Cho vs Deku

[Cho]

Wind howled through the craggy, snowy expanse in the shadow of the mountain. To the Earthbender’s ear, it almost appeared to carry a voice with it; deep and sinister, whispered and vicious. Cho and his green-haired companion huddled in the makeshift shelter, erected by the Earthbender, to escape the blizzard that pelted them with jagged, dagger-like shards of ice and snow.

The cold seemed to penetrate down to their bones. Their teeth chattered as they shivered, doing their best to keep at least some warmth in their chests.

“This is ridiculous..” Cho complained, his voice lost to the wind.

“I thought you said you knew where this entrance was..” Deku barked, a sneer snaked it’s way across his face.

“It’s a bit fuckin difficult in the dark, man. Come on. Give me a break…”

To say it was dark would be an understatement. The shadow of the mountain that dominated the area seemed to plunge the surrounding scenery into even further darkness, if that was possible. The shadows seemed to twist and writhe, squirming their way around the pair and drowning them in impenetrable darkness.

Cho flicked a wrist and closed their shelter with another sheet of rock.

“We should get some rest. No sense wandering around in a blizzard. I’ll find the entrance after we’ve got a few hours shut eye, at least.”

Deku merely grunted in response, already turning to face away from his companion. Clearly, the cold, dark and relentless winds were playing havoc on them, dragging their moods through the snow.

Cho sighed and turned to face the rock wall of their shelter and closed his eyes for a moment, the exhaustion of dragging themselves through the snow and blizzard setting in. As quickly as he’d closed his eyes, sleep took hold and dreams began to creep their way to the forefront.

He writhed in his sleep as he was forced to recollect the horrors of the night he and the Emperor had dealt with. Cannibals, dragging innocent people from their beds to feast on, how close they’d come to being a meal themselves.

He wrenched himself from the depths of his dreams with a sharp inhale as he sat up quickly.

Kill……

The voice on the wind hissed, antagonistic in its message. Cho shook his head a few times.

‘Just hearing things..’ he mused.

He.. won’t.. hesitate…..

He whirled around, straining his eyes against the inky black of their shelter for any sign of the source of the voice. Deku was still asleep, tucked up in the far corner of the shelter.

You.. won’t.. survive the night… End it. Kill him before he wakes..

Goosebumps shot up and along the Earthbenders arms and neck. The wind seemed to die down outside, drowned out by the thudding of his heartbeat in his ears. He ran a hand through his hair and took a hold of a couple of twists. He gave them a tug, wincing at the sharp pain, eliciting a groan as the realisation that he wasn’t dreaming set in.

He glanced at the sleeping hero, pangs of paranoia jolted through his entire being as he wrestled with his psyche. Disturbing, spine-chilling images played out in his mind. Cho groaned and tried to shut them out as he turned to face the rock once more. He wrapped his arms around his torso and groaned, nigh begging with his mind to stop fucking with him.

He peeked over at Deku. Were his eyes open? Cho looked back.. definitely shut.

Now.. do it now. The would-be Avatar gasped as his own voice echoed on the wind now.

He stood with a groan, tentative, calculated steps towards the Hero as his paranoia sunk its venomous claws into what little sanity was left in his mind.

Another flick of his wrist and a chunk of rock dislodged from the wall of their shelter and hung over Deku’s head ominously.

“Sorry..” Cho whispered as he commanded the rock to slam down onto the Hero’s head.

It would’ve hit too, if Midorya wasn’t already on his feet like a shot.

Cho recoiled heavily, coughing and spluttering as Deku pulled back the fist he’d plunged into the Earthbender’s gut.

“You will be…”

 

[Fennec Shand]

Izuku Midoriya didn’t waste a moment. No sooner had the words left his lips when he brought his other fist to Cho’s chin. His knuckles pushed into the other boy’s jaw, the ferocious uppercut lifting Cho off the ground. The earthbender flew upwards, crashing through the wall of the structure and soaring out into the unforgiving blizzard. He landed in the snow with a crunch as Deku leapt out of the shelter as well, posting up a few meters from his companion-turned-adversary.

Why had Cho so suddenly turned on him? The question bounced through his mind, and the wouldbe hero could feel his brain working overtime — as it often did — to uncover the truth of the matter. The earthbender pushed himself off the ground and back to his feet, but Deku slowly found himself becoming distracted. Every interaction he and the other boy had over the past few days stuck in this icy hell cycled through his mind. Had something happened, or had he done something wrong and not realized it? Or had he just misjudged Cho’s character the whole time?

