Chapter 94: Shorts 16

Frog vs Fish.

"Are you ready?" Tsu and Ken stood at the edge of a nearby lake. Tsu in her hero costume, and Ken in his usual outfit.

"I was born ready!" Ken smirked, both excitement and overconfidence showing on his face, as he held up his watch.

"Alrighty then. Transform, and let's begin." Tsu told him.

Ken happily complied.

In a flash of green light, Ken transformed into the human-like fish monster, Ripjaws.

And without any further ado, the two jumped into the lake, Ken's legs transforming into a fishtail once he was underwater.

They both swam with ease, although Tsu swam noticeably faster and with more ease. Having far more experience than Ken.

The two of them then swam to the opposite sides of the lake, before staring down each other.

Ken gave her a nod, and then Tsu gave him a nod back.

And so the fight began.

Ken immediately rushed towards her, ready to go on the attack. While Tsu waited patiently for him to approach.

When Ken reached her, he tried to swipe at her, but Tsu ducked underneath the claw swipe and maneuvered herself so she could deliver a devastating double kick to the face.

Ken's head got knocked back, and he was dazed for a moment, but he didn't even get the chance to recover before Tsu kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him away, although not very far, seeing as they were underwater.

Man those legs hurt! Ken thought to himself, as he shook his head to try and recover from Tsu's attack. And when he stopped seeing stars, he looked back at where Tsu was…only to see she wasn't there anymore. Where did she-

And then Tsu delivered an Ax kick the top of his head, sending him down to the bottom of the lake.

"Ow!" Ken cried, rubbing his now very bruised head, before looking up to see Tsu swimming away from him. "Alright! I'm gonna make you regret that!"

The ten-year-old swam after the frog girl as fast as he could to catch up.

After swimming for a bit, Ken started to catch up to her, but this was just as Tsu planned.

The moment Ken tried to reach for her leg, Tsu flipped, positioning herself over his head, and then double stomped his skull, sending him flying back down towards the bottom of the lake.

"Agh! Can you do anything but kick me in the head!?" Ken asked her. Although Tsu couldn't respond, as she couldn't speak underwater.

The fight continued like this for quite a while. With Ken getting kicked around the lake, Tsu evading and countering at every turn.

"Grrr! That's it!" Ken shouted at Tsu, after getting kicked back down to the lake's floor. "Rahhhhhh!"

Ken charged at Tsu, with his massive jaws open. He figured if Tsu was so strong, she'd be fine if he went all out.

But Tsu didn't move. Because she knew the fight was already over.

BRR.

"Huh!?" Ken stopped his charge halfway and looked at his Omnitrix which was now blinking red. "What? Already!?"

BRR.

Suddenly, Ken was wrapped up in Tsu's tongue, and she spun him around vertically.

BRR.

Tus flung Ken upwards and launched him out of the lake and into the air.

"Ahhhhh! Oomph!" Ken grunted as he hit the ground at the edge of the lake.

BRRRRRRRR.

In a flash of red, Ken was transformed back to normal and was lying face down in the dirt.

SPLASH!

Tsu leaped out of the water, landing right next to Ken, who was pulling himself up and gave the frog girl an annoyed expression.

"I'd say I won here, Kero," Tsu said.

"Ugh, did you have to kick me in the head so many times," Ken grunted, clutching his head.

"I'm guessing that Ripjaws is the transformation you use the least," Tsu said, making an educated guess.

"Well duh. He's only useful in water." Ken rolled his eyes.

"That's a problem. Because Ripjaws may be the transformation you need to work on the most." Tsu told him.

"Why? Not too many villains are committing crimes at sea." Ken said, giving her a confused look.

"There are more sea-based villains than you'd think," Tsu told him. "Ripjaws may only be useful underwater, but are any of your other forms nearly as useful underwater?"

"I mean…no," Ken admitted.

"Right, and if you want to be the number 1 hero, you have to play to your main strength. Varsity." Tsu reminded him. "You'll never be as strong as Kiba, but Kiba can't breathe underwater. That means if you get better with Ripjaws, you'll be able to beat villains in places someone like Kiba can't. Those are points that could lead to you becoming number 1 in the future."

Ken pondered this. "I guess you're right."

