MHA : Evolving : Chapter 27

' Izuku '

"I still call bullshit." Tetsutetsu grumbled as he and Kirishima sat in the stands, their tiebreaker having been an arm-wrestling match that Kirishima won when their hardening fingers broke the concrete table and made Tetsutetsu stagger.

"I know man." Kirishima pat his back, the crimson brawler not exactly pleased at how he'd won either "But you still showed how manly you were in the events so far! And when I win people will know the only reason you lost was because you lost to the champ!" Kirishima flexed eagerly at that proclamation.

"Ehem." Tokage and Yanagi tapped their feet, giving Kirishima a look at that one.

"I said what I said." Kirishima grinned at the girls as the stadium got readied, the roulette spinning to announce the first fighters of the second round.

"And it's Katsuki Bakugo against Hitoshi Shinso!" Midnight declared as the crowd cheered excitedly.

"Hey Shinso!" Mina called out "Beat this and Ururaka'll give you a kiss!"

"MINA!" a flustered Ururaka shouted, covering her face as she started to float, Tokage's floating hand grabbing her ankle, so she didn't drift off.

"Fiiiiiine." Mina mock sulked before smirking eagerly "Win this and Momo'll kiss you!"

"MINA!" the entirety of class 1-A shouted, many tossing candy and popcorn at the cackling pinkette.

"Quite the incentive." The exhausted looking general ed student somehow managed to both deadpan and smirk at the same time, "But something tells me if I try to collect, they'd just slap me."

"Perceptive." Kendo snorted bemused, patting a flustered Yaoyorozu on the back.

"Well, the angry Pomeranian is annoying, so I don't mind beating him on principle." Shinso shrugged.

"THE FUCK YOU SAY BITCH?!" Bakugo, who'd almost gotten out of earshot, eager to get to the ring, whirled around. Shinso didn't respond, he just smirked and started walking to the arena, clearly eager to start the fight.

Izuku wasn't sure of all the facets of Shinso's quirk but figured there's at least a chance of him winning given what happened with Shinso's first match.

"Think he can make Bakugo do the funky chicken on his way out of the arena?" Mina Tokage asked as the group snickered.

...

' Shinso '

Keeping up his carefree smirk, Shinso observed his opponent, mind racing as he planned his strategy. He knew this brute's quirk caused explosions and he knew that pain or a jolt could cause his quirk to deactivate. What he wasn't sure of was if there was recoil from this blond bastard's quirk that would be enough to snap him out.

"Alright boys, I want a nice clean match!" Midnight declared, eyeing Bakugo warily as the blonde had on a bloodthirsty expression, apparently still upset about the 'Pomeranian' crack.

"Easy enough." Shinso shrugged, microphones still catching their opening comments "Collateral damage isn't exactly part of my playbook." Never hurt to sell himself to the pros after all.

"Tch." Bakugo sneered, "Let's just get this over with."

"What's wrong Goldie Locks?" Shinso chuckled "So eager to lose?"

"Begin!" Midnight signaled for the match to begin, having had enough of the trash talk.

The second she dropped her arm, Bakugo blasted forward, "I'm gonna kill you, you damned extra!" Bakugo shouted, eyes wide and filled with a manic excitement.

Those eager eyes soon became glassy and flat as Shinso's quirk took effect. Unfortunately for the hypnotist, Bakugo was afloat when he went under so even if the recoil wasn't enough to snap him out of it, falling on his face and breaking his nose certainly was.

"Huh, that looks painful." Shinso hadn't taken a step and Bakugo already took more damage than he had the entire sports festival, something Bakugo himself was aware of given his furious expression.

"Shud up!" Bakugo shouted, words mangled due to the broken and bloody nose as he charged, staggering from the quirk once again.

It only lasted a moment before Bakugo righted himself and resumed charging, firing an explosion that Shinso quickly dove out of the way to avoid; brain hastily trying to formulate a new plan. "'It still an 'ie!" Bakugo shouted, bloody face adding to the angry expression.

Dodging once more from the, thankfully, linear, attacks Shinso panted, figuring he only had one shot to win this "Huh, I'm pretty sure Midoriya would have beaten me by now."

"YOU 'UCKING-!" the furious response, just what he'd expected after observing the two hero classes, made Bakugo freeze once more.

Knowing he only had a moment, Shinso charged, rearing his foot back and slamming them up between Bakugo's legs right as the mad bomber was coming out of the hypnosis, eyes bulging from the pain of the impact.

Not wasting a moment, Shinso reared his fist back and punched Bakugo straight on the jaw, wincing at the pain to his knuckles, still not well trained in actual combat.

