calvary Battle up until the last few seconds. It's likely due to that Gen. Studies kid's quirk." he and some of the others looked to Shinso and the teen just smirked, "I know...I know this is my chance to show my skills, I know it's stupid to throw it all away. But this is the place everyone learned by clashing with their full power, I just wouldn't feel right standing among you without even knowing how I got here. It wouldn't be right."
"Hey, don't worry about it, man! As long as you get results at this stage it's fine, right?" a pair of floating cheerleaders uniform told Ojiro. Holy shit, 1-A has an invisible person!? Kaine thought in astonishment.
The pink girl nodded in agreement, "Yeah, it's not as though I put on the most stellar performance either."
Ojiro gritted his teeth and balled his hand into a fist. "You don't understand, this is my pride we're talking about here! I just can't stand the thought of it." it was quiet for sometime before he looked up and blushed slightly, "Also...why are the girls in cheerleader outfits?"
Shoda gulped and he also raised his hand, "I...I shouldn't participate either." he said with a saddened expression, "I don't remember what happened either, and would like to abstain. No matter how strong he may actually be, for a person who didn't do anything to rise up would defeat the purpose of the sports festival, wouldn't it?" Kaine gulped as he heard the two boys. He was still unsure about it himself, but if his classmates feel he should still participate, then he will respect their wishes.
Midnight looked down on the students, her expression looking almost cynical, "How callow...I'll have you know that greenhorns like you..." the two boys gulped as Midnight cracked her whip, "GET ALL MY LOVE! I hereby recognize Ojiro and Shoda pulling out!" The R-rated hero cleared her throat before continuing, "Now that means that two slots are open, therefore the positions shall go to the fifth place team, Team Kendo!"
Kendo placed a hand on her hip and shook her head, "As great as that would be, we just can't accept that. We were frozen for the last few minutes. If anything, the slots should go to the team that fought until the very end, right girls?" Kendo turned to her teammates, Reiko, Setsuna, and Komori, who all nodded in agreement. "Right, so it should go to team Tetsutetsu." Tetsutetsu looked to Kendo in surprise, "Oh, and this isn't a favor, so I don't expect to be repaid, alright? This is just fair."
Tetsutetsu sniffled a little bit before rubbing his eyes, "Oh, you guys! You're the best!"
After several minutes of deciding the two representatives, it was decided to be Tetsutetsu and Ibara, the lots were drawn and the members were placed on the bracket. "So now it's settled!" Midnight proclaimed, "With Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki joining the fray the brackets are set as follows." she pointed to the large screen where the brackets were shown. From left to right the matches were: Midoriya against Shinso; Todoroki against Sero (Kaine was definitely sure it was that black haired student that shot tape from his elbow); Ibara against Kaminari...Kaine wasn't sure who Kaminari was, but he was positive he was in Class A; Iida against Hatsume...again, two names he had no idea who they were; Ashido against Yoshida...Wait...I'M Yoshida. he nodded, But who's Ashido?; Tokoyami against Yaoyorozu; Tetsutetsu against Kirishima (Kaine was positive that was the red haired student from 1-A. He only knows because he and Tetsutetsu have been forming a bit of a rivalry); and finally was Uraraka against Bakugou. Kaine wasn't sure who the first person was, but he felt bad they were against Bakugou.
"Yoshida?" he heard a female voice next to him. Turning to his left he saw the pink girl, still in cheerleading uniform for some reason, standing with her arms crossed, "Who's Yoshida?"
Kaine gulped, A girl? Why do I always have to fight girls?"Um...I am." he said, slightly raising his hand.
The pink girl, known as Mina Ashido, looked Kaine up and down and smiled, "Oh, hey! The cute, tall guy from the entrance exams!" she gave a bright smile that, despite Kaine's earlier worries, put the spider teen at ease. She then pointed at him with both fingers and chuckled, "I'M GONNA TOTALLY KICK YOUR BUTT!"
Kaine couldn't help but chuckle in response, once again, he felt the pageantry of everything overwhelming him. He gave a smile in return and pointed back, with his palm facing the sky, "I'd love to see you try! I'm gonna beat you so bad you'll turn magenta!"
"Okay! Now let's put the tournament on hold for a moment and enjoy some fun recreation!" Present Mic announced. As he said that, those who were in the tournament went off to be by themselves. Some meditated, others tried to relax, some thought of strategies, and others just tried to pump themselves up. Kaine did the only thing he could do, he watched reference material for fighting on his phone. Old news reports that filmed Spider-Man as he fought his villains. He also watched videos of other pro heroes, new and old to try and get a feel for what he felt would help him the most in the fight.
Meanwhile, those who didn't make it to the final tournament, were participating in some fun recreation games. The first being a scavenger hunt type game where students are given a paper with a clue and they have to bring an object that matches the description of the clue. Monoma was one of the few who chose not participate, instead he sulked by leaning against the wall of the stadium. "Honestly," he scoffed, "How absolutely droll. Participating in kids like games. Instead we should be thinking up ways on how to come back and beat 1-A."
"Monoma!" the blonde turned around to see Kendo running towards him, slightly out of breath, "If you aren't going to participate I need you to come with me."
