Inko Midoriya groaned. The older woman was clutching her head, where a truly astounding hangover was beating her brain senseless.
There wasn't really much to do about that right now though, other than drinking more water. She had gone through two cauldrons of miso soup and drank through 3 full bottles of water so far this morning, and the pain was still there. Thankfully David was kind enough to hand her a bottle he had filled from the spring without any prompting.
"Thanks."
"No problem." The American chuckled and popped open one of his own drink for today, a soda.
She knew he would much rather have preferred some German beer, but alas, such was the price of having to ferry around people in cars.
God knows she wasn't in form to drive at the moment. Not with this insane pain in her skull.
It had been quite some time since Inko had just gone to town with her gal pals and drunk herself into oblivion.
Not since her college days, so, so long ago now.
Still, there were times when celebrating was in order, and the news she had gotten last night certainly was one such occasion. That said, it had also meant she'd had to ask David to both pick her and her girlfriends up after the partying, and to drive her home, and to drive her baby to school the day after.
He had done so with no complaints. The man had always been a dear, in all the years Inko knew him. Of course, if he wasn't, he never would have crossed the pond with Hisashi and left their old… Unsavory lives behind.
After driving Izuku, he'd headed over to their home to watch the sports festival together with her.
It was weird. She and Izuku had always had a tradition of watching the sports festival together each year.
It had always brought a smile to his face to watch them, and in turn, she had always been so happy every time he smiled at seeing the competition between superpowered teenagers.
It had always been a strictly family affair. Now she was watching it with an old friend instead. It felt weird. Awkward.
What felt even more awkward was seeing her baby on TV alongside all the rest. He stood like a black blotch of paint in a sky compared to the rest, given he wore a gym uniform that had been dyed black by the alien.
The camera crews didn't focus much on him, but she still didn't have much problem picking up the look of awkward determination on his adorable, precious face. It reminded her of nothing as much as when Hisashi was about to meet her parents for the first time.
"Seems they're finally starting." David noted, in a tone that screamed "Get on with it already.".
"Oh, they still have the Athlete's Oath first."
"... And that is?"
Oh right, he wasn't Japanese. They didn't have these kinds of things in America. Either that, or he hadn't seen a school tournament before.
"It's a… Hnng… Ceremonial thing. They have a student representative say a short speech before the event officially starts."
The student in question was Uraraka Ochako, one of Izuku's closer friends. She didn't really know much about her beyond the name, but she seemed a nice enough girl. About the only thing that had made her do a double-take was her arms, which she had rolled up enough that both arms were mostly visible, and it was easy to see that Uraraka had been hitting the gym a lot in recent times.
"So, that's the powerhouse eh?"
"That's what Izuku says anyway."
"Man, she's RIPPED."
David scratched his chin in contemplation.
"You said the pink girl was also Izuku's friend?"
"Ashido-san? Yeah, she is."
"And she's also pretty well built… Think he might have a type?"
Inko stared at him with a blank look on her face, before blood flushed to her cheeks.
"Y-Y-You think he-My baby has-Oh my God does he?"
She hadn't even considered that! Did her son have a type? Strong, powerful women? Oh God, she'd never even considered that! As she flushed, a bolt of pain burst through her skull, making her flinch.
David laughed.
"Eh, who knows. Guess we'll have to wait and see."
An awkward pause followed as Inko had her face buried in her hands, watching Izuku's friend through her fingers.
When Adam said something again, it was with quite a bit more serious tone than before.
"So, any plans for when you'll tell Izuku? He should know. Hisashi is his dad after all."
"I… We were planning on waiting until summer. It's still months away yet before it happens in any case."
"We. So you've talked with Hisashi about it then?"
"Of course I have! It's just that… Well, I don't really wanna tell him, then have something happen and the whole thing collapses one month from now."
She had had that happened before.
They had made plans, then the whims of fate had thrown all their plans to the winds.
Such was the way of things when you were poor, and unimportant in society. One single catastrophe could upend everything, and you had to remake your entire life in the wake of it.
