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The instant Midnight yelled 'start!', a horn blared and all of the students bolted into the tunnel. They did all they can to make it through the tunnel first, bumping into each other, shoving each other aside, and even trying to pull others back to push themselves ahead.
But Izuku knew better than to just rush in with the rest of them, especially after feeling the air turn cold around him.
"I gotta jump!"
He channeled Full Cowling and leaped over everybody just as the floor started to freeze underneath him. He shot towards the walls and just focused on not falling down.
He landed on the wall with his feet, then immediately jumping off and continuing forward by repeatedly jumping from wall to wall in a zig-zag manner.
He made it to the end of the tunnel in no time and jumped out into the light, grinning as many other students came out with him.
He saw Momo using a staff to pole vault over the ice, Aoyama used his naval laser to fly over, and nearly all of his other classmates were making it over one way or another.
Izuku stuck his legs out under him and landed on the ice, using it to skate forward and catch up to Todoroki.
He caught sight of a yellow blur zooming over him and getting ahead already.
"Enso's so fast! So this is his Snipe Style's movement!?"
Izuku reached the end of the ice and jumped off of it, landing on the dirt ground and proceeding to keep a steady but fast pace ahead with the others.
Ahead of him, Enso stopped and looked up once he caught sight of their first obstacle, "For the love of god..."
Izuku's pupils shrunk when he also caught sight of many large bodies ahead. "No way!"
Large and small robots alike rushed towards the upcoming students. They were all the different types of robots that had appeared at the entrance exam, but what made this sight worrying were the number of giant zero-point robots also within the bunch.
"Are they crazy!?" Izuku thought in worry, stopping in place due to being unable to get through easily.
He then saw one of the giant robots get entirely frozen with a coat of ice, stopping its movements in place.
Izuku caught sight of Todoroki running ahead between the frozen robot's legs.
"There's my opening!" Izuku was just about to launch forward, but the giant frozen robot suddenly began to fall forward, pieces of it falling apart as it did so.
"Crap! It'll be too risky to go forward now, or I could get crushed! So..." Izuku channeled power and leaped into the air. "I'll just have to jump over instead!"
He landed on a falling arm of the now destroyed robot, moving fast enough to run along it for a moment quickly before leaping off and landing onto it's falling head.
Upon landing on the head, Izuku didn't hesitate to leap off once more and get even further ahead, "I'm getting ahead!"
"Get out of the fucking way, Deku!"
"Or not."
Izuku couldn't even turn around entirely before he felt a sudden explosion on his back, sending him out of the way.
"Gah!"
Izuku flew through the air and clashed off another robot piece before tumbling along the dirt ground to a stop.
He rubbed his head with one eye open, "Ow... Ow..."
Looking ahead, Izuku saw Bakugo flying over the robots with his explosions, along with many other students passing him urgently.
"Damn it, Kacchan!" Izuku yelled as he slammed his fist into the ground in frustration. He stood up and looked next to him at a piece of the robot's armor that had fallen off.
"If I even get even close to Kacchan, he'll just blast me. But if I use this piece of metal as a shield, then I could probably fend him off!" Izuku picked up the piece of metal and grabbed the large cable it had hanging to wrap it around him himself.
"Not too heavy, and it doesn't hinder my movements; now I just have to catch up!"
"Snipe Style- Ricocheting Bullet."
Izuku saw the yellow blur that was Enso bolt right above everyone and towards one of the zero-pointer robots.
It was only a second, but during that time, Enso bounced off the robot's left arm, to the right one, and then up to the head, each hit obliterating the pieces he jumped off.
The robot's pieces scattered all over the place, and Enso flew through the air and towards the racers ahead.
"Enso wasn't ahead already? What was he doing?!"
"Th-Thank you!" He heard someone yell.
Izuku looked left and saw a few students staring at Enso as he left, visible wounds already on their bodies from the robots.
"He... stayed behind a moment to help?" Izuku shook his head side to side and focused, "Get back into the game!"
Izuku continued running all the way to the second barrier of the race, but he, along with many other students, stopped in their tracks when they saw a vast chasm.
"Hey, hey! The first barrier's a piece of cake, don't you think?! But what about the second?"
The entire area ahead consisted of a giant pit with many pillars with ropes connecting them.
"If you fall, then you're out! If you don't wanna run, then crawl! It's "The Fall!"
"What kind of stupid name is that?" Enso wondered as he stared ahead at Bakugo and Todoroki, who were already passing the pit.
"One blasting over the pits while the other skates along the rope? Hmph."
Enso crouched down and surrounded himself in his yellow aura once more.
Ochako and Mina came upon Enso, focusing their attention on his shining aura.
"What's he doing?" Mina asked curiously.
"Snipe Style-Ricocheting Bullet... again."
Enso exploded forward in a fit of speed, but instead of going over the rope, he altogether avoided it and went towards the pit.
"He's falling!?" Ochako shouted.
However, they saw that Enso had aimed towards the side of one of the massive pillars and bounced off it while leaving a dent. He bounced from pillar to pillar to travel across the chasm without stopping. Once he was all the way across, he blasted up with one last leap and landed on the ground once again, this time on the other side of the second barrier.
"He got across in an instant!" Mina's eyes comedically bulged out of their sockets.
Enso brushed himself off and continued to speed forward.
At the same time, Izuku had just gotten to the second barrier and grinned, quickening his running speed towards the chasm.
His body lit up once more, "Full Cowling!"
He leaped across the gap high in the air, landing on one of the many platforms in the area.
He proceeded to jump over from platform to platform.
"This is meant for me!" He laughed as he landed onto another platform, leaping once more towards the end.
"Wow, Deku is so incredible…" Ochako thought with mesmerizing eyes. She then blushed and shook her head, "Focus Uraraka! Less thinking, more doing." She thought as she began to easily float herself across with her quirk.
Izuku landed at the end and continued to run with the piece of metal still attached to him.
"Here we are at the final barrier! The reality here is…"
An explosion went off on cue, making Mic smile.
