Update: I literally changed one word in the Bakugo fight and added another in the conversation with Strunahviing. Nothing important.
Apothecary23: Thank you! I hope it remains interesting :)
General notes: This is a long chapter and while I'm not 100% happy with it I don't want to fall into the pattern of leaving it that 'one more day' so here it is. It might take me a while to get the next one out too because I want to re do the entirety of what I already created the framework for. (It felt too much like regular canon even with my changes).
That's it, please enjoy.
Rather than getting to school early like she usually did Spider had stayed at her apartment listening to a playlist of this world's music that Jiro had put together for her as a thank you for helping the girl train. Jiro was one of the students currently not acting skittish around the Dragonborn and if Spider didn't know before then it was crystal clear now that Jiro had an obsession with music as there were thousands of songs on the little devise she'd given the Dovahkiin.
Since sleep wasn't necessary she'd spent the whole night and most of the early morning just enjoying herself with the playlist. Truly it was frightening how the girl had so accurately guessed the Dovahkiin's tastes in the music world as every song that played was different yet held her attention every time. Spider loved it until she realised the time.
Since the Dragonborn would really rather not risk running into a teacher she opted to teleport herself just shy of the entrance to UA without causing a fuss as it was mostly out of sight though although actually going through said entrance she was again bombarded by reporters trying to get a comment about the sports festival and the USJ incident after they realised that she was part of class 1A.
"My apologies but I really must be going, enjoy the festival." Was all she said as she passed the security guards leaving the reporters behind her and walking through a line of stalls that were set up on the way to the main building. They were selling food, masks and souvenir type items that were usually present at such events and it didn't surprise her that it was a little crowded given how much Aizawa had talked up the sports festival at the beginning of their two week training montage.
It wasn't particularly difficult to weave in between the people but she was stopped three voices calling out to her, two of which immediately pissed her off. Turning around Spider found that she had walked straight past a group of pro heroes made up of Mt Lady, Kamui Woods and Death Arms. The people from the sludge villain incident. They stopped in front of the Dovahkiin and both just stared at each other until Spider broke the silence between them.
"Did you need something?" She asked harshly.
"There's no need to get upset." The wood based hero responded. "It's been a while since we last saw each other and this time we'd like to have a proper introduction."
"You mean an introduction where you don't try to lecture me about entering a dangerous situation in order to save someone, or in other words do your job for you." Spider spat back causing the three to lean away from the venomous aura she had surrounding her.
"That's fair, it wasn't right of us to treat you and your friend the way we did and it definitely wasn't very heroic of us to stand on the side-lines either. What you said to us that day got us thinking and I'd like to believe we became better heroes because of it." Kamui Woods replied cautiously, the dark aura around the UA student receding at his words.
"Alright, you have my attention. My name is Spider PoisonBlood." She said calmly, taking in the expressions of the three pro heroes.
"I'm Kamui Woods, this is Mt Lady and that's Death Arms." He gestured between himself and the other two respectively.
"Nice to meet you under better circumstances, though I don't believe you would stop me for a simple introduction." She stated.
"Pretty and sharp, you don't happen to take after me do you?" Mt Lady spoke for the first time.
"You're right," Death Arms interjected. "We've been hired as security so we won't have much of an opportunity to scout any students during the sports festival." The man brought his large hand to the back of his neck and looked away nervously. "So when we saw you we wondered if you'd be interested in interning with one of us or telling us about a few people you think would be interested."
"We'll see, I'm not sure what the future holds however if I see any of my classmates struggling I'll suggest you three, though I can promise nothing." Spider responded with the same calm demeanour.
"That's all we ask, thank you for speaking with us PoisonBlood." Kamui Woods thanked her bowing his head slightly along with the other two.
"Call me Spider." She responded as she turned away from the pro heroes not waiting for the response and made her way towards the arena where the sports festival would take place. Once inside she headed for the changing rooms only to find everyone coming out and going to tunnel leading to the centre where a cheering crowd awaited.
"Spider! Where have you been? You need to get changed for the festival!" Ashido fired off as soon as she spotted the Dovahkiin in her casual wear. With a wave of her hand and a few purplish flames later she was stood in the same P.E uniform as the others with a small smirk.
"Shall we?" Spider asked as they once again continued out meeting up with the boys on the way.
"You know, sometimes it's hard not to hate you." Ashido commented.
"I know, but I like to think I'm worth it." Spider replied as golden light flowed outwards from her and into her classmates imbuing them with strength and a subtle glow of power. "That make it up to you?"
"Did I say hate? I meant love very much." Ashido spoke quickly as a giddy smile found its way onto her face.
"Is it fair to use your quirk to give us such an advantage?" Iida asked from her left.
"It is a competition and I didn't see any rules against helping my friends with my quirk." She answered easily as they exited the tunnel into the light of day. Spider was able to manoeuvre herself beside Ojiro as she said her next words quietly enough for just the two of them. "And I will always help my friends, okay?"
The teen's tail twitched and he still looked a little uncomfortable with having the Dovahkiin so close but he nodded all the same. Starting to understand that however twisted it was, killing those people was just Spider's way of showing she cared. Still this wasn't something kind words and a small power boost alone could fix.
The stadium was huge and positively packed with cheering crowds of people, large screens dotted around the top of the arena had Present Mic's image on them as he announced their entrance. Though it should be noted a dark lump to the hero's right was also in the commentators box.
Things between the Dragonborn and Eraser Head had been a little awkward over the last two weeks when they saw each other but they both came to a silent agreement near the end. They pretended the problem didn't exist in the other's presence. That meeting in Nezu's office? Never happened.
That wasn't to say that the issue had been dropped, but at least it wasn't actively investigated. Currently anyway.
"THE FIRST GROUP IS NO STRANGER TO THE SPOTLIGHT, YOU KNOW THEM FROM WITHSTANDING A VILLAIN ATTACK. THE DAZZLING STUDENTS LIGHTING UP YOUR TV'S WITH SOLID GOLD SKILLS!" The volume had to be enhanced by his quirk, there's no way UA had the money left over to buy quality speakers after manufacturing all those robots from the entrance exam, right? "THE HERO COURSE STUDENTS OF CLASS 1A!"
The cheering only grew louder once he'd finished and it was amusing to the Dovahkiin to witness more than a few of her friends getting stage fright. She was pretty sure Midoriya was about to feint.
"There are so many people." The green haired teen said meekly.
"I hope we are able to do our best with so many eyes watching us, but I suppose that's just another part of becoming a hero." Iida replied
"Present Mic sure did talk us up a lot, kinda makes me nervous. How are you feeling man?" Kirishima asked Bakugo who looked creepily prepared.
"I'm not worried, makes me want to win this thing even more." The ashy haired boy responded.
Present Mic then announced the next group to appear. "THEY HAVEN'T BEEN GