Chapter Thirty-Two: Head Case
"Huh? What do you mean? He can't do anything on his own?"
"Does that mean he's Quirkless?"
"No, he's even worse than Quirkless! He's a parasite!"
"Ew, you mean like a leech or something?"
"At least all a leech does is take a little blood; he takes the thing that makes you special! He's a million times worse!"
"Is that gonna be your Villain name? 'Leech?' It fits someone like you."
Memory lane, memory lane. Equal parts triumph and shame.
At least for some people.
Neito Monoma was not one of those people. Honestly, most of his triumphs had happened in the most recent year of his life.
He had always been a smart boy. He had learned very quickly that words alone wouldn't be enough to change anyone's mind about him. After all, they would always have that damned refrain to fall back on:
"Prove it."
"I…I can't…"
"See? I told you he was a liar. He's the scheming type. You can't ever trust what they say because they're always looking for a chance to take advantage of you."
He couldn't even offer a good-faith handshake because the other kids would think he was trying to steal their Quirks.
Even though he had explained numerous times that all Copy did was…copy.
"He probably gave it that name on purpose to make it seem less threatening."
Yeah. He had given it that name on purpose. Because that was what it freaking did!
It hadn't taken him long to figure out what the problem was.
Oh. I get it. People are just dumb. The lion's share of people living in this world couldn't tell their ass from a hole in the ground if you gave them a side-by-side comparison.
Ass. Hole. See the difference, asshole?
But they wouldn't see it. Not unless he gave them proof that was so in-your-face that only the most delusional minds would be able to deny it.
So, he would become a Hero. He would overcome Villains on an even playing field by using their own Quirks against them while he outfoxed them with his keen intellect.
Today was going to serve as his proving grounds. He couldn't have asked for a better opponent to kick things off against than the golden boy of USJ. The one whose image was seared into the public eye as a faceless back who spewed flames in order to protect his classmates.
Neito had attempted to gather a bit of info when he had visited 1-A before, but the boy wasn't there at the time because of course he wasn't. Neito had had to settle for feeling out the rest of the competition and while this hadn't resulted in the information that he had wanted, he had managed to glean a few useful tidbits of information.
For instance, that the first-year representative had apparently known him for a long time and was very close with him. One didn't react in such a violent manner over someone that they had known for less than a month or two.
His temper had forced others to act and Neito had gotten a good feel for the overall class dynamic of 1-A. These observations had been further refined when he had hung back a bit during the first round on purpose to get a better feel for everyone's abilities.
That was how he knew that they weren't completely united. USJ had shown them at their absolute best in that they were all working together against a common threat, but that unity did not extend outside of crisis situations. They had close-knit individual groups that were almost guaranteed to team up if given the chance, which was now Neito had been able to predict fairly accurately not only who would be on certain teams, but how those individuals would behave.
This was how he had known to send Tetsutetsu after Team Bakugo's flag when he had seen both Bakugo and Kirishima exit the base, predicting that Ashido would be the one left behind. This was also how he had known that Kaminari and Jiro would likely team up and go straight for the nearest base, which just so happened to be his.
Neito had come up with a plan at once: Jiro would use her Quirk to scout out the base and then Kaminari would come charging in, all sparks and bluster. Neito had, therefore, copied Fukidashi's Quirk before sending him on his way with Tetsutetsu.
This had been another point in favor of Neito having done his research. Copy could only copy Emitter or Transformation-type Quirks, with Mutant-types being inaccessible due to the requisite body-restructuring. At first glance, one might have imagined that the boy with a speech bubble for a head was the holder of a Mutant-type Quirk, but Fukidashi's Quirk, Comic, was actually an Emitter-type. When Neito had asked why his head was a speech bubble he had simply shrugged and said something about "wacky genes."
Comic worked in an interesting way: The user would utter some manner of onomatopoeia, at which point the word would physically appear and cause whatever effect was suggested by it. "Boing" would create a word with a bouncy surface, "boom" would create a word that exploded, it was really all down to the user's imagination. Neito had gone with a relatively straightforward approach.
Namely, "screech."
