Hello it's RobLebron, and IT'S FINALLY TIME FOR THE SPORTS FESTIVAL TO BEGIN! Who do you think will win it all? Who do you think will win in each event? Let's find that out now.
Chapter 20: Let the Games Begin! (Sports Festival Arc Part 1)
Inside Kazume's dorm…
*BEEP* BEEP* BEEP* The alarm on Kazume's phone went off at 9:00AM. It was the day of the UA Sports Festival. He woke up and turned off the alarm to prepare for the big day. More like the day where he might die at the end of it... As the top student in the class, he'd probably be favored to win it all, but then again, the other strong students like Bakugo, Todoroki, and Midoriya are pretty tough opponents to beat. Today was more than just a series of games, it was to prove his power to the masses. He wants to win… no, he HAS to win. He must win to finally get out of that bastard's grasp, and then… one day… he'll finally put a stop to his outrage.
*RIIIINNNGGG* Kazume was receiving an incoming call. He checked who it was, and it was his sister and crush, Melissa. Kazume picked up the phone.
"Good morning, sis," greeted Kazume. He was trying to play it cool, despite that, his mind tossed him into a tiny fantasy.
"Hello Kazume, did you have a good night's sleep?" asked Melissa.
"Yeah I slept fine sis. So why are you calling? Isn't it time for you to be at school?" Kazume asked. The Sports Festival was on a Monday, so it's odd for why Melissa was calling at this time.
"Oh we don't have school on the day of the Sports Festival. It's a big time event that all work except restaurants and emergency services are closed. Plus I don't want to miss out seeing my little brother participating in the event," replied Melissa.
"I see," said Kazume. He heard a noise in her background of gallons of water dropping, "Hey sis, are you by any chance about to take a shower?" Kazume smirked.
"Uh, w-well… I d-didn't h-have a c-chance to take one yesterday. I was b-busy working on s-some support projects," Melissa stuttered
"Mm-hm…" Kazume chided, imagining her blushing. "So you're telling me that you're completely naked while on the phone with me?"
"Uhhhhhh" If Melissa wasn't blushing bright red before, she was now.
Bingo. He loved making her blush, it made her look so cute.
"So… cute…" he mumbled.
"What?" Melissa asked.
"N-Nothing! J-just g-go enjoy your hot s-steamy s-shower, sis!" he spat, sounding more and more like that SHIT Mineta by the second.
'Oh fuck me! What the fuck am I doing?!' Kazume thought. At this point he was thinking about going to his brother and yelling at him to end it.
"A-alright, w-well good luck at the S-Sports Festival," Melissa stuttered, still flustered from Kazume's teasing.
"Wait Melissa, I… I… l- lo… I gotta go. Goodbye!" said Kazume before he hung up.
Kazume felt disappointed at himself. He was once again hitting on his sweet sister, and now he couldn't fucking confess his love to her? He smashed his head back towards the wall.
*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*
"Fuck! Stupid! Piece of fucking shit!" Kazume yelled as he continued to hurt himself.
"Blunt force trauma won't make you smarter, dumbass! Now get your ass in gear and let's destroy this competition! We'll stick it to that weakling Stain and make that girl's panties wetter than Niagara Falls!" exclaimed Pain.
"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Kazume, feeling confused on what his doppelganger meant.
"I wanna help, genius! There's two of us in here, you and me, and if you die, I die too! Plus… Do it for your sister!" He went right back to being Pain-Melissa for a brief moment, further confusing him.
"Why do you want to help me? Hell, why do I even want your help? You fucking made me yell at Uraraka! You made her cry, you son of a bitch!" Kazume was a bit furious at his other self.
"Because, we're two sides of the same coin. Sure, I'm a jerk, but I've never steered you wrong, right? Don't you want to prove that you can be a hero to the other staff members? I'll try my best not to be so… critical," Pain offered.
"If you make anyone cry or hate me again, I'll kill myself," said Kazume.
"Oof! Harsh much?" Pain taunted, placing a hand on his chest and feigning… well, as the name implies, Pain.
"Still! Don't fuck this up! It's televised, so everyone, not just UA and the people in the stands, can see this all go down!" warned Kazume/
"Ugh! Yes, Mom!" scolded Pain.
At the Sports Festival…
Even from a distance, you could feel the anticipation, the fear, the anxiety, all in a miasma that spread through every inch of the area. The heroes in the area were called in for extra security, but these front-row seats couldn't compare to The Hero Killer's seat… watching it from a rooftop. The Jumbotron was big enough to see from there, a hungry smile crested his face, his red eyes fixed on the screen.
'Give me a good show… Kazume,' he thought.
While the crowd was busy buying food and merch from the concession stands or taking their seats, Class 1-A was in their assigned waiting room, in their PE clothes instead of their hero costumes, preparing for the Sports Festival mentally. Meanwhile, Kazume was setting up his kit to store throwing knives and his katanas, making sure they are worn on the outside of his gym uniform.
"Aw man, I wish we were allowed to participate in our hero costumes instead of these gym clothes," complained Mina
"Well, at least everyone else would be wearing the same thing. At least it's fair for everyone. Not everyone in this festival is in the hero course like us," said Ojiro.
"I can't wait to see what they have in store for all of us in the first round of the event," said Sato.