Had he always been untrustworthy, and had Izuku been blind to it? No matter how much he racked his brain, the answer remained elusive. It didn’t help that he had started to feel just a bit… wobbly.

Can I even stand up straight?

He hunched his back, balling his hands into fists as Cho sunk into a fighting stance. For a few moments, the two boys just stared intensely at one another, wondering who’d make the first move. Wondering who was more thirsty for the other’s blood.

Cho’s fingers twitched, and Deku’s eyes went wide. He heard the whipping of a flying rock behind his head just in time to lunge forward. The stone sailed over him, but Cho’s mastery of the environment worked quicker than Izuku’s instincts. Before the young hero could get his bearings, a small column of earth erupted from the snow and smashed into his face. It sent him rolling to the right, landing on his stomach in the cold, icy mush.

“Surrender,” Cho demanded, earth ending restraints around Izuku’s wrists and ankles from the very ground beneath him. The green-haired boy looked up at his companion, a mix of anger, confusion, and helplessness dancing through his emerald eyes.

“Why?!” he shouted through grit teeth. “Why, Cho?!”

Because he wants you dead.

The voice hissed through his head, deeper and more ferocious than his own but still echoing with his familiar tones. His furrowed, quizzical brow deepened into something more animal, more violent than had ever crossed his face. The malaise of Inverxe crept up his spine like a legion of a thousand angry spiders, spreading across his back and into every pore of his skin and sucking every vengeful fiber out into the open.

Izuku Midoriya wasn’t a violent person, but within his fists lied the potential for a devastating force. Under normal circumstances, on any other planet, the inkling to use that power to crush Cho into the snow wouldn’t have even crossed his mind.

But this wasn’t a normal planet, and the snake-like imitation of his own voice still whispered between his temples. Because he wants you dead.

Was there truly only one thing to do, then?

Yes.

Kill him first.

Cho blinked, and Deku was gone. Green sparks lingered where he’d laid in the snow, the only evidence he’d ever been there aside from the boy-shaped indentation in the frost and broken remnants of the earthbender’s stone bonds scattered about. And within moments, he was on Cho, inches away from the boy, fist reeled back to start and end this fight once and for all.

“Detroit… Smash!” he screamed, feeling the hissing voice creep into his own again. Fist collided with Inverxian rock as Cho earthbent a barrier in the nick of time. The stone cracked beneath the force of Deku’s Smash attack, shattering nearly instantaneously, and Cho leapt back, skidding to a stop just a few feet in front of Deku. Izuku lifted a leg into the air, the power of Air Force slicing forward towards the Avatar. The gust of wind slammed into Cho’s gut, knocking him back even further.

Izuku smirked, but his joy was cut off by another sudden jerk from Cho. A stone column emerged from the frozen ground and threatened to slam into his face, but Deku slammed a hand down on the top of it, shoving it away. For a spell, he and Cho stared at each other, scowling, the force of One for All matched up with the prowess the other boy earthbended with.

Eventually, Cho released his hold, and Izuku smashed the column back into the ground. The green-haired boy wiped sweat off his brow and stared down his opponent.

“That all you’ve got?!”

804 words.

 

[Cho]

Cho shook his head quickly. He stood up from his fighting stance. His stern expression shifted through a whole range of emotions in a split second. Anger, grief, confusion and melancholy all had their moment before settling on a disconcerting smile, deranged and twisted, though the sadness in his eyes belied his true feelings.

“You were gonna.. I had to-“ he started, his voice catching in his throat with every few words, “You or me.. they-they said it’s gotta be me..”

He lurched forward, heavy footfalls launching chunks of rock into the air. They hung there, for the briefest of moments, until Cho threw a combo of punches and kicks in the air. The rocks careened for Izuku, two flew past the Hero’s head as he ducked to the side, another splintered into innumerable pieces as Deku caught it with a precisely timed punch. The fourth, however, was just too much. A decently sized chunk of rock caught Midoriya in the stomach, knocking the wind from his lungs and sending him reeling back a few feet, doubled over, nursing his belly.