"It's a minefield! It's set up so that you can tell where the mines are if you look carefully! So you have to exploit your eyes and legs! By the way, these land mines are for games, so they're not powerful, but they're loud and flashy enough to make you wet your pants!" Present Mic energetically yelled.
"First place is already up there!? I have to hurry!" Izuku saw the minefield ahead and also viewed Enso standing by the beginning, looking deep in thought.
"What's he doing?"
At the same time, Todoroki was ahead, carefully taking long steps to avoid the mines in the field.
"I see. This is an obstacle that puts those in the lead with a disadvantage. Trying to keep it entertaining while giving those behind a chance-"
The half-and-half teen's thoughts were interrupted as explosions that weren't of mines were getting closer behind him.
He turned around and narrowed his eyes to see Bakugo blasting towards him with an evil grin, "This doesn't affect me!" He blasted right next to Todoroki, "Bastard! Don't declare war to the wrong person!"
The blonde teen reached his arm forward and attempted to blast Todoroki, but the teen stepped to the side on time to miss the blast.
"And now we got someone new in the lead!" Present Mic shouted. "And it looks like the rest of the pack are starting to catch up!"
Bakugo tried to blast Todoroki again, but the teen used slapped his arm away and tried turning it around by reaching his own arm out to freeze Bakugo, but the explosive teen knew better and kicked his hand away.
"Are the top two going to keep fighting with each other!? Will they give a chance for others to catch up!?"
At the same time, Enso finished his thinking and crouched on the ground, taking a deep breath.
"From watching the other students set off the mines, I estimate that the time of detonation after each mine is activated is exactly half a second. So in order to outrun the mines before they can explode on me, I have to be even faster."
"Snipe Style- Piercing Shot." He muttered.
Then he pierced through the field, passing by dozens of mines and setting them off behind him.
"Nani!? Nani!? What's this!? Someone is completely blazing through these mines!"
Todoroki and Bakugo stopped for a moment as they heard a chain reaction of mines exploding in a row getting, the sounds getting closer behind them.
"What the fuck!?" Bakugo thought.
Todoroki's eyes widened.
In front of the path of pink smoke, Enso blazed forward with the pure intent of passing whatever was in his way, eyes unwavering towards Bakugo and Todoroki.
"Like hell he'll pass me!" Both Bakugo and Todoroki pointed their hands to the oncoming person and sent an explosion and a barrage of ice simultaneously at the direction he was heading.
Enso narrowed his eyes and jumped upward, getting rather high in the air and completely avoiding the explosion and ice beneath him.
"He avoided both of the lead's attacks with such grace! He's jumping over them!" Mic shouted.
Bakugo and Todoroki looked above them as Enso momentarily covered the sun from how high he jumped, also about to pass the two at the moment.
Bakugo grit his teeth, "You think you could pass me edgelord!?"
He forgot all about Todoroki and blasted himself in the direction of Enso's path high in the air, getting in the way to keep him from passing.
Enso narrowed his eyes and suddenly started spinning his body in the air, adding speed and momentum before sticking his leg out and swinging it forward at the human time bomb.
Bakugo's eyes widened, "Those moves... They're-!?"
He didn't finish the thought as Enso's leg came at him, forcing him to raise his arms up and block the kick. However, since he was still in the air, it was easy for Enso to send him to the side.
"This bastard!" Bakugo thought with furry.
A tall pillar of ice suddenly came upwards at Enso, but he saw it coming and fired two energy balls from his palms, exploding the ice but also sending himself back into the air.
He landed on the ground, crouched over with his legs slightly open to avoid a mine right underneath him. He raised his eyes up at Bakugo and Todoroki, both glaring at him and looking ready for anything.
"They both recognize me as the threat that can pass both of them... It makes sense because they know that if I get even one moment, then I'll literally run across all of this and leave them behind..."
"Oho! Look's like they're at a standstill! It seems that the two in the lead trying to slow each other down have recognized a new threat! They have a common enemy and have stopped fighting!"
The trio stared at one another in a moment of silence.
Todoroki tried to make the first move and run ahead, but Bakugo immediately created an explosion in front of his path. Todoroki was forced to back up, but stomped the ground and sent ice in front of Bakugo, which he back away from as well.
Enso flung two energy spheres at the two of them to make them move aside.
Both jumped to opposite sides to avoid the energy spheres that Enso threw. Seeing a clear path in front, Enso tried to bolt between them to get ahead, but Todoroki instantly created a trail of ice right in front of his path to block him.
Enso jumped over it, but Bakugo knew that he would and blasted into his path once more.
"Die!" Bakugo swung his arm to blast him, but Enso shot another energy sphere at him, which collided with his explosion, creating an intense enough blast that sent each other in separate directions.
Seeing them fighting in the air, Todoroki tried to run ahead from bellow, but three more energy spheres were sent in front of him and exploded to the ground in front of him. These explosions also set off many mines in the middle area too, resulting in an entire wall of pink smoke and dirt that walled of Todoroki from going forward.
Enso landed on the ground once more in a crouch, being surer to avoid any mines near him.
Bakugo landed as well with an evil grin and smoking hands, "There's no way I'm letting either of you pass me!"
"Tsk!" Todoroki clicked his tongue in irritation.
Enso glanced his head to the many students just getting the minefield, spotting a confident emerald eye teen who looked rather determined to win.
And looked to have a plan.
"Well, if I'm not getting ahead, then..." He turned back to Todoroki and Bakugo, getting into a fighting position. "I should wait, if they shift their attention away from me even for a moment, then I'll be as good as gone."
In the meantime, Izuku gripped his fists tightly as he saw the three powerful students ahead.
"I can't run with my One For All here or I'll risk getting blown up, but if I run normally, then I'll never catch up to them! Todoroki, Kacchan, and even Enso are all fighting for first place, slowing each other down, so I have to take this chance to get ahead of them in one moment!"
Izuku looked all around him, taking note of the many mines that the students avoided at the start of this third barrier.
He saw someone set off a mine and get back in the air from the explosion.
Izuku grinned. "Bingo."