"Whatever it is, we must carry on and do what it takes to win," said Tokoyami.
"Alright everyone, get your game faces on! The event is about to start in a few minutes!" commanded Iida, as he entered the waiting room.
"Hey Midoriya!" said Todoroki with a cold face as he stood right in front of Midoriya. His two-colored eyes locked onto Midoriya's, the rather casual remark having a cold edge to it.
"What is it Todoroki? Something bothering you?" Izuku softly spoke. Everyone was looking at their direction. Todoroki gestured to follow him away from prying eyes and ears. This was something he'd been wanting to say.
"From my viewpoint, I can say that I'm clearly stronger than you," said Todoroki.
"Yeah… you're right," softly replied Izuku, feeling uncomfortable about Todoroki's implication that he has with him.
"However, you have the #1 hero All Might assisting you, I don't exactly know what's going on with the two of you, but know this… I'll definitely be looking forward to beating you," said Todoroki, a cold glare slicing into Midoriya's heart and making it bleed out fear.
The atmosphere in the waiting got tense, not only the other classes are going against them, but now Todoroki wants to declare war on his own classmate, more specifically on Midoriya who everyone minus Bakugo respects and adores.
"Whoa man, what is up with these declarations of war lately? Now we're turning on each other?" asked Denki. Kirishima stood up from his seats and tried to break it up.
"Yeah, what's the big deal? Why are you turning against us, man? We're all friends here, no need to go at Midoriya," said Kirishima as he put his right hand on Todoroki's right shoulder.
"We're not here to make friends with each other! We're here to compete, or at least I am," he spat, his glare making the others wilt and back down, making Kazume feel a bit… excited. Finally he could see the angsty son of the Flaming Asshole show his true colors.
"PFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kazume maniacally laughed out loud. He stopped himself, Pain was bleeding over… or starting to. He had hatred for Todoroki, and Pain was amplifying it.
The class was feeling very uncomfortable. They haven't heard Kazume laugh like that since… he almost attacked Jiro and Momo back at the Battle training. Kazume shook with manic glee mixed with the humor of the boy with a sad excuse for anything resembling a family. All comedy is derived from someone else suffering. Kazume continued to laugh, thinking about how Todoroki had it EASY compared to him! At least he had parents! At least he had a functional sibling, hell, two functional siblings that never tried to fucking murder him!
"What's so funny?" asked Todoroki. He was shaking, not with rage, but with something akin to nervousness. Even Todoroki was scared of Kazume, he suspected Kazume from the very start with that maniac scribbling, how much did he know? How much did he find out? Rage ignited in his chest and he clenched his hands into fists.
Kazume finished his laugh before he finally spoke, "Hehehe… Oh it's just too funny. You think that you're so fucking tough that you can just take shots at all of us? That you're clearly stronger and better than poor Midoriya? That you're in a different fucking league than the rest of us? And why because you're the fucking son of ENDEAVOR?! Sure you're well respected by your classmates because of your mastery with your powerful ice quirk. Wait a minute… you're the son of that fucking bastard and you're telling me that you mastered only your ice quirk? Pfft, wow you are already disappointing your old man already… even worse than the other wastes of cum drops you call siblings..." Kazume ranted. His eyes glowing and his voice low, his voice so dangerously low and tense.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY!" yelled Todoroki, almost ready to lunge at Kazume to give him a pounding. Kazume was ready to take action if things got physical.
Kirishima shot between them, hardened just in case either of them wanted to trade blows, "LISTEN! Both of you sit down and shut up! No outside beef! We're here to compete and have some fun, and if you wanna settle it, settle it in the one-on-one matches!"
Kazume relented and sat down, growling as Todoroki tried to regain his composure.
"Just so you know, fuckwad, you declared war on the wrong person! It should've been me, not Midoriya! Hope to see you in the one-on-one matches," growled Kazume.
"Same here," replied Todoroki.
A few minutes, the entire class made their way near the entrance of the stadium, waiting until they were announced to come out. It was complete silence, the only voices that occurred were inside her heads, recapping just what went down in the waiting room.
'Wow, ribbit, who knew that Kazume would irritate Todoroki like that?' thought Asui
'What's really happening with Kazume? One day, he apologizes for his hostile behavior, the next day he lashes out at Todoroki. Something was… like that time he held himself back,' thought Uraraka.
'That was quite irresponsible of Kazume to almost start a fight with Todoroki. As class rep, I need to be held accountable and demand him to get some help. That was unheroic of him,' thought Iida, 'Even if he's holding it back..'
Midoriya gulped, just when they thought they were out of the woods. Kazume's… other side had to emerge again. Of course, he knew of Kazume's origins. 'I might have to face him later on… I wonder if he's still okay after all of this… he needs real help, someone who he needs to trust and still listen… this isn't some sort of villain at all.' Izuku thought, 'Still… I can't help but feel bad for him… he can't control it…'
"ALRIGHT LADIES AND GENTS! MAKE SOME NOISE! GET YOUR CAMERAS READY! AND SET THIS SHOW ON RECORD BECAUSE IT'S TIME FOR THE SPORTS FESTIVAL TO BEGIN! I got one thing to say… CAN I HEAR YA SCREAM?!" announced Present Mic at his booth alongside a bandaged Aizawa.
