"So… Author-kun… Why haven't you uploaded a chapter since September 1st of last year?"

"Well Hiro… You see… it my writing process…"

"Your writing process? Could you please elaborate for the sake of myself and the readers?"

"Well, I write all the chapters on pen and paper first, which is much slower than typing it up. Then I have to retype it up."

"Why not just start with typing it up? Wouldn't that have saved you so much time then?"

"Maybe… but the creative juices just flow far better when I'm using my favorite fountain pen."

"So… what has been keeping you from… 'writing' the chapters out then?"

"I've gotten into the habit of only being able to write when I'm at the beach…"

"You live in a part of the world where you can go to the beach year round. Why has it taken forever for you to write it out if you can go as often as you like?"

"I can't go as often as I would like! I would be out there everyday if I didn't have chores, a job, and other responsibilities! It's not my fault I have to be a fully functioning adult Hiro!"

"But as someone who created me, don't you want my story told?"

"Of course Hiro. Don't try and pull the pity card. I have your entire future planned out… Including everything including a certain grey-haired…"

"STOP IT! Just give me a short rundown of WHY it has been many months since you have uploaded a chapter, despite working on it maybe once or twice a week for a little bit."

"Well, the readers will see the theme I went for this fan-fic's interpretation of the Sports Festival. And it required some research…"

"By researching you mean looking at Wikipedia rather than going to an actual library and checking out a book."

"Hey! I can do that! I'm not in school anymore! But yeah, since when I originally planned the outline for this story more than a year and a half ago, I had this as the defining theme of the Sports Festival since every other Festival just reuses the stuff from the manga/anime, or just switch things up with Dodgeball or Capture The Flag. I wanted to set myself apart and create something unique to my story, and I admit it has been FAR harder than I thought it would be to write this material and come up with scenarios."

"Yeah, we'll see evidence of that later on in the story."

"Wow, Hiro, don't be rude to your creator, or I'll write a situation where Inko takes away your eating bacon privileges."

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

"Watch me. Anyways after many months, here is the latest chapter of Izuku Midoriya: The Multiquirk Hero."

Labyrinth

Izuku opened his eyes and he had no idea of where he was as he took in his surroundings. Everything seemed to be in a hazy fog. He could see a green and black tiled path ahead of him. He called out to his surroundings, but he was only greeted with silence in return. He looked behind him and only saw a dense wall of grey fog there. It was then that he turned his head down and looked down at himself, he was wearing his old Soumei beige suit, something that he had thrown in the closet and hadn't even looked at in weeks.

Without any clue of what was going on or what to do, he walked forwards on the path ahead of him. He felt like he had walked for hours with nothing around him changing. Eventually his feet got sore and his muscles began to ache. Many times he stopped to look around , only to confirm that his surroundings hadn't changed at all, nothing but a tiled pathway surrounded by a dense fog. So, he kept on walking.

Again he walked for what seemed to be endless kilometers of green and black tiles. He then began to hear voices. He paid attention to the voices and tried to discern where they were coming from. Upon first hearing them he immediately once again called out, only to not get a response. It was then that he felt a great pressure on his chest. Wincing, he clutched his chest and fell onto one knee. It was then that the voices he was hearing became louder and louder, although he still couldn't understand what any of them were saying, although he knew none were saying positive things.

His muscles in his legs began to cramp and spasm, causing him to fall completely on the ground. He tried to scream in pain but no sound came out of his mouth. He felt his heart begin to beat faster and faster, his eyes darting everywhere, seeing nothing but the fog coming closer, surrounding him even more tightly. The tiles he was laying on then became so cold they began to burn as he writhed on the ground, his muscles firing randomly as though he was being electrocuted.

Panic took over as Izuku's own thoughts became as frantic as the negative voices surrounding him becoming louder and louder to the point they rivaled a loud rock concert. Nothing he'd seem to do could get him out of his current predicament and his vision began to darken around the edges as though he was falling into a dark cave. It was then he heard a loud cracking and snapping sound that drowned out all other noises. Izuku didn't have long to figure out the source of the brand new noise as the tile floor he was laying on collapsed and fell down and down, his body flailing wildly.

After what seemed to be five minutes of non-stop falling, he felt his body impact a large pool of water. He hit it hard enough that he felt as if he had hit concrete instead as he sank far below the waves. He then struggled to swim back up to the surface, the water burning his opened eyes as he stared up at the light above the surface. He struggled to swim up, but when he got near the surface he felt a current push him back down.

The panic once again took over as he realized he was starting to drown which caused him to desperately try and reach the surface. With every attempt to get to the surface he got closer before being pushed back into the depths, his suit weighing him down. He felt his body get weaker and weaker after every attempt. His movement became sluggish as his vision once more began to darken around the edges. It was almost before he gave up on his final attempt that he managed to breach the surface of the water and gasped, nearly hyperventilating as he rapidly took in many breaths.

He looked around and determined that he was in some sort of underground cave. He slowly swam to an edge close to him. It took all of his strength to lift his own weight out of the water as he struggled to grab on to the jagged rocks, eventually getting out of the frigid water. He began to shiver and shake, his teeth began to chatter as the near hypothermic conditions began to take hold of his body.

He then tried to create a fire with his quirk, but the resulting green flame was small, that he attributed to his weakened state. It wasn't much but it helped him heat up after removing his wet clothing, laying it on an out cropping of stalagmites near him. He stayed there for what seemed to be hours as his clothes finally dried and he put them back on, and began to explore his surroundings, a green flame in his palm to guide his way.

It was after walking around the edge of the cave for about twenty minutes that he came across a passage. He held up his flame in order to see better where it led, but it was no use. However, having no alternative, he continued on his path, the only sounds the crackling of the fire in his hand, the crunching of loose rock as he walked, and the drip of water from the ceiling of the passage. He kept on going for again what seemed like hours, ignoring the grumbling of his stomach as he staggered along, barely able to keep his own balance as he traversed the uneven terrain, sliding down steep slopes of loose rubble.

After some time, he finally saw sunlight. Hope entering him for the first time in forever, he hobbled faster towards the ever increasing brightening with newly found enthusiasm. When he exited the cave, he blinked furiously as his eyes struggled to adapt to the bright light of the outside world. However, he then began blinking in confusion as he kept turning around, confused at his new surroundings.

He was now outside the cemetery where his father was buried. He was absolutely confused, this cemetery was in the middle of a town nowhere near any cave. He then felt something tugging at him emotionally, and then literally as he found his body picked up by an invisible force and dragging him violently through the air towards his father's gravestone, eventually stopping stomach first onto the grass, having the wind knocked out of him once more, his neck craning upwards to stare at the text labeling the plain looking headstone.