He pulled the piece of metal of the robot from his back that he was holding:
And started digging.
From her room, Inko noticed her precious child digging into the ground.
"What's he doing?"
She watched as Izuku went from mine to mine, digging carefully and scooping them out with the piece of metal he had to gather them together.
He had gathered up a rather worrying number of mines, grinning as they were all piled up in on hole now.
Inko's eyes widened. "W-Wait, he can't possibly be thinking about -!?"
She didn't even get to finish that thought as Izuku firmly held to the piece of metal in front of himself with a look of determination, then giving himself a running start.
"Izuku!?"
"Sorry, but I have to borrow your idea Kacchan!" Izuku yelled as he dived right onto the pile of mines with the metal underneath him.
A giant explosion of pink erupted from the ground and brightly ignited the sky in pink color.
Everyone was forced to stop and keep their ground so that they wouldn't be sent back by the powerful winds created by the force of the explosion. Each person covered their eyes so that the dust kicked up from the powerful gusts of wind wouldn't get into their eyes, wondering what the hell just happened.
"There's a huge explosion at the back!? What's with that force!?" Present Mic yelled.
"Oh look, one of my students did something crazy... again." Aizawa remarked in no surprise.
Ochako covered her eyes until the dust and winds died down, then moving it aside only to something come out of the pink clouds of smoke.
Her eyes opened fully, "Is that...?"
She saw Izuku, riding a scrap of dark green metal with a massive grin on his face.
"Deku!? No way!" she thought in awe.
"What!?" Toshinori yelled from his seat.
"I hope this wasn't influenced by Enso's teachings." Nezu chuckled, taking a sip of tea.
"Was it an accident, or was it on purpose!? Either way, Class A's Midoriya is in hot pursuit of the lead!"
Todoroki, Bakugo, and even Enso turned back to see what had happened, yet Enso wasn't that surprised to see Izuku flying.
Izuku, holding onto the metal for dear life, soared towards them with a look of victory in his eyes. The boy felt his hair being blown back as he sailed through the air, flying high above everyone before seeing the three in the lead, only for them to be gone too in a moment's notice.
Which meant one thing:
"I passed them!"
"He passed them?! Izuku Midoriya is now in the lead!?" Present Mic yelled.
"Yes! I flew just like I planned!" Izuku then gulped nervously, "But I didn't think about landing…"
He then heard some explosions behind him that sounded to be getting closer and closer, "Deku! Don't get ahead of me!"
Izuku slightly turned his head to see Bakugo blasting forward and Todorki running across a path of ice he made to catch up.
"Wait, where's Enso?!"
Izuku saw Enso still back where he just was, crouching position and yellow aura flaring.
"He's going to try and pass us all with one leap!"
His hands gripped tightly on the cable he had and tugged on it.
"I can't let him pass me now, I won't!"
Enso let out a deep breath, "Snipe Style- Piercing Shot."
Like a bullet blasted from a gun, he exploded forward once more, outrunning the mines exploding as he went over them.
Todoroki and Bakugo were getting near Izuku, but Enso was going to pass them all in a second.
Izuku grit his teeth, "If I won't be able to retake the lead..."
The world moved slow as Enso, Todoroki, and Bakugo came near him.
"...Then I can't let them get ahead!" Izuku pulled the cord of the metal with all his might and swung it down, slamming it to the floor.
Dozens of mines exploded right underneath the group, creating one collided explosion that sent Izuku flying even farther ahead.
He tumbled along the ground but spun himself back to his feet, then coursing One For All through his body and continuing to run.
"Would you believe it!? He cleared the minefield in an instant! Eraserhead, your class is amazing!" Mic commented.
Izuku didn't look back, he didn't slow down even a little, he was running as fast as he could and using One For All to speed up to the full extent his body could handle.
"Those explosions will only slow Enso down for a few seconds at most! If I slow down for even a moment, if I lower my pace at all, then I know he'll pass me! It's not over! Don't look back, just keep running!"
Bakugo and Todoroki came out of the smoke and kept running, desperately trying to chase after Izuku with their teeth grinding together.
But a third person passed them so unexpectedly, so fast, that they didn't even process that he had passed them in a moment.
"Ureshi is relentless in speed! He passed Bakugo and Todoroki immediately despite that explosion getting in the way! He's nearly up with Midoriya now!" Present Mic Shouted.
Bakugo's eyes widened, "When did he-!?"
"-pass us!?" Todoroki finished the thought, just as shocked as Bakugo.
Hearing Mic's claim that Enso was catching up, Izuku desperately increased his speed. He used more power than his body was able to handle comfortably, resulting in painful stinging going through his legs with each step, but he didn't care. He wasn't gonna get passed if his life depended on it.
But even with a more significant increase in speed, it wasn't enough.
He heard Enso coming right behind him, the air whistling as he ran.
Izuku turned his head back and stared with opened eyes as Enso came right behind him, literally only a few feet away in an instant.
"No way... Even after all of that, Enso's Snipe Style is still too fast..."
Time seemed to slow as Izuku found his eyes staring directly into Enso's eyes, eyes that seemed to be giving him a message stating that he would pass him no matter what.
"I've come too far to get passed... I can't get passed now!"
He gritted his teeth as Enso took another step, nearing his side to around.
"I'm not getting passed!"
Izuku swiped his arm at Enso, and something unexpected happened at that moment. Something that only those heavily paying attention to Izuku would've seen at the very moment.
A burst of black flames came from Izuku's arm when he swung it, flaring right in front of Enso's path.
This only lasted a second, but it was enough to catch Enso off guard.
"!?" Enso was alarmed and instinctively jumped to the side to avoid the flames.
But the flames were put out as fast as they came in.
"Nani!? What was that!? Ureshi retreated and Midoriya still remains in the lead!" Present Mic shouted.
Aizawa narrowed his eyes behind the bandages he still had wrapped around his face.
"What the hell was that, Midoriya?"
Izuku didn't even notice what he did, he just kept running and running.
"I'm so close! I'm so close!" He made it into the final gateway tunnel and continued down the corridor.
