69

 Chapter 69: Chapter #68 | Hints Of What Is To Come

Notes:

So, another delay. Yeah, the sports festival seems to be one rewrite after another. For this specific chapter it was rewritten three separate times to get it into a state we were happy with. Some events are unlikely to see much page time, *cough* All Might's weight lifting *cough*, but wrestling is definitely one of the less interesting ones we're gonna do. My editor and I are attempting to get through the wrestling as quickly as possible hence why next weeks chapter is a bit longer than usual. Still have another couple of this though.

Last chapter we had:

-Midoriya gets accosted

-1-B starts to realize how different the courses training is

-Midoriya does a spook

Enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Sato winced almost as soon as the match started. The Shiketsu student with the fabric quirk had dived immediately for the legs of the student from Seiai. Seiai, evidently having anticipated something of the sort, brought his hand up, creating some kind of dark, two-dimensional hole in front of himself. Shiketsu stepped through the hole and ran face-first into the ground as a second hole appeared horizontally from Seiai's other hand.

Midoriya grimaced. That student will get picked up by the government by the end of this. Hopefully, he accepts whatever contract they offer him. Seiai pounced on Shiketsu's back, attempting to get the three points of contact necessary to put an end to the match. They met their mark, but the student rapidly found that the ground impact hadn't stunned his quarry for the duration he had hoped. A brief scramble ensued on the ground before, finally, the ref called for a reset.

The seven waiting students all glanced up at the closest drone at precisely the same moment, all of them reading the scores as the crowd roared behind them. They glanced back down at the two wrestlers. Shiketsu had successfully dodged around the cartoonish black hole and had used the momentum of his body to barrel into Seiai, slamming him onto the floor as he attempted a pin.

Seiai formed a second set of portals, one below them and the other above the horizontal one that he had set out before. They dropped through one, into the next, and were spit tumbling out of the original first portal. The impact broke the two apart, but when they made to stand, Shiketsu grinned. Evidently, the contact duration had been enough to activate his own quirk, as Seiai remained glued to the ground as his own singlet pulled at him in the opposite direction to where he was attempting to go.

The round was called, and once again, the seven students glanced up at the drones puttering along above them like ad blimps of old. Close match so far, but with what was shown already, both students would have to be careful, both of each other and of revealing whatever cards they still had up their sleeves.

"I'll be honest, this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I signed up for wrestling. I thought it would be more focused on the… well, wrestling."

"Yeah, this is manly and all, but it seems more focused on the quirks than it does the wrestling." Midoriya let his eyes flick from Tetsutetsu, the first speaker, to Kirishima, the second.

"Well, yes. This is more quirk wrestling than it is proper 'wrestling.'" Midoriya made air quotes with his hands, absently turning to watch the last bit of the match. "They aren't outright fights. Tomorrow's tournament will fill that role. But grappling takes many forms, and you can use whatever you need, quirks included. You're just looking to pin your opponent, even with your quirk. Hence, quirk wrestling, even if it isn't technically an official type of wrestling."

The two students turned away from Midoriya just in time to witness Shiketsu's contender grab ahold of Seiai's leg, wrenching it out from underneath him and slamming him back-first into the ground. A near repeat of the earlier scene played out with a hole half-forming underneath his back. The student from Shiketsu picked Seiai up and slammed him down again.

…

Sero stretched as he stepped up onto the stage. The guy with the fabric quirk had just managed to beat out his competitor but not before giving Sero a few ideas of his own. He rolled his shoulders as he watched his opponent. He could have asked Midoriya what quirk his opposition would have but had decided against it for the sake of… actually, in retrospect, he probably should have just asked. Aizawa would say something like 'gathering information is a skill unto itself' before Midoriya gave him that impassive stare of his.

