The Origin of something new (mha ff)

Chapter 11

"The fight between Izuku and Shoto was really intense, Izuku is having surgery but they think he's fine. Did you see the field afterwards? A fight like that..." Mina talked excitedly, but was visibly depressed. "Your fight was rather one-sided. You ran away and still won you...:." Kaede interrupted her friend, "You fought well Mina, you tried to defend yourself and Fumikage was faster, don't feel bad." Mina stared at the ground and remained silent for a long time. Kaede just sat beside her and held her hand. Sometimes you just had to be silent. "You're in the quarter finals with me, you win for both of us." "Sure I will." But Kaede was doubtful. From what she had heard, the fight between Shoto and Izuku had been strong from both sides. And winning against Shoto only in close combat was not impossible because of his speed, but because of his Quirk. He wouldn't even let her get close to him. The girls of Class 1A were in the waiting room with her, throwing suggestions wildly. "Thank you guys, but I need to think for myself now." The others said goodbye and wished her luck.

To use her Quirk, Kaede needed emotions. The question was whether she would have access to them in the fight against Shoto. In order to copy the emotions of the people around her, she needed time. Meaning that in the fight against Shoto she needed a moment in which he was distracted. But she couldn't think of a way to do that. Against his Quirk, even if he would only use ice, he could constantly flurry her around and she would have no chance to do anything. So it would come down to improvisation again.

The crowd in the auditorium went wild. After the fight against Izuku, they were now expecting great things from Shoto. And Kaede had also convinced them with her fighting style. She stood opposite her opponent and both stared intensely at each other. When the starting signal sounded, Shoto immediately sent a huge ice wall at her, which would have enclosed her if she had not dodged it. He continuously sent ice spikes in her direction and cornered her further and further. To make more room for herself, she climbed onto an ice spike, but before she could slide back into the middle, Shoto shooed her around again. Hectically, she now ran on the ice spikes and soon it was almost a huge tower. At another attack, she tried to duck away, but she slipped and fell into a hole. "I guess improvisation is my thing. Fate provides me with an opportunity." It was freezing cold in the hole. She froze, her body shivered and her breath froze, but she sat down and tried to concentrate. She widened her perception, not only to Shoto, who was standing at the edge of the ice tower, but also to the spectators. She felt the tension. The high expectations of the spectators and the hopes of her comrades. She imagined the tension as it played around her fingers and gathered around her body. The longer she imagined the golden light, the more certain she was that it would be there when she opened her eyes. So she did. A ring of golden light vibrated around her. She stood up and released the accumulated tension explosively. The ice around her collapsed abruptly and was thrown away by a violent gust of wind. Shoto had to move to the edge of the arena to avoid being hit by his own ice, but he shielded himself. Kaede used the time to get closer to him. She ran, took a running start over some debris and jumped over Shoto's protective wall. In flight, she spun and tried to hit him with her foot, but he ducked out of the way. By the time she landed, she had to dodge the next icicle, but from close up she could see that he had already lost stamina. She stood right next to him and tried to touch him. While touching him, she did not have enough time to activate her Quirk, but he froze her arm. She tried to kick him, but he grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against a block of ice. Then kaede angled her leg and kicked him between the legs. He let go of her. She smashed the ice on her arm against the block and tried to suppress the pain. Her arm was still numb. The cold brought tears to her eyes. "You can go ahead and fight with your flames Shoto, I'm really cold." He rolled his eyes. "I'm still thinking." "I can tell you're getting sloppy, Grandpa." He attacked her again, but he found it harder in close combat because he no longer had the strength for large-scale attacks. "You're doing a messy job, I'm not even using my Quirk and yet I'm still standing here." "Please shut up Kaede, I just want to get this over with." Outraged, she kicked him in the side. "If the fight against Izuku was so brilliant, our fight here must be epic!" She threw herself at him and now they were scuffling on the ground. "I need this fight to be epic!" She tried to hit him against the skull but he held her fist and twisted it. With a jerk, she tore her hand out of his grip. Unfortunately, she did it at the wrong angle, and with a crack, her bone was strained and broke. She did not cry out, she did not feel the pain. She only looked wide-eyed when she realised that she could not use her hand for the rest of the fight. Shoto turned the tide by taking advantage of her shock and spinning. She was now lying under him, her hands under her body, while he sat on top of her. "Do you give up, or do I have to drag you over the edge?" She tried to bring her hands out, but he shifted his weight further up. This gave her the opportunity to gain momentum with her legs and throw Shoto forward. There was a tug in her back as she too was carried along by the momentum and did a roll.

Shoto staggered back to his feet and Kaede also got ready for the rest of the fight.

"I think this is the longest fight yet, both of them don't miss a chance!", Present Micro shouted.

"I didn't really want to do that because I didn't want to seriously hurt you. Izuku hurt himself in the end, but you are a strong opponent Kaede, I probably won't be able to win otherwise." He reached out a hand and spikes of ice drove out of the ground and pierced her legs. She winced as she slowly felt a throbbing in the injured areas. She stared at him angrily. With a jerk, she pulled her punctured foot, one by one, out of the spikes. Shoto watched her intently, puzzled by her little interest in the deep wounds. Blood pooled on the floor and the audience made no sound. Shoto wrestled with himself, but he overcame his doubts and another ice spike shot out of the ground. She dodged them awkwardly and one of them pierced her stomach and pinned her to her knees. As she spat blood, Midnight and Zementos struggled to stop the fight, but they, as well as the audience, were tense and watching the action. Kaede scrambled forward. She was reluctant to crawl around on her knees, and in front of all those people, but she had to win. "Then use your Quirk." Shoto whispered incredulously. He didn't understand that she wasn't fighting properly. But even if he was willing to hurt her for the win, she wasn't. For a moment she thought about it. She wanted to let go, to be free, but at what cost? She hated the destructive power of her Quirk and she would not give in now. She would win with the useful side, she would fight to the last moment, she would win and make everyone proud, she would convince, she would.... Tears gathered in her eyes and in a last attempt to reach Shoto she stretched out her hand to him. As Midnight was declaring the fight lost and she was being taken to Recovery Girl, someone with the Quirk of mind-reading left the auditorium.