Upon landing, Enso stood up, looking shocked.
"What was that?"
He heard explosions behind him and glanced up at Bakugo heading for him.
He narrowed his eyes and bolt forward in a blinding flash once again, also getting to the tunnel.
"Ureshi is still blasting forward without giving any chances!"
Izuku panted heavily as he saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but he heard a blazing person coming behind.
Enso was once again only a moment away.
"It's gonna be close!" Present Mic shouted, shooting up from his chair.
Izuku did one last leap out of the tunnel, hand reaching forward.
"One more push!"
Enso came right beside him.
Many cameras flashed right at that moment.
"Photo finish!" Mic yelled.
Izuku landed on his feet and stumbled forward while Enso skid to a stop, kicking much dust up.
The crowd cheered with applause.
"Did you see that!?"
"It was such a close call!"
Izuku laid on the floor panting, his body feeling slightly sore from overexerting himself momentarily in order to give himself that last push.
He shakingly stood back up to his feet and glanced around at the crowd, listening to everyone cheer for him and Enso.
"We already have that finish on video! Let's get a replay on that!" As Present Mic shouted this, the screen changed to show the exact moment where Enso and Izuku came out of the tunnel.
It rewinded and played in slow motion. Despite Izuku fast and closer to the finish, Enso had been at such a speed that he had reached the finish line with him.
"The first place winner is...
On closer inspection, the footage revealed that Izuku's hand had stuck out right at the finish line to cross first.
"...Izuku Midoriya!"
The crowd shouted even louder.
"Izukuuuuuuuuu!" Inko yelled as she saw him first on the TV, tears waterfalling down her eyes in happiness.
Izuku's eyes also teared up as well, looking up to the crowd at Toshinori, who grinned happily down at him.
Enso glanced up at the crowd as well, but at a specific person of his own.
Nezu waved at him proudly.
Enso just sighed and turned away.
Nezu laughed.
"That was such a close race! Ureshi was hot on his tail! He was a speedy boi!"
Izuku felt a warmth coming from his palm and glanced down at it, looking slightly puzzled about something during that race.
"Enso suddenly backed off when he was about to pass me. But... I don't remember why. Everything went by so fast, but all I remember doing was swinging my arm at him."
At the same time, Enso stared intensely at Izuku as he recalled that exact moment as well, the memory flashing in his mind.
The moment he was going to pass by Izuku, something had happened. He had seen the black color come out of Izuku's hand when he swung it at, he saw the black flames come out for a split second, and...
...He had seen Izuku's eyes also turn red in that split second.
He already an explanation for these things, Izuku must've been under the influence of the other power he had, 'Ikari' once more. But one thing that made him confused as to why did it come out at that specific moment? And in the form of flames at that?
He noticed Izuku staring into his own palm, looking confused himself but still crying.
"Does he not realize what is it that he did? I'll have to speak to him about it later..."
Bakugo and Todoroki now came out of the tunnel and finished as well, both of them visibly shaking in anger.
Bakugo clenched his hands into fists, his mind flashing back to when Enso had somehow spun in the air to add momentum to a kick.
He remembered someone with similar moves like that, the same person that had utterly 'defeated' him during the battle training in their first hero lesson class.
He turned his head to Izuku and Enso, one crying and the other one staring at the one crying.
"Those two..."
Bakugo remembered Izuku's words from that same day after school:
"In our class, E-Enso is… h-he-he's my mentor. He taught me all of the moves I've used up to now, he taught me to develop my body so that I could actually use my quirk, and... he became my friend."
He gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing. "No way... That bastard really is..."
Todoroki panted and also turned to Izuku's direction, eyes narrowing at him. "I only saw it for a moment... but..."
He remembered the exact moment Izuku swiped his arm at Enso, recalling what came out.
"Flames..." His hands clenched into fists and his eyes glared so intensely that he could probably pierce someone with it.
Kamui and Death Arms both stared up at the screen in shock.
"I can't believe this. The kid we scolded a year ago and the one that I had encountered a year ago are the first two to finish the race?" Kamui asked in disbelief.
"You think it's a coincidence? Maybe they're friends." Death Arms chuckled. "But you can't disagree that the Ureshi kid shows lots of promise. Did you see him at the beginning of the race?"
Kamui looked down, "He saved a few students from the robots in the beginning... Despite knowing that it would slow him down."
Mount Lady just continued to stare at Enso, eyes invested to the screen, and looking rather frustrated.
"Why... Why do I feel like I've seen him before?"
Tomura Shigaraki sat at his desk in a dark room with a computer screen right in front of him. He had started watching the sport's festival from the beginning, now examining both Izuku and Enso on the screen while scratching his neck in frustration.
"Those brats…" he muttered in anger. He remembered the two kids that irritated him the most of all the other students.
One, a green-haired kid that was acting like he was some sort of next All Might, the one kind of a person he hated the most.
The other one, someone that ruined all of his plans to kill the symbol of peace and take away the monster they built for it.
"I'm going to kill them... I swear... The next time-"
The man-child's thoughts were cut off as he got a notification on his computer of someone requesting to video call.
He clicked it, where a static screen that read 'Audio' appeared over the sports festival tab.
"Hello, Tomura. Have your wounds healed yet?" A static, powerful voice said over the call.
"They've nearly completely healed sensei..." Shigaraki answered.
"Good. Then you should be ready for action soon enough. Have you been watching the sports festival? I've heard that there have been some interesting students already."
Shigaraki minimized the tab to keep watching the festival, the other person still on the call.
"Yes, Sensei, I've been looking at it. Those two kids on the screen right now... Those were the ones who messed up our attack on U.A." Shigaraki said.
There was silence on the other side as the person examined Enso and Izuku on his side.
"Sensei?"
"Interesting..."
Shigaraki was confused, "Sensei?" he asked again.
"Ah, sorry Tomura, I was just thinking."
"About what?"
He heard the person chuckled, "No one important. Just keep watching the two of them, Tomura. After all, you'll be meeting them again someday."
Shigaraki didnt know what his Sensei could've meant by this, but he listened and just continued to stare at the screen.