"Not to mention, if you're fighting someone as Ripjaws underwater, and you're timed out, you're screwed, kero." Tsu reminded him. "At least if you time out on land, you might still be able to get away from the fight and wait until you can use your quirk again. But if you time out underwater, you're just gonna die."

Ken thought about that for a second before cringing. "On second thought, yeah I definitely need to practice with Ripjaws more. Thanks."

"Just doing my job, kero," Tsu said, rustling Ken's hair, much to his annoyance.

Super Iida.

Iida was currently washing a mountain of dishes when Ken came up to him.

"Hey, Iida! I just had the best idea ever!" Ken said, looking up at him with a big grin on his face, before pulling up his Omnitrix. "Let's hope this works!"

"Wait!? What are you-" Iida was cut off by a green flash, as Ken turned into Upgrade, and started approaching him. "Young man what are you-"

Suddenly, Ken's amorphous body came onto Iida and started merging with him, spreading up his own body, until everything below Iida's neck looked like Upgrade.

"What on earth!?" Iida felt so…so strange. His whole body was tingling and he was extremely confused.

"Alright!" Ken said, his voice coming out of the Omnitrix signal on Iida's chest. "It worked!"

"What worked!? What's happening!?" Iida said, waving his arms frantically in a panic.

"Relax. You know how Upgrade can merge with technology and upgrade it?" Ken reminded him. "Well I thought, Iida has machines, in his body! So what if I used Upgrade on him!"

"I see. That is quite clever. However, I must insist that next time you ask for consent next time you do such things!" Iida scolded him.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ken said, not sounding all that apologetic. "But hey! Let's go take this form a spin!"

"But the dishes!" Iida's protest fell on deaf ears, as Ken moved his body for him. Forcing him towards the outside.

"No time! We only have 10 minutes rember!" Ken told him, as they left the kitchen area.

"But the dishes!" Iida cried in despair, as he was forced to move on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

VROOMMMMM!

Iida sped around the track, much faster than he'd ever moved before. So fast that Iida was actually having trouble handling the wind smashing against his face.

"This is incredible! But also nauseating!" Iida shouted as he rushed around the track. "I'm moving at max speed with no issue, and my engines aren't overheating at all! It's incredible!"

"I know right!" Ken said, laughing like a mad man. "Man this is awesome! Hey! Let's see how far we'll get if we jump!"

"Wait what!?" Iida question.

Suddenly, Iida's jets went into overdrive, and he flew into the air so fast he appeared to be a blur, going high into the sky over the forest.

"THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA!" Iida screamed as he flew through the air, terror filling his voice.

"THIS IS AN AMAZING IDEA! I'VE NEVER FLOWN THIS FAST BEFORE!" Ken yelled, his voice filled with excitement.

"HOW ARE WE GOING TO LAND!?" Iida asked.

"...Oh." Was Ken's response. Now sounding far less enthusiastic. "Woops."

As Iida's forward moment started to waver, the two of them began to fall down towards a lake. "I'M TELLING MIDORIYAAAAAAAAA!"

SPLASH!

Fortunately, Iida and Ken were rescued by a Sea Feilong, and Ken was promptly scolded and put in time out for the rest of the day.

Game On.

K.O.! Player 1 Wins!

"Darn it!" Netsu pouted, as he saw his character, Endeavor, fall to the ground in defeat.

"Ha! I win again!" Ken gloated, celebrating his victory with his character, Edgeshot.

The two of them were playing Hero Tournament 11. A 2D fighting game in the same vein as Street Fighter, but staring pro heroes.

It was a game the two often played together.

"You're really good at this game Ken," Netsu said, looking at Ken with awe, and stroking his ego.

"Of course I am! As if I'd be beat at my favorite game!" Ken gloated.

While Ken was basking in his victory, Amai and Yami walked into the room.

"Hello!" Amai greeted everyone with a bright smile.

"Oh hey Amai." Netsu greeted her.

"Hey," Ken responded casually.

"I came over to play!" Amai explained, walking around the couch, to see what they were playing, and her eyes lit up. "Oh is this Hero Tournament 11! I love this game!"

"Really?" Ken gave her a skeptical look. Not expecting someone who looks like her to be into games. Let alone serious fighting games.

"Oh no." Yami sighed, knowing exactly where this was going.

"Yeah! I love the mechanics, and how tight the controls are!" Amai gushed. "And it has a wide-character selection, with no lame clones!"

