Twelve

~James POV~

"START!" It was pandemonium as everyone rushed forward to get out of the arena and into the course. The tunnel that allowed for their escape was too narrow though and it squished everyone together as they shoved each other forward only making it harder to get through. James saw Kana simply standing calmly, watching as everyone struggled. He had lost sight of Yuto and guessed he was using the shadows to get through everyone's pushing and shoving. James himself jumped high into the air above everyone. Ripping himself free of the cluster of bodies. He jumped off the walls above everyone's heads heading to the other end of the hall. Below him he saw ice start to spread as Todoroki froze those in his path. Those behind him were safe and a high number of them were his own classmates. James felt pride before he focused on his landing. He rolled onto the ground before using his legs to push himself forward as his claws dug into the ground pulling his body forward, outdistancing everyone else as he ran free.

A large dark and metal object soon entered his vision making him skid to a stop as the one metal object turned into multiple massive robots. It was the robots from the entrance exam, like the one he had disintegrated so long ago. James had wondered what kind of obstacles they had been putting in and this far exceeded his own thoughts. Briefly he wondered how UA was able to afford all these soon to be damaged robots.

"Multiple targets acquired." The leader robot sounded pulling him from his thoughts as he remembered, he was on a battlefield.

"EVERY OBSTACLE COURSE NEEDS OBSTACLES. WE'RE STARTING OFF WITH THE FIRST BARRIER, ROBO INFERNO!" Present Mic's voice came through the speakers.

Adrenaline coursed through James body as his eyes darted about, trying to figure out the best possible route to get through them without having to turn them to dust this early in the tournament. He didn't want to use his Chaos Sphere or the variations right off the bat. He didn't need to worry though as Todoroki's ice appeared once again and covered all the robots, freezing them in place.

"Well, that was easier that I thought it'd be." James grinned as he darted behind Todoroki who was running through the forest of frozen metal. Todoroki glanced back at him but didn't react much beyond continuing to run forward. There weren't any open spaces to fight full out like James wanted and he guessed Todoroki was going to either wait or would send back ice to slow him down. James kept pace just behind him as the robots fell behind, crushing the ones who had been too slow to make it through the path.

Once they cleared the robots James paused again as a large field with tall rocks was revealed. All the rocks looked like they were piled on top of each other precariously and would fall if one didn't get across fast enough. They were also tired together with metal wires that James guessed they were supposed to use to shimmy across. Of course, being a cat meant he could literally just run across the wires since his tail would help to balance him out. James took a step forward intent on running across the wires, but ice encased his foot.

"Really?" He looked down at his foot in surprise. The ice didn't hurt him or touch his skin, but it was shocking to see. James felt irritation flash through him as he looked over at Todoroki.

"You are also an obstacle." Todoroki spoke. "Just because you used me to help you make it through the robots doesn't mean I'd allow you through this."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not alone." James said. He'd seen the distortion to his shadow when he'd looked down and knew he had a hitchhiker. "Yuto, get out here." The ice that had been crawling to encase his other foot suddenly broke as Yuto's body broke free from his shadow.

"God that was cold." Yuto saw Todoroki and sighed. "Figures it was you. Well boys, I don't know about you two, but I want to win this so, bye~" James watched in horror as Yuto didn't even hesitate as he jumped off the ledge. Dark ropes appeared with Yuto at the end of them as he swung through the air, flipping his body to throw out another line.

Todoroki didn't say anything more to him as he jumped on the wire and used his ice to effectively slide down the wires like he was on a skateboard. James growled at Yuto's daring before he made a small ball in his hand. He crushed it and swiped at the ice on his leg, breaking free from it. He then launched himself forward, using his hands and feet to balance on the ropes as he ran across them.

Loud booms sounded from behind him alerting him to the fact that Bakugou was coming finally. He didn't pause as he continued to run across the wires, zigzagging all over the place in a route no one else would think of. He passed Todoroki who glared at him and sent a wave of ice spikes after him. James was able to dodge the spikes, but he didn't slow down to retaliate. Getting a head of Yuto was his main priority right now. He'd worry about Todoroki and Bakugou once he was in first place.