Monoma cocked an eyebrow in confusion, "What, why?" Kendo gave a deadpanned looked as she held up her clue that said 'A Perverted Person' before growing her hands, picking up him up and running across the field. "Eh...wait. Isn't this some sort of mistake?"
"Most definitely not!" Kendo replied seriously.
From across the field Setsuna spotted Kendo and smirked, "Operation: Wingman, is now entering it's first phase!" She quickly detached one of her hands and flew it across the field to Kendo where she grabbed hold of her ponytail and pulled, leading the red-head to yelp out in pain. Setsuna laughed and waved to Kendo with her free hand before leading her class president by the ponytail to her location. "Ah, Kendo, glad you found me." Setsuna said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, didn't have a choice, did I?" Kendo replied. She rolled her shoulder and rubbed her head, "What do you need, Tokage? Do I fit a description or something?"
Setsuna waved her detached hand back and forth in front of her face, "No, no. Nothing like that. Actually, I'm kinda here on behalf of Kaine." Kendo cocked an eyebrow in confusion, "Oh yeah, you see. Kaine wanted to ask something of you but..." Setsuna looked left and right before leaning to Kendo's ear and whispered, "He's kinda shy." she chuckled, "See, since he's in the tournament, he's a little...nervous, and feels he doesn't have much to fight for right now. So he was wondering how comfortable you would be with giving him a prize."
Kendo squinted her eyes, "W-What sort of prize?" Setsuna darted her eyes back and forth leaned to Kendo's ear and whispered something. Kendo's face became red and she quickly shook her head back and forth, "N-No way! No way, no way! First that bag of tomboy themed ero-doujin's now he's asking for something like that?"
Setsuna had a confused expression on her face, but shook it off all the same, "Um, YES! Don't you see, this was a sign! He was trying to tell you something. He has those tomboy ero-doujins (I'll ask later) and you're what some would call a tomboy, he's clearly into you!" Wow, this has become much easier than it had to be. Good boy, Kaine for being dirtier than I imagined. "Come on, it isn't that bad, and it's only if he wins. I believe in you!" Setsuna suddenly left, spewing chaotic laughter.
"Tokage, wait!" Kendo yelled out, "I never agreed to this!"
After a little bit over an hour, the hero, Cementoss, finished creating the arena for the tournament. It wasn't an overly flashy arena, but it didn't have to be. It was just a large piece of concrete with some steps that led up to it, as well as a box marked a little inside the perimeter of the slab of rock that marked the 'In Bounds' area. It was also fairly large, easily taking up at least half the field in total area. "Thank you, Cementoss!" Present Mic yelled out. "Now...ARE YOU ALL READY!?" the crowd cheered in response. "Alright! We've got a lot in store for you fighters! This stage is where you'll have you're brawl. Remember, 1v1, no items (unless specified). So the only one you can rely on, is yourself!" he laughed, "You don't have to be a hero to face such trials right? That's the point! Now's the time, time to test your body, mind and soul. Test your mettle and go beyond PLUS ULTRA!"
Kaine came up from the locker room and he made it to his class' seating area, which was on the second floor of the stadium. It was a small sectioned off area, not unlike one that every class had, students seemed to get special treatment, and why shouldn't they? They were the ones breaking their bodies out here. Kaine still thought it was a shame they were relegated to the second deck, but it was better than nothing. "Yo, Kaine!" Tetsutetsu yelled out. The steel skinned teen walked up to Kaine and the two clasped their hands to each other, "Can you believe it? We actually made it, man! This has to be like, the coolest feeling in the world."
Kaine couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "Right, you me and Shiozaki. Let's do our best and show those Class A assholes who they're dealing with."
"Hey!" Kaine shot his head up in surprise. He turned to his right and looked over the divider to see Class A sitting there. "Just who's the asshole here? Us or the guys bad mouthing us?" Ashido said with her arms crossed.
Kaine let out a light laugh, "What, no cheerleading outfit anymore? Get all spirited out?" his comment led to some of his classmates chuckling as well as a few of Class A, "Hey, I don't suppose you'll tell me what your quirk is, will you? I kinda want to take the victory without straining myself too much."
Ashido let out a fake laugh, "Ha! Like I'd just let you take a victory over me. I'm gonna leave you in the dust!"
"Alright, let's get this show on the road!" Present Mic announced, "It's time for Match 1, folks! Will our contestants take the stage?" Down below, Kaine saw Midoriya enter the stage from the left and Shinso from the right. "What's with that face, you did well up until now, haven't you!? First up, class of heroics, Izuku Midoriya, versus...Eh...sorry, you haven't really done anything memorable or eye catching yet, but, department of general education, Hitoshi Shinso!" The crowd cheered as the two students faced each other. Kaine squinted his eyes and went to sit down, this was probably the one other match he was interested in.