Uraraka's speech as the school's representative for this year was kinda lackluster, but it could have been so much worse.
A shiver went down his spine as Izuku wondered how he'd have done if he had been the one who had been chosen to hold an impromptu speech.
Probably just stood there in complete frozen silence most likely.
The moment she was done, the teacher overseeing the festival this year immediately took charge again.
The teacher in question was their modern Arts teacher Kayama Nemuri, better known by her hero name Midnight.
Of all the teachers of Yuei, she was probably the most Infamous, having single-handedly made the government change regulations about how much material a costume had to cover for any hero who didn't have a quirk that made the regulation impossible to work with.
The reason for this had been her original costume, which had literally just been a coat, a thick belt to hide her nether, and a two-pouch bandolier covering her breasts, alongside boots, gloves, glasses, and a choker.
It had probably been the most scandalous outfit ever actually used by a hero in Japan and had led to the government clamping down on the previously very loose costume regulation.
Nowadays, you needed to be someone like Hagakure to be allowed to wear such a revealing outfit.
Not that Midnight's current costume was much better. In fact, it was just as scandalous, though it did follow the new rules.
More to the point, under a very scandalous leotard/corset, she wore a thin, skin-colored piece of fabric, that essentially made her look completely naked, except it didn't show her nipples.
All in all, Izuku couldn't imagine anyone who embodied the epithet "The R-Rated Hero" better than Midnight did. She was an exhibitionist to her core, and beyond that, she was probably the most energetic of Yuei's staff, only behind Present Mic.
Practically the moment Uraraka was finished with her speech and stepping down from the podium, she began explaining the first event with a crack of a short, multi-tailed whip to punctuate that it was now time to listen.
"NOW THEN, WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY! LET'S! GET! THIS! STARTED!"
Behind her, a massive holographic screen popped up.
"THESE ARE THE QUALIFIERS! IT'S AT THIS STAGE THAT SO MANY YOUNG, DEFENCELESS, HELPLESS STUDENTS ARE SENT HOME CRYING EVERY YEAR! AND THE FATEFUL FIRST OF EVENT OF THIS YEAR IS…. THIS!"
With another snap of the whip, she motioned towards the hologram, where words now appeared.
Namely, the words "Obstacle Course."
-Oh so just a race then. Great, we should dominate this, no problem.-
Mina, who stood at Izuku's side, evidently felt the same.
"A race! Sweet! We'll dominate this so hard, right Midori?"
"Ye-Yeah."
They weren't wrong. A race really would be like it tailor to him most of all. As far as he knew, none of the class could fly. But he could jump over 50 meters no problem. And not at small speeds either.
Whatever obstacles there would be, he could simply soar above them.
He could do this.
"This race will be between all 11 of Yuei's classes."
As Midnight kept talking, the wall in front of them began to mechanically fold themselves to the sides, revealing a relatively narrow corridor.
"The race itself will be 4 kilometers long, and also…"
Her face suddenly got an expression of pure sadistic glee, that did not belong on a teacher of children.
"Our school preaches freedom in all things, sooo…. Everything is fair game, so long as you don't go of course! Now get into position."
As they got into positions(which was a fancy way of saying a huge crowded cluster of people), Venom decided to pop in with some commentary of his own.
-You know, it's been a while since we meet a school teacher who encourages students to randomly attack each other with a sadistic grin on their face.-
Izuku ignored him, and instead focused on the upcoming race start.
Which was signaled by three lights over the corridor they were to enter.
The first one to the right flashed red. Izuku tensed, but almost immediately, the next one flashed after it, and then, before he was ready, the third one flashed, and with a ding sound, along with a massive shout of "STAAARRTTT!" from Midnight, the race was on.
…And Immediately, The pressure of almost a hundred students trying to cram themselves into a corridor made itself known, as everyone tried to force their way in at once. The lucky ones were in the front, and unless they were overtaken by those behind, they shouldn't have any problems keeping their lead.
Not that Izuku had any plans of going through the mass of people. On the contrary, he let the mass move past him so he stood behind them, giving him more space to move.
