Lightning – My Hero Academia
The Sports Festival Arc
Chapter 10: Sports Festival - Introduction
(A/N: Whenever I start a new arc, new chapters will go up every 5 days until the arc is completed.)
"Hey, son! Too busy to talk to your father? Haha, I'm just kidding. I know you're getting ready for the festival. Sorry I couldn't call you in time; I had a thing this morning. But hey, I know you're gonna do your best out there. Just give it your all and have fun! I already know you're gonna do great, son. I'll be watching you on TV! Love you, Ako! Bye."
"Alright, ladies and gents! Let's get this party started! Welcome to the UA annual Sports Festival! As always, I'm your host, Present Mic, here to give you the most bangin' commentary around! Are ya ready, sports fans?!" The announcer, known as Present Mic, enthusiastically began.
His opening question was met with an uproar of cheering and applause from the fans in the stadium.
"Haha alright! And joining me for this year's sure-to-be-epic event, here to give you the best insight you could get, we've got a living and breathing legend! He was the number one hero, the symbol of peace, always showing up with a big smile and a trademark one-liner!
"Give it up for the one, the only...All Might!" Present Mic continued hyping the crowd up. The crowd cheered even louder than before, excited to hear what commentary the greatest hero who had ever lived would provide.
"Hahaha! I am here!" All Might laughed, waving even though no one could really see him in the announcer's booth, "Thanks for having me!"
"Ah yeah! This year's gonna rock! Let's get this baby underway! Release those first years and make some noise for 'em, folks!" Present Mic shouted.
The audience cheered and clapped rhythmically as the entire body of first year students came out one by one, class by class: first the Hero courses, then General Education, and finally the Support classes. So by the time Ako got out there, most of the other students were already out on the field.
Ako took a moment to scope out the other students. A lot of eyes were on classes 1-A and 1-B. The students of class 1-A and 1-B were focused on each other. Everyone was naturally expecting the major competition to come from those in the hero courses, so no one was going to expect him to be of any threat.
"I can definitely use that to my advantage." Ako thought to himself.
"First years in the ha-ha-house! Oww!" Present Mic howled.
"Man, he's so energetic." Ako thought, making a face at this.
"Let's turn things over to this year's judge to explain the rules! You know her! You love her! The amazing, the powerful, the monumental Mt. Lady!" Present Mic announced. The audience cheered and whistled as Mt. Lady waved to the crowd. She was standing up on an elevated platform with a baton in one hand.
"Welcome to this year's UA Sports Festival! This past year has been indescribable; so much has happened! But it's because of you all that we heroes do what we do! I'm honored to be standing here, and I'm honored to take over the role that Midnight had last year. Despite our differences, I know she would've liked to have been here.
"The next generation of heroes are here before you today! And I think I speak for everyone when I say I can't wait to see what they can do!" Mt. Lady said with a grin. The audience cheered and clapped in agreement.
"That's our Mt. Lady! What a perfect introduction!" Someone in the crowd yelled. Mt. Lady smiled and blew a kiss in that general direction.
"Now! Onto the first round!" Mt. Lady declared, holding her baton out towards the students, "Being a hero is all about problem solving, being smart, and most of all, being fast! So this year, the first round is going to put those things to the test!
"But first, the rules!" Mt. Lady said, holding up an index card. However, before she could start reading from it, one of the students spoke up.
"Shouldn't we know what the event is first though?"
"Shh, it's a surprise!" Mt. Lady waved his comment off before continuing, "Okay! You're allowed to use your quirks to the max here! Without trying to cause injury, you will be allowed to use quirks on each other. However, this is a race, so you probably won't wanna waste time.
"All of you will start from the same point! You will have 2 directions to choose from, each direction containing one pathway to an exit! You'll be told when to start, and the first 50 finishers will advance to the second round!" Mt. Lady finished relaying the rules and tossed her index card aside.
"Um...so what's the event again?" All Might asked.
"Oh yeah! Uhh..." Mt. Lady looked around in a circle, "Over there! Cementoss will take all of you to the starting point. Spectators can watch the monitors from your seats, and you folks at home will get to see the action too! Don't worry!"
"Guess they're not telling us what the event is until it starts. That's weird." Ako commented to himself as all of the students were directed out of the stadium by Cementoss.
"Right this way! Walk in an orderly fashion!" Cementoss waved the students to follow him.
A very large crowd of first year students were led just outside of the stadium. They were brought onto the grass until they all stepped onto a giant cement square paved in the middle of the lawn. There was room for everyone, but they still had to shuffle to get everyone to fit.
"Everyone get in the square. Make sure every part of you is within the white border line!" Cementoss said. As the students all shuffled in and made space, they started murmuring in confusion to each other.
"What's going on here? I thought Mt. Lady said this was a race."
"Alright! Everyone inside? Good! Don't move!" Cementoss said.
He proceeded to raise his arms up and slam them into the ground. Walls rose up around all of the students until they were encased in a giant cement box. The ground beneath them started to shake. The students all started to panic, not knowing what was going on.
"Please stay within the lines." An unfamiliar, calm voice spoke through a PA system.
Their surroundings got darker as the ground continued to move and shift. Ako's eyes widened, but he kept his balance and waited to see how this would develop. Finally the ground stopped vibrating. All of the students were still in complete darkness.
"Activating lights." The voice spoke again.
A light electric hum sounded all around them. One by one, lights started to come on. All of the students found themselves inside of a giant hallway with light strips lining the roof. The walls and the ceiling were all made of concrete. Just as Mt. Lady had said, they could only go one of two ways.
"Surprise!" Present Mic came on the PA system, "Your first challenge is to escape this mysterious labyrinth! What dangerous twists and turns could possibly await you in there?! Will 50 students even be able to figure their way out of here?!" He announced. The calm voice spoke up once again.
"You may begin in 3...2...1..."
To Be Continued...