"SO THE FIRST BARRIER WAS A PIECE OF CAKE? HOW ABOUT THE SECOND?" James ears twitched as he heard Present Mic's announcement. The others had caught up quickly. "FALL AND YOU'RE OUT! YOU GOTTA CRAWL ACROSS IF YOU WANNA MAKE IT BECAUSE THIS IS, THE FALL!" James didn't bother to run across the next line as the rock formation was close to the finish line here. He just jumped to the edge, using his claws to dig into the ground to help himself stay level. Up ahead he saw Yuto had slowed. He was looking down at his feet, but James wasn't sure why. All he knew was that he could now catch up.

Of course, James saw why Yuto had slowed down a second later as he came to a screeching halt. The large field in front of him was bare of any obstacles but his sharp eyesight was able to see the small mounds in the ground. He'd never been on a minefield before, but Shina had taken the time to make sure they knew what one looked like by making a field of deactivated mines in their backyard a few years ago. The experience in Rio with the Inferna Twins had prompted some new lessons for them. Seeing Yuto in a literal minefield caused him to freeze in fear for a moment before rationality started speaking. UA wouldn't kill their students, he wouldn't put it past them to put in an actually working minefield, but he didn't think they would kill them all, not on Live TV at least. Yuto would be fine so long as he or anyone near him didn't make the bombs go off. James' fear and hesitation didn't last much longer as he started to run through the minefield, easily picking out where the bombs were and timing his jumps for the clear areas.

He'd just landed between two bombs when ice formed under his foot making him slip violently towards the minefield. Thankfully he had enough instinct to twist his body so that he landed on all fours, if backwards. He glared at Todoroki who ran past him without a backward glance.

"You're a jerk!" James shouted after him before he looked around himself and gingerly twisted out of his current predicament. Bakugou went flying past him just as he stood up making his competitive nature rise. He didn't look back as he started to run after Todoroki and Bakugou. Yuto had managed to get further ahead of them and was almost out of the clear.

"GET BACK HERE!" James heard Bakugou yell as he and Todoroki started to fight, slowing themselves down as they fought. That was one obstacle down, he thought as he continued to jump from one clear patch to the other, making his way to Yuto. Yuto had just cleared the field when a large explosion from behind caused him to glance backwards. A bright and large bomb had gone off which confused James until movement caught his attention. Flying from the cloud on a metal sled was Midoriya. He was tightly gripping the metal sheet as he sailed past Bakugou, himself and Todoroki.

'Hes going to be first' James realized as he scrambled to run on all fours. Midoriya's trajectory seemed to cause both Bakugou and Todoroki to remember what they had been fighting for as they both activated their Quirks to catch up once they realized not only was Midoriya going past but so was James. Yuto himself had disappeared which caused James to think he'd run ahead and was going to be first. That spurred him on further. The three boys were all in a line neck and neck almost about to catch up to Midoriya's no doubt crash landing when Midoriya surprised them all by slamming his metal shield into the ground, setting off the landmines to throw himself into the air again. The force sent James' body flying to the side, his side hitting the ground hard before he heard a click and was blown upwards into the air. He grit his teeth against the pain and looked to the side. Midoriya was making a run for it

James growled and forced his body to twist midair to land on his hands and feet like a cat. A jolt of pain in his wrists and ankles was ignored as James forced himself to keep going. James knew Midoriya would come in first if not second, there was nothing he could do to stop that, but he could beat Todoroki and Bakugou. James as running on all four, using his legs to push himself forward as his claws dug into the ground as he ran at full speed, intent on being the next one to cross the finish line. Bakugou and Todoroki were also going full tilt down the hall to the finish line in the arena. When the three boys were halfway to the end of the tunnel James felt his chest constrict as a portal opened and out stepped Kana who jogged into the light and across the finish line.

James crossed the line at the same time as Todoroki and Bakugou. He saw Kana was second, no sign of Yuto. His brother was pushed out of his mind as he met Kana's smirking and smug face before he snarled,

"You Muppet rejected Annabelle doll."