He had not practiced wall-running, which was an obvious mistake on his part. He would have to rectify that later.
However, he had practiced another, more situational move, actually designed for flinging himself through the open air.
With a quick bit of aiming, two lines of black slammed themselves onto the sides of the corridor, a bit over the heads of any students.
Izuku quickly began walking backward, and quickly the webs tightened, as tension began to build like the rope of a catapult. Which incidentally was what Venom had called this move.
You webbed yourself to a solid source, then forced tension and weight into the webs by moving backward, then once the tension had built up, you simply cut it by releasing the stickiness to the ground, and you would be flung like a Boulder from a catapult.
Easy, simple, and not too hard to use.
It was a move that would easily have let Izuku soar above the entire rest of the students of their year, and net him the number one spot with a wide margin, despite the time needed to set up.
Alas, the moment he let go and was beginning to be flung through the air, a mechanical tendril, shot up from the crowd, and sliced through one of his webs with a blade.
And thus, rather than flying triumphantly through the air, he instead was sent flying off course and slammed into the wall inside the corridor, then bounced off it and kept going.
The force was still easily enough to fling him through the corridor, and over the mass of students though.
Izuku slammed hard into the ground with such force that he made the ground, which for some reason had been frozen, crack and splinter, as he bounced off it and kept going.
It was rather lucky he didn't hit any of his fellow students, because if he had, the speed and force he flew at would probably have broken their necks.
As it was, Izuku finally stopped maybe 20 meters from the exit.
He groaned, and began to stagger himself to his feet, feeling the pain of the impacts upon his body. It wasn't nearly as bad as being hit by Uraraka or Rhino, but it still hurt a lot.
It wasn't before he realised that people were actually running past him, that reality hit him again.
He was still in a race. Idiot. Moron, stupid boy, get moving!
He snapped around, and there, in front of him, he saw several students all running. In lead was Todoroki, who seemed to freeze the ground behind him, making it a pain to run for those who followed him.
Well. He wasn't planning on running.
Not for long anyway.
He began to run, to build up speed.
Unlike his fellow students, he had no problems running on ice, Venom's black mass keeping him anchored to the ground.
He bent down, preparing to jump.
Then he soared.
He took over the lead almost instantly, with the speed he flew dwarfing anyone else.
In that moment, peace came to his mind. It was just him and the sky, nothing else. Not crowds, not cameras, not his fellow students. Nothing, but him and the air.
Then, with a burst of horror, he realised the path curved to the left, and he was in danger of overshooting it and being disqualified.
He instantly slammed a webline straight down into the ground, and immediately he changed course downwards, just barely avoiding going off the set course.
He slammed into the ground like a Boulder, though he landed right on his feet with no problems.
Immediately after landing, Todoroki passed by, and froze him up to his neck in a thick layer of ice.
Izuku was taken by surprise for a moment, then, putting some muscle into it, he simply stood up, breaking the ice with no particular difficulty.
Then he kept running after Todoroki, only to see Mineta, the purple haired Dwarf launch himself at Todoroki.
… Only to be immediately swatted away by a robot, slamming into the side of the course. Izuku looked at him with a worried look, but he was alive and judging by how he got back in his feet, he was relatively fine.
The robot who had just sent him flying was one of the robots from the entrance exam.
Upon seeing it clearly as it turned around to face the rapidly approaching Izuku, a vague memory of kicking this particular model's head like an American football popped into Izuku's head.
This time a black line slammed into from above, a large, white tooth punching through it's skull with particular difficulty.
Izuku dissolved the line and kept running. Then, something hit the ground with enough force to make the earth shake.
Upon looking up, he didn't have any trouble seeing what it was.
There, ahead of him, having seemingly popped out of nowhere so suddenly that even Todoroki had stopped in his tracks for the moment, was the zero point robot from the entrance exam.
10 of them.
Lining the course from one side to the other.
Izuku stopped in his tracks to stare in shock, just like Todoroki had.
That was a mistake however, as two blurs moved past both him and Todoroki.