As the trumpets started to play, the first group that came out of the tunnel on one side of the stadium was no other than Class 1-A. The moment they put their feet on the field, the pressure got tense as they had to perform in a massive crowd.
Everyone felt electricity in the air, the fire of anticipation burned in all their hearts, yet Kazume stayed calm, hand on one of his katana, just standing there, expressionless.
"ALRIGHT FOLKS, LET'S STAND UP AND CHEER AS THE STUDENTS ENTERING THE STADIUM FROM THE NORTH, IT'S NO OTHER THAN THE HERO COURSE THAT FOUGHT OFF VILLAINS IN THEIR YOUNG CAREERS, CLASS 1-A!" announced Present Mic.
The crowd erupted into loud cheering, most of the crowd was hyped up, Kazume flinched at the volume, 'Seriously? Between Mic and the crowd, I'm gonna end up deaf…' he thought.
"ALRIGHT, IN THE OTHER ENTRANCES, HERE COME THE OTHER HERO COURSE FROM CLASS 1-B! AND IN THE OTHER, THE GENERAL STUDIES CLASSES C,D AND E. AS WELL AS THE SUPPORT CLASSES F, G AND H. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE BUSINESS CLASSES I, J AND K!" introduced Present Mic.
More deafening clamor. At this point, Pain chimed in, 'Damn, it seems like the whole world is packed into this tiny stadium… you ready, Weaker-Me?'
"Now it's time for the introductory speech for this year's Sports Festival!" announced the R-rated hero, Midnight, the umpire for this event. She struck a rather seductive pose and a good amount of people in the crowd and a select few among the classes released the floodgates in their noses.
"No way, this year's umpire is the R-rated hero Midnight!" reacted one the heroes in the crowd.
"Man the upperclassmen have no idea what they're missing out on," reacted another hero.
"Isn't that attire a little too… scandalous?" asked Kirishima.
"Yeah, that costume should come with a violation of dress code," stated Denki.
"Is it really necessary to wear something inappropriate for a high school event?" asked Tokoyami.
Mineta put a thumbs up for his approval.
'WHO THE FUCK LET THIS SLUT UMPIRE THE SPORTS FESTIVAL!' thought Kazume, feeling furious.
*Whish… CRACK!* Midnight swung her whip for silence.
"BE QUIET! ALL OF YOU! And for the student doing the pledge, we have… Kazume Shield!" announced Midnight. Kazume was caught off guard and started the march up there.
"K-Kazume? But why him?" Midoriya asked out of confusion
"Well, he did get the highest score in the Entrance Exam and first in the Quirk Assessment," replied Sero.
A girl in the general studies sighed before replying in hatred to Class 1-A "Only in the Hero course exams."
"Oh… I see," said Izuku.
"Gosh, this girl completely hates our guts," said Sero.
"Yeah, all thanks to that jackass Kazume for making the others hate our class," said Denki.
The whole crowd went silent as they awaited for Kazume to start the pledge.
"Ahem, I want to say thank you all for having me up here, and for everyone in the crowd for taking your day off to go see this event. Congratulations all of you…
…
…
For WASTING YOUR FUCKING TIME! Like why the fuck do you find this shit entertaining? Because you sadistic pieces of shits love to see students using their 'flashy and powerful' quirks against each other? Is this what gains the interest of these scouts? It's not the quirk that makes the hero, it's their skillset, their poise, and determination to do what it takes to save the lives of innocents. And what do I see in front of me? NONE OF THAT SHIT! All I see are sheep and wolves! Weakness and Strength! People pushed down because they're weak, because SOCIETY never lets them try to get stronger! And do you know what I find hilarious? During that incident in the USJ, I alone defeated forty-eight villains to save my entire class from getting killed. And how does everyone thank me… by almost KICKING ME THE FUCK OUTTA UA! THIS HERO SOCIETY IS A FUCKING JOKE! So once again, congratulations folks, you wasted your fucking time and your money, because if you just came here to enjoy the competition, guess what jackasses, I'M GONNA EASILY WIN AND WIPE OUT THIS SHITTY COMPETITION!" Kazume concluded his pledge as he threw down the mic on the ground and stomped on it with his spiky shoes, breaking it into pieces.
"Thankfully, the television broadcast has their profanity filters on. Don't want to cause any bad influences for the younger audiences that are watching," said Present Mic.
Silence ruled in the stadium, making everyone stop and think, the kid had valid points, as brutal and cruel as his way of speaking was, yet there were some that didn't agree. You could hear a pin drop in the stadium.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!" one of the fans reacted.
"You're lucky I'm not allowed to come down there and kick your ass" reacted another fan.
Kazume didn't feel like he was right anymore, but sometimes the truth is brutal, the truth stabs and cuts, yet many people ignore the bleeding.
'They won't cut me.' he thought, 'They're blind, dull, they can't cut me.'
Yet, Melissa flashed through his mind, she was definitely watching. He took a deep breath.
'They can't cut me.'
As Kazume walked down back towards his class, he was getting negative responses from the other courses, still reminding himself that their words can't cut him. He'd been through hell, he'd bled and broke for this, what did they do? Why are they thinking they're so strong? They don't know true fucking strength if it bit them in the ass!
"You think you can act all high and mighty and get away with it?! I'll see you one-on-one so I can kick your sorry ass!" exclaimed Tetsutetsu.
