Hero Academia: Rise Above Max Omega! [My Hero Academia RP/Co-Hosted by Chaos Sonic and Yui/pg-13/IC/NA]

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

MIKE vs AKIRA

part 5

Sweat dripped down his face from his drenched hair that had been blown around from the force of the hit he just took, giving him a much more wild and untamed look than anyone had really seen of him before. By reflex, he tried to push out more energy into his suit, only to feel little release, but instead of the energy being absorbed into anything, it simply dissipated from his body as a weak glow. His tank had run empty, and he was quickly out of options. But as he glared at Akira, giving up was the last thing he wanted to. He didn’t want to win, he needed to win.

 

“Fat chance,” Mike growled. “You’ll get your win when you pry it from me!”

 

Akira shrugged. “Square deal.” Leaving little time to react, Akira braced himself and sprung into action, streaking towards Mike as a golden blur. With very little in the way of force, Mike could do nothing more than leap out of the way, feeling his body thrown by the turbulent drag of Akira’s speed. Mike’s heart skipped a beat as he felt the match had ended there and he had been thrown out of the ring, but even seeing that he was still within bounds brought no relief. “I can see that you're running on fumes. If I wanted to, I could just sit back and wait for you to pass out. You couldn't match me when you were at full power, what makes you think you can now?”

 

Mike knew he had one trick left up his sleeve, but he had been saving it: the energy drink that the support team had built into his suit. Unfortunately, the straw for that was built into his helmet, along with the drink itself-- something that wasn’t even on his head any more. But there was a chance it made it unscathed in the attack. If he could just find it…

 

Akira gave little opening for that opportunity, however, and soon moved in for another swipe, dragging the tip of his wing along the ground and turning in the process to give little room for dodging to either side or ducking beneath the attack. Mike tried to jump over the wing, but without his quirk his movements were slow and much more predictable. As he passed, Akira jerked his wing upwards and swatted Mike into the air like tennis ball, sending him sailing in the air, towards the edge of the ring.

 

“Just a bit more…” Mike growled through gritted teeth. “I can’t… lose… not NOW!” Akira turned to pick off Mike and keep him juggled in the air, but as he passed by Mike was able to release one last burst of energy. It wasn’t particularly strong or bright, but the bright flash that he released from his back was just enough to send him back in the direction of the arena’s center. Akira grazed just past Mike, giving them both just a moment to exchange glances, and with a surge of satisfaction he could see a look of surprise written across his face.

 

Turning his head back to the ground, Mike scanned the scattered debris of his suit frantically, searching between bits of plastic and metal. He only had one shot at this, and if this gamble didn’t pay off the match was through. The ground sped towards him, until he spotted it: a bright orange glint near the crater where Akira’s giant fist had impacted.

 

Mike hit the ground hard; harder than he had expected. His landing was neither graceful nor pleasant to watch as his feet touched down and his legs buckled beneath him, his backside slamming hard against the ground. As his feet had touched down, he could feel a clean snap in the middle of his foot and his ankle, and Mike let out a loud cry. Everything around him was a blur, and the voices of the announcers were muffled and quiet, buried in the dull roar of the crowd’s astonishment. Some words stuck out, and it sounded like they were ready to call the match on account of his injury, but Mike wasn’t ready to give up. Not in a million years.

 

Mike pushed himself to his feet, growling through sharp pain that lanced through his body as he put all his weight on his remaining good foot. He reached for the drink and stretched as much as he could until he found purchase on the bottle. Ripping the cap off, he downed the substance as quickly as he could, and felt a surge of energy course through him that was almost too much to handle. There was vertigo-- a lot of vertigo, as his awareness spiked and he felt a harsh amount of sensory-whiplash. The pain was still too much to move and fight, however. Even if only his foot was broken, the muscles in his legs and core screamed in an aggressive protest. The best that he could, all that he could do, was turn and face Akira, who floated in the air and watched everything take place, waiting for Mike to give up or the judges to end the match before it went too far.

 

Mike clenched his fists. He had one last move-- one last chance, and then that was it. “I can still fight!” Mike shouted, at the judges, at Akira, and more importantly, at himself. “I’m not through here yet. C’mon, you think you can just win this by nickle-and-diming me with these weak-ass hits?!” Mike could hear his mother’s scolding for his use of language, and felt his cheeks tinge red at the thought. “Come down here and hit me like a man!”

 

He watched Akira with a close eye, and resorted to his failsafe. It was all that he had left, and it wasn’t even a move that he could ever pull off in practice, if it were something he could do at all. It also took everything he got right. But at this moment, it was either try, or fail anyways. As he watched Akira, Mike did his best to sum up every last ounce of energy he could, as if to release in a continuous burst, but at the same time of doing so, he held it back and kept it inside, filling himself energy until he felt like he was ready to burst. His muscles tensed and his fist clenched, finger nails digging into his skin. This needed to work, it was his last chance.

 

[Yui]

---

"That's pretty spot on. I'm sure Omega Star has everything under control. She's boastful for a reason, right?"

 

"Yeah." As the ferris wheel continued along peacefully, Asuka looked at her phone again. The battle between Mike and Akira was only getting more and more intense. To say Asuka was impressed and invested in this fight would be an understatement! Akira was by far the strongest student in 1-A, and yet Mike was putting up such a fight! She watched on the phone screen as the two boys continued exchanging blows, and as Mike ran for the ruined pieces of his costume's helmet, despite how obviously in pain he was. Was there something important in his helmet before?

 

Mike picked up some sort of bottle. So Asuka wasn't the only one that thought of using some sort of drink to stay in a fight longer. But even with that drink, there was no way he had much fight left in him, right? It was looking pretty obvious that Akira had this in the bag. Even so, Asuka wanted to believe Mike would win this one. Judging by the look on his face, he certainly believed he could.

 

"You can do it, Rosenfield," she couldn't help but say under her breath. Looking to her peers who she'd joined on the ferris wheel, she told them "They're really going at it. It seems unlikely, but do either of you think Tomoaki might lose this one?" Asuka moved her phone to where it would be in better view for both Ino and Isami, in case they hadn't been watching the fight on theirs.

---

[~Faytl~]

Hadley still looked incredibly shaken. Gin's outburst hadn't done anything to sway her horror. She was looking at him like he was some kind of monster, barely even noticing Sayuri signing at them, not even capable of understanding her hand gestures. 

 

"You wanted to win? That's all?" she asked, aghast. "Jesus Christ, I knew UA was all about being the top dog, but this is fuckin' RIDICULOUS." She uncrossed her arms, one of the gauntlets falling to her side, slamming into the wall behind her with a loud crash. "They teach ye to funk yer'self up like this? Good thing I'M not in the bloody hero course or I'd be a fucken' lost cause myself, wouldn't I? What kinda hero are ye' if ye can't even save yer'self?"

 

She caught sight of Aaron putting his hand out to her, and flinched back instinctively. She seemed to withdraw into herself, her entire body tense the second he got close to her. Her eyes darted to his hand, seeing the glove. "Hell's that fer?" she asked, her eyes fixed on it. She circled around him, out the door of the room, eyes not leaving his hand as he followed. "You fraid of catching somethin' from me 'yer fresh out a luck, the crazy one's in there." She gestured back into Gin's room, shuddering.

[VCR_CAT]

Mike vs. Akira

Finale

BGM

 

Akira’s expression was a confused mixture of anger and delight. Despite how infuriatingly plucky his opponent was, Akira had never fought like this before. Despite being so clearly outmatched, he just kept on getting back up. The effort was admirable, if nothing else, but this fight had gone on long enough. “If you want me to hit you all-out, I'll do it, but don't think it's something you will walk away from.” Once again, his left arm flared to life, surrounded by the huge construct he had previously hit Mike with. Jets of golden light appeared on the back, mimicking the way his opponent's suit operated. “I didn't have a chance to come up with a name for this one.” The emotion faded from Akira's face, as he moved himself into a readied position, fist cocked back over his shoulder.