Hisashi Midoriya

2XXX-2XXX

A loving father, a loving husband, taken far too soon from this world. #1 Cheerleader for his son.

"Well if that isn't a sweet message."

Izuku's blood instantly began to boil at the sound of that voice. He then violently twisted around and launched to his feet, the green lightning of One For All encompassing his body as he readied himself for a fight. He then stared into the face of an unmasked individual who at last sight caused a panic attack. Green orbs narrowed as they bore into their crimson counterparts.

"Wow. Somebody is sure in a testy mood." The obsidian-haired villain laughed, a smirk crossing his face as he leered at the young hero in training. He then walked towards Izuku without a care in the world as he stared up at the trees, his arms up and cradling his head as he leaned back into them. "Did someone not like their spelunking adventure?"

That was the phrase that caused Izuku to snap as he used OFA to rapidly charge towards the doppelganger, only for them to vanish right before his fist made contact. He then heard a chuckling behind him as he twisted around only to see him where he once was, right next to his father's headstone. That laugh caused Izuku's vision to go red as he again attacked the villain again and again and again, only for the villain to again appear where he once was.

"Wow." The crimson-eyed individual snarked, before their voice became one of someone talking down to an infant, "I thought you would have loved it! I mean who doesn't love getting lost once in a while! It's a bit refreshing if you ask me."

Izuku responded by letting out a growl that would more realistically come out of a rabid animal rather than a civilized human being. This time shooting out torrents of emerald flames, setting the surrounding grass and trees ablaze. Just like last time however, his attack completely missed his target. Izuku then felt two hands grasp his shoulders from behind him as he turned around only to become completely paralyzed.

"Well. You aren't acting very heroic. Setting a cemetery on fire." The villain said in a mocking voice, "Well. I've had my fun, might as well let you go. I don't think you are just ready right now for my final tests. After all, nobody knows you like I do. I mean, how could they?"

The villain then poked Izuku sharply on the forehead while laughing in hysterics and he woke up back in his bed in his dorm room at Heights Alliance. He was hyperventilating and completely drenched head to toe in sweat. The red veins of OFA and green lightning were active when he opened his eyes and after regaining control of his breath he managed to deactivate them.

Desperate to cool himself off, he threw his sheets off of himself and slammed the sliding door to his balcony open to let the fresh brisk morning air rush into his dorm room before quickly drawing the curtains to preserve his modesty. The fresh cool air caused the curtains to bellow as it also provided relief to his skin as he began to feel his body temperature finally begin to drop as his heart rate slowed to a healthy and safe resting pace.

He didn't expect a dream of 'Blackflame' so soon. Not that it felt like a dream. He never felt actual pain so realistically in dreams ever before, and the passage of time was never noticeable. However, in this nightmare, and the last, time was an identifiable concept in both. Sakura said that he should expect one of these nightmares down the road, but he thought he had months, not weeks. Another thing to discuss with the man after the Sports festival.

He walked over to his nightstand to pick up his phone to email him not only as a heads up, but also while everything from the recent events were still fresh in his memory. When he opened his phone he saw that it was 5:30 in the morning, too late to try and head back to sleep. He quickly typed out and sent his e-mail before grabbing his bathing supplies and heading downstairs.

When he got down to the onsen he saw that he wasn't the only one up early. Ojiro, Tokoyami, Kaminari, and Kamakiri were already in the hot spring when he opened the door and walked inside. All of them looked uneasy and their faces were full of tension despite the warm and relaxing mineral filled waters.

"Another one has escaped the clutches of Morpheus." Tokoyami stated as Izuku stripped down before proceeding to sit down on one of the stools next to the showers and quickly rinsed the remaining sweat off of his body.

"Why do you always have to sound so ominous?" Kamakiri asked, a bit of gruff to his voice.

"Yeah." Kaminari added in, "You always seem so 'extra'." This seemed to just annoy their feathered classmate and Dark Shadow decided to make an appearance.

"You guys better stop picking on Fumi or you both will really regret it!" Dark Shadow scolded rather aggressively, jabbing one of his claws at the two boys as though he was a mother scolding their children for lying.

"Dark Shadow! Return!" Tokoyami snarled, and Dark Shadow acquiesced, but not before making a snide remark that he wasn't a Pokémon.

Izuku observed the tension in the air more thoroughly as he finished showering and entered the hot spring, able to see how each of his classmates were handling the impending stress of the Tournament later that date. Kamakiri was being more blunt than his normal self, Kaminari was deflecting the tension with humor, Tokoyami was being more edgy, and Ojiro was being more invisible and unnoticeable. Deciding that he had a duty as a class Vice Rep, he decided to acknowledge the tension by admitting his own fears.

"I'm scared too." All the boys turned their heads to look at Izuku. Izuku then questioned whether or not he had done the right thing as he felt the spotlight of all the eyes staring into him. He then proceeded, choosing his words very carefully, attempting to talk slower than he did, but failing miserably as his own panic started to cause him to tumble over his words.

"You all had far more time than me to practice and get ready. I was just on international television, testifying from a nuclear grade underground bunker beneath a courthouse testifying against the biggest international crime syndicate on the planet while all of you were getting ready for today. And here I am days later going on national television where I am no doubt going to make a fool of myself because I've only had three days—"

"Midoriya breathe." Ojiro said calmly, rushing through the water to sit next to Izuku who's face turned red as he started to cry and hyperventilate for the umpteenth time that morning. "We are all scared and nervous. You just have a bigger target on your back that's all. Not to mention you have to give the athlete's oath—"

"The what?!" Izuku said in a mix of a gasp and a squeak, his face turning quickly from red to a ghostly white.

"The athlete's oath." Ojiro repeated, looking even more concerned at his fellow hero course student. "The oath given at the start of the festival like always, by the year's representative. For the first years at least, it has always been given for decades by the person who scored first on the entrance exam for the hero course. You didn't forget did you?" In response, Izuku merely sunk his body further into the water, letting out a very long and loud groan.

"Come on! Nobody warned me! When would I have had the time to work on a speech in the first place?! When I was preparing for the trial of the century from dawn to dusk?! Or how about when I was being chased by villains trying to kill me and my brother!? Or maybe when I was locked in a bunker and unable to see sunlight for several days because the same villains still wanted me dead, and constantly going over notes just so I didn't screw up when the fate of my brother hung in the balance?! Or maybe when I was desperately and struggling trying to catch up to you all on missed training because I'm willing to bet that this Sports Festival is going to be far different from any previous one!"

"Woah! Woah! Easy there buddy." Kaminari said nervously, he would've taken a few steps back if he could from the venting and irate teen in front of him, but he was already at the far end of the basin. "Don't blame us. Save it for Kan-Sensei since he's your home room teacher, he should've told you at least right after you got back."

