"Welcome all, to the annual U.A. Sports Festival!" The Chief Referee, Midnight, declares and the crowd roars. Howling in appreciation for the beginning of a promising event.
All of the Freshmen classes gathered together on the stage, which combined just looked like a group of randoms put in one place. They all were positioned to look up at Midnight, who stood on a platform just above them. "I am overjoyed to see so many were able to make it, and here's to an amazing Performance!" Midnight raises both her arms up into the air and the crowd goes wild. As well as a few males who particularly enjoyed the underside view of the hero.
"Now that the Festival is officially underway, could i have the Freshman Class' Student Representative take stand on the stage to lead the pledge?" Midnight asks, and so the boy obeyed. The much hated, Katsuki Bakugo took stand on stage and got hold of the microphone.
Instead of the pledge, Katsuki starts shouting into the mic, "i just wanted to let all of you losers know. I'll be the one winning! None of you stand a chance against me!" Katsuki preaches, and only receives an array of boos from the crowd and the group of freshmen.
Kokei shakes his head, "what else should i have expected?" In that moment, Kokei felt eyes staring upon him. He felt someone was watching him intently. Kokei quickly looked behind him, side to side and everywhere where he felt someone could see him. He looked paranoid, but his paranoid attempts weren't in vain. He did see the person who was looking at him, they were behind him and to the right.
It was a boy, he had fluffy black hair and blue eyes that he used to inspect Kokei's face. And his most defining aspect, was the flock of Crows fluttering just above his head. The birds seemed locked onto the boy, staying just above his head and occasionally a few lowering to stand on his shoulder.
The boy was in the Class group of 1-B, so he was obviously a student of that Classroom. For some reason, Kokei felt his gaze to be somewhat threatening. But Kokei assumed everyone wanted to seem threatening, considering they're all gonna be competing against one another.
Once the 'Pledge' was over, Midnight gets hold of the microphone again. Causing for Katsuki to retire back into the crowd of angered Freshmen that all saw the chip on his shoulder. Midnight keeps up her enthusiasm with her words, "thank you, Bakugo, for your words." She thanked, to which Katsuki just huffed. "Now, for the first event, it will act as the Preliminary round. A 4 Kilometer Obstacle Course Race around the Stadium!" Midnight pauses for a moment, then speaks again. "And it begins right now! Go, run!"
Her words come as a surprise for many of the students, while others like Kasuki and Shoto waste no time in sprinting away. Then, a few more students began to run toward the narrow exit of the Stadium door. It didn't take long for a flood of students to clog the door, Kokei being toward the back of the clump.
Kokei's heart thumped out his chest, he didn't know where the rest of his class went, there were just people of other classes surrounding him. And this Stadium door was definitely not gonna work for him, he was already behind the pack. 'What do i do!?' Kokei questioned in his mind, he was so overwhelmed.
"Calm down, young one, be logical. How can you get out of this predicament?" AfO asks, to which Kokei breathes in and out a little less frantically than before.
Kokei looks up inspecting where he is, there's no way above the pack since the top of the door frame was narrow. Then he looked to the ground, and he noticed something. All the peoples' shadows, they seemed to be intertwined from their close proximity. To any normal person, this would mean nothing of importance. But for Kokei, it was a gateway.
Kokei takes no time to contemplate his choices, instead, he instantly presses his foot on the darkness of the shadow and merges with the shadows. The only reason this was possible, his quirk: Black.
Kokei shuffles past all the people in his way using the cover of their shadows, he assumed no one would notice him using this ability since they're all to stressed to care. There were occasional parts where the shadows separated a bit, and when it got to that he just found another path. But then, there was a sudden layer of ice that covered the floors. Kokei saw this coming, and since he was already in the corridor, he just slid form the ground to the walls then to the ceiling.
This was so effective, that it only took around 10 seconds for him to be at the other end of the corridor. And once he got there, he unconnected with the darkness and began to run toward the rest of the group. He did this so seamlessly, it was like he on the other side of the exit the whole time, leaving most of the pack in the dust with their Ice bath.
"Nice use of my Quirk, I didn't even think about doing that." Shihai admits, to which Kokei grins happily. He felt able and strong, he liked feeling like this.