"The rules are simple, folks. This scuffle here is won either by ringing out your opponent, by rendering them unable to move, or by making them cry 'uncle'! Feel free to wound, we have our very own Recovery Girl waiting on the wings. So I hope you left your sense of morals at the door!" Present Mic then cleared his throat before continuing, "Of course you're not allowed to do anything TOO malicious. We're heroes here, not villains. Do anything deemed too far and you'll be disqualified! That's why we have our deae Cementoss staying by the field to stop the match should he see fit.Fighters, I hope you're ready, LET'S GET THIS BATTLE STARTED!"
Kaine paid adamant attention to the fight. Nothing happened right away, it was like the two were just...talking. Something must have happened because the next thing Kaine knew he saw Midoriya charging at Shinso and then just...stopped. He must have responded go Shinso. Kaine thought with a groan as he wiped his face. He must have been right because he heard Ojiro and Shoda say the same thing. "Hey now, what's going on? The match just started and Midoriya's come to a full stop!" Kaine grit his teeth as he watched the situation unfold. Midoriya was just standing there looking like a moron while Shinso had a cocky smirk on his face. Even Kaine had to admit, the quirk was effective, but he hated it already.
Kaine heard Aizawa give a long sigh into his microphone, "This is why for years I've been saying the practical exam is ineffective."
"What do you mean by that, Mummy Man?"
"I pulled their files to see how the match ups would play out so I had something to talk about." Aizawa continued, "Shinso failed the practical exam, but he also applied for General Studies, so he seemed to expect as much. The exam itself favors those with physical quirks. So even though his is clearly a force to be reckoned with, it's not gonna be as effective against robots who can't respond. A damn shame."
Kaine continued watching and suddenly Midoriya turned around and began to walk towards the edge of the in-bounds area. Kaine leaned forward and gripped the metal railing in front of him as his nerves began to build up. Come on, Midoriya. Snap out of it! Kaine began holding his breath and he gripped the metal bars tighter, having it form to the shape of his grip.
"Oh no, folks, looks like Midoriya is going the wrong way! Is this how our first match will end? Are we going to see a forfeit in the first round!?" Kaine gripped the bars even tighter and he leaned forward more as Midoriya was just a single step away from the out of bounds area, but then...he stopped. Kaine's eyes widened as Midoriya's arm glowed slightly. Suddenly, a forceful blast of air shot from Midoriya's arm, and it kicked up all the dust in and near the arena. He then turned around, completely broken from his trance, but also had what looked to be two broken fingers. "Midoriya's come to a halt! He's broken through Shinso's quirk!"
"HE HAS A QUIRK!?" Kaine shouted out in surprise, finally letting out a breath and completely crushing the metal bars in front of him, "He was quirkless all through junior high, WHEN THE HELL DID HE GET A QUIRK!?" Kaine continued to watch as Midoriya charged back towards Shinso, this time making sure not to say anything. He put the purple haired teen into a grapple and took a few punches to his face, but he still kept fighting. Shinso even kneed Midoriya in the stomach and tried to throw him out of the ring, but Midoriya was able to reverse and get a judo throw on Shinso that made his leg land out of bounds when he crashed into the ground.
"Shinso's out of bounds!" Midnight announced, "Midoriya shall advance to the second round!"
"YES!" Kaine shouted out in English as he jumped in the air and threw his arms to the sky, "Holy hell, Midoriya. Don't scare me like that." he sat back down in his seat, getting some odd stares from his classmates, "What? I like Midoriya." Kaine began laughing and covering his face with his hand, "This whole time, I was paranoid because I thought he made it in quirkless, and it turns out he's had a quirk."
"Just like that, Izuku Midoriya is moving on!" Present Mic yelled out, causing the crowd to cheer louder than they already were, "Okay, that first match was a little boring, kids. But CONGRATULATIONS regardless!" Despite everything that had happened, despite his frustration and hatred towards someone using his quirk against someone Kaine thought of as a friend...he still felt sympathy for Shinso. A boy with what is actually a really good quirk, denied his shot at heroics because he didn't have a more physical quirk. Hopefully, after this display, he'll be accepted. Maybe he'll make someone's sidekick or even be used as some sort of police negotiator. He had a future for him somewhere, Kaine was sure of it.
...
He still wanted to punch Shinso in the face though.
The next match on the docket was Todoroki against Sero, and, just as Kaine thought, Sero was definitely the kid sith the tape quirk. The match started quickly, Sero made the first move by attaching his tape to Todoroki and began to spin around so he could throw the ice teen out of bounds. However, Todoroki was just...strong, incredibly strong and really good with his quirk. With practically a flick of the wrist, Todoroki sent a massive blizzard of ice that froze Sero in place and created a massive glacier that was close to doubling the size of the stadium.
However, that match didn't really matter to Kaine, what did matter was the next matchup which was- "YEEEEAH! LET'S GO SHIOZAKI!" Awase shouted out at the top of his lungs, "SHOW THAT BLONDIE WHO'S BOSS AND BEAT! HIS! ASS!"
Kaine clicked his tongue and peered over the barrier to see Midoriya sitting next to the girl with the bobbed haircut and a fairly tall boy that looked a little uptight. "Mi-dor-i-ya!" Kaine laughed, "Way to go on your match, good to see you break out of that mind control." Kaine leaned his body over the barrier and pulled himself towards Midoriya so that his feet hooked to his side of the barrier as he stretched as far as he could to give the green haired teen a high five.
