Hey guys! This is the first chapter I've written on after my break, so I hope I haven't lost what little touch I've had. I think I'm going to change the POV of the story. Instead of Third-Person Omniscient, I'll be doing Third-Person Limited, more focused on Ichigo. Tell me how you all like it, and if you enjoy it, I'll keep it. It starts in the middle of the chapter just so you all can compare the two. Another thing is that I need to point something out on the USJ chapter. Ichigo will not be that strong again for a long time. If I'd compare it to anything, I guess it would be his hollow form when he's fighting the Visored to train his mask. So, it's about, I dunno, five or six times as strong as his Bankai? I don't want him to be to strong, otherwise this story would be boring. Also, I kind of
Yggdrasil: Thank You for the kind words. They do mean a lot to me. Anyway, with the Nomu fight, I see your point and now I wish I had written it that way, but alas. Who knows maybe I'll go change that later. Thanks for pointing that out.
Komod0-sensei: You know how good it is to have an author whose stories you enjoy reading review your stories, because it's amazing. I love Generations and have been following since it was Peace Sign, but always was ashamed of liking fanfiction and read on a private browser. Now, here I am, writing my own and getting a review like this was great. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed my writing of Aizawa. I really like his character, because he is and absolute bad-ass. And, while I have seen less people get rid of Mineta, I feel those who do eliminate the chance at the banter between classmates that I enjoy. I dunno, I guess I don't see the point in getting rid of him.
Also, testicular fortitude? I think this has been my first review that actually made me laugh, and I hope you don't mind if I use that phase every now and again. With your point about creative liberty, I wholly agree with you. What's the point in creating a story if you don't change anything? Again, thanks for the laugh.
"Man, I really wanted to wear my costume." Mina complained, tugging on the blue and white fabric of the UA jumpsuits.
"Well, since they want to keep things fair, then we can't." Ojiro pointed out.
"Huh. I wonder what the first event is going to be." Ichigo said to himself, lazily glancing through the waiting room.
"No matter what it is, we have no choice but to deal with it." Tokoyami replied, not knowing the question wasn't meant to be answered.
"Yeah, I guess your right."
"Everyone! Are you ready! We will be entering soon!" Iida yelled as he entered the room.
Mineta muttered words of confidence to himself, seemingly hyping himself up for the tournament. Taking a nervous breath, Izumi nodded in reply before noticing Shouko walking towards her.
"Midoriya." She addressed her calmly.
"W-What is it, Todoroki-kun?" She asked nervously.
"Looking at things objectively, I think I am stronger than you, but All-Might has his eye on you, doesn't he?" She claimed. "I'm not trying to pry about that, but I will beat you." She finished, face remaining stoic throughout.
"Wait, is one of the strongest in our class making a declaration of war?"
"Hey! Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden? Not now, we're about to start!" Kirishima said, getting up from his seat.
"We aren't here to play at being friends, so why does it matter?" She replied, before turning to leave.
"Todoroki-san. I don't know what you're thinking when you say you will beat me, but of course your better than me. I think you're more capable than most people, looking at it objectively."
"Hey, hey. You don't need to talk so negatively Midoriya-san." Kirishima interjected.
"But, everyone, even the student's from the other courses will be giving it their all. So I can't afford to fall behind. I can't afford to disappoint all those who have given so much to get me here. And I can't afford to losing to you! So don't expect me to roll over and let you win!" Izumi said with staggering confidence, before Iida herded them all out of the room.
"Welcome ladies and gentleman to the UA annual Sports Festival!" Present Mic yelled, upper torso appearing on the large screens on both sides of the Auditorium.
"It's good to see all your beautiful faces in the crowd this afternoon, so lets make some noise!" He continued, the crowd blowing up in response.
"Now, its time for the first year students to enter the stage! We'll start with the Hero Course's very own class 1-A, the miraculous class who was able to withstand the villain attack at the USJ!"
The class hearing their queue, walked out of the tunnel, Ichigo, Izumi, Shouko and Katsuki heading the large group as they entered the arena.
"Th-There's so many people here!" Izumi said sheepishly.
"Will we be able to do our best with so many people watching?" Iida asked to no one in particular.
"Man, he really is going overboard with the praise isn't he. It's kinda making me nervous." Kirishima joked, secretly enjoying the compliments being shouted their way.
"Who would have thought that the villain attack would bring this much attention to the first years." Fumikage said.
