Can We Just Be Us? | KiriBaku

The fight for the past- 66

Kirishima pov
I stood, silent and still, facing Uchida. Surrounding us were a bunch of cheering teens, all eager to see who would win. In front of me, Uchida seemed just as anxious, his face like stone. I had expected him to call me a name or say something, but he didn't. So instead, I did. "Why would you tell Ashido I tried to kiss you?" I called over, making sure I wasn't loud enough for anyone to hear other than us two. He grimaced at me, but didn't reply. Obviously he was too focused on the fight ahead to really care; he just looked away over at his group of friends in the stands. Turning my head the same direction, I saw a defeated group of kids, since half of them had lost their fights. I turned to my friends, to see nearly all of them cheering and hollering. Kat made eye contact with me, and mouthed the words, 'remember the plan'. I nodded to him anxiously before facing back forward, preparing to fight. I waited, and waited, until the sound of the cannon went off; the battle had begun.

Kat's words echoed in my mind, I knew what to do. Instinctively, I ran towards Uchida and threw a punch, making it seem stronger than it actually was; I needed to store energy. Expectedly, Uchida dodged, turning into a pure white snake and slithering away. One. A loud 'ooh' came from the audience, whilst 1A remained silent, I was sure Kat had told them the plan. All of a sudden, I felt the cold, smooth skin of the snake wrap around my calf, trying to bite it. Thankfully I reacted in time, hardening my leg and kicking him off. 'Force him to transform'. I thought for a moment, figuring out what to do next. I examined his snake-form; he used the flat ground to easily slither around. I then decided, to disrupt his movement, to start destroying the arena floor. I threw punch after punch all around me, causing the once-flat ground to become rocky and filled with craters. "That's my guy!" I didn't look, but I smiled to myself, knowing that Kat agreed with what I did. I watched as the snake stopped before growing into a snow-coloured hare. Two. The plan was working. In his rodent form, he and I both knew his attacks wouldn't be enough to faze me; leaving me confused as to what he'd do. To my surprise, he jumped over the holes I had created and began shifting whilst in midair. Suddenly he was an albino chimp, landing a kick on my intentionally unhardened stomach. Three. I staggered back, panting and holding my abs. I grunted, making myself sound more hurt than I was. As the monkey circled me, I noticed his movement was slower; he was losing energy. He had two more transformations left, and I needed him out of this chimp. I began running, careful to control my breathing and stamina. I punched and kicked the air, each attack missing. I heard a couple of mutters from the audience, probably judging me, but I didn't care. Each punch I threw had very little power behind it, but Uchida didn't know that. Easily he dodged every attack; he then picked up on my heavy breathing and my slower movement. This was what I wanted. It caused him to go for the counter attack that I had been waiting for. Suddenly, the monkey was leaping towards me, however I shifted my body to dodge and grabbed his leg as he flew past. Before I could use this opportunity, Uchida panicked, turning into a dove and flying in the air. Four. Taking this moment, I started full on acting, panting and holding my 'sore' muscles. Equally, Uchida was flying poorly, the beating of his wings was slow and unsteady. I silently thanked myself for never really displaying my quick in middle school, he had no idea what my limits were. I was so grateful for actually having strategy, when all Uchida had was flashy white animals. Whilst the dove started to lower itself, I began coughing and leaning forward, pretending I was off guard. We were both waiting for our moment to strike, knowing our battle was reaching the end. Thankfully, I wasn't panicked, I still had a lot of energy and fighting spirit. On the other hand, Uchida had his last transformation, which he knew needed to be strong. He needed a finishing move, something that could beat me in an instant. I could practically read him, he thought I was tired, an easy target to take down. When in reality, that was him. His bird-form then turned around, flying to the other end of the court. This was it. I pretended to stumble whilst getting into position, showing that I wouldn't be able to counter. For a moment, that felt like an infinite time, he stared at me whilst I stared into the beady eyes of him. It was almost like, all the years of tension and conflict had been leading up to this moment. That one second of eye contact could of felt like an eternity if it wasn't for the rapid beating of Uchida's wings. He was flying towards me, all of his energy was put into this final move. He got closer and closer, but then I properly readied for it, one foot back to steady myself. He ignored my sudden change in stance. His transition was instant, nearly throwing me off guard. A couple metres away from me, suddenly he was no longer a bird, but an enormous white bull, with huge horns and powerful muscles. Five. The next few decisions both of us made changed the dynamic and dominance of our relationship forever. It was almost instant, a blur. Just as his horns were about to charge through my stomach, I completely shifted my body, pivoting on my foot to move out the way. My movement was too fast for him to react to. Then, instinctively, I hardened my fist and bashed his face; causing him to almost stop and trip. I grabbed him by the horns, shoving his snout into the rocky earth. On impact, his body shifted for the final time. Laying on the ground was Uchida's true form, a weak, broken boy. The horn went off, signalling the end of the battle, signalling the end of Uchida's power over me.