It had proven…somewhat more effective than Neito had intended, if he was being honest. He had meant for it to act as the "bang" part of a flashbang and temporarily stun Jiro and, if he was lucky, Kaminari too. While it had certainly accomplished his goal, it had done so in a rather brutal manner.
Neito was many things, but he did not consider brutal to be one of them. When he had been told by Shinso what had happened…he had been unnerved.
That was why he was currently sitting by himself, elbows propped on the table with his chin resting on his thumbs, just taking a moment to process and tweak his plans.
"Neito? You're trouble."
Neito was taken out of his reverie by a girl with wavy blonde hair, large teal eyes, horse hooves for feet, a small horse's tail and, most notably, a pair of large, lyre-shaped horns protruding from her head that added a good foot and a half to her height.
This was his classmate, Pony Tsunotori. She was an exchange student from America who had enrolled in U.A. after her Japanese father had given her the idea. She wasn't terrible with the language, but it was obvious that she was still getting used to it. Neito occasionally had a bit of fun with her by teaching her new phrases and only sort ofexplaining what they meant.
He just wasn't in the mood for that at the moment.
"Pony, you mean 'troubled,' not 'trouble.'"
That was another thing, due to her being born and raised in America, Pony was more comfortable using people's first names and insisted that they do the same with her. Neito honestly didn't care and neither did most of their classmates. Some, such as Shiozaki, actively encouraged her to do so with her classmates if it helped her to feel more at home.
Pony tilted her head, considering what he had told her, before smiling.
"You're both."
"Hah! She told you, man!" the new voice turned out to be another of Neito's classmates, Kosei Tsuburaba. The boy was the same height as Neito at five-seven and looked downright ordinary next to Pony with his short brown hair and ovular, slightly toad-like eyes.
"I guess I can't deny that." Neito deadpanned.
"Seriously though, you look like crap. Spill."
"Kosei, that's gross. Why would he spill crap?" Pony frowned at Tsuburaba, turning her slightly muzzle-shaped face towards him.
"He wouldn't, it's…uh…Monoma, help me!"
"You dug your own grave on this one, Tsuburaba. You know better than to use figures of speech around her."
"Oh no! Kosei's dying?!"
"Try taking your own advice, copycat!"
"That was on purpose. Go blow your hot air somewhere else."
"So, Kosei's not dying?"
"No, Pony, he isn't. That was a figure of speech. That's…ech, have Honenuki explain it to you later."
Honenuki, along with being a recommended student and all-around ace, was bilingual and so had the easiest time communicating with Pony. Go figure.
"Okay." she nodded before placing her hands on her hips and leaning down over Neito, giving him a stern look, "Now talk. You're trouble."
"'Troubled,' Pony."
"You're both. Talk."
She really wasn't going to let this go. Neito sighed and gave in.
"I think I went too far during the second round."
"Too far? You stayed in your base, didn't you?" Tsuburaba started snickering again.
"That's not what I mean. I hurt someone when I didn't mean to. At least, not that badly."
"Oh, that girl with the ear thingies."
"Yeah, her."
"So apologize. Just tell her 'I'm sorry,' and everything will be better, right? Everyone's always understanding when I apologize here."
"You're…a special case."
"A 'special case?'" she puffed out her cheeks at him, "Is that anything like a 'head case?'"
Oh, so now teaching her that phrase was coming back to haunt him?
"No, it's not. A 'head case' is someone who's crazy. Like Tsuburaba over there."
"Kosei's a head case?"
"Yeah, look at him, laughing like a crazy person." Tsuburaba was indeed doing his best not to double over in laughter at this point.
"Don't be mean to crazy people, Neito. That's what Mommy always told me, but it's hard to tell who's crazy, so I just decided to be nice to everyone."
"Yeah, that sounds like you."
"Of course it does. I said it. Are you a head case too, Neito?"
Neito couldn't help himself. He chuckled at that.
"Sure, let's go with that."
"Go? Okay! Go where? You want to play some games? They have those outside right now."
"Sure. Why not?"
He wasn't going to get much thinking done with the situation as it was now anyway, so he may as well try to enjoy himself.
Plus, if he didn't, then Pony might start yelling at him in English again and, cute though she may be, there are few things scarier than having a girl shout at you in a language you don't entirely understand.
