The audience's cheers began to die down as Izuku joined the rest of his classmates.
"H-How did I do up there? Please be honest." Izuku said as he looked at his friends.
"Well if I'm being honest, it was a little rough around the edges at first. But once you seemed to find your footing, the speech went very well." Momo complimented as she smiled.
Iida raised his arms to give a seal-like clap as he nodded. "I agree! You had us all worried for a moment there, but in the end I'm glad you were chosen as our first year representative!"
"Yeah and don't worry about the fact that you freaked out at first. I'm sure a lot of people would've been super scared to go up there. You were great, Dekiru." Ochako reassured as she gave a thumbs up.
"Well, in the beginning it was a complete disaster. For a minute, I wondered if you were going to pass out on stage. I mean, I've never seen someone freeze up like that. It was kind of hilariou-" Kaminari stopped himself as he noticed a red aura surrounding Kyouka as she looked him dead in the eyes. "B-But then you totally pulled through and came up with that awesome speech!"
"Um, thank you…?" The green haired boy said as he gave a blank face towards Kaminari.
"Wow, Kaminari is really good at pissing people off. First Bakugo and now Jirou within a span of a couple of minutes." Mina said, almost sounding impressed.
Tokoyami sighed as he nodded. "Yes. A fitting attribute for one such as himself."
"You were absolutely amazing out there. I'm sure your mom and All Might are both very proud of you right now. And so am I." Kyouka whispered in Izuku's ear, causing the boy's face to brighten.
"Without further ado, it's time for us to get started!" Midnight shouted as she held the mic.
"U.A really doesn't believe in letting us catch a breath, huh?" Ochako asked as she sighed.
"This is where you begin feeling the pain! The first fateful game of the festival!" Midnight announced as she raised her whip before a holographic screen appeared behind her as it started spinning through the options. "What could it be?" The screen then stopped with the words 'Obstacle Race' on it. "Ta-dah!"
"An obstacle course?" Izuku asked before starting to smile. "I don't think I could've asked for a better game in the first round."
"Huh? What do you mean by that? Is your new technique suited for this?" The purple haired girl asked as she placed a hand on her hip.
Ochako overheard this as she looked at the two friends. "New technique? What is it, Dekiru? You gotta tell me!"
The green haired boy rubbed the back of his neck as he shook his head. "I'd rather show than tell during the first round. But I think I'll have a decent chance to show off my quirk in this game."
"All 11 classes will participate in this treacherous contest. The track is 4 kilometers around the outside of the stadiums. I don't wanna restrain anyone, at least in this game." Midnight explained before licking her lips. "As long as you don't leave the course, you're free to do whatever your heart desires! Now then, take your places, contestants!"
All of the students walked towards the exit as 3 green lights turned on right above the doorway.
'Okay, it's just an obstacle race. That doesn't sound bad.' Kyouka thought to herself as she watched the lights slowly turn off one at a time. 'Training with Izuku these past 2 weeks helped me build up my stamina so I shouldn't have much of a problem.'
The final light then turned off as Midnight cracked her whip. "Begin!"
Suddenly, all of the students made a mad dash for the door, each one of them hoping to get ahead of everyone else.
"And we're off to a racing start! How about some color commentary, Mummy Man?!" Present Mic asked as he looked at Aizawa.
Aizawa sighed before slowly turning towards Mic. "How did you talk me into this?"
"What should we pay attention to in the early stages of the race?!"
"The doorway."
"Hey, hey!"
"You're trampling me!"
"This is too narrow!"
Kyouka felt herself getting crushed by various other students as she tried to make it through the doorway. "Out of the way! You're all going to kill me in here!"
She felt herself getting elbowed to the side multiple times as she used her earphone jacks to jam them into random students' ears out of annoyance.
Izuku tried to spread the power of One For All throughout his body, but failed as other students pushed him around, elbowing him in the face a few times as well. "W-Why did we have to start in such a crowded place?! Wait a minute… Are we being teste-Ow!"
"This is the first obstacle." Todoroki stated before freezing the area around him as he ran forward, continuing to freeze the ground. "Apologies."
Dozens of students were trapped by Todoroki's ice as they tried to break free.
"Ow! No fair!"
"So cold!"
Kirishima leaped forward while Aoyama used his laser to launch himself over the ice.
"Nice trick, Todoroki!" Momo shouted as she created a long pole from her hand to launch herself forward.
"I won't let you get away so easily!" Bakugo yelled out as he used his explosions to propel himself forward. "You icy-hot bastard!"
Ojiro, Tokoyami, and Mina were also making it across the ice with not much trouble.
However, a few other students from Class 1-A were having a bit of trouble with Todoroki's ice.
"The round just started. Did he really have to do that?" Kyouka asked with a groan as she tried to move her feet, but they wouldn't move a single inch. "Huh?"
The purple haired girl then looked down and noticed that both of her feet were completely covered in ice. 'Son of a bitch! Are you kidding me?!'
"Alright… I think I can get out of this." Kyouka said to herself as she plugged both her earphone jacks into the ice around her feet before channeling her heartbeat into them, shattering the ice and freeing her feet. "Not the best start to the first round, but I can come back from this… Hopefully."
