Chapter 33: Ricolo vs Deku

Inside the intercom room, the sight of Present Mic and Eraserhead staring at a woman with pinkish hair wearing something similar to a janitor's outfit could be seen. Both of their faces were dosed in confusion, as the woman spoke in a shaky voice, clearly nervous.

" U-Umm. Ricolo isn't here. "

" What do you mean he isn't here? " Asked Eraserhead, slowly standing up from the seat, he was sitting in. Seeing this, the woman grew even more nervous, speaking jittery.

" Y-Yeah. I-I saw him leaving the stadium. He didn't say anything, but I figured I should tell y'all since his match is about to start. " 

" Maybe he's trying to cheat. " Implied Present Mic, but before this thought could circulate through the room, Eraserhead let out a loud scoff and spoke while walking towards the woman, with a serious look on his face. 

" He isn't the type to cheat. Did he look nervous or serious when he left the stadium? " The woman quickly shook her head and spoke.

" I didn't see his face. I only saw his back. " 

Eraserhead let out a loud sigh and nodded, before speaking to the woman. 

" Thanks for telling us. You're dismissed. " 

As the woman quickly spun around and approached the intercom room's exit. Eraserhead stared blankly his mind racing with thoughts and worries, due to Midnight telling several pro heroes about the attack on Ricolo. They naturally began to watch his actions closer, but oddly, not a single pro hero noticed him, leave. 

Only a staff member witnessed him leaving. Eraserhead's biggest worry, was why, Ricolo left abruptly. In his mind, he figured it would have to do something with the sniper attack, which was completely true. He assumed that the sniper must have acted again, forcing Ricolo to leave the stadium. 

Eraserhead could only shake his head, before he turned around, and looked outside the intercom's window, staring down at Deku, who was on the stage with a stumped look on his face...

Pov: Deku

Umm... Where is he? Did he decide not to show up? I glance around confused, as the crowd shares my same facial expression. Ricolo wouldn't be scared to battle someone. So, why? I stand motionlessly, slightly embarrassed from the sheer amount of eyes glaring at me, until abruptly Present Mic, spoke. 

" Pardon the interruption. But this match has been delayed for an extra five minutes. If Ricolo fails to show up in those minutes. We would be forced to disqualify him. " 

Even Present Mic doesn't know where he is? I know Ricolo hides a lot of stuff, especially about his past. Did he caught up in something? When I met him, that one time during the night. His face was odd, he was, angry while at the same time. He seemed quite happy. I really don't know how to explain it. 

I take a deep breath and look over towards the crowd, inside this crowd, sitting at the top of the stands is the majority of Class 1-A, even Mineta is watching. I figured he wouldn't care enough to show up. There's Kacchan, Mina, Iida, Momo, Uraraka, and several others. 

It's been roughly around 30 seconds since Present Mic made that announcement. So, I... guess, I'll just have to wait here. A gentle breeze of wind, blew through the air blowing my green hair, this gentle breeze lasted several seconds. Those seconds, turned into minutes, and finally, only half a minute remained of the five-minute timer, set by Present Mic. 

I stared at the tunnel on the other side of the stage, as the quiet crowd, began to become uneasy from the thought of Ricolo being disqualified, but within this quietness, I heard something, gentle footsteps, echoing out of the long tunnel. The footsteps grew louder and louder, and then boom. Present Mic screamed out. 

" Just in the nick of time, coming from class 1-A with a late appearance! It's Ricolo! " 

Immediately, the uneasy crowd, burst into cheers, as Ricolo walked up the stairs, with a grin on his face. He took three steps, before stopping and facing me. But something was off about him, his clothes, a section of his shirt was destroyed? Right on his left elbow, it looked like the material withered away, kind of decaying almost. 

" I apologize for wasting your time, Deku. I ran into something. And it made my trip back to this stadium take a lot longer than I planned. "

" I-Its fine. But what happened to your shirt? " I asked him, but he didn't respond to me. He only shrugged his shoulders and began to stretch his arms. Uraraka told me something from her fight. Ricolo sets up his attacks by doing trivial things, such as stretching and even throwing light kicks. He doesn't care about the power of the attacks, he wants to repeat said action, and make it snap into action without any signs, giving him a better chance to land a light force onto my body. If he accomplishes that. In theory, he could repeat that force infinitely, and that force will only grow stronger and stronger. 