"O-Oh, thanks, Kaine." Midoriya replied as he returned the high five. The teen gulped and rubbed the back of his head, "S-So...I guess your friend is up next?"
"Oh, for sure." Kaine nodded, "Shiozaki is really good, and a little scary. Any pointers for your buddy down there?"
"Kaminari is an idiot." the earlobe-audio-jack-girl replied, "But he's also strong. So I suppose it all depends on your friends abilities."
"Oh, thanks earlobe-audio-jack-girl!" Kaine replied.
"It's Jiro." she replied quickly.
Kaine gave a two finger salute, "So...what does he do?"
"He disperses electricity from his body...but he can't control it and if he makes the wattage too powerful he fries his brain." Jiro replied stifling a laugh, "And he becomes a total dumbass!"
"Oh..." Kaine gave a nervous chuckle, "He uh...he just loses this fight then."
"And what would make you presume such a thing?" the tall boy with glasses asked.
"Well...plants aren't exactly good conductors of electricity, are they?" Kaine smiled.
"It's time for the next fight folks!" The students looked down to see Ibara and Kaminari take the stage. "It's Kaminari from Class A versus Shiozaki from Class B!LET'S RUMBLE!" Kaminari immediately began charging up his hands before launching his electricity forward. However, Ibara immediately used her vines to form a shield a round her body and shot two other vines out that wrapped around Kaminari's body, incapacitating him...also he fried his brain. "Wow and it's over in a flash! I guess Class B isn't messing around now folks!"
"YEEEEEEEAH, SHIOZAKI!" Awase shouted, the teen having to be held back so he didn't fall over the railings.
"Wow! She's really amazing!" Midoriya exclaimed as he began writing in his journal and mumbling to himself.
"Ha, hahaha." Kaine looked back to see Monoma poke his head over the barrier with an almost maniacal smile. "Well, well, well. What happened here, Class A? I thought you guys were supposed to be high and mighty, supposed to be the best of the best. But one of you lost that quickly? Perhaps you aren't as hot as you say you are, maybe you aren't worth shi-AGH!" he was cut off when a giant hand chopped the top of his head and knocked him down.
"Sorry about him," Kendo apologized with a smile, "As you can see he's a bit of a handful."
"Ha! Monoma got whacked!" Kaine chuckled. Suddenly, the spider teen felt someone grab hold of his legs and pull him back.
"You're in trouble too!" Kendo yelled out as she pull Kaine and chopped his head too.
"Ow! I didn't do anything! I'm up soon you know!"
Kaine in fact was not up soon as Hatsume, a pink haired girl from the Support Course, She was the gal on Midoriya's team, was taking her sweet time with Iida, the tall glasses guy that was sitting next to Midoriya earlier. However, she wasn't taking her time by playing around with Iida, no, she was in fact using him as a mobile ad for her support items. Hopefully she impressed Tony Stark, because she had a ton of items to show off. Kaine thought with a groan. However, when she was done, he knew what he had to do. It was his turn to take the field.
Kaine took a deep breath as got up from his seat. He got a few slaps on on the back from the boys, a nod from Ibara, but when he looked to Kendo she turned her face. Wonder what that was about. Kaine thought. He quickly shook his head, he couldn't focus on that now, he has to focus on his fight.
Kaine made his way to the tunnel, but before he could, his spine shivered and he felt a hand grab him by the mouth and pull him behind a corner. Kaine slapped the hand off him, but it was immediately slammed on the wall behind him, next to his face. At first he didn't see anyone, but then he looked down and saw a familiar head of white hair. Oh...you have GOT to be shitting me. "Hey there, Slick." Mirko greeted with an almost deranged smile, "You know, I knew you were good at hiding, but I never thought you'd be hiding here of all places."
Kaine darted his eyes back and forth, "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about. I think you have the wrong person, miss." Kaine moved Mirko's hand and quickly sped down the hall so he could get to the tunnel. Mirko could only smirk.
Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Kaine thought. He began hyperventilating as he walked through the tunnel to the arena entrance, Dammit, what the hell am I going to do? She's here and she knows it's me, or at least she's suspicious. Kaine took a deep breath to try and relax himself, Forget about that for now. Deal with this...worry about her later. She obviously wasn't trying to turn me in, if she was she would have just grabbed me or at least had police with her. I think she just wants that spar, which is the LAST thing I want right now. Just... Kaine heard the roar of the crowd just outside of the tunnel and he gulped.
He began to slowly make his way out onto the stage. The blinding light from the sun getting into his eyes slightly, when his eyes readjusted he could see all of fans looking down at the arena, their screams filling his ears. He didn't know why, but he felt his nerves go away. "Holy shit...I think I was made to perform."