Mako watched as Akira wound up for his final move, with increasing alarm. Given the incredible scale of the attacks previously shown off in this round, and the clear ramp-up in aggression over just the last few minutes of battle, he couldn't see this ending well. First the Otoma kid in the last round, and now this? Mako had always been one for fiery spirits, but 1-A had a knack for going overboard. He readied himself to intervene, but before he could take a step, he could feel resistance at his ankles, and a hand was risen in front of him.

 

Looking down, he could see his feet were held in place by mounds of sand, and as he looked back up to Suna to ask what the hell he had in mind, he could see his fellow teacher staring intently at Akira. With reluctance, Mako nodded to him, relaxing a bit to watch the conclusion of the fight. “Whatever, Sandman… It’s your student’s funeral.”

“This is it.”

With a single flap of his wing, Akira flew forward toward his opponent. Broken chunks of concrete were scattered through the air and a tight trail of dust followed him as he flung his fist forward, the jets speeding him further toward his target. Everything around Akira was silent, and all he could see was Mike, who was preparing his counterattack. His entire body seemed to be glowing slightly, as if he was about to burst at the seams. Whatever he was preparing was big, but Akira knew it wasn't going to be enough to stop him. Less than a second after he took off for the attack, he would make impact against Mike, and the fight would be over. Akira closed in, but right as he expected Mike to unleash whatever he had planned, his opponent sidestepped. It was just the slightest puff of force, but it was enough to move him just barely out of the way. Before Akira could react, Mike was on his right, the fist having missed him completely. The two made eye contact for what seemed an eternity, Mike's expression as fierce as Akira’s was surprised.

“HORIZON SERIES:” Mike shouted, his mouth glowing bright with excess energy. “JADE NOVA!”

Mike thrusted his open palm against Akira’s chest, as an explosion of green force burst in the space between. Akira had never been hit by a train before, but he expected this was something like what it felt like, as the attack hit him completely unarmored and unprepared. The impact was brief, before Akira found himself flying backward - not from his own wing, which had now shattered in his confusion and desperation, but from the overwhelming momentum in Mike's attack. Pulling himself into the fetal position, Akira was surrounded by a sphere of his hard light, crashing against the ground and carving a path until he reached a stop.

Bursting through his protective bubble, Akira landed firmly on his feet, quickly looking back to the source of the blast. Mike stood as upright as he could with the injuries he had sustained, his arm still pointed toward Akira, with what was left of the boundary line of the arena between the two.

Mike looked back at him, his arm in agony. The kickback from the blast felt like it bruised his entire arm, if not inflicting worse injury. His vision began closing in from the sides, a black tunnel forming around Akira as Mike could feel himself collapsing forward. Before his vision gave out, it almost looked like Akira was smiling. The last thing Mike heard as he hit the pavement was the buzzer.

WINNER: MICHAEL ROSENFELD!!?

[Mr. Hyde]

 

"You wanted to win? That's all?  Jesus Christ, I knew UA was all about being the top dog, but this is fuckin' RIDICULOUS." She uncrossed her arms, one of the gauntlets falling to her side, slamming into the wall behind her with a loud crash. "They teach ye to funk yer'self up like this? Good thing I'M not in the bloody hero course or I'd be a fucken' lost cause myself, wouldn't I? What kinda hero are ye' if ye can't even save yer'self?"

 

"That's the whole point, you reject..."  He said, averting their gazes.  "Being a hero...you're gonna get yourself hurt for the people who can't save themselves...I'd rather get my arms shattereda million times before I let anyone else," For a second, he paused.  Images of his mother during the investigation flashed through his mind, "get hurt...and If I win in the process, that's just a bonus."  Gin eyed the girl as she left the room.  He had nothing to say to someone with that mindset...it just really wore on him.  "This tournament...it's just all practice for that....they're banking on us wanting to win...to go all out.  Of course we're gonna hurt ourselves...we're learning our limits."  He looked back, hoping to see no one...but there she still was.  

 

"What are you still doing here...?"  He said with a creaking voice.  "I told you all to beat it..." 

 

“HORIZON SERIES:  JADE NOVA!”

 

For a split second, Gin turned his attention back towards the t.v., only to see Mike bury his hand into Akira's torso, and shoot off a huge burst of green energy.  The attack was enough to blow Akira back, and make him hit the ground like a bowling ball.  Gin could only stare on, like he was looking pass the screen.  Akira was the one he wanted to put in his place...but even if he had won, He'd be fighting Mike.  Now...it just seemed pointless.  Gin's fingers moved slowly, trying to form a fist, but failed.  There was still no feeling in them.  It was as if the pure rage in him was moving his own body.  

 

 

 

"I'm sure she's okay," Asuka answered. "She's the number-one hero. She'll be fine, wrap up the trouble there, and if we see her again she'll probably say something like, 'that explosion was no match for me! Ahahahahaha!'" 

 

Ino couldn't help but laugh at her impression.  

 

"That's pretty spot on." Isami said, giving Asuka a thumbs up. "I'm sure Omega Star has everything under control. She's boastful for a reason, right?"

 

"Of course she's alright!  She's the strongest hero there is!!  No way she loses to some lame prisoners!"  In the meantime, Asuka had brought her phone out to watch the match.  She seemed really interested in the goings on, making Ino want to sneak a peek.  Her phone had been on low battery for quite some time, she wanted to only use it in case of an emergency.  

 

 "They're really going at it. It seems unlikely, but do either of you think Tomoaki might lose this one?"

 

Asuka graciously turned the phone towards her and Isami.  The fight was looking pretty one-sided...Akira especially looked like he was actually trying.  His one Angel wing made him look rather ominous.  But miraculously, Mike was able to turn things around in almost an instant.  

 

“HORIZON SERIES:  JADE NOVA!”

 

Ino's eyes were lit up, as she watched the attack pummel Akira into the pavement.  

 

"WOW!  Mike's pretty flashy when he wants to be huh?"  She crossed her arms, as she rumbled contemplatively.  "I gotta start making cool attack names too!  Or is that just a boy thing?"  Ino snickered a bit, as her eyes narrowed to Isami at the last part.  

 

 

The crowd was silent for a moment, but then erupted into an enormous burst of applause and praise.  Suna could be seen on the sidelines, smiling at the two of them.  His neutral frown returned when Mako punched him in the arm.  

 

"You really are trying to kill them, huh?  Less of them to deal with, right?  I totally understand!"  Mako laughed.  Suna shook his head, and walked onto the arena to greet Mike and Akira, who were now being put onto separate stretchers.  He met Akira first.  

 

"Let this be a lesson for you, kid."  He was unconscious, but maybe his words would reach him.  To Mike, he simply nodded.  "You really surprised me out there Rosenfield...I think I can say the same for everyone else.  Good job...and get better quick.  You don't have time to be hurt."  As they were taken off stage, Suna walked back to meet Mako.  

 

"I guess you're a sap in your own kinda way, huh?"  The big toothy grin made an appearance once again.  Suna just waved the big shark man off, waiting for the next round to be announced.  The arena began to replace itself with a pristine version, as the loudspeaker system remained quiet.  Once the process was complete Madam Mic took the spotlight for herself down on the main Arena platform.  She had a small microphone that curled up towards her mouth, and her signature Mic stand at her side.  She waved to the crowd, who in turn cheered for the lovely lady.  She smiled, giving them a peace sign.  

 

"Alright!  Let's give it up for all of our lovely contenders here today!"  She was speaking normally, but the sound waves could be heard, and felt, throughout the entire stadium.  The crowd roared once again.  "Now things are really starting to pop off!  The next round will be Terro Khikyu v.s. Valerie Clark!  Will the two fighters step on up to the Arena so we can get the show on the road?!"  Once the two had met in the middle, Madam Mic would smile and sign 'Good Luck you two', before being ushered off stage by Suna and Mako.  Mako flexed an arm, padding the muscle in front of Valerie. 

 

"Show them what it means to be 1-B!  Let's take this all the way!"  

 

Suna simple gave Terro a staredown.  

 

"Don't make her try to kill you.  Is that specific enough this time?"  Suna sighed, before walking away.  "Don't slack off just because we're 1-A."  Suna and Mako met, and raised their hands.  