" Don't make the same mistake of Uraraka, Deku, " 

He's right. Uraraka lost that fight, for several reasons. One of the main reasons was that she overthought. Her movements were hesitant and stiff, she was nervous to throw an attack out, only in the end, did she overcome that nervousness but by then, it was far too late. He had landed far too many blows on her body. 

" Start! " 

Without any warning, Present Mic roared out, I took a deep breath and began to walk to my right, circling a motionless Ricolo. Who stared at me, with his arms dropped to his waist. He's not entering a guard, so I can't see where his openings are. He's good. But I know that already. The only thing, that should be running through my mind, is my next actions.

Should I charge towards Ricolo, or should I make him charge towards me? With One For All, even if he can repeat his actions, I dramatically overpower him when it comes to sheer strength, the only problem is, that I can't control my quirk. I need to catch him off guard, and sacrifice one of my fingers to try to blow him off the stage. That's the only way, I can win this. Winning in hand to hand is impossible, and would I give into his forte? That doesn't make any sense. And the answer to my previous question is...for me to charge.

Instantly, I dashed forward, Ricolo's eyes widened slightly, he quickly put up and guard, and patiently waited for me. The once gentle breeze grew powerful, blowing my hair back, as I slammed my foot harshly on the floor. My shoe skidded across the ground making a squeaky noise ripple out, while I threw an overhand at Ricolo's jaw. 

Before my overhand could travel through the air, Ricolo's right hand slithers through the hand trying to grab my wrist, but before it could reach, I feint my punch tightly tucking my hand next to my chin, while I roll under Ricolo's grab. I land on my knees and immediately raise my hand forward tightly pressing my index finger with my thumb.

Sharp pain ripples through my hand, as I flick my finger, causing a powerful blast of air to engulf Ricolo, his hair and clothes blow wildly, his body is flung back through the air rapidly approaching the edge. He glances behind staring at the edge before snapping his head forward, watching as I dash forward once again. 

I can't lose this opportunity this strategy won't work again. With each step, I launched off the ground rapidly approaching Ricolo who slammed his feet onto the ground, sliding back. I tightly pressed my thumb on my middle finger, but right before I was about to flick, Ricolo made an odd hand sign his right hand, crunching his fingers.

I snap my eyes to this hand sign, but oddly, he unravels his crunched fingers into a normal palm, as he dashes to his right, my eyes widen, as I flick my finger, shooting out a massive gust of air that narrowly misses Ricolo who slides to a stop on my right. He grins at me, as he takes a deep breath and speaks.

" You almost had me, if you didn't hesitate there, you would have probably launched me off the stage. " 

So? Was that hand sign for nothing? Just a distraction? Or is he setting up some sort of attack? I can't think about it for now. Eight fingers, I got eight chances not counting my legs to knock him off the stage. My hand trembles, while I slowly begin to walk towards Ricolo. He knows about the force of my flicks now, so naturally he'll pay attention to it. Right? Maybe I can use that to my advantage. 

Without any further thoughts, I dash forward tightly pressing down on my ring finger, before flicking it towards Ricolo, a massive gust of wind shoots out but... Oddly, his body doesn't move, like the force of the attack completely fazed through him. I stare at him confused, until an abrupt sharp punch slams into my chin making me stumble back.

I look to my right and see Ricolo standing there with a grin on his face. How did he get there? He was right in front of me? O-Oh! He did the thing he used against that one villain right? The one wearing the hand on his face. When he randomly started to punch the air rapidly. During the USJ attack. Can he repeat the action of his presence- Before I could finish my train of thought, the force of the punch repeated making pain course through my body.

My legs buckle and I drop to one knee. Blood begins to drip down my chin from a small cut on my right cheek. I quickly wipe the blood away using my thumb and look up at Ricolo who is staring at me with an indifferent look on his face. I'll have to finish this quickly, forget using my fingers one by one. I'll need to knock him off the stage with a single powerful punch. I prematurely ball up my left fist and gingerly stand up off the floor. 

" Are you ready to end this? " I ask him, he just smirks at me and waves his hand, repeating the force of the punch three times, making my vision blurry, as I wobble back. But I don't drop onto my knees, instead I glare forward. The grin on his face grew wider, as he spoke.

"You're lucky. I'm not trying to damage my body. " 

Damage it? Oh well, in this next exchange, the fight will be decided...