"DIE!" Bakugo yelled, blasting him away before Shinso could try punching him again, Shinso rolling out of the arena, clothes charred and smoking, having barely been able to cover his face with his now burnt arms.

"Ow." He wheezed, head falling back with a thud as Midnight declared Bakugo the victor.

...

' Izuku '

Cracking his neck, Izuku stared out at his opponent Kirishima, the red brawler bouncing from foot to foot, eager for a good match. "You ready for this Midori-Bro!" Kirishima punched his hardened fists together, "This is gonna get epic!"

"Don't waste your quirk taunting me!" Izuku scolded his friend, wanting Kirishima to bring his all, the redhead thankfully deactivating his quirk with a sheepish grin.

"Right, right!" Kirishima chuckled, "We're ready Midnight!"

"Such youthful exuberance, it turns me on!" Midnight declared as she cracked her whip "Show us what you've got boys!" With a roar, Izuku transformed and charged, throwing a punch at Kirishima leapt back, Izuku's fist breaking apart the concrete where his punch landed.

Not shattering the stone but still showing that this form was as strong as it looked.

"Gotta be faster than that Bro!" Kirishima laughed, hardening up to his maximum form and charging full throttle.

"I'll keep that in mind!" Izuku took Kirishima's punch, using it to give him an opening to land a devastating counter blow of his own.

To his surprise, Kirishima twisted his body so the jagged parts of his form were where Izuku was punching, the level of hardness and sharpness of those spiked parts, combined with the force behind Izuku's own punch, allowing Kirishima to overcome Izuku's resistance to cutting and actually make him bleed.

"Ha!" Kirishima panted, expression already showing how strained he was "I hoped that would work. Midnight, I'd like to forfeit." Izuku wasn't sure who was more surprised at that, himself or the crowd.

"May I ask why Kirishima?" Midnight asked, putting the microphone where Kirishima could respond even as Izuku and his friend deactivated their quirks.

"You've yet to take much damage in this fight are even the first one to damage Midoriya this much."

"Fighting Tetsutetsu took up too much energy last round." Kirishima sounded frustrated with himself at the admission "I couldn't keep my quirk up much longer if I tried, let alone fight.

But I did manage to damage Midoriya meaning if this was a real hero against Villain situation then my teammates would have an opening to capitalize on." Seeing Kirishima's logic, and more importantly him stating it in a way to impress the watching Pros, Izuku was very proud of his friend.

"Very well! Midoriya is moving on to the Semi-Finals!" Midnight declared as the crowd cheered them both on, although Izuku was positive he heard the crowd cheering for Kirishima more than himself.

...

' Yanagi '

"Come on, I'm telling you man it'll be great!" hearing the familiar voice of Kirishima, Reiko turned to see Izuku, Kirishima, and the now recovered Shinso returning to the stands, Bakugo having come back not long after his fight had ended.

"What'll be great?" Tokage asked, floating over to the boys like the Cheshire cat "Is it me? I'm guessing it's me. My fight is coming up and I do tend to be pretty amazing."

"We're trying to convince Shinso to join us in the Gym." Izuku explained with a grin.

"He did great against Bakugo, but he already saw he doesn't know how to throw a proper punch and didn't have the upper body strength to actually knock Bakugo out. So, we're offering to train him."

"You should totally do it!" Ururaka cheered, pulling Shinso down next to her as Izuku took his seat next to Reiko herself once again.

"I, uh, I'm not really-" Shinso, still showing frequent awkwardness at all the attention, and possibly the positive encouragement if her assumptions were correct.

"Come on, think about it!" Ururaka enthused eagerly "You could have beaten Bakugo if you had some more muscle, this'll help if you ever fight him again!"

"I…I guess." A flushed Shinso relented, looking away awkwardly.

"So, given they aren't up here I'm guessing Todoroki and Yaoyorozu are the ones fighting this round?" Izuku looked towards her, noting both she and Tokage were still in the seats.

"They are indeed." Reiko nodded happily, "I am looking forward to battling my compatriot in the next round.

It should truly prove a most affable bout as we determine which of us shall be the one to take the golden symbol of victory for our class and grade. Although you will likely make quite the challenge to overcome Midoriya."

"Just give him a kiss and he'll be too dazed to fight back." Tokage grinned, high fiving Mina as Izuku blushed brightly. If her warm face was any indication, then she was likely doing the same.

"Bad!" Tetsutetsu scolded, swatting Tokage with a newspaper that he'd once told her he carried around for just this purpose.