The Earthbender’s assault didn’t end there, though. He lunged forwards with his hand outstretched, fingers pointed. Countless spears of jagged rock erupted from the snow at odd angles, each threatening to pierce and plunge into the Hero’s flesh, were it hit for his nimble feet. Each dodge and duck cleared from space between him and the Earthbender, though the spears of rock came closer and closer as fatigue set in. Deku closed in on Cho, leading the path of spears directly towards him. The ploy paid off as, in his stupor, the Earthbender didn’t stop his assault in time. Deku ducked, spun past him and jerked forwards, shoulder barging the Earthbender towards his own deadly spears. Cho’s eyes widened as he lurched towards the point of a number of rocky spears. He threw himself into his own spin, not nearly quickly enough, as he collided with the spear, tearing a deep, bloody gash along his neck, blood spewed from the cut, staining the ground and his clothes in a deep crimson.

The Earthbender hissed in pain and clamped a hand over the nasty wound in some act of desperation, trying to hold it together. His heart raced as panic set in yet again. Cho did his best to control his breathing, but each heaving breath hurt. The cold stung his lungs, the pain in his neck seared and his mind fought to find some decisive action to bring an end to the scuffle. He had some experience in combat, but the Hero clearly had more. His inexperience led to him hurting himself while Deku got away with little more than some laboured breathing. With a growl, Cho slammed his fist into the side of one of his spears of rock. The entire jagged line of rock shattered and splintered into a blinding cloud of dust that whipped up and expanded on the winds.

Izuku huffed and recoiled away from the cloud of rock dust. A couple of powerful blasts of Air Force saw to the majority of the cloud, dispersing it into the blizzard that surrounded the boys. The last of the dust was dispersed when the Earthbenders gambit came into play. A trio of rocky discs flew through the cloud, concealed until the very last moment. Deku barely had time to react as the first rock connected with his knee, shattering his centre of balance, the second flew wide, but the third.. the third struck Izuku on the temple. He wobbled on his feet, his world rocked and wavered as he struggled to keep hold of consciousness.

Cho burst from the depths of the blizzard and cloud, grim determination burning in his eyes. He grabbed a hold of the hero by his ears and brought a heavy knee up to his chin as he leapt. Black tendrils burst from the Hero’s wrists, perhaps spurred on by instinct alone, and wrapped around the Earthbender’s encroaching knee. Cho found himself whirled around and launched some feet into the air, away from Izuku who staggered slightly, still fighting to retain his consciousness.

691.. little shorter than I’d hoped for but hey

 

[Fennec Shand]

Deku stumbled. His vision blurred as he fought to stay awake, the effects of the earthbender’s knee connecting with his face still radiating. Some ways away, Cho landed with a resounding thump in the snow, eliciting a groan so loud that it brought Izuku a little bit back to life.

The green-haired boy shook his head, trying to steady himself. He watched as two Chos slowly pushed themselves back to their feet, desperately trying to bring the copies together back into one young man. The Avatar’s glare landed on the wouldbe hero, and for a moment, they stared at each other, each trying his best to remain upright in the face of the incredible pain they’d already faced.

“You ready to give up yet?” Cho called out.

Deku scoffed, wiping blood from his lip. “Not… a… chance.”

His right arm lunged out, black tendrils whipping out of his wrist and wrapping around Cho’s ankles. Green energy pulsed through the blackwhip as Izuku tugged, hard, and the earthbender’s feet flew out from beneath him and he slammed into the snowy ground.

Deku leapt into the air, yanking Cho with him as he soared high above the snowy surface of Inverxe. Green energy crackled around him as he cranked One for All up to eight percent and dragged his opponent higher, higher into the air until they were face to face several meters above the ground. Retracting the blackwhip back into his wrist, Deku reached out and grabbed Cho by the temples, rearing back and smashing his own forehead into the other boy’s. The earthbender yelped as pain radiated throughout his skull, and Deku shoved down, tossing him from the air towards the blizzard below.

Cho crashed into the earth. Snow flew this way and that as he sank deep into it, and a sparking Izuku landed a few feet away. The emerald-haired boy breathed deep, watching for his opponent to rise again.

His attack had been pretty formidable, but Izuku Midoriya wasn’t an idiot -- far from it. He’d spent his entire life studying heroes and villains of all kinds, so much so that his mind had been trained to know almost everything about a warrior just by watching them in combat for just a few minutes. Yes… his attack had been formidable, but Cho was just as persistent as he was, and he knew the young Avatar wasn’t going to give up so easily.

Especially not since -- for some stupid fucking reason -- the earthbender had decided that they were enemies suddenly. Izuku took a deep breath in as he tried to rationalize why Cho might’ve attacked him, but continued to come up with nothing. He couldn’t see any reason why their friendship had dissolved.

It doesn’t matter, the voice inside his head echoed. He tried to kill you. You kill him first.

