Mark of a hero

by Sonnie Celanna

The first time he met the black eyed-man, it had nothing to do with his abilities or lack thereof. It had nothing to do with the boy's emotions or fears. It was mere coincidence he came during a moment when his life was in danger. "Izuku Midoriya, aren't you quite the interesting puzzle piece of history." "I am the outsider...and this is my mark."

26. Chapter 26

"HEY HEY HEY! WHAT'S UP SPORTS FANS?!" The booming voice of Present Mic asked from his commentary box up somewhere in the stands, causing Midoriya to flinch as 1-A waited to walk out onto the field. "ARE YOU EXCITED FOR THIS?!"

Even from there place behind a closed metal door inside the stands they could hear the wild cheers in response to the pro's question.

"ALRIGHT! I HOPE YOU GOT YA CAMERA'S READY BECAUSE WE'RE GOIN' TO HAVE SOME OF THE HOTTEST SPORTS FESTIVAL PERFOMANCES EVER, GUARENTEED!" The blonde announced and Midoriya gulped, as he felt a cold sweat on the back of his neck while both excitement and nervousness ran through him from his classmates. 'No pressure, huh?' "Now I only got one thing to ask…..ARE YOU READY?!"

Even more cheering sounded.

"ALRIGHT THEN! THEY'VE BEEN MAKING WAVES IN THE MEDIA ALREADY, ESPECIALLY ONE OF THEM, LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR CLASS 1-A!"

The door swung open, seemingly automatically the group started to make their way outside. Midoriya felt the heat in his face and the cold drips of water from his forehead. His throat was dry and his hands were shaky and his marked hand hurt. This was the moment, if he could get past this he could compete in the sports festival. He took a deep breath as he walked forward. 'Don't let All Might down, you are strong enough to do this!'

The sun glared into his pupils and he had to shield his eyes but one they adjusted he looked around to see what must have been easily over a hundred people watching. 'They're all too far away to channel, thankfully.'

"Let them all know young Midoriya, tell them proudly 'I AM HERE!'"

"I won't let you down." Midoriya whispered under his breath as he walked to the centre of the field with his class. His nervousness didn't subside any even with knowing he was safe from his powers in regard to the crowd. "Outsider… there's so many…."

"Hm, outsider? Isn't that what the abbey were constantly talking about?" Iida inquired with a quirked brow. "And yes, it is quite a crowd. I suppose that's just one more aspect a hero has to get used to, being watched all the time."

"I get why Aizawa prefers night work." Midoriya said as he shook his head. "And y-yeah…The outsider is what the abbey keep taking about. I uh….just started using him as a substitute for god to spite them."

"Slightly petty but I suppose it's better than what some might do." Iida nodded as the group all stopped at the wooden stand in the centre of the field. As they walked, Present Mic introduced more classes.

"1-B ALSO OF THE HERO COURSE!"

"1-C THROUGH E!"

"SUPPORT CLASSES F, G AND H!"

"AND FINALLY BUSINESS CLASSES I, J AND K!"

Midoriya took a risk, turning to face the incoming masses and his face paled at the sheer amount of students. 'Ok, empathy, please don't go off the- OW OW OW, FRICKING HEADACHE, OW!'

He held his head yet couldn't help but grin. He didn't pass out. 'Just got to- ow- get through- fri-hick- this start then I can distract myself.'

His face then flushed red and he felt… odd…'What the-'

"Time for this year's introductory speech!" A familiar feminine voice announced and the greenette turned to see Midnight giving the announcement. 'Oh god no….'

Hundreds of hormonal teenagers and a teacher who literally thrived on being provocative and perverted. This would be hell for the new empath, he was certain.

'Ahhhhh, ok focus on quirks, list off quirks. Ashido Acid, Tokoyami Dark Shadow-Oh god no-'

"This is super embarrassing and you owe me." A voice hissed at Midoriya and he looked to see Uraraka in front of him, covering him up from sight.

"Urachan?"

"Nope, no talking about it! Empath and teenagers, easy to guess. Now never talk of it again." She hissed quickly while hiding her obviously embarrassed face.

"SILENCE!" Midnight commanded and the students and Spectators all focused up. "First, for the student pledge, we have…."

Katsuki BakugouIzuku MidoriyaKatsuki BakugouIzuku MidoriyaKA T SU KI BAKUGOU I ZU DO RI Y A

"Katsuki bakugou!" The woman announced as Midoriya's breath hitched. 'What the hell was that?!'

The rest of class 1-A looked on in shock as the blonde made his way to the stage.

"Bakugou's the rep?" Questioned Mina in surprise.