"Yeah well! I haven't even seen him since I got back from the capital." Izuku huffed, "As if I didn't need anything else on my plate as you probably couldn't tell, it's pretty full at the moment."

"Ranting and raving isn't going to change or fix things." Ojiro put forward as he and Kaminari got out of the hot spring and began to dry themselves off. "Worse come to worst you can always wing it. Some of the best speeches ever given have been improvised on the spot."

Not long after that, both Kamakiri and Tokoyami left as well, leaving Izuku alone as he went to the edge of basin to look over the simulated river that was flowing more violently and louder than usual. None of them had yet figured out how exactly they did it, but it wasn't a hologram because when Shoji had chucked an apple Tsuburaba had brought into the bath against the rules all the way into the river, it had made a splash as they were able to watch the river carry it away. Also the leaves from the trees hanging over head sometimes fell into the spring and they were tangible. Izuku stared out, desperately trying to think of a speech to give to all of Japan, but much to his annoyance and frustration, his mind stayed steadfastly blank.

Izuku remained in his spot until Tetsutetsu and Kirishima charged on into the bathroom. He quickly, but subtly got out of the water, drying himself off behind the cubicles where his red and white UA PE uniform was waiting for him. He did this to avoid the comments he always seemed to get from the two. He honestly didn't see what was so awesomely manly about his body. He always thought his body lacked muscle and his limbs were always just a bit too thin.

Sighing, he left the room and dropped his dirty towel and bathrobe in the laundry room in his assigned basked so it could be whisked off later to be leaned and later dropped off outside of his room. He then went on out of the common room where he saw more of his fellow hero course students. Sato was determinedly at work in the kitchen, he seemed far more focused than usual. Kaibara was pacing back and forth by the windows and it looked as though he was muttering under his breath. Aoyama was staring at the TV without really paying attention to what was on the screen, his eyes glazed over.

Not knowing where to place himself, he debated heading back up to his room when he got a text message. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it. The message was from his girlfriend. She told him that if they were forced to face off against one another today, that if he holds back and doesn't go at her with his full power, that she would break up with him. She went on further saying that they have to give it their all and that she doesn't want to be looked down as weak. Not knowing what to say, he just sent: Okay, with a heart emoji on the end of the message.

It felt as though the clocks were moving at half speed as they waited till 10am to be collected by one of the teachers to be shuttled to the stadium. All the while, Izuku struggled to think of a speech but his mind defiantly remained empty. Eventually, Aizawa walked on into the dormitory and paused as he felt the evident tension in the air. He ordered all the boys to follow him and board the bus waiting for them in the parking lot.

They were all silent as they walked outside into the cool and crisp morning air as they walked along the outside of their dorm to the parking lot outback where a bus with an Ectoplasm clone in the driver seat was waiting for them. They got on and rode in silence, the hum of the A/C and drone of the diesel engine being the only sounds as they were all too full of nerves to speak.

That was until they approached the stadium and drove past crowds that were cheering excitedly, calling out chants of 'UA!'. Izuku and Hiro who were sitting next to one another looked out at the crowd. They were grateful that the windows were blackened out with tint from the outside. Last thing either brother wanted at the moment was recognition from the trial. Eventually the crowds vanished as the bus past through a security gate before driving underneath the stadium into a loading dock where they all disembarked. From there they followed Kan-Sensei who was the chaperone for the girl's bus to a room that had 1-B painted on its door in large gold lettering.

Inside waiting for them were chairs and tables with drinks and snacks laid out for them with a TV on the other end, encompassing a large portion of the back wall, it was currently displaying the JNN's pre-show for the Sports Festival. Both Izuku's and Hiro's hearts dropped as both of their pictures showed up on the screen with '1-B' underneath both of their pictures. Kan-Sensei upon seeing this as well, quickly, but also subtly walked over to the TV and turned it off as though he had planned on doing it from the onset.

"Listen up 1-B." he said, commanding the attention of all 20 of his students. "In an hour or so, you'll hear an announcement over the PA calling you to the field. You'll then be directed there by volunteers to the field for the opening ceremony and first task. After the first task, you'll then be escorted back here to the 1-B VIP booth. This booth is in a secured part of the stadium where you'll be able to mingle with your fellow first years. You are not allowed for security reasons to leave the VIP area without approval and an escort."

Hiro's head dropped slightly at the new security measures that his teacher had just announced. He felt as though he was the one responsible for the new stringent measures. He felt as though he had a gigantic target on his back even though the trial was over. He still felt on edge, because he knew without a doubt, that Waira would be watching and want revenge.

"You'll still be able to purchase concessions from the approved vendors who have set up shop in the VIP area. When it is your turn to participate in the second and third tasks, you'll take an elevator direct from the VIP area to a pre-staging area where a waiting room will be assigned for you, and pre-approved guests can meet you. Also, don't bother asking me what the tasks are because I have not been made aware of them as a conflict of interest being your teacher. Good luck, I expect all of you to do well and bring honor to Class B." With that, he left the room to wait outside. That's when the chatter began.

"Do you think we should all team up during the first task to scope out the competition?" Setsuna proposed to the room. "Hold back so we can surprise the competition?"

"Heck NO!" Tetsutetsu roared, slamming his metal fists onto one of the fold out tables, causing it to collapse. "That's hella unmanly! We should be giving it our all during every round!"

"I AGREE!" Inasa shouted, a big stupid grin on his face. "WHAT AN INSPIRING SPEECH TETSUTETSU! AS STUDENTS OF JAPAN'S PREMIER HERO ACADEMY WE SHOULD ALWAYS BE GIVING IT OUR ALL! TO NOT DO SO WOULD BRING DISHONOR UPON OURSELVES AND THIS LEGENDARY AND MAGNIFICANT INSTITUTION!"

"Inside voice dude." Koichi said with a wince as he removed his hands from his ears where he was trying to block out the gratuitous decibels Yoarashi dished out like candy. "But yeah, there isn't really a point in doing that Tokage. We've already trained together with Class A a handful of times, so we already know what they are capable of and vice versa."

"Not only that." Kendo piped up, getting everyone's attention as they stared at their big sister, "Do we really want the impression of Class B to be that we are the class that doesn't give it our all? We all got a spotlight on us given recent events—" She then stopped suddenly when Izuku gave her a withering look as Hiro shuddered.

"Just do your best, and you'll have nothing to be ashamed of." Izuku said, taking over after Kendo fell silent.

The hour seemed to go by too fast and they were all then escorted out into a massive hallway several floors from where they were gathered before. They could now finally hear Present Mic hyping up the crowd as they all were bunched up together, their homeroom teachers trying to organize them in the proper order. Izuku thought he saw Sakura-Sensei giving him a concerned look as he was getting his business class in order, confirming that he had already received and read his e-mail.