The rest of the students began to come out through the tunnel one by one.
Izuku saw Ochako run out and heading towards him, panting a little with her body shaking.
"*Huff* Deku! *gasp*, you were amazing! *Pant*" She stopped in front of him and looked up at him, "First place is amazing!"
Izuku blushed at how close she was and hugged his own head in embarrassment. "U-Um, i-it wasn't much! I just got lucky!"
A few more class 1-A students came out of the tunnel, including Momo, who was visibly tired with her shirt open.
"I can't believe I fell behind..." She panted.
Ochako caught her breath and stood up straight as Momo came up to the two, "Good job Yaoyorozu!"
Izuku, still embarrassed, turned to her. "Y-You were great in the race!"
"Izuku… help me…" Momo uttered out with desperate eyes.
"Eh? What's wrong!? Are you hurt!?" Izuku asked worryingly, his previous embarrassment disappearing.
Momo turned around so that her back faced them, "Th-This…"
On her back was Mineta, holding on with his quirk balls with a disgusting look on his face.
"I killed two birds with one stone!" Mineta proudly laughed.
"M-Mineta!? This is the sports festival! At least try to act decently here!" Izuku grabbed him by the back and tried to pull him off.
"Hey! Stop it! Leave me be!" Mineta barked at him.
Izuku then raised a hand up in a karate position, "Sorry, Mineta!" He then karate-chopped the back of the boy's neck, knocking him out instantly.
"ACK!" He turned completely white and fell off of Momo, landing face-first onto the ground.
"Thank you, Izuku." Momo said with a sighed of relief.
"N-No problem Mo-" Izuku turned back to her, only to just realize that her shirt was completely open, revealing her black bra.
He immediately turned around and covered his face with his hands. "M-M-Momo! Y-You should-! Um- It's showing!"
"Eh?" Momo looked down and saw that her shirt was indeed open, but she didn't seem too fazed by it, due to her hero costume being revealing in the first place. "Oh, I supposed I should cover myself up."
She fixed her shirt up and gazed back up at Izuku's flustered state. Knowing how innocent the boy was, something about seeing him so embarrassed made her smile, she couldn't help but want to tease this kind of boy.
She crouched over a little and got close to his head, "Do you like it?" she whispered.
Izuku jumped in surprise and took a step away from her. "I-I-I… U-Um! I-I don't-!"
Momo giggled at his reaction, while Ochako had a blank expression to her face.
"Jiiiiiii"
Mina suddenly came out of the tunnel looking out of breath, but the moment she saw Izuku, she somehow regained her energy and smiled, then running towards the door.
"Midoriiiiii!" She dove at him.
"Eh?" Izuku didn't even fully turn around before Mina crashed into his chest, tackling him to the ground. "Ack!"
Momo and Ochako were both shocked by her sudden appearance.
The moment they landed to the ground, Mina pushed herself just a little above Izuku and grinned. "You were awsome, Midori! I saw you fly all the way across the minefield!"
Izuku slightly moved his hand and rubbed the back of his head, "Nngh... Wha- Mina!? What are you doing!?"
"What does it look like? I'm giving you a congratulation hug. You don't like it?" Mina asked, looking down at him with sad puppy dog eyes.
"N-N-No, it's not that! Th-Th-They're pressing against me!" Izuku stuttered, feeling a soft sensation of Mina's round assets up against his chest. His entire body, from his head to his toes, turned completely red in flustered.
Mina formed a mischievous grin on her face, "What's pressing against you?"
Izuku flinched.
The girl then lowered her head closer to his ear and whispered:
"Per-vert" putting emphasis on both syllables.
Izuku whimpered.
Two hands then grabbed each of Mina's shoulders and pulled her up.
"Eh?" Mina blinked as she looked left and right at the two who pulled her off.
Mina and Ochako both had cross veins on their heads as they held Mina up, visible glares on their faces.
"That's enough Mina… you're making him feel uncomfortable…" Momo said, clearly irritated.
"You're getting a little too close to him, don't you think…?" Ochako firmly stated.
"E-Eh? I-I was just teasing him a little." Mina nervously sweat as she looked from Ochako then Momo.
Izuku nervously stood up and turned away from the girls, nervously fiddling his fingers.
Midnight then got their attention, "The first game of the first year stage is finally over! Now let's take a look at the results!"
A list of names appeared on the screen in the order that the students finished the race. Izuku glanced up and saw his name on the top of the list, making him smile happily as he was reminded of what he accomplished.
From there, it was just the rest of the students that came in order. In second place was Enso, Todoroki in third, Bakugo in forth, and so on.
Midnight continued, "The top forty-two contenders made it through to the next round! It's unfortunate for everyone else, but don't worry! Even if you didn't make it, we've prepared other chances for the rest of you to shine! The real competition begins next! Give it your all!"
The crowd cheered on for the students.
"Now then, here is the second game, I already know what it is!"
Behind Midnight, the lottery spinner popped up again.
"What could it be? What could it be? Here it is!" As she finished, the spinner stopped.
Cavalry Battle.
"A cavalry battle?! I'm bad at those…" Kaminari said.
"Let me explain, the participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish!"
The screen showed a projection of four teachers holding All Might up with a headband.
"It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle! Your headbands will each have a point value depending on what place you got in the race! But the team leader your team carries will have all the headbands together!"
"A point-based system, like the entrance exam, huh? That's easy to understand." Sato said.
"In other words, each team is worth different points depending on whos on the team!" Ochako exclaimed.
"I see!" Mina said.
Midnight got irritated and cracked her whip, "You guys don't hold back even though I'm talking, huh?!"
"S-Sorry!" Ochako apologized.
She continued, "Anyway, yes, that's right! And the points assigned go up by five, starting from the bottom. So 42nd place gets five points, and 41st place gets ten points… and the point value assigned to first place is-"
Izuku looked all the way up the list as Midnight shouted:
"Ten Million!"
Everyone got quiet.
Izuku blinked as he registered exactly what he heard.