"I guess that hothead did finish first in the Entrance Exam." Sero said, only for a general course student to groan

"Only for the hero course."

"Oh…sorry."

"That girl obviously hates us."

Midoriya tried his best not to freak out. 'No seriously what the hell was that? Should I go see Ectoplasm? But I can't just drop out now-'

"I just want to say…" Bakugou started his speech and Midoriya sighed, quickly focusing on his once friend. It was at least a distraction, however it ultimately didn't help as the teen seemed to be staring right at the greenette and no one else with a harsh glare. "I'm going to win."

With that he turned to leave the stage, quickly getting boo's and jeers from the crowd. The marked boy massaged his forehead. 'Well, at least he didn't swear at anyone.'

"WHY WOULD YOU BE THAT DISRESPECTFUL? YOU'RE REPRESENTING US ALL!"

"Not my fault you're just stepping stones for the real hero here." Bakugou dismissed as he walked off the stage. He barraged past the group and barrelled into the greenette's shoulders to knock him out the way.

"That overconfident dick! I swear i'm gonna knock him down a peg!'

In that moment, every other emotion was thrown away as only one very briefly overwhelming emotion took hold: Worry.

'He's…..not overconfident. I guess that was his way of saying he will be pushing himself….and turning us all into targets simultaneously. Especially me.' Midoriya thought, though there was no way even he could be sure. Trying to guess Bakugou's true thought process would make winning the lottery seem like the easiest task in the world.

"Alright then, after that….well it was definitely a speech." Midnight said, seemingly caught off-guard. "Anyways, moving on! It's time for us to get started!"

Midoriya took a calming breath and placed a hand on Uraraka's shoulder to let her know she could move. Both blushed and did their best to ignore the entire situation. 'First event, what's it gonna be?'

"This is where the fun, and the pain, shall begin. The first fateful game of this year's festival!" The teacher announced as a screen appeared behind her, seemingly hundred of options rolling past the screen waiting for selection. "And out first event is…."

The whole student body waited anxiously as the selector rolled passed option after option before eventually starting to slow. Finally it landed on one option that Midoriya couldn't help but smirk at. 'Perfect.'

"AN OBSTACLE RACE!" Midnight announced excitedly, turning to look as a variety of instructions appeared on screen. "This will be a full participation event, which means every class is taking part! You'll all have to run four kilometres around the outside of the arena. I don't want to restrain anyone, at least in this game, So your free to do whatever you want, as long as you don't leave the course!"

'Or break any pre-determined specific rules, right?' Midoriya assumed internally. 'Ok, this is what I was waiting on…'

"Take your places contestants!"

'Honestly…..I hope you're watching Naozumi.' "Because I am here….for good."

---

"On your marks!"

Midoriya took a calming breath as he looked up at the intimidating red gate, with lights signifying when they would be allowed to run. His hand glowed with blue energy as he thought about his first move. 'That's a tiny hallway compared to the amount of people who are going to be trying to get through. Honestly it would be a good trap fo-Todoroki! Ok, better watch the ground.'

The light to signify they should get ready turned on. Midoriya got into position, angling his hand upwards.

"Get Set!"

'Once I'm on the other side I'll have to think and work stuff out on the fly. Everyone is probably going to get stuck in the hall so at least once I'm out I'll have some breathing room for a while. All Might, I'll do you proud.'

The final light flashed up.

'Overseers, Demons, Shigaraki and anyone else who wants to come after me…'

"Go!"

'Here's why it's a bad idea!'

The entire crowd rushed forward, feet hammering hard against the ground making noise akin to thunder as Present Mic excitedly narrated from the background. Midoriya, instead of following on foot immediately used his magic, Far Reach sprouting forth and attaching to the roof, pulling the boy forward. He let go immediately once he was in the air and soared above some of his classmates.

He saw Mineta and Denki beneath him as he shot forth. Once he started to fall he connected to the walls to boost himself more, running along the walls when he had to to keep up his momentum.

'It's been a few moments. Todoroki was at the front which means he's probably close to the entrance by now which means….'

As the boy was thinking he saw the floor and walls quickly turning to ice and he smirked, deliberately waiting until the last moment before leaping into the air again, avoiding being frozen. 'It's a good thing he can't do that instantly.'

It only took a few more seconds before he shot out of the exit in the air. A loud explosion behind him drew his attention and he saw he wasn't the only one who had managed to avoid the attack.

Momo and Kirishima were flying through the air, the girl on a pole and the boy seemingly having just leapt as hard as he could. Aoyoma rocketed through the air by using his laser and Sero had employed a similar strategy to Midoriya.