~Yuto's POV~

Yuto had been in first place to the finish line initially but the large explosion he'd witnessed caused by Midoriya had him hiding in the shadows as he watched Midoriya cross the finish line. Anyone that dumb deserved to cross tat line first. Besides, he didn't think James would forgive him if he had indeed been first to cross the line. He'd seen his brother run down the hallway to the finish with Todoroki and Bakugou on either side of him, they didn't look so good with that hunger on their faces.

He knew competition was good, somewhat healthy in moderation, but Yuto didn't really care about winning this stupid festival. James, he knew, would be offended at that thinking which is why he hadn't really put forth much effort. His initial plan had just been to have James carry him across the finish line or near it and he'd be second. But then Todoroki had frozen him and then he'd gone and run into a minefield, yadda yadda yadda. The point was, Yuto wasn't competitive. He believed in working hard, of course he did, he saw his brother and sisters do that when they'd been growing up. Fighting over what he was assuming was just going to be a piece of metal that he would no doubt lose wasn't really any weight off his shoulders. So, he'd just stood waiting in the shadows for a good time to come out. While he didn't want to win this tournament, he did want to be able to rank within the top 20 so he could help James or Kana if they needed it. Besides, it's not like this would matter in the long run he mused.

He watched as Tokoyami, Iida, Sero and some girl with vines for hair came running by him. He saw Kirishima and another boy running up to the hallway and figured this was a good time as any to stop hiding in the shadows. Literally. He melted out of the shadows when Kirishima and the other boy entered the hallway and ran for the finish line.

The cheering didn't die down as Yuto jogged out of the tunnel, shielding his eyes with a shadow visor against the harsh lights. As before when he'd first seen the arena, it was overwhelming with all the people cheering and staring but he forced himself to ignore them as he looked around. He noted his brother and sister already in the arena. James was sitting on the ground, his tail high in the air behind him and puffed up while his ears were twitching with annoyance. Kana had her arms crossed over her chest and a glare on her face as she looked up into the stands. Yuto could see a small patch like a burn hole on their shoulders. He guessed Shina had interfered with a sunbeam when a possible argument had been starting.

"Hey Yuto," Kirishima called when he passed by him. He gave a large, confused smile.

"Yo." Yuto responded to the shark smiled boy.

"I didn't see you ahead of me. I thought you were further up?" Yuto shrugged.

"I was. Stopped to catch a breather." Kirishima still looked confused, but he dropped the question to say,

"Man, I'm glad I managed to finish in the top 10."

"Good job Kiri." Yuto congratulated. "Sorry about leaving you but I want to ask Kana something." Kirishima seemed to perk up.

"She did make it?" Yuto pointed to where Kana was still standing. Kirishima noted the look and body language she was putting off.

"She doesn't look happy." Kirishima observed.

"I'm guessing James ticked her off." Yuto said as he started to slowly walk over to his siblings.

"Should I witness this?" Kiri asked. "Or should I play it safe and go talk with Bakugou?" Yuto chuckled.

"There is something truly wrong when Bakugou is the safer bet." Yuto gave Kiri a smile. "Actually, if you could keep Kana busy, I can talk with James and hopefully diffuse whatever they're mad at each other for."

"Sure." Kiri smiled wide. Yuto couldn't help but smile back. He knew James didn't like Kirishima for whatever reason, but Yuto thought Kirishima was a good guy. Kana was a fan of him as he relentlessly teased her of simping for Kirishima and her brain twin Denki when they were in class. Loathe as she was to agree to that softness, he knew she liked her friends here.

The arena had started to fill up with more contestants when they got to his siblings. They'd moved further away from the other contestants, Yuto guessed to yell at each other due to their anger or so they could talk about secretive things that had no business being overhead by their present company.

"Hey guys." Yuto greeted. James didn't even look up when Yuto spoke letting him know he was indeed mad. Kana sent James a quick glare that Yuto knew meant trouble. He would need to do some serious bribing to get them to talk with each other again.