He also got a negative reaction from his own classmates, making them look much worse than before.
"Why the heck would you do that, Kazume? You completely embarrass our class to the entire crowd!" exclaimed Iida.
"Yeah, what the hell is your problem? That was unmanly of you!" said Kirishima.
"Todoroki has a great fucking point… I ain't here to make friends!" said Kazume/Pain.
That made Midoriya freeze, how fast his voice, posture, and expression changed, how he smiled made them all shudder, yet Kazume seemed to REVEL in it. This WASN'T KAZUME. Whatever this… thing was… it made him think of what Kacchan would've become if he got any worse.
"Now that we got that out of the way, let's find out what will be our first event!" announced Midnight as the large Jumbotron showed a large slot rolling down to decide a random event.
The slot stopped at the "Obstacle Course" event.
"In this event, all eleven classes will participate in this event. All you have to do is run around the four kilometer track around the stadium and go through many painful obstacles that get in your way. The rules are simple, as long as you remain inbounds with the track, you can cause as much pain to your opponent as you can without fatally wounding them of course," explained Midnight.
'An obstacle course, huh? I gotta do whatever I can to win this race without using my quirk to hurt myself in the race,' thought Midoriya.
'These fuckers can't cut me. They have no idea who they're really fucking with!' thought Kazume.
"Alright contestants, take your places!" concluded Midnight.
Everyone made their way near the large gate, where three green lights started to count down, signaling the start of the race.
.
THREE!
.
A predatory smile stretched across Kazume's face.
.
TWO!
.
'Bring it on, you fakes! I got a brother to prove wrong!'
.
ONE!
.
"GO!" shouted Midnight.
The race has begun, and the large horde of students crowded the doorway. The students had a difficult time for the students to push through the dense horde.
"AND WE'RE OFF TO A GREAT START, FELLAS!" announced Present Mic, he took a glance toward the quiet commentator, Aizawa, "So wanna add some commentary you like to share, Aizawa?"
"Why the hell did you sign me up for this shit?" asked Aizawa, feeling irritated.
"So what's the first obstacle these young heroes gotta avoid?" asked Present Mic.
"... the doorway," answered Aizawa.
"WAIT? WHY IS KAZUME JUST STANDING THERE?! THE RACE IS ALREADY STARTED! GO MAN! DON'T THROW THIS MATCH!" announced Present Mic, commanding Kazume to get moving.
Kazume wasn't fazed by the loud crowd or the yelling he was receiving from Mic. He had this match in the bag. He'll win this first competition easily.
"It's quite simple, Mic. He isn't throwing the match, he waited to get a running start!" explained Aizawa while commentating.
'About time someone figured it out!' thought Kazume as he ran towards the large doorway and jumped to one side of the walls.
While the rest of the class struggled and pushed their way to get through, they looked up to see Kazume wall jumping from one side of the wall to the other.
"Wow you guys are looking so pathetic down there! Eat my dust ya fools!" said Kazume as he wall jumped all the way out the doorway and into the open field outside the stadium. He was a well-forged machine of a boy, his body working in tandem with his mind. His one-track survivalist mind helped him in that regard.
All of a sudden, a large amount of ice formed through the doorway as Todoroki cleared a path for himself while at the same time, freezing everyone else's feet in the ice. However, his plan didn't quite work all the way. Some of the students were able to dodge it and jumped on top of the ice as they struggled to maintain their balance. A small number of students like Momo, Bakugo, and Mineta put their quirks into action to counter Todoroki's ice.
Kazume still had the lead by a wide margin, his mind going, 'Win. Win. Win. Destroy! Crush! Dominate!' His expression was manic, and Stain saw his brother dashing, saw that drive, that hunger, or more like felt it, grinning.
'That's the Kazume I know! I knew he was still in there!' thought the Hero Killer.
Kazume stopped immediately in his tracks to take a quick glance at his competition, seeing how far behind they are to catch up with him. He looked forward as he saw a massive army of robots that he crushed back in the Entrance Exam, now included with multiple large zero-pointers.
About ten seconds later, Momo, Bakugo, Todoroki, and Mineta caught up to Kazume. He smirked.
"Took you guys long enough!" he taunted.
"IT LOOKS LIKE THE CONTESTANTS HAS REACHED THE FIRST OBSTACLE OF THE RACE! IT'S THE MASSIVE ROBO ARMY!" announced Present Mic.
Kazume wasn't fazed as he still looked back at the other contestants catching up right as a large Zero-pointer was about to smash him with its large hands. In the other's eyes it looked like Kazume was crushed, but of course his own classmates know that with his highly skilled maneuverability, he isn't easy to beat by a simple crush by a robot.
Kazume quickly backflipped away from the attack and climbed up the arm by using his bear claws. As he got up top of the robot, he threw a knife at another Zero-pointer to catch his attention. As the large robot glanced at his direction, he was mimicking a crank, putting out his middle finger and his tongue stuck out and wagged mockingly.
The other Zero-pointer wasn't having it and tried to punch Kazume, but he quickly dodged the attack and the punch landed on the Zero-Pointer Kazume was on. He quickly fell down the robot as he used his katana to slice the robot in order to slow down his fall. He finally fell safely to the ground only to be met by the little robot buddies of the Zero-pointers, the one, two, and three-pointers.
