Quirkless

Chapter 12 - Tech Duel

Majutsu's hair was dry, Katsuki noticed, so it didn't actually take hours to dry naturally like she claimed. Her eyes were a golden like yellow and her skin was freakishly pale. Must be some sort of mutation that's linked to her quirk or something.

"So, a tech duel is basically a fancy name for a robotic deathmatch" she started off.
"We build machines to fight each other, showing off our skill and smarts. Seeing as you don't have a bot, you can use mine to fight Hatsume. But, uh, to be honest, I don't think you're going to win and I want all damages to my robot repaired afterwards, okay?"

"A robotic- Wait, hold up, you're saying it's like those small killer robot thingies that smash each other? Why the hell do they call it a tech duel?!" Katsuki exclaimed.
"Teachers don't like the whole deathmatch term" Majutsu shrugged.
"Besides, these competitions between support course students aren't officially allowed by the school commission so we cover it up for the media!"

Ah yes, UA is always pulling reckless shit that the commission doesn't allow for other schools. How principal Nezu fixes it every time is a mystery Katsuki isn't sure he'd like to uncover. He's sure Todoroki has some kind of theory on it though, probably even more than one. But back to the duel, the robot deathmatch. He didn't have one and Majutsu was letting him use hers. That was good, one problem solved. Next one-

"So how do I control your bot? Can I see it?"
"Of course! Come on, they're all stored in the main school building, next to the workshop" she smiled, taking his arm and pulling him along. Katsuki didn't like being dragged around and quickly pulled himself free. The two of them fell into a walking pace as they talked some more about Majutsu's robot and what the features were.

She also guided him through the rules of the duel and made sure to give him a copy of the robot building classifications so he could make his own later on. Apparently every support course student had one but some never used them because this whole challenge thing wasn't for them.

When Majutsu opened up the storage room with her keycard, Katsuki whistled at the sight. All kinds of battle robots stacked up on the shelves, name plates dotted along the line with them. They were organised by class and year, meaning that every support course stored their robots here.

"Can't you just sabotage your opponent then?" Katsuki asked as his eyes trailed along the mechanics and weaponry as they passed the shelves.
"That's against the rules and if they catch you, you're going to be looked down upon. I mean, you can't touch another person's bot without permission, so unrespectful" Majutsu stated, stopping in front of her own robot.

"Here she is! My beauty! I call her The Great Wall"

"Yeah... I can see why" Katsuki shrugged. It was basically a full powered mini bulldozer, a big curved wall running along the front of the machine. It was pretty straight forward what his tactic was going to be: smash Hatsume's robot into the fucking wall like there is no tomorrow. He didn't know what her robot looked like though...

Well, it didn't matter. He had a straight forward plan and just had to make sure he could maneuver in order to execute it. Majutsu took the robot off the shelf and placed it on the ground. After that she reached back and took out a controller.
"Here, give it a try"

Katsuki took the controller, looking down upon it with a certain hesitation. It seemed complicated at first glance, but he soon figured out the mechanism. After a few tries and some bumping into the wall, he got the hang of it. Felt a lot like playing a video game! Well, with its own unique controller that is... Hmm, he wondered if he could integrate an old controller he wasn't using anymore into his system when he built his own robot.

"So? What do you think?" Majutsu asked.
"Pretty great, am I right?"
"It's nice, I'll give you that" Katsuki grinned.
"Thanks for lending it to me"