"Hey Yu. Hi Kiri." Kana greeted, forcing a smile at them. Kirishima waved and smiled.

"Glad you made it Kana. When did you get here?"

"After Midoriya." Kana answered. "I was second."

"Oh no way! That's awesome!" Kirishima smiled wide, oblivious to the glare he saw James give Kana who ignored him. Yuto sighed as he got the picture of what had happened. He hadn't seen her run past when he was hiding in the hall. She must have teleported in and beat James after Midoriya had run past but before the three boys ran in. Which meant James was either 3rd, 4th or 5th. Depending on what the judges said. Of course, that also meant Kana had beat the other two competitive boobs who had joined James.

Yuto looked over his shoulder to where Bakugou and Todoroki were also standing and noted that they were watching, or glaring in Bakugou's case, at Kana. Yuto admired her ability to ignore them just as effectively as she ignored James as she continued to chat with Kirishima. If he was in her position he'd have turned into shadows by now. Yuto left her and went to sit beside James.

"J?" No answer. "J don't ignore me." Still no answer so Yuto sighed before he grinned wickedly. "Thanks for carrying me halfway through the course and halfway to the finish line." He dodged the smack James had tried to get him with before he rolled backward onto his feet. "Shina is watching." He reminded. James froze.

"You little narc." James growled. Yuto laughed.

"You're in public dude. I didn't even have to say anything." James looked away to glare at Kana. Yuto rolled his eyes at his brothers childish tantrum. "Oh, come on, so she beat you-"

"'Beat me'? I think you mean cheated, she cheated!" James practically yelled. Kirishima looked over at them, but Yuto waved him off. "She teleported to the finish line and jogged past like it was a stroll through the park. She didn't have the decency to trip those other two no, she just walked over the line like it was nothing!"

"Oh, come on, we all knew she was going to use her portals to beat everyone. Just be glad she didn't get first place." James hissed at him. Yuto decided to try another venue. "You came in third though right?"

"…. I don't know." James grit his teeth. "I know Todoroki and Bakugou were neck-and-neck with me."

"Well let's check." Yuto patted James head as Midnight came on stage. "Come on, I saw you running for the finish line, I'll bet you got third."

"Let's check the results." Behind her on the screen showed Midoriya in first place. Kana is second place. Bakugou, Todoroki and James were in 3rd place. Yuto whistled as James hissed again.

"Well what do you know? They do have ties. Bad luck there huh?"

"I will kill you." James hissed. Yuto merely waved him off as he saw he came in 9th place.

"Oh look I'm 9th. Lucky number." He was happy with that, but not with the way his siblings were still ignoring each other. Yuto stepped away from James as he started to go into a brooding cloud. Yuto sighed; he wasn't going to be able to make him feel better now. James liked to sulk more than he did.

"The top 42 from this qualifying round will move on." Midnight announced. "But for those who placed lower don't worry, we've got another way for you to show your stuff. Now into the second event. I already know what it is if course," Yuto really hated how teasing Midnight could be. She was a teacher, wasn't she supposed to have some professionalism? Not a lot but maybe a bit? "Enjoy!" Behind her on the screen was 'Calvary Battle'.

"Calvary battle?" Yuto repeated in confusion. "What's that?"

"I do not know." James stated flatly. "Does everyone here know this?" Yuto looked around and saw the other 40 contestants murmuring to each other.

"Apparently." He muttered as Midnight continued.

"Participants will, on their own, form teams of two to four members each and get into a horse and rider formation. The roles are fundamentally the same as those of an ordinary Calvary battle. Grab your opponents headbands while guarding your own but with one exception, each of you had been assigned a point value based on your taking in the last event."

"So, it's some weird version of tag on 'horses' but with stealing points?" Yuto grinned at James who smirked back at him.

"I think this game was made for us Yu." James chuckled. Yuto couldn't help it; he rubbed his hands together evilly. "Finally, a game that suits us and our sticky fingers."

"Oh, it tingles me."