She then looked forward and saw most of her classmates ahead of her. She also saw that weird guy from 2 weeks ago being carried by three other students, but she decided to ignore that. Some of her classmates were having no trouble making it through and others showing some difficulty walking on the ice.
And unfortunately, Izuku was part of the latter group as he slowly walked forward.
The purple haired girl started to walk forward while at the same time, trying to be careful to not slip on the ice.
But right now she has only one goal.
To make sure that Izuku doesn't get left behind and wins this.
"I-I can't activate Full Cowling in this kind of position." Izuku said to himself as he carefully walked forward, trying not to slip on the ice as some people bumped into him, causing the boy to almost fall. "C-Can you guys please give me some room?!"
'What am I going to do? I can't activate Full Cowling without focusing, but I have to keep my focus on staying balanced or else the other contestants will definitely bump into me and I'll end up falling. And I doubt I can get back up from the ice easily.' The green haired boy thought to himself as he sighed. 'I probably look like a total fool right now… And right after giving that speech in front of everybody…'
Suddenly, he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders before looking back to see Kyouka with a smirk as she used her earphone jacks to whip other students away from them. "Need some help staying still?"
Izuku smiled and nodded as he felt more secure. "Yeah. This'll help a lot, Kyouka. Thank you." He then started to focus on spreading One For All throughout his body before green electricity surrounded his body. "Are you ready? You're going to have to come with me."
"Come with you? But this ice is too slippery for me to keep up with yo-" The purple haired girl was then cut off as Izuku grabbed her hand and began to run forward, dragging her along with him. "Whoa! Calm down, Izuku! This is really fast!"
"We can't slow down or else we'll be left behind!" The green haired boy responded as he continued to run while putting pressure into his steps, breaking the ice below his feet.
Meanwhile, Kyouka did her best to try to keep her footing while being dragged across the ice before soon making it back to solid ground.
However, they weren't the only ones who were starting to catch up to Todoroki.
The two friends saw a trail of purple balls thrown in front of them as Mineta bounced off each of them before pointing at Todoroki. "You think you're so cool, but I've outsmarted you! Ha! How pathetic, Todoroki! Eat this! My special attack!" He then grabbed two purple balls out of his head as he prepared his attack, not noticing a robot beginning to swing its arm at him. "Gra-"
"Smash!" Izuku shouted as he punched the arm of the robot, destroying it before looking at Mineta. "Are you okay, Mineta?"
The midget felt his soul leave his body for a moment as he fell to the ground and sat down for a few seconds before looking up at Izuku. "Y-Yeah… T-Thanks a lot, Midoriya… And how are your bones not broken?"
"No problem and is that really an important question?" The green haired boy asked as he sweatdropped before looking back at his best friend whose hand he let go of before saving Mineta. "Sorry I didn't give you any warning before letting go."
Kyouka shook her head as she crossed her arms. "It's fine. I'm just glad you didn't do it while we were still on the ice. I would've fallen flat on my ass."
'Even though he's in a competition, he bothered helping out that little pervert. Guess I should expect that of you, Izuku. But I hope helping others isn't going to cost you this round. Because you're winning this no matter what.' The purple haired girl thought to herself as she noticed the robot whose arm got destroyed by Izuku was right behind him, raising its other arm to attack him. 'You're not getting in his way either.'
"Target acquired. Terminate th-" The robot was then cut off as Kyouka plugged her earphone jack into its head, channeling her heartbeat into it before completely blowing off its head.
Izuku looked behind him to see the destroyed robot before looking back at his friend and giving a nervous laugh. "W-Wow, that was a close one, huh? That would've been embarrassing. Thanks for saving me."
Kyouka chuckled a little as she twirled her earphone jack. "Well, I do owe you for helping me get past that ice path. But it looks like we have much bigger things to worry about." She then pointed behind Izuku as some sweat formed on her head. "That wasn't the only robot."
"Hm? Well, I'm sure we can take care of the rest of the robots as long as they're all as small as this one." The green haired boy said before looking behind him and widening his eyes to see dozens of robots from the entrance exam, including the one-pointer, two-pointer, three-pointer, and the giant zero-pointer. "Oh… That's what you meant…"
The purple haired nodded as she gulped. "Yeah, it's those damn entrance exam robots. And there's a lot of them…"
"Oh! Enemies have shown up out of nowhere! I bet we're in for a treat here! A test of strength and cunning! It's a Robo Inferno!"
All Might in his scrawny form was watching with some of the other Pro Heroes who were fellow faculty members at U.A as he paid close attention to Izuku the entire time.
He definitely needed to congratulate the boy on his speech after the festival and give him pointers on how not to freak out so much during public speaking.
If he was going to be the next Symbol of Peace, public speaking would have to be something to normally expect.
All Might couldn't help but sigh as he saw his successor struggle to walk on the ice, looking like a bit of a fool. 'Well… at least the cameras aren't focused on him at the moment. This could be worse. Although, he looks a little too foolish for my liking.'