"T-Ten million!?" He started sweating buckets with eyes wide open and mouth clamped shut.
"Oh? Ten million?" Shinso grinned from afar.
Neito Monoma grinned as well, "So in other words, if you take down the first place player's team..."
Izuku looked around at everyone staring at him.
"You can stand on top no matter what place you're in." Nearly everyone said simultaneously, staring at the poor boy with looks of greed and desire.
Izuku felt himself trembling. "Well, that's what I get for getting first..."
Everyone's eyes seemed to flash menacingly red at him.
But someone else's eyes flash red back at them.
Nearly everyone surrounding Izuku now backed up in a comedic fear.
"Eh?" Izuku blinked and saw that Enso had walked in front of him, glaring at everyone with his own menacing look and raising a shielding arm in front of the boy.
Izuku had flowers around him, "No way... Enso is protecting me?!" He thought with comedic tears of hope and happiness as if a princess getting protected by her prince.
"My points." Enso then declared.
"IS HE CLAIMING ME AS HIS PREY!?" Izuku's hope immediately turned to terror as the flowers around him wilted and he shivered.
Midnight cracked her whip and got everyone's attention.
"I will now explain the cavalry rules for those of you who don't know how it works! The time limit is fifteen minutes! And as I said before, each team is worth the total of its member's points! The riders will wear an easy to take off headband with the total number of points on their foreheads!"
The screen showed All Might with a number 50 headband on his head, giving a thumbs up with his teeth sparkling.
"Is that actual footage of him?" Enso wondered.
"Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out and keep as many points as they can! Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up, so the more you steal, the harder it will be to manage them!"
Midnight pointed her whip up, "You can all use your quirks, but remember that this is still a cavalry battle! You'll be removed if your attacks are trying to make people fall on purpose!"
"Tch." Both Bakugo and Enso said, turning their heads away.
"They both had the same idea!?" Izuku thought.
A timer appeared on the screen, reading 15 minutes.
"Now, you have fifteen minutes to build your teams! Start!" Midnight yelled.
Izuku stood nervously and immediately tried to turn to Enso, but he saw the boy completely disappear in a crowd of people swarming him in an attempt to ask him to be their teammates.
"N-No way, who could I make a team with?" Izuku frantically looked all around him.
He then caught sight of Mina, seeming to give up trying to reach Enso, and looking all around at others.
Izuku nervously walked up to her, knowing the friendly terms they were on.
"U-Um Mina? I don't suppose that you would want to be on my team, w-would you?"
Mina turned to Izuku and rubbed the back of her head with an unsure look, "Sorry Midori, I would if you had gotten lower in the race, but I don't want to be targeted for the entire game, you know?"
Izuku turned blue and looked down with all hope lost, "Th-That's fine..."
Mina saw Izuku's sad, puppy-like expression and couldn't help but feel a little bad.
She walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.
Izuku immediately turned red and put a hand to where Mina just kissed him, backing away a little with eyes looking as if they were going to explode.
"Wha-Wha-Wha-?!"
Mina grinned at him, "Think of that as me making it up to you. Try not to worry too much, I'm sure you'll find a team!" She then left him and headed towards Bakugo.
Izuku just stood in place, completely dumbfounded.
"A-A-A girl just kissed me!?"
"I see some of you are thinking too much! I suggest getting a move on!" Present Mic shouted.
"Crap! I need a team! I know! Momo can-" Izuku turned his head with hope, only to see Momo already speaking with Todoroki and even Iida.
He felt his confidence going down, looking slightly depressed. "Even Iida? What... What do I do now?"
"Deku!" someone called to him.
Izuku turned his head robotically to the left and saw Ochako.
"Let's be a team!" she said with a bright smile.
A sprinkler of tears came from Izuku's eyes. "Ochako! Thank you so much!"
He instinctively wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.
"E-E-Eh?!" She heavily blushed and her eyes widened, but she didn't hate it.
He then let go and stare at her, tears waterfalling from his eyes.
"Is it really okay?! Everyone will probably be after me because of my ten million points!"
Still blushing, Ochako smiled, "If we run away the whole time, then we'll win, right?"
"U-Um… I think you're overestimating me, Ochako…" Izuku said.
"Like I would! Your one of the strongest students in the class! And..." She closed her eyes and preciously smiled, "It's better to team up with people you get along with!"
Izuku covered his eyes with his arm from the blinding smile and felt himself blushing a little.
"Eh? What's wrong, Deku?" Ochako asked him, noticing his reaction.
"Oh, nothing…" Izuku rubbed his eyes, "Its just that… you're so bright that I can't look straight at you…"
"Eh? He said that so casually...!?" Ochako thought as she got flustered once more, tugging on her own arm.
She felt her heart beat faster.
"Th-That's really sweet of you to say…"
After finishing rubbing his eyes, Izuku took a deep breath and spoke of the matter at hand.
"We still need to find two other members, though..."
"What about Enso? Don't you think you would wanna be on the same team?" Ochako asked, hopefully.
"Well..." Izuku turned to the crowd of people surrounding where Enso was standing. "I don't think-"
As if it was on cue, Enso jumped high from the middle of the crowd and landed right beside Izuku and Ochako in a crouching position.
"He jumped to escape!?"
Enso stood up and dusted himself off.
"Such annoying and persistent students..." He commented as he turned his head back to the crowd, all of them currently surprise that he jumped away.
A few people were about to step towards him, but Enso walked beside Izuku and Ochako, crossing his arms as if declaring his place.
"So when he said 'my points'... Enso actually just wanted to team up with me?" Izuku thought with sparkles around him happily.
When everyone else saw Enso teaming up with Izuku, the ten million beacon, they reluctantly turned away and started making teams among themselves.
Enso turned to Ochako. "So, Uraraka was the only person actually willing to team up with you?"
Izuku and Ochako sweatdropped.
Enso then glanced around at all the other students, "So who's going to be our last teammate? Everyone else is starting to form their teams, including..."
Izuku looked to where Enso was glancing and saw that Todoroki had made his team consisting of himself, Momo, Kaminari, and Iida.