 

"Let the Match...BEGIN!"  

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

“HORIZON SERIES: JADE NOVA!”

 

Ichiro watched the strike that Mike used against Akira, who seemed to almost try to end it right there with strike...however, it surprised him nevertheless: Mike Rosenfeld...Greenshift won against Akira. His mouth was left agape and was silent for a bit, but finally pumped his one arm in the air and cheered.

 

"WOOOOO!!! Alright Mike!!" Ichiro laughed, looking over at Terro. "Dude...you were right. Mike won...gotta say, if you weren't going for a career as a hero, you might actually just make it as a fortune teller or a psychic." he said with a smile.

 

"Now things are really starting to pop off!  The next round will be Terro Khikyu v.s. Valerie Clark!  Will the two fighters step on up to the Arena so we can get the show on the road?!"

 

"Oh man...I guess your up..." he said, holding a fist out towards Terro, expecting the young man to bump fists. "Good luck out there Terro. I'll be cheering for ya...I'm gonna check up on Mike first, but I'll be cheering!"

 

With a quick fist bump, Ichiro let Terro get back to the arena while he went off to the medical wing to try and find Mike and congratulate him.

 

 

Class B Squad

 

"You really think I'd be hurt bad enough for longer? Have to see who I get to beat down after all."

 

"Fair enough." Shin chuckled, throwing his arms behind his head some. "You're a tough cookie, so I had no doubts whatsoever."

 

"Maybe they should've made sure their moves weren't so easy to copy."

 

"That's exactly what I was saying!! And they're in 1-A?" Aina huffed, leaning her head on her hand. "It's just sad...like extremely sad."

 

"Well, guess they weren't expecting to have their own fighting style yet." Casey shrugged. "Still...it's pretty lame."

 

“HORIZON SERIES: JADE NOVA!”

 

"HOLY sheet!!"

 

"HOLY sheet!!"

 

"HOLY sheet!!"

 

All three Class B students immediately were shut up after that exclamation in regards to Mike's sudden strike. They had widened expressions and they looked at each other and then at Valerie.

 

"Yo...did sunglasses just lose?" Casey asked, seeing Shin nod slowly. This caused Casey to jump up and laugh. "THAT'S WHAT YOU GET, SUNGLASSES!!!" However, the young man was immediately knocked in the back of the head by Aina, sighing.

 

"Seriously...there's a time to shout like that...now is not the time." Aina shook her head.

 

"Now things are really starting to pop off!  The next round will be Terro Khikyu v.s. Valerie Clark!  Will the two fighters step on up to the Arena so we can get the show on the road?!"

 

"Your up, Val." Shin said, glancing at Valerie and giving her thumbs up. "Give em hell..."

 

"And show them that Class 1-B ain't no one's fool!!" Aina said, giving her a peace sign. "You got it, Val!!"

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

"Your up, Val. Give em hell..."

"And show them that Class 1-B ain't no one's fool!! You got it, Val!!"

 

Valerie grinned wildly. Mike had managed to meet her expectations and beat down Captain Sunglasses over there, maybe that'll teach him to take things more seriously, and now she was more fired up than ever. She had a worthy opponent waiting for her in the finals. She just had one more obstacle in the way....

 

"You all might want to stay farther back from the stage. Things are gonna heat up."

------

 

Valerie stood on her side of the stage with her arms crossed over her chest. The flames from before had returned. They weren't as enveloping as they had been at the end of her match. More like it was a faint outline of flames, an aura, wrapped around her body. The heat that emanated from her was more intense than usual, however. Wrapping across the entire stage and into the stands right off the bat. The stage itself would be a nice and toasty 135 degrees Fahrenheit. The announcers knew that they'd have to start the match fast else Terro would start off at a disadvantage for having to stand in that temperature.

 

She called out one thing to Terro before the starting announcement sounded. "Let's see how long you can last!"

 

The moment the match began Valerie started to advance. Not as swiftly as she had in previous matches. There was no need for that now. With heat like this she could just stand around and wait...but what was the point of that? Without slowing Valerie launched a column of flame, a foot in diameter, from her body towards the young martial artist.

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

Asuka had pulled out their phon to watch what sounded like the fight. Isami thought about doing the same, before realizing he left his phone at home. Again. Actually, now that he thought about it, he had no idea where his phone was. He simply shrugged; the other two would fill him in on what happened, and there was a scenery that was asking to be viewed. As Isami turned to look out the railings and onto the ground, he noticed that the top of trees looked vaguely familiar to clouds. He wondered if he could try and make shapes out of them...
 
As he was about to form the shape of a certain cartoon mouse, the two girls started talking about the match, Asuka even showing the phone to the two of them. "O-oh!" Isami said, turning around quickly and almost falling on his face to turn towards the phone. Things were getting intense, having Isami creep slowly to the edge of his seat. Akira was doing some stuff he hadn't seen him do during their fight... the versatility of his quirk was almost terrifying. Could Mike even beat something like that? He looked pretty beat up...

 

“HORIZON SERIES:  JADE NOVA!”

 

And, in a flashy move, Mike managed to send Akira out of the ring, winning him the match. Isami couldn't help but applaud. "WOW!  Mike's pretty flashy when he wants to be huh?" Isami nodded his head. "I gotta start making cool attack names too!  Or is that just a boy thing?"

 

Isami shrugged. "I don't have any cool attack names..." Isami said, a pensive look on his face. "I don't think it's a guy thing either... I've heard my sister yell some stuff that sounded like an attack name, and I'm sure Omega Star has one too." Suddenly, he snapped his finger. "How about we come up with some now?" The idea was exciting enough that he started brain storming, although he quickly realized something. "Man, my quirk is not very flashy, huh?"

[King K. Azo]

Terro watched in excitement as the battle between Akira and Mike was drawing to a close. They seemed ready to unleash their final attacks, Akira making a jet arm to ram into Mike. Mike however, sidestepped the attack and gave a major counter that ended the fight. The crowd went crazy at this apparent upset, but Terro wasn't surprised. He was in fact grinning widely. The person he wanted to fight the most had moved on to the finals. Now all he had to do was win his match and he could have that fight! He cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders, ready to start his match.
 
"WOOOOO!!! Alright Mike!!" Ichiro laughed, looking over at Terro. "Dude...you were right. Mike won...gotta say, if you weren't going for a career as a hero, you might actually just make it as a fortune teller or a psychic." he said with a smile.
 
"Nah, I only was able to guess because of past experience," Terro commented. "My match's a little more up in the air... I just hope I can win on my own merits this time,"
 
"Now things are really starting to pop off!  The next round will be Terro Khikyu v.s. Valerie Clark!  Will the two fighters step on up to the Arena so we can get the show on the road?!"

 

"Oh man...I guess your up..." he said, holding a fist out towards Terro,. "Good luck out there Terro. I'll be cheering for ya...I'm gonna check up on Mike first, but I'll be cheering!" Terro grinned, holding out his own fist and doing the mighty brofist. 

"Tell Mike I thought he did amazing," Terro commented as Ichiro left. He then left, ready for his own battle.
 

---

 
Before the fight had started, before Val wrapped herself in flames, Terro walked over to her, his big grin plastered on his face. "I just had the best idea. How about a bet? Loser treats the winner to ice cream!" The one cone Terro had was too amazing, and here was a way he could get some guaranteed, free or otherwise. Val smiled before responding,
 
"Sure! I'm not about to turn down free food," She confidently stated. 
 
"Alright, it's a deal then!" The 1-A laughed as he held out his fist. Val quickly bumped his fist, and Terro returned to his spot, only to have Suna speak to him. 
 
"Don't make her try to kill you. Is that specific enough this time?" Suna sighed, before walking away.  "Don't slack off just because we're 1-A." Suna and Mako met, and raised their hands.  
 
"I didn't do anything like that last time though...," Terro muttered. Everyone seemed to think he did something to Gin, but he didn't... right?
 

"Let the Match...BEGIN!"