To his right, was a blur of pink, that could only be Mina Ashido. To his left, a brown blur that left bolts of pink lightning in her vake.
Both of them passed Todoroki in a flash, leaving him far behind. In Uraraka's case, she made a jump, hitting one of the massive robots, then jumping off of it and past.
Mina took the less subtle approach and just burst her way straight through with a mass of acid.
-Get moving-
Right, this wasn't the time to stand and gawk.
He began running, building up speed again, and preparing a leap above them. They were just 5-6 stories tall. He could make that leap surely.
Todoroki froze two in one instant with not difficulty, then he quickly ran forward.
Izuku was about to jump. Then, he froze.
The two enormous titans of steel had been moving forward when Todoroki froze them, and they were not in stable positions, not stable at all.
They weren't a danger to Todoroki who ran beneath them at max speed, but for those who came after him…
He made the decision.
He slammed his hands forward, and two scythes launched forward, embedding themselves into the main body of the one to the left.
He rose up, only to slam his foot down for support for what he was about to do next.
He wrenched the enormous, massive robot to the right, the strain as he put his back into it, feeling like it was about to rip him apart.
The robot flew, a mixture between the enormous pull, and it's own precarious position making it easier for it to be wrenched off it's feet, and it slammed into the one on the right, the enormous weight sending it crashing into the robot to it's own right.
Izuku, didn't stop to listen to either the surprised reaction of his classmates, or Present Mic's commentary. He made another leap, this time landing in the front of a massive staircase.
He could see Mina, Uraraka and Todoroki up ahead. For whatever reason, Todoroki had not frozen the staircase behind him.
How nice. Not that it would have mattered to Izuku.
He took the staircase in one go, soaring past both of the Girls and landing on a… A giant, flat topped stalagmite?
He blinked, but yes, that's what it was. And in front of him was dozens of other giant flat topped stalagmites, connected to each other by ropes. Beneath was a massive black void, and the distance between each rock was mayhaps 20 meters at the smallest, and 60 at the longest, as they weren't laid out in a symmetrical pattern.
On the other side of the chasm, he could see that the course continued.
-Reminds me of home. Just without the giant spiders.-
Izuku wasn't sure whether that was a joke, or serious.
Either way, this was it. As he turned around, he could see that Mina, Uraraka and Todoroki also realised it. He could jump this chasm, they could not.
This was where he left them in the dust.
… Or that at least was what he was planning to do, but as he prepared to jmp, something barreled up the stairs, and something with a lot of force hit him hard, sending him flying over the edge.
Shit.
He vaguely heard someone call his name somewhere far away.
He immediately sent a line into one of the rock formations, so he didn't just fall down into the void.
Not far away, he heard some mechanical noises, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a wire with a spiked tip shooting forward and hitting that same rock.
Whereas he moved like a pendulum, his assailant was instead hoisted up by the wire that Izuku now realised was a grappling hook gun of aume kind.
This time, he did not slam into it with his body, instead hitting it feet first.
He looked up at his assailant.
The assailant was a girl with pink hair, a metal harness around her stomach and back from which 4 long, massive mechanical arms sprouted, and a set of mechanical boots.
All of that would have been memorable enough, but to Izuku all of that took a backseat to her face. For as she stared down at him, the girl wore an such a cold expression and stared down upon him with a set of piercing yellow eyes that was filled with such intense hatred that he actually flinched. It took him a moment before he realised her pupils were shaped like a sniper scope, which just added to how intense they were.
For one moment, they just stared at each other.
Izuku with surprise, the girl with a level of personal loathing he had never seen anyone direct at him outside of Katsuki Bakugou.
Then, almost as sudden as a whiplash, the girls face changed to a smile so natural that it could have been true and genuine hadn't it been for her look just a few seconds earlier.
"See you later Midori!"
Then, the mechanical arms began to climb, embedding themselves into the rock, carrying their wielder upwards.
It took a moment before Izuku realised he had to do the same.
He also made sure he climbed so he didn't end up where the girl had gone up.
-Have you met this bitch before? We can't recall ever having seen her.-
"No." Izuku answered as he climbed.