Vaguely, Sero heard Present Mic announcing the match. His opponent's name, evidently, was Maita Ken from Isamu. Didn't really help him much. Healthy and strong weren't exactly descriptors that might have led him to a clue. No visible mutations or clear signs of an emitter. On some level, Sero registered the surprise from the crowd when he was introduced by his hero name, rather than his actual name, a measure that was going to become commonplace this year. Albeit, the reason wouldn't become terribly well known to the general public. Sero also made a special note to file a complaint regarding Mic's announcement. Really creepy elbows was just uncalled for.

Silently, Sero squared off with his opponent, knees bent and arms out as the whistle blew and the two began to circle one another. Maita charged, and Sero blinked. Before he even really thought about what he was doing, he stepped into Maita, catching his right arm, stepping between his legs, and twisting, bringing Maita's chest first to the ground. Sero blinked again as he found himself with a knee on the young man's back, his arm twisted up and behind his head.

Maita swore under him, hissing under his breath as his shoulder was stretched past the point of comfort. "Uh…" Sero trailed off, unaided by anyone or anything as the whistle blew for reset and he stepped up and away.

…

Midoriya couldn't help the satisfied smirk that crept up onto his face. He hid it with the palm of his right hand, his fingers splayed across his cheek. Of course, this did nothing to disguise the low snort of amusement that slipped out. His schoolmates looked over at him in surprise. Their attention, though, was divided, shocked as they were by what they'd just witnessed.

"Uh, Midoriya? What just happened?" Tetsutetsu formed his words slowly, as if, were he to speak any faster or look away from the resetting opponents, what had just happened would simply vanish from the collective consciousness.

"Sero pinned him. Seems pretty straightforward to me."

"No, no, I get that. But, uh, how? Even Sero seemed surprised."

"Muscle memory. How many times have you hit the floor from charging directly at someone, Kirishima?" The man in question groaned, rolling his neck reflexively.

"Too many times before I realized that no one was going to fall for it anymore."

"That does-" The crowd went wild again, even as Tetsutetsu stopped talking. Sero had pinned his opponent a second time. No, it hadn't been a repeat of the first round; instead, Midoriya had watched as Sero stepped into the man, anticipating him to be looking for the sidestep. The yelling from the audience had been the clear result of Sero leveraging the man clear over his shoulder and onto the floor, flat on his back. Of course, given a clear shot, Maita had immediately gone for Sero's legs, only to run into a strip of tape stretched from the ground, between his legs, and up over his shoulder, delaying him long enough for the second and third pieces of tape to stick him to the ground.

"Midoriya." Midoriya let his eyes flick to the side at Sato's uneasy pronunciation of his name.

"Sato."

"That's two different styles of takedowns from two different schools. What exactly were you guys taught?"

"Mmm. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Technically speaking, what is being taught is an eclectic mix of all sorts of styles."

"Ah… is that so?" A noncommittal noise came from Midoriya as he watched the match play out after the second reset. Midoriya sighed, because he saw it coming a second before the audience did.

…

Sero couldn't stop smiling. Two resets down and time was almost up. Maita stepped forward, wary of any more of Sero's 'tricks.' They weren't tricks, just grappling techniques drilled into Class 1-A through hours of repetition. But Maita didn't know that much. In and out, the two darted at each other, hands searching for purchase, for grip on the other. Time and time again, Maita had to peel Sero's tape away from his arms and legs while keeping out of the other man's reach, its consistency closer to rubber than that of normal tape.

A warning was called on Sero for not attacking just as he darted down at Maita's legs. Maita stepped back, expecting the grapple attempt to go for his knees, only for Sero to dart back up and quickly step past him, adhering tape to his chest. With a lurching sensation, Maita felt his weight leave the ground as Sero used his purchase to attempt to fling the large man now a step behind him.

Maita grimaced and finally used his quirk, ripping through the tape with the sheer force that he pushed outwards. He twisted mid-air, grabbing onto Sero's shoulders after the short lurching hop that was the fling attempt. The moment Maita's feet touched the ground in front of Sero, Maita wrapped his arms around Sero's chest and threw himself back into the arch.