However, all of the doubts he might have had were wiped in an instant as he saw the boy's body be surrounded in green electricity before running at a fast speed across the ice.
"Aw yeah!" The number one hero suddenly shouted as he stood up from his seat and raised his arms.
"You seem a little too excited for this, All Might." Thirteen said as she gave a confused look.
"Sounds like someone's playing favorites." Snipe commented as he chuckled and crossed his arms.
All Might cleared his throat before shaking his head. "I'm not, I swear. I'm just proud to see one of my students improve so much. It brings me pride as a U.A faculty member."
Snipe tipped his hat before returning his attention back to the festival. "Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that."
'Has he learned to control One For All's power?' The number one hero thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes to confirm what he was seeing. 'It sure looks like it! Amazing, young Midoriya! Once again, you've exceeded my expectations! Just what'd I'd expect from the one who will take my place. It might not be that much power right now, but I'm sure you'll get there in due time.'
"Young Midoriya, you never seem to disappoint." All Might said quietly to himself as he watched his successor stare down all of the robots. "I'll keep watching and see what else you'll have in store. And I'm sure young Jirou will do whatever she can to assist you."
Most of the students around the two friends started to freak out at the sight of the zero-pointer robots in front of them.
"A zero-pointer, huh? That brings back painful memories." Izuku said to himself as he held onto his right arm, remembering his broken arm and almost falling to his death.
"I want to make one thing clear first. You're not fighting that giant robot again, got it?" Kyouka asked in a demanding tone as she narrowed her eyes at her hero.
"I-I won't, I promise." The green haired boy said as he rubbed the back of his neck before cupping his chin. "5% of my power isn't nearly enough to attack it anyway. I'd only be able to make a dent at best. I'm not sure anyone here has the potential to take these things down without at least some difficulty."
The purple haired girl nodded as she tried to think of any solution for this. 'How are we going to get through this? All we did in the entrance exam was run away from that robot. And Izuku was only able to take down because he used 100% of One For All, but that's too much of a risk to take and I'm not letting him break any bones. Maybe if these robots attack the other students then we can make it through without getting noticed by the bigger ones. Yeah, that could work. I'll have my own share of trouble to get through these robots, but as long as I avoid the zero-pointer I'll be fine. I know it's a plan Izuku wouldn't like very much, but I don't see much of a choice.'
"So this is what the other students faced in their entrance exams." Todoroki said in a calm tone as he stared down all of the robots.
Momo sighed as she looked at the robots as well. "Where's the school even get the funding for these things? Ridiculous."
A zero pointer went to attack Todoroki as the half and half boy began to freeze the ground before touching it with his right arm. "They obviously went through a lot of trouble, but I wish they'd prepared something more a little more difficult." The ground started to freeze even more as shards of ice surrounded his body. "Especially since my dear-old dad is watching.
Todoroki then fired a huge wave at ice at the robot, instantly freezing it solid. He then let out a frosty breath before running under the frozen robot's legs.
"He stopped the robot!"
"Look between its legs!"
"We can get through!"
Kyouka and Izuku were shocked at this display of power as they stared at the frozen zero-pointer with their jaws completely dropped.
"He… He froze it in an instant. And I thought him freezing the entire building during combat training was crazy…" Kyouka said as she felt a chill go down her spine.
Izuku nodded as he gulped. "Yeah… And I'm the one he made his declaration of war to. I really have to watch out for him. But maybe we have a chance to get through now that we have a path."
"Careful now. I froze them while they were off their balance." Todoroki warned as he continued to run before the zero-pointer fell down in front of the rest of the students, creating a huge dust cloud. "On purpose."
"That's Todoroki from Class 1-A pulling ahead to an early lead with a devastating display! Amazing! He's one we should watch! It almost seems unfair! Thoughts?!"
"His attack was both offensive and defensive."
"No wonder he was let in on recommendations! He'd never even fought those Robo Infernos before! But they didn't stand a chance against his chart-topping moves!"
"Okay, it looks like we have to find a different way to get through those robots." The green haired boy said as he sweatdropped.
The purple haired girl nodded as she looked at the destroyed zero-pointer with the dust starting to clear. "That damn Todoroki. He could've seriously hurt someone like that."
In reality, she wasn't really concerned with any of the other students, but that robot could've easily fallen on top of Izuku if he kept running.
"Hey! There's someone trapped under that robot!"
"Do you think we should try and help them?"
"Are people seriously gonna die here?"
The ice on the zero-pointer started to crack before a hardened Kirishima bursted out of the robot. "I'm alive!"
"Kirishima from Class 1-A! What a hardcore debut for this rookie!"
"Todoroki, I can't believe you pulled something like that. Jeez. Anyone but me would've been killed." Kirishima stated as he looked around.
"Class 1-A really is full of jerks!" A voice said from inside of the zero-pointer before bursting out of the robot similar to Kirishima, revealing a boy whose body seems to be made out of steel. "I'll smash that ice guy when I get my hands on him!"
"Tetsutetsu from Class 1-B was also stuck underneath! What are the odds?!"
"You know, anyone other than me would've been killed." Tetsutetsu stated as he looked around.