 

---

 

She burns

 
The first thing Terro noticed was that it was super hot. The flame aura Val had was giving her a distinct advantage, that was for sure. He couldn't let the fight drag on, or he risked heat exhaustion or even a heat stroke. He then noticed, Val had started to go on the offensive, although slower than usual. He supposed she was trying to wear him out with the heat, her cry of "Let's see how long you can last!" being a huge hint. Val then launched a pillar of fire at Terro.

Gritting his teeth, Terro raised a pillar of earth to block the flames, before taking a large step forward,  punching the column and breaking it into pieces before sending the chunks flying at Val. Val darted to the right, dodging the attack completely. She darted back to Terro, throwing a wide kick at him. Terro raised his arm and blocked it, but suddenly hissed as he felt a burning sensation in his arm. 

Oh yeah, fire. That made blocking a bad idea. Still, he didn't have much of a choice. He pushed against her leg to throw her back and went to throw a punch at her face, which she quickly dodged by weaving to the side and retaliating with her own punch at Terro. Terro moved his body to avoid, and countered once more. 

The two went back and forth for a bit, throwing attacks and dodging them, feeling out the other's defenses and trying to find holes in them. However, it was clear even to the untrained eye that Terro was slowing down ever so slightly. Sweat dripped from his brow as the heat started to get to him. Being so close to the source of the heat was a horrible idea. The next change he got, he dodged wide to the left, spinning around her and getting to her back. He then turned once more and smashed his shoulder into her back, sending her away from him. He leaped back to get some space from her, but she chased him down relentlessly, closing the distance before he had a chance to breathe. 

With a grunt, Terro raised both hands over his head, gritting his teeth. "Kohryu Arashi!!" He called out as he made an X shaped swipe to the ground, sharp pillars of rock shooting out and surrounding Terro. That should protect him for now...

[Yui]

---

“HORIZON SERIES: JADE NOVA!”

 

"He did it!" Asuka exclaimed. Realistically, it didn't make much sense. Akira was far stronger than Mike. But Mike, through skillful use of his Quirk and preservation, had come out on top, and would be going to the finals. It was nothing short of amazing!

 

"WOW!  Mike's pretty flashy when he wants to be huh? I gotta start making cool attack names too! Or is that just a boy thing?"

 

"I don't have any cool attack names... I don't think it's a guy thing either... I've heard my sister yell some stuff that sounded like an attack name, and I'm sure Omega Star has one too. How about we come up with some now? Man, my quirk is not very flashy, huh?"

 

"Hmm..." Come to think of it, most of the Quirks present in this carriage on the ferris wheel weren't all that flashy. Isami's least of all. Asuka could probably do some fancy stuff with her crystals if she worked at it. Ino's, meanwhile, was actually more impressive than a passing glance could imply. Out of everyone here, Ino was probably the best-suited to having attack names. Asuka thought back to the various times the three of them had fought. The flashiest thing Asuka had done was... probably during the fight with Double Dragon. When she surrounded him with crystals and attacked him from all sides at once. "Crystal Collapse?" she quietly asked herself, though still just loud enough for Ino and Isami to hear if they were paying attention. "It would probably be kind of embarrassing to say out loud though."

 

"My Quirk doesn't lend itself to attack names very well either," she concluded. Asuka looked briefly at her phone again. Mike sure did take a beating. It would probably be a good idea to check on him. Meanwhile, Terro was up to fight, against Valerie. "Khikyu and Rosenfield have a lot of attack names, don't they? Maybe we could ask them about it? And Tomoaki, and Otoma, come to think of it... we should probably skip Otoma." Gin never seemed to take losing all that well, even the first time she'd seen him lose during the chicken game on the first day of school. To give your all like with his X-Caliber attack and then still lose by knocking yourself out... he must have been super mad right now. It would probably be smart to give him some space.

---

Hadley seemed pretty shocked at Gin's answer. He'd injured himself like this because he wanted to win. It made sense for him, but it was his response to Hadley's response that really caught Sayuri's attention. "That's the whole point, you reject..."

 

Hm?

 

"Being a hero... you're gonna get yourself hurt for the people who can't save themselves. I'd rather get my arms shattered a million times before I let anyone else get hurt... and If I win in the process, that's just a bonus. This tournament... it's just all practice for that.... they're banking on us wanting to win... to go all out. Of course we're gonna hurt ourselves... we're learning our limits."

 

That's surprisingly heroic, especially coming from you! Never had Sayuri expected such a noble answer to come out of Gin's mouth in response to such an accusation. That was twice today that he'd surprised her! The more time Sayuri spent around Gin today, the more she was starting to think people might have had the wrong idea about him. He was certainly aggressive, and there was no mistaking that, but he was attentive, and surprisingly set in his idea of what being a hero meant, not to mention he clearly not afraid to live up to it. It was an answer that even elicited a small round of applause from Sayuri.

 

"What are you still doing here...? I told you all to beat it..."

 

As Mike finished up his fight in the semifinals, Sayuri looked at the screen to see the finishing trade of blows. Surprisingly, Akira had lost. Sayuri lifted her hands up to sign to Gin why she was still here... but he was looking at the TV. Not her. This was a job for her speech device, even if it was low on battery.

 

"I was really impressed with your answer, by the way, to Hadley. It actually makes me feel a bit bad for not signing up for the tournament, when you put it that way. Like everyone else in class is signing up - even Isami tried his best - and I'm just watching from the sideline. Not that I really want to be a--"

 

And then, the digital speech suddenly stopped. Sayuri shook her arm a bit, and tapped the device a bit more firmly, but no further sound was coming out. Time to resort to the whiteboard. She wrote down her closing thoughts, and also included a small doodle of Gin's ice cream.

 

Batteries died. Anyway, I'm starting to think the rest of the class has the wrong idea about you. I'm not leaving though. Not until I've gotten rid of this ice cream at least. I can't eat it, and won't waste it. Open up.

 

With that, Sayuri tried this again, scooping out a small spoonful of ice cream and holding it out in Gin's direction. With her free hand, she took another small scoop of the lemon-flavored ice cream, and ate it.

---

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Valerie loved it. She was able to go blow for blow with this guy which was much different from the previous matches. It was clear this guy was well trained. More than her, as far as that went, but due to the nature of her Quirk during combat practice she tended to focus on learning hand-to-hand combat.

 

Maybe that would have to change now that she had the fire...

 

But for now it certainly helped to keep up with the martial artist.

 

She intended to press the attack while her heat wore the young man down but...he backed off and created some kind of protective barrier. Valerie felt he probably couldn't stay there forever and, as she launched a stream of fire at it, she thought she might be able to find some way to break it down.

 

But that wasn't exciting.

 

An idea crept into her head and it caused the girl to grin wildly. This was so stupid but...she just had to try. "Hey, Terro, that's a pretty good shell you got. But ya know when it comes to nature the best predators know how to get to the soft underbelly. Check this one out!"

 

Valerie fired two streams of flames from her hands at the ground. She didn't know if it'd work but....There we go! Her body lifted off into the air from the force of the flames. She had seen these flames literally push Goto back earlier so she thought perhaps there was some kind of force to them.

 

And so she traveled up into the air. Shakily soaring up and over the defensive formation that Terro had made. She wasn't quite certain how to control it so she simply used it to vault into the air. Once she was above the man she stopped aiming at the stage and instead launched a gout of flames directly into the middle of the pillars where Terro stood.

[VCR_CAT]

Mike

 

Slowly, Mike's eyes drifted open, and blurry interior of the hospital room soon came into focus. His whole body ached, like he had just ran a marathon the day before. As he woke up, he began to remember the events of the previous match and a sharp pang of fear entered his mind as he remembered his broken ankle. Very slowly and carefully, he tentatively flexed his foot to see if it was still hurt, or if he even could, and slowly but surely he began to realize the pain was gone.

 

"You're very, very reckless, kid," Nurse Neko's voice spoke, and Mike felt a wave of guilt. "Goading a stronger opponent into attacking you like that, then putting everything you got into a counter? If this was the real deal you'd be lucky to make it!"

 

"How... bad was it?" Mike asked, scared to to think of what would have happened in a real situation.

