Chapter 9: Straight to the Top
(Play Peace Sign Eng. Cover By Jonathan Young)
Oh, woah, ohh
Oh, woah, ohh
Oh, woah, ohh ohh
(Izuku is seen on a rooftop with a determined smirk on his face as he watches All Might fly through the air while the wind blows through his hair before the music kicks in and the title: My Hero Academia: Fox Sin)
Well, it's strange my head is rememberin'
How the airplane flying overhead
Looks so effortless, but I cannot guess
Why it lingers in my mind
Evening after this, I'm a crying mess
And to be stronger now, my only wish
So I can finally have the bravery
So I can reach on up to the sky
(The scene changes to Uraraka in a tracksuit inspired by her costume doing a stretch while Taida does sit ups on Chastiefol. Then it shows Kirishima stretching down between his legs, Bakugo doing holding squats, and Iida doing a forward lunge stretch.)
This cruel fate engraving
It's carved into the stone
Hoping it reveals itself all to me and then I will Know just where to go
This moment, this moment
I know that I can breathe
Hanging on a feeling... believe in
My only meaning!
(The scene changes to Izuku doing some stretches on a rooftop before he looks up at the sky. It then changes to Shoto doing some stretches with the shadows of the clouds covering him, which leaves him as he glances to the rest of his classmates.)
I hear a voice a' calling, telling me to risk it
Asking if I have been going the distance
Singing with a passion that I cannot deny
My eyes are swollen with the tears that I've been crying
But, to the rest of the world, ever smiling
Singing for the courage that I'm dying to show!
(The next sequence shows Izuku busting through Shoto's ice with a Delaware Smash as Shoto blocks the fragments from his face. Iida is then shown using his quirk to speed around the arena. Then a shadowy back shot of Shinso, Tokoyami using dark shadow, and Bakugo blasting around before attacking the screen. Then it switches to Hatsume, Tetsutetsu, before All Might comes flying in and landing in front of UA with Aizawa and Mic before the shot pans out of the rest of the students standing in front of the school)
With my peace sign up when I say goodbye
Write a story of a hero!
(The final sequence shows Bakugo, Iida, Uraraka, Shoto, and Izuku attacking as they lead everyone else into battle)
-Obstacle Race-
Shoto's ice attack caused one of the zero point robots to fall over, and Izuku unfortunately found himself right under it.
"Oh shit-..." He said before it fell on top of him with a loud BOOM. His voice drew Shoto's attention as he stopped and looked at the scene, looking a little concerned.
"Whoa! Looks like Shoto Todoroki from Class 1-A just stopped one of those robots with a devastating display!" Mic announced.
"And accidentally crushed a few others. Can't tell who, though." Aizawa commented.
"Did I just-" Shoto wondered aloud as everyone looked at the fallen robot in horror and slight relief as Kirishima and Tetsutetsu busted out of the robot, luckily unharmed.
Though they weren't the only ones, seconds later Izuku punched his way out of the robot and sent an annoyed glare at him as he regenerated some lost flesh.
"I'm gonna fucking get you back for that!" He yelled. He did not appreciate having a robot fall on him.
But as he tried to step out of the robot, he noticed that his arm was caught on the inside because a piece of metal had stabbed through it. Sighing, the boy just aimed at his elbow while channeling 15% of one for all, and karate chopped his arm clean off… much to the horror of the other students and spectators.
"Did he just chop his own arm off?!" Someone from Class 1-B exclaimed with wide eyes.
"Wait, look!" A girl with vines for hair exclaimed as she pointed at his stump… Which was visibly growing a new arm. The camera focused on it too, and the sight relieved the spectators somewhat.
"He has a high healing factor, so no need to worry about him." Momo announced, causing everyone to sigh in relief.
"God I hate doing that." The immortal sighed as he unzipped and discarded his track jacket and chased after Shoto while stealing the speed of those in close range. However he was then met by a group of two one pointers and two two pointers. Smirking the boy used one for all in his legs before rocketing forward and using Snatch with his staff to steal their cores in the blink of an eye. "Crazy Hunt!" He yelled as the robots blew up behind him.
"WOW! Now that's taking out the trash, the Midoriya way!" Present Mic exclaimed in delight.
"His quirk steals everything from physical attributes from other people to physical objects, including manifestations from other quirks. He can also use it to pull things towards him and pull himself towards other things or people." Aizawa commented. "As simple as it may be, it's very versatile." He added. The fans cheered at the fact that a quirk like Izuku's exists.
"Man, that kid's got quite a bit going for him, doesn't he?" Snipe commented.