Kirishima started to run ahead as his tears flew in the wind. "Our quirks are basically the same. How am I supposed to stand out now?"
Tetsutetsu ran as well, keeping up with Kirishima. "You damn copycat!"
"Man, how lucky are they? They don't have to worry about being crushed." Kaminari said, feeling a little worried about getting crushed.
"We're racing each other, but we can team up for now. Let's carve a path." A boy with a ponytail suggested as his arm got covered in green scales.
However, this suggestion was ignored by Bakugo as he used his explosions to propel himself upwards, dodging a zero-pointer.
"Class 1-A's Bakugo is rocketing over the obstacle! Clever!"
Bakugo was then followed by Sero and Tokoyami before other students started to take down the robots, clearing a path.
"I think I have an idea for the both of us to get through this." Izuku said before crouching down and looking back at his best friend. "Get on."
Kyouka gave a confused look towards Izuku's back as she pointed at it. "Get on? You mean on your back?"
The green haired boy nodded as he kept his crouched position. "Of course. What else could I mean?"
The purple haired girl looked a little hesitant as she continued to look at his back, but her mind wasn't hesitant in the slightest. 'Get on Izuku's back? Is this a dream? Of course I'll get on his back. I wonder if we'd look like a couple of we did that… I can just imagine how nice being on his back would feel and- No. I shouldn't think about that right now. I'll end up getting lost in the moment and waste our time. I just gotta play it calm and cool for now.'
"Alright, I guess that could benefit both of us." Kyouka said in a calm manner as she shrugged her shoulders before getting on Izuku's back, grabbing onto his shoulders.
Izuku placed his hands under her knees as green electricity surrounded his body again. "Perfect. Now hold on tight."
Izuku began to run forward at a fast speed as a zero-pointer began to bring its arm down at the boy before he dodged the attack by quickly stepping to the side.
"If only I had this ability when I saved Uraraka. Then I wouldn't have had to break my arm." The green haired boy stated with a laugh as he ran past three one-pointers.
"Don't make those kinds of jokes." The purple haired girl said as a little storm cloud formed over her head. "You know how much I hate them."
"Go, Dekiru! So that's your new ability!" Ochako cheered on as she raised her fist in the air, watching her friend run past the robots before noticing Kyouka on his back. "Wait… Jirou's on his back? She looks pretty comfortable… Huh."
"It looks like Jirou is hitching a ride on Midoriya's back while they're getting past the first obstacle! Is that even allowed?! What's with Class 1-A?!"
"Midnight stated that anything goes as long as they stay in the course. So as far as I'm concerned, this is allowed."
"Now this is a power couple we should all watch!"
Kyouka took notice of the choice of words Present Mic. 'Power couple, huh? Oh, I love the sound of that.'
"I wish I could help carve a path for everyone to get through, but this will only benefit the two of us." Izuku said with some regret in his voice as he dodged a three-pointer that swung its arm at him.
"It's fine. I don't mind at all." The purple haired girl said with a careless smile as she plugged both her earphone jacks into the three-pointer before channeling her heartbeat into it, disabling it. "And it's not like our help would make too much of a difference. Our classmates are strong and I'm sure Class 1-B is strong as well."
The green haired gave a small smile as he nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Right now, our goal is to win this race. We can't let Todoroki and Kacchan have the lead for too long."
Now two two-pointers were right in front of them and Kyouka sent out her earphone jacks to plug them into the robots before channeling her heartbeat into them, destroying both of the robots. "I agree. And it looks like that's the last robot we have to deal with."
Izuku simply jumped over the destroyed robots, now getting past the first obstacle.
"Alright, now onto the next one." Izuku said with a smile as he continued to run. "And it looks like we're pretty ahead of most of the other students."
'It seems like he's got this handled. I guess I might as well get comfortable.' The purple haired girl thought to herself as she smiled before resting her body on Izuku's back, not noticing that her chest was directly pressed against him now.
The green haired boy felt two small but very soft objects suddenly press against his back as he raised an eyebrow. 'What is that…? I don't think I've ever felt something like this before… This is strange... Wait a minute, Kyouka is on my back right now and... No, it can't be… But there's no other explanation. I didn't see her bring a pillow with her or anything like that. Wait! Don't tell me! Are those her b-b-b-b-b…'
"...oobs…" Izuku mumbled to himself in realization before his entire face turned red as steam exited his ears, his entire body coming to a sudden stop.
Kyouka felt her body jerk at the sudden stop before pulling back a little and tapping Izuku's shoulder as other students started to catch up to them. "Um… Izuku? Are you with me?"
The green haired boy was unresponsive and seemed to be in some kind of trance as he blankly stared forward, quietly mumbling to himself. "Soft…"
'What's wrong with him? He just stopped out of nowhere and he seems to be completely out of it. Did some other student use their quirk on him to make him stop? It wouldn't be the craziest thought, especially after Bakugo made our entire class a target and Izuku being the first year rep. But who could it be?' The purple haired girl thought to herself as she looked around, removing her body from his back. 'Dammit. At this rate everyone's going to end up passing us and we'll lose.'