"ARE YOU READY?!" Present Mic roared out as the speakers all over the stadium including those in the hallway began blasting Thunderstruck by AC/DC, each cry of THUNDER during the intro being accompanied by a blast of bass, shaking the ribcages of all the students.

"Welcome to the UA Sports Festival! You have waited long and hard for this moment! I hope you are all back in your seats because you don't want to miss this! Because here are the first years of UA! Starting with the boys in red! The hero courses! Classes 1-A and 1-B, taught by the pro-heroes Eraserhead and Vlad King! 1-A being escorted by Midnight because Eraserhead here is my buddy in the commentator's booth! Want to say something pal?"

"No."

Both Hiro and Izuku's mouths fell open as they finally stepped out onto the field. Fireworks were going off above their heads and then their eyes were drawn to a massive jumbotron where their classmates' faces and profiles were being put up individually on the screen along with little factoids about them. Their quirk, height, favorite food, high school etc. Hiro's heart jumped when his profile was put upon the screen and the crowd in the stadium seemed to cheer louder than for the rest of the students. Izuku grabbed his brother's hand and gave it a squeeze and gave him a small smile which Hiro returned.

Hiro hadn't told anyone, but a lot of his pent up aggression and anxiety the last few days was based on fear. Fear that he would be rejected by hero society for being raised by villains. He feared the prejudices of a society that he never thought would be there for him. His entire childhood, he was taught and constantly told that the heroes simply couldn't care less about pathetic and useless kids like himself. But now… now there was a whole stadium full of heroes and die-hard hero fanatics… supporting and cheering for him. Gone was the fear and anxiety in the brothers. Now there was determination and a desire to do their best.

Soon after Class 1-K stepped onto the field, Midnight stepped out onto the stage and spoke to all of Japan.

"And now, please welcome Izuku Midoriya of Class 1-B from the UA Hero Course, the first year's representative, as he gives the opening speech and officially opens the UA Sports Festival!"

Heart thumping in his chest, he gave Hiro's palm one last squeeze before receiving a hug and a smile from Reiko before walking up onto the stage, Midnight whispering into his ear that he'll have to pull a lever inside the podium in order to open the festival. He nodded in confirmation that he understood exactly what she had just told him.

Izuku walked across the stage and stood behind the podium, adjusting the bendy microphone so it would be at a proper angle, and to buy him a few more seconds. Up until he had walked upon the field, he had no clue what he was going to talk about. That changed when the crowd cheered for Hiro, he knew then exactly what he was going to talk about and asked for Hiro's blessing as the rest of the first year courses were filing onto the field.

"A few days ago, villains tried to murder me, one of my best friends, his brother, my homeroom teacher, and someone so close to me I consider them to be my brother despite not being of the same blood. They did everything in their power to silence us. Why? Because they were afraid of us. Villains want us to remain quiet. They don't want us to speak up about the injustices we see in the world. It is our duty not only as heroes in training, but as responsible citizens to speak up when we see these things happen. Many months ago, I woke up before the sun to train before school in order to take the UA Entrance Exam. That one morning I ran into the person who I would later consider more than a best friend. If I had not spoken to him, Zu'Kuvma would still be at large in Japan. If I had not raised a voice of concern to the heroes, Zu'Kuvma would still be a threat to Japan. So, I ask you all, next time you see someone who is down, someone who could just use a hand, or someone who is being treated unjustly. Reach out and offer a helping hand while saying I AM HERE. Do that because that is the opposite of what the villains want. Reach out and help someone, it doesn't matter if they have a 'villains quirk', are quirkless, are a mutant type, or anything else. Nobody deserves to be the victim of a villain."

"We all came here to UA in order to learn how to stop villains. Some of us came here to be heroes on the front line, some of us are here to become doctors to treat and heal the victims of villains. Then there are some of us who came to learn how to make sure villains get their punishment or protect people who have been wrongly accused of being a villain. Not to mention the people who came here so one day, they will be able to investigate the actions of villains and lock them up. But then how can we forget those who came here to learn how to equip the heroes and those who want to run things in the background? The matter of fact is this, we all came here to start a journey down a path to make Japan a safer country for her people. The only downside of this festival is that there can only be one winner. However, at the end of the day, we are all future winners. Why? Because WE ARE HERE!"

With that, Izuku reached into the podium and pulled the lever that Midnight had told him about the moment he said the last few words of his speech. Immediately pillars of golden flames erupted from the stadium's roof among a roaring crowd as confetti cannons sprayed all those cheering in the stands. That wasn't all, a massive pit opened up in the middle of the field, leading down to a set of stairs. Soon the only things left on the field were the students, for the stage had been carried off the field by robots the moment Izuku had stepped off of it.

"Behold! The first challenge of the sports festival!" Midnight called out, standing on the other side of the pit from the assembled students. "As it is a well-known fact that Greek mythology and ancient history has had a major impact on the global hero culture as a whole, it has been decided that it will be the main theme of this year's First Year's Sports Festival!"

This caused several of the student son the field to panic because Greek mythology wasn't something that was normally covered in the Japanese public school curriculum. The only teens who bothered to learn it were hero fanatics. Izuku felt like one of the few in his class that looked okay with this new twist in events.

"This pit will lead to your first challenge! In Greek Mythology, the Labyrinth was built by the famous artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete. The labyrinth was so complex that Daedalus himself was barely able to escape it after building it. The reason it was built was to be a prison for the minotaur. You all will have one hour to enter and complete the maze below. If you encounter the minotaur, it is best to run for you will most likely be no match for it. Just be aware that this being UA and how we always go Plus Ultra, there will be more surprises waiting for you rather than just the beast below. Also be aware as there have been many speculated layouts of the labyrinth, there will be multiple layouts of this one challenge. You see, the maze's layout will completely change and create a new path to the exit a total of two times, once every twenty minutes till the timer runs out. Again, you have one hour to exit the dark below or exit before the cut off or be trapped. Good luck! GO!"

With the snap of her whip, a loud buzzer sounded and a countdown timer appeared on the jumbotron. It became a mad rush for the narrow entrance. People were getting trampled and piled on top of one another. It became chaos, any possible team ups that people had thought of went straight out the window. Some of the hero course students thought of using their quirks to get through the mass of people, but they all knew that it would cause too much collateral damage. However, Present Mic in the booth, was not noticing any of this.