"Yeah, but he's still gotta work on that self serving side of his, he's got way too much of a possessive streak in him." Chimed in Power Loader.
"That's simply his own personality quirks." All Might assured them. "He knows how to show restraint, you don't have to worry about that."
(Elsewhere)
At the Midoriya household, Inko was watching the festival and she honestly was close to having a heart attack when she saw Izuku get crushed by that robot and seeing him so casually cut off his own arm.
"Izuku, baby! Don't give your mom a heart attack!" She whined, but managed to calm down when he grew a new arm.
(Meanwhile)
Back with the students they were still running until they reached a chasm where there were stone columns at random points and ropes connecting them.
Seeing this, Izuku started racking his brain for ideas, and then saw King riding up to him on his spear.
"Hey King, mind if I hitch a ride with you on Chastiefol?" The Fox Sin asked the boy.
"Hop on. I got room for one more, anyway." He shrugged.
"Thanks." Izuku said before the two flew off, though as they started gaining on Shoto, Bakugo came out of nowhere and started chasing them in mid air.
"Neither of you are winning this race!" The exploder yelled.
"Put a sock in it!" The green haired boy shot back as he stole Bakugo's balance and made him briefly spiral before regaining it. "Well, here's my stop. Later!" He told Taida before he jumped off while they were still in the air.
"Izuku, Wait! Don't go at this-!" Taida tried to yell before…
CRACK!
Izuku miscalculated his decent speed and direction and landed right on his head, injuring it and snapping his neck in the process, dying instantly… oops.
"... Uh, should we call this off?" Present Mic asked in an unsure tone.
"Wait for it…" The erasure hero replied. Moments later Izuku shot up and suddenly felt his neck get a crick in his neck.
"OI!" He gasped before stretching. "Man, dying can give you such a crick in the neck! Hang on a second." He said before he started turning his head completely around a couple times and then shaking it. "Ahhh, much better." He sighed.
"Well, I guess that's one way to show that you're immortal." The radio show host sighed.
Shoto and Bakugo, who had arrived at the scene, took a moment to facepalm at his words.
"Bakugo, tell me. Does he do this all the time?" The two-toned boy asked in exasperation.
"Yeah, he does. You get used to it after a while." The exploder sighed.
"I feel like that should be a bad thing." Shoto mused as he started running again.
"It kinda is." Katsuki nodded as he started flying again.
"OI! Get back here, you two!" The immortal shouted after them as he started running. Though as they continued to chase each other…
KABOOM!
Several people were sent flying thanks to the unexpected appearance of mines in a minefield straight ahead of them.
"Hope you contestants are really because… YOU'RE STEPPING ONTO A MINEFIELD!" Mic called. "But these were made for the games so they're not that powerful, just enough to make you wet your pants!"
"Hm…" The green haired boy hummed as he looked at what he was presented with before a lightbulb went off in his head. "Ah ha!" He got out before he started digging up mines and piling them up.
After he got a considerable amount of them gathered he then leapt towards them and slammed himself into them back first, which made a massive explosion occur due to him putting all his weight into it.
"WHOA! What caused that explosion?! It's even bigger than the normal mines!" Present Mic exclaimed in surprise. Back on the minefield, everyone looked in surprise at the blast, which grew greater when they saw a familiar immortal flying over their heads.
"I BELIEVE I CAN FLY-OOF!" He sang with a massive smile on his face as he flew past Shoto and Katsuki… Only to slam face first into one of the walls of the entrance gate back to the school with a very audible SPLAT and fell to the ground.
"... He'll be fine, right?" Shoto called out to Bakugo as he navigated the minefield.
"I've seen him get up from that before. He'll be fine." The pomeranian blonde nodded.
"Would it be too much to ask him to stop doing that?!" Uraraka exclaimed in irritation.
"Uh… How should we be reacting at this point? I mean, he already died once and got back up from it, so should we really be concerned anymore?" The blond sound hero asked as he rubbed his temples. He was usually more hyped for this kind of thing, but seeing a competitor die and get up from it two times tended to mess with your flow.
"My rule of thumb when dealing with Midoriya's antics are: Try and at least find some levity in how absurd the ways he gets injured usually are. Makes it easier to find it amusing rather than annoying." Aizawa shrugged as he smirked under his bandages, causing many to mutter to each other in agreement. It would help them cope.
"Well, there you have it folks! Eraserhead isn't a terrible teacher!" Present Mic announced, causing the audience to laugh.
"Wait, what?" The erasure hero asked as he did a double take.
Right at that moment moment, the green haired boy shot back up with a shake of his head before he started dizzily wobbling through the tunnel to the arena as the others started to gain on him… before he accidentally tripped and ended up tuck and rolling into the stadium and landing face first on the ground.