"While they haven't gotten a lot of showtime, this class is also brimming with talent, it's Hero Course 1-B!" Present Mic claimed, as enthusiastic as before as the other class entered the arena.
"And after them is the General Studies Course's Class C, D, and E! Support Courses Class F, G, and H are here two! Lets not forget the Business course's I, J and K! Now all UA's first years are here!" He continued, less eccentric compared to when he was announcing the hero courses.
"I feel bad. They're really only here to make us look better." Ichigo pointed out.
"Yeah, but it at least gives them a chance to show what their made of." Sero said, his optimistic outlook on most things refreshing to Ichigo.
"And now it's time for the Student Pledge!" A new figure said, walking out into view and revealing themselves to be The R Rated Hero: Midnight in a skintight white spandex suit with purple leather and a whip.
"So the first year's chief umpire is Midnight, huh?" A lesser known hero said from the stand, attraction wafting off of him and those surrounding him.
"What about the principal?" His friend asked.
"He's with the third years as always."
"What the hell is Midnight-sensei wearing?" Kirishima asked, head dipped low to hide the light blush on his face.
"That's the R-Rated Hero for you." Kaminari commented dumbly.
"God, she's so hot!" Mineta muttered, giving a large thumbs up.
"Quiet down everyone!"
"Now, Representing the students is Ichigo Kurosaki from class 1-A!" Midnight called out, and Ichigo casually walked out of the large crowd of students.
"Wait, they chose Kurosaki-kun?" Ochako asked.
"I mean, he did place first in the entrance exam and nearly doubled the second place person's points." Izumi answered.
"Of course it's someone from the hero course." A brown haired girl from the general support course said, before giving a look of loathing to 1-A.
"Wow, she really hates us."
"Yeah, and you can blame that on Bakugo." Kaminari said sourly.
Everyone grew silent as he walked up onto the platform, standing in front of the mic for a second before speaking.
"I'm not the best at making speeches, so I'll keep this short. Firstly, I want to apologize to the minority of you out there. I know there are those of you out there who want to be heroes, but don't have the quirks suited for it, but if you try to use that as an excuse, then you can only blame yourself. There is someone in the number one class, of the biggest hero university in Japan who has a quirk that allows him to shoot tape out of his elbows, and that's it. He's made a quirk that sounds useless on paper into one with some of the highest potential possible. So if you want to be a hero even with a seemingly bland quirk, know that it is possible. And lastly, to all the students participating in the sports festival, you better be giving it your all, because I won't be holding back against any of you." He claimed, before stepping down from the platform and moving to rejoin his class.
"Not the best at making speeches my ass! That was so manly!" Kirishima said, tears of manliness sneaking out from his closed eyelids.
"I really need to make a move on him, ribbit."
'Ichigo. You really are quite the oddity, aren't you.' Toshinori thought from his spot next to the rest of the first year teachers.
"Huh. Maybe I judged him a bit to quick. He seems to be an alright kinda guy." Tetsutetsu said, most of his class nodding in agreement.
"Well, after a speech like that, it would be a crime to not get started while we're all inspired!" Midnight claimed, pointing her whip towards the screen that displayed the first game
"The first game is more of a qualifier round, and it's where most lose their chance." She continued, a screen with a slot-like machine displayed on it appearing behind her. "And the first game is..."
The machine's slot spun, hundreds of different names flashing past before landing on one.
"The Obstacle Race!" She yelled, getting mixed reactions. "All eleven of the classes will participate in this race, and the course will take place on the outer edge of the stadium, about four kilometers!" She continued before getting sultry. "Now, our school's selling point is freedom, so as long as you stay on course, you can do whatever you want. Now please, everyone take your places."
"God damn. How fucking long are we going to wait here." Bakugo growled, already out of patience.
"It makes sense that it would take a little while. If it actually was random, then they would have to build the whole course by scratch, though Cementoss probably makes it only take a few minutes." Ichigo guessed, though he was trying to hide the fact that he was slightly antsy as well.
Oblivious to the vulgar conversation, Izumi was is deep thought about her conversation with All-Might. 'I need to show the world that I am here. Realistically, this is going to be impossible, but I can't disappoint All-Might-sensei. Plus Ultra!" She thought, steeling her quaking nerves.
The green lights above the cement doors started to go out one by one, the students getting into sprinting position just before the last one turned off.
"START!" Midnight yelled, the doors slamming open and the crowd rushing out of the arena.