Had he met her before?
He would certainly like to think he had. He had a very good memory.
But the fact was that he had absolutely no idea who the hell she was. But those eyes…
That girl hated him. He could tell that without having to sense her soul.
As he reached the top, he saw that his little detour into the chasms had cost him valuable time.
Mina, and Uraraka were both reaching the end of the bridge of stalagmites.
The pink haired girl and Todoroki wasn't too far behind them either.
The pink haired girl moved at an astonishing speed with those arms clanking along the ground and carrying her.
Still, the situation hadn't changed all that much.
He could still jump all the way to the end from here.
Which was exactly what he did.
He landed hard on the edge of the chasm, and began running. He'd have preferred to just continue jumping, but the course went in a curve, so he couldn't just jump over it.
Instead he had to run.
He could both hear his pursuers as they finally passed the ropes and continued after him.
The clanking of those arms were particularly noisy.
He didn't really pay all too much attention as Present Mic talked loudly in the background, but he felt Venom tense as both of them picked up on one particular word.
Minefield.
There, quite a bit in front of them was an entrance to the main arena, where they had started. And in front of it, was two large lanes, filled with dirt where things had obviously been buried.
Mines.
Izuku knew from having watched the sports tournament before that the Mines weren't all that dangerous.
They were powerful enough to knock you off your feet, but unless you were insane enough to dig them up from the heavy dirt they were buried under, they weren't deadly.
And really, what kind of daft moron would do that?
No, he saw the way forward. He would jump and simply never touch the ground.
He ran to the very edge of where the track ended, then, he jumped.
He soared over the first lane, then the second seemed to fly past beneath him… Until something slammed up into his left shoe, between his big toe and the one to it's side.
He immediately snapped his head down to look. It was the grappling hook of the pink haired girl.
For a moment he just stared at it, then it unfurled hooking his foot, and in horror he realised what was about to happen.
There wasn't much he could do about it though.
He slammed into the ground, and immediately the force of the impact triggered 4 Mines.
The force of the explosion wasn't the worst in the world. With his enhanced durability, Izuku would have no problems taking that force.
No the problem was not the explosion. It was the sound.
Having seen them on TV plenty of times in his life, Izuku had never really considered how the sounds were dampened for broadcasts.
Experiencing it for himself in person was quite a different story.
The pain was immense, rocking him to his very core. He could feel Venom roar inside of his mind.
For a moment he just laid there in the sand. Then, he began to stagger to his feet. He saw Uraraka pass him, then Mina.
He had to… Had to…
Something slammed into his chest, and locked itself around his chest with a grip of steel.
Then, before he managed to do more than bring his hands up to try and rip it loose, he was flung through the air and the grip let go, sending him flying… Right into another set of Mines.
The pain was no less than the first round, and once more Izuku found himself staggering to his feet, his entire body in pain, the black substance around him reknitting itself as Venom swore inside his skull, with curses that would have made any sailor proud.
Then, before he had gotten back on his feet, another force grabbed him, this time his arm.
He flinched and pulled back his hand, preparing to punch, only to freeze as he realised the person in question was Mina.
"Wha-"
Without any explanation, the pink girl scooped him up in her arms, and began carrying him to the exit.
It took Izuku about 6 seconds of shock, before he realised Mina was carrying him bridal style.
"WHA-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
"Helping out a friend of mine." Mina said in a tone filled with an underlying anger.
"So, who the hell is she? Another secret rival from your past?" Mina asked as they reached the exit, whereupon Mina was declared 3th and Izuku 4th.
It took Izuku a moment of furious thinking before he understood Mina was asking him a question, so hard was he blushing and flustered.
"I… I don't know who she is. I-I never met her before."
"Seriously?" She said in an incredulous tone as she put Izuku down on his feet.
"Cause I have to say Midori, she really seems to hate you." She nodded off towards another direction, where sure enough, the pink haired girl was staring daggers at him.
The four massive arms of steel were also bared, their three pointed claws all being palms open towards him, as if desperately wanting to clench around him, and squeeze.