"Now for our next event ladies and gentlemen!" Present Mic gleefully announced, "Once again we are bringing that Class A versus Class B rivalry! Representing Class A, the Pink Menace, she's always got the hot hands it's: MINA ASHIDO!" The crowd cheered and Mina waved with both her hands, really hamming it up for the crowd before she faced Kaine with a smirk and gave a double peace, stuck out her tongue and winked. "And representing Class B is their behemoth of a student! Standing in at 193 centimeters tall, weighing in around 73 kilograms, he's wants to be the player character in Quake, it's: KAINE YOSHIDA!" Kaine smiled at the crowd cheering at the sound of his name, he decided to ham it up much like Mina by twirling his hand a few times before bowing.
"So, may I have this dance?" Kaine asked with a chuckle.
"What a charmer," Mina laughed as she got in a fighting stance, "Don't cry too much after I beat you and break it off, kay?"
"FIGHTERS ARE YOU READY!?" Kaine got into a fighting stance and his smile only got bigger, "Let's see what you two've got! FIGHT!"
"Watch out, 'cause here I come!" Mina yelled out.
"LET'S ROCK, BABY!" Kaine yelled back. In a matter of seconds the two clashed.
Chapter 14: Round 1: FIGHT!
Round 1: FIGHT!
"Watch out, 'cause here I come!" Mina yelled out. She began running forward and cocked her hand back to use her quirk.
"LET'S ROCK, BABY!" Kaine yelled back, he began rushing towards Mina himself and saw her arm cock back. Suddenly, Mina shot her hand forward and some kind of liquid shot from her hand. Kaine lifted up his arm to block it, but felt a stinging sensation when he did so. Looking at his bicep, where the liquid had hit, Kaine saw his jacket now had a singed hole in it and his skin was starting to burn. Damn, what is this, acid? Kaine ducked the next attack as Mina threw more of the liquid towards him. He began to feel the burning on his skin increase and he quickly removed the jacket, revealing a black tank top underneath. "Hey, can you, like, NOT burn my clothes? I don't have a lot of these, you know."
"Get more then, cheapass!" Mina laughed as she threw more acid at Kaine. The spider teen quickly lifted up his jacket and blocked the acid, however, there was now a massive hole in the back. I would if I could. Kaine thought with a grimace. He tried to locate Mina, but she started sliding around the ring like an ice skater, using her acid to help her move. That's...not how that should work, but okay. To Kaine, instead of acid, it was almost as if Mina was leaving behind a mucus trail like a snail or slug...which didn't make sense because she looked more like a moth, minus the wings of course.
Kaine tossed his jacket behind him and by some miracle he blinded Mina as she tried rushing him. "Oh, hi there!" While Mina was blinded, Kaine grabbed her arm and performed a judo throw, slamming the 1-A student into the ground. Then, while Mina was getting off the floor, Kaine quickly ran up and kicked the pink girl in the stomach, sending her flying across the ground to the other side of the arena. Just before Mina flew across the ground she hurled acid at Kaine. His spine tingled and he quickly jumped and did the splits in the air, narrowly avoiding having acid on his groin.
"WOAH! Looks like Yoshida avoided a close one there, folks. He almost lost his chances at having a future!" Present Mic laughed, causing the crowd to let out a laugh as well.
"Screw you guys! I almost lost my manhood!" Kaine yelled out, his face red from embarrassment and anger. Mina was now up on her feet once again, hopping up and down a little bit with a smile on her face. She began sliding her way towards Kaine, and Kaine decided he wanted to stay as far away from her acid as possible until he came up with a way of defeating her. That means it was time to make a tactical retreat.
Kaine hopped back to gain distance before arching himself backwards and performing several backhandsprings to escape the acid throwing pink moth of a student. "Oh? Retreating so soon? What's the matter Yoshida, scared of getting burned now?" Present Mic laughed, "I guess he saw his whole life flash before his eyes during that last attack folks, BECAUSE HE'S NOW RUNNING FOR HIS LIFE!" Kaine continued his retreat, but Mina wasn't willing to give him room to breathe. "Looks like Ashido wants to end this fight as quickly as possible! She won't give the man any breathing room, soon he's gonna be suffocating!"
"Ashido is an interesting student." Aizawa started, "You wouldn't see it from her personality, but she is a hard worker. Her Strengths aren't as apparent as the weaknesses she has, but she makes up for that by being one of the most athletic students in my class, despite not having a quirk that helps her in that department. She's one of the faster students and that's just her natural running ability. Yoshida, could end this quickly himself, however, he seems to be having issues with his quirk. Either that, or he's trying to be strategic and not show off the potential of his quirk until a later match. If so, that could end up costing him the first round." Aizawa let out a sigh, "It'd be disappointing to see him go out in the first round because he was being too cautious."
Cautious? If I was cautious I would have web thrown her out of the ring at the start of the match! Kaine thought in frustration, It's called STRATEGY old man, maybe you've heard of it? I'm in the same bracket as Bakugou, you think I want him to know what I have up my sleeve? Kaine dodged another glob of acid and he slid to a halt. Mina stopped too, but she just stared him down with a wide grin, wondering what he would do next. "I can do this all day!" Mina yelled out, "You'll get tired eventually, and I'll take my win there. Ah-thank you very much!"
"Yeah right!" Kaine laughed, "If there's one thing I have over everyone else, it's stamina. I'm the Tokyo bullet train, baby! I got no breaks until night time!"
