Description[]
Ninjago: Dragons Rising vs My Hero Academia! These two young men live in a world filled with heroes, and have a fanatic about them, but were born with no powers, no way to be special. But after a battle lets them show off their unique skills, the greatest hero in the land takes them under their wing to become a hero capable of being #1. Who will win?
Interlude[]
Counter: When the greatest hero in the land, the strongest, the most powerful take you as their protege, you'd better believe you have something special to back it up.
Kaiya: Like Arin, the self-taught Spinjitzu prodigy!
Damien: And Izuku Midoriya, the Ninth user of One For All.
Hannah: I'm Hannah, and these are my partners, Counter, Kai, and Damien.
Kaiya: And we're here to look at their strength, arsenal and abilities to find out who would win in a Death Battle!
Arin[]
Counter: The Ninja. A constant in the world of Ninjago, this team of brightly-coloured warriors fought a variety of villains looking to bring the land back to the dust it came from, lead by the legendary Green Ninja himself, Lloyd Garmadon. But beyond Ninjago, 16 other universes existed, some containing the deceased, some places of light, some of shadow. But all were interconnected.
Kaiya: And one day, they all crashed together. On a typical day, Ninja super-fan Arin was caught in the very centre of this universal cataclysm: The Merge had begun. And in a huge blast, Arin was alone. His parents and everyone he ever knew and cared about were lost.
Damien: With no-one around him, Arin began a new life in the Merged Realms, coexisting with a great variety of non-human life. He even formed a close friendship with a technological genius and outcast from a neighbouring realm known as Imperium, known as Sora.
Hannah: But his heroes were gone. Arin kept up hope that the Ninja would one day return, for it was the only thing keeping him hopeful that his parents would return. But Arin took it upon himself to keep up the Ninja’s tradition, even teaching himself a rudimentary form of Spinjitzu.
Counter: This was extraordinary. Spinjitzu was a technique that was thought to be impossible to teach yourself, the single most important Ninja technique, and in a chance encounter with the Green Ninja himself, Lloyd realised the potential of both Arin and Sora, and took them under his wing to train them in the way of the Ninja.
Kaiya: Spinjitzu is an incredibly powerful Ninja technique. Drawing on the art of rotation, the user spins rapidly, drawing upon their inner balance to produce an energy tornado. It adds force to the user’s blows, increasing their power. Heh, did you guys know Counter likes to try and do S-
Counter: No, I don’t.
Damien: But Spinjitzu doesn’t just…spin you. When inside the Spinjitzu tornado, your speed increases, you can propel yourself in the air, drill through weak surfaces, change your clothes, and suck objects or people into the tornado!
Hannah: Unlike the other Ninja, Arin does not have an Elemental Power, but that doesn’t hold back his potential. Arin could be the greatest Ninja around, demonstrated by his development of the unorthodox fighting skill: Object Spinjitzu.
Counter: A technique unknown to all others, Arin can transfer Spinjitzu into thrown, inanimate objects and tremendously increase their power. He’s torn a hole through the Destiny’s Bounty, an Elemental Power-proof Mech, or even a malevolent giant puppet.
Kaiya: He has a grappling hook to traverse around, or bring objects closer to him and throwing stars, with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Ninja and their moves and poses.
Damien: Arin travelled with the Ninja on many journeys. He travelled to Imperium and crushed the oppressive reign of the Empress Beatrix. He battled the Wolf Mask Warriors in a desperate bid to prevent the release of the Forbidden Five, and even investigated the shadiness behind the Tournament of the Sources, all to protect the all-powerful Source Dragons.
Hannah: But it was through this journey that the darker sides of Arin’s personality were revealed. With the weight of the world on his shoulder, Arin felt stuck. Even after a year of training under Lloyd, his Spinjitzu wasn’t improving. He wasn’t getting stronger, HE wasn’t improving.
Counter: And the villanous Lord Ras noticed. On the night of the Blood Moon, Lord Ras manipulated Arin, planting the seeds of doubt in his mind: Maybe there was another master out there who could get him to reach the potential he knew he had.
Kaiya: And these doubts only grew. During the Tournament of the Sources, Arin learned that Sora, his best friend, had lied to his face, that Ras’ teachings helped him achieve perfect Spinjitzu, and that, after all was said and done, the Ninja’s Master Wu had caused the Merge, and was the reason his parents were gone. Damn, and I thought Counter’s parents were bad.
Damien: Arin abandoned the Ninja, coldly brushing off his best friend, and the heroes he had looked up to, to investigate a colder form of training. A more rewarding form of training. One that focused on one thing: Strength.
