Chapter 18 - Crossed the Line

A half hour break was scheduled for the remaining contenders to get food, rest, and strategize. Bakugou would face off against Todoroki and you were to battle Izuku. This is what you had feared last night as you pondered sleeplessly over different Festival day scenarios. You would be face to face with the strongest fighters in your class.

Your friends had offered to sit with you, bring you food, tell you jokes, anything to distract you but you had simply smiled and sent them away. You didn't want to be distracted. You wanted to focus. You had to focus.

Izuku was one of the smartest people you knew, not only in class but in battle. He could read a person's moves and anticipate their intent. And you knew he'd been studying you and your techniques since the moment you arrived on campus. He had thankfully not been privy to your trainings with Aizawa and that's what you would have to use against him. There was no way to combat those punches and kicks. Hell, he could blow back half the stadium with a snap of his fingers.

To make matters worse, you wouldn't be able to watch Bakugou and Todoroki's match. If by some miracle you did win against Izuku you'd have to go in blind. You noticed a white board near the far wall. Pulling it out you began writing strengths, weaknesses, combination moves, anything you could think of to take down that sweet green-haired boy.

***

Bakugou stood on the stage watching Todoroki enter from the opposite tunnel. He cracked his neck, side to side, and then rolled his shoulders, standing up even taller as he finished. "If you plan on bitching out again, we might as well just name me winner and go home," Bakugou mocked.

"I thought you would have figured out by now that it's going to be a very different fight this time around," Todoroki's tone was strong, ready.

Bakugou's eyes narrowed, but he continued to smirk all the same. "Then I can't wait to wipe the floor with you, you half-and-half bastard." Bakugou stepped into a fighting stance.

"THIS IS THE SEMI-FINALS!" Present Mic's voice echoed so loud you could hear it in your waiting room. "THE MATCH-UP FROM LAST YEAR'S FINALE IS A SEMI TODAY! WILL BAKUGOU KATSUKI, THE BARON OF BOMBS MOVE ON? OR WILL IT BE THE FUEHRER OF FREEZERBURN, TODOROKI SHOUTO?!"

Mic's getting creative with his names again.

"I think my title might be higher than yours," Todoroki goaded, finding his own footing.

"Oh, fuck off Fuehrer."

"START!"

A wave of ice set off from Todoroki as Bakugou released one of his signature armor-piercing shots, a concentrated blast powerful enough to pierce solid concrete. The collision of the blast with the ice formed a shower of scattered crystal shards in the air between the two boys.

Before the ice could even touch the ground, Bakugou was running full speed toward Todoroki. Within three meters Todoroki ignited his left side and sent a stream of fire toward Bakugou. Bakugou jumped before impact, propelling himself up and over Todoroki. He fired a torrent of explosions down on the half-and-half boy.

Once the dust cleared a dome of ice could be seen over Todoroki's form. Before Bakugou could move Todoroki shot an ice wall through the dome and into the sky. Bakugou felt the ice as it tore into his side and thigh. He beat back the never-ending ice with countless blasts, chipping away so as not to be pushed out of bounds.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU THINK THAT'S ENOUGH TO GET RID OF ME?!" He sent another AP shot through the wall. The next moment he created two explosions in his hands, spinning himself in midair. Gathering up momentum, he spun faster and faster until finally unleashing a tornado of fire, ash and ice at Todoroki.

Using both sides of his body at the same time, Todoroki tried to fight the impact of the vicious attack. It was the same one that had taken him out the year before. He couldn't let it again. He built up an ice wall behind him to act as a barrier and sent an inferno in front to spread the impact of the vortex. The tornado hit. Todoroki could feel the shards of ice ripping into his arms as the fire charred his uniform.