"What is this?! It looks like Midoriya has completely stopped in his tracks! What could've made him stop like this?! This looks bad for him and Jirou!"
Ochako caught up to the two of them as she clasped her hands together, sending two one-pointers and a two-pointer crashing to the ground before wiping some sweat off of her head. "Hey, what's wrong? Why isn't Dekiru moving?"
Kyouka started to shake Izuku's shoulders as she kept her focus on him. "I don't know. He just stopped out of nowhere. I think someone did this to him."
"Do you want to get off of him so you can keep going? You might end up being left behind if you stay on him." Ochako asked as she tilted her head.
"No. I'm not leaving him behind no matter what. He's helped me get through the first obstacle so the least I can do is stand by his side." The purple haired girl said with a determined look.
"Of course, that makes sense. I wish I could stay and help you two right now, but I can't afford to lose this round. I hope Dekiru gets moving again. I'm really sorry." Ochako apologized before running off and shaking her head before starting to talk to herself. "Why did I ask her if she wanted to get off? Jirou's an amazing friend to Dekiru and would never do that."
"Useless. Looks like I'm the only one who can help him. I'm sorry about this, Izuku, but you leave me no choice." Kyouka muttered as she got close to Izuku's ear and took in a deep breath. "GET YOURSELF TOGETHER!"
Izuku widened his eyes and jumped at the sudden shouting before placing his hand over his ear. "O-Ow! W-What was that for, Kyouka?! My ear is ringing!"
The purple haired girl pointed forward to show that some students were passing them now. "You dozed off for a moment there. Did someone use their quirk on you to make you stop?"
The green haired boy immediately nodded, preferring to use that as an excuse instead of the real reason he stopped. "Y-Yeah, I think so! I wish I could explain what happened, but now's not the time to think about that! We have to make up for our lost time!"
Kyouka nodded as she watched green electricity form around Izuku's body before he started to run again. "Right. I don't think we're too far behind."
'If I find the person who stopped Izuku, I will make sure they personally learn to never mess with him again. Or else they'll suffer the full consequences.' The purple haired girl thought to herself as she tightened her grip on Izuku's shoulders.
"K-Kyouka, you're crushing my shoulders!" Izuku exclaimed as he could hear cracks from his shoulders.
Kyouka widened her eyes and immediately loosened her grip on her hero's shoulders. "S-Sorry! I was holding on way too tight! Guess I really didn't want to fall off…"
The purple haired girl then trailed off to a nervous laugh before sighing. 'God, that's so embarrassing… I'll try not to think about that student who almost screwed over Izuku.'
"Looks like Midoriya and Jirou are back in the race! What do you think made Midoriya stop earlier?!"
"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that Midoriya is moving again."
Kyouka sighed in relief as she saw her and Izuku passing by some of the students that had passed them earlier. 'Thank god we're back on track. He really had me worried for a moment there. Now we just need to get to the second obstacle. I wonder what it'll b-'
Her thoughts were then cut short as she noticed that there was no ground up ahead and that Izuku was running right towards a cliff before starting to pull back his shoulders as if she was handling a horse. "Hey, look out! There's no ground!"
"W-Wait, no ground?! C-Crap!" Izuku shouted as he noticed the cliff right in front of him before coming to a sudden stop, now standing on the edge of the cliff. "T-That was close."
Right in front of them was this large canyon filled with dozens of stone pillars, all connected by tightropes.
"For those of you who thought the first obstacle was easy. Let's see how you feel about the second one! If they take a spill, they're out! If they wanna pass this test, they'll have to get creative! It's 'The Fall'!"
"That's a long way down. I can't even see the bottom." Kyouka said with a gulp as she looked down at the canyon. "Do you think you can handle this?"
Izuku seemed to be focusing on the stone pillars as he silently mouthed some words to himself before giving a small nod. "Yeah… Well, I hope I can handle this. But please believe in me. This is going to be a little risky."
"Of course I believe in you. And we still have to catch up to Todoroki." The purple haired girl said as she looked forward to see Todoroki skating on the tightropes with his ice, almost being done with the obstacle.
"Looks like Todoroki is still skating by easily!"
"Time to show off the reason I was busy yesterday." Izuku stated with a small smirk as he crouched down before taking a deep breath, letting it out. "I hope this'll make up for leaving you alone."
Kyouka raised an eyebrow as she smirked as well, liking the confident look on his face. "Oh really? Then show me what you got."
Izuku simply nodded as green electricity formed around his body before jumping forward at a fast speed, landing on a stone pillar before jumping onto the next one, keeping this momentum.
"And now we have Midoriya hopping across without a care in the world!"
Kyouka could feel the wind on her face as Izuku jumped from a stone pillar to the next one as she gave a blissful smile and closed her eyes. 'This feels so different compared to that time we rode on All Might's back. I feel so safe and so comforted. And so free. I could stay like this forever…'
For a moment she imagined a future of Izuku being the number one hero, taking huge leaps around the city while she rides on his back just like she's doing right now.
