An Electrical Explosion! (Katsuki Bakugou vs Gash Bell & Kiyomaru Takamine)

I noticed that MHA has a lot of High 8-C characters. So I want to see how Gash would do against them.

High 8-C forms

Speed is equalized

Starting distance is 10 meters.

Battle takes place at the UA sports festival arena.

Gash and Kiyo know that Bakugou must be defeated by normal means. (I.E. that Bakugou doesn't have a book)

Who wins!?

Explosive Boi: 0

Electrical Bois: 7 (Jackythejack, TheRustyOne, Kingofwolves999, Xanxussama1010, LSirLancelotDuLacl, Ionliosite, Monkey Dunno)

Inconclusive

Holy hell I haven't seen you in forever

I think Bakugo has some strong counters to a lot of Zatch and Kiyo's spells. Zakeru/Zakeruga can be dodged with pseudo flight, Rashirudo can be maneuvered around or over, they aren't using Baou until they're near dead. Biggest problem is Jikerudo magnetizing Bakugo, for sure. He might be able to just blow away any metal attracted to or on him by detonating his gauntlets.

As for Bakugo, his psuedo flight, small spammable AP shots and stun grenade are absolute hell for Kiyo and Zatch. He'll figure out very quickly that the book is their source of power, and will aim for it right when he sees the first spell. If he stun grenades them both then detonates in their face, the book is getting burned, especially since they won't be expecting a blinding attack from someone who just seems to shoot explosions.

Maybe they could throw him off with rasirudo bouncing his explosions back and attempt to restrain him with Jikerudo, but Bakugo's aoe and skill is hard to deal with. He'll figure out they only have 5 methods of attacking him, and will aim for Kiyo while either getting Zatch away from him or disorienting him so he can't help.

Knowing Bakugo, he'd fake an attack at Zatch, blow up or stun grenade in his face, then speed amp over to Kiyomaru for one of his building sized explosions to destroy the book.

@Jack

Yeah, I've been (still am) pretty busy.

@King

Those are all very good points. However, I believe that there are several you have left out.

Firstly, Baou does not have to be used only when they're near dead. They have to build up to use it, yes, but damage is not a requirement for them to use it. Only that they've cast other spells first to build up to it.

Secondly, you have completely disregarded Kiyo's intelligence, which is massively superior to Bakugou's. I very much doubt a stun grenade would surprise him, but even if it did, Bakugou uses his sweat to produce explosions, meaning he's likely producing a somewhat potent body odor during the fight. Which would easily allow Gash to track him purely based upon scent. As Gash has fought an invisible opponent before based purely upon scent. Additionally, if Kiyomaru, say, backs them into a corner on purpose, then Bakugou can only attack from one side, which renders Kiyo's attacks much more effective. Especially since they should have the range advantage.

Third, you didn't mention their sixth spell, Rauzaraku at all. It's an incredible speed amp that allows Gash to blitz opponents that were on his level even when they have a headstart of a dozen or so meters. He could quite literally treat Bakugo they way he did kid, in that he can just run up and throw him several hundreds of meters away, waltzing through his explosions. This one spell really lets Gash kinda just beat Bakugou to a pulp for 30 seconds at a time. Bakugou won't be able to react fast enough to try to move out of the way.

Lastly, there are loads of building sized attacks in Gash bell. Kiyo has tanked them multiple times without his book burning. He simply shields it with his body. A building sized explosion isn't going to be burning the book.

Also, can he do an AP shot if he detonates his gauntlets? Additionally, Zakeru has decent AoE, they could easily aim it more towards the ground such that when he dodges it, the explosion of electricity will hit him, possibly stunning him momentarily.

Hope you're doing well and things will clear up then

I know damage in particular isn't a requirement, just saying that it's usually, at least on this key, a last resort type of spell, and not exactly something they open with.

It's not the blinding aspect of Stun Grenade that makes it difficult to deal with, it's that Bakugo attacks right after it with no hesitation. It's meant for sudden disorientation into easy large hits, such as if he were to maneuver around rashirudo, then immediately stun grenade and let loose an explosion to blow Zatch away.