Neito vowed to pay closer attention in Present Mic's classes after the first time that happened. His English grades had never been better.
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Izuku Midoriya was taking a moment to process what his best friend had just told him. The reason being, apart from the fact that he always made it a point to take what his friends told him seriously, that he was very possibly screwed.
Kacchan was initially reluctant to discuss the events that had lead to him more or less disappearing for the last several minutes of the second event, but when he had realized who Izuku's opponent was for the first round of the tournament, his attitude had changed completely.
Apparently, after he had dropped off Team Awase's flag, Kacchan had tailed Tetsutetsu until he discovered that he was a part of Team Monoma and then launched an attack on said team's base.
"I remembered who that guy was then and let's just say I was going to enjoy taking our flag back from him of all people. Just like before, he couldn't resist shooting his mouth off, so I told him to fuck off and then…it was really fucked up. It was like I couldn't move or speak, but when he gave a command, I had to obey him. He just made me sit in the corner until the event was over and then I could act normally again. He was really proud of himself too; I remember him giving that purple-haired kid a high-five after he got back from wherever the fuck he was."
So apparently Izuku's opponent in the first round could control people.
Great. Fantastic. As if he didn't have enough to worry about with everyone else who was on his side of the bracket. It featured such heavy-hitters as Yaoyorozu, Iida, Ojiro, Todoroki and, oh yeah, Kacchan.
Good times abound. Fun for all ages. Bring the kids.
"This…could be bad." was the statement that Izuku eventually went with. Understatement of the year? Possibly, but it was the best he could do right then.
"At least we know what his Quirk is." Kacchan shrugged, "If it wasn't for this, then it would've been a toss-up between mind control or whatever made that noise that hurt Earphones and the President."
"Yeah, I was thinking that too!" Ochako chimed in, "But then the indigo-haired boy…Shinso-san? He came out and he looked really shocked by what had happened. He felt bad enough that he even helped Kaminari-san and Jiro-san get back to their base after they captured his flag. It must have been him then, right?"
So, if they assumed that the noise Quirk belonged to Shinso, then that provided supporting evidence that the mind control Quirk really did belong to Monoma and wasn't just part of some team attack. That made sense. Izuku could buy that.
"And from what you said, Kacchan, the mind control only took hold once you responded to him. Granted, we can't make any real assumptions based on that, but a Quirk as powerful as that would have to have some sort of condition for activation, right? Maybe that's what it is?"
"Either that or he's got a real fondness for theatrics." Kirishima pondered before Ashido came running up to them with a large index card clutched in one hand. Apparently, she was taking part in the scavenger hunt.
"Kiri! Kiri! Are you busy?"
"Not really, just talking strategy with the gang. Of course, my match is gonna be a straightforward manly brawl!"
"Great! I'mma steal you then, okay?" by the time she had finished speaking, she had already seized him by the wrist and started dragging him away.
"Well, there he goes…" Izuku trailed off before remembering what they were supposed to be doing, "Right! Speaking of strategy, do you all know what you're going to do?"
"Duh." Kacchan rolled his eyes, "I'll blow her away before she gets the chance to make anything fancy. If I can force a close-range fight, then she won't stand a chance."
"I would recommend caution." Shoji opined, "After all, if you factor in pure combat ability, she stands in the same tier as you, Bakugo-san."
"She's a technical type. Redirection, counterattacks, joint locks and shit." Kacchan gave a dismissive wave of his hand, "In a straight fistfight she might be trouble, but if she tries anything all I have to do is fire off an explosion."
"I still think you shouldn't underestimate Yaoyorozu-san, Kacchan."
"Noted. Now let's get on with this damn strategy meeting."
"Very well." Shoji took the reins, "My plan for Ashido-san is no more complex than yours, Bakugo-san: I am at a disadvantage in terms of range, so I intend to close the gap and impose my will. Ideally, I can get her into a corner where she will have few escape options."
Izuku could see one very large problem with his large friend's plan.
"But, won't you be taking hits from her acid? What are you going to do about that?"
"I will figure something out, Midoriya-san. Do not worry about me."
"If you say so." Izuku reluctantly agreed, "That just leaves Uraraka-san and Iida-san. Say, where is Iida-san anyway?"
