Lightning - My Hero Academia

Chapter 16: Round Two! Number's Game!

"Alright! The first stage of the tournament has come to an end! Let's get right into the second stage, shall we? Let's roll that roulette wheel and see who will be fighting first in round two!" Present Mic announced.

All eyes went back up to the screen as the pictures of the 8 remaining competitors were cycled through on both sides of the board. Finally, two pictures appeared: Ako and his opponent - a guy with black eyes and gray spiky hair.

"It's Ako Tanaka from support class 1-F going up against Eiichi Morita from class 1-B! Let's get it on!" Present Mic howled. The audience cheered and clapped in excitement as the two students came out from opposite sides of the arena and stepped onto the stage.

Ako slowly moved his fingers up and down, staring his opponent down. He had let his emotions get the better of him earlier, so he had no idea what he was up against. That already put him at a disadvantage, but he was confident that he could still overcome it.

Ako and Eiichi stood on opposite sides of the arena. Ako got into his fighting stance. Meanwhile, Eiichi stood there calmly with his hands in his pockets. Ako took in a deep breath, keeping his eyes narrowed on his opponent as Mt. Lady announced the start of the round.

"Ako Tanaka! Eiichi Morita! Are you ready?" Mt. Lady asked.

"Ready!" Ako answered promptly.

"Yep," Eiichi replied in a relaxed tone. "Hey. Tanaka, right?" He asked Ako.

"Yeah...?"

"Is it true that you made those boots yourself? And they can withstand all the force you're putting out with that speed?" Eiichi asked. Ako's eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Just curious. That's pretty cool." Eiichi said with a sideways smile. It was obvious to Ako that meant something, but he couldn't tell what.

"Okay, if we're done conversing, the round will start now. Ready! 3...2...1...fight!" Mt. Lady signaled the start of the battle.

During the countdown, Eiichi slid his hands out of his pocket, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and slid his thumbs against the corners of his mouth. As the countdown came to an end, Eiichi flicked his hands forward. At the end of the countdown, Ako shot forward with a burst of speed.

Two spirals of dust shot up in front of Ako suddenly. He squinted his eyelids so he could still narrowly see just ahead of him. He lifted his foot and kicked Eiichi straight in the chest, knocking him out of bounds and causing him to crash onto the grass below.

After briefly rolling, Eiichi suddenly disappeared into a cloud, his body completely gone. Ako's eyes widened in surprise. He stood there, dumbfounded for a moment. In the next moment, he got punched in the side of the head.

Ako yelped in shock as well as throbbing pain, stumbling to the side. He turned around and his eyes widened. Now there wasn't just one Eiichi on the arena; there were three! Two of them were attacking Ako directly while one stood back. The Eiichi standing back flicked his thumbs out of the corners of his mouth again; two more copies of him appeared out of swirling dust.

"Nice move from the young Morita! He was able to catch Ako off guard and prevent himself from being eliminated immediately! Now he can go on the offensive with his cloning quirk!" Present Mic shouted.

"Cloning quirk! That's it!" Ako realized as he dodged the attacks of the two clones in front of him.

He ducked under a punch and kicked one in the side. The other clone jumped on him and tackled him before slugging him across the cheek. The other three clones quickly jumped in, kicking him in the sides and piling on top of him.