"That's… a very scary team." Ochako said in a worried manner.
They then saw Bakugo in a group with Mina, Sero, and Kirishima.
"That's terrifying." Izuku gulped.
Izuku then saw a team Kendo and three other class-1B girls. Kendo saw him looking her way and gave him an apologetic look that basically said, 'no hard feelings, but we're probably going for you.'
"We don't even know what all these other students can do." Enso remarked.
They heard a creepy giggle.
"As I thought, this is great! You really stand out!" A voice that the trio had never heard before said from behind them.
The three turned around to see a short girl with thick, pink shoulder-length locks grinning madly. She wore red and gold steampunk goggles above her head and fingerless gloves, along with wearing many sorts of gadgets that were around her body.
The most notable gadgets she wore were some rather large speed assisting boots, and something that looked like a jetpack strung over her shoulder.
She suddenly got assertively and awkwardly close to Izuku, her face only a few inches from his.
"Team up with me, person in first place!" she said.
"Ahh! So close! Who're you!?" Izuku shouted with his body trembling by how close she was.
The girl backed up and chuckled, then removing her goggles to reveal her unique eyes.
Izuku's own eyes widened as he saw the pattern in her yellow eyes.
"Cross-hairs?..." He thought, mesmerized by her wide and yellow cross-hair irises.
"I'm Mei Hatsume, from the support course!" The pink-haired girl said proudly.
"Ah! I saw her during the race! She used her gadgets to move across the second barrier!" Ochako pointed out.
"I don't know you, but let me use your position!" Hatsume asked of Izuku, getting close again.
"Shes… extremely honest, almost hurtfully…" Izuku pointed out.
Enso walked up to Hatsume and crouched down to the mechanical speed boots she wore.
"Are these inventions yours?"
Hatsume proudly put her hands to her hips, "You betcha! Everything on me are all of my cute babies!"
"Cute... Babies?" Ochako repeated into a question.
Hatsume then rushed forward inches away from Izuku again. "If I team up with you, then I'll inevitably become part of the team everyone's watching the most, right!?"
"Wha-?!" Izuku backed up by how close she got again.
But she just rushed in front of him again, "If that happens, then my super cute babies will inevitably be seen by the big companies!"
"W-Wait a second-!" Izuku actually jumped back a yard away.
But Hatsume somehow appeared in front of him once more, "So in other words, those companies will see my babies!"
Many question marks started appearing all around Ochako's head in confusion by what she was saying.
"W-Wait a minute! Babies? Big companies? What are you talking-"
"And, I think you guys will also benefit!" Hatsume said, getting closer to Izuku as he backed up again.
"Oh, she's not interested in me…" Ochako realized with a deadpanned expression.
"Calm down." Enso comedically karate chopped Hatsume on the head, making her fall face-first onto the ground with a red bump.
Izuku and Ochako both formed open mouth looks of shock.
"Enso!? Why did you hit her!?"
"Because she's only listening to herself..." Enso sighed.
"Is she okay!?" Ochako crouched down to help Hatsume up, but was shocked to suddenly see the girl shoot back up to her feet with the same excited expression as before.
"The support course develops equipment that helps students deal with their quirks!" She energetically shouted, the red bump from Enso's attack pulsating.
"She treated that hit like nothing!?" Izuku and Ochako both thought in disbelief.
Enso raised an eyebrow, "So you make equipment for other students?"
"I have a ton of babies, so I'm sure you'll be able to find one that you like-"
Enso suddenly gripped Hatsume tightly by the head and turned her to face him with his red eyes shining. "I asked, do you make equipment for the other students?"
Hatsume shivered at his menacing aura but still kept a stoic smile.
"You betcha! I've created all tons of babies ranging from weapons, suits, and even babies that help control, enhance, or implement quirks in different ways!"
Enso let go of her and looked rather intrigued, "If we have someone like her on our team, no... If we have connections with someone like her in general, then it would provide useful in helping Izuku and any other allies get stronger in order to prepare for..."
He turned to Izuku and gave a thumbs up, "She's our last member."
"EH!? That easily!?" Izuku cried out.
"Wait, wait, wait! We shouldn't decide that quickly!" Ochako added.
Hatsume then magically pulled out a chest of the sort and opened it, revealing several gadgets that sparkled.
"I guarantee that I'll have anything you'll need to help you with this cavalry battle and more!"
"Where did she pull that out of!?"
"U-Um, th-they're nice and all, b-but-" Izuku's eyes then lit up as he saw a specific item in the chest of gadgets.
Hatsume noticed his gaze and grinned, "Oh, has this caught your eye?" She pulled out a jetpack of the sort, "I made this based on a certain hero's backpack, adding my own original twist to it." she stated proudly.
Izuku formed a happy expression and was actually the one to get close to Hatsume this time, "Are you talking about the Buster Hero: Air Jet?! I like him too!" He fanboyed.
"Really!?" Hatsume exclaimed happily.
"Yeah, his agency's close, so I went to tour it before! I've seen all of the gadgets he's ever had!"
"I think we're gonna get along just great Izuku Midoriya!" Hatsume smiled gleefully.
"Oh… I see. They're already getting along…" Ochako thought to herself with a blank expression.
"Jealous?" Enso turned to her.
She flinched and started flailing her arms with a blush, "Wh-What do you mean?! What's there to be jealous about? Nothing, that's what! Ahahahaha!"
"So obvious..." Enso sweatdropped.
He then walked up to Izuku and Hatsume as they continued to speak.
"What's your quirk?" Izuku asked excitingly.
"My quirk is called 'Zoom'! It allows me to enhance my visions to, as the name suggests, zoom in on whatever is in my line of sight. If I focus really hard, then I can see things as far as five kilometers!" Hatsume answered.
"That would make you amazing at sharpshooting Mei!" Izuku said, sounding very impressed.
"Thank you, I've done some practice when I was small before creating babies! What's your quirk Izuku!?" The now named Mei asked him back.
"Not only did she completely ignore the fact that Izuku called her by her first name, but even SHE addressed him by his first name back so casually?" Enso sighed.