"Your individual point value starts at five, at the bottom. So, the student who took the 42nd place is worth five points. 41st is worth ten points, get it? But it first place participant is worth… ten million points." Yuto felt bad for Midoriya as he knew everyone else was homing in on the poor boy who looked like a scared kitten surrounded by a pack of dangerous dogs.

"He's a dead man." James cackled seeing what Yuto saw. Yuto wondered what that meant for his point value. Objectively speaking if they needed to steal points than he was guessing whoever held the most points was the winner. This game was designed to cut them down at least by half so they needed to form a winning team.

"True but he is winning just by himself." Yuto mused. James hummed before he exchanged a look with Yuto.

"It would be a shame to give up such a hefty prize." James sighed forlorn.

"Hm, true but it would also paint a target on our backs." Yuto pointed out as he considered the pros and cons of joining up with Midoriya. Assuming he wanted too of course.

"Only if we can't defend him." James added.

"We need Kana." Yuto stated. "We work better as a team, and you know it."

"I know of no such thing." James was being stubborn; Yuto knew only one thing on Earth would change his brothers mind when he did this. It was time for the trump card, blackmail.

"I'll tell Shina you were the one who convinced me and Kana she was fine when we noticed she was acting odd in Russia." James hesitated so Yuto went in for the kill. "We could have figured everything out so much sooner and avoided crashing that wedding. But no, someone had to spend more time with his girlfriend."

"Ugh ew no!" James' tail puffed up as disgust crossed his face. "No no no! Just no." Yuto kept staring at James who thought it over before he sighed. "Fine. I'll work with the Muppet reject."

"Thank you. Now let's go get Midoriya before anyone else does."

"Who'd willingly put that target on themselves?" James asked in derision.

~Shina's POV~

Shina mentally groaned at the loud cheering and shouting of the crowds all around her. It was slightly nauseating to be around so many people at once. She should have just watched the festival on TV or streamed it online, but she'd wanted to be here to watch as her kids went up against their classmates and other UA students just to cheer them on.

The first course, the obstacle course had given her some ideas regarding improving their own obstacle course at the Ugly House, namely making it longer and potentially having Yuto put in some of his robots to add a fighting challenge. It was an intriguing and mildly sadistic thought she admitted to herself. Seeing James fighting against the other two 'top' students in his class had been amusing and had her cheering him on as he'd used his speed to try and beat them only to come out in a tie for third place with them. Kana's 'win' had made her crack up laughing as that was the sort of Gremlin energy she'd expected from Yuto. Of course, the ensuing verbal attack from James had caused Shina to shoot a beam of energy at both kids to get them to stop. Yuto's crossing the finish line should have been what she'd expected from the little gremlin. He had made it to the tunnel first even before the Midoriya boy but instead of crossing the line he had simply waited in the tunnel and watched people go by before he finally decided to jump in.

Now it looked like the next event was going to be a Cavalry Battle, whatever that was. From what the R-rated teacher was saying though it seemed like group tag. If the group had to hoist another member on their shoulders like they were in the middle of a Jewish wedding and keep the other classmates away. This school was incredibly competitive Shina thought, they were also a bit unorthodox from the way she'd flinched at the landmines. It had taken all her willpower to not go down and yell at someone for James getting caught in that explosion. The green haired child was interesting though, he was the one to cause the bigger explosion and practically flew into the arena like a half-destroyed doll. She was going to keep an eye on him, as well as the half and half red- and white-haired child that was apparently the son of the #2 hero Endeavor. She'd seen that flaming pillar of brute force around but didn't want to chance a meeting, so she'd stayed seated. The other child with pale blond hair had also caught her attention, he looked rough around the edges, but he was ruthless and obviously held a lot of power. She didn't doubt that he would become a hero, whether that was good or great remained to be seen.

"Your 15 minutes are up! Time to get started!" Midnight called as she stretched. Shina blinked, shaking herself out of her mental lull. From what she saw, it looked like the students had all organized themselves into their teams already. Looking around she saw her boys on the same team with the green haired boy, Midoriya and the cute brunette with a round face. She needed to get her name, but Shina knew she was in the kids class.