'I'll have less trouble in the air.' Ichigo thought to himself, jumping into the air as someone tapped the bottom of his foot. As soon as the hand connected with his heel, the owner leaped into the air as well and ran alongside him.
"Sorry, but you have a pretty nifty quirk. Hope you don't mind if I borrow it." A blonde guy said, Ichigo speeding up right after and unable to respond.
'So one of them has a copy quirk. I gotta remember that.' Ichigo thought, coming out of the tunnel and following the track that came afterwards.
'I can't get the one's in the air, but those on the ground are finished.'
The entirety of the tunnel was encased in ice, a select few who had predicted the attack dodging the widespread attack and avoiding getting stuck on the ground.
"Sorry, but I need to win this." Shouko said, skating on a path of ice she had created in front of her.
"Sorry for the lack of commentary on the start of the race, but there were no camera's in the tunnel." Present Mic explained before muting his microphone. "You ready to do this mummy man." He asked teasingly to Aizawa who was to the left of him.
"Shut up and lets do this."
"It seems like Shouko Todoroki has frozen the majority of the runners inside of the tunnel, giving a large advantage to those who avoided the attack!" Mic said, camera shifting to a mass of frozen students breaking the ice under their feet.
"I'm not letting you take first that easily!" Ichigo said, before he lost control over his body and he fell to the ground.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. When I copy someone's quirk, I can paralyze for a minute if I don't want them to! Sucks to be you doesn't it!" The blonde from before claimed condescendingly.
"That's not gonna stop me though!" He spat, before falling back into the crowd.
"In a twist of events the number two spot has been taken by Neito Monoma, who has disabled Ichigo Kurosaki and render his body useless!"
"This was a very well made play by Monoma. Had he not taken Kurosaki out in the first round, he would have a great amount of trouble dealing with him in the next rounds." Aizawa commented, secretly rooting for Ichigo.
"It seems that most if not all of the students have recovered from the large attack, and the Student Representative has fallen into last place! Now, for their first real challenge. The Faux Villains from the entrance exam!"
The front of the pack ran into a massive, circular clearing filled with 'villains' from the entrance exams. The building sized Zero Pointers were plentiful, but it didn't seem to matter as the more agile students maneuvered their way through the clunky robots.
"Wait. The robots from the entrance exam?" Izumi asked as the bulk of the group arrived at the clearing.
"So these are what you all faced to get in here. I wish they had prepared better, considering all the effort they put in to this!" Shouko said, and in a show of power, froze half of the villains solid.
Not wasting any time, she between the spread legs of one of the frozen behemoths with most of the group following her.
'Damn, I lost my lead.' She thought to herself.
"The one minute timer has passed for Monoma's quirk, and Kurosaki is getting up from his spot on the ground!" Present Mic yelled, Ichigo standing at the exit of the tunnel.
"Man, I really didn't want to show it off this early, but I think I have to." He said, before stretching his legs by squatting down left leg bent and his right fully extended before alternating. "All you out their pay attention, because I'll be gone in a flash!" He said, appealing to the anxious crowd.
Taking a deep breath, his body gleamed a bright blue light before disappearing in a flash of light.
"What's this! Ichigo has disappeared from his spot in last place! Where did he go!"
"I found him. He's the other side of the second obstacle." Aizawa pointed out.
"What kind of crazy ridiculous move was that!" Mic screamed in amazement.
"I can't tell you, but it seems to have come at a price. His right leg is torn up rather heavily."
"You're right, but he seems to be tending to it currently, knocking him out of the race once more and giving the rest of the pack a chance to catch up!"
'Shit, I should've known not to use Flashstep so early.' Ichigo thought, removing the torn cloth from his injury and inhaling through his teeth as he did. Inspecting the injury without his jumpsuit in the way, he saw that all the skin on his right calf was gone, and that part of it was torn. Groaning, he unsheathed his sword.
'Old man? You there?'
'I'm always here. What do you need, Ichigo.' Zangetsu replied, voice uninterested but commanding.
'Well, I kinda need to use the cloth on the hilt as a makeshift bandage. Do you think you can make some more?' He asked.
'That will be simple. Just keep an even amount of spiritual energy in the blade, and I will make some for you.'
'Thanks Zangetsu. I can always count on you to save my ass.' Ichigo said, doing as told and placing his hand evenly on the blade.
'Yes, but I would appreciate it if you didn't get into these kinds of situations.'
