The Duel

A/N: Just a reminder, new chapter here officially means new chapter over on the P atreon now, where my patrons are currently voting on the future direction of this story!

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After a moment of thought, he didn't want to keep Mirko waiting after all, Izuku comes to a decision. Flashing the beautiful dark-skinned woman an apologetic smile, he lets out a sheepish laugh as he runs a hand through the back of his untamed green hair.

"Haha, actually… I do sort of already have plans for after school today, ma'am. So, if it's not too much trouble, let's meet up tomorrow?"

Mirko looks taken aback… and frankly, so does have the class. But they don't understand. Katsumi has already stormed out, so it's not like she's there to see with her own two eyes that Izuku has a reasonable excuse for blowing off their after school meeting. As such, he really does have to hedge his bets there.

But mostly, he chooses to handle Katsumi today and speak with Mirko tomorrow because at the end of the day, he's really, really looking forward to this. Katsumi Bakugou has been a pain in Izuku's ass for so fucking long. The bitch has bullied him for years, and while that was technically all part of the plan, it doesn't excuse Katsumi's culpability in matters. Izuku wants that sweet, sweet revenge, no matter how unheroic such feelings might be.

Besides, its not like he's going to kill her or anything… just humiliate her immensely.

"O-Oh. Sure, Midoriya! Tomorrow it is!"

Recovering quickly, Mirko is all grins as she gives him a big thumbs up, seeming to be a little psyched, now that they have a time set for their meeting. Izuku just bobs his head up and down and heads out, a little curious as to what his Home Room Teacher wants with him after just one day. Although… he has his suspicions.

She's undoubtedly impressed by him. That much was obvious from the looks he was getting from her during the Quirk Apprehension Test. But what form would that take going forward? What might she try… behind closed doors?

Izuku just chuckles and shakes his head. He was being a little silly. What were the chances that Mirko the Rabbit Hero, with her rabbit physiology, would have some sort of mental hang-up that made her horny ALL the time? What were the chances that she was looking for a fuck buddy to handle her immense, over the top energy and she'd chosen one of her students just because he seemingly fit the bill when it came to endless stamina?

Nah, that sort of shit only happened in pornos. Still, Izuku was eager to cultivate relationships. He'd already started with Momo, and with the Heiress already waiting for their next alone time together, Izuku had to admit, he was more than eager to expand his list of contacts. When he finally graduated and became a full-fledged Pro Hero, he fully intended to take the world by storm!

But first… much like in every Shonen anime, he had to handle his childhood bully, didn't he? Normally, there would be a climactic battle, and he would show how strong he'd gotten, but still barely squeak ahead before perhaps befriending his bully. Well, that wasn't happening today. Izuku… Izuku wasn't here to play games.

Arriving at the park, he heads out into the more heavily wooded area. When he'd initially told Katsumi that they would duel at the park after school, he'd wondered if she understood what he was saying properly. The two of them had had a spot, as young children, back in the back of the park. It was a small clearing in the woods where they'd hunted bugs and the like.

He'd figured the likelihood of Katsumi remembering that specific spot was too high, but she hadn't asked for clarification on which park, so he figured she knew THAT much at least. To his mild surprise though, she's nowhere to be seen in the more public and open part of the park, which leaves him wondering if she went to the wrong place. The other option seemed a step too far for the bully to recall… but it was worth a check.

And so Izuku made his way back to their old spot, that small clearing in the woods… and to his greater surprise, he finds Katsumi waiting for him there, his eyebrows climbing on his forehead as she turns to face him, arms crossed over her chest and teeth gritted as her eyes flash in anger.

"How? How do you suddenly have a Quirk, Deku?"

Ah, of course. He'd expected her to still be deeply in denial about the whole thing. But while she was still calling him worthless, the day's events had changed things for her. Katsumi could no longer deny the truth, not when it was shoved into her face across a dozen physical tests in front of an entire class of witnesses. Izuku hadn't just shown off, he'd completely blown her, and his other closest competitors clear out of the water.

A few of the tests had allowed for some of the students to shine a bit more brightly. Katsumi and Shouko hadn't taken second and third place on EVERY test. But Izuku's Quirk, or rather, his Quirks with an S, had allowed him to blast on through every single test, taking the top spot again and again and again. He might as well be the second coming of All Might, for how good he'd done today. And given that he knew Katsumi wanted to be the second coming of All might, or at least the Number One Pro hero… that must rankle something fierce.

"All modern science dictates that I must have always had it, Katsumi. I'm just a late bloomer."

With a snarl, Katsumi suddenly turns and punches her fist into the tree next to her, the strike exploding and sending bark chips flying everywhere as she does so.

