Lightning – My Hero Academia

Chapter 11: Round 1: Labyrinth!

"You may begin in 3...2...1...begin!"

The students on both open ends of the square started first, but some of them were quickly pushed aside by quirks being fired off. Ako, who was somewhere in the middle, had to wait for some more room to open up before he could make his move.

"Which way do I go?!" Ako exclaimed, looking both ways. He saw someone with big white wings flying down the pathway to his left. He looked the other way and saw more destructive quirks being utilized down the path to his right.

He decided to go left.

Ako turned and got into a running position. He took in a deep breath and burst forward, barreling past everyone with a burst of speed. Once he had weaved through everyone, it only took him another second or two to get to the end of the hall.

The resulting shockwave from his sprint forward caused a brief blast of high-pressure wind to knock everyone behind him forward. Even the guy with the wings was thrown off course and smacked against the wall before hitting the floor.

"Whoa! What the heck was that?! That was like one of your smashes, All Might!" Present Mic exclaimed.

"Hmm, well would you look at that. Looks like we already got a frontrunner." All Might chuckled, watching as Ako ran down the halls, turning back whenever he hit a dead end. Present Mic quickly scrambled to pull up the information on him.

"Aha! Ako Tanaka! His quirk: super speed! He can move his body at fast speeds; he's practically a speeding bullet! Betcha he can hit just as hard too!" Present Mic recited the school's information on him.

"Good. I've been noticed! Now I just gotta keep this up and finish!" Ako said to himself as he continued zipping around corners.

Ako turned one corner. As soon as he turned, he realized that a wall was coming down in front of him. Caught completely off guard, he slammed face-first into it. He bounced off and fell onto his back with a groan, "Ohh ouch."

"That's right, folks! What's a labyrinth without a few traps? Better handle those progressions carefully, kids!" Present Mic said after Ako fell.

"Oh. Great. Thanks for the warning, man." Ako grumbled to himself as he slowly got to his feet. He took a few breaths and composed himself before starting to run again, slower this time.

Ako turned another corner and another wall came down. This time he was ready for it. He strafed towards the wall and jumped up onto it, moving around in a circle and jumping off so he could run the other direction.

"Wow! What a slick move from the Tanaka kid! He's got a real good handle on his quirk! He must be training hard in...wait!" Present Mic cut himself off. It was hard to tell what happened, but All Might's next words made it clear why he stopped.

"That's right. He's not in the hero course. He was actually drafted into the support course. See those boots he's wearing?" All Might asked before switching to a more heroic voice. "He used his own wits and determination to construct them himself!" He said before hacking unpleasantly into the microphone.

Ako couldn't help but grin to himself as he kept running. He was receiving some real praise now; hearing All Might say anything positive about him was a huge boost to his confidence and pride. The words continued ringing in his ears even after they moved on. He ignored anything else that the two announcers said after that.

"It looks like our first batch of students are crossing the finish line! On the west side, we have Aya Ayala, Tia Inoue, and Erena Ogawa from class 1-A! And on the east side we have Ako Tanaka from support class 1-F and Chikashi Sugawara, also from class 1-A!" Present Mic announced.

"Huh?" Ako's eyes widened. "Someone else finished at the same time as me?" Ako thought to himself in disbelief. Although he was bent over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath, he still looked behind him to see.

His eyes widened in shock. It was that same guy from before, the class rep for 1-A! The one who had challenged him. He was breathing kinda hard, but he was the only one standing there with Ako at the finish line. He smiled at him.

"Whew! That was quite a maze, wasn't it? Whoever designed it sure knew what they were doing!" Chikashi said with a laugh. Ako stood up and turned towards him, still in shock.

"How did you...?"

"Man!" Chikashi yawned and stretched his arms out, "You know the biggest upside to finishing so early? Getting more rest! I'mma go wait for the others. See you in round two, Ako Tanaka." Chikashi said his full name with a chuckle, leaving Ako standing there.

"I don't understand. What happened? I'm the fastest person I know! How did he get here at the same time as me? What's his quirk? What's his secret?!"

While Ako was standing there dumbfounded, two more students came out of the east exit: a guy with white wings and a girl with long pinkish-purple hair. He was carrying her to the finish line. When they reached it, he promptly set her down with an irritated growl.

"Two more students from class 1-A have crossed the finish line. Zachary Russo and Lula Lei!" Present Mic announced.

"Never do that to me again, Lula. What an embarrassment." Zachary, the guy with the wings, grumbled unhappily as he folded his wings inwards and started walking away with his hands in his pockets.

"Aww, thanks for the lift though, Zach! And hey, you might've scored some points with the ladies too, so you should be thanking me!" Lula pointed out with a laugh as she teased him lightheartedly. She waved to him too, but he only grumbled in response without looking back at her.

"Hm?" Ako turned and looked over at both of them. The girl, Lula, looked back at him too.

"Oh hey! It's you!" Lula recognized him and ran over to him. "The cool guy at the vending machine! How ya doing, Ako?" She smiled at him. Ako managed an awkward chuckle.

"H-Hey. Sorry, I kinda forgot your name." He admitted. Lula gave him a look and shook her head, her smile not wavering.

"Wow! Just wow. So disappointing. My name's easy to remember, you know! It's Lula! Lula Lei." She reintroduced herself.

"Hey again, Lula. Congrats on finishing too." He said.

"Thank you! It took a little while to catch up, but here I am! Looks like you've been holding out on us, huh? You were like a jet engine in there!" She laughed. Ako blushed and smiled.

"Aww, nah. Thanks."

"Haha, you're welcome! And great job! Guess I'll see you in round two!" She waved to him and kept walking.

"Yep! See you there! Definitely!" He said. He started to walk the other way, but then he realized that he actually needed to go in the same direction, so he turned around and fell in step next to her.

"Hm? Oh! We're going the same way, right! Stupid me." Lula laughed when she realized.

"Haha, it's alright. I forgot too...so, uh, what's your quirk?" He asked curiously.

"Oho, I'm not falling for that, speedy boy. You get far enough, you'll find out." She said, smirking at him.

"Fair enough." Ako said with a faint chuckle...