Kazume flowed like water through the crush of metal, his eyes straight ahead, concentrating on nothing but the goal in front of him, everything faded out, and all he saw was the future he wanted for himself. His arms, machine, his legs, machine. He was a machine, a preprogrammed assassin that Stain programmed to have his one track mind, but not a literal machine…
He saw a future without his brother, in a society where real heroes thrived not through death, but through society actually lending an ear to the problems many faced. Where he was happy, where Pain would die and leave Kazume alone.
He saw Melissa, he saw everyone who showed him kindness and compassion, all there to see him become the one true hero who understood what it meant to truly be one.
Meanwhile the rest of the students competing had to deal with multiple other Zero-Pointers along with the rest of the smaller bots while Kazume stormed off ahead. They had to either run right past them avoiding their attacks, fly right over them with their quirks like Bakugo, Sero, and Tokoyami, or destroy them immediately like Momo was doing by firing her cannon with ease. Class 1-A was easily able to hold on their own thanks to their experience with real villains back at the USJ.
As for Midoriya, he refused to use his One For All quirk to avoid destroying his body, so he decided to avoid getting into much combat with the robots. Luckily, he picked up a broken piece of a robot, which was useful for him to use as a shield, so he decided to bring it along with him.
The UA staff that were watching were impressed by the effort of Class 1-A as a group fighting their way through victory.
Meanwhile Kazume had reached the second obstacle course and there were a lot of canyons and the only way through was either by the tightropes, flying over the course, or jumping from stone pillar to stone pillar.
"WELL FOLKS, IT LOOKS LIKE THE CONTESTANTS HAVE REACHED THE NEXT OBSTACLE COURSE, THE FALL! IF YOU THOUGHT THE LAST OBSTACLE COURSE WAS HARD, WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT'S IN STORE FOR THIS ONE!" announced Present Mic.
It was his personal playground, jumping from place to place, calculating his movements wisely, making sure he was calculating trajectories correctly, he was glad for his previous experience and near-constant training.
The rest of Class 1-A along with a pink-haired girl from the Support known as Mei Hatsume. Kazume glanced at Uraraka and Mina who were very nervous of the dangerous obstacle that could result in falling to their deaths.
"Ladies first?" asked Kazume.
The girls didn't move a muscle.
"No, well then" said Kazume, as he drew out his katana as he stepped back a couple meters to get his head start on his jump. He went off at a rapid speed of 80 kilometers (50 MPH) as he planted his katana right at the edge of the cliff to do his long jump to the platform across them.
Tsuyu was ready to jump into the tightrope and slowly crawl her way across, but right before she was gonna make her leap, Kazume drew out his katana and sliced off the tightrope. Tsuyu had to hit the brakes quick but it wasn't fast enough, she was gonna fall down. Thankfully, Mina and Uraraka stopped that from happening.
"Hey what's the big deal, you almost could've killed Tsu!" yelled Mina.
"Sorry ladies! Got a competition to dominate, so I gotta make sure I secure my leads. I can't let you use the shortest route to the other side, so you all have to take the long way. Later!" said Kazume.
He moved on to leaping from pillar to pillar, while also cutting down the tight robe that leads the quickest route to the other side. Sometimes the jump was too long and he had to jump halfway across the tightrope, cutting it down, and using the tightrope like a swing, as if he was a red colored Spider hero.
The other classmates had to take a different, longer route to get to the other side, but they heard a laugh from a pink-haired support student known as Mei Hatsume.
"Hehehe, it's to put my beautiful babies to work! It's my time to shine above everyone else. ALRIGHT EVERYONE, LOOK AT WHAT THESE BABIES CAN DO! With these fire arrows and hover boots, I'll easily fly through this obstacle with ease!" announced Mei.
"Wait a minute, you're from the support class," said Uraraka.
"No fair! You can't be allowed to bring gadgets to the event!" said Mina.
"Students in the hero classes get to receive many kinds of combat training by using their quirk. In order for the support groups to have a chance in this festival, we're allowed to bring any gadgets we want as long as we created it ourselves. I hope those companies are watching my babies go to work!" explained Mei.
Mei activated her hover boots and launched an arrow towards a pillar and jumped across pillar to pillar with ease, being able to close in on taking the lead over Kazume.
Iida, Bakugo, and Todoroki blasted through the obstacle, leaving the girls in the dust. Bakugo easily flew over the obstacle course with his explosions, while Iida and Todoroki, quickly skated on the tight robes with their quirks.
"Lucky!" Uraraka whined.
"You could say that again…" Mina sighed.
"OH WHAT'S THIS? THE SUPPORT STUDENT MEI IS ABOUT TO OVERTAKE KAZUME! THOSE GADGETS ONE DAY WILL SURE COME IN HANDY FOR FUTURE SUPPORT COMPANIES!" announced Mic.
The others all gawked at her inventions, with how much time she clearly put effort into them. They all saw her flying above and all thought how lucky she was. How she'll easily overtake their modern ninja machine friend Kazume, who was deadly serious, only speaking one word each time they came in contact with him.
Midoriya hit the ground running, his shield on his back and his eyes fixed ahead.
"Wow… that… Kazume… packs a punch…" he heard someone mumble. He saw Hatsume on the ground, woozy. Barely moving, a small cut on her arm, and her equipment damaged. She was grinning.
