In the distance I could hear the crash and rumble of the rest of the students fighting the robots I had left behind. It already feels like ages ago since I had been over there. I was now approaching the second obstacle. Before me was The Fall, where pillars of dirt stood surrounded by a devastating plummet to the ground below. Each pillar was connected by ropes, giving the option to climb across.

Without hesitation Todoroki passed me, and used his ice to glide along the ropes with ease.

Fuck. I was still exhausted from the robots, but I couldn't afford to take the time to simply just climb across the ropes to each pillar. Todoroki has already passed me, and I need to get moving.

I took a deep breath and went into a running start. Propelling myself from the ground and landing into a tuck and roll to the closest pillar. This was how I would have to cross- leaping with my quirk from each pillar until I reached the other side.

It was strenuous, but more efficient than it would be if I decided to conserve energy and waste time with the ropes. I went on and on and on, until almost catching up to Todoroki. He had reached the end of the obstacle, but wasn't so out of reach from me gaining footing to him. I quickened my pace, being so close was too tempting to give up.

"HEY AIYA!", I heard from above, "Thought you could just leave me in the dust?"

Katsuki. I landed and ran to leap to the next pillar with a smirk, "Took you long enough! Thought you were gonna be some loser!!"

I reached the end of the obstacle, and used my quirk to propel my sprint. Before me, Todoroki gave Katsuki and I a quick glance from over his shoulder. He began pushing himself foreword, attempting to create some distance between us and him.

"YOU SUCK!!", Katsuki raged, using his explosions to push himself ahead of me.

As I reached the third obstacle, the mine field, Todoroki was forced to slow down due to having to watch his step. I began to walk with more purpose, knowing that if I were to activate one of the mines I could easily dodge the resulting explosion. I watched as Katsuki steadily approached Todoroki, with his own intent to kill. They soon began to fight amongst themselves, leaving me in the dust.

Katsuki was almost completely avoiding touching the ground due to using his explosions to maneuver himself. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I could use the force of the explosion, like Katsuki uses his own, along with the vectoring of my quirk to catch up. I grinned as I stomped on the land mine in front of me, and easily caught up to their battle.

I swung my leg to kick Katsuki, who dodged easily, "Don't fucking forget about me!!"

Todoroki threw ice my way, attempting to freeze me before I could land. I dodged and stepped into another land mine, forcing myself towards him with a cocked fist.

The three of us continued our little brawl, ice and explosions almost consuming the three of us. We were completely immersed into our dodges, kicks, and flips until a massive explosion from the back halted our fight.

From the large cloud of pink smoke emerged a tuff of green hair flying with a piece of the metal robot from the first obstacle. Izuku.

I pushed both Todoroki and Katsuki out of my way, trying to gain some footing ahead of them by taking advantage of their shock. I continued to sprint, right up until Izuku landed a few feet away from me- causing another large explosion.

I flew out of my immediate path and towards the left of the field. Gritting my teeth, I needed to find an immediate way to get back in track. Todoroki and Katsuki gave up fighting each other and were putting their effort into catching up with Izuku. Katsuki was flying through the air with his explosions, and Todoroki was creating a path with his ice for him to run without interruption from the mines.

Still air born, I spun midair to face the opposite direction. Once I landed, I exploded forward, going back to the direction I once came from. I landed on another mine a few feet behind them. Propelling myself on the ice path Todoroki so kindly laid out, I was hoping to catch up to them. By using my vector force on the bottoms of my feet, I was almost within their reach.

There was no possible way I could ever begin to pass Izuku, who had just used Todoroki and Katsuki as stepping stones to clear the mine field completely. How ironic. There was still a chance that I could catch up to the other two though.

I sprinted with all of my might, no longer ten feet behind them- but only a few paces. I was hot on the backs of their feet, all four of us approaching the end of the tunnel leading into stadium.

Push. Push. Push.

"And the first place winner is Izuku Midoriya!!", called Present Mic.

The crowd was in a full blown eruption by the time I had made it through and into the stadium, claiming fourth place.

I walked and heaved as I made my way further into the stadium. A pulse was running throughout my body, burning from exerting itself through the entire race.

Fourth. Fourth place was nice. Not as nice as first, but still nice.

I turned to look at Izuku, the champion of the first round. I began walking towards him, who was still in shock at his own win.