For the first time, Deku felt himself pulling away from that same mind. The opinion of the voice in his head, for once, didn’t seem like it… completely… matched… and…

No! it almost shouted in his ear. He screamed in pain as he felt his entire brain rock with the volume of the voice all of a sudden, reaching up and clutching at his forehead, digging his fingers into his emerald-green hair. For some reason, it suddenly felt as if his actual opponent here, on the snowy surface of Ioun’s moon, wasn’t the earthbender who remained prone in front of him… but instead, himself?

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!” he screeched, lifting a fist up and smashing it into the snow. Knuckles connected with Inverxe’s surface, and he felt the ground beneath him begin to crack.

Well, Cho wasn’t going to let that opportunity pass by idly.

The earth split. Deku yelped as the snow parted beneath his feet and the entire planet seemed to crack and open up. He looked up to see Cho kneeling, now, fingers splayed against the ground, using his powers to literally open up a passage into the even more danger-tinged underground of Inverxe. The expression on the boy’s face… it was mad, it was furious. His brow was furrowed deeply as he watched Deku stumble into the hole he’d made.

The emerald-haired boy disappeared beneath the ground, falling towards the lava-filled cavern below. Thinking as quickly as his malaise-infected mind could, he shot a blackwhip out at a sturdy-looking stalagmite and swung to the nearest solid ground he could.

As his feet touched down, he took a breath. Sweat had already begun to form on his brow from just how hot the magma-infested cavern was. He looked up to see Cho standing at the edge of the chasm, a satisfied smirk on his face. The earthbender chuckled to himself ever so slightly as he leapt down and joined Izuku on the platform floating in the steadily-flowing lava and lowered himself into a fighting stance. Slowly, Deku too found himself finding his bearing and preparing for the next round of battle. He hated to admit it, but it was looking more and more like this battle was only going to end with one of them melting into the fires around them.

Out of the blizzard and into the volcano, then. Let’s go.

864 words.

 

[Cho]

The would-be Avatar revelled in the change of scenario for a little while. With what he could currently manipulate, there couldn’t have been a more perfect setting for him. He turned his attention to the Hero in front of him.

“It didn’t have to turn out like this, Deku, really.. But you-” Cho started, his voice cracking as the white noise-like drawling spurred him on, urging him to drown Izuku in the lava surrounding them, “You were my friend, Izuku, we both could’ve made it through the night..”

Izuku gave his Earthbending compatriot a perplexed look. It didn’t make sense to him. They’d made it this far with no issues. In fact, they were getting along well. Cho returned the look with bloodshot eyes, he twitched and stretched his neck. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he lurched forwards. The immediate area surrounding the pair flared up. Flames danced across the surface of the roiling lava, bubbles swelled from within and burst menacingly. The depths of the magma gurgled and writhed in reaction to the Avatar’s will. He brought his arm up and around in a wide arc. A wide tendril of lava erupted from the surface and threatened to consume the Hero quickly as it stretched overhead. He stood for a brief moment, eyes wide in shock as he watched the molten rock fly toward him.

Green sparks were all that remained of Deku. He was gone in an instant, high in the air above the Avatar as he switched in his Shoot Style. He threw himself into a front flip and extended a leg. Sparks and lightning coalesced around his limb as he careened toward Cho. Slow to react, the Earthbender took the full brunt of the Hero’s axe kick to his shoulder, crumpling to the ground in a heap with a pained cry. Cho rolled to the side, avoiding the deadly punch Izuku threw as a follow up. He scrambled to his feet and wrenched his good arm out in another wide arc. Lava spewed from the cavern below and coated the center of the platform they stood on, giving him a little breathing room.

The Lavabending Avatar paused for a moment and concentrated. The platform split in two as he tugged a gap between his hands. His new little platform drifted atop the lava, while Deku’s remained in place. The Hero took up a boxer’s stance before throwing a series of punches. Bullets of air flew for the Avatar who, in response, erected a pillar of rock and lava to block the attack. The Air Force assault left heavy indents in the barrier. Cho returned fire. He took a heavy step forward before throwing himself into a roundhouse kick, followed by a series of jabs and finally an uppercut. The barrier split into countless pieces, some hung in the air while the larger chunks of magma and rock flew for Deku. A wide arc of lava blew from the pool below. The Hero lurched backwards, avoiding the attack but fought to maintain his balance as he teetered on the edge of his platform.

