Shock and Awe

Bakugo swaggered his way to the middle of the arena, completely mismatching Shinso's casual saunter in his direction. "FROM CLASS 1-A OF THE HERO COURSE, AN EXPLOSIVE TEMPER BELIES SURPRISING COMBAT PROWESS! GIVE IT UP FOR BAKUGO KATSUKI!" The crowd, as usual, went wild with cheering, though Bakugo's eyes focused on the unimpressed pro heroes. "AND HIS CONTENDER ARRIVES! FROM CLASS 1-A OF THE GENERAL STUDIES COURSE, THIS CREEPY YOUNG MAN SMILES IN DEFIANCE! LET ME HEAR YOU CHEER FOR HITOSHI SHINSO!"

Izuku and the others observed the match together in a mid-size surveillance room, all while getting ready themselves. Something about this 'Shinso' guy was giving him the creeps. It was good timing, then, to feel a hug from behind and immediately know who it was thanks to her scent and how her body felt to the touch. "Surprise~ I guess we can get lovey dovey in public now that all of Japan knows, can't we~?" They took a seat next to each other, with their heads resting against one another while watching the video feed. Mina's squealing thoughts were the most amusing thing to hear in his mind while at it, but he was more concerned about having seen an image from Uraraka's mind earlier. Was his hold over Danger Sense getting better?

The purple-haired guy's grin only grew as Mic introduced them, speaking words that the cameras managed to pick up thanks to lip-reading technology common in this day and age. "Pretty cool, isn't it? That us General Studies students get to participate in this Hero Studies-centric event." Bakugo didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about talking to him, but he couldn't do much to shut him up until the match started. "So? What's any of that gotta do with me?"

"Oh, it has plenty to do with you, Bakugo-kun. You see... there's a reason for us people without any combat training to participate in a sports festival. That is, if us people who couldn't make it through the entrance exam can make a good enough impression and are seen to be hero material..."

"3... 2... 1...!" Mic counted down to let the battle begin.

"...then we can replace those who perform direly in the Hero Courses. I am here to defeat and replace you, or whichever of your classmates I beat the hardest."

Bakugo launched himself with a pair of explosions from his palms, ready to pummel Shinso to a pulp. "AH YEAH?! JUST TRY, NER-!"

thud

A moment after he spoke, he faceplanted against the ground, though he used an explosion to get up right after. Izuku was very confused - it wasn't like Kaachan to just drop dead for a moment while he was all revved up. Bakugo himself seemed creeped out and wary, trying to figure out just what happened.

"I wonder what my Quirk may be. Perhaps I set up invisible traps ahead of me and you encountered one. Or maybe I made you black out by staring at you too hard. What if it was a disorientation aura that applies around me, however? You should be more careful when fighting someone whose Quirk you're not aware of, Bakugo-kun." His cocky smirk and condescending tone only grew by the second.

Still, the blonde man seemed to take his advice to heart despite still being confused and paranoid. He advanced with both hands in front of him this time, one at head level and the other at crotch level, using small explosions to apparently check for traps while charging against his opponent. The position of his hands made his explosions cover nearly all the area his body would occupy in front of him. "Oh? You're slowing yourself down with your own recoil checking like that. Looking silly while at it, no less. Can you really catch me like this?" Cat-like and agile, the General Studies student dodged and backstepped away from Katsuki, who was already compensating for his frontal explosions and losing speed.

Back in the surveillance room, Izuku was fiercely taking notes on Shinso and many ideas on what his Quirk could be. "Ah, your notebook! It's been a while since I've seen it!" Uraraka gleamed at the sight of Izuku's hobby. The green-haired boy mumbled something to himself about already having noted down all the Quirks of Class 1-A's students and teachers and not really needing to use it so far, but his hands never stopped working while looking at the fight ahead... until someone else's hand touched it.

Jiro was next to him, looking over his notes with a concerned face. Her thoughts were still self-deprecating, but she seemed to be trying to tell him something regardless. "Dude, you're not going to be able to read this properly when you're done or his Quirk is actually revealed. Look, you even wrote over some of your other lines." She took his pen and separated his multiple thoughts and lines into table sections... just like he taught her back then.

"There. That should be a lot more legible." With a tiny blush, Izuku nodded at her. "Thanks, Jiro-kun. N-now that I notice, you have really pretty cursive..." She bit her lip at the compliment, even though she blushed too.

Pretty cursive isn't going to get me a date with you. Unlike her curvy body, apparently... Goddammit - just forget it, Kyoka. Play it cool. He's still a cool friend to have and was just complimenting you. Don't be unfair to them.

"Y-Yeah, my dad would kill me if he knew I'm saying this, but he's got some amazing calligraphy cuz he's a composer and all. He taught me the basics. Or more like I picked them up when learning to compose from him... what the..."

She trailed off, then fell silent looking at the screen. Izuku looked back at it, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor in shock.

Katsuki was standing in place without moving an inch next to Shinso's **** body.