From the swirling den of ash and smoke Bakugou leapt before him. He grabbed Todoroki's collar and sent an explosion to the ground, flying both boys up into the air. Todoroki touched at Bakugou's arm, sending a sheet of ice up to his shoulder. Bakugou cursed and fired an explosion with his free hand, causing both him and Todoroki to spin. Ruthlessly, Bakugou pelted Todoroki to the ice-covered ground with the aid of yet another blast. The ground cracked.

Only a meter from the edge of the ring, Todoroki lay stunned and dazed on his back for a moment. He didn't have that moment to give. For as he coughed out a breath, Bakugou sent a heel into the boy's stomach, reached down, grabbed his ankles and blasted him out-of-bounds like a rag doll.

The stadium erupted into applause. Bakugou stood, staring at the massive screen on the stadium wall with his name pulsating in different colors. He could hear people chanting his name.

"This is what it was supposed to feel like last year," he whispered to himself. He looked over to Todoroki who was being hoisted onto a med-bot gurney. The boys locked eyes. Bakugou nodded. Todoroki nodded back.

***

He did it. Your hands and arms were black as you paced the waiting room. Hearing Bakugou's name called out as the winner had filled you with a heightened sense of purpose and drive. "I said I'd see him in the finals," you mumbled.

An event coordinator knocked on your door, signaling it was time to go. You made your way to the all too familiar tunnel. What had Todoroki said earlier that day?

"A plan is all you need. Don't worry about the rankings. Don't worry about the other students. Just execute your plan."

You just had to execute your plan. It didn't matter how strong or fast Izuku was. You had a plan.

"FOR OUR SECOND SEMI-FINALS MATCH, WHO WILL BE GOING UP AGAINST BAKUGOU KATSUKI?" WILL IT BE OUR VERY OWN HULK, MIDORIYA IZUKU? OR [L/N] [F/N] THE SORCERESS OF SMOKE?!" You didn't even hear the nicknames this time. You focused only on the green-haired boy in front of you. "LET OUR SECOND SEMI-FINALS MATCH BEGIN!"

You held your ground. Izuku had expected your ropes to shoot out at him the second the bell rang but you held back. Make him make the first move. A small crinkle formed between his eyes. He was puzzled. He was annoyed he hadn't read you.

He pulled back his arm. "SMASH!" he shouted as a burst of air whipped toward your side of the stadium. But you weren't there. You were six meters in the air, poised atop your tendril stilts. You took two steps - please let this work - before kicking out with your elongated leg, hitting Izuku in the chest.

He stumbled back, more in surprise than injury and looked up at you. "How did you...?"

You deflated quickly, dropping to the ground, retaining only the cushion of smoke beneath your feet. You both ran at each other. As he jumped in the air, sending a roundhouse kick toward your temple, you ducked and rammed your shoulder directly into his stomach, getting more momentum from the tendrils in your soles. Once again, he was pushed back. Inch by inch he was moving closer to his side of the arena. 

He regained his footing and tried to push you off with a burst of air. Expecting you'd try to jump skyward again, he aimed his blast at an angle. Who do you think you're fighting here? You dropped to the ground, feeling only your braid strain from the pull of the gust. You pushed off the ground and once again dove for his middle. Placing your hands out in front of you, you pushed a double concentrated column into his stomach, sending him reeling back several meters. Your eyes flashed to the white line surrounding the arena. So close.

Crack! Your head snapped up as a knee connected with your chin. You saw stars.

God dammit. I look away for one second...

You released a sudden smokescreen, hoping this would give you a second to catch your bearings. You saw a flash of green from the corner of your right eye. He was so fast. He was trying to get behind you.

Within a flash the smokescreen was gone, you spun, and a pillar of ash was rushing down the boy's throat. Izuku looked at you with pleading eyes for a single moment before you shoved your boot into his chest, pulling all the suffocating smoke from his lungs and out the sole of your shoe. You felt something like your own tendrils creep up your arms, pulling you forward. Izuku had released his own capture quirk, Blackwhip, but it didn't matter. Realization reached the boy's eyes. Izuku had crossed the line.