"Nice trick, TodorokI!" The creator girl shouted. All the rest of the class were focused on catching the hetero chromatic boy or breaking the ice.

Right beside the greenette though was Bakugou, using his explosions to fly. So his attention was definitely elsewhere. "Dammit Deku! FUCK OFF!"

The blonde immediately tried to explode Midoriya out of the air, but the greenette managed to dodge. Unfortunately it cost him his momentum and he fell back to the ground, falling behind by a few places. Bakugou didn't stop to continue fighting.

"Annoying but nothing to worry about." Midoriya thought to himself as he continued to run. 'Better give Far Reach a break while I can. With my natural enhancements keeping ahead of most everyone should be a cinch anyways. The only person I can think of who could move faster is Iida and I think he got stuck back in the ice barrage.'

He quickly passed by the few he had fallen behind, making quick time back to the front. He wasn't prepared for the unexpected giant frozen zero pointer above him that Bakugou was flying over. Looking forward he saw Todoroki having already cleared the new obstacles which turned out to be entrance exam robots.

A creak got the boy's attention and he realized the giant robot was falling, almost right on top of him. 'Oh boy!'

"Careful, I froze them off balance." Todoroki called back. "On purpose!"

"Of course you did." Midoriya muttered as he quickly threw his hand out to another nearby zero pointer, grabbing it with his Far Reach and flying out the way just in time. He flew past and landed in the centre of a group of smaller robots.

The faux villains turned, ready to try and attack him. A quick glance revealed Todoroki wasn't too far ahead so the greenette didn't immediately rush after him again.

"Ya know, I know I should be focusing on the race but…." Midoriya looked at the three faux villains and his hand flared with energy before his newest power manifested. The sharp point of his once tentecale graZed off the ground and the boy laughed quietly. "I really want to make up for my bad showing in the entrance exam. Not to mention I need a target to test this on."

A three pointer barrelled toward him and the boy quickly dived out the way before turning and cleaving through the robots head, which caused it to shut down immediately. 'Wow this thing doesn't mess around.'

The other two robots took swings at him but he ducked before cleaving through both their mid-sections with ease. 'Awesome!'

"I'M ALIVE!" A familiar voice screamed and Midoriya turned to look back, seeing Kirishima bursting out of the Zero pointer that Todoroki had incapacitated. 'Holy crap, did he get crushed!? What the hell Todoroki?!'

The greenette turned back around, quickly picking up a piece of metal he had seen fall of one of the robots he attacked, in case he needed a shield and hurried forward. 'He isn't playing around. Gotta-' "Oh….It's you…."

A shadow towered above Midoriya and he looked up to see the new Zero pointer towering over him. There was one interesting detail though, its face had clearly been dented in before. The marked boy was certain it was the one he destroyed in the exam. "Surprised you're still active."

A series of beeps that sounded suspiciously angry came from it.

"Alright then, let's do this without breaking my bones!" Midoriya said as he dived out the way of a punch that collided with the ground, before turning and wrapping Far Reach around the robots neck. "It's been nice to see you participating in this race…"

He yanked with all his might, smashing the robots face into the ground hard and causing it to splay out, unable to right itself. The greenette rushed forward and pierced its robotic skull with the metallic shield he picked up, and the lights of its eyes died out. "….but for you, this was a short circuit race I'm afraid."

"Seriously, you're spouting one-liners now?!" An amused voice asked and Midoriya turned to see Jirou incapacitating some of the bots with her earjacks.

"Well, thinking one up helps keep me distracted, both empathy and 'I'm about to be killed' wise. Still better than what I said at the abbey, that's for sure." The greenette said to her before turning and running off, nto hearing the girl asking what exactly he said.

Some of the crowd had slipped past while he had taken on the zero pointer and pulled ahead of him once more. He wasn't particularly worried, as they seemed to be frozen by some obstacle ahead but he did still increase his speed. 'Not at top speed yet.'

It slowly came more into sight and the marked boy couldn't help the massive grin that split across his face. 'The pitfall, this is gonna give me a massive boost.'

Uraraka and Mina seemed frozen as a pink haired girl Midoriya recognized as Hatsume jumped into the pit before flying back into the air with some gadgets she had on her. 'Attaching to the pillars? Smart move to avoid the slow route of the tightropes. Not the fastest route though.'

Midoriya slung the metallic shield onto his back as he rushed past multiple people. Both Mina and Uraraka looked surprise when they recognized him and realized he wasn't stopping his full on sprint. He leapt into the air and let himself fall, attaching his Far Reach to one pillar on his way down and making sure it stayed.