Hannah: And it wasn’t like Arin was lacking in strength, either. He’s strong enough to plow through two stone pillars with an imperfect Spinjitzu, fast enough to keep up with the other Ninja who can dodge lightning, and tough enough to survive a brutal beatdown from Lord Ras. He’s even able to send Nokt flying with a Spinjitzu hit.
Counter: And Nokt is no joke. A member of the Forbidden Five, able to compete with the other Ninja, such as Lloyd, who is powerful enough to handle the power of a single Source Dragon, hold back Grief-Bringer who can shake a mountain, and even battle the Overlord, who is equal to beings who can create universes!
Kaiya: And yeah, Arin definitely isn’t as strong as someone like the Overlord or even Lloyd, but even being in the same conversation means Arin has plenty of power behind those muscles of his! But I could take him, I mean, have you seen what I can do?
Hannah: *snort*
Damien: Arin may be a powerful fighter, but he is definitely not perfect. He’s fairly gullible and naive, and succumbs easily to manipulation. He can be fairly impulsive and his limited amount of training and improvement means he can easily be outskilled by others.
Hannah: He’s also not got a great handle on Object Spinjitzu, only seemingly able to do it when Sora is in danger or his emotions aren’t in check.
Counter: But Arin still has a long way to go before being the very best. He has unimaginable potential, but still needs to work hard. A Ninja’s path is never a straight line, and while Arin may have succumb to Ras’ manipulation, you can sleep soundly knowing that no matter what, Lloyd and the Ninja will find him, and bring him back to the light.
(“You were right, the ninja failed me. Master Wu, who taught them everything, is the reason my parents are gone. I'm gonna help you get better, Ras. And then, you're gonna lead me to my parents. Because now you're the only one I believe can do that.”)
Deku[]
Counter: Imagine, if you can, a world where over 80% of all humans have superpowers. These powers, known as Quirks, can be anything, like creating anything out of your own body fat, using your sweat to create explosions, or even…sticky balls...
Kaiya: Fuck you, Mineta. But the greatest Quirk of all, the most powerful in the land, resides in one student, training to be a Pro Hero. This hero aspired to be like the #1 Hero in the world, All Might. His name? Izuku Midoriya. And his power? Absolutely nothing!
Damien: Yep! It may surprise you to know, but Izuku Midoriya was born Quirkless, a rare type of person with no Quirk to speak of. Devastating news, and one that would lead Midoriya to be bullied for most of his life, especially by one spiky-haired Katsuki Bakugo, who gave him the mocking nickname of ‘Deku’, literally ‘good for nothing’. Ouch.
Kaiya: No, but it’s okay because they’re secretly in love and-
Hannah: Despite having no power, Midoriya still studied hard to get accepted into one U.A High, the best school for teaching kids to become professional heroes.
Counter: But one fateful day, everything would change. When Bakugo was captured by a gigantic sludge monster, Midoriya found that his feet seemed to move on their own, throwing him into the heat of the situation to try and rescue someone in need.
Kaiya: The exact kind of person All Might was looking for. Scarred by a horrific injury, All Might knew he needed to find a successor to take his all-powerful Quirk. And so, Izuku Midoriya went from zero to hero, as All Might gifted him the most powerful Quirk in the land: One For All.
Damien: And so, Midoriya trained. Day and night, he worked up enough muscle mass to be able to handle One For All, to prevent the power of the Quirk destroying his arms! Too bad for Midoriya, that’s exactly what it could do.
Hannah: Midoriya was accepted into U.A, where he learned a dangerous fact: Deku could only use One For All at max power, and doing so would shatter the bones in whatever body part he used.
Counter: But even then, Deku, the boy who was good for nothing, could suddenly do anything. And that’s when he decided to own the name that had always been used to put himself down. Izuku Midoriya became Deku, the strongest hero around.
Kaiya: And he had plenty of power to be just that! One For All is an incredibly powerful Quirk, and even after every battle Deku has gone through, he still can’t use it at max power without seriously damaging his body. He can, however, safely access about 30-45% of his power at any one time.
Damien: Deku uses One For All to amplify all parts of his body through his Full Cowl, and distribute it evenly, increasing his maneuverability, agility, and strength. It also stops him from breaking a bone literally every fight. No, really, it got so bad that Deku was warned that if he kept overdoing it, he could literally lose his arms! But that’ll never happen. No, sir.
Hannah: Deku broke his arms so much that he had to adapt his fighting style to give his arms a break. While stepping away from All Might’s shadow, Deku developed his Shoot Style, focusing his Full Cowl to his legs and using them to deliver devastating blows.