The purple haired girl then opened her eyes and paid close attention to the way her hero moved, getting some deja vu from the sight. "These movements… They're kind of similar to Bakugo's."
"Yeah, they are. After taking a closer look at how Kacchan uses his explosions to maneuver around, I figured I could incorporate his movement into Full Cowling to gain better mobility. So I spent the entirety of yesterday jumping across rooftops at the training grounds." Izuku explained as he continued to jump across the canyon, being about a quarter of the way through now. "I took a few tumbles, but I begged Recovery Girl enough for her to heal me after a few whacks to the head with her cane."
Kyouka sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Well, you wouldn't have to get healed by her if you were more careful about it. I feel like a broken record, telling you to take it easy when you train. And I want to know now... why did you want to be alone yesterday when you were just training?"
The green haired boy looked a little hesitant to answer before giving in. "Well, I thought you wouldn't want to spend the entire day stuck with me while I trained the same technique over and over again. I'm sorry I was so secretive about it. If I told you my reason, you probably would've joined me anyways and I didn't want to waste your time like that."
"You're right when you say I would've joined you anyways, but being with you is never a waste of time no matter what we're doing. I wish you could understand that.' The purple haired girl thought to herself as she pouted. 'But someday, I'm sure you will.'
Izuku was about to reach the halfway point until he suddenly felt something latch onto his leg as he turned around to see a metal arm clasped around his ankle. "What the.. What the heck is this?!"
"I'll take a look! Just keeps your eyes focused towards the end of the obstacle!" Kyouka ordered before looking where the metal arm came from to see a pink haired girl with goggles and gear around her body. "It's a girl using a device of some sort! What even is that stuff on her body?!"
"Mind if I catch a ride, hero course students?!" The pink haired girl asked as she effortlessly soared through the canyon, basically being carried by Izuku while she gave a maniacal laugh.
The green haired boy tried shaking his leg to get the arm off, but with no success as it stayed on his ankle. "It won't budge!
"I'll take care of it!" The purple haired shouted as she plugged her earphone jack into the metal arm before channeling her heartbeat into it, destroying it. "Get the hell off!"
'Have fun on the way down.' Kyouka thought to herself as she smirked, watching the other girl starting to fall.
"Aw, there goes that plan! Good thing I got backup babies!" The pink haired girl shouted as she continued to laugh before firing a hook at a rock pillar before pressing a button, soaring through the canyon once again.
"Shit. Almost got her." The purple haired girl muttered quietly to herself as she frowned.
"We're about to reach the end of the obstacle!" Izuku shouted before noticing Bakugo right in front of him before passing his old friend as he muttered to himself. "Thanks for the idea… Kacchan."
Bakugo widened his eyes as a green flash of lightning passed by him. "Huh?" He then blinked to see Izuku jumping on the stone pillars at a fast speed with Kyouka riding on his back as veins started to pop out of his head. "Deku? Earlobes? What is that power? And why are those my moves? Bastards."
Kyouka turned around and gave a wide smirk as she took a hand off of Izuku's shoulder for a moment before flipping off Bakugo. "See you at the finish line."
"There's no way I'll lose to you two losers!" Bakugo shouted with rage as he continued to use his explosions to propel himself forward.
"You really had to antagonize him, didn't you?" The green haired boy asked with a sigh before jumping off of the last stone pillar, now running towards the next obstacle.
"What can I say, I couldn't resist." The purple haired girl said with a small laugh as she put her hand back on her hero's shoulder.
"And now, we're finally approaching the last obstacle. Everyone had better tread carefully. You're stepping onto a minefield! If you look carefully, you can see where those little bombs are buried, so keep your eyes on the ground, folks. By the way, those land mines were designed for the games, so they might be loud and flashy, but they're not all that powerful. Just enough to make you wet your pants!"
"Get a hold of yourself."
"We're about to reach the third obstacle as well. This is our chance to pass Todoroki." Kyouka said as Izuku ran up the stairs before seeing the minefield and Todoroki near the beginning of the minefield, walking slowly. "This is a bit of a problem."
"It's okay, we just have to be careful about it. Right now we're in the same boat as Todoroki." Izuku said as he approached the minefield.
"Midoriya? You're here as well?" Todoroki asked as he glared at the other boy before seeing Kyouka on his back. "And you've brought Jirou with you?"
The green haired boy gave a small smile as he started to slowly cross the minefield, avoiding the buried land mines. "Yeah. We're both going to win this, Todoroki. I told you that I'll be aiming for the top too, and I meant what I said."
"Don't think I'll let it happen so easily." Todoroki stated before looking away from his classmates and continuing to walk across the minefield.
"And Midoriya has now basically caught up to Todoroki! The tension is high as these two slowly make their way across the minefield!"
Izuku looked towards the end of the minefield as he stepped over a few more land mines. 'As soon as we're both through the minefield, I'll activate Full Cowling and run to the finish line. If I activate Full Cowling now and just make a run for it, I'll end up stepping on some land mines and get caught in the blast. Then Todoroki will just leave me in the dust and I'll be ruining Kyouka's chances of winning this as well. I just have to take it nice and slow for now. I refuse to let it end like that. Just watch me, All Might. I'll win this.'