With the sixth spell, Bakugo could possibly retreat into the sky and range spam since they can't use any other spells while it's active, something he'd notice the moment he starts getting beaten around. He'd get beaten to a pulp maybe once before realizing that this spell negates their ranged options, and his pain tolerance is so immense that he can deal with getting harmed for 30 seconds as well.

Also, to oppose your speed blitz argument, Bakugo also has a speed amp that lets him blitz people comparable to him via his condensed shots. He recently learned to fine point his explosions to a certain surface area on his palms, and used it to blitz an enemy that was reacting to him just seconds before in order to save a hostage. So he himself is capable of blitzing to Zatch and Kiyo, and though his is only for a single direction, it's usable in nearly every situation, such as, per your example, if they were to try and catch him in an explosion of electricity.

Yes, Bakugo doesn't need his gauntlets for AP shots. AP shots are just an application of his quirk where he focuses explosions on a single point in his hand to increase their piercing power. It's like condensed shots, but for ranged attacks, he doesn't need a gauntlet to perform them. The gauntlets are only for storing sweat for big explosions.

Kiyomaru deserves his own section because holy god this dude is a bitch to fight.

Kiyo in battle is ridiculously impressive, with both his tactics and analysis. I have no doubt he'd figure out Bakugo's ability in seconds, and be coming up for counters right after. He'd probably have a fully mapped plan in under 30 seconds, which is a brain Bakugo isn't close to having at all despite he himself being a prodigy. With Zatch, Kiyo will be practically untouchable and the book won't be in any danger whatsoever as long as he has his opponent figured out.

But that is exactly what Bakugo would try to exploit. Bakugo is not an idiot, and will know when Kiyo has figured him and his methods of attack out. At that point, Bakugo will begin switching tactics. Much like against Midoriya, Bakugo can completely change his way of approaching a fight from just a single clash with the enemy, so much so that, despite having literally years of information on Bakugo's fighting style, quirk and personality, Izuku was completely overwhelmed not due to lack of power, but due to a shift in behavior.

Faking an attack to Kiyo when really he's aiming for Zatch. Stun grenading and blowing up both or only one of them. Throwing his personal "sweat grenades" at them if they try to back themselves into a corner, or even just destroying the corner around them. Attack Potency amps like Howitzer Impact or covering himself in explosions to make a fire wheel. Speed amping towards them, but fighting with his bare hands rather than his explosions. Blowing up the ground to unsteady their footing. All of these are things Bakugo can, has and will do to get an advantage over Kiyo and Zatch, and there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to when he will change what he's going to do.

(Don't respond to all of these methods, I know Kiyo can come up with counters to them but that's not my main point)

As many plans as Kiyo can come up with, Bakugo can come up with just as many ways of completely changing his approach to make those plans useless. Kiyo isn't fighting a person whose tactics, power and limitations are limited by a book, something he can tangibly plan around and understand. Kiyo can come up with plans for how to beat Bakugo's powers, and he will come up with them. But Bakugo's head is an entirely different thing Kiyo will struggle to understand. Bakugo thinks and breathes fighting. He's constantly changing his fighting style to match his opponents, always baiting, always unorthodox. You could study him for years and he'll find a way to surprise you by taking your own notion of what he can do and flipping it around.


That's how Bakugo fights, and it's how he can get a leg up on Kiyo and Zatch to burn their book. By adapting to Kiyo's plans and never letting him analyze his fighting style, he can overwhelm Kiyo, just for a long enough time to get close and get the book.

I put more effort into essays on Bakugo Katsuki's fighting style than I do College.

Is this peak weeb?

Kingofwolves999 said:

I put more effort into essays on Bakugo Katsuki's fighting style than I do College.
Is this peak weeb?

Click to expand...

You are clearly beyond me in weebishness.

I would do the same but I'm lazy.

@King

Thank you for your responses. They're very well thought out.

