Beauty vs the Beast (Katsuki Bakugo fanfic)

5:「 Endless Rivalry 」

"Minazuki, go on ahead!" Deku yelled just as Bakugo was getting ready to lunge another attack. 

"Alright!" Carine yelled back. She turned around and ran to search for the weapon, leaving Bakugo in Deku's hands.

IIda was nowhere to be found, so she knew that he had to be with the weapon. Besides that, she knew enough of Bakugo from Deku and her own observations to conclude that he had come here to attack Deku, not for the sake of the mission, but because of his impulsivity. In other words, Bakugo had no intention of following this exercise, so Iida is on his own.

Carine thought about what Bakugo said to her just a few minutes ago, that he would deal with her as well. In fact, she noticed that he always seemed to be glaring at her. What was the matter with him? She never did anything to him, she thought as she ran down the hallways.

It was a good thing she had memorized the blueprints of the building before the exercise started. Carine had gotten herself to the top floor in a span of minutes. The top floor had only two rooms of equal size on opposite ends. 

The rest was just a maze of hallways. She had no choice but to check both rooms. She had entered the top floor from the right, so the room on the right end was just a few meters away. Sneaking around the hallway, Carine peeked into the room and immediately spotted Iida pacing around. Bingo, she thought to herself, haven gotten lucky on the first try.

--------------------------------------------------------

Below Carine, Deku was waiting for just the right attack, and when Kaachan pounced at him, Deku knew this was it. Swiftly, Deku brought out the capture tape that All Might had given him and wrapped it around the right hook of Kaachan's leg.

Deku leaped out of the way right before Kaachan used his quirk. Knowing that one rope wasn't enough to keep him down, Deku hid from Kaachan and ran, hoping to stall enough time to come up with a strategy. 

"Get back here, Deku!!" he heard Kaachan shout. "Must have been fun, tricking me this whole time, right! Hiding that flashy quirk of yours! BRING IT ON. I'LL STILL CRUSH YOU!"

-------------------------------------------------------

On the top floor, Carine wondered if it was better to launch a sneak attack or wait for Deku. She turned on her microphone, just in time for her partner to yell into her ear. "Have you found Iida yet!?"

Of course, that sound was just enough for Iida to turn around and spot Carine ahead of time. 

"So you've come, Minazuki! I know your quirk allows you to manifest water from your body, and I've come up with enough strategies to counter your attacks!"

Oops. "Deku! Iida found me!" Carine said into her microphone.

"Where are you!?" Deku asked.

"5th floor. I'm in the room on the far right!"

Deku looked up after Carine's response. She was just above him. He just had to escape Kaachan, who had caught up and was in front of him. It was now or never.

"I'm guessing you know this from all of your stalking, but my sweat glands secrete this liquid called nitroglycerin," Bakugo explained to Deku how his quirk worked. "Assuming they honored my design requests, this gauntlet's been storing all of that fluid," he aimed the gauntlet at Deku. 

"You won't die if you dodge it," Bakugo said as he yanked a switch, triggering his ultimate attack.

-----------------------------------------------------