As promised, the black strip of ribbon grew to about ten meters in length before coming to a halt. Ichigo ripped the cloth at around one meter away from the hilt, giving him a good eight and a half meter's to work with. He started at his ankle, wrapping the makeshift bandage around his leg snugly, giving him partial functionality of his leg.
He fixed his leg just in time, as Shouko and Bakugo ran past him with no hesitation, both of them gunning for first. Not wanting to fall further behind, he jumped off the ground and ran. The three attempted to weakly attempted to get ahead of each other, each throwing lazily executed attacks at the others. To focused on the others, Ichigo unknowingly ran into the third obstacle, a pink cloud of smoke launching him backwards and into the air.
"Shit! land mines? Really?" He yelled to no-one in particular, flipping backwards and landing on his feet with a stumble.
"That's right! The third obstacle is none other than a non-lethal mine field! Each mine that you step on will send you flying back towards the beginning, but shouldn't injure you!" Present Mic informed non-nonchalantly.
"Just fucking wonderful!"
Unable to air-walk due to his injury, he quickly surveyed the area with his enhanced eye-sight before taking the quickest possible route through the field. Catching up with the other two power houses, he blocked an explosion from Bakugo with the flat side of his sword before ducking under a ice blast, consequently hitting the nitroglycerin user. Then out of nowhere, a blast that would've impressed Bakugo erupted from behind them and a streak of green launched out of the pink cloud.
"What the hell was that!" Ichigo said, ducking under the now identified Izumi riding on a piece of metal.
"Sorry Ichigo, but I need to show the world that I am here!" She apologized, before slamming the sheet of metal down infront of him.
The secondary blast sent her even further as she cleared the mine-field in seconds as well as delay the Ichigo and Shouko further.
"You aren't the only one making an appearance here!"
Attempting to catch up with the girl, Ichigo pumped spirit energy into his right leg, dulling the aching pain and giving him a needed boost of speed. As they entered the tunnel, the crowd grew quiet, silent in sheer anticipation/
"And the winner of the first event is...
.
.
.
.
the one and only Izumi Midoriya! Beating the runner-up Ichigo Kurosaki by a hair with Shouko Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugo coming in right after!" Present Mic screamed, the crowd blaring with cheers of amazement and surprise.
"I did it! I got first without using my quirk!" Izumi cheered, doing what appeared to be a victory dance.
"You did all that without your quirk! Well done Izumi!" Ichigo congratulated, pulling the girl into a spinning hug. She grinned further, rubbing her cheek against his own as she let her legs flail out.
"I think that's a bit over the line of 'just friends' don't you think?" He heard Kirishima comment, but paid little mind as he slowed to a halt.
"And they say your quirk is your biggest asset." Ichigo joked, kissing Izumi on her forehead before feeling a splintering pain in his leg.
Noticing the strained look on her boyfriend's face, she spoke. "I-Ichigo! Is everything alright?" She asked, before he fell onto his ass and accidentally pulled her with him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I kinda tore my leg up, but I'm fine." He grunted, the pain ebbing away after he stopped using his leg.
"I-If you're sure." She muttered, resting her ear on his heart.
"And I think that's the last one! Well done everyone on making it through the course! I don't think anyone fell to any of the obstacles, but we can only have the first forty-eight runners compete in the next event!"
Nodding in acknowledgement, Midnight looked down at a small tablet that held the names and pictures of the forty-eight runners. "Izumi Midoriya and Ichigo Kuro...saki..." She slurred, noticing the two leaning against each other on the ground. "Oh my god. Just seeing that kind of youthful love makes me giddy!"
After all the students who hadn't placed in the top forty-eight left, the field was nearly empty with a medium sized group waiting for the next announcement.
"After fixing a few small issues, we are back in action and ready to reveal the next event! Midnight, take it away!" Present Mic blared, the students attention being directed towards the stage from earlier.
"With pleasure! The next event of the UA Sports Festival is the one and only Cavalry Battle!" She exclaimed, the crowd roaring the loudest it could at that moment.
'The Cavalry Battle hasn't been seen in years, so I guess it's understandable why they are so hyped up.' Ichigo thought, his sensitive ears causing him to wince lightly from the outburst.
"For those of you who don't know the rules, allow me to explain them! Your score in the obstacle course transfers here, 48th place having a total of fifteen points and 47th having thirty and so on, each place scaling by fifteen points. The only exception to this is first place, who has a definitive score of ten-million points!"
He chuckled lightly as Izumi let out an 'eep!', the entire student body's eye's focused on her.