"Izu!", I called and slung my arm around him, "You almost killed my, you know."

He wiped tears off his face, "I know, I'm sor-"

"Congratulations, I'm very happy for you.", I grinned at him, "Soak in your win, you deserve it."

Tears continued to fall, "Wh-what??"

"Take your win!", I yelled at him.

Grabbing his hand, I raised it triumphantly above his head, and the crowd roared in response.

"Deku!", came Ochako from behind us, "That was amazing!"

I clapped a hand on his back in agreement and smiled. I walked away, wanting them to have their own moment, already seeing the blush on Izuku's face darkening.

Sitting on the grass, I waited for the rest of the students to finish their race so that the next round could begin. The ache in my body was beginning to subside the longer I sat and caught my breath. I rubbed my hands up and down my body, making sure that nothing felt tight and too strained to continue. My hair was looking a little fucked up, small bits and pieces began following around my face. I pulled the hair tie from the end of my braid, and loosened my hair from its hold. As I began to redo my soba's french braid into much simpler one, I reflected on what just happened.

Izuku really won. I was in no way expecting to win, but I didn't foresee him being the one to take the win. Katsuki must have been furious by the loss, especially that it was to Izuku. He could understand losing to Todoroki, having clearly seen him fought hard for his place, but losing to Izuku again was unimaginable.

Even though this has always been Izuku's dream, to become a hero, and this was on his path, I couldn't help but be a little upset by his win. He had only started actually working towards this dream within the past year, when All Might had given him his quirk. Izuku has wanted it his entire life, and was technically working towards it with his hero analysis journals, but he didn't start training until recently.

There were those like Todoroki, Katsuki, Iida, Yaoyorozu, and even myself, who had been working towards this goal our entire lives. Years of hard work and training to become who we are. I just wasn't sure if it was fair that Izuku was able to swoop in and stifle our own journeys for the sake of his and All Might's.

Katsuki deserved to win. He wanted this just as badly as Izuku, possibly even more. It also wasn't fair that Katsuki was constantly doing everything on his own. Not many wanted to understand him because of his brash personality, and that resulted in him supporting himself. Since he had no one, he accomplished everything on his own to perfection. No one was there to push him because he never let anyone see that he needed the help. And now that all of his work is finally being presented and tried, his win was being pulled right out from underneath him by Izuku.

Izuku has a wonderful heart, one of a hero, and that was undeniable. He was made to do this, and there is nothing else I would expect from him. I just couldn't help but feel upset that there were those who worked longer and harder than him who were... almost cheated out of their dreams.

Katsuki and Izuku are more alike than they let others see. Their dreams and drive are the exact same. Katsuki is just able to reach his goals by himself, whereas Izuku needs to be pushed by the people around him.

"The first game for the first years is finally over- and what a game it was!", called Midnight, bringing back my attention to the festival. "Let's take a quick look at the standings, shall we?"

As I stood up with a finished braid, I watched the screen flash pictures of my classmates and I and what he ranked in the first round. When my picture flashed with a big four next to my flash, I received a load cheer from the crowd. I couldn't help but smile wide at their praise. My entire class managed to make it through to the next round, along with a majority of class B, and some stragglers from the other departments. It was also explained how those who didn't make it to the next round would be given other opportunities to showcase themselves.

"Now the real fun is going to begin.", Midnight spike while licking her lips, "The chance to fully move yourselves into the limelight! Give it your best!"

The monitor began changing, randomizing the event for the next round. I clenched a fist while I waited, truly not knowing what was in store for us. 'Calvary Battle' flashed in the screen in finalization for the next event.

We will make groups of two to four people, and depending on our ranking from the previous round, our group will pull total a certain amount of points. It was also a announced that Izuku's first place stance, will account for ten million fucking points.

Everyone seemingly turned to him at once, gunning to take him and his points.

Clearly, if you were to take his points, no matter what team you were on, you would win the calvary battle.

What was I going to do; let him sink or swim?

I had always been his protector, but by choosing to be on his team I would be forfeiting the focus off of my performance and onto his. That may sound selfish, but I needed to make sure I made myself known. But despite how upset I was about losing to him, and my need to be successful, he was my friend and I know if I was in his position he would choose to help me instead.

Would I do the same?