…

Kirishima winced as the crunching sound of Sero's shoulders hitting the mat sounded across the field. The reset whistle was called, and Sero groaned audibly as he struggled to stand back up. Shoji just shook his head. The damned fool had tried to get fancy with it, and after that showing, he'd be lucky if he didn't get bonus training from Aizawa. Considering their teacher's preeminent weapon, the poorly executed fling was bound to draw his ire.

…

Sero stumbled to his feet, seeing stars. The reset whistle had been blown, certainly, or, at least, Sero hoped that was the reset whistle that he had heard, but when he turned with his hands up to continue, he was forced to blink. Maita was lying on the ground, laughing like a lunatic.

"Damn, good match, Flex! I apologize, but I'm going to have to concede after that." At his words, Sero relaxed minutely, wandering over to stand near his opponent. It wouldn't be the first time someone had attacked him while they were 'down.' When Sero made it over to the man, he really did seem to be pleased with this outcome. "I hadn't expected it to take quite so much of my strength to tear through your tape. Seriously, what is that stuff made out of?"

In the corner of Sero's eye, he saw several of the robots from their training jogging over with a stretcher. "Uh, I'm not really sure. It's influenced by my diet. The consistency and stickiness, that is." Maita just laughed some more.

"I need to get myself some of what you're having, then."

"You need help up?"

"Nah, I wouldn't be able to stand right now, anyway. Thanks, though."

"Riiight." Sero waited while the robots came the rest of the way over. Gently, they shifted Maita over to the stretcher that they had brought. Vlad had wandered over with them, and he nudged Sero in the shoulder, gesturing back to his classmates.

"You win, though I don't think I need to point that out. He would have gotten called on that last move, even if he could move. Recovery Girl said to have Midoriya check you for signs of a concussion before you sit down, though. You hit pretty hard at the end there." Sero gave the professor a nod and a slight bow before heading back towards the seating. Midoriya was already waiting for him with a smirk and congratulations on his victory.

"Now, onto a couple of quick questions. Headache or pressure?"

"Nope."

"Nausea?" Midoriya reached down under his seat, pulling out a small canvas bag and beginning to rummage through it. He set aside his own canteen and a few other items before he seemed to find what he was looking for.

"Negative."

"Dizziness, double or blurry vision?"

"Just after I got hit. I'm good now." Midoriya nodded, then held up the item in his hand for Sero to see. It was a small penlight, which he clicked on before sweeping the beam over the edge of Sero's eye, slowly tracking inward and watching the pupillary reaction.

"Two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four…" Midoriya trailed off, gesturing for Sero to pick it up.

"One-hundred and twenty-eight, two-fifty-six, five-twelve." Midoriya nodded, clicking off the penlight and sticking it back into the canvas bag.

"Look all good to me. Do speak up if that starts to change, though." Sero offered the man a big thumbs up, then sat back down with a sigh.

"By the way, Midoriya, what was Maita's quirk?"

"Hmm?" Midoriya looked confused for a fraction of a second. "Ah, no, that's his name. I'm sorry, I was just thinking of him by his quirk's name. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out. It's called 'Overdrive.' Lets him push his physical capabilities beyond their limits for a short period of time. It's how he ripped your tape apart."

"Ah, speaking of which, my tape is way stronger than it used to be. All that conditioning really seems to have paid off."

"Seems that way." Midoriya gave him a noncommittal half-response as Sero let his mind wander away from the conversation. He noted that Tokoyami was already walking toward the stage. Unless the opponent had some kind of crazy quirk, Tokoyami was a shoo-in for this round. Sero glanced up at the tournament bracket lazily floating along above their heads and groaned. Good god, that means I have to wrestle fucking Tokoyami.

Notes:

If anyone would like to support my writing, remember you can find out how Here! I'm infinitely grateful for anyone who can and does!