"Hey, yeah. I thought it seemed unusually quiet." Kacchan said, apparently not having realized that he was gone until then.
"I am sure that he is fine. Perhaps he is taking part in the festivities?" Shoji suggested.
"Maybe." Ochako shrugged, "Anyway, my opponent is Tokoyami-san. I…honestly don't know what I'm going to do. I mean, obviously I want to hit him with Zero Gravity. If I do that then he'll have no real choice but to surrender, but the problem is…"
"Dark Shadow." Shoji nodded.
"Yeah." she agreed, "Dark Shadow is just so fast and powerful, not to mention that he can operate at short, medium and long-range! It's almost unfair!"
"Yeah…almost…" Izuku was running some mental simulations of how their match might play out," Uraraka-san, I think I might have an idea, if you'd like my help. It's not much, but I think that it could be enough to give you a fighting chance."
"I…well…" she seemed reluctant, which caused more than a few alarm bells to go off in Izuku's head, "I'm not sure if it'd be right for me to do that. I mean, I've pretty much just been coasting along on your plans this whole time, Deku-kun. If I'm being honest, I know how Tooru-chan felt when she pulled out of the tournament. I'm just not selfless enough to do something like that." she rubbed the back of her neck and gave a guilty smile, "Considering that, I guess I don't feel like I deserve the help."
"Come the fuck on, Uraraka; you're being a complete-"
"That's ridiculous, Uraraka-san." Izuku cut Kacchan off mid-sentence, "You think you've been relying on me? Maybe so, but I've been relying on you just as much! Do you think my plan in the obstacle race would have had any chance of working without you? What about those narrow escapes we had during the second event?" he put his hands on her shoulders and stared directly into her eyes, frowning slightly, "My strength lies in my tactical abilities. That's where it's always been and, odds are, that's where it'll always be. Planning and strategizing in order to help my friends is what I do. It's what I'm for! Whatever I've done for you…you've done a lot more for me, so don't you think for a second that you don't deserve my help! That is…if you want it." he trailed off, suddenly feeling a bit sheepish at what he was unintentionally implying.
"I could not have said it better myself, Midoriya-san." Shoji said with what Izuku was fairly certain was a knowing smile underneath his mask.
"Tch." Kacchan gave a sort of half-grimace that looked rather uncomfortable, "It's not like you to get so handsy, Deku. You must be feeling pretty fired up about this."
Crap, that was a bit out of character for me, wasn't it?
Not with your girlfriend.
He doesn't know that!
Then play it cool.
"Well, it's just, before the second round, I said something dumb and you guys didn't waste any time setting me straight. I guess…it only felt right to return the favor?"
"I guess."
"Well, then I guess you should tell me what you've got planned, Deku-kun." Uraraka suggested.
"Right! Well, like I said, it's not much, but-"
"Oh, not here. I'd like you to tell me in private, if that's alright? I feel like it'd be more fun if this was a surprise for everyone! Imagine if I actually managed to win, right?"
"Oh, um, sure?" he honestly didn't know how to respond to that.
"Whatever. Get going and make sure to blow us all away with this genius plan of yours." Kacchan waved them away.
Izuku followed Ochako as she led him deeper into the building. Izuku vaguely recognized it as being a side-entrance similar to the one Todoroki had dragged him to earlier. And wasn't that a whole new can of worms.
"Uraraka-san, where are we going?"
"Here works." she directed him to a spot several feet away from a corner, just out of view of the side entrance.
"Okay, so-mmmph?!" Izuku was cut off as his girlfriend abruptly seized his head in both hands and dragged him into a short, but passionate, kiss, "I, -y-you, this isn't the p-place for something like this, Uraraka-san!" Izuku stammered.
"Do you see anyone else around, Deku-kun?"
To her credit, Izuku did not.
"T-that still doesn't explain why – not that I d-didn't like – but that's not the point!"
"I blame you." she poked him in the chest to punctuate her statement, "Why do you have to say things like that all the time?! It's not fair! How am I supposed to respond to something like that and still keep everything a secret?"
"I'm…sorry?"