"What an interesting… specimen!" she said.
Midoriya helped her up, he didn't care about his place, all he cared about was making sure she was okay.
"Don't you worry about me, Scrap-Boy! Keep on going!" Hatsume dismissed, "I'll get the lead riight back!" Izuku nodded and dashed on, his eyes on target.
"What happened though?" Uraraka wondered.
"That muscly ninja dreamboat happened! Oooh! The babies I can make based on his quirk alone are gonna be AMAZING!" Mei squealed, her smile wide.
"But like… what did he do to you?" asked Mina.
"That's what's so awesome! He cut me and licked the cut! And I went NUMB! How cool is that?!" Mei cheered, smiling like she had just been swept up in the throes of making babies.
"I mean, advancements in medicine, advancements in crime tech, advancements in everything based on that boy's French kiss?! What's not to LOVE?!" Hatsume squealed, with a manic glint in her eyes.
Kazume thought he had the lead secure for a little while, but he looked back and saw the support student Mei closing in on him and was about to take the lead.
"OH WHAT'S THIS? THE SUPPORT STUDENT MEI IS ABOUT TO OVERTAKE KAZUME! THOSE GADGETS ONE DAY WILL SURE COME IN HANDY FOR FUTURE SUPPORT COMPANIES!" announced Mic.
Pain growled, 'NO! I'm not gonna let this pink-haired bimbo take OUR WIN! That's it! I'm gonna take her down now!'
'What are you doing, I'm not gonna hurt her. I'll easily take the lead right back! Let me handle this!' argued Kazume with his doppleganger.
'NO! You heard what Stain said earlier, he doesn't want us to just win. HE WANTS US TO DESTROY THE COMPETITION!' replied Pain.
'You're right. But I'm not gonna hurt her too bad. I'm only gonna try to slow us down and buy some time,' Kazume told his other self as he drew out his knives.
He aimed his knives at her fire arrows and both her hover boots, she fell down to the ground just as she made it through The Fall. Luckily for her, she knows how to take impacts. That girl could tank explosions better than the most hardened metal.
"Ooh! At least take me to dinner first!" she taunted, making Kazume roll his eyes, "C'mon! Do it, Raphael! I wanna see what your quirk can do!"
"OH FOR THE LOVE OF…" *STAB* Kazume stabbed her back, about four centimeters deep, which was enough to stain his knife with blood.
He licked her blood, taking his time to taste it to determine her blood type…
"O!" exclaimed Kazume.
"What was that?" asked Mei, feeling confused by what Kazume exclaimed.
"Your blood type is O. And sorry for hurting you a bit, but I must do whatever it takes to keep the lead," said Kazume before he stormed off to the next obstacle course.
"Ouch, that was a dirty move out there from Kazume's part," said Present Mic.
"As hostile as it was, he did what he could to keep the lead, without causing major injuries to that support student," explained Aizawa.
"You sure he's 'Hero Material' to you, Aizawa?" asked Mic.
"I told you before, he may be violent but he ain't Stain" explained Eraserhead.
Mei hopped back up, her smile wide, "ACTIVATING TORPEDO MODE: ONLINE!" she screamed, her hoverboots going at full tilt.
"So sorry, sweet girls, gotta do some experiments with…"
*SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH… BOOOOOOOOOM!*
"THAT SWEEEEETTTTT BLOOOODDDD NINJJJJJAAAAAAAH!" she howled.
Kazume was back in the lead, feeling odd about that Hatsume chick, and from the back, he heard something fire and saw Hatsume gaining on him.
"LICK ME AGAIN! I GOT A HYPOTHESIS!" she yelled.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!"Kazume yelled. He didn't want to deal with her bullshit
'We do need to slow her down, though. Might as well do it, ya dingus!' Pain noted.
*POPPPP!* her hoverboots went out and she fell on her face.
"Ow, dangit!" she pouted, "See you later, Raph!"
'I guess not then' said Pain.
'Like I said, I can handle this,' replied Kazume to his other him.
Kazume continued on with the course until he reached the last obstacle course before the finish line. He took a glance at all the warning signs about the minefield he's about to walk into.
'Oooh! Sounds FESTIVE!'
'You and I have different definitions of festive…'
"IT'S TIME FOR THE STUDENTS TO PASS THROUGH THE FINAL OBSTACLE COURSE, THE DEADLY MINEFIELD! GOTTA GO THROUGH IT NICE AND SLOW IF YOU WANT TO BE LEFT IN ONE PIECE!" announced Present Mic.
'OH YEAH! BODILY HARM HERE WE COME!' yelled Pain in Kazume's mind.
"Oh shut up you sick, sadistic fuck!" exclaimed Kazume.
'You love it!' exclaimed Pain.
"Anyways, it's time to make a path." Kazume ignored his doppleganger.
Kazume took out his knives and threw it on the ground in front of him, making sure it didn't land on top of the mines while making like a tiny platform for him to jump on.
"HOLY COW! KAZUME'S MAKING A STELLAR PLAN! IS HE THAT TALENTED TO JUMP ON SUCH A VERY SMALL SURFACE OF THE KNIFE HANDLE?! NO WONDER THIS DUDE IS THE NUMBER ONE STUDENT AT UA!" announced Present Mic.