"Bad!" Kirishima echoed, borrowing the newspaper to swat Mina.

"Alright!" Midnight's voice distracted them before anything else could be said or done, Reiko noting that the Todoroki and Yaoyorozu had arrived at the arena.

"is everyone ready for this?!"

the competitors both gave serious nods, not saying anything as the crowd cheered and yelled for their favorite to win "Then begin!" At her words.

Todoroki shot forward, ice racing from his foot as and, to Reiko's shock, fire from a hand as he shot towards his opponent. To her credit, Yaoyorozu was only stunned for a moment before she used her quirk to create a pistol, firing what were clearly rubber bullets at Todoroki, the elementalist leaping up, using his ice and fire to propel himself in the air.

As he rose through the air, Reiko saw Todoroki's hair become a horned mane of ice and flame, the ice beneath his feet freezing in mid air to create a platform he shot towards Yaoyorozu at, fire spreading from his hand as he spun.

Reacting rapidly, Yaoyorozu threw out her arms, foam that looked to be fire extinguisher material rocket out from the heiress' skin, dousing the flames of Todoroki's acrobatic maneuver.

"Holy shit this is intense!" Kirishima and Tetsutetsu shouted in tandem.

"No kidding." Izuku was rapidly scribbling in a notebook he'd pulled from somewhere on his person.

"I've never seen any of these techniques from those two before. They must have been training hard for this festival."

"Although if they're showing it all now, do you think they consider each other the biggest threats, or just aren't as worried about everyone else?" Hagakure asked confused.

"Well to be honest Bakugo isn't really a threat to either of them." Izuku shrugged, feeling the murderous glare leveled at the back of his head at those words "Bakugo's quirk works by secreting nitroglycerin.

All it would take was a bit of flame from Todoroki or some sort of ignition tool from Yaoyorozu and they could set his explosions off prematurely.

Your other point makes sense too though, as Yaoyorozu has the most tricks up her sleeve given the fact that her quirk technically has few limits, and Todoroki has some of the most raw power in the school." Even his quirk, as broken as it was, was primarily a defensive one, all offense was up to his own training and whatever openings his quirk gave him.

As Izuku spoke, Todoroki had been freezing more and more of the arena. His flames melted much of his ice, but the other half of his body would just refreeze it again.

The rapid thawing and refreezing creating more and more ice, cracking apart the arena as Yaoyorozu struggled more and more to keep her footing, her weapons unable to punch through Todoroki's frozen barriers without also risking causing a serious threat to Todoroki's life.

In the end, it was too much, and Yaoyorozu got overwhelmed, frozen up to her neck as Midnight called the match.

"Guess it's our turn girl." Tokage grinned, jumping up and holding out a hand to Reiko to pull her up as well "Let's show these boys how it's done!"

...

' Izuku '

Izuku found he was on the edge of his seat as he watched Reiko and Tokage climb onto the stadium for the last round of the quarter finals. He barely registered the call to begin, eyes focused entirely on two of his closest friends duking it out to prove how far their training had come.

At the cue from Midnight, both girls took to the sky, Reiko using her telekinesis to pull herself through the air while Tokage used the ability of flight without separation that he'd helped her discover.

"Man, it's crazy to see how well those two can fly." Testutetsu cheered eagerly, the girls locked in hand to hand combat a good twenty feet in the air.

"Yanagi's quirk lets her lift the weight of an average person yeah?" Mina asked as they cheered their friends on, "So wouldn't that mean she can't do much else if she's using her quirk to fly like this?"

"I guess." Kirishima frowned, "But I don't see what else she can do. Tokage's quirk makes her slippery and I'm pretty sure splitting herself apart would break any sort of telekinetic grip Yanagi would have on her."

"Meanwhile Tokage can fly," Ururaka picked up, their other green haired friend splitting herself apart mid-sentence "and do that."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Izuku grinned, noting Reiko's expression, "Look at her. Reiko has Tokage right where she wants her." While staying floating in the air, Reiko released a telekinetic shockwave, knocking Tokage's floating pieces around and disorienting the lizard tail splitter.

With that achieved it was simple to grab one of the smaller pieces and drag it to the ground before its owner could orient themselves, Reiko never losing her altitude.

"She's been training, looks like she's boosted her quirk's strength and how many things she can manipulate at once." Izuku gave a proud grin at his white-haired friend.

"…Reiko huh?" Mine gave him a teasing grin making him realize how he'd been referring to her both aloud and, in his head, this whole time, his flush like putting blood in the water to the teasing shark that was Mina Ashido.

...

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