"Ow… Note to self, never do that again." He groaned as he sat up, and suddenly realized that he was apparently in first place. "... Oh, cool." He shrugged. He had no reason to get hyped over the position.
After this, one after the other, everyone poured into the stadium, and as they all came in, Izuku was approached by Uraraka. Before the immortal could say anything…
SMACK!
She suddenly slapped him, an irritated expression on her usually cute face. Izuku stared back at her with wide eyes while others looked on in surprise.
"Uh…" He managed to utter.
"Would it literally be too much for you to quit getting yourself injured and killed, mister?! Are you trying to give me -us- heart attacks?! For crying out loud, would you tone down the dying already?!" She ranted in frustration.
"Hey, when I have the ability to literally not have to worry about dying, I'm gonna spam it. It's just how I do things." The boy shrugged before he was suddenly pulled into a headlock by his childhood sweetheart.
"That doesn't mean we don't worry about you, idiot!" She exclaimed as she held his head. Meanwhile with All Might, he watched his pupil with a proud gaze.
'If I'm being honest, young Midoriya, I thought that your tendencies to greedily want everything you can get your hands on while simultaneously trying to be there for your friends would have been your downfall since those usually are one or the other.' The blonde thought before clapping his hands. 'Turns I was worried for nothing! You can balance both aspects… Though maybe cool it with the throwing yourself into death thing.' The man thought.
"You know, Midoriya has some really high durability stats." Someone under the Symbol of Peace's booth commented, getting his attention.
"True, plus with the power sapping capabilities of his quirk, he could easily be useful for tiring down opponents or stealing hostages in the right circumstances." Another also noted.
"Though that may also negatively impact his popularity since his quirk could potentially be called villainous and his non-combatant and (possibly) greedy and self centered personality traits could also be off putting to would be fans and possible agencies." A third noted.
'Business course students… Some things never change.' Toshinori sighed mentally as the boys kept debating market simulations.
Back with the students, Midnight called their attention to her and made everyone else turn back towards her… Ochako meanwhile did so while comically still having Izuku in her arms in the same headlock while the Fox Sin equally as comically tried to get free.
"Come on, Ochako! Lemme go!" He exclaimed as he struggled. The gravity girl seemed to realize this and let him go, which caused Izuku to start trying to regain his breath. 'Damn she's strong! When did she get that strong? Does she work out or something?' The boy thought.
"Now if I can have your attention please students, we'll see what the next game will be!" Midnight called as the screen's slot machine started spinning. "What could it be? The waiting is torture!" She continued. "Prepare yourselves, for this!" She finished as the screen said: "Cavalry Battle".
"A cavalry battle? I'm terrible at those!" Kaminari groaned.
"Calvary Battle, huh?" The immortal muttered in slight interest.
"In this game, only the first forty-two will be advancing to the next round, but don't worry we'll have other games to let you shine." Midnight explained. "Each student is assigned a point value that goes up in increments of five starting from the bottom. Forty second place is worth five and forty first is worth ten, etc." She continued.
'Seems simple enough.' Izuku thought.
"And the point value given to first place is: Ten Million!" The R-rated hero announced. "The points will be given to you based on the place you managed to take in the Obstacle Race, so with that being said, Izuku Midoriya has ten million points!" She continued.
This caused everyone to look at the immortal and, if one had a certain way of looking at the world, their eyes would be glowing red. In another universe, Izuku would've shied away from the gazes. Here, though, he returned their gazes with glowing green eyes that were filled with greed with a wide vulpine smile.
"To gather points, the stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up, so the more you get, the harder they will be to manage." Midnight told them. "However, there are still rules, purposefully knock down a team and I'll slap you with a red card. You'll be disqualified!" She added.
Everyone looked at Izuku with glowing red determined eyes, knowing he was essentially their ticket to first place. The boy gave them an even greedier gaze that unnerved them as his smile became even more vulpine as his tongue rolled to the side of his mouth.
"Careful guys~! I might try and make my number higher than it already is~!" He sang, his smile still in place. This caused everyone to gulp nervously at his words.
"You'll have fifteen minutes to choose your teammates. So choose wisely! Now, begin!" The woman told them. With that, everyone started looking around for teammates.
Though as Izuku tried to rattle off teammate ideas in his head, he noticed that everyone was basically avoiding him. This, needless to say, made things… difficult.
'Well, I did kinda scare them with my little display earlier, so there's that. Hm… Who'd be willing to join me in spite of that?' He mused internally.
