the copycat hero: Deku

Chapter 15

Hey folks, Grey here.

Just a reminder and warning. The next chapter has a particularly brutal fight. If you are put off or triggered by high-levels of violence or depictions of children fighting, I will have markers that will allow you to skip the fight scene.

Izuku managed to catch the tail end of Iida and Kirishima's fight, the Engine quirked boy covered in bruises and scrapes as he tried to force the red head out of the arena. Kirishima had dug his hardened fingers into the concrete and was hardening his body each time the other teen got close, which was probably the cause of the blue-haired boy's numerous wounds, particularly on his shins.

"Hey guys," Izuku called as he sat beside Kaminari, fist bumping the yellow blond, "I got caught up checking on Neito, what happened in Raka's fight?"

"Oh," the class looked kind of down for a moment, before Jiro explained, "Baka-go won, but Uraraka gave him a real run for his money. She floated a ton of debris above him, and tried to drop it on him, but he managed to blast it all away."

"Damn, sounds like it was pretty close," Izuku hummed.

"Yeah, though Aizawa-sensei scolded a bunch of the audience for calling Uraraka-chan weak and saying that Bakugo was bullying her, kero," Tsuyu added, "But I don't know about that."

"Nah, Kacchan wouldn't bully a serious opponent," Izuku muttered, pulling out his notebook as he watched the match below, "He's got too much pride to do that. How long has this match been going on?"

"About five minutes," Kaminari yawned as he stretched, "It's getting kind of boring. Iida just keeps trying to kick Kirishima, but Kirishima hardens and blocks it."

"Damn," Izuku replied, "So it's a war of attrition. Wonder who'll give first."

"Shouldn't you know?" Mina asked, "Can't you like, feel their quirks?"

"Yeah, but not like that," Izuku sighed, sitting back in his chair, "I know where they are, and can sort of tell how they work and when they're being used. But not how much stamina they have left."

"Oh," the pink-skinned girl replied, before the crowd suddenly gave a cheer, more out of relief than celebration, as Iida fell to the ground, his shins dripping blood, and conceded, "Aw, poor Iida. At least we get to move on to the next match now."

"Yeah," Izuku hummed, watching as Iida was helped off the stage by Kirishima, the taller boy staggering on his injured legs.

"Nice try!" the crowd chanted as Todoroki thawed Sero out of the ice, the tape-wielding boy giving a dejected smile.

"SUP DUDE!" Izuku shouted to Hitoshi as they both walked onto the raised arena, "Bad matchup, hey? Seems like UA just wants to screw you over in every way!"

"Bad matchup?" Midnight asked, looking at Izuku in confusion.

"Oh, I know how his quirk works," Izuku explained, "Which I won't go into here because it would ruin its effectiveness."

"So nice of you," Shinso sighed sarcastically as Izuku just grinned at him, "What, no fancy quips?"

"So, we starting the match?" Izuku asked Midnight, the woman raising an eyebrow as he seemed to ignore his opponent.

"Right," Midnight said, "Ready? START!"

Hitoshi opened his mouth to speak, blinking as Izuku charged straight for him, his body suddenly steaming. Or not, considering the gas was tinged pink, Shinso slapping his hand over his mouth and nose as Izuku bolted towards him. He didn't have time to react as the green-haired teen slammed into him, knocking the air from his lungs with a full body tackle, forcing him to instinctively take a gasping breath. Hitoshi swore to himself as he felt himself slip into sleep.