Meanwhile, Todoroki was having similar thoughts as he glanced at Izuku and Kyouka for a second. 'Freezing the ground wouldn't do me any good right now. With Jirou on Midoriya's back, she could easily help him escape. Then Midoriya would have something to run on without having to worry about the land mines so an ice path wouldn't help either. That'll also end up helping the others and I can't afford that in my current position. I just have to wait until we're both through the obstacle to make my move. I refuse to lose to you, Midoriya.'
Kyouka looked behind her to see a few other students catching up, but some of them stepped on the land mines, creating explosions with pink clouds of smoke as the students flew before looking at Todoroki. 'I should attack him with my earphone jacks, but that just might end up antagonizing him and causing him to go on the offensive. If he does that, that'll cause way too many inconveniences and I'm not sure we can really go on the offensive or defensive in this position. I just gotta have faith that Izuku will take the win as soon as we get past this. As long as things continue at this pace, there won't be much to worry about.'
The three students were now about halfway across the minefield before hearing explosions and yelling behind them, causing them to turn to the sounds to see Bakugo flying above the minefield with his explosions and in hot pursuit.
"Deku?! What was that damn power of yours?!" Bakugo asked as his face seemed to be getting more enraged, now catching up to his classmates. "Die!"
Bakugo then aimed his hand at Izuku, firing an explosion before being dodged by the boy. "K-Kacchan?! Now isn't the time to be fighting!"
"Looks like Bakugo has decided to take the lead from these two! The media here is going crazy! There's nothing they love more than an upset!"
"Don't think I've forgotten about you, you bastard!" Bakugo shouted before firing an explosion at Todoroki which was dodged as well. "I'll take all of you on!"
Now Izuku and Todoroki were running to make sure they wouldn't lose to Bakugo as Kyouka looked at the two other boys. 'Fuck. With Bakugo here, things are going to get a lot harder. And I thought dealing with Todoroki would be bad enough. But I should've expected this.'
The three boys were now running side by side with Izuku in between Bakugo and Todoroki.
Todoroki then tried to reach for Izuku's arm, but Izuku managed to dodge it. "I'm not letting you get ahead of me, Midoriya."
"You're a pain in the ass, you know!" Kyouka shouted as she tried whipping Todoroki with her earphone jacks before Todoroki tapped one of them, freezing half of it. "D-Dammit."
"Kyouka! Are you alright?!" Izuku asked as he looked back at his best friend with a worried expression.
The purple haired girl nodded as she noticed Bakugo preparing to fire another explosion at the distracted Izuku before smacking his hand out of the way, redirecting it above her head. "Yeah, but just focus on not getting hurt! I'll do my best to help you any way that I can!"
The green haired boy didn't have time to respond before dodging another explosion by Bakugo and avoiding Todoroki's grasp again.
"Midoriya seems to be the main target now! How will he get out of this predicament?! The tension is killing me!"
Kyouka kept trying to whip them away with her earphone jacks with little to no success as she grit her teeth.
'If this keeps up, Izuku won't be able to win this. I have to get both of them off of his back and my earphone jacks aren't working that well. But how am I going to do that?' Kyouka thought to herself as she watched Izuku continue to dodge both Bakugo's explosions and Todoroki's grasp before looking down at the land mines. 'That's it! This idea is reckless, but I'm sure Izuku would do something like this as well. I hope this works…'
Kyouka looked at land mines that were in front of Todoroki and Bakugo before sending her earphone jacks out, jamming each of them into their own separate land mine.
The purple haired girl watched as Todoroki and Bakugo started to reach those specific land mines before smirking. 'Explode!'
She then channeled her heartbeat into the land mines, causing them to explode immediately right in front of Todoroki and Bakugo as a pink cloud of smoke surrounded the both of them.
"Go, Izuku!" Kyouka shouted as she pointed forward.
Izuku nodded as an intense expression formed on his face, now running as fast as he can. "I'm on it! We're not going to lose this!"
"And out of nowhere, Jirou has managed to explode the land mines right in front of Todoroki and Bakugo, catching them in the explosion! What a crazy move!"
Todoroki and Bakugo recovered from the explosion before running out of the pink cloud, the two of them chasing after Izuku.
"Eraser Head, your students are amazing! What the heck are you teaching them?!"
"This has nothing to do with me. Each of them is powered by their own drive to succeed."
"Almost there…" Kyouka muttered to herself as Izuku had finally crossed the minefield.
Izuku kept silent as he closed his eyes before activating Full Cowling again, now starting to run even faster.
"There you have it! Eraser Head is a terrible teacher!"
"I'm what?"
Todoroki began to make an ice path to speed himself up while Bakugo used his explosions more aggressively than before as they started catching up to the two friends
They all began to approach the finish line as Kyouka and Izuku kept their eyes narrowed at the light at the end of the doorway.
"Who would have imagined at the beginning of this race that the climax would be a non-stop mega-mix of surprises?!"
Suddenly, the two friends emerged from the doorway with wide smiles on both of their faces before the audience began to cheer with roaring applause.