"I should have figured they would do this." She snorted. They went for the large prize and now they were going to protect this prize until the end. While also gathering other prizes to hold onto. She had to admit though, she didn't think Kana would have joined teams with the light purple haired boy. James must have really upset her.

Shina watched as the game started. She watched avidly as the boys worked with their team to protect the green haired boy and his 10,000,000 points. The other teams closed in on the boys team. Yuto used his shadows to create a platform when one of the other teams tried to cause the ground to turn into quicksand. He quickly used the shadows to then create spikes going outward to defend them as they ran away from the teams that tried to rush them.

Meanwhile, Kana was helping her team by making mini portals to grab the points off other teams. They were sticking on the edges, not really engaging in the teams that were ruthlessly going for the boys team. Shina mused that that was a good strategy, pick off the ones that no one was really caring about for now.

"WELL BARELY TWO MINUTES HAVE PASSED BUT ALREADY THE BATTLEFIELD IS CHAOTIC!" The announcer called out. "WITH EVERYONE SCRAMBLING FOR HEADBACNDS, REMEMBER IT'S NOT JUST THE TEN MILLION POINTS THAT ARE AVAILABLE! THERE ARE OTHER POINTS EVEN IF THEY ARE LOWER THEY STILL COUNT!"

The boys team kept going and dodging the other teams that were coming at them. James eventually had to use his Chaos Slash to break the ground to keep everyone back and away from their team. The girl, gravity user now that Shina remembered, looked like she was helping to lighten everyone's weight as James was the main one to navigate everyone around. Yuto kept using his shadows as offense and defense. Shina thought they worked well together.

She continued to watch as, eventually, the red- and white-haired boy and the pale blond boy both attacked at once. James took one team while Yuto took the other. They inadvertently worked together to draw the boys team apart until finally, the pale blond boy caught the 10,000,000 point system. He looked happy to be victorious, at least until Kana opened a portal and grabbed the headband. A tug of war ensued between them that got even more ridiculous when Yuto joined them by using his shadows to make a grab for another of the blond boys headbands.

The struggle Shina watched was different from being on the ground floor as she had no doubt many of the students were making this personal. She didn't envy any of them during this attack. Still, she was impressed as the fighting continued. Bombs and ice soon started to fly all over as well as shadows and lightning. The blond got mad when his headband got stolen and the rage he was putting out had Shina unimpressed. He had great power, but his behavior was something to be in question about especially if he was going to be a hero, right now he looked more like a villain.

It didn't matter much in the end though as the last thirty seconds resulted in James unleashing his Chaos Sphere and breaking the ground when the half-white and half red-haired boy got too close to steal their ten-million-point headband. The fractures got big enough to have everyone on the ground jumping out of the way as the tears continued until they almost reached the walls to the stands.

"WHOA NOW ISN'T THIS A CRACK-UP?! AND GUESS WHAT PEOPLE TIME'S UP!" The announcer called. "LET'S SEE WHO THE TOP FOUR TEAMS ARE! IN FIRST PLACE: TEAM MIDORIYA!" Shina cheered along with everyone else. "SECOND PLACE: TEAM BAKUGOU! THIRD PLACE: TEAM TODOROKI! AND FOURTH PLACE: TEAM SHINSO? TOTALLY OUT OF THE LEFT FIELD HERE PEOPLE!" Shina again yelled in happiness as her kids had officially won the second event. "THESE FOUR TEAMS WILL MOVE ONTO THE FINAL EVENT! WE'LL PROCEED TO THE NEXT EVENT AFTER A ONE HOUR LUNCH BREAK!"

Shina chose this moment to get up and go to the bathroom before she went to go find her kids.

GM NASAI: James is such a glory hog. Whenever I write his POV, his real life counterpart is usually disappointed at the short chapters from James POV. Yuto and Kana are harder to write mainly because they're both introverts and I have to really force them to interact with people but also make it look seamless. I think I've done a good job so far?