Izuku grunted as a considerable chunk of melting rock whistled past his ear. He dipped forwards, doing his best to avoid the second smaller, but no less deadly, glob of lava that soared over his head. The third, a fist sized chunk of near melted rock, struck the would-be Hero in the chest. He let out a shriek as the lava clung to his clothing and burned through, searing away at his skin. He writhed in agony as the Lavabender watched on, a sadistic, triumphant grin creeping its way across his face. A twinge of realisation wriggled its way in as a little light flickered within the shadowy depths of his malaise-addled mind.

“Deku- I don’t- I didn’t..”

But it was too late. A green blur screamed toward him, leaving a trail of flickering, white-green lightning in its wake. The Hero skidded to a halt just before the Avatar and launched his lightning-wreathed fist into an uppercut.

“Detroit….. SMASH!” Deku screamed as his punch connected, sending Cho soaring into the air, his world fading to black as pain coursed through his skull. His jaw cracked and crumpled under the stress of the Hero’s attack, sending wave after wave of searing pain through what felt like his entire body. He landed in a heap on a small embankment of rock at the side of the cavern.

745! Cho uses one application of focus to upgrade his Earthbending to Lavabending!

 

[Fennec Shand]

Deku stood for a moment, breathing after the effects of his Detroit Smash. He’d managed to train his body enough to not totally collapse whenever he used his Quirk, but pushing all of One for All’s power into his arm – and then out at Cho – still exhausted him, so he took advantage of the rare moment to catch his breath.

Cho lay in a heap on a platform just across a small bridge of lava. Deku could feel the malaise still creeping up his spine, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as unbridled fury coursed through his veins. Anger pumped through his whole body, but while every inch of his skin trembled from it, his mind wandered. What, exactly, had happened, again? Why did he feel so much hatred for Cho vibing in the pit of his stomach? What was the purpose of all this fighting?

Strangely… he couldn’t find an answer. He looked at the earthbender, lying prone in the rock, slowly shaking as he tried to push himself up, and rationally all he could feel was pity. Pity for him as he struggled to overcome the lasting effects of taking a Smash right to the head. But that pity couldn’t mingle with the overwhelming heat drowning him.

Or was that just the lava?

Cho’s hand flicked, and more of the hot magma burst out of the river. Izuku sidestepped, watching as the hot, hot liquid splashed into the ground, immediately melting the rock right where he’d been standing.

Alright, the emerald-haired boy thought, so it’s still on.

He leapt into action, green sparks trailing behind him as he soared across the river and joined Cho on the other side. The earthbender by now was on his feet, and sent a punch flying through the air. A column of rock erupted from the molten ground and crashed into Deku’s stomach. The wouldbe hero sputtered, spit flying out of his mouth as his whole body turned concave and he was sent back into the wall. The entire cavern began to crack as he impacted the side of it, and fell to the floor.

He was back on his feet as fast as he could manage, blood beginning to drip from his mouth as he stared down his opponent. Cho had sank into a fighting stance, but for whatever reason, hadn’t launched another assault. Izuku did his best to also fall into his own stance, but something told him that maybe, perhaps, the fight had taken a turn.

“Had enough?” he called out. Cho scowled.

“Not by a longshot,” the earthbender snarked, but Deku could see his resolve weakening. If he were being honest, his own resolve had begun to melt, too.

He blinked. The hairs on his back were still standing up, but something… didn’t feel right. Something felt altogether off about the entire way his body was moving, the entire way his mind was thinking, the entire way his heart was beating. Was Inverxe itself – the gravity, or the atmosphere, or the temperature extremes – affecting him? The malaise wrapped around him like an itchy, uncomfortable blanket, trying to soothe him away from this revelation but feeling all wrong at the same time.

“I think… we should…” he started to say.

“Stop?” Cho interrupted. “Heh,” he scoffed, “something told me you’d say that.”

Deku stopped. Something?

What?

But he didn’t have time to think before molten ground was once again erupting out of the earth at Cho’s will, flying towards him. The hero darted this way and that, ducking beneath columns of rock as he flew toward Cho. The earthbender lifted a giant column of rock before him as a defense, but Deku had already swung his leg back, getting ready to strike down the barrier and finish this battle once and for all, malaise be damned.

He swung his leg forward and connected with the rock column as he screamed out a battle cry he hadn’t even dared to use before. Power surged from his center, past his hips, down his leg, into his knee and shin as his whole kick began to plunge into Cho’s defenses. The earthbender buckled down, using all of his might to push back against the hero’s might.

“Manchester… SMASH!!”

710 and done! Izuku uses a focus to use the Manchester Smash.