| “ | I don’t know how I’ll feel when I’m dead, But I don’t want to regret the way I lived.
— Yuji Itadori
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” |
A dimwitted but good-hearted student and ex-athlete, Yuji Itadori spent most of his days taking care of his grandfather and bonding with members of the Occult Research Club. The day his grandfather dies, Yuji's friends accidentally unseal a cursed object, attracting curses, a race of monsters created by humanity's negative emotions, to their school. Yuji meets a young man, Megumi Fushiguro, who agrees to help cleanse the school of curses. During the fight, Yuji consumes the cursed object, becoming the host of Ryomen Sukuna, the most feared and powerful cursed spirit in history. After the initial curses are dealt with, Megumi's mentor Satoru Gojo arrives, suppressing Sukuna. Gojo invites Yuji to attend Tokyo Jujutsu High to learn to control his powers and fight spirits, with Yuji agreeing, thinking of his grandfather's last wish for him to surround himself with good friends and to use his strength to help people.
Yuji begins his training in earnest, ending up in the same class as Fushiguro and another new student, Nobara Kugisaki. Yuji is briefly killed during one of his early missions, with his death allowing Sukuna to briefly take over. The cursed spirit strikes a bargain with Yuji to bring him back to life, with the conditions being Sukuna being allowed to retake control of the body for one minute at his leisure and Yuji forgetting the deal. After being revived, Yuji learns to harness his cursed spirit energy in the field, meeting the sadistic cursed spirit Mahito after he kills an innocent school boy, as well as participating in the goodwill event with the Kyoto school, with his friends only discovering his survival then. After one more mission, Yuji finds his place within the sorcery school, renewed and eager to make his death and life mean something.
Battle vs. Venom (by MovieStuff65)[]
"So, I just have to walk in and beat up the monster?"
Picking at dirt under his nails with a dagger, Trevor Belmont looks up at the guild's new intern, who remains focused on the large, dilapidated building in DFederal's Lower District. The building, most likely a bank or some other type of office building from back when it was still blue collar, cast an imposing shadow over the otherwise hot summer day. Yuji eagerly looks at Trevor, looking relaxed despite his all-black uniform and the red hoodie underneath it. "That's it, yeah," the veteran monster hunter would say, fidgeting with the collar of his tunic. "Just, uh, make sure the other guy doesn't pop out and you'll be good. Try not to die."
"But I thought you wanted me just to knock him around a little bit? For tryouts, yeah? How do you know I did that if I don't bring him out?"
"I should've been more specific. I meant what's his face, Sukuna? Your other guy."
With an understanding "Oh" and an excited nod, Yuji calmly strides inside, leaving Trevor to his brooding. The first two floors, a lobby with some discarded chairs and a floor of small offices respectively, were uneventful and unoccupied. As he entered the fire stairs and made his way to the door of the next floor, a small crash of something beyond it caught Yuji's attention. "About time! I was getting bored." Yuji muttered, quietly opening the door and closing it behind him.
Unlike the two previous areas, this floor was littered with signs of occupation, with mail carts, desks, and chairs strewn about chaotically. Black sinews of a strange substance hung on the walls, while a heavy stench of body filth nearly caused Yuji to gag. Putting a hand to his nose on instinct, the skin on the top of his hand stretches open to reveal a row of fangs, the silence breaking with Sukuna's taunting laughter. "What's the matter boy? Can't handle the stench? I can take your stupid body back, if you want. I love the smell of a good massacre!"
"Shut up!" Yuji says, swatting at his own hand as the laughing echoes and the mouth disappears. Another crash gets Yuji's attention, clearly coming from a room down the hall. A flickering light emanated from within, and Yuji gulped. "I'm not scared...I'm too dumb to be scared." Satisfied with his own pep talk, Yuji walks forward and into the room.
The flickering light revealed the most of this black goo yet, flung around as if something had exploded in the center of the room. In addition to the destroyed cubicles, conference tables, and office supplies within, Yuji looked with baffling confusion at the noise's source. The goat bleated in defiance at the teenager, a red mist surrounding her eyes as she charged towards him.