Ken grinned, sensing a more entertaining opponent. "Oh yeah, wanna play a round? You don't mind do you Netsu?"

"Nah. It's fine. I wanna see if she's as good as you." Netsu said, eagerly disconnecting his special fireproof controller, so Amai could use a regular one.

"Psh. Doubt it." Ken said cockily.

"Oh? Hehehe." Amai giggled sinisterly, as she looked down, her eyes hidden by shadows.

"Here we go," Yami said, taking a step back.

Amai grabbed the sides of her dress…and threw it into the air, off of her body.

"What!?" Ken was taken aback by this sudden stripping of clothing out of nowhere but was relieved to see that Amai was wearing a red tracksuit underneath her dress, for some reason.

Amai then, quick as can be, took out a hair tie, and tied her hair into a ponytail, before taking out a red headband, and wrapping it around her forehead.

Lastly, she took out a pair of glasses and put them on.

"Amai Shinkoku Mode activated!" Amai shouted, doing a flashy pose.

"Woah! She transformed!" Netsu gasped.

"She didn't form, she just changed her clothes really quickly." Ken said, taking slight offense to calling that a "transformation". "Also why were you wearing a tracksuit under your dress?"

"I'm always ready for a challenge!" Amai said, getting on the couch and grabbing a controller. "Now shut up and play nerd!"

"Woah! What's the personality shift?!" Ken asked, throwing Amai a bewildered look.

"This Amai's other half. Gaming form." Yami explained. "She like this whenever someone fight her in video game. Lots intense. Why she had no friends before met me."

"Hmph. Not my fault the scrubs couldn't take the heat." Amai responded, as she connected her controller, and got to the character select screen. "So you're gonna stick with Edgeshot?"

"Uh…yeah?" Ken answered, still confused by this new side of Amai.

"Not bad. Fast character, decent damage. His frames are probably the best in the game. But he has some troubles winning natural, although his counter, crouch, and dash, make it really hard to hit him too. Not to mention his hitboxes are just dumb." Amai summarized. "Nice pick, A-tier character."

Amai then proceeded to pick Endeavor.

"You sure you want to pick Endeavor?" Ken asked confidently, giving her a smug look. "Netsu just finished using him, and I kicked his butt."

"If you beat Endeavor with Edgeshot then Tetsu's skills must be absolute garbage," Amai said casually.

"Hey!?" Netsu shouted, taken aback by the sudden insult. "Also my name is Netsu!"

"Let me show you how someone, actually plays Endeavor," Amai said, smirking wildly.

The game started, and Ken immediately rushed forward with Edgeshot, rapidly attacking Endeavor, who guarded expertly, not taking a hit despite Edgeshot's relentless assault.

"What!? Too scared to make a move?" Ken chuckled, with Amai not saying a word in response, completely focused on the game.

As this was happening, Kiba walked into the room. "Greetings siblings I-BY THE DARKNESS! Ken what are you doing!?"

"I'm kicking Amai's butt!" Ken said, still trying to get past Amai's perfect guarding. "At least I will be when I freaking hit her!"

"Oh you poor, poor fool," Kiba said, giving Ken a pitiful look. "I too fell for her trap. Her first form is a deceptive ruse, waiting to ensnare you so she can reveal her true form! For you see! Amai is actually a professional gamer!"

"Downloaded!" Amai shouted. "Time to go!"

Suddenly, Endeavor did a burst attack, that flung Edgeshot away from them.

Endeavor then jumped back, gaining some more distance from him, before firing off a fireball, and then as the fireball was traveling towards Edgeshot, Endeavor shot a fire blast upwards that started traveling down towards Edgeshot, and after that Endeavor crouched down and set the floor on fire.

Ken was overwhelmed. He blocked the fireball, but not the flaming ground, which hit low and as such went around his standing block, causing him to get hit. ,

And this was the start of Ken's zoning hell.

The screen was covered in fire, Endeavor throwing around flames like there was no tomorrow, and Ken only managed to block a few attacks, before getting hit by something from the other side of the screen.

And anytime Ken tried to get in close, Edgeshot would just get a Flashfire fist to the face, or run into a Hellspider attack.

K.O.! Player 2 wins!

Edgeshot was down in no time.

"GG EZ," Amai said, cracking her fingers and doing some stretches.