"But, like...doesn't a train stop whenever it gets to it's destination?" Mina chuckled, "So you could say it takes frequent breaks."
"SHUT UP!" Kaine yelled in embarrassment, "Don't correct my analogy."
In the upper decks, Mirko bit her thumb as she watched the fight. Come on, kid! I've seen you fight up close. Stop being a little bitch and hit her! She began crushing the drink container in her hands as she watched the 'fight' continue. "Fight, yeah. It's a god damned dance routine!"
"Yoshida showed a lot of promise during the practical exam." Aizawa stated, "He showed rational thinking, strength, was able to strategize, and was able to improvise when needed. If he can't get the distance he needs to strategize, I'd suggest he figures out a way to improvise."
DAMMIT! Kaine thought, He's right. As long as Ashido keeps on me like this, I won't have time to figure things out!Kaine landed and he felt a burning sensation on his foot, "OW! What the hell?" he hopped on one foot and look at his shoe which started melting from the soles. Before he could react, he looked up and was met with a shoulder ram by Mina which knocked him across the floor. Kaine quickly rolled back to his feet, but again felt stinging in his feet, "SONOVABITCH!" Kaine cursed in English, this time feeling a distinct burning on his foot. He tried to use his other foot to get the heel of his shoe off, and it was then that he noticed: Mina had been littering the battlefield with her acid. I've been played like a fiddle. While I was running away, she booby trapped the whole arena!
In frustration, Kaine kicked his foot forward and launched his melting shoe. It flew forward several meters and caught Mina off guard as it hit her in the face. "OW! What the hell?" she yelled out as she held her nose. Kaine's eyes widened slightly as an epiphany came to him. He loosened his other shoe and kicked it in the air before catching it with his right hand. He then gave a quick spin to gain momentum before throwing his shoe like a throwing knife and hitting Mina in the face again. "OW! Twice? Really!?" she yelled as she stumbled back, "I mean, who the hell throws a shoe? Like, honestly."
Using her discombobulation to his advantage, Kaine dashed forward, Time to steal one from Ms. Mirko. As he was only a half meter away, Kaine jumped in the air and spread his legs. He collided with her torso and wrapped his legs around her before spinning his body around so that he was now at her flank. Thanks to the extra added weight, Mina was easily thrown off balance and Kaine used that to his advantage as he bent his back backwards and stuck his palms to the ground before using his strength to lift Mina up and slam her headfirst into the ground.
The crowd roared in excitement at the move, no group being more loud than Class B who was practically causing an earthquake. "Talk about an amazing counter folks! Now that's what I call, 'Thinking on your feet'! Get it? 'Cause he threw his shoes at her?" There wasn't much of a response from the crowd, so Present Mic decided to just continue, "Anyways, now that our fearsome friend has made a move, how will this play out for his 1-A opponent?"
Mina slowly got to her feet and rubbed her head, Damn, this guy is strong. Guess he finally decided to just fight back, huh? She looked ahead and just saw Kaine staring back at her, waiting for her to move, presumably. He then got out of his fighting stance and got into a crouched stance, his legs low and spread out, with his left hand down on the ground and his right hand in front of it, barely crossing over. What's he planning though? He hasn't shown much in terms of his quirk. Unless he's just really strong, in which case...I have an advantage! Mina smiled.
"Hm...interesting." Aizawa stated.
"What's that Mummy Man? Does your student have too much confidence?" Present Mic asked.
"No, that stance...the one Yoshida took. I think he's copying the sixth rank hero. I don't see how that would work in his favor...unless he's more flexible than he looks."
"No hard feelings, right?" Mina asked, "Like, it's been a good run, but eventually one of us has to give in, and I think it's gonna be you!"
Kaine narrowed his eyes and smirked in return, "Hey, you're real cute and all, and I feel bad for fighting you, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to beat you down." Kaine lowered his body slightly to build up some energy, before jumping up in the air...much higher than even he anticipated. "HOLY SHIT, TOO HIGH!" he cursed as he jumped high enough to be even above the stadium roof. "Man, I really need to pay attention to my powers. This is like the third time I've done something that I wasn't aware I was capable of doing."
While in the air, Kaine looked down and spotted Mina, who must have been blinded by the sun because she was having issues trying to find him in the air. Oh, I guess this worked out to my advantage then. Kaine began to spin in a corkscrew motion as he fell towards the earth, picking up speed as he fell. Just before he landed he stopped his spin and performed a front flip which put him in position to deliver a massive axe kick. However, Mina seemed to have noticed the attack coming at the last second and jumped back to avoid it; she gave a yelp of surprise and slapped Kaine's leg as she did so. When Kaine's kick landed, he broke some of the arena and the shock of the attack made Mina fall back even more.