 

"Your ankle was hardly broken. Pretty strong crack, definitely not a very small thing, but you weren't in any danger of serious damage. You were pretty beat up too, and with one more fight down the line you're sure going to feel it tomorrow. No, the real problem was your quirk." Nurse Neko walked over to Mike and handed him a chart with a lot of details regarding his physical health that he had a hard time understanding. "From what I can tell, your quirk doesn't draw any energy from anywhere, your body has to produce it. Had this been just your mother's quirk, you would only be taxed with mental exhaustion with the psychic end of things, but your father's quirk really complicates things. If you ever wanted to learn how it exactly works, you'd need to submit yourself to a lot of testing and examination, but you can kiss any hope of graduating with how long that's going to take."

 

"I'm... sorry, I don't really understand what this says," Mike said sheepishly, handing back the clipboard.

 

"It means you're taxing your body too much!" Nurse Neko said, snatching the clipboard away. "You were lucky we were on standby and that your body had nutrients to spare, but push yourself too hard and you could exhaust yourself to the point that you can't breath or your heart stops!"

 

Mike swallowed. He hadn't spent enough time mastering that last move he used, and the realization of how dangerous pushing him shake with fear.

 

Nurse Neko sighed. "Relax, I didn't mean to scare you that hard. You have a good quirk, but you need to learn more about it. If you can't figure out how to... I don't know, tap into the psychokinetic side of it better to take the edge off the physical cost, or even if you can, then you just need to understand your limits." She placed the clipboard on a desk and looked at him with a smile. "And that's what it means to be a student. You're still learning, and you're at the best school in the world for such a thing! You'll be okay, just be careful."

 

Mike took a deep breath. "You got it!" He said with a smile.

 

"Good. Now, you have some visitors." Nurse Neko opened the door to his room and stepped through, not long before the door was busted open revealing Michael's parents.

 

And his mother looked furious.

 

""Michael Kelly Rosenfeld! I did not raise you to be such a reckless, fowl-mouthed ruffian!"" His mother scolded, standing with her arms firmly crossed as her dark hair rippled around her, small objects in the room floating inches above their surfaces. ""Young man you are... lucky to be in such a position or believe you me you would be in serious trouble! I don't want to see you speaking like that towards anyone ever again, do you understand me?!""

 

""Yes mom, sorry mom,"" Mike muttered sheepishly, his face turning a bright red.

 

""Aw don't be so hard on the kid! Boys'll be boys, and y'know how they can get so competitive, eh?"" Mike's dad chimed in. ""He was just doin' his best and boy did he do a bang-up job I'll tell you! Just like his old man!""

 

""Gregory you will not encourage this behavior! I don't care how competitive the situation is, if my son is a hero then he is a role model! And I will not stand to see him be a bad one!""

 

""Son, y'know you're not like that! Us guys can let our stress get the better of ourselves! But promise us you'll do your best to be the best you can be!""

 

Mike smiled. ""I promise! I won't talk like that to anyone if I can help it!""

 

Jeannette's hair stopped floating and each object in the room that had been floating let itself down slowly. ""Good. I'm sorry to scold you like that, you gave us quite the scare.""

 

""Don't ya know it! I was grippin' the armrests of my seat so tight, and it took all I had to keep my quirk from goin' off!""

 

""Gregory...""

 

""What? It's just us in here!""

 

""What we're trying to say is, we're proud of you. That didn't look like an easy fight, and it's nice to see you're doing so well.""

 

""Sorry for scaring you,"" Mike said. ""But... thanks.""

 

""But don't relax too much yet! Y' still got another round ahead of you there, sport!""

 

""Oh! The other match!!"" Mike remembered, frantically glancing around the room to find the TV set, and relieved to find that the match had just started.

 

""Don't worry, you haven't missed much. They both look like tough customers, so make sure you're careful in the finals.""

 

""Oh yeah, but remember! Not t' say ya can't do it, but if you don't win, just remember how far y' got! That wasn't easy, and you should proud of how well you've done! You're doin' great, sport!""

 

""I'll give it my best!"" Mike said with a smile and fist-pump, but stopped himself short as his aching muscles sharply protested such a sudden move.

 

""That's the spirit! And we'll be watching you the whole way! Now you get plenty o' rest, you'll need all you can for the finals!""

 

""Be careful out there, Michael.""

 

""I will!"" Mike called out, as both of his parents slipped out of the hospital room, his father chatting boisterously the entire way. Michael's eyes drifted back to the television feed, and despite the pep-talk he could feel a lump forming in his stomach. As tough of an opponent as Akira was, Mike was afraid that the worst wasn't behind him.

[scooterulez]

"Hell's that fer? You fraid of catching somethin' from me 'yer fresh out a luck, the crazy one's in there." 

 

"What are you still doing here...? I told you all to beat it..." 

 

Aaron stood there for a second with arm extended before moving and taking off his glove and walked out the door and closed it behind him. The sound of the TV got loud in the enclosed room, must have been something amazing from Mike's match. I wonder who is going to win? Shaking it off, he turned back to Hadley walking away, "Well, no, I'm not afraid of catching a cold, but those are gauntlets are metal right? I didn't want the happenchance and shock you accidentally. I keep these on my person just in case. Anyways, how do you know Gin, or Sayuri? Your Irish accent doesn't seem like your family, as far as I know. I mean, anything is possible, but I mean you seem to be very close to one of them for one way or another."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

Ichiro quickly did his best to find out where Mike was, to congratulate him and to check up on the guy. Oddly enough, he normally wouldn't do this...sure Terro was an exception, but that was because the two seemed to hit it off really well. Mike on the other hand? This was a guy that was around his class and was a strong competitor...he just fought against in this tournament and that was it. Perhaps it was just the latest fight he watched of Mike that actually made him want to talk to the guy...who knows.

 

Finally he found his way to the room Mike resided at and knocked on the door, before opening it.

 

"Hey Mike." he said, waving with his one good hand. "How're you holding up? Really looks like Akira put you through the ringer..."

 

 

Class B Squad

 

"Hey, Terro, that's a pretty good shell you got. But ya know when it comes to nature the best predators know how to get to the soft underbelly. Check this one out!"

 

"WOOOOO!!! KICK HIS ASS, VAL!!!" Aina shouted, rooting for her classmate, as Casey was helping out...well as much as he could.

 

"Hiding in a shell? C'mon, that is totally weak sauce!!!"

 

"It's a legitimate strategy though, Casey." Shin shook his head, before grabbing his phone. "Haven't seen Erika or Goto yet...they're missing this action!" He quickly sent the two a text letting them know where they were and that Valerie was in her semi-finals fight.

 

"SHIN! CASEY!! YOU AREN'T SHOUTING AND CHEERING LOUD ENOUGH!!!" Aina shouted at the boys, cheering for Valerie even louder.

 

Here I thought Erika would have the strong lungs to shout like that...and yet Aina has proven me wrong. Shin thought, shaking his head.

[Mr. Hyde]

 

"I don't have any cool attack names..." Isami said, almost distraught. "I don't think it's a guy thing either... I've heard my sister yell some stuff that sounded like an attack name, and I'm sure Omega Star has one too." Ino perked up when he snapped his fingesr. "How about we come up with some now?  Man, my quirk is not very flashy, huh?"

 

Ino smiled and jabbed at Isami with his finger.

 

"Yeah!  And you can't even talk when you're a snake!!"  She laughed, as her feet kicked against the metal behind her heels.  She stopped suddenly, and cocked her head.  "Wait...can you talk while you're transformed?"  Maybe he didn't even try to...after all he was the ultimate lazy bones in the class.  

 

"Crystal Collapse?" Ino could hear Asuka muttering to herself. "It would probably be kind of embarrassing to say out loud though."

 

Ino nodded her head in acknowledgement.  

"Totally...it's super lame."  

 

"My Quirk doesn't lend itself to attack names very well either." After a short pause, Asuka continued.   "Khikyu and Rosenfield have a lot of attack names, don't they? Maybe we could ask them about it? And Tomoaki, and Otoma, come to think of it... we should probably skip Otoma."

 

At the name, Ino nodded her head again, but faster this time.  