"H-How?" Ken gaped like a fish.

"I would have perfected you, but I needed to learn your playstyle first," Amai told him. "Didn't wanna get tagged by a filthy casual. Better to sacrifice the perfect to chip shield damage."

"As I said, she's not just any typical gamer. She's a pro, try-hard gamer!" Kiba explained. "She's even won tournaments."

"Woah really!?" Netsu said, looking at Amai in awe.

Amai smiled smugly. "Yup. One day I'm gonna be a real pro. I'm gonna win the big leagues, and do gaming as a job."

"You can do that!?" Ken asked, looking at her wide-eyed.

"Uh-huh. The big tournaments pay lots of cash. So I could make boatloads of money by playing games." Amai explained, before giving Ken a smug look. "But I don't think it's the kind of thing for scrubs like you Ren."

"Ok! First, my name is Ken!" Ken responded angrily. "And second, you only won one game! Don't think you're so much better than me!"

"Oh? You wanna go for round 2?" Amai offered confidently.

"That poor soul." Kiba shook her head, before looking at Yami. "You wanna get some popcorn so we can watch this massacre properly?"

Yami shrugged. "Ok."

And so it began.

For the next hour or so, Amai continued to absolutely destroy Ken, in every single way imaginable. Perfecting him in every round.

After zoning him out for a few rounds, Ken decided to switch to All Might and try to brute force his way through Endeavor's zoning with super armor. Not a bad strategy. But unfortunately, the gap in skill was too high. Every time All Might would get close to Endeavor, Endeavor would lock him in a combo, and knock him back.

Then Amai switched to Fatgum and countered him into the ground.

And to rub salt in the wound, she'd been using Wash to beat his ass for the last fifteen minutes. And she wasn't even looking at the screen.

K.O.! Player 2 Wins! Perfect!

"Raghhhhh!" Ken screamed as he chucked his controller in rage.

"I had, the exact same reaction," Kiba said, eating some popcorn alongside Yami. "I know this humiliation well."

"It's just a game guys." Yami shrugged, not understanding why everyone was so worked up. But his words fell on deaf ears.

"Are you tired of losing Ben?" Amai asked him smugly, giving him the smuggest face he'd seen in his life.

"It's KEN!" Ken shouted in rage, as he jumped on the couch. "And yeah! Yeah, I am! So I'm going to stop holding back!"

Ken raised his Omnitrix to his face and started selecting a form.

And in a flash of green, Ken turned into Upgrade.

Ken then literally, jumped into the console, merging with it. "Give me a second!"

"Oh?" Amai was curious to see what Ken had planned.

The screen went dark for a minute, but when it came back on, the character select screen had one more character added. Ken himself, as Upgrade.

"Now that we have the best character in the game, why don't we see if you can beat me at my best," Ken said confidently.

"Is this cheating?" Netsu asked, looking over towards Kiba and Yami, who both shrugged.

"Cheat character. Got it. Challenge accepted." Amai said, feeling kind of excited at not knowing what to expect.

She picked Endeavor, and Ken picked himself, and the match began.

Immediately, in-game Ken used a move, that gave him a full energy bar.

Ok, so he's gonna be able to super attack, and break combos whenever he wants, but every time he uses that he's gonna be open for three frames. Amai thought, continuing to block.

Then Upgrade stretched out its arms stupidly fast, grabbing Endeavor from the other side of the screen, and crushed them, instantly putting them at half health.

"Yeah, that's absolutely cheating," Kiba said, wondering how Amai would react to this.

Amai was, unfazed.

Endeavor jumped into the air, to dodge another grab, and threw three fireballs down at Upgrade, but Upgrade shot a laser up at Endeavor, which destroyed the fireball coming at him, and Endeavor barely blocked in time.

Once Endeavor landed, he instantly started throwing out dozens of fire attacks, in an attempt to zone Upgrade once more, but then Upgrade turned into a puddle, and zipped under all of it, and did a low attack on Endeavor that he barely managed to block.

Endeavor performed a grab, finally managing to land a hit on Upgrade, before throwing them away…and doing a bit of damage.

Immediately after being thrown, Upgrade did a super move, shooting a massive laser out of his eye, that covered the entire screen. Once again Amai's reaction time proved to be unmatched as she blocked it, however it did so much chip damage that it killed her anyway.

K.O.! Player 1 Wins!