"What you are is a jerk. The nicest, most wonderful jerk that I know. And after it was your idea to keep things low-key too!"
"You're right. I had a lapse in judgement. I just couldn't let you talk about yourself like that!"
"See? I can't even be mad at you about it." she gave him a glare that didn't match the small smile on her face, "Now, what was your idea for how to win against Tokoyami-san?"
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"Mina, where are you taking me?"
"Over there! I'm doing the scavenger hunt and I'm pretty sure you qualify as my item."
"Item? What does your card say, anyway?"
"'Testosterone.'"
"Well, if all you needed was to find someone manly, then you picked right!"
"I knew you'd agree, Ei." Eijiro could practically hear her rolling her eyes as she pulled him along.
"So, this tournament, right? You feeling pumped?"
"Well…fifty-fifty. A small part of me was hoping that we could meet up in the finals, but now that's impossible."
"Yeah, I get what you mean. Well, we'll just have to meet up in the semifinals then! Look at the bright side, if we do that then we'll both be in the top four! Whoever wins has a shot at the top spot that way. That's still cool, yeah?" she spent a few moments in silence, thinking about what he had said.
"Yeah!" she decided, "You're right, Ei. We should focus on making the best of it! Top four is still pretty awesome, even if top two would have been better."
"Now you're talking! Let's start things off right by winning our first matches!" he pulled on her arm, making her turn around before grasping her hand in his and shaking it, "It's a promise! Manliness on full display!"
"You're really not giving me much choice here, are you?" she gave him a wry smile before flicking his forehead with her free hand, "Fine, it's a promise."
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The remainder of the recreational period passed in what seemed like no time at all. Izuku chalked the majority of this up to the fact that he spent nearly the entire time strategizing (after all, time flies when you're having fun) and the rest up to him being otherwise mentally occupied.
She's got a bit of a "bad girl" streak to her, doesn't she?
What are you talking about?
Think about it for a moment: she's never really shied away from doing semi-illegal things before. Multiple counts of unlicensed public Quirk usage, a few of which she dragged you into, so I guess that makes you an accomplice, huh? Apart from that, she seems at least a little sympathetic towards Vigilantes and, as she showed you just now, she has no issues with telling a little white lie in order to get a moment alone with her boyfriend. Don't get me wrong, nobody's ever gotten hurt or anything because of this stuff, but it's not something a goody-goody like you would think of on your own.
I'm…not sure I like what you're implying.
And I'm not sure I like how dense you are, but nobody's perfect.
What are you talking about?
I'm saying that your girlfriend was right when she said that you're really stupid for a guy who's supposed to be smart. I guess I can't blame you for it though. It's not your fault; it just happens to be a fault of yours.
Do you plan on making sense anytime soon?
If you're asking me to give you the answers, then the answer is "no." As much as I'd like to, I can't just give you information that you wouldn't think of on your own. Call it an unfortunate side-effect of being "you."
So, you mean the reason that you've started acting differently lately is-
Because you started suspecting that something was up. You've always been a cerebral oddball, but you've never been full-on crazy. Well, not like that anyway. I could compliment you on being self-aware, but I don't want to give the impression that I'm happy with your current state of mind.
If you can't tell me, can you at least give me a hint?
The biggest hint that I can give you is that you're thinking about things the wrong way. Of course, the fact that I can say that means that you already know it, so a fat lot of good it'll do you. For now, just focus on the tournament. Push yourself and grow stronger from it, just like you're supposed to.
Sure, drop a bombshell like that on a guy and then tell him to forget about it. Sometimes, Izuku really hated his overactive brain.
Love you too, buddy.
Izuku managed to resist punching himself in the head by reminding himself that A) it would only really hurt him and B) it would draw some very, very unwanted attention.
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Ochako Uraraka was nervous. Given that she was about to kick off the first round of a major national event, this came as no surprise, especially considering who her opponent was. The one thing that helped to calm her nerves was the simple fact that she had a plan. Deku had laid the groundwork for her and she had managed to expand on it a little in the short time that remained before her match started.
It was my no means guaranteed to work and Deku had been the first one to say as much. Even so, Ochako had faith in him. He had more than earned that after all the times his tactical expertise had shown him the path to victory, be it his own or someone else's.