In spite of Bakugou's fantastic intelligence feats of his own, in particular in combat, it's simply incomparable to a guy whom, in a single hour, could learn a language completely foreign to his planet and partially reprogram a living demon to prolong an entire arc in a series. As well as someone that can calculate laser trajectories on a whim with a multitude of different shaped mirrors around, and maneuver both himself and gash to the right position to be untouched by them. He also consistently fires into the heart of strong attacks with Zakeruga to tank through them. He did this against Bari when the latter had destroyed the floor underneath the duo and proceeded to launch a giant gigano class spell. I believe you mentioned destroying the ground beneath them before following up with an explosion. This commonly employed tactic would make this difficult. Not to mention that blowing up the ground could potentially expose things such as metal pipes underneath, from which point jikerudo becomes an incredibly potent issue.

One of Bakugou's largest issues is that he's dealing with two people. One who is much more intelligent that he, despite Bakugou having greater battle experience. And one who can tank pretty much everything Bakugou throws at him, even his higher AP attacks (Gash's durability is much higher than his AP in this key). The same cannot be said for Bakugou.

Stun grenade, much like Gash and Kiyo's jikerudo, is Bakugou's largest asset here. However, there is still the issue of his body odor. Light doesn't make them physically unable to move, and I very much doubt that they would merely stand there when they know there's a risk to their book. Furthermore, if it coincides with Kiyo casting a spell, Gash would be momentarily unconscious, and therefore not blinded by the spell. But either way, Gash should be able to track Bakugou with his nose. He's immensely protective of his book keeper.

Generally speaking, it'll be pretty hard for Bakugou to get close to Kiyo because of Gash. And if he really focuses in on Kiyo, he runs the risk of taking serious damage from one of Gash's spells. Kiyo isn't much of a fighter himself, but he can abuse the fact that it's two versus one to do things like throw rocks to distract him or alter his flight path into a wider ranger Zakeru.

Lastly, there's the issue of Bao Zakeruga, which would arguably one shot Bakugou. It's absolutely massive and incredibly unlikely to be dodged. Even with speed amplification, the size still makes avoiding it difficult due to the sheer distance he would have to travel. Even then, it travels so he'd have to try seriously hard to avoid it. And in that time, Kiyo could easily have a trap waiting. He might even blow up the ground on purpose hoping to find metal pipes underneath so he can stop such a mobile target. And, of course, there's always the possibility that Kiyo fires it from point blank range, which leaves Bakugou with little change of dodging it. I could even see Kiyo baiting Bakugou with the Rauzaraku timer, such that when he thinks he has an opportunity to close the distance with his speed, there's a giant dragon of lightning staring him down.

That aside, Bakugou's fighting style will likely appear fairly straight forward to Kiyo. This "limitation" posed by books is primarily limited to how many spells one has. And their use to a certain extent. Gash's first spell is lightning, and can be used as such. Zakeruga can be used in a similar fashion. (Later on Zakeru is bright enough to blind foes upon a casual casting). Explosions, fire, light, and flight bring nothing new to the table. Similarly, lightning is something that Bakugou has seen before. I believe both their move sets are rather limited (even with how versatile the characters make them out to be), so the battle primarily comes down to small advantages, and general intelligence.

Gash and Kiyo have better range generally speaking, and a numbers advantage which offers them a range of tricks that Bakugou doesn't have access to, acting solo. Such a fact even offers to offset his speed amplification, as he can only target one of them at once depending upon how far they are. And if they split up by 180 degrees, he can only physically see one of them. Kiyo's superior intelligence makes him more likely to come up with plans that Bakugou wouldn't think of. Such as Kiyo's much higher propensity to use and abuse the battlefield he's on much more than Bakugou, and his ability to often times understand the powers and ability applications of others better than the user themselves (I.E. Kyanchome, Tia, etc). Gash's higher durability and stamina means that he'll be able to take more hits than Bakugou, and fight for a longer period of time. And Bao Zakeruga as a potential one shot gives them an explosive option that Bakugou has no real reason to see something. Beams, shields, and arcs of lightning don't suggest shooting a massive dragon of lightning from one's mouth that moves fast enough to hit characters that can dodge point blank Zakerugas (which is confirmed faster than Zakeru). Bakugou's advantages seem to primarily lie in his better mobility, stun grenade, and ability to adapt. Yet his ability to adapt seems to be not quite as good as Kiyo's (though still rather excellent). His mobility is somewhat offset by 2 v 1 tactics, better range, Rauzaraku, and Zakeru's landing AoE. And his stun grenade was addressed earlier.