"Five minutes left! Ka-chow!" Present Mic warned.
Hearing this, Enso knocked both Mei and Izuku on their heads, leaving a red bump on each of them.
"We're getting off track, we have our team now, but it won't matter if we don't have a plan."
"O-Ow... Ow... Okay." Izuku said.
Mei smiled excitingly despite the bump, "Whatever plan you have, my babies can cover for it!"
"So, what's the plan, Deku?" Ochako asked him.
Izuku looked down with a hand on his chin in thought, "Well... We're going to run away."
"No shit Sherlock." Enso remarked.
They all sweatdropped.
Izuku ignored him and moved on, glancing at all the other teams, "There are some pretty intimidating teams out there, but I'm mainly worried about Bakugo's and Todoroki's teams. They'll both definitely be aiming for us."
"I'm pretty sure everyone will be aiming for us." Enso interjected.
Izuku flinched, "F-Fair enough..." He took a deep breath and clenched his hand into a fist, "Then we have to be ready for anything!"
He turned to their last teammate with a serious look, "Mei, we'll use your gadgets to maneuver around the battlefield and avoid the other teams."
He then turned to Ochako, "Ochako, you'll use your quirk to keep everyone but yourself weightless so we can use the jetpack Mei showed me to easily fly in the air!"
He turned to Enso, "Enso, I'll be the front horse, you'll be the rider-"
"I refuse."
"No hesitation!?"
"B-But, you're the best person to become the rider! You have a bigger variety of attacks that would make you as a rider an advantage to us!" Izuku explained frantically.
"However, that would mean that I would have to act and instruct us as the leader, only I believe that I'm not qualified for that. You have the quick thinking, the strategy, the power, and give off the influence a leader needs."
Izuku looked surprised, "He thinks highly of me that way?"
Enso poked him on his forehead, "You're the rider."
"R-Right..." Izuku said, looking slightly unsure but going with it. "So if Enso is the front horse, then he'll be our main source of offense and defense. Since I'll be the rider, I'll be supporting us by flicking my fingers to push away people with shockwaves."
Hatsume raised her hand, an unwavering smile still on her face.
"Y-Yes Mei?"
"That sounds like a nice plan! But I don't know any of your quirks yet, so I don't know which babies to bring!"
"I-I don't think we'll need many gadgets, but I suppose we should tell you our quirks." Izuku agreed.
At the same time, Shinso eyed their team from afar, sighing in disappointment. "Damn, and here I was actually thinking about getting them to willingly help me... They got their team already, though."
He turned his head to a few people still standing around.
He caught sight of a few Class A students and grinned. "They'll do. They're in the hero course after all."
Shinso casually walked up to one person first, someone who had a crow-like head and was crossing his arm.
"Hey, you wanna join my team?" Shinso asked, waiting for an answer expectantly.
The personed turned and was Tokoyami, eyeing Shinso rather suspiciously.
"He is..." Tokoyami remembered Shinso from that time he came to their classroom.
He thought about it, examing Shinso was quiet for a moment before sighing and making a decision.
"I agree to join." Tokoyami answered.
"Great, now he'll be under control of my-" Shinso stopped, blinking for a moment and doing a double-take.
"Come again?"
"I said that I'll agree to form a team with you." Tokoyami answered once more.
Shinso was at a loss of words.
"There something wrong?"
He then chuckled. "Nah, I just... honestly didn't expect you to agree." he grinned again.
"I was there when you came to our classroom. After listening to Ureshi's speeches and hearing how you were struggling to join the hero course over a lack of a combative quirk, I found it quite admirable how you're still working hard to join our classes."
"Oh, um..." Shinso rubbed the back of his head, eyes looking away. "Thanks, I guess?"
"Is it just you and me forming a team so far?" Tokoyami then asked him.
"Oh, don't worry about that." Shinso grinned as he glanced at two other 1-A students, Aoyama and Ojiro, looking around.
"I'll fix that in a moment."
~{A Few Minutes Later}~
The countdown on the screen finished and a timer rang.
Midnight held up her whip. "Now then, it's about to get started!"
Present Mic got on the microphone "Alrighty-!" He noticed Aizawa sleeping next to him. "Eraserhead, wake up!" he said, tapping on his co-commentator.
Aizawa didn't open his eyes.
Mic stared at him in a second of silence before reaching underneath his desk and pulling out a megaphone, turning it on and pointing it at Aizawa's ear with a grin.
He took a deep breath, "ERA-" but was interrupted right before his voice peaked by Aizawa, suddenly grabbing him by the throat.
"Don't you dare." Aizawa's cold voice rang.
Present Mic choked. "Ecchh! We're stcharting."
"What are they doing?" Much of the crowd sweatdropped.
Aizawa let him go and Mic immediately turned to the microphone as if nothing happened. "After fifteen minutes to form teams and talk strategy, twelve cavalry teams are lined up on the field! Now raise those battle cries! Its time for U.A's bloody battle!"
Izuku got on top as the rider, wrapping the ten million point headband around his head. Sure enough, Enso was in front as the leading horse, while Ochako was on the left, and Hatsume was on the right sides as the other horses.
He then strapped on a mechanical backpack of the sort that he got from Mei, checking the switch on his hand.
"Okay, I got this set up..."
He glanced down at Ochako, who had put on the speed-enhancing boots that Mei was wearing before.
"She put those on as well."
Izuku took a deep breath, taking a look at all of the teams staring at him.
"Are you guys all ready?"
"Yup!" Ochako answered.
"Of course." Enso said.
Hatsume simply giggled.
Izuku had a determined yet serious look on his face.
"I'm counting on all of you!"
"Let's count down to the brutal battle royal!" Present Mic shouted.
"Three!"
"We're aiming for-" Bakugo cracked his knuckles.
"Two!"
"-one thing." Todoroki finished.
"One!"
"The ten million!" Every other contender thought.
Midnight cracked her whip, "START!"
"I was supposed to say that!" Mic complained.
Nearly everyone ran to the ten million points.
"Here they come!"