Now, Kokei could see the front of the group from where he was. Shoto lead the race, with Katsuki, Momo, Yuga, and Eijiro close behind. As well as a couple other stragglers that kept up the pace with Kokei. Kokei kept his distance from the front of the group incase things got ugly, and this gave him time to take note of his surroundings.
Minoru breaks away from Kokei and his groups' light run and goes for a full sprint toward Shoto. He runs past the rest of the group and aims for an attack on Shoto, taking off one of his purple balls on his head and getting ready to throw it at him. But before he could, a giant robot identical to one of the U.A. entrance exams, throws its arm at Minoru. This sent the boy flying, and then, more of these robots appeared from everywhere in front of the students. They blocked their path. The one that hit Minoru being particularly huge, the Zero point bot.
Shoto slams his hand down to the ground, sending a line of ice to the bot that attacked Minoru. The ice creeps up its body and encases the thing in a icy prison, stopping its mobility completely. Yet it was at a slanted angle, slowly falling down toward the students behind Shoto. Shoto slid by under the bot, leaving it to fall in the path of the other Students.
Many of the other students handle the obstacle in different ways, some just going above the bots and others fighting through them. As Kokei drew closer to the bots, he makes himself begin to walk on air. He floats up into the air high enough to scale the frozen bot in his way. He then lands on the bot and begins to slides on the ice covering it. Giving Kokei much more speed from the low friction and acting as a launch pad for him when he lands on the ground. There were a few other robots that locked their sights onto Kokei, bur he had such a lead on them that it didn't matter.
The moment he lands on the ground, he charges back into his same run. The group he ran with, and behind, had dwindled into lower numbers. Katsuki used his explosions to charge over the bots and stay on Shoto's trail. Hanata and Fumikage followed close behind Katsuki, with Kokei keeping his distance behind the three. Eijiro and the boy that challenged all of Class 1-A followed near behind Kokei.
The next obstacle was a giant waterfall that had tightropes dedicated to be the only way of passage. Shoto and Katsuki are the first to blow past these, Katsuki exploding by and Shoto using his ice to make a frozen path.
By the time Kokei got there, he already deduced a plan. Instead of going along a tightrope, he just ran on air. He stayed on the same altitude of the ropes, but used his own way of navigation that worked much quicker. His practice and improvement in his ability to use Air Walk was tremendous, just a few weeks ago this would have been and stayed only a dream.
As Kokei reached the other end of the waterfall, he gains some distance on the people behind him. And now he was around the same speed as 3rd and 4th place, Hanata and Fumikage. Finally, they reached the final obstacle: a Mine Field.
Shoto began to slow at this obstacle, needing to traverse it carefully. This allowed for Katsuki to close the gap between the two. As for the Three behind them, they also began to slow. Except for Kokei, he just hovered above the ground by a few inches. Enough for him to be able to run without worry of activating a mine.
It was obvious others would at least notice his sudden floatation, while near first place. Then they'd remember his past usage of Air Cannon. So Kokei accepted the facts, he just planned on saying his quirk was Air or something like that.
Kokei, not needing to be careful when passing the bomb field, gained a steady pace on his competition. He was able to keep his steady pace of running, but he was beginning to get tired. His breathing became more heavy, his chest getting tight and his legs getting tired. Not to mention his constant usage of his quirk, it isn't too stamina draining but while stressed it added up quick.
As Kokei huffed and breathed heavy, breaking away into 3rd place, a new foe appears. Kokei could hear the loud sound of a mine being activated behind him. And soon after, someone soars past Kokei. Standing on a metal plate like a skateboard, Izuku is propelled past Kokei. All Kokei could do in the moment, was watch the boy shoot past him and take his place with the Shoto and Katsuki.
Kokei gasps, 'he must've used the bombs.. that's genius!' He thought, and then, Kokei turned his head to glance behind himself. Not too far behind was the rest of the pack. Kokei aims the palm of his left hand at the people behind him, then he lowered his aim to the ground. "Push!" Kokei shouts, a gust of air shooting out from his hand and activating an array of mines behind him.
Kokei turned back to face forward, he didn't wanna gaze if his plan worked or not, he just wanted to focus on his own race. But that became hard to do, with Kokei being in No mans land. 1st-3rd were far ahead of him and everyone else was behind him. So he couldn't pace himself well, inevitably slowing down some. And with his slowed running came an opportunity for others behind him.