"Ladies and gents! Don't worry that this challenge isn't in direct line of sight of your seats! Just open the UA Sports Festival App that you used to get into the stadium, and you'll find you have access to all the cameras in the labyrinth. So if there was a particular student that you were rooting for or want to watch, then you'll be able to follow their progress. Not to mention you'll be able to see where they are located on a map inside the labyrinth! For the folks watching at home, since you don't have the app, you'll just have to stick with what the station decides to transmit, but we will do our best to show nothing but fun non-stop action! Isn't this much better than last year Eraser?!"

"If you were paying attention, you'd notice the first obstacle." Eraserhead groaned, pointing at the pile of people that was now finally getting into the labyrinth.

"Semantics!"


Izuku was gasping for air, he had finally managed to free himself from the crowd which had gone off in all sorts of different directions. He had been carried along with the crowd for some time however as the herd mentality took over the panicked students couldn't see very well in the dimly lit hallways which were only wide enough for four people to walk across side by side. Taking a second for himself he looked around to see if there was anyone he recognized near him. He saw a couple of pre-med students arguing with one another, but he couldn't really pick out what either of them were saying. All he knew was that one of the two in question already managed to get on Recovery Girl's bad side early in the year given that he had to hear a full retelling of the tale while getting private lessons from her.

He figured that neither of them would want to team up with him because he knew that all of 1-C was a bit jealous of him being taught privately by Recovery Girl. All his efforts to dissuade them that they are learning the material way faster however fell on deaf ears as envy drown out logic. Deciding to make his own path he walked around the maze, not running into anybody. He was familiar with the tale concerning Perseus going to slay the minotaur, he had done a whole project and presentation on it back in high school. However, his knowledge and memory of the design of the layout of the maze proved futile because he couldn't keep track of where he had been carried off to. Not only that, he wouldn't have put it past Nezu to come up with three wholly new layouts just to screw with the students.

"Izuku."

Izuku's heart went cold as he nearly jumped in shock as he turned around and saw that he was face to face with the one person who knocked him out a couple days ago.

"Kaito? What are you doing here?" Izuku asked, clutching his chest, trying to slow his heartbeat back down to a normal and healthy pace, taking a couple steps backwards for the two teens were rather close to each other.

"Participating in the first round of the Sports Festival." Kaito responded, his face emotionless as he wasn't trying to be humorous.

"Okay, stupid question." Izuku groaned as he bent down to massage his calves before leaning back up, mentally smacking himself in the face. "Do you know where everyone else is?"

"No clue." The grey haired, green-eyed boy said with a shrug as he looked around, the two 1-C students having already taken off. "I've only just managed to escape the crowd. But I tell you, the sooner I get out of here the better. This place gives me the creeps."

"I think that has more to do with Cementoss' design aesthetic." Izuku quipped causing both boys to chuckle. However the laughter stopped when they heard screams. Both boys hurried around the bend to see the two pre-med students with pink paint splattered across their white PE uniforms, and towering above them in a cheap minotaur costume was….

"Euphoria-Sensei?" Kaito asked, looking completely dumbfounded at the bizarre dress and sight of his home room teacher.

"Ah! Nakamoto! Top of the mornin' to yah!" He said in his over exuberant mannerism, and when he didn't get a response, his smile didn't falter. "It's considered polite to respond."

Meanwhile back upstairs on the jumbotron, this whole encounter was being shown to the whole stadium..

"Mic. Tell me. Who's bright idea was it to make Koro the minotaur? When I don't know, Osore with her fear quirk would've been more appropriate and effective?" Aizawa asked his fellow commentator, covering his microphone even though he already muted it.

"Nezu's idea." Mic explained, "I think if I remember it correctly, Nezu said that Koro would be far more entertaining to watch than Osore. Oh look at that listeners! Nakamoto has helped Midoriya escape the fearsome minotaur by asking the savage beast about a homework assignment, thus giving them a distraction!" Aizawa slammed his head on the table.

"That was close." Izuku panted as he clutched a stitch in his chest. He and Kaito had sprinted like mad once Euphoria was distracted for both boys knew that the teacher was freakishly and insanely fast for someone without a speed quirk.

"How long do you think we have been running?" Kaito wheezed, leaning against a wall.

"I have no clue." Izuku coughed, still clutching his chest, "All I know is that I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Why?!" Kaito snapped, unable to keep the sudden release of aggression that came out of nowhere from Izuku's perspective out of his voice. "Don't trust me to not attack you, knocking you out again the moment you turn your back to me?" This only caused Izuku to sigh and smile.

"No. It's just that I don't want to deal with the drama that comes with him hammering and berating me for leaving his—"

"Stop it!" Kaito shouted at the top of his lungs, his face flushing a brilliant ruby red.

"Really?" Izuku snarked back, but his face paled when he saw who had just appeared behind the pair of them.

"You two are really loud you know." Euphoria Sensei said in his happy voice. "Made finding you two after losing you a sinch. By the way Nakamoto, I'm of the belief that you and Fuji would make a magnificent couple!"

"Et tu Sensei?!" Kaito screamed in terror as he backed up towards Izuku, days later being grateful that the microphones in that section of the maze were malfunctioning so all of Japan didn't hear this embarrassing encounter.

"Sí mí amigo!" Koro cheered in Español as he then lobbed balls of pink paint towards the two boys, only for them to be redirected back onto him, getting stuck in the furry parts of his costume. "Hey! This is very cheap fake fur I'll tell you! You've ruined this costume I spent hours working on! I should—"

However what Euphoria should've done would remain a mystery for a cement wall had just went up between the two students and the teacher. Not only that, but other walls were going up and coming down, giving them glimpses of the other remaining students for a brief second. The boys then almost fell over as the floor itself began to move as though the entire maze was on a turn table. Centripetal forces slamming them against the wall like a carnival whirl-a-round, their feet not even touching the ground as the g-forces glued them to the wall. Eventually the world stopped spinning and the two teens fell to the ground, Izuku looking even greener than usual.

"I think we lost him." Kaito grumbled as he groped his own body, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be.

"I think we are now lost that they just changed the entire layout and moved us all around." Izuku wheezed as he did a few breathing exercises to get the resulting nausea under control.

"As though we even knew were we were in the first place." Kaito whispered under his breath, not wishing to start another argument.

"So what do you suggest we do now?" Izuku asked only to get an exasperated look from his companion.

"I should be asking you that. You are after all the hero course student."

"Oh right! Let's go this way!" Izuku then said, pointing down a hallway and charging down, Kaito struggling to keep up.

"Do you have any idea where you are even going?" he groaned as he rushed up to catch up with his fellow student. "Didn't you say that you studied Greek Mythology before? Do you have any idea of what the maze might be?"

"Yeah well. There are multiple variations of the layout of the labyrinth such as the Trojaborg type and the Chartes type. Besides fan made variations." Izuku explained as he turned a corner, "But I've already ruled those out. Confirming my theory that Nezu created his own layouts. Which I wouldn't put it past him doing anyways, finding humor in making humans run around a maze and get lost."