"Now, lets explain how the game itself works. You will be given a twenty minute break-period to build your teams, each team having at least one rider and a maximum of three 'horses', but you can have less horses if needed. At the start of the break, each individual will receive a headband that reflects their place in the obstacle course. After all the teams are made, you will be position around the stadium, and a final countdown fill start. At the end of the countdown, you will have to retrieve as many points as you can, all the while defending your own from attack. Lastly, only the rider can hold the headbands at the start, but anyone can take others." Midnight explained, the large screen behind her giving a rough representation of the event.
"That is all, so let the team-creating period begin!"
At that, everyone surrounded Ichigo, Bakugo and Todoroki and asked to be on their teams.
"I already have a team in mind. Sorry about that." Ichigo said, deflecting those surrounding him towards the others. Noticing Izumi scrambling for a team, he walked over to her. "I hope you wouldn't mind being my rider, Izumi." He asked, before lifting her onto his shoulders.
"You r-really want to team up with me? We are going t-to be the center of attention because of me." She said, surprised she had been picked.
"While that's true, I have no doubt that you will be able to come up with some kind of plan. Also, we should go see if Uraraka want's to join us."
Izumi agreed, and Ichigo carried her through the crowd before she spotted the girl.
"Uraraka-san! Over here!" She called, catching her friends attention. Spotting the two, she made her way through the crowd before stopping infront of them.
"Oh, you guys are on a team? That's kind of unfair don't you think?" Ochako joked at the two.
"I don't think it's unfair yet, but having you on the team would help."
Ochako's eyes widened in surprise at the indirect offer.
"Wait, you want me on your team?" Ichigo nodded. "Of course I'll join!"
"Okay, so now we just need a third. What about Iida? He'd make a pretty strong horse." He suggested.
"I don't t-think he will. I asked him before, and he turned me down." Izumi informed, before noticing a pink-haired girl flanking them.
"Hey, Mr. Second Place and Ms. First Place! Team up with me!" She almost ordered, causing Ichigo to turn around.
"Um, sorry, but who are you?" He asked, thoroughly confused by her sudden appearance.
Seemingly out of nowhere, she pulled out four suitcases filled with gadgets and gizmos to present to the team of three.
"I'm Mei Hatsume, Inventor Extraordinaire! I've graced you all with my offer because you two will be in the spotlight without a doubt and I need my babies to shine!" She claimed, Ichigo setting Izumi down as they looked through the gadgets.
"And these are your babies, correct?" Ichigo asked, pulling a pair of cloud white shoes out of one of the cases.
"That's right! All of these babies you see here were made by yours truly!"
"Wait, is this Jetstreams iconic Jet-Pack?" Izumi asked, Mei shifting her attention onto the object.
"That's where I got the concept, but I added a few..."
Drowning out their conversation, he chuckled at the sheer enthusiasm they both put into the hero gadgets.
"They really bonded nearly instantly didn't they?" Ichigo commented to no-one in particular.
"Yeah they did, and their personalities are nearly an exact opposite!" Ochako agreed.
"That just makes it that much better."
"Is it just me, or are these shoes kind of odd?" Ichigo asked, bouncing up and down as a slight test.
"Of course they aren't regular shoes! They let you jump higher and float in the air for a few seconds!" Mei stated a-matter-of-factly
"So that's why jump felt so weird. Okay, anyway, we should probably get into formation." Ichigo said, bending his knees in a crouching position. They nodded in agreement, Izumi getting on his shoulders like before, and Ochako and Mei getting behind him for support. "Alright, like I said before, you two need to keep continuous contact with me, otherwise I won't be able to have spirit energy flow through you and we'll slow down." He explained to the two, both nodding on response.
"Okay, with all the teams chosen, get to your assigned areas before we start!" Midnight said, and the groups started to shuffle around towards the edge of the stadium.
"Shouko's group is to our left, so we should watch for that." Ichigo warned, eyeing the group that consisted of Shouko, Iida, Momo, and Kaminari.
"Kacchan's group is to our right, so we have to watch both our flanks."
Turning to see the group she pointed out, he noted the powerhouse group of Kirishima, Bakugo, Sero and Mina. 'We really are going to be the center of attention, huh. I guess we better make the best of it.' He thought, noticing the absurd amount of attention they were receiving.
"The final countdown has started! Be at the ready teams!"
The countdown was painstakingly slow, ticking once every five seconds.
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
ROUND START