"Hey, Deku!" Ochako said cheerily as she approached him, causing the boy to jump slightly due to her appearance being unexpected.
"Oh! Hey, Ochako. What's up?" He asked after calming down from his mini scare.
"I want us to team up." The girl replied, causing him to blink at her words. "I mean, it makes sense to team up with the people you've known since childhood." She added with a shrug.
The boy couldn't help but clench his chest as his heart throbbed at her words. "Ochako…" He whispered as he hugged her briefly. "You're right, it's a good idea to form a team with people you know the capabilities of." He nodded with a smile.
"Yeah!" The gravity user nodded.
"Heh heh, at last you're alone!" A voice said behind them. The duo turned and saw a pink haired girl that had a ton of gadgets on her person grinning ear to ear at the immortal. "Team up with me, person in first place!" She added.
"Uh, who're you?" The two questioned.
"I'm from the support course! Name's Mei Hatsume! I want to use your current fame to my advantage!" The inventor stated.
"That's straight forward." Izuku commented in surprise.
"By joining up with you, everyone will be watching you, which would include my darling little babies to show to CEOs of big support companies!" Hatsume spoke as she got rather close to them. "And by following that line of reasoning it'll give plenty of chances for me and my marvelous gadgets to get recruited!" She added, suddenly getting even closer.
"Whoa, wait a sec. How much did you bring?" All Might's successor asked.
"Ha ha! Look and see!" The girl said as she opened a box. "I'm sure that you'll find something you'll like!" She added. "For example, I based this off of the jetpack of the Buster hero: Jetstream." She continued as she held up the jet pack.
"Wait, you based this off Jetstream's jetpack?! I love that guy!" Izuku exclaimed in delight. "His High Flying Sparkling Cider is one of my favorite sodas!"
"Ooh, I see you're a connoisseur of both hero themed drinks and heroes! How interesting!" Hatsume notes as they started talking… leaving Ochako to watch them with a tinge of jealousy in her demeanor.
'That's MY childhood friend, dammit!' She thought enviously. But as they continued to talk, Izuku got another idea.
"We need another member… And I know just who to talk to." He told the two before they went over to Iida. "Iida." The green haired boy said, getting his friend's attention.
"Yes, Midoriya?" He responded.
"I'm planning on doing an offensive and evasive strategy and I'll need a mobility geared quirk like yours to pull it off." The immortal told the bespectacled speedster. "You up for it?" He asked.
"That sounds like a fine strategy." Iida nodded. "But no." He told them before suddenly walking over to Shoto, Momo, and Kaminari. "If I want to get better, I can't always follow you. So I am going to compete against you, and I won't hold back." He told him before the group left.
"Damn. There goes that plan." The Fox Sin cursed before noticing Fumikage and got another idea. "Hm…" He hummed before he walked over to the bird headed teen and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I still got one spot open on my team. You in?" He offered.
The bird boy turned to face them as they all smirked together.
(Later)
As the game started, everyone got into position. "Students ready!" Midnight said before a shot was heard. "Begin!"
Instantly, everyone shot after Izuku's team, the ten million headband on his forehead. "And here comes the parade of unwitting idiots." The scarred team as he held his arms out to his side. "Zero Sign!" He intoned. Instantly, the perception of everyone around his team was gone, leaving them confused.
"Where did he-? Huh?!" A class 1-B girl with orange hair in a ponytail student stammered before her headband was suddenly taken by an invisible person… before it was revealed to be Izuku seconds later who was using Snatch to attract the headband from several meters away tractor beam style.
"It is good to be me." The teen said with a grin as he tied it on top of his ten million headband to act as a shield of sorts.
"Whoa! Izuku Midoriya just stole the head band of Class 1-B's team Kendo from a considerable distance! What an upset! They didn't even see it coming!" Mic commented.
"That's how Midoriya works: He makes advantages and uses them to his benefit. Watch yourselves." Eraserhead nodded.
However, the group was unable to enjoy their victory as some very familiar push knives started flying their way out from a hole between Shoji's dupli-arms as he ran towards them.
"There's only one person I know who has weapons like this on hand!" The immortal said as he tried to dodge the weapons before a long tongue suddenly joined the attack.
"Sorry, Izuku, but we'll be taking that ten million headband now!" Taida called from the covering.
"Taida, and Tsu too?!" Uraraka gasped as they hovered back with Hatsume's hover soles. "Why you no good little-!" She started to yell as Dark Shadow blocked the onslaught. She felt very betrayed by her brother's antics.
"No hard feelings, sis! Just gotta win!" The boy called as more knives came flying at them alongside Tsuyu's tongue.