Meanwhile Nezu was listening in to the conversation in his private suite and was laughing his tail off. "You have no clue how right you are Midoriya!"

"So where does that leave us?" Kaito sighed as the two boys made another turn and Izuku had his answer based simply on what they saw before them.

"Confused…" which perfectly described what was in front of the two teens. They saw a skinny walkway over a deep chasm filled with not-so-kid-friendly Midnight plushies with a ladder on the other side. Going across the walkway and swinging were giant axes covered in the same pink paint that Euphoria Sensei had just attempted to throw at them. They watched in shock as they saw a couple of 1-E students in blue P.E. Uniforms already making their way across the bridge, trying to avoid the swinging axes. Both boys took an intake of breath as they saw one of the axes strike one of the students, its blade bending comically, flexing back and forth very fast as the students were thrown into the pit full of busty plushies.

"I don't remember swinging axes when I read about this story back in middle school." Izuku deadpanned as he peered down into the pit, seeing the two law enforcement students covered head to toe in pink paint as they struggled to extricate themselves from the Pit of Perverted Desires, which only got its name based on what was in it as the two teens struggled to make their way to the ladder on the other side.

"I think this is what Midnight-Sensei said by surprises." Kaito mused as he stretched a hand outward towards the axes. "It's just a shame they are using paint as markers if you are eliminated or not. It is as though they want me in the second round."

With a wave of his hand, all of the pink paint fell off of the swinging axes, leaving them back to their original rubbery white states.

Meanwhile back in the teacher's box

"Nezu." Snipe whispered, "Why did you choose paint that can easily be removed and swiped away by a business course student no less?"

"Simple my fellow colleague." Nezu answered after taking a sip of tea. "Even though one student can easily control artistic material, Midoriya could have simply held the paint in mid-air. Besides, having the students covered in cold, wet, sticky paint brings me great amusement!" He then proceeded to laugh in hysterics, causing the rest of the teachers in the private booth to scoot away from him.

Back in the Labyrinth

"So any idea how we are going to get across?" a teen with an American accent and floppy blond hair asked his bespectacled business course companion. He and Alex had just witnessed a trio of 1-D Law Students get covered in paint. Their purple PE uniforms now covered in wet pink paint.

They were in a room with a multicolored tile floor. Each individual tile did something different. The black tiles appeared to be safe, but these tiles were few and heavily spaced out from one another. However, the rest of the tiles appeared to have different functions and effects. The blue tiles sprayed them with cold water, the indigo tiles meanwhile caused rubber arrows covered in pink paint to shoot out of the walls. The red tiles caused those who stepped on them to suffer an electric shock. Yellow tiles caused paint to spurt out of them like at a children's splash pad. Green tiles caused a random tile around you to spray paint at you. Purple tiles played an annoying song on high volume. Orange tiles were freezing cold to the point that they froze your feet through your shoes. Finally the pink tiles sprayed paint at the people waiting to cross while playing a razzberry sound effect through the speakers through the ceiling. They all learned this by watching their fellow first year students try and cross the room and get eliminated from the competition.

"This room just screams Nezu." Alex grumbled as he struggled to make sense of the chaos, as he and Skyler were the last two in the room who had yet to attempt to cross the puzzle.

"Well." Sky sighed, slumping his shoulders before turning towards his companion. "You happen to be one of his personal students. Did he ever give you any clue on how we are supposed to get across?"

"No," Alex groaned, leaning back and bemoaning the fact that of course, Nezu would go through with plans to include more intellectual challenges into this year's Sports Festival. Of course given the unprecedented cooperation between this year's students. Business students having joint lessons with Law students, 1-C pre-med students assisting in patching up hero and law enforcement students on the training grounds. Of course not all the challenges would be entirely physical.

"Okay, but do you have any idea of how we are supposed to get through?" Sky groaned, slapping his face but still making sure not to get his finger prints on his visor which held up a screen across his eyes.

"Just give me a moment okay?!" Alex growled, his patience getting thin, "Okay, give me a rundown on all the support items you have on your person currently."

"Well you are pretty much looking at all of it." Skyler boringly said as he began to point out his support items that he got to register the day before. "I got this visor that has a heads up display that can receive information from the two miniature drones attached to it, which are by my ears."

He then tapped the gun in the holster on his hip, "This gun can't fire bullets, but it can shoot a variety of other things as ammunition which I carry in these pouches attached to my belt. I got tranquilizer darts, tracking beacons, and some discs that deliver a powerful shock."

"Hold on!" Alex cried out as his mind latched onto one of Skyler's inventions, "You have remote controlled drones!?"

"Yeah."

"And you never thought to use them once to seek out a path for us out of this maze?"

"Well you see…" Sky said meekly as he tapped his pointer fingers together. "I was concerned at a loss of signal with all of these concrete walls. I know the signal is quite powerful, but again all the concrete. Plus what if the layout changes while they are out deployed? I didn't want to risk losing Buzzy or Zappy."

"Buzzy and Zappy?" Alex deadpanned, unable to believe that his friend gave cutesy names to his drones.

"Hey!" Sky pouted, "I spent a lot of time making them! I just couldn't call them drone 1 and drone 2 when they show up on my HUD! Besides! We have no clue what the remaining tasks have in store for us! I have to be prepared!"

"What good is being prepared if you don't make it to the next stage?" Alex countered, "Isn't the Sports Festival the place for support course students to show off? You should be showing off your inventions."

"I guess so." Skyler mumbled as he hung his head.

"How big, no miniature are your drones exactly?" Alex asked, and Sky responded by pressing a button on his visor, releasing them into the air. Alex could barely see them.

"Both Buzzy and Zappy are ten millimeters by ten millimeters." Sky explained as both Buzzy and Zappyy started flying around the blond, blinking with red and green lights so Alex could finally easily see them.

"Do you think they could fly through air vents?" Alex asked and Sky responded by looking around at the ceiling of the room they were in. Realizing that the fresh air coming in had to becoming from the ceiling rather than ducts in the walls given that they were meant to change. He spotted a grate in a part of the ceiling that was directly above the middle of the puzzle.

"I can probably send one through that one." Sky answered, pointing towards the grate, "I don't want to risk both of them."

"Do your drones have abilities or do they just fly around as scouts?"

"Buzzy has a speaker to create noise to confuse other people, and Zappy has a small electric arm he can stretch out to deliver small shocks. Hence the names I gave them, Buzzy and Zappy." Skyler explained. "Any reason why you are asking? Besides, even if we do send one of the drones through the grate, what good does that do any of us? How will flying around the air vents help us?"