'Six years ago, the second years also had to compete in an obstacle course. Most of the obstacles were different from this one but this pit fall was there. They swap out stuff so that each sports festival is unique as possible but the stuff that returns, they rarely change the rules on…'

A variety of red soft looking springs came into view and the boy braced himself as he held onto his tentacle tight. His feet collided with the springs and they launched him upwards, as he used Far Reach to pull him forward. He came flying out of the pitfall once more, getting high into the air and travelling forward at an incredible speed.

He quickly attached to another pillar and pulled himself forward, landing at the other side of the pit ahead of all but two people in the race. 'Can't stop to congratulate myself, gotta catch Todoroki and Bakugou.'

"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! IZUKU MIDORIYA CLEARED THE PITFALL IN LESS THAN 12 SECONDS, THAT'S GOT TO BE A NEW RECORD!"

'U.A., despite all the insane stuff, obviously won't actually kill a student on purpose. The pitfall isn't deadly, nor does falling in disqualify you but it is supposed to penalize you by throwing you further back in the race. With my powers though I was able to turn it into an advantage instead. Now, let's find out what the last obstacle is. Time to kick up to full gear.'

He rushed as fast as he could, tree's becoming a blur as he ran to the next obstacle. He could hear Bakugou and Todoroki fighting just up ahead. A few moments later he turned and froze as he saw the final obstacle. 'A landmine field?! You gotta be kidding me…'

His two classmates didn't notice him, to busy fighting up front, they had only made it to the halfway point of the field. The greenette turned around and saw no one else had made it past the pit fall yet. He pulled the shield of his back as he thought about how to proceed. 'Can't just sprint across the field or use Far Reach to try to fly across the top of it, will definitely get hit by an explosion if I do. Think, think, wait…I got it!'

Midoiriya looked at his left hand and felt the energy surging within it, before he planted his hand into the ground next to a mine. 'Please don't blow up in my face…'

It took a second but his tentacle pulled out the mine from under the floor, still active without setting it off and the boy grinned. 'Right, better get to work.'

It took a couple of minutes, and as Midoriya turned to look back he saw some people had finally cleared the pit. Bakugou and Todoroki were near the exit and he was ready. 'Let's do this.'

He ran forward, metal sheet in hand and jumped atop a pile of explosives he had put together, making sure to angle himself forward. The force of the explosion propelled him and the two boys in the lead froze to look back at what had happened.

In just a few seconds, the marked teen was falling towards the ground in front of his opponents. 'Right, now I just need to jump off and use Far Reach to clear the fiel-'

BOOM!

An explosion set off beneath Midoriya and the sheet flew out from under him, causing Midoriya to fall just in front of the other two, very narrowly avoiding a mine and being overtaken by his classmates while he was winded.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER DEKU?! LOST YOUR FUCKING FOCUS?!" Bakugou asked with a predatory grin. The magic users eyes widened as the words played through his head.

'Focus, focus! Every time I've tried to use the weak version my focus was in the wrong place. I kept focusing on the amount of power I was putting in but what if….'

If this was going to work he needed to do it now, so he didn't hesitate as he threw his hand out and Far Reach shot forward. 'Focus on controlling each individual tendril, not how much power is used!'

The tentecale exploded into 12 different tendrils, each twitching and ready to be commanded. 'Grab it!'

All of the new tendrils followed the boys command as they wrapped around the metal sheet, ready to obey. Midoriya smirked as Bakugou and and Todoroki where caught off-guard by what was to them a brand new power. "FOCUS ON THIS KACCHAN!"

As the boy shouted that he yanked back and around, not giving the blonde enough time to react and hitting him in the face, knocking him further back into the field, causing him to land on a land mine.

The greenette didn't stop swinging around as he let go of the shield, deliberately throwing it above the fire and ice users head.

"You missed." Todoroki said as he looked at the sheet flying away, which made Midoriya chuckle lightly.

"Made you look." He said as Far Reach burst forth, hitting off the ground on a mine just beneath Todoroki. The marked boy saw the teen disappear into smoke and took off into a sprint. He avoided just enough land mined before getting close enough to the edge of mine field, using his power to clear the last few explosives.

He took off as fast as he could, running for the finish line.

"DAMMIT DEKU!"

"Midoriya!"

He knew the two were behind him but even with their quirks, it was too late. He was inside the hallway. Just a few more seconds until…

Light glared into the teen's eyes as sweat dripped down his head, one glorious phrase shouted from the commentary box.

"IZUKU MIDORIYA PLACES FIRST IN THE OBSTACLE COURSE!"