The sound of deafly cheering, caused the air itself to tremble. The crowd watched intensely, while Ricolo and Deku faced each other. They were getting prepared to have their final exchange. In unison, they both inhaled deeply, taking deep breaths. Until Deku's eyes dilated and he shot forward. Shattering the floor under him. 

His body flew towards Ricolo, who stared at the charging Deku surprised by his sudden increase in speed. For this entire fight, Ricolo could easily track Deku's movements. But unbeknownst to him, Deku had used One For All, on his right leg. Dramatically increasing his speed. In a matter of seconds, he arrived in front of Ricolo. With his left fist tightly clenched. 

The air itself began to warp off Deku's fist, tearing through the atmosphere, hurling towards Ricolo's face. Who's eyes were focused completely on Deku's knuckles. But oddly, he wasn't looking to dodge the attack. His mind, was focused on something else entirely. Ricolo had only felt this amount of power once. During the battle between, All Might and the Nomu. 

With his mind fixated on the source of Deku's power. The punch hurled toward the frozen Ricolo, inching closer and closer. Until the mighty punch slammed into Ricolo's forearm, who narrowly raised his arm narrowly blocking the attack. But still, the punch was far too powerful, and a loud crack rippled out as Deku's punch broke through Ricolo's guard and slammed into Ricolo's chin. 

Air itself was sucked in, before a massive gust of wind propelled forward launching Ricolo off his feet. Blood poured out of his mouth, as his body repeatedly bounced on the ground, rapidly approaching the edge until his fingers suddenly caught into a crack in a broken tile, stopping his momentum.

Ricolo's body came to an abrupt halt, making his right shoulder snap out of place. He lay there motionless, as Deku stared at him. Deku's arm was completely shattered. His breaths were heavy, he inhaled deeply and exhaled loudly. Repeating these actions rhythmically, until they suddenly stopped. 

Deku's eyes dilated, as Ricolo slowly pushed up off the floor, blood dripping off his chin, splashing onto the cracked floor underneath him. He gingerly stood up and looked over towards Deku, his eyes were cold. He grabbed onto his right arm, and pushed it up, snapping his shoulder back into its socket. And began to walk towards Deku, and until he suddenly stopped.

His mind began to race, before he glanced down to his left, noticing that his arm was completely bruised and most likely broken. He stared at this arm for several seconds, until he let out a loud sigh and spoke.

" I'm sorry for doing this, Deku. " 

A confused look swept across Deku's, as he stepped forward, entering into a stance, getting ready to defend against Ricolo's inevitable attack, but Ricolo didn't move and instead slowly raised his right arm into the air and spoke.

" I forfeit! It's my loss! "

A stunned gasp rippled through the crowd, while Deku dropped his hands, letting them dangle next to his waist. He gasped for air before speaking in a shaky voice, completely stumped. 

" One of my arms is broken. My leg is broken, fingers are broken. And yet you're forfeiting? "

" Yeah. Enjoy your moment Deku. No one except you to beat me. " Responded Ricolo, walking towards Deku. Passing him, while Deku stood motionless in shock. Ricolo approached the stairs leading off the stage, but right before, he could reach them, Deku spoke while looking back toward Ricolo. 

" I didn't beat you. You could have won this fight if you wanted. So, what's the real reason? Why did you give up? " A slightly frustrated look covered Deku's face as he said this. Ricolo scoffed at this look before speaking while walking off the stage. 

" Do me a favor. I told Endeavor I would make his son use his fire side. If Todoroki beats Bakugo, make him use it " Seeing that Ricolo had ignored his question, Deku could only nod his head, and listen to Present Mic as he screamed out loudly. 

" The Winner Between Ricolo vs Midoriya! Is Izuku Midoryia! "

Even though Deku had won the battle, no signs of happiness could be seen on his face. He could only stare at the cracked floor under him, until Ricolo spoke to him, stopping on the final step of the stairs. 

" I have one more thing to tell you Deku. Out of all, Class 1-A. In my opinion, you have the greatest chance to become a renowned hero. I sensed familiarities between All Might and You. So, if this is the final time I talk to you. Remember that. " Deku quickly snapped his head from the floor and looked behind but before he could ask a question, Ricolo was already walking towards the tunnel. Deku could only murmur to himself. 

" What do you mean? Final time? "...