Counter: Believe it or not, human legs are actually much more powerful and have far greater muscle mass than human arms, allowing Deku to output a lot more power at a lot less of a cost. With his equipment from best girl Mei Hatsume, Deku can even kick through solid rock, create shockwaves, or probably just kill a guy.
Kaiya: But One For All is much more versatile than just punches and kicks. He can create bursts of pressurised air to fight at range, stay in the air, or amplify his movements. He even incorporates these into his Smashes, like the Detroit Smash, which sends out a single devastating punch to make sure no-one’s left in his way, and his St. Louis Smash and Manchester Smash do the same, but use his legs for a bit more power.
Damien: Deku has taken One For All further than any previous user, including All Might. His connection to his Quirk is so great that he can communicate to the past users of the Quirk, who are able to give him guidance, or even help break him out of mind control. His connection is such that he was even able to unlock and use the other past user’s own Quirks! Yeah, this kid doesn’t just have one superpower, he has a bunch of them!
Hannah: And due to the mangaka’s love of Spider-Man, some are inspired by the webhead’s own powers. Like Blackwhip, a Quirk that allows Deku to spawn energy tendrils out of his body. He can use these to grapple around, ensnare targets, or pull objects towards him. He can even create blackwhips from his tongue, inspired by his friend Froppy.
Counter: Danger Sense allows Deku to be alerted to oncoming threats, Smokescreen allows him to create a cloud of smoke, enough to cover entire city blocks, and Float allows him to…well, come on.
Kaiya: But maybe one of his greatest Quirks is Fa Jin. When Deku makes repetitive motions, Fa Jin stores his kinetic energy, and allows him to release it whenever he wants to! Combining Quirks, Deku can even output power comparable to 100% of One For All, without the whole arms-breaking thing.
Damien: Deku can use Fa Jin to amplify any strike he wants, or he can use multiple small bursts at a time repeatedly! And when combined with Gearshift, the ability to change the speed and trajectory on contact with it, Deku can amplify his power even further, up to a whopping 120% of One For All’s power!
Hannah: However, Deku can only use this ‘Overdrive’ state for five minutes before he would collapse from exhaustion.
Counter: Yeah, that’s the problem. Most of Deku’s Quirks have a drawback in some way or another. If he loses control of his emotions, he can lose control of Blackwhip and Danger Sense won’t activate if someone doesn’t have malicious intent.
Kaiya: But who really cares about stupid drawbacks if youre on par with the strongest people in the world? When sharing his power with Bakugo, Deku was able to disperse a gigantic storm! Based on the total mass of the clouds and the time it took the storm to disperse, such a feat must have required over 2 Teratons of TNT! That’s enough to level a small country!
Damien: Deku was also able to severely damage All For One Shigaraki, who is comparable to beings able to survive multiple intercontinental missiles at point-blank range, requiring 8 teratons of TNT!
Hannah: He can survive a nutshot, broken bones, and multiple barrages from Shigaraki. Deku is absolutely a tough person to take down. He’s also…astonishingly fast. He can keep up with and dodge Lady Nagant’s bullets, which can travel 215 kilometres in the time it takes to lower an arm. This would put Deku at anywhere from over 6000x the speed of sound, to 2% the speed of light!
Counter: Star & Stripe was able to catch a laser, requiring a speed of 2% the speed of light, and Deku is able to keep up with both of them.
Kaiya: He has an amazingly detailed knowledge of Quirks and always analyses and strategises around them mid-fight. He can deduce weaknesses on the fly, predict opponent’s movements, and is even described as a nerd. Pfft, nerd.
Damien: All this power lead to absolutely massive pressure, and a desire to keep his friends safe. Knowing black-hearted people would target him for his Quirk, Deku left U.A and became a dark hero, obsessed with tracking down All For One, leaving behind the ones he loved most.
Hannah: Even fighting them at one point. Though his friends were able to bring him back to the light. His influence even caused people like Bakugo to soften up, because Deku truly wants to help everyone, even when they won’t accept it.
Counter: So Deku lead his friends and the Pro Heroes in a Final War to decide the fate of the world. And in a climactic battle, Deku saved the world, and became what he always dreamed to be, even if that meant being Quirkless once again.
Kaiya: But don’t worry, because Deku will always be there with a smile on his face and a bright future ahead.
("I-I've got a lot to say to you, but... That'll have to come later...! Because it's like All Might said... Giving help that's not asked for... is what makes a true hero!")
Intermission[]
Counter: Alright, the combatants are set! You guys ready?
Kaiya: Let's do it!
Damien: Heck yeah!
Hannah: I'm ready.
Counter: Then let's end this debate once and for all...in a Death Battle!