"AND IT'S... a draw?" Mic's voice went down quite a few decibels, going through about every stage of disappointment and confusion in two words. "Ahem... IT'S A DRAW LADIES AND GENTS! WHAT AN UNEXPECTED TURN! I GUESS THEY BOTH ADVANCE TO THE NEXT PHASE AND THEIR TOURNAMENT MATCHES WILL BE ADJUSTED ON THE FLY!"

The cameras showed a replay of what Izuku had just missed. Katsuki tried to charge in one big burst towards Shinso, when he started speaking. "Just try, you said? I didn't come here to try, rabid beast. I came here to win. Now hand over your seat like a good pup." Bakugo's forehead veins popped something fierce, and his loud mouth started running again. "DIE, YOU DAMN EXTRA!"

He grabbed Shinso's face right as he spoke in a blinding burst of explosion-propelled speed, driving it against the dome's wall hard enough to knock him out. But then... he simply froze. His eyes quickly became glossy and unfocused, as if he had gone ****. Yet, he could still stand up, towering over Shinso's ragdolled body like an inactive zombie.

Midnight had to intervene after thirty seconds of zero movement. "Um... it seems Shinso's Quirk took hold, but he became incapacitated right after... As referee, I will call this a draw - neither of them would have died or become unfit to continue fighting in a real life scenario, without outside intervention waking either of them up."

Everyone in Class 1-A was astonished. Just what was Shinso's Quirk? Some form of limited paralysis? Both times it happened when Bakugo was in close proximity, and when he talked... Deku's notes were already pointing to some form of sound-based Quirk, but there were too many gaps in his theories. "Kacchan is going to be so mad..."

Uraraka's phone started ringing with messages, startling her as she struggled to keep it from falling out of her nervous hands. "Ah! Mom and dad are typing! Sorry, Deku-kun, I gotta go pick up!" And just like that, she ran for it with a gleeful look on her face, while Jiro sat down in her former seat.

"What a day... so, what's your take on that Shinso dude? That Quirk looks really annoying to figure out, but you're the genius here when it comes to those, right? I really don't wanna be the next one to fight him and know Earphone-jack about it." Wow, she noticed. Izuku scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile, trying to come up with something to say. "W-Well... Honestly, the biggest tell was Midnight-sensei's decision. She said outside intervention would wake Kacchan up, and that Shinso's Quirk 'took hold'... Maybe it's a paralysis Quirk that uses Shinso's words as sound waves to spread out of, or proximity to his body? And then some condition external to the body can snap you out... maybe physical trauma, or loud sounds?"

Jiro nodded, the answer about as good as any to her. "Sound waves... I need to take care of my enhanced hearing, then. Thanks- oh shit, wait, isn't that you on the screen?"

True enough, he was next if the big screens showing his face were any indication. And his opponent was almost ironic, to the point he suspected they were handpicking the matches rather than leaving them to chance.

"FROM CLASS 1-A, THE CLASS PRESIDENT AND RESIDENT HORNDOG WHO JUST KISSED HIS SWEETHEART IN FRONT OF ALL OF JAPAN! SERIOUSLY KID, YOU'RE BOLDER THAN YOU LOOK! GO MAKE MIDNIGHT PROUD! SPORTING A NERVOUS SMILE, LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR MIDORIYA IZUKU!"

Jiro turned to wish him good luck, but only managed to see a flash of green lightning leaving the surveillance room. On the screen in front of her, she could already see him coming out of the gates with an embarrassed look on his face. "...tch, missed a chance again. I'm too slow to keep up with him. Good luck, Midoriya. I think you'll need it." She said to herself, heading off to call the others over to watch the fight with her.

"AND ON THE OTHER SIDE, CLASS 1-B PRESIDENT AND ALL MIGHT FANATIC, FRESH FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! LOOK AT THOSE GLORIOUS TUFTS OF HAIR! THAT SCULPTED PHYSIQUE! TRY NOT TO FALL IN LOVE BEFORE SHE EVEN FIGHTS! A BIG ROUND OF CHEER AND APPLAUSE FOR CATHLEEN BATE!"

From the other side, Cathleen strode into the field as the dome closed once again, giving Izuku a confident wave. She wore some... strange clothes as her hero costume. Her body was hugged tight by a full body stocking that left out the sides of her massive breasts as well as her arms, probably for ease of movement. On top of that sheer stocking, a... dress-like cloth started at her neck, trailed down the borders of her stocking, covered up her nipples and underboob, hugged her washboard-like abs tightly and then ended in a long loincloth held mostly in place by four chains.

And by mostly... he had to admit it wasn't kept in place at all. A little wind was all it took for her thong-like underwear to be visible to him from that far away. Elbow-length gloves and a thorned crown-like headpiece completed the costume. And while her hair was more or less the same as last time he saw her, the tips were curved up to represent eight All Might-like tufts of hair - the American color scheme of her costume made what she was going for very clear.

He was already dreading this fight.