 

"Definitely skip the Otoma!  He's not the guy you approach without proper equipment," Ino crossed her arms, "like ear plugs or somethin'.  Jeez."  Ino began to brainstorm names for attacks as well.  "Let's see...Vibration Station?  Shake Quake?  Magnitude 8?"  Ino frazzled her hair, before slumping back in the seat of the Ferris Wheel.  "This is a lot harder than I thought..." She said, giving a sigh of defeat.  Finally, the Ferris Wheel stopped, as they had reached the end of the ride.  They must have gone around at least 3 times.  As they stepped out, a girl in line suddenly got bright eyed.  She had green hair, horns, and a long reptilian tail that wagged uncontrollably.  On a leash, she drug a large reptile around that resembled a Komodo Dragon.  

 

"WHOA!  Is that THE Isami Koboyashi!"  The girl ran out of the waiting line, and up to the trio as they exited the gate.  "WOWEE!  I can't believe I got a chance to see you in the scales!...Flesh?!  Ohhhh I wanna see you do the thing!  Can you show me the thing?!"  Ino lurched back at the girl's excitement over Isami. 

 

"Uhm...are you a studen-"

 

"No!  I'm a fan!  I just came to cheer on the big event!"  She stuck out her hand, looking only at Isami.  "My name is Shiki!  Shiki Lu!  Nice to meet you!"  She glared at the other two girls, her cute eyes turning sharp.  "I guess it's cool that I got to meet his cheerleaders too."  From the side, her lizard companion almost sounded like it was laughing, as it's tongue flicked in and out of it's mouth.  

 

 

 

"I was really impressed with your answer, by the way, to Hadley. It actually makes me feel a bit bad for not signing up for the tournament, when you put it that way. Like everyone else in class is signing up - even Isami tried his best - and I'm just watching from the sideline. Not that I really want to be a--"

 

The speech device stopped.  It was nice that the robotic tone ceased, but she was in the middle of a sentence.  Now she probably wanted his attention.  He looked over to see the whiteboard in his face.  

 

Batteries died. Anyway, I'm starting to think the rest of the class has the wrong idea about you.

 

The one phrase in itself was enough to make his eyes dart away for a second.  

 

"Didn't I already tell you...I don't give a sheet about that kinda stuff...Now scra-"

 

I'm not leaving though. Not until I've gotten rid of this ice cream at least. I can't eat it, and won't waste it. Open up.

 

"Why you," Gin said, through his teeth.  If he wasn't certain that this girl had a wolf-mutation Quirk, he would guess that she was a freaking mule.  "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"  Gin said, shaking his head from side to side in annoyance, finally having his jaws clamp down violently on the spoon.  He then ripped his mouth away from the utensil, and let the Ice Cream melt in his mouth.  It was good...but it was no contender with Vanilla.  He turned his face back towards Sayuri, and furrowed his brow.  "So you'll leave me alone when all of that's gone..."  Gin opened up his mouth, with one eye open.  "Well c'mon then!  Hurry up!  I wanna take a nap."  

[👀 REP 👀]

 

---

 

"Yeah!  And you can't even talk when you're a snake!!"  Ino laughed before suddenly stopping, cocking her head.  "Wait... can you talk while you're transformed?"  Isami also cocked his head, before nodding his head.

"Of course!" Isami said, pointing at himself. "I can talk just as well as I can now." He thought about demonstrating it right then and there, but was distracted by Asuka, who had muttered something. Isami wasn't really paying attention, but it was apparently super lame. He didn't feel too bad about missing it.

 

As the three of them tried to come up with cool names, the ride eventually stopped. "That was a lot of fun!" Isami said as they were getting off of the ride. Before anyone else could say anything, however, a green hair girl with a pet Komodo Dragon came up to them from the line.

 

"WOWEE!  I can't believe I got a chance to see you in the scales!...Flesh?!  Ohhhh I wanna see you do the thing!  Can you show me the thing?!" The girl seemed very interested in meeting them. No, more interested in him? He blushed a bit, flattered by this as Shiki introduced herself.

"I have a fan?" Isami said, shaking the girls hand. "I didn't think I did that well..." His mind drifted off before coming back. Right, the thing. He assumed she meant his quirk. "Yeah... I can do the thing!" He said, stretching a bit and making sure he had room. Suddenly, the boy transformed into a giant snake, his scales shimmering in the sun. "I hope thisss isss the thing you were talking about!" He said, his forked tongue flickering as he spoke.

[Yui]

---

"Why you... RAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" And in the single most aggressive bite of ice cream Sayuri had ever seen, Gin chomped down on the ice cream. Which in turn prompted Sayuri to scoop out another bite for Gin. This process was rinsed and repeated a few times in silence - bar whatever sounds of rage Gin was likely to make - until the chocolate ice cream was devoured entirely. Now Gin could take that nap he wanted.

 

Good night, Sayuri signed, before getting up to her feet and picking up what still remained of her lemon ice cream in one hand, and the leftover bowl and spoon from Gin's ice cream, as well as the cardboard "tray" she'd brought them in on, in her other hand. She tucked her whiteboard under the arm with her own ice cream, and on her way out of the room, she tossed Gin's trash and the piece of cardboard in their respective cans, before leaving, and shutting the door behind her. I've never really seen anyone be able to eat ice cream and keep that sort of face, Sayuri mused to herself, as she took a small scoop of her own frozen treat. Well, he's still Gin...

 

...I forgot to tell him off for almost killing another student. Oops. There would be time to do that after the tournament, right? Even if she admired Gin's mindset of "I'll get injured so nobody else has to", that didn't change the facts. If his X-Caliber hit Terro, the boy would have most likely died. That would be murder, plain and simple. And as (almost) everybody knew, murdering people was simply not okay. For some reason, it reminded her of the chicken game from the first day of school, when he'd threatened to maim Isami.

 

...did Gin get a haircut since then? Something about him looked distinctly different compared to when Sayuri had first seen him. Sayuri shrugged the thought off, instead heading back to the stands to get a live look at the remaining semi-final fight She'd have to make sure to sit way at the back though.

---

"Definitely skip the Otoma! He's not the guy you approach without proper equipment, like ear plugs or somethin'. Jeez. Let's see...Vibration Station? Shake Quake? Magnitude 8? This is a lot harder than I thought..."

 

Ino didn't seem to have much going in the way of attack names either. "Maybe it's something we'll get better at as we get older?" Asuka suggested, though she didn't sound entirely confident in the idea herself. Attack names weren't really necessary, so hopefully everyone would be able to become perfectly competent heroes even without them. They were mostly there to be flashy, right? As the ferris wheel came to a stop, however, Isami's positive comment on it - as well as what was soon to follow - changed Asuka's focus away from something as trivial as that.

 

"WHOA! Is that THE Isami Koboyashi! WOWEE! I can't believe I got a chance to see you in the scales!...Flesh?! Ohhhh I wanna see you do the thing! Can you show me the thing?!"

 

"Uhm...are you a studen-"

 

"No! I'm a fan! I just came to cheer on the big event! My name is Shiki! Shiki Lu! Nice to meet you! I guess it's cool that I got to meet his cheerleaders too."

 

Cheerleaders? Asuka was plenty of things, but a cheerleader was not among them. Was she rooting for Isami during his fight against Akira? Maybe a little, but that didn't mean she was just blindly cheering for Isami.

 

"I have a fan? I didn't think I did that well... Yeah... I can do the thing! I hope thisss isss the thing you were talking about!"

 

And just like that, Isami had turned into a snake! It wasn't a flashy Quirk, but that didn't make it any less impressive. And he was even capable of speaking while transformed! Shiki certainly seemed pleased now that Isami had done the thing.

---

[King K. Azo]

Goutetsu watched from his seat, arms folded and sighing to himself as he watched the fight. It seemed this 'Val' would be a challenge for his grandson. She wasn't immediately life threatening like Gin, but heat exhaustion was nothing to sneeze at. In theory, Terro would be able to overwhelm her with his mastery of the earth, but that wasn't Terro's way. He would fight honorably, fist to fist. The old man closed his eyes. Perhaps teaching his grandson martial arts was a mistake. As much as it had them bond and let his teachings pass on to a new generation, he knew that those same martial arts training was getting in Terro's way, blinding him to the possibilities of his quirk. 