"That doesn't explain it! That doesn't explain how you could go from a total Zero who never showed an ounce of aptitude in anything all our school years, to THIS in… in just Ten Months!"

Ten Months… ah, right, the time Izuku had spent training with All Might after the Sludge Villain Attack… where he'd saved Katsumi's life. All of it had been scripted, of course. All part of his father and his master plan to get All Might to give up his Quirk. Ten Months of pure torturous training… but it's not like that was where Izuku had begun his training. No, he'd just hidden it before then, hidden what he was capable of.

He might have been Quirkless, but he was far from helpless. The son of All for One couldn't afford to be. Still, Izuku could see how Katsumi would fixate on that time period as the time when everything must have changed, while at the same time expressing her disbelief that everything COULD change in such a short time span.

It was easy enough to just latch onto the lie.

"You mean ten months ago… when I saved your life, Katsumi?"

The explosive girl's eyes widen at that, and she roars as she lunges across the clearing at him. But Izuku is ready for her yet again and catches her fists in his hands. Even as they explode against his palms, he just tanks it, smirking at her casually.

"You're right, by the way. That was the day I first awakened my Quirk. That was the day I finally unlocked this power."

Katsumi's eyes widen at the admission. Even though Izuku is lying through his teeth, she doesn't know that. He's always been an exceptional liar, but now, with all of his father's Quirks backing him up? He's a PHENOMENAL liar. He can lie as easy as breathing, but more importantly than that, he can make people believe his lies, or at the very least believe that he believes them wholeheartedly.

"Doesn't… still d-doesn't make sense. You can't get this good in ten months!"

She's pushing against his palms, trying to overpower him, but Izuku just holds her fast and shakes his head.

"You can if the right person takes you under their wing."

That causes Katsumi to freeze up. Her wide eyes stare at him, as she realizes what Izuku is insinuating. More than before, she searches his face for even the slightest sign of deception. Amusing then, that this time Izuku is telling the truth, mostly.

What he's leaving unsaid, that a Pro Hero witnessed him saving Katsumi from the Sludge Villain, and then he unlocked his Quirk, and that Pro Hero took him under his wing and began training Izuku up… he watches as that all goes through Katsumi's head. The fiery tempered girl isn't stupid by any means… she's capable of putting two and two together.

"Who? Who… who did you trick into thinking you were hero material?!"

Scoffing, Izuku pushes Katsumi away from him, releasing her fists at the same time that he applies a fraction of his enhanced strength to his palms, causing her to go skidding back across the clearing.

"Oh, fuck off, Katsumi. I'm more hero material than you. Or have you seen a lot of stories where the hero is a piece of shit bully who shits down her former best friend's throat for several years before going on to be the best of the best? No, I think we both know, narratively speaking, who's more favored to become a hero, between us."

"S-Stories… Narratively Speaking… this isn't some fucking anime, Izuku! This isn't some story! This is real life, and you're damn straight that I'm going to be a Pro Hero! Fuck you!"

Izuku just smiles grimly.

"Well, that's what we're here to decide, isn't it? Which of us continues on at UA? Which of us has to drop out and give up on our dreams?"

His deceptively calm, low tone causes a jolt to spasm through Katsumi, and to his mild amusement, she takes half a step back before catching herself. Her hands curl into fists at her sides as if she's ready to fight, but she also sounds decidedly uncertain.

"I thought… I thought you said you didn't want me to drop out, if you won."

Heh, now that she's seen what he can REALLY do, she's getting cold feet? Izuku flashes Katsumi a smile that one hundred percent doesn't reach his eyes or have one iota of kindness in it.

"I changed my mind. So, are we going to do this or what? Are we going to have our duel… or are you backing out, Bakugou?"

Obviously, by asking, he ensures that Katsumi doesn't back out. She can't, not in a million years. Even though they're alone, even though no one else is even aware of the challenge… he'd know. And she'd know. And that's unacceptable.

And so, despite knowing deep down inside that she's outmatched, Katsumi does what she does best. She starts the fight with a bang, launching forward and positively howling as she uses every bit of her Quirk to try and blow him the fuck up.

Izuku… Izuku stands his ground and takes it. He weathers her most powerful attacks with his father's Quirks backing up One for All, and he smiles the entire time, a big toothy grin as she hammers into him for all she's worth. The end result, of course, is that his school uniform doesn't survive the encounter. His shirt is exploded right off his body, reduced to a few shredded tatters in the wind. His pants are also ruined.

Before she can blow up his boxers as well, Izuku catches her by the fist again, once more capturing her explosion in the palm of her hand. Katsumi jolts to a halt at this, and they make eye contact for a single moment… before Izuku goes on the offense and buries his own fist right in the blonde girl's gut.