More than that though, she was just happy to have his support. Everyone else's too, of course: Bakugo with his backhanded words of encouragement, Shoji with his quiet reassurances and general air of tranquility, Kirishima with his gung-ho exclamations and Iida with his earnest, textbook reminder that all she had to do was her best.
Really, that was what it came down to in the end: her best. The whole point of the Sports Festival was to attract the attention of Pro Heroes and their agencies by showing them what she could do. To that end, all she could do was her best.
Hopefully, that would be good enough.
"It will be."
That was all Deku had said when she had voiced this particular concern, but for Ochako, they were enough to straighten her back and square her shoulders as she stood in the tunnel leading to one end of the field where Cementoss had been hard at work constructing a large, two-tiered, rectangular ring that rose several feet off the ground to give the audience a better view. In each corner was a massive torch that spewed flames upwards to a height of nearly twenty feet.
Well, Deku-kun will be happy about that.
"Thank you, Cementoss! HEY GUYS! ARE YOU READY?!"Present Mic's voice boomed across the field once more, "We've got one heck of a show in store for you all today! It's a tournament comprised of one-on-one matches where no holds are barred and no quarter is given! There will be conflict! There will be hardship! There will in all likelihood be at least a bit of blood! Of course, maiming someone or otherwise going too far is strictly forbidden! It is only in a fight for your life that such things are permissible! Don't worry though; our very own Recovery Girl is on standby!"
Ochako took one last steadying breath. She knew what was coming next.
"And so, without further ado, let's welcome our first two combatants! Match One: She's proven herself to be a real go-getter and one heck of a team player, but how will she fare on her own? One touch and it's ALL OVER! It's Ochako Uraraka!"
Ochako balled her hands into fists and walked onto the field to a wave of applause. It felt different than the applause for the first two events and it took her a moment to realize why.
It's for me. Before, it was for everyone but this, right now, is all for me.
It was a humbling feeling to say the least. Was this how Heroes felt all the time? With the expectations of everyone on their shoulders?
Ochako wasn't what one would call a top student, but she could tell that there was a lesson to be learned here as she smiled and waved to the crowd, causing the applause to swell even more.
"Now, let's welcome her opponent! He's a denizen of the darkness with a demon inside, but don't let that stop you from cheering for him! He's a true-blue blackbird of justice and if he has his way, both of those colors will be all over his opponent! Please welcome Fumikage Tokoyami!"
Tokoyami emerged from the opposite end of the field, his gaze as sharp as ever, though whether that was because he was serious or just because of his birdlike visage was anyone's guess. He also received a large amount of applause, though he did not wave or make any other appeal to the crowd. Soon enough, the two were standing in the ring, separated by roughly twenty feet of space.
The upper tier of the ring was roughly fifty feet by forty feet, with a marked interior that was more along the lines of forty by thirty. Realistically speaking, there wasn't a lot of space for Ochako to cover in order to reach Tokoyami, but she knew that he would make her fight for every single step she took.
"The rules are simple! You can achieve victory in three ways: First, if any part of your opponent's body touches the ground outside of the ring, you win! Second, if your opponent is judged to be unable to continue, you win! Third, if your opponent surrenders, you win! Easy, right? As before, your referee will be Midnight, but, due to the nature of this contest, we also have Cementoss on-hand to help put a stop to things if the situation becomes too dangerous!"
Indeed, Cementoss had used some leftover cement to construct a ringside chair for himself and was waving one of his large, blocky hands good-naturedly. Midnight, for her part, stepped into the center of the ring from where she had previously been standing off to the side.
"Uraraka, are you ready?"
"Yes." As much as I'll ever be.
"Tokoyami, are you ready?"
"I am."
"Very well. Take your stances and…BEGIN!"
No sooner had she uttered that final word and leapt out of the way then Dark Shadow emerged from Tokoyami's abdomen and shot straight towards Ochako. This was what she had expected him to do, though.
"Tokoyami-san knows how your Quirk works, Ochako."Deku had said, "He knows that you need to get in close, so he'll do everything he can to prevent that from happening. He'll be on his guard for anything unusual from you, so, as sorry as I am to say this, your only option in the beginning…"
…would be to give him exactly what he wants, right, Deku-kun?