With his adrenaline spiking, Kaine didn't even bother to focus on the pain in his leg. Instead he immediately he continued by charging after Mina while she was still off balance. He sent a shoulder ram to the pink girl which sent her to the ground. Mina quickly got to her feet and tried to send an acid glob towards Kaine as he rushed her again. Kaine, however, was more than ready for the attack and performed a baseball slide between Mina's legs to avoid it. As he slid through, he reached his hands out and gripped Mina's ankles and pulled her as he slid, which made her fall face first onto the concrete. Kaine then quickly flipped around and sent a kick to Mina's gut before it hit the ground and sent her up into the air. While Mina was airborne, Kaine grabbed her by her legs and spun her around before tossing her and making her roll and slide across the ground before coming to a stop.
Kaine then went to charge her once again, but came to a complete halt when he saw Mina get up. Mina looked at Kaine, her breathing a little hard, and cocked an eyebrow, "What?" she asked.
"Mina Ashido has stepped out of bounds! Yoshida is the winner and will be moving onto the next round!" Midnight announced followed by thunderous cheers and applause.
Mina looked down to see her foot was completely out of bounds. She stomped her foot in frustration and puffed her cheek in a pout. "I'm not even mad at him, I'm mad at myself because I could have kept going if I rolled forward instead of backward." she then let out a slight chuckle that turned into a laugh, "Hey, Yoshida! Way to go! Good luck on the rest of the tournament!" she said with a smile and a thumbs up.
Kaine, meanwhile was still processing. When he finally realized he had won he turned to he class and threw his hands in the air, "WOOOO! I'm still in it!" he yelled out receiving loud cheers from his class. Finally, now that the fight was over, Kaine began feeling the effects of the acid on his skin, "AH! SHIT!" Kaine promptly hopped as fast as he could to Recovery Girl.
"There we have it folks, another student from Class B is moving on to the second round. How far will her go? Who knows! What do you think, Mummy Man?" Present Mic asked.
Aizawa gave a light groan, "While I don't think it was particularly smart for him to not use some of the more useful abilities of his quirk...however, he was able to improvise his strategy and beat Ashido by overwhelming her in his assault. So I suppose it paid off in the end. But, his next opponent, which we'll see who it will be in this match up, will be a different fight. Both of these students are a whole different beast. Tokoyami being an all around offensive and defensive threat, and he has range. And Yaoyorozu, arguably the smartest student in 1-A, maybe even in the whole school. Her strategic prowess can't be underestimated." the underground hero cleared his throat, "I guess what I'm trying to say, is that Yoshida should be prepared to use every capability his quirk has to offer next round."
Mirko let out a light laugh, "Well, not exactly the way I thought it'd work out, but he got out of it didn't he." She took a seat and took a long sip from the drink she had, "Maybe in the next round he'll actually use his quirk."
After a quick visit to Recovery Girl, and having an awkward run in with Mina as she went to get checked as well, Kaine finally made his way back up to 1-B's section. Kaine stopped just before he entered the section and took a breath so he could calm himself. He cleared his throat and entered the section being met by a group of eyes from his classmates staring at him. Kaine stared back and it was silent for what felt like forever, before Kaine finally gave a smile and let out a cheer, "HELL YEEEEEAH!" he shouted out.
"YEEEEEAH!" his classmates cheered as they began to surround him and they are started cheering and jumping as a group. "Kaine! Kaine! Kaine! Kaine! Kaine!" they chanted.
"WELL WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO THAT CLASS A?" Monoma asked as he poked his head over the barrier, "That's two Class B students moving on, and two Class A students down in the first round!" he laughed as he began running his hand through his hair, "I mean, the really pathetic thing is that Kaine wasn't even trying! Who knows how fast the match would go if he went all out right off the bat! Hahahaha-UGH!" Once again, Monama was chopped down by Kendo.
"Really sorry about him." she apologized again, "He's...passionate." she gave a nervous smile before ducking back down.
"Mi-dor-i-ya!" Kaine called out as he hopped over the divider and sat behind the green haired teen, "How was that? Anything you notice that I missed? I know you really pay attention to people's quirks."
Midoriya perked up slightly at hearing this, "O-Oh? You really want my advice?"
"If there is anyone that could give me pointers, it'd be you." Kaine said with a smile.
Midoriya gulped and nodded before flipping through his notebook, "W-Well, I kinda only started doing your page today...and even then I don't have a lot. Oh! But, I have Ashido's page. Um...she is really good at using her acid." he looked at Kaine who seemed to have a deadpanned expression, "Er...you probably guessed that. What I mean is, she has a good idea on how to use her quirk in different situations. You were also pretty apprehensive, which gave her an edge. You let your opponent take control of the battle zone, which is probably something you want to avoid in the future. So...maybe don't try to hold out for so long next match." Midoriya gulped, "But hey, you can see who your next opponent is, that gives you an advantage. So uhm...watch the upcoming match and form a strategy." Midoriya finished by giving a smile and a thumbs up.
Kaine nodded and patted the teen on the shoulder, "Thanks for the pointers. Good luck with your match too." Kaine looked up at the screen to see Midoriya would be fighting Todoroki in the next round, "You're uh...gonna need it. But I believe in you! Excelsior! And all that." Kaine got up from his seat and looked up to the 1-B section to see Kendo staring at him in disbelief. She then promptly snapped her fingers and pointed for him to come back. Kaine felt a shiver shoot down his spine and decided not to do anything more that could piss her off.