Katsumi chokes on her own spit as she doubles over his fist. He's careful not to shatter her ribs, but there's no doubt that they're going to be VERY bruised tomorrow. For the moment though, Katsumi is lifted on the ground by the force of the blow, and when Izuku pulls his fist back a moment later, she comes crashing down, her feet swept out from under her.

She hits the ground hard, even as Izuku steps back and blows the smoke curling off of his fist away with a smirk.

"We can keep going, Katsumi… but I'd say we both know this is my win."

"S-Shut… shut up, D-Deku. S'not… s'not over YET!"

Despite her words, Katsumi is visibly struggling to even get her arms and legs underneath her. Her all-out assault after a long day of exhausting herself trying to beat him in even ONE of the numerous physical tests they'd done, finished off by his singular punch to the gut… its all taken its toll on the girl. She might have an impressive Quirk, and she might have a strong level of physical conditioning to go along with it, but at the end of the day, all she really has is a normal human body. And even a normal human at peak physicality has their limits.

Limits, it would seem, that Katsumi has reached, as she collapses back to the ground, gasping for air, panting for breath and… sobbing? Izuku quirks a brow up, not quite believing what he's hearing at first. Sauntering over to her, he doesn't waste time in grabbing Katsumi by her spiky blonde locks and yanking her head up to find that tears are indeed streaming down her face.

She snarls at him casually regarding her in her moment of weakness, and even tries to take a swipe at him. But its weak compared to her previous attacks, like a newborn kitten batting at a full grown tom cat.

Chuckling, Izuku just shakes his head.

"I'm not going to make you drop out of UA, Katsumi. In fact, I'm not going to let you drop out of UA."

Katsumi's eyes widen at first, before scrunching up in confusion at that last bit. Izuku just grins.

"It occurs to me that you might take the opportunity to drop out of UA and apply to another Hero School. That you might seek to still complete your path to Pro Hero, just as far away from me as possible. But I don't want that. So, you're going to stay at UA. You're going to train to be a Pro Hero right alongside me, constantly reminded that no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to beat me. Or… I'll tell everyone how Katsumi Bakugou bullied me throughout my younger life. And Katsumi… I have evidence. You don't want to push me."

Exhausted, beaten down, Katsumi nevertheless stiffens at that declaration. Izuku just grins and nods.

"Do we understand each other?"

"… Y-Yes…"

Letting out a contented sigh, Izuku lets go of Katsumi's hair, standing up. He's in just his boxers, but it'll probably be fine. He should be able to get home without being seen. Sparing one more glance down at Katsumi, Izuku turns on his heel and makes to leave… only to stop as her muttered voice reaches his enhanced hearing from several feet away.

"… shitty Deku…"

It's like a jolt through him. Sheesh, and to think he'd almost forgotten. Whipping back around, walking back over, he grabs Katsumi by the hair again, yanking her up even as she yelps and struggles ineffectually against his hold.

"Sheesh, I was so occupied with making sure you didn't run away like a fucking coward that I forgot to take anything else for my win. Let's see… well, let's start with the obvious. From now on, you don't get to call me Deku anymore, Katsumi. I beat you. I beat you fair and square, in this duel that you asked for. I am not weak. I am not useless. Do I make myself clear?"

Her eyes are filled with defiance at first, as she grits her teeth and glares at him. But Izuku just glares right back at her… and after a moment's thought, activates one of his multitude of Quirks. It's a simple aura of intimidation, and a relatively weak one at that. But combined with everything else, from his demonstratable strength to the fact that he'd just knocked Katsumi silly with one punch, it has a visible effect on the girl as her pupils dilate and her breathing becomes uneasy.

"… F-Fine…"

Izuku smiles and then pauses, before sniffing the air curiously. Wait… holy shit, was Katsumi aroused? He quickly activates a scent-enhancing Quirk and an analysis Quirk… and indeed, the girl before him, despite being beaten down, is getting off to some aspect of this. Was she getting off to him intimidating her into submission? Was she getting off on him blackmailing her into staying at UA with him? Was she just getting off to being beaten?

This… Izuku hadn't really intended to take liberties with his childhood bully or anything. But this changed things. Now he had a decision to make. Was he going to act on this new information… or leave things as they were? There would be opportunities in the future, he had no doubt about that. Did he even WANT to give Katsumi what she wanted, even if she would never admit it?

Sheesh, now he was beginning to wonder if her destroying his clothing had had any ulterior motive to it besides her just trying to beat him. Why were things suddenly so much more complicated?

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