Ochako had not wasted any time either, charging forward as soon as the match had begun. The result was that, by the time she was forced to dive to the side in order to avoid Dark Shadow, she had covered about a third of the distance between them.
Crap! I knew that he'd be faster than me, but even so…no! Don't think about that. Focus on where Tokoyami-san is!
Sure enough, Tokoyami had backed away and to the side slightly and was eyeing her warily.
"It's important to remember that Tokoyami-san and Dark Shadow are two fighters in one. Just because your Quirk discourages Tokoyami-san from getting in close with you doesn't mean that he's a non-issue. Remember how he won his fight with Iida-san!"
He had used Dark Shadow's attacks to draw Iida's attention and had used this distraction to enable himself to move freely. In other words, it would be difficult to corner him.
Fortunately, cornering him was never a part of the plan.
"Come on! Either give up or fight me head-on, but quit with the dodging already!" Dark Shadow groused as she rolled to avoid the latest swipe from his taloned hand, bringing herself a bit closer to Tokoyami as she did so.
"Don't think that I can't tell what you're up to, girly! I've been playing nice up until now, but if you think I'm just going to let you send my partner flying, you've got another thing coming!"
With that, Tokoyami retracted the tether of darkness that connected him to Dark Shadow, causing the sentient Quirk to hover a few feet in front of him, arms spread wide.
"Uraraka-san," Tokoyami intoned, "you have obviously given some thought to your strategy against me, but no matter what you may have planned, it all ends the same way, no? If you cannot touch me, then you cannot use your Quirk on me."
"In other words, in order to get to him, you'll have to go through me!"
Ochako gulped. The conditions weren't ideal, but this was the moment.
"Okay. If that's my only choice, then let's see what you can do, Dark Shadow!"
"Now you're talking!"
"You need him to think that he has you all figured out. No matter how safe he might be playing it, if he believes that he has you beaten, then he'll lower his guard just a little. Once that happens, then it'll be time to answer one simple question."
As Ochako charged at her opponent, she suddenly dropped onto one knee, arresting her momentum and deflecting Dark Shadow's blow with her arm even as she sent her other hand shooting upwards towards his body.
"Namely, will Zero Gravity affect Dark Shadow?"
It was a question that Ochako would never have thought to ask herself, but as Deku explained his reasoning, it started to make sense to her.
Dark Shadow obviously had some sort of physical presence. After all, he could fight and lift things with his hands, right? That meant he had to have mass, right? And, since weight was just the result of gravity acting on the mass of an object…
…that meant that she could take it away.
"HAH!" Ochako slammed the palm of her hand into Dark Shadow's underbelly at an upward angle. This was something that she had thought up on her own and it was all thanks to Fight Club.
"You know, since all five of your fingers need to touch someone in order to activate your Quirk, punches aren't really the best option for you." Ojiro had observed, "Why don't I show you how to do a palm-strike instead? It's simple, effective and actually produces more raw force than a punch does, which could be useful if you want to send your target flying."
"What the-" Dark Shadow was unhurt, of course, but as he turned around and started to charge at Ochako again to prevent her from reaching Tokoyami, he ended up missing her by a wide enough margin that she barely needed to duck her head, "What gives?! I can't move right!"
"If this works, then in all likelihood Dark Shadow won't simply float away, since Tokoyami will still be there to serve as an anchor. If you're lucky though, it will still interfere with his ability to move. Regardless of how his movement works, gravity must still factor in there somewhere. If you take that away, then he'll misjudge his movements before he figures out how to compensate!"
Ochako made one final, desperate leap towards Tokoyami as his shock wore off and he started to move. He attempted to leap to the left, but the delay had given Ochako all the extra time she needed.
"Listeners, Tokoyami is in some serious trouble now! Wouldn't you agree, my loyal co-host?"
"I think there's something to be said about counting your chickens before they hatch."
"OH MY, listeners! I think he might be right! Look at what Dark Shadow is doing!"
Tokoyami had indeed been hit with Zero Gravity, but before he could drift outside of the ring, whereupon Ochako would cancel it and cause him to lose, Dark Shadow had shot downwards and buried his talons in the center of the ring, making Tokoyami resemble nothing so much as a kite.