The rest of the class caught up with Kazume as they slowly tip-toed their way through the minefield.
'Awwww… you squalid fuck… I wanted to see your arm dislocate…'
"AGH! WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR ONCE?! I'M TRYING TO WIN THE GOSH DAMN RACE!" yelled Kazume at his other self, not watching his balance.
When he jumped to his next knife, he slipped off and almost fell on top of a mine but not before quickly planting one of his katanas to the ground to prevent himself from blowing up. He pushed on his katana to get back on his feet while he avoided stepping on a mine.
"OH MY! THAT WAS A CLOSE CALL, ONE COSTLY ERROR THAT ALMOST BLEW HIM UP SKY HIGH! ALSO HE HAS SOME SERIOUS ISSUES, WHY IS HE YELLING AT HIMSELF?!" announced Present Mic.
"I'm not quite sure, but I hope that he doesn't snap and go berserk," said Aizawa.
Meanwhile, at I-island...
Melissa was avidly watching the competition, but hearing that reminded her of a few situations, a tone change, a posture change, something about what they said rang bells like crazy in her head. She couldn't let go of it, something added up, something that could finally let her into her brother's headspace to finally get an understanding of what's haunting him.
'Kazume… I think I understand… maybe… maybe it's like a mask!' she thought, hitting the nail on the head, 'He wore it so much that it gained a mind of its own… a mental shield becoming his worst enemy...'
'I… I'll try my best to help. I promise, Kazume…' she thought, watching the screen tensely, her eyes focused on the screen with a fire in her eyes, 'I've always got your back.'
She smiled, seeing one shot of her brother recovering, 'Those muscles…' she thought.
Back at the Sports Festival…
Bakugo had entered the obstacle course and quickly blasted his way towards Todoroki, as he wanted to give him a piece of his mind
"That declaration of war… WAS NOTHING BUT BULLSHIT! YOU SHOULD HAVE IT DECLARED IT ON ME! NOT THAT SHITTY DEKU!" yelled Bakugo as he was gonna blast Todoroki in the face.
However, Todoroki avoided the attack as the two of them got into a fight while at the same time watching their steps. Kazume looked back and a small grin formed on his face.
'Those fuckers are going at each other. Fucking idiots, I'm the one they should be worried about. I'm gonna destroy their pathetic asses!' thought Kazume as he moved on to passing the obstacle until something unexpected happened.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!* a giant explosion occurred behind the other classmates. They all looked up at the sky to see a flying piece of a robot, and on top of it was the One For All user, Izuku Midoriya.
Izuku flew over almost everyone in the minefield until he was about to land on top of Kazume, who was almost finished crossing through the minefield.
'I'm losing speed fast, and if I don't think of something, Kazume might slice and paralyze me… think… I got it, I have no other way of stopping him, it's now or never!' thought Midoriya.
Kazume drew out his bear claw, as he was about to tear up Midoriya. He would normally use his katana but he doesn't want to cause major injury to his best friend. Even if he's competing with that cinnamon roll, he respects him the most as a leader, as a great friend, and as a future TRUE HERO.
Right before Kazume was about to make a slice to his chin, Midoriya shielded his attack with the large robot part, making the claws stuck to the piece.
"DELAWARE, SSMMAAASSSSHHH" Izuku activated One For All on his pinkie and fired it at Kazume, who was protected by the robot shield, but got knocked back into the minefield. He had to use One For All to knock him back because if he didn't, he would easily catch up and make a quick beeline to the finish line with his rapid speed.
Kazume was blown back, the other students dodging him, he skidded to a stop and rebounded, his rage pounding through his head and chest. Or tried to.
*BOOOM* Kazume actually landed on a mine, setting it off as the explosion knocked him back a bit further. It also burned off his back part from below the neck to the top of his waist.
Say goodbye to your lead… Kazume Akaguro… His rage broke, and he charged forward, his eyes wide.
'DAMMMMMITTTTTTTTTTTT!' he thought.
Kazume made a quick beeline across a minefield, not giving a shit about how many mines he blew up in the process. Todoroki and Bakugo used their quirks to speed through the minefield, attempting to catch up to Midoriya.
*BOOOM!**BOOOM!**BOOOM!**BOOOM!*... Kazume kept blowing up mine after mine after mine, but was fast enough to avoid being hurt by the explosions. He made quick work of catching up, his mouth spraying curses like a hose set on Jet.
While Bakugo and Todoroki were too busy using their quirks, racing against each other and catching up to Midoriya, they didn't notice an angry and possibly violent Kazume quickly closing in on them.
Kazume jumped, flying over them with his eyes wide, his rage at its peak, despite the smoke billowing from Bakugo's explosions, he soldiered on, his one-track mind screaming.
"IT'S COMING DOWN TO THIS FINAL MOMENT! WHO WILL END UP WINNING FIRST PLACE IN THIS RACE?! I JUST HOPE MIDORIYA GIVES IT HIS ALL BECAUSE HE HAS A TORPEDO CHASING AFTER HIM!" announced Present Mic.
'ALRIGGGGHHHHHHTTTTT! NO MORE HOLDIN' BACK!' Pain howled, 'We're gonna win this shit! I SWEAR WE WILL!'