"You were gifted, my boy...," He muttered to himself. "Start fighting like it!"

 

---

 

"Hey, Terro, that's a pretty good shell you got. But ya know when it comes to nature the best predators know how to get to the soft underbelly. Check this one out!" Terro looked on as Val shoot at the ground and... began to fly over his defensive pillar of rock. When she reached the peak of her flight, she fired down a stream of flame aimed directly at him. 

Thinking quickly, Terro broke down some of the pillars, making them into stone gauntlets around his arms, and crossed them over his body, blocking the flames. Val fell from her jet vault, hitting the ground and rolling away. She quickly got back up, but then Terro held up a finger, the rock gauntlets crumbling. Curious, Val stopped, watching to see what Terro would do. 

 

 

Terro reached down, grabbing his belt and undoing it, letting his gi top come free. He quickly took off his top, causing Val to raise an eyebrow. He then took his undershirt, throwing both articles of clothes out of the stage. He then got back into his stance, staring down at Val, his chest bare, muscles on display for all to see. Val just whistled at the sight in front of her.

 

"Don't know what the rules say about this but if you wanna fight like that I'm not gonna stop you," Val commented as she got ready to attack once more. Terro created a new stone gauntlet, using it to block her flame punch without hurting himself. With a grin, Terro pushed back, the two getting back into position and staring each other down. This time, Terro dashed forward, throwing a punch that Val easily dodged, but the martial artist pivoted on his foot, spinning around and nailing her with an elbow to the side. 

Val took the hit, ignoring the pain and answered the elbow with a spinning kick to the face, causing Terro to stumble back. Val then went to press her advantage, but didn't expect Terro to grab her, falling to the ground and using his foot to launch her behind him. She hit the ground, rolling away before she managed to get back to her feet. She held her hands behind her and fired a blast of flame, propelling herself at Terro. With a grin, Terro lowered himself to the ground, readying a fist. 

"Shin!!" He called out as he drove his fist into Val's gut. He spun around, ready to try to drive his shoulder into her. Val, although reeling from the pain, managed to cross her arms in front of her, managing to block most of the attack, although it still drove her back into the air. Terro still spun around, making his giant rock fist to drive into her chin. "Kohry---," However, Val managed to place her hands on the fist, flipping on top of the fist and jumping down, driving her knee into his face. Terro reeled back, the rock fist collapsing.

"You'll have to do better than that!" She stated with a grin. Terro groaned and wiped his lips, looking at the blood streaked across his fist. He grinned and got back into his stance. 

"Guess now it's time to bring my A-game!"   

[~Faytl~]

Hadley watched Aaron's hand for a few more seconds, before finally uncrossing hr arms, allowing herself to breathe again. She did not take his hand to shake it, though.

 

"Well, I appreciate tha' at least. Nah, I dunno those blokes... Otama is kind of a homework assignment, ye could say. Him and a bunch a' others tha' aren't in the tournament no more." She sighed, leaning against the wall, sliding down it to sit, knees up, arms bent awkwardly to accommodate her gauntlets. They weren't shaking anymore, but Hadley was looking at them despondently nonetheless.

 

"Sayuri's alright tho, I guess... She had me come along 'fer ice cream, she's one of tha good one, I 'spose. Crazy to think Otama's anything less than some mad bastard, tho. Did you SEE his last attack?" She closed her eyes, trying to fight off the headache that was coming in the wake of her panic attack. "People like him are why I'm glad I didn't make it to the hero course. Not if I could end up like tha'."

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

This was it. She hadn't been in such an intense fight before and she could feel it.

 

And so would Terro. The dim aura of flame that had surrounded her intensified. Turning into a full blown blaze around her body. "It's all or nothing time!" She shouted out and fired two separate flames out of her arms towards Terro who was within several feet of her. The close range attack had heat far beyond the temperature she was pumping out before.

 

Terro watched in awe as the flames had finally ignited around Val into a full blown inferno. She was pumping out an intense heat, enough that it caused Terro to take a step back. As she fired off her flames, Terro threw up a rock barrier to block it. It did little to help against the heat though, and he could see the flames were beginning to melt through it.

Gritting his teeth, he stomped, trying to break the ground under Val's feet and throw her off balance.

 

Valerie felt the ground under her shatter and she stumbled and almost fell down to a knee in her surprise. One of her arms lowered and the flame struck the ground at Terro's feet instead. The other, however, stayed focus on Terro's shield. But it wasn't enough. Never enough. She had to go, go, GO!

 

With a shout Valerie pushed off the ground and charged forward. Pushing the flames forward with her. She just needed one moment. One opening. One direct shot to end this.

 

Terro grunted as he heard Val shout. He had to make sure she didn't find an opening in his defense while finding it in hers. He willed the earth under him to move, causing it to shoot up and launch him into the air, soaring over Val's head, and causing him to land behind her, tumbling on the ground as he landed. He had to get out of that corner.

With a grunt, he tore multiple rocks out of the ground, launching them all at Val, although a good portion of them actually went around her and didn't even seem to be aimed at her.

 

The girl began to turn. The flames seemed to almost push against her as she turned so she forced them to die down as she moved to face Terro.

She crouched to dodge the rocks but hesitated. They weren't all angled to hit her. She knew something was up but she still had to stop the ones that were heading her way. So she put both her hands up, together, and fired off one more column of flames down the center towards Terro. Intending to both clear the rocks heading towards her and strike him in the process.

[VCR_CAT]

Mike

 

"Hey Mike." Ichiro had cracked the door open, quietly, and just enough for him to step in and waved as Mike looked away from the TV screen. "How're you holding up? Really looks like Akira put you through the ringer..."

 

"Oh! I'm doing okay I guess. I'm still pretty sore and everything feels really stiff, but I think I'll be okay for the finals," Mike replied with a smile, somewhat surprised someone besides his parents was visiting. "Pretty nervous for the next match, though. Akira was tough, but I only took advantage of a weakness. I can't really see anything like that with these two." Mike had done his best to pay attention to Terro and Val's quirks and moves, but all he could tell that Terro seemed to be holding back somewhat, and that Valyrie was still very much focused on the close range. "I think I can move too fast for Valyrie, but Terro's got me scared. I can't really see any downsides to his quirk, plus he actually knows how to fight."

 

In all truth, Mike had trouble enjoying the match, and realized that looking at the contest from the perspective of simply an observer rather a competitor must be a very much different and more fun experience. "Anyways, sorry! Not really a fun convo to start up on, I just didn't really think I would make it this far, especially with someone like Akira as an opponent."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

 

 

"Oh! I'm doing okay I guess. I'm still pretty sore and everything feels really stiff, but I think I'll be okay for the finals. Pretty nervous for the next match, though. Akira was tough, but I only took advantage of a weakness. I can't really see anything like that with these two. I think I can move too fast for Valerie, but Terro's got me scared. I can't really see any downsides to his Quirk, plus he actually knows how to fight."

 

Ichiro nodded as Mike spoke. He could understand the reasoning for Terro making him scared, then again, from what he caught in glancing over from the TV in the room, it was seeming like Terro was just playing around rather than actually doing something. But eh, to each their own. As for Valerie, it's obvious why...the girl was as fiery and competitive as her Quirk.

 

"Anyways, sorry! Not really a fun convo to start up on, I just didn't really think I would make it this far, especially with someone like Akira as an opponent."

 

"It's fine." Ichiro chuckled lightly, shrugging some. "It's just conversation in general, so it's fine. Oh, speaking of Terro, he and I watched the match and he wanted me to let you know that he thought you did amazing out there against Akira. And to be honest, he is right. I mean, after you took me out, I kinda expected you'd do well in the tournament...but to knock out Akira? That...that's actually amazing!"

 

He chuckled again, before glancing over at the TV and watching the match between Valerie and Terro continue on, and it seemed like Terro finally got serious and started bringing his A-Game...least from what it was said from the guy. Still, it looks like they were both evenly matched...and Mike had a point, either way...one of those two would be fighting against him in the finals.