"Izuku Midoriya and Kyouka Jirou are our champions!"
"We did it…?" Kyouka asked as she looked around to see the audience cheering. "I think I heard our names…"
"I-I think we did…" Izuku said as he began to pant, feeling a little tired from the race.
"With all of the Sports Festivals U.A has had in the past, there's never been a round that's ended with two students taking first place! This will surely make it into the history books!"
"We did it!" Kyouka shouted before hopping off of Izuku's back, hugging him immediately.
Izuku was too caught up in the moment to be embarrassed by this before hugging her back. "Yeah, we did! We actually won the first round!"
The two of them laughed together as they stayed in each other's arms, glad that they won the first round and hoping that they can get past the rest of the rounds.
A/N
Alright that's it for chapter 37! Now this is one of the chapters I've been thinking about since the early days of this story. I had almost everything planned out from Kyouka riding Izuku's back, Izuku jumping like Bakugo across the canyon, and Izuku saving Mineta. The only thing I had to think of was the minefield section and writing the race in general was a little difficult cause it's kind of hard to tell what was going on sometimes in both the anime and manga so I took some liberties with it. I know this is a super late update(like almost a month), but in my defense, I've had 3 midterms and 2 essays to do since the last chapter update so please forgive me.
I know the minefield section wasn't very creative or interesting, but I was in a huge stump when writing that section.
Since Present Mic will be doing a lot of talking in this arc along with Aizawa, I decided to just make Present Mic's text bold and Aizawa's text an italic bold. This is mainly for future reference and to save myself some time. I'm a real lazy fuck.
And don't worry guys, I'm not always going to mention the green electricity around Izuku's body. I'm only doing it now because it's still a new ability. I'll probably mention it a couple more times in this arc, but after that it'll just be described as "Full Cowling" and maybe in certain moments I'll bring up the green electricity again when I think it's necessary and should be emphasized.
Unfortunately for me, the cavalry battle is going to be pretty different and I have not planned it out because I still haven't decided who the 4th person is going to be. So that chapter will take a while. But I don't think it'll take a whole month(I hope). Wish me luck…
Also, a very important announcement! I'm thinking of getting a beta reader since I've always proofread my own stuff and I miss mistakes a lot. But honestly, I don't know how exactly having a beta reader works or even how to get one. So if anyone would like to share any information or if you have experience in being a beta reader then please PM me cause that would be greatly appreciated. I'm pretty tired of relying only on Grammarly and my own eyes.
Another thing I'm considering is changing my writing style, but I'm still not too sure about that since I've been using the same writing style for 37 chapters now. But I've been thinking of using less of the characters' hair colors when they say something and just using their names more often. I tried experimenting that a little in this chapter with characters like Ochako, Kirishima, and Bakugo.
Now onto the reviews!
Lockheart25: Honestly, the reasons you listed are the same as mine for potentially having Mei. Also saving me time for her's and Iida's match since I can just copy canon there.
AngelicWisdom: Oh 100% and thank you for putting that scene in my head. Yeah, I'm hoping I can do well with whoever I pick.
papaprep: That promise will be broken another time don't worry. Actually, a few promises will be broken in the future.
Ability King KK: Oh yeah Monoma will be fun to write in future events. I'm still thinking of who to pick, but I'm leaning towards Mei since that seems a little easier for me.
Capito Celcior: Let's just pretend that U.A doesn't do things by the book. And Izuku not being prepared made it more fun for me.
Naoto Koizumi: Yeah, I kind of have an idea now of how I want to structure the 3rd round and I'm pretty excited to write Kyouka's perspective on Izuku's and Todoroki's fight along with Bakugo's and Ochako's.
That One Fuzzie Guy: Well Izuku wants to Todoroki to use his fire. He probably could've won in canon if he just wanted to win, but Izuku wanted to help Todoroki the most. And at this point of the story, Bakugo would beat Izuku as much as I hate to admit it. I mean he won against Izuku when he was at 8% and had a few months of experience with Full Cowling.
Chuck Winanaki: I can confirm that this isn't her first time writing dark thoughts in her journal, but I want to wait a while to reveal another example.
An old writer: Ochako is definitely being on the team since she's one of the people who volunteers almost immediately when almost no one else wants to be on Izuku's team.
WT Aids: Well, that all depends on Horikoshi. Or if decide to end this story before he ends the manga.
Dragon storm: Oh she definitely won't be fighting Iida. I already know who she's fighting. And I will confirm that Kyouka won't be getting many offers. Maybe around a dozen or something around that number. I'll probably come up with a number later on, but it will be less than 25.
Earl John Diawatan: Ooh boy, Kyouka would sure love that, but unfortunately for her I control all of her actions.
Guest: Today
bk201fan: I'm happy to see your opinion on this story change over time and I hope you continue to like it.
Cosmyk Angel: I do understand where you're coming from and I mostly have Izuku accept it since they're mainly comedic moments. But in the future she will take more serious actions that Izuku will try to prevent her from doing.
That's it for the reviews!
Well, that's the end of this chapter! Please feel free to leave a review!