"Ha! I win!" Ken gloated at hit totally unfair victory.

Amai instantly pressed the rematch button.

"Huh?" Ken was surprised Amai would be so willing to fight that obviously broken character without complaint.

"It's not over until you're quirk runs out of time," Amai said, pushing up her glasses, and tightening her headband, before giving Ken a confident smirk. "So before then, I'm going to beat you."

"Ha! Bring it on!" Ken challenged, as the next round began.

As soon as the round started, Upgrade did his full bar move, and Endeavor stomped the ground, causing a pillar of fire to rise under them, and hit Ken. Doing a bit of damage.

Immediately, Ken did the super move, causing Upgrade to shoot out the massive, screen-filling laser.

Seeing as Amai couldn't block or dodge it, she only had one course of action.

And so Amai proceeded to parry, the entire thing. Timing it perfectly so she never took a bit of damage.

"WHAT?!" Ken and Netsu shouted in shock.

Of course, Ken knew it was possible to parry the beam. That's why he felt comfortable making it undodgeable and unblockable. He just didn't expect her to actually be able to do it.

Yami and Kiba remained unphased. Having already witness Amai's skills.

Of course, Ken's shock left him open, for an attack, and after parrying that huge attack, Amai had plenty of meter.

"Prominence Burn!" Endeavor shouted as he did his ultimate move, shooting a massive beam of fire at Upgrade.

Upgrade was now bellow half H.P., and Ken was panicking.

He was tempted to just cheat even more than he was already. But then what was even the point? This was to prove she wasn't as good of a gamer as she thought she was, and if he put her in a completely impossible situation then that would just defeat the purpose.

So he soldiered on.

He shot out another super laser at her, hoping to catch her while Endeavor was recovering from his Ultimate, however, Amai barely managed to stary parrying in time, and then did another stomp, attack, hitting Upgrade with a fire pillar, taking away more of Upgrade's H.P.

Upgrade then instantly teleported behind Endeavor, but Endeavor still proceeded to block it, as Amai had expected him to give himself a teleport, and the moment she saw the animation, she reacted.

Amai was now stuck blocking Upgrade's combo though, and she was taking a ton of chip damage, so she had to do something, and quick. Which wasn't easy because Ken made all his moves plus on block.

But she knew Ken didn't have the patients to wear her down like this.

And inevitably, she was right, and she saw him going for a grab, and moved back, escaping from Upgrade, before unleashing a flashfire fist, burning some meter to lower its start-up significantly and blast Ken away from him, while putting his H.P. in the red.

Upgrade teleported behind Endeavor again and immediately used its massive laser, which Endeavor parried again.

Out of desperation, Ken tried his command grab again, but Endeavor used his Ultimate and blasted Upgrade to death.

K.O.! Player 2 Wins!

"Nooooooooooo!" Ken shouted in despair.

"Ha! Get recked!" Amai cheered, smiling victoriously as she held her arms in the air.

"Woah! She actually beat him!" Netsu shouted in amazement, his fire flaring up.

"Most impressive. I'll admit even with her skills I was skeptical she could beat such a cheap character in such a short amount of time, but she really has outdone herself here." Kiba said, giving Amai a soft applause.

"Thanks, Lady K," Amai said.

Brrr. Brrr. Brr. Brrr. Brrrrr.

In a flash of red, Ken was no longer merged with the console, and no longer Upgrade.

"Damn it! I'll beat you one day!" Ken swore, feeling absurdly frustrated.

"Sure you will scrub," Amai responded cockily before she looked up and noticed something.

Despite Ken no longer being merged with the console, the Upgrade character was still on the select screen. "Wait…can you can just…change game codes in seconds?"

"Huh?" Ken asked, before looking up to see his character still in-game. "Oh yeah. Any physical changes Upgrade makes to stuff is undone, but changing code is permanent."

"Wait!" Kiba's eyes grew wide. "Does that mean you can put anyone into a game! Including myself!?"

"Uh yeah…" Ken took a second to think about that, and an idea popped into his head. "For a price."

"If you want money? Why don't you just make a game?" Amai asked.

And thus the room fell into dead silence, as the bomb had just been dropped.

"Amai," Ken said, turning to her with dollar signs in his eyes. "I take back every bad thing I said about you in my head. Guys! I'm making a video game!"