Inquisitor

- Chapter: 49 -

Iida's fight was... interesting.

His opponent was a student in the support course named Mei Hatsume and she used Iida to show-off her creations. Overall, the fight was nothing more than a presentation with Iida running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

Izumi was sure that if Katsuo saw the fight that Iida would never hear the end of it. She was glad that he was off in a waiting room for Iida's match because of that.

Iida joined Izumi in the stands, looking defeated. He sat down with Izumi, Katsuo was readying to walk on the stage, and Ochaco and Katsuki were waiting for their match next round. Izumi would've said something to Iida, but Present Mic yelled out.

"Claiming second place in the first round and the rider of the second round's winners... The infamous class 1-A that got attacked by villains is where he comes from! To top it all off he's the class's Protectorate! Katsuo Aizawa!!"

Katsuo refrained from shaking his head. 'Just how high are you going to sing my praise?!'

"The pink wonder in the same class! How will she fair against her opponent?! Mina Ashido!"

'Apparently too much, I mean... WHAT WAS HER INTRO COMPARED TO MINE?!'

Katsuo shook his head and put on his mask. He took a deep breath, taking in the metallic smell of his mask. He looked across the field at Ashido.

Ashido looked at Katsuo standing on the other side of the field and mentally began to cry. 'Why is my first round against him?! He's scary! Why is it me?!' Ashdido was Katsuo's partner during the first hero training exercise. As such, she knew his strength compared to her own. 'Okaay, calm down Mina, you can do this! Yeah...! Totally... Just keep your distance from him, right? He doesn't have his capture bands afterall. So all I have to do is keep my distance and wear him down! Wait... can I actually do this? I... can... can't I?' She looked up from her thoughts to see Katsuo standing still. His gaze still fixed on her from behind his mask. 'Yeah! Even if he's a bit scary... maybe even very scary, I can still win! Let's do this Mina!'

Katsuo meanwhile stood still wondering what Mina was thinking about so hard.

"STAAAARRT!!"

When Present Mic called out the match's start Katsuo began dashing at Ashido, who reacted by having a minor freak out and running away. Katsuo was faster at the start however, when Ashido started using her quirk to slide around she had the speed advantage.

When Katsuo realized this, he stopped running and instead stood still.

"Hey! Why aren't you chasing me anymore?" Ashido asked when she realized that Katsuo had stopped running. "You get a cramp or something?"

Katsuo replied by explaining, "I don't have the speed to hunt you down. Combined with my lack of knowledge of your physical stamina it would be a waste of energy to chase you down. The more efficient route would be to stand still and await for you to initiate combat in which I have a chance of victory."

Ashido didn't understand. "Huh?"

Katsuo reiterated his previous statement. "You're faster than me, so I'm waiting for you to come to me."

"So... you're only going to move if I attack you?"

"Precisely."

"Hmm..." Ashido went back into a deep train of thought, trying to figure out how to attack Katsuo.

Katsuo, who noticed her lack of focus on him, moved to the side quickly.

When Ashido had thought of a plan she looked to where Katsuo would have been had he not moved, and realized he had moved. She quickly looked around and saw him only a meter away from her.

Katsuo prepared to punch Ashido when he was discovered. Ashido responded by throwing a handful of acid at Katsuo, who sidestepped the glob before it could hit him.

Mina thought she had some time from Katsuo side stepping her attack and went to run, but quickly turned back to Katsuo when he continued forward at the same speed, almost like he had never even dodged the attack.

She threw more acid globs at him, forcing him to jump back to avoid them. With a secured opening Ashido began skating away. When she looked back she saw Katsuo running to her side. She looked forward and saw that the end of the field was getting closer and that Katsuo was herding her to it.

She wouldn't let herself get taken out like that and turned around to cut past Katsuo and get free from him.

Instead Katsuo's body followed her's, his head and torso lurching backwards, his legs twisting around to keep up.

Ashido, thinking he'd be thrown off balance if she changed direction again, started moving in her original direction.

Katsuo, instead of following her change in direction again, lunged at her. Ashido was too focused on if Katsuo would be caught up in the fake or not, and didn't react in time to him going straight for her.

Katsuo's fist landed squarely in Ashido's gut, making her gasp in pain. Ashido started falling backwards and Katsuo took that opening to swerve around her to grab her arm. With a spinning flourish he threw Ashido towards the boundary line.

She landed on the ground and rolled a few feet, barely still inside the arena. She took a few deep breaths as her body caught up to being thrown like a ragdoll. Katsuo relaxed when Ashido stood back up.

"Surrender."

Ashido looked at Katsuo in surprise when he spoke.

"You can't beat me in that state. Unless of course, you can ignore the pain screaming through your entire body and fight at one-hundred percent. But even then... Will only one-hundred be enough in the end?"

"What... are you saying?"

"That you need to fight me with everything you have if you wish to win."

"I have been fighting you with everything I have!"

"Then why haven't you attacked me relentlessly with acid? If you only attack when you know your opponent won't get hit how are you supposed to beat them?"

"But... If I hit you you could get really hurt."

"So?"

Mina's eyes widened when she heard Katsuo's response. "What do you mean "So?"?! If I hi-"

"Stop making excuses."

"What?!"

"Come at me with everything you have. If you do hit me, Recovery Girl can fix it. Don't hold anything back. I'm not so fragile that mere acid burns would stop me."

"Fine."

Ashido ran at Katsuo and threw a wave of acid at him. Katsuo dodged under the curtain and prepared to uppercut Ashido, but instead had to roll away as acid fell from her other hand.

Katsuo looked at Ashido and thought, 'Interesting. She noticed I dodged in a manner to stay on the offensive and went for a counterattack through a faint. Clever.'

Katsuo then began dodging Ashido's attacks with extreme grace. He performed several acrobatic maneuvers so smoothly that to some people he almost looked like he was dancing around.

Of course, he was not dancing but dodging large congregated masses of acid.

Then he suddenly rushed forward, moving past every glob of acid with unnatural ease, and landed another blow on Ashido. This time, a much heavier one.

She fell to the ground. Unconscious.

'That was fun, Mina Ashido. Sadly, your attacks lacked diversity and a pattern arose. But... you're suitable.'

"Katsuo Aizawa wins!!!!"