It didn't take long for there to be a sudden influx to people passing Kokei, racing past all in their own way. Some people Kokei knew, and others he had no clue as to who they were with some in between. But as the Kine Field came to an end, and the Stadium coming back into sight, Kokei picked up the pace.
He couldn't keep track of his place and who passed him, so he assumed he was doing poorly. Hence, he got into a full sprint while still hovered above the ground. This made it so he couldn't trip and be bound by the terrain, giving Kokei a good speed boost others couldn't attain.
This allowed for Kokei to get past a few people while he made it to the corridor that ended the race. As he made it to the other end of the corridor, he was met with a loud applause. Only the gray haired boy, that ran at the same speed as Eijiro before, was the last thing in front of Kokei while he passed the finish line.
But he didn't stop running until he was sure he crossed the automatic timer. Once he was sure he finished, he landed back down to the ground and allowed for himself to breathe in and out heavily.
Kokei had no idea what place he ended in, and he didn't care. His heart was beating so fast everything felt unreal. Kokei just etched toward the table next to the finish line that had many small cups of water on them. He grabbed one of the cups and gulped it down whole, it calmed him down some, enough for him to recollect himself.
Once most of the students finished the Race, the finishers gathered around the platform that Midnight stood on prior to their run. The reason for this, was because the results of the Race were posted on a hologram for them to see. "Top 42 go onto the next stage!" Midnight told the crowd, to which they eagerly looked for their names and what place they were next to.
Kokei skimmed through the names, "1st- Izuku Midoriya.. 5th- Juzo Honenuki.." Kokei whispered, his fear growing more and more as he saw other names than his. But his worry wasn't long lasted, he was speechless. Because the Hologram showed the following: 11th- Kokei Kyōryokuna.
Kokei breathed a loud sigh of relief, he did it, he made it. Midnight began speaking once more, "if your name is not on the Hologram, please exit the ground floor of the stadium. You're still welcome to continue watching the Festival, of course." After Midnight spoke, there were a few angry grunts from different people as students began to leave the stadium. Soon, leaving only 42 students left.
"Now, we will advance to the second event of the Sports Festival. The Cavalry Battle." Midnight announces, causing for more roars and cheers from the crowd of spectators. "This is how it will work: After i finish speaking, you all will have 15 minutes to divide into teams of 2 to 4. There will be one rider, and the other members will be carrying said rider. The rider cannot land their feet on the ground, and wears the point based headband around their head or neck. You will be working to earn points, that are obtained by stealing the headbands of rival teams. A team's point value is based upon the accumulated points of each individual on each team. The members of a team receive their respective points based on their placement in the Obstacle Race." Midnight pauses for a moment, and the Hologram that showed who got what placement is changed.
Now, it added a point number next to each person's name. There was a pattern of a 5 point difference between most people. Kokei looked for his name and its number instantly. '11th- Kokei Kyōryokuna 160 points'
Kokei nodded his head, "okay, that's not too bad." He then peered up at the top, curious as to what the higher placed people got. Shoto and Katsuki's numbers were fairly tamed, until he saw Izuku's points for first place. It was a staggering 10 million.
Needless to say, Izuku had all the 41 people's eyes on him. "If your team falls or only has one headband and it gets stolen, you are still in the races. Until the 15 minute timer is up, everyone has a fighting chance. Work to get the most points by gaining high numbered headbands. Only the top 4 teams, with the most points, will be advancing to the finals. Also, it's not allowed to make your team fall on purpose." Midnight states almost specifically to Katsuki, making him irritated. "Alright, I'm done speaking. The 15 minute timer has started, begin making your teams!"
With Midnight's final few words, the students begin their mingling to find a suitable team. Except Kokei, having no idea where to even start. Most of the people from his class that made it were going to Katsuki, groveling to be on his team. Kokei had no interest in joining his team, though. As Kokei looked amidst the crowd, he saw someone he knew by themselves: Tsuyu Asui.
Kokei quickly capitalized, speed walking to the girl. She fared off against Tomura and walked off with minor injuries, that's gotta show she's strong, right? "Hey, Tsu!"
Tsuyu turned her head to the side so she could see who it was that approached her. "Hello Kokei, ribbit."
Kokei didn't really know how to form his question into words, so he tried his best. "So, uhm, wanna join my team?"
Tsuyu stares blankly at Kokei, then looks behind him and to his sides. "Where's your team, ribbit?"