"Because I've come to the realization that Nezu probably made this puzzle impossible to beat. So the only way through is to disable the puzzle entirely." Alex explained and Sky's eyes went wide at the thought of the trick of an impossible challenge. "If you could send Zappy on through the grate, I bet you can find the wiring for the puzzle above us given that some of the traps are triggered and come out of the ceiling. If you can command Zappy to deliver an electrical shock to the computers controlling the traps, we may be able to get across the room safely."

With Alex having explained his plan, Sky nodded as he commanded Buzzy to reconnect with his visor as he sent Zappy up and through the air vents with the neural interface that his visor had come equipped with. An image had already popped up when Zappy was launched, it being a live camera feed of what was in front of Zappy. Sky saw some storage tanks for the pink paint and they were massive, containing many gallons of the stuff. He flew around some more and came across what looked like a wi-fi router.

"Alex, I've found what appears to be a wi-fi router of some sorts. Do you think that it connects to the pressure plate sensors beneath the tiles or perhaps the cameras displaying us back outside in the stadium?"

"Could be for either." Alex groaned, "If Zappy send the wi-fi router a shock, do you think it would be able to knock out the router?"

"Absolutely." Sky answered nodding his head, "But the problem is that we don't know what it specifically connects to. Either we knock out the cameras in the room and the surrounding hallways or we do what we want and disable the signals from the pressure plates."

"What about both?" Alex asked, looking hopeful.

"Both is good." Sky responded, "Well, we won't figure anything out until we try it. Can you give a guess on how long it would take for the router to reset itself?"

"Not long," Alex sighed, "Either way, we'll know very quickly if our plan works. Just zap the router already and get ready to run."

In response, Skyler held up three fingers and began dropping them one at a time. When the last one came down, he sent a command for Zappy to send a shock to the router and the tiles all went dark. The boys only paused for a second before they sprinted across the room, barely making it to the other side before they lit up again once more.

"That was too close." Alex wheezed, not being used to physically exerting himself.

"Let's just hope that we don't encounter anything like that again." Sky mumbled but Alex heard him.

"DUDE DON'T FREAKING JINX US!"


"So… do you guys come here often?" asked a girl with grey hair and blue eyes to the three blue haired boys who were in front of her.

"Strangely enough, I don't make a habit of it." Said the boy with the ice blue hair and was decked out in support gear.

"I've never been here before, but then again I wouldn't know because the walls all changed a few seconds ago." Said the other boy whose hair was more of a periwinkle.

"Of course I wouldn't make a habit of coming here often!" Said the boy with indigo hair while making a chopping motion with his arm.

"So did any of you boys come across anything strange as well?" Reiko asked the three boys she was standing next to, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer. She was still coming to terms with what she had witnessed when she had been traversing solo. Shakily, all three boys nodded.

"I saw a pair of business course students get pulled into the wall by some creepy animatronics that looked like they belonged to a restaurant/arcade back in the states." Felix explained, letting a shiver loose instinctively as he was forced to remember Skyler's sixth birthday party where they went to said restaurant.

It hadn't gone well at all when the head of the mascot animatronic fell off mid performance still singing and moving it's mouth while its head dangled by a few sparking wires. This in turn causing the assembled kindergartners running and screaming with weeks of resulting nightmare material. He also bet the parents also got the same nightmare material as well.

"They were barely covered with any fur though, and they let out this shriek!"

"I saw something straight out of that Indiana Jones movie we watched a few nights ago." Hiro started to explain. "I was with a couple of support course students when a trap door from above opened and a giant boulder covered in pink paint came rolling at us. I only escaped because the walls started shifting. I don't think that they were so lucky though."

Everyone then turned to Iida, who's face then turned a bit green while he remembered what he saw.

"Well, if I didn't have proof or the belief that our principal is insane, I sure have it now. There was a room that I had to get across. I arrived at the same time as a couple business and support course students. However, the whole room was set up like a game show! We couldn't get across without playing their silly game of guessing what is chocolate or clothing! If you bit into the wrong item, you would get covered in pink paint from the robotic host! I had to bite into a… I'd rather not say."

With a great amount of effort, Reiko straightened her face. "I saw a bunch of pink painted mouse traps fall from the ceiling. They were on legs and chased some poor 1-E students around, snapping like mad."

All three boys stared at the only girl among them before nodding their heads in a solemn and silent agreement to never speak of this again. That and it also reaffirmed their united belief that Nezu was an utter sadist. Also, they began to fear what he had in store for them later.

"So we got at least 40 minutes to get out of here." Hiro said, hoping to get the group back on track.

"But as far as we know because the maze spun around, we could be right next to the entrance or exit." Felix interjected with a groan. However, it was that comment that sent a shiver down Iida's spine as he started to feel like a daft moron.

"Guys…"

"Yeah."

"Midnight said the Labyrinth was a prison in Greek Mythology right?"

"Yeah…"

"What are you going on about Iida?"

"Don't prisons have only one way in? That also doubles as the only way out?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCK!"

"Are you telling me that we could've won by walking in and then straight back out?!" Hiro shouted as the realization hit him.

"We have endured all that humiliation and traumatization for nothing!" Reiko moaned.

"We have just been too busy thinking of this challenge as one of those mazes from those children's menus at a restaurant!" Felix snarled in anger at himself as he wanted to curl up in a ball and never see the light of day again.

"So you four figured it out huh?"

All four teens turned around in shock and alarm to see one of their teachers in a god awful costume.

"Euphoria-Sensei!" Felix called out, pointing an accusatory finger at said teacher's minotaur costume, "You were the one to take the fur off of those animatronics!"

"Huh?" Koro-san paused, all confused for the moment. "Wait, what? Those things were used in the maze? Those things have been collecting dust for years! Nezu had them commissioned years ago after a trip to the states where he went to this restaurant with a mouse mascot and thought it would be a good way to prank Aizawa! Hold on… Wait a moment… Where did those four go? For crying out loud Koro, you can't keep letting yourself get distracted. You'll be the laughing stock back in the staff booth."

"That was too close for comfort." Hiro panted as the four teenagers to a stop after running together down several hallways to elude the cosplaying business course teacher.

"Kaito told me how easily he can get distracted in class." Felix explained, shrugging his shoulders after pulling himself together. "That and I thought of those monsters again after seeing that horribly put together costume."

"But there is one piece of good news here." Tenya sighed, "Euphoria-Sensei all but confirmed my suspicions about the entrance and exit being the same thing."

"However, that still leaves us nowhere in helping us get out." Hiro pointed out, "All the walls and pathways changed, meaning we won't be able to retrace our steps."

"That's probably the reason for them changing the entire layout of the maze." Reiko suggested, "That and the whole turn table element. Let's just focus on getting out of here."