The next fight was Tokoyami against Yaoyorozu, the former being the bird headed student from 1-A and the latter being the spiky ponytailed girl that had brought out a cannon against the 0-point robots. Kaine's plan, like Midoriya suggested, was to watch the match. Pay attention to their fighting styles and strategies, and whichever one wins he'd use that information to his advantage. However, things didn't exactly go as planned as Yaoyorozu was beaten almost immediately. Her quirk seemed to be some sort of...manifestation ability? Like she could make things appear from her body. Her quirk didn't matter as Tokoyami was able to use his quirk, some sort of stand like ability that made a shadow shoot from his body. Coincidentally he seemed to call it 'Shadow'. Tokoyami's assault was too strong and too rapid for Yaoyorozu to do anything and she ended up losing by ring-out. Kaine felt kinda bad for the girl because he had heard she was supposedly let in on recommendation.
The next match was between Tetsutetsu and Kirishima, and Kaine was right. Kirishima was the spiky red-haired student from 1-A. But here's the kicker! He and Tetsutetsu essentially had the same quirk! Kaine couldn't help but laugh at the match. It was a mirror match, but instead of steel, Kirishima's body hardened into some type of stone. So one was rock, and the other was metal. "Wonder if there's another one of these guys but their body turns into Punk and Nu-Metal." Kaine joked.
"What?" Kodai asked, a perplexed expression on her face.
"You know, metal, rock, punk, nu-metal. They are all subgenres of rock?" Kaine explaines. Kodai just shrugged her shoulders and went back to watching.
The match eventually ended, but not in the way one would expect. The boys eventually ended in a draw which would be resolved just before the second round would start. This then lead into the final match of the first round which was Bakugou against Uraraka. Uraraka was the brown haired girl with a bob haircut that hung around Midoriya. Again, Kaine felt bad for the gal, he didn't know what her quirk was, but he knew Bakugou was brutal.
The fight was better than Kaine had anticipated. Uraraka lasted longer than he would have imagined. She devised a fantastic strategy that involved letting Bakugou destroy the stadium with his quirk, Uraraka then used her quirk (which allowed her to make the things she touched have zero gravity) and she was able to lift the debris into the air and crash it down on Bakugou. However, the teen was able to fight back by sending out a tremendous blast that vaporized all the debris. It really was a fantastic battle, the girl fought to the very end and Kaine was able to think long term and devise a strategy against Bakugou if they met in the third round. But for now, he had to focus on his up coming fight.
"And that's the end of the first round of the finals folks!" Present Mic announced, "We're gonna take a short break and get the arena fixed, then it's right back into the fray people, so stick around!"
Kaine took a deep breath and stood up from his seat. Second round. he thought, I've got time before my fight, I should go relax. he groaned...Actually, I should probably ask for advice. And the only person who knows me... "Ah shit." Kaine cursed as he left 1-Bs seating section. "Maybe I should ask Ms. Mirko for advice." he sighed, "Which means I have to find her so I can talk to her."
"Won't have to look far." Kaine jumped in surprise when he nearly walked into Mirko while he rounded a corner, "C'mon kid, let's go have a talk." she smiled as she wrapped her arm around Kaine's shoulder.
Mirko lead Kaine to a shaded area where they were out of the way and had some privacy. The first thing she did was toss a pair of cheap running shoes at him, "Put these on dumbass. I don't know your shoe size so I guessed." Kaine looked at the shoes and back to Mirko with a quizzical look before putting the shoes on. Surprisingly, they fit well. "Don't look at me like that, a 'thank you' would be nice, though."
"Um...yeah, thanks." Kaine nodded. He cleared his throat and bowed, "Look, I know you know my secret. And you haven't done anything about it...which tells me you want to fight me still." Kaine said with an unsure tone, "That being said, I would appreciate it if you could give me some pointers. Something that could help me out in the next round."
Mirko blinked a few times before letting out a laugh, "Wow, so you straight up said it, huh?" she gave Kaine a light punch on the shoulder, "I knew I liked you. And yeah, maybe I do still want that fight. But," she paused, "that can wait. If you want to know what will help you next round, then it should be pretty obvious, shouldn't it?" Kaine gave a blank stare, clearly unsure about what Mirko meant. Mirko scoffed and face palmed, "You're being too much of a pussy! You keep retreating, trying to come up with a strategy. News flash: you don't have any hiding spots here! This is a full open arena where they only protection you have is your own skin. You need to get your ass in gear and go on the offensive!" she explained, "Look at the last match. Whole thing you were behind, letting that girl steer where the match went. You went at her pace, but you need to force them to move at your pace. Strike early, strike often. That kid who knocked the girl out of bounds, he's gonna try to do the same to you. Don't let it happen. Keep yourself glued to the ground and strike him before he strikes you. That's your key."
Kaine nodded and smiled, "Um, thanks. So...are we good? No hard feelings?"
"Oh no, I'm still kicking your ass later. A vigilante running around? You're the most fun I've had in the city in years." Mirko laughed.
Kaine gulped at her response, "I-I'll keep that in mind."