Izuku pushed his body to the maximum, giving it 110%. He had to do better than his best to win first place in the race, because if he doesn't, he knows that Kazume will steal it back anyways he can... and hopefully not get torn up in the process.
"MIDDOORRRIIYAAAA!" screamed Pain in rage as he was quickly closing in on him when he made it to the large doorway. There was only about one hundred meters left to the finish line.
"IT'S NECK TO NECK BETWEEN MIDORIYA AND KAZUME! WHO WILL COME OUT ON TOP FOLKS! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOUR STUDENTS ARE TALENTED, ERASERHEAD! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN TEACHING THEM?!" announced Present Mic.
"This had nothing to do with my teaching. They're just driven in their own determination to do what it takes to be a top hero," commented Aizawa in the booth.
"YOU'VE HEARD IT FROM HIM, FOLKS! ERASERHEAD IS A TERRIBLE TEACHER!" announced Present Mic to the crowd.
"Wait, I'm WHAT?!" asked Aizawa, not happy with the insult he received from his past classmate.
As Midoriya was sixty meters away from victory, Pain was wall jumping as he entered the large doorway. He was jumping from wall to wall as he was quickly closing in on Midoriya. Midoriya looked back in fear as he ran as fast as he could to run away from his angry best friend.
Forty meters remain...
.
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Thirty
.
.
Twenty, as Pain was just three meters right behind Izuku.
.
.
At ten meters, Pain was about to pounce on him as he lunged at Izuku with his bear claws out. Izuku countered as he grabbed his hands and pushed him back but lost his balance as there was only five meters remaining.
.
.
Four meters remained as both were falling down, Kazume on top of him while Izuku was falling back, pushing away his claws
.
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Three meters…
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Two meters…
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.
One meter remained as both were gonna hit the ground as they slid towards the finish line as both reached out their hands to attempt a photo finish.
.
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FINISH!
"WHAT AN AMAZING FINISH FOR THIS EPIC RACE! ALL COMING DOWN TO THE WIRE! BUT… HOW CAN WE DETERMINE THE FIRST PLACE WINNER?!" asked Present Mic in the booth.
Uncertainty rippled through the stadium, with many an audience member tense and the air became heavy with silence. Even heavier from all the pressure. The silence wasn't just heard, it was FELT. Kazume and Izuku felt everything closing in, too. The feedback sounded and…
Everything blurred together, almost dream-like came the result.
"IT LOOKS LIKE I'VE RECEIVED WORD FROM THE CAMERA CREW THAT THEY HAVE ACTUAL FOOTAGE OF WHO CAME IN FIRST! WHILE WE'RE WORKING ON THAT, IT APPEARS WE HAVE OUR THIRD AND FOURTH PLACE CONTESTANTS WHO FINISHED THE RACE. THIRD PACE, SHOTO TODOROKI AND FOURTH PLACE KATSUKI BAKUGO!" announced Present Mic as the Icyhot and explosive boy passed through the doorway.
"DAMNIT, I LOST TO ICYHOT?! AND WHO THE HELL WON FIRST?! DEKU OR THAT NINJA PRICK?!" yelled Bakugo in frustration.
The jumbotron turned to static for a second until it showed the top view footage of the end of the doorway, a perfect angle to see which one came in first. It went slowly, frame by frame, to watch closely of which hand comes out first, then the rest of the two to find out who's hand it belonged to.
The first frame that showed was a part of the middle finger that reached out through the large gate, but there wasn't enough evidence to determine the winner.
The next frame showed a finger of the other contestant as it covered up the other boy's finger from the first one, but who does it belong to, Izuku or Kazume? Still not enough evidence.
But then the third frame… It started to clear things up. The hand on top of the other was wearing gloves. So that means the hand at the bottom was the winner. But who was the winner? Which hand is which? And that leads to the final frame.
The Jumbotron showed the final frame which showed the face of the top hand, the one with the gloves. The face was no other than Kazume Shield… but that means he wasn't the winner.
The winner is…
"THANKS TO THE CAMERA CREW SHARING THIS FOOTAGE, WE KNOW WHO WON THE FIRST PLACE! THE WINNER OF THE OBSTACLE RACE IS… IZUKU MIDORIYA!" announced Present Mic.
The audience released the Kraken, it was like a thunderous roar as Izuku was in total shock, the energy of the silenced crowd was released all in a near-concussive wave. Bombarding everyone. Kazume sighed, 'It is what it is…' he thought.
Izuku couldn't believe it… he beat the unbeatable. He beat the odds and challenged the strongest in his class…
AND WON.
Kazume walked back to the waiting room, as he had to find another gym clothes since his back was burned earlier from the mine. Thank goodness that the lockers inside the waiting room had spare clothes his size. He took his old one that was torn and put on a new one.
But all of a sudden, his phone was ringing. He took a look at who it was, and it wasn't Melissa… it wasn't David Shield… it was 'Bastard'
Things wouldn't go well if he declined so with no other choice, he picked up the phone,
"HOW THE HELL DO LOSE TO THAT BROCCOLI PIECE OF SHIT?!" yelled the Hero Killer.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Well, things just got interesting. Thank you all for reading. Let me know what you think by leaving a review. If you enjoyed this story and can't wait for more chapters, please Favorite/Follow the story.
And please stay safe out there, wash your hands, and don't touch your face!