"I have to admit, that was one hell of a plan! You've really fucked up my mobility with that little stunt of yours! But, you know, there's one thing you forgot!"
"You aren't the only one who can strategize before a match, Uraraka-san!" before Ochako had the chance to turn around, she felt Tokoyami slam into her from behind and begin forcing her out of the arena in a bizarre reversal of how he usually controlled Dark Shadow.
No way! With Dark Shadow locked in place and his gravity disabled, he can move himself instead! If I release Zero Gravity, then it might not work anymore, but I'll be right back where I started! A plan like that won't work a second time!
Still, it's all or nothing!
"Release!"
With his gravity restored, Tokoyami was forced to arrest his momentum before he landed outside the ring. Ochako grabbed onto his arm to stop her from flying out when he let go, instead flipping around and nearly dislocating his arm on accident before her grip was broken and she rolled to a stop mere feet from the edge of the ring. She scrambled to her feet and ran at Tokoyami once more, hoping to reach him before Dark Shadow could intervene.
"I won't quit!" she was nearly there. She reached out with her hand and-
He was gone.
"Dude, you need to lay off the chips. This was wayeasier when you were weightless!"
"Now is not the time for this discussion. End it."
He hadn't intended to bring Dark Shadow over. He had simply reeled himself in. With that sort of mobility option…
…it was over.
"I…I sur-"
"Hey, I feel like I know her from somewhere."
"I know what you mean. Like…hey, wait a minute, is that Infinity Girl?"
Ochako would never know how she heard those two voices amongst the thousands of spectators, but there was an immediate ripple effect once they had spoken.
"Did you say 'Infinity Girl?'"
"You mean from that HeroTube video?"
"I saw that! She's the one that fought Dr. Vertigo's monster!"
"Ohmygod is that her?! I love her!"
"It was so cool how she pulled through in the end!"
"Don't give up, Infinity Girl! Infinity divided by anything is still infinity!"
"When's the next video coming out? I subscribed just for that!"
"Oh, my! It seems that the super-secret identity of Infinity Girl has been revealed! How will this revelation impact the match?!"
They're cheering for me…like I'm a real Hero…
They want me to win, but what can I do?
Well, I guess it's clear what I can't do. After all, a real Hero would never give up! In the face of a Villain, surrender's…
"Surrender's not an option!" she ran at Dark Shadow, who was already halfway to her by that point, and jumped just before he collided with her, wrapping her arms around his body even as his fist collided with her gut.
She couldn't breathe. The wind had been knocked out of her and she was currently suspended in the air outside of the ring, but Dark Shadow was having difficulty descending due to the effects of Zero Gravity.
"Uraraka-san," Tokoyami said with an air of finality, "this is your last chance. Are you sure that you will not surrender?"
"Didn't you *cough* hear me before, Tokoyami-san?" she rasped, "Surrender isn't an option!"
"Then I am afraid I must hurt you. My apologies."
With that, he ran towards the edge of the ring, keeping Dark Shadow at a distance before leaping into the air and firing his Quirk towards the ground with his arms spread wide.
The collision was swift and unforgiving, resulting in Ochako hitting the ground a mere second before her opponent did the same.
"Both contestants are out of bounds!" Midnight announced, "But as Uraraka hit the ground first, Tokoyami wins by ring out!"
"You heard the lady, listeners! After a pulse-pounding first match, Tokoyami has emerged victorious! Let's have a big hand for both of our combatants for kicking this tournament off right!"
As Ochako got to her feet, the applause from the spectators was a whole degree of magnitude louder than it had been from the start.
"I can't believe Infinity Girl lost!"
"That bird guy must be something else! Even Dr. Vertigo's final creation couldn't beat her!"
As Ochako waved to the crowd one last time as she exited the field, she couldn't help but grimace at the thought that the spectators were overestimating her abilities based on that HeroTube video.
Still though, it's funny that they'd compare it to my match with Shoji-kun. It feels like I ended up with similar injuries to that time…ow. I should probably visit Recovery Girl.
Even if it was something she had experienced before, cracked ribs were not fun.