Back in the Parent's section of the stadium

"Toshi dear. Please remind me to have words with your boss." Inko said in a sickly sweet tone that sent shivers down the back of the number one hero, who about now was willing to voluntarily go a second round with the Nomu from the USJ about right now.

"Yes dear. Of course dear." Toshi responded, doing his absolute best to keep the fear out of his voice. He really did not want to be there when his girlfriend decided to have the one on one chat with the rat.

"I would take it easy on the rat." Ryuga said in a placating manner. "You probably wouldn't be able to do anything anyways. Loads of people have tried to get one over on him. None have succeeded I'm afraid."

"Wrong thing to say dear." Shiho Yamato barked, smacking her boyfriend's arm. "Here, how about I go get our darling Inko some chocolate to calm her down?"

"Could you get me a funnel cake dear?" Ryuga asked, looking hopeful.

"Nah." Shiho sang, "You shouldn't have disagreed with my longtime girlfriend."

"I'll give you my credit card."

"Awe! Thank you sweetie!" she cried out, plucking the piece of plastic form his outstretched hand, "Perhaps just this once. You do know the way to a girl's heart."

With that, she left the parents section of the stadium. Unlike the students, the parents were allowed to roam freely around the rest of the stadium. This meaning they didn't have any food vendors nearby and Dr. Yamato had to go down to the lower concourse to find any concession booths or stalls.

On here way back however as she was balancing a bowl of chocolate soft serve ice cream and a funnel cake in her arms while watching the task on her phone. She had just witnessed Izuku and Kaito navigate a lattice of security laser beams and switched the feed to show Reiko, Felix, Tenya, and Hiro deal with a robotic sphinx asking them riddles, she was almost knocked to the ground, nearly spilling the food she was carrying.

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" she hastily apologized, grateful that none of the food fell onto the floor as she got a glimpse of the man she had bumped into. He had fluffy and poofy black hair, freckles covering his face, and eyes a deep scarlet.

"Oh, don't worry about it!" the man laughed, "Perhaps they shouldn't have let us stream the games on our phones!"

Shiho simply nodded her head at the man's bashful behavior. Though she couldn't help but wonder. His face looked awfully familiar, like she had seen it before, but just couldn't put where.

Back in the Maze after the walls changed for the final time

"Okay." Izuku said, feigning calmness. "What are the chances that after all the walls changed for the second and final time that all EIGHT of us wind up together?!"

"Very little to none." Alex answered flatly they all stood together at one another in a semicircle.

"I'm not interest in hearing what kind of monstrosities you all faced and had to deal with." Hiro said with a shudder, "I'd rather just get out of here and be done with these tasks."

That elicited nods from the rest of the group as they all started walking together down the only passageway available to them. They walked together for ten minutes, getting more and more nervous by the second. Each time they went around a corner, they held their breath, waiting for something to drop from the ceiling or come out of the walls. Yet, they came across… nothing. No traps, no puzzles, no jump scares, just… nothing but bare and empty hallways.

"OKAY!" Skyler snapped after coming around what seemed to be the hundredth corner and still seeing nothing waiting for them. "What the actual fuck is going on here!? We have yet to come across any other students or any of Nezu's bullshittery! Where exactly is the way out?!"

"Be careful what you wish for Springfield. You might just get it." Called an all too familiar cheerful voice that sent shivers down the spines of all the students. It's owner appeared in front of them as they came around a corner at the other end of the wide hallway. "The way out is just right there. But to get there, you all have to get past me."

"Do I have to remind you sensei that your paint won't be able to tag any of us out as long as I'm here?" Kaito called out to his teacher.

"Oh, I know that very well Nakamoto. That's why I plan on eliminating you first, without using any of the paint. In fact, I plan on eliminating all of you by time out." Koro answered in a cheerful tone, but yet it seemed more sinister for some reason. "For one, I'm out of paint, and two… I just can't wait to show you all what the fearsome minotaur can do! Nakamoto! I'll need to borrow you for a moment! My apologies in advance! But you are just what I need! You eight have ten minutes left to get out! Will you all be able to get past the fearsome beast below!?" Then without warning, golden ethereal tentacles shot out of his back

"He can't be serious?!" Alex gasped in shock.

"We can't hit a teacher!" Tenya gasped as Euphoria started approaching them.

"Forget that!" Felix whimpered, "He's a licensed pro hero with decades more combat experience than the rest of us!"

"Hey Kaito." Izuku whispered, "Why did he say he needed you in particular? Couldn't you try that same trick you used on me a couple days ago."

"I don't think so." Kaito groaned, "I was really angry and my control on my own quirk got away from me for I was not acting anything like my normal self."

"Oh? Someone made you upset my dear student? Let me cheer you up!" Koro-san said as a golden ethereal tentacle shot out and wrapped itself around Kaito who then fell into a state of absolute bliss.

Who cared about a silly little tournament anyways? Everything was right and perfect as it could ever get!

"Kaito!"

"Kaito!"

"Nakamoto!"

"Kaito! Stop!"

Why were those voices screaming his name? Why were they trying to call him over and over again? Couldn't they tell there was no need to complain about anyone or anything? Everything was perfect in the world? Couldn't they tell he was enjoying himself in this state of pure bliss where he didn't have to think about his own actions or desires? Why should he bother to listen to them? Why would he start caring about what they could possibly say? Why would he ever want to go back to thinking for himself again? It was so much easier and nicer to…

"KAITO! PLEASE STOP! YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

The coldness came rushing back to him, his head felt like it was going to split open. His eyes went wide with shock as he took in the sight before him. All of his friends were on the ground, their pant legs fused together and their tops turned into straight jackets as they all were on the ground and completely helpless.

"NOOOO!" He cried out as a massive wave of hatred and aggression poured over him, filling his entire body. He directed that rage at his sensei. Next thing Koro-san knew was that his clothing was getting tighter and tighter to the point that it was dangerously starting to cut off the circulation of his blood throughout many parts of his body. The worst part was that his collar was now choking him. Ignoring the students, he desperately grabbed for it in an attempt to release the ever increasing pressure around his throat. His vision got darker and darker, and then he passed out.

Kaito's mind was single tracked. He didn't notice that there was a hand placed on his shoulder. He didn't notice the roars of cheers as he exited the maze and was in the middle of the stadium once more. He couldn't pay attention to anything. He finally snapped back to reality when a 3-C student began to ask him questions. He then looked around the room where students were being checked up on by the third year pre-med students. His eyes found Hiro, and a pang of unbearable guilt hit him like a truck as reality hit him. All he could think of were the words that rang like canon fire in his head the moment he lost control of his temper in the maze.

"I hurt him. I hurt Hiro. What have I done? What have I become?"