While I believe the fight to be rather close, Kiyo and Gash's advantages seem to be a bit more numerous and arguably more effective than Bakugou's here.

@King

Perhaps a respect thread for Kiyomaru is in order? I need to go back through and reread the series anyway. Add a few more profiles.

Also, if you've read the whole series, can I get your thoughts on what you think of it? As, personally, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I need to read this series

I will agree to all the points above. Kiyo and Zatch are a pretty invincible duo without really good hax.

I did read the entire series and absolutely loved it. I felt the character progression and stakes were real, loved the strategy aspects, appreciated the villains and enjoyed the supporting cast. Final arc was pretty weird though, felt kinda rushed.

I think it's safe to say Gash and Kiyo FRA

@King

I agree. The final arc did feel a bit weird. I'm not sure if I would say it was rushed, but it did feel quite a bit different from the rest of the series. Clear as a final villain makes some degree of sense, but he didn't really fit as well with the rest of the series. I think he could've had some kind of motivation other than wanting to erase everything. Something that would've acted more as an antithesis to Gash's budding philosophy as King. I think it would've been better if the main bad guy wasn't someone inherently wrong, but merely someone whom Gash disagreed with.

Kinda like how Bari was going to become a "strong king." Or Wonrei a "protecting king." The final villain could've been something like that, but perhaps with a slight twist.

Just my thoughts.

Dropping in out of nowhere but Kiyo is a monster, I've read the entire manga so I now how insane he is. We're talking about a man who was able to perfectly figure out a spot to stand in that a laser reflect off of a multiple surfaces wouldn't hit him and much more. The calculations he does in the series are beyond anything any human could do.

I'm going to be honest but Kiyo's intelligence and Zatch's abilities, along with their teamwork gives them the edge her. I'm voting for Zatch and Kiyo. Yes I'm calling him Zatch because I'm trash.

@Litentric Teon

Ikr? That arc just felt off to me because of how one note Clear was. It felt rushed too because there wasn't really anything for the rest of the cast to do. Kyanchome, Tia and Ponygon got kinda cheated out of actual fights, especially kyanchome who had some of the best character development. I liked how he was defeated, but it just felt odd for it to happen.

The lack of an ideology also put me off a bit from Clear, and his power set didn't feel as creative as some other characters. He just was kinda there.

@Rusty

Zatch is the only name I will acknowledge

@Rusty

I'm glad to see you make an appearance. I agree, Kiyo is a massively intelligent individual.

@King

I agree. I actually kind of like Clear's powers, however, since they fit his theme of erasure. But I do agree that the rest of the cast aside from Brago, Gash, Clear, and Ashura got kinda tossed to the side a bit.

Clear's ideology certainly could have used some work.

I just realized we're derailing. Lol. If you want, we can continue this on my wall.

Bump

Bump.

Bump.

Bump.

Bump.

Bump.

Red book duo FRA

Litentric Teon said:

@King
Perhaps a respect thread for Kiyomaru is in order? I need to go back through and reread the series anyway. Add a few more profiles.

Also, if you've read the whole series, can I get your thoughts on what you think of it? As, personally, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Click to expand...

I'll be happy to provide for such a succulent thing, if it gives me an excuse to re-read the series all over again.

Anyway, vote goes to the duo for me.

@SirLancelot

Many thanks.

I'll have to balance that with the Bastard!! future CRT I wanna do.

@Lancelot

Take your time. There's a new (kinda new) verse that I've been meaning to put up for months but never had the time to go through it. So I'm going to do that first. It'll be a while, though.

Bump.

Gash and Kiyomaru FRA

Well, I guess everything has already been said.

The ones who burnt Rein's book FRA

Oof.

Grace.