Kokei laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head, "well, i was hoping you'd be the first to join."
Tsuyu puts a ringer at her bottom lip while he questioned, "if i join your team, ribbit, I'd have to heavily rely on you. Ribbit."
Kokei blinked his eyes a couple times, them slowly nodded his head. 'Is this her nicer way of telling me to buzz off?' The anticipation Kokei felt while he waited for the rest of what Tsuyu had to say was intense.
Tsuyu stays quiet for some time, then smile and nods her head. "Alright, ribbit, i believe in you. Ribbit."
Kokei smiled heartily, "epic! Now, we should look for 2 more people." Tsuyu agrees and the two of them peer around at the large group of people. The number of potential people to invite on the group was intimidating, but also hopeful.
After searching for another teammate for around 2 minutes of asking around, Tsuyu finally finds someone. She immediately calls Kokei over to where she was, considering it was 'his team' so she felt the need to converse with her teammate first. Kokei ran over to Tsuyu, "what's up?" He asked, curious as to why she wanted his attention.
"I found someone to join our team, ribbit." Tsuyu responds, to which Kokei smiles brightly. He was beginning to lose hope for another teammate, but now, his cheer was coming back to him.
"Alright, who is it?" Kokei questioned, and as if on queue, someone appeared next to Tsuyu. It was Ojiro, the tailed student that finished 11th in the race. Just behind Kokei, so it's promising. "Oh, Ojiro, you want to join our team?"
Ojiro bowed before Kokei, bending his upoer body forward toward Kokei. "Only if you allowed me to."
Kokei stared at the back of Ojiro's head, then turned to look at Tsuyu for confirmation. To which she shrugs her shoulders, then gives Kokei a thumbs up. The hell is that supposed to mean?
"Yeah, you can join us. We should look for a 4th member, though. To make sure our chances of winning are higher." Kokei responds, and Ojiro smiled.
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be on your team and prove myself! I promise I won't be useless!" Ojiro informs Kokei, to which Kokei simply states: "i already expected you to do that".
Ojiro leaned his body to become upright once more, "also, i saw Mezo just back there. He seemed to be looking for a team, similarly to me. We could likely get him to join us."
"Ribbit, alright." Tsuyu responds, and Kokei agreed. Thus making the now 3 of them go on a goose chase for Mezo Shoji.
Luckily, the chase was short lived considering they found him fairly easily amongst the crowd. It's easy to spot arms on someone's back, since it's very specific.
Mezo and Kokei stood around the same height, yet Mezo looked much more menacing than Kokei's entire team. Not being able to see his mouth combined with his surplus of arms was very intimidating.
Kokei didn't even know how to start a conversation with the man, so he didn't. Instead, he simply stood there and stared at the man for a few moments, until he turned to look back at Kokei. "Kyōryokuna?"
Tsuyu nudged Ojiro with her shoulder, then pointed at the stare-down. As if to say 'go to something about this'. Ojiro understood immediately and took action himself. Ojiro stepped up to Mezo, catching his eye off of Kokei. "Hey, Mezo, we wanted to know if you had a team yet. If you don't, we'd like you to join ours."
"Ooh," Mezo begins, "okay. That makes more sense. I'm guessing Kyōryokuna was nervous to ask me, correct?"
"Yeah, you're a uh.. scary guy." Ojiro comments, to which Mezo laughs heartily.
Mezo gently slaps Kokei's back, the indent of a smile on his mask. "That's quite a normal reaction, Kokei, but you have nothing to fear of me. Besides, we're teammates now."
"So then, you'll join? Ribbit." Tsuyu inquires, and Mezo gives her a assuring thumbs up with one of the hands on his back.
"Yes, i will. You were right about me, i had no team suitable for my plans. But with this collection of people, i feel we have good chances." Mezo states while he eyes all three of the kids one by one.
"I'm guessing you have a plan then?" Kokei asked, finally saying something since they encountered the multi-armed student.
Mezo nods his head, "yes, allow me to run it past you all. We still have around 10 minutes, we can use it to plan."
"Alright then," Kokei cracks his knuckles, "let's talk strategy!"
Authors note: this marks the end of the Second ep of season 2 and the first event in the Sports Festival arc. I wonder who that guy, that was looking at Kokei, is..? Things are just now heating up for the Sports Festival, so stay tuned! That's about all i have to say so I'll talk to you all, later.