As he deftly dodges out of the way of the goat, who crashes through the wall and continues, the lights flicker again before a large, masculine black shape lands, shooting a black inky spear where Yuji once stood. As his prey's step backwards turned into a back flip to gain more space, Venom finished his descent. "Like what we've done with the place?" He says, showing the rows upon rows of large fangs dripping with poison in a grotesque smile, vision clouded by red mist. "We wanted to make it special, just for you Yuji!"
Not wasting time, Yuji sprinted forward, launching into the air to avoid another string of symbiotic webs and landing a flying side kick into Venom's chest. Landing with ease as Venom goes reeling, Yuji crouches before springing forward again, fist incased with Cursed energy to deliver a swift uppercut, followed by another jump as he brought his knee beneath Venom's chin and finished the combo with a falling hammer fist.
"You're quick! But we know quick!" Venom yells, raising his fists to launch two webs into the wall. "We'll crush you just like we crushed the spider!" Two chunks of office wall trap Yuji between them, one smacking him from behind as he punches the other into pebbles. Venom dashes forward at the distracted Yuji, arm extending and forming into long claws that slash across Yuji's chest. Venom finishes closing the distance as Yuji swings another punch to counter, with Venom catching it and surrounding it in the symbiote's tendrils. "Not a challenge for us!"
Yuji responds by headbutting Venom, who recoils more from impressed confusion than pain, and yanks his hand free of the symbiote's grasp. "Quit talking! Besides, you're supposed to be challenging me!" he angrily yells, unleashing a flurry of Cursed-energy infused punches into Venom's chest. To Venom's surprise, the symbiote briefly starts to wear away from the blows, quickly reforming but still leaving enough of a gap for concern. He grows several tendril-like spikes to shoot out around him, forcing Yuji back as he avoids getting skewered, before tackling Yuji.
"Break you! We will break you!" Venom roars, grabbing Yuji by the face even as he responds with a kick to the chest. The boy wriggles out just as Venom attempts to smash him through the floor, grabbing Venom's wrist and flipping him over behind Yuji. Quickly standing up, Venom's eyes widen as Yuji tackles him, wrapping his arm around Venom's neck and flinging himself into a horizontal, slamming them both into the ground as they fall. The weight and Yuji's strength sends Venom falling through the floor, Yuji letting go with a satisfied smirk. "I always wanted to do this! Like the wrestlers!" Yuji says, before tapping his elbow and falling down after Venom.
As Yuji's elbow slams forcefully into his gut, a Black Flash of energy leaving a hissing mark in its wake, Venom roars and stands as Yuji does. He launches several webs at Yuji, who swats some aside but is quickly trapped. Even as he rips free one hand with ease, Yuji gasps as Venom dashes forward, a large axe slashing him across the chest. Yuji tears free his other hand just as Venom turns and reforms his arm into a spear, stabbing into Yuji's gut from behind. Yuji spins, bleeding and tired, kicking the last of the webs around his legs free as Venom lunges for the throat. He tears out a chunk of Yuji's throat, whose eyes widen in shock as he vainly grasps as the bleeding wound.
Venom, standing over the boy as he falls, snarls in satisfied victory, before the red mist tinging his vision begins to dissipate. As the symbiote's rage gives way, and Eddie Brock's consciousness returns, the vigilante begins muttering "Oh no, this isn't how it's supposed to go...", bending down as several tattoos suddenly form on Yuji's face. "What the..."
Sukuna opens his eyes, smiling and looking at the shocked Venom. Sitting up, looking at the purple claws on his hand, he begins to laugh.
WINNER: VENOM
Expert's Opinion[]
Despite Yuji's superior hand-to-hand combat skill and his fast, creative mind for battle, he wasn't a physical or mental match for the Lethal Protector. Venom's webs and shapeshifting, in addition to his experience as a supervillain and ambush predator, gave him more than enough means to breaking past Yuji's initial onslaught of attacks and wearing him down, either taking the teenager out or forcing Sukuna to step in.
To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.
Battle vs. Denji (by BeastMan14)[]
TBW
Expert's Opinion[]
TBW