"Alright guys, cover your faces! Tokoyami, keep an eye on our blind spots." The boy told them as he pressed the button to activate the jetpack.
Everyone nodded as the jet pack blasted them away and over everyone's head. The immortal grinned as he looked around for the next head band to snatch, but unfortunately was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of Jiro's earphone jacks.
"What the-!" He got out before Dark Shadow swatted them away, much to their relief and Jiro's minor frustration.
"Damn!" She hissed.
"Good work, Dark Shadow! Keep an eye on our blind spots!" Tokoyami ordered his quirk.
"Got it!" The pseudo demon replied with a nod.
"Nice quirk ya got there, Tokoyami! I made a real smart decision recruiting you for my team!" The Fox Sin praised as the living quirk looked around for oncoming attacks.
"Yes you did." The avian headed teen nodded.
As they continued to fly, Izuku continued to look for someone to steal the headband of, they suddenly heard the sound of explosion's coming at their left flank. That meant only one thing…
"GIMME THAT HEADBAND, DEKU!" Bakugo roared as he flew at them.
"Tokoyami, if you would?" The immortal said before Dark shadow blocked Bakugo and caused him to fall back to his team. As the group landed after this assault, the green haired boy then used Snatch on his finger to steal the headband of Hagakure's team and another 1-B team.
"What the-?! Toru, the headband! It's gone!" Sato cried in surprise.
"Huh?! Oh no! What happened?!" She panicked.
"Thanks for the headbands, guys!" The Fox Sin called as he and his teammates ran away. However the group was soon cut off by the appearance of Shoto and his teammates.
"I'll be taking that now." The two toned boy stated.
"Which one?" Izuku asked cheekily, getting chuckles from his teammates. Shoto's eyebrow twitched slightly at his smartass question.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile up in the observation room, Mic and Aizawa started to notice a new trend in the competition. Teams were suddenly starting to lose headbands like they were going out of style out of nowhere.
"Wow! Look at that! Everyone is losing headbands left and right! They just can't hold onto them with Midoriya of 1-A on the field!" The blond man exclaimed with a grin.
"This is what happens when you let the self proclaimed Fox Sin of Greed compete. Just putting that out there." Aizawa commented with a shrug.
"But hold on, the headbands are disappearing but Team Midoriya still hasn't increased past the last couple! If he's not taking them, then who is?" The Voice Hero asked.
Back with the students, Bakugo suddenly got his headband swiped by a boy from class 1-B and his team.
"What the-? Hey!" He barked as his team stopped.
"Your class is too narrow minded, think bigger." The team leader said as they faced each other. "You know you all should have considered the bigger picture rather than just blindly rushed things. That's what our class did at least."
"What are you talking about?" Bakugo questioned.
"We knew they wouldn't throw out too many of us in the first round, so we all decided to throw the match as a class to see our opponents in action." The blonde shrugged. "After all, only a fool would go all out in the preliminaries. And why waste time chasing after a temporary front runner like a horse with a carrot waving in his face? Honestly." He added with a chuckle.
"If you're trying to go after as many headbands as you can, then you'll end up going after Deku at this point. Haven't you been paying attention to the amount he's got?" The exploder chuckled.
"Yeah, but with his quirk and the teammates he's got going after him would be too risky." Shrugged the boy. "Oh, now I recognize you. You're the guy who got caught by that sludge villain." He pointed out. "You'll have to tell us about it some time. You know I bet it must be strange, when you're constantly finding yourself in the role of the victim."
This got a nasty glare from the pomeranian blonde as mini explosions went off in his hands and an angry aura surrounded him, creeping out his teammates.
"Guys, change of plans. We're going after that smartass!" He growled, his glare and blood red aura causing the ones below him to quiver.
It was a dog eat dog world, the hero world, and this just proves it.
Dragon Emperor0:... Did Izuku just make an Ice Age 2: The Meltdown reference?
ThermalsniperN7: Yes he did, and ya know what? It really fit the situation he was in.
Dragon Emperor0: That aside though, his quirk really was tailor made for a game like this, and with his teammates? He's bound to win no problem.
ThermalsniperN7: It's not even a joke. Him getting the highest number of points possible in a game like this is a real possibility. Also, poor Ochako got betrayed by her brother. She needs a head pat.
Dragon Emperor0: No kidding, dick move King. Also, Izuku just casually lobbed off his own arm. That is some of the coldest shit I've ever seen, bar none. Seriously I thought I was gonna hurl there for a second.
ThermalsniperN7: Honestly, after the entrance exam and the USJ attack, ya learn to get used to that and take it in stride. Anyway, see you guys next time!