 

"Truth be told, while I don't know Valerie at all, I think it would be pretty cool if the finalists were from Class 1-A." he smiled, before looking back at Mike. "Oh...before I forget...Mike...is there a possibility, I could get a rematch with you sometime?" Ichiro looked at his working arm and clenched his fists. "I wanna try and beat you next time."

 

 

Class B Squad

 

These people are still cheering for Valerie...nothing more to report on this front.

[Mr. Hyde]

 

Good night

 

That was the last thing he saw Sayuri sign, before he turned over in his bed. 

 

Good night

 

When was the last time he heard that?  

 

Good night

 

He repeated the phrase in his own mind for quite some time.

 

Good night

 

"I wonder what she sounds like..."  Gin muttered incoherently, before dozing off.

 

 

 

"I have a fan? I didn't think I did that well... Yeah... I can do the thing! I hope thisss isss the thing you were talking about!"

 

Shiki looked on, transfixed on the process as he turned into his reptilian shape.  She jumped up and down, making some sort of strange squealing noise to show her amusement.  Her tail swayed from side to side as well, reminiscent to what Sayuri did.  

 

"AH!  WOWEE!  YOU'RE AMAZING KOBOYASHI!  CAN I CALL YOU ISAMI INSTEAD?!"  The girl continued to jump up and down.  The display was quite amusing, so Ino decided to laugh.  The noise prompted Shiki to switch from glee to gaudy.  She stared at Ino, raising an eyebrow.  "Oh...so you think you can just laugh at me?  It's not everyday one gets to meet their heroes."  The girl crossed her arms, and stuck her nose up at the two girls.  "Well...I guess it's a common occurrence for you Hero Coursers, am I right?  You get to meet those guys on the daily!  You're all pieces of work."  Shiki then shot up to Isami's side, hugging him around his tubular body.  "Except Isami!  He's one of the coolest, even if he is a Hero Course student!  Ain't that right, Rex?"  She turned to her pet, who in turn nodded his head. 

 

"Oh..so you can talk to reptiles?  And they can talk to you?"  Ino reluctantly asked.  She was now getting used to the death glare that she received every time she tried to interact with this girl.

 

"Yeah!  It ain't really useful for a hero type, so I work with my parents instead!  Exotic Pet Shop!"  The girl replied.  "That's how I got Rex!"  Shiki then stuck out her tongue.  "I bet if Isami had faced either of you in the tourney, he'd win in a flash!  Right, Isami!?"  

[King K. Azo]

Terro gritted his teeth as he saw the pillar of flame roaring and flying at him. He willed a pillar of his own to rise up and block the attack. The defensive rock formation came up barely in time, the flames hitting it and splitting, two large shots of fire soaring past Terro. He could feel their searing heat, which just caused him to grit his teeth more. When the attack died down, he could see the top half of his pillar had melted away, something like magma leaking to the floor.

 

"This isn't good...," he thought as his breathing was getting heavy. He wasn't going to be able to stand this heat for long. Slowly, he cupped his hands by his side, the remainder of the pillar breaking apart and gathering between his hands. With a yell, he thrusted his hands forwards, firing a large compressed ball of stone at Val.

 

Valerie couldn't help but be impressed by her own flames. They seemed even hotter than before. So did that mean that her flames, too, could increase in temperature as she went on? Though it also seemed that this heat was taking its toll on her body. She could feel herself growing colder and this time her suit wouldn't be able to help her. She already felt parts of it melting, unable to withstand the fire due to being made to handle high temperature alone.

 

Which just meant she had to end this fast.

 

As Terro sent the ball forward, reminding Valerie of an old show she used to watch, she dove to the ground and lay flat as she could on the ground so that the ball would soar overhead. From her lower position she fired off another wave of flame from both hands.

 

Terro's breathing was getting heavier as he watched Val dodge under his attack. He could see her moving to counter, see her fire off flames, but his body felt heavy. His muscles were rebelling, acting like stones weighing him down as his mind screamed he had to dodge. The toll bending the Earth and the heat were taking on him finally made itself known. It took a great deal of effort, but he managed to jump out and out of the way... only for his legs to give out from under him as he landed, the martial artist falling to the ground. 

 

It was too early. He didn't want to resort to this, but if he didn't distract Val, then she would get him while he was down. He made a fist, and his plan went into action. Every rock he had thrown at Val, every one that had missed had been floating behind her. Normally, Terro would make more of an effort to hide them, but he knew Val would be completely focused on him... and he was willing to use that to his advantage. 

 

The rocks began to spin around, surrounding Val in a barrier of stones. For a few seconds they kept spinning, faster and faster, until they froze in midair, completely surrounding Val. Terro grinned a little as he closed his other fist, the rocks responding by all rushing in on Val.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Akira sat on a hospital bed, slumped up against the wall. He had managed to walk here from the arena floor, and a few quick injections from Nurse Neko took care of his minor injuries. Apparently, he had cracked a few ribs when he was hit by that last attack, but he didn't get any serious damage. According to the nurse, he was in better shape after his fight than just about any of the others had been. But he lost anyway.

Reaching over, he grabbed his shirt, a simple white v-neck, and pulled it over his head, covering what remained of the bruise on his chest. He doubted anyone would be interested in visiting him, but the thought of the possibility made his stomach churn. Rising to his feet, he slipped out of the small room. He glanced at his phone, noticing the battle underway between students from the two different classes. For two people so obnoxiously motivated, they both seemed to be holding back. Or maybe they were each just weaker than they seemed. Shrugging, he dropped his phone back into his pocket, making his way through the corridors to reach the stadium gift shop. He kept his eyes focused on the ground to avoid any unneeded attention, but even so, he heard whispers the entire way.

“How could someone so strong lose like that?”

“Did he throw the match because he was afraid of the finals?”

“You'd think with that kind of quirk he would know how to block.”

“No amount of power could stop those two from losing to stupid mistakes.”

“If I had a quirk like that, I'd do so much more.”

“What a waste.”

The words echoed around him, but he did everything he could to stop them from piercing past the surface. None of them understood the burden of power. He felt his jaw clench in anger, as his hands repeatedly balled into fists, knuckles cracking as he forced them to stretch back open. Just before he thought he would whip around explain to them all how wrong they were, he had arrived at the gift shop. Probably for the better.

He made a beeline to the sunglasses racks, only to find that they were inexplicably out of the generic style he preferred. Glancing through the windows of the gift shop, he saw various people wearing the sunglasses and black hoodies, apparently trying to emulate his appearance. They are fans of the wrong guy. After short deliberation, he grabbed a somewhat goofy pair, with thick white oval-shaped frames, tilted inward. On his way to the counter, he picked up a simple hoodie, with UA’s logo on the back. These items were far from his personal sense of fashion, but they would have to make due.

The cashier rung him up, and just as he was about to pay, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Akira ignored it. A few seconds later, the attempt to gain his attention was repeated. Concluding that this person wouldn't leaving him alone no matter how much he ignored them, Akira looked back over his shoulder, refusing to move his feet toward the bother. In front of him, or, more accurately, behind him, stood what seemed to be a man in his thirties. He was a bit overweight, and wore the all-too-popular “Akira ensemble”.

“Procyon! That fight was amazing! And the fact that you let the other guy win so that he could move forward was so noble!” The man's delusion was almost enough to make Akira sick on the spot. “And that wing! What an awesome special attack! How did you even do that?” This question was one Akira himself didn't know the answer to, but luckily the man didn't seem to expect and answer, instead continuing on, “oh, and I came up with a new title for you! You should be the Shining Star Hero!”

Akira waited for a few moments to make sure the man was finished speaking. He quietly paid for his purchase, and slipped the hoodie on before responding. “If you wanted to dress up like one of the students, you'd be better off wrapping your arms in bandages. It seems to be a popular trend. As for the name suggestion…” Akira lifted the sunglasses up to his face, covering his glowing eyes for the first time since his fight. He walked out of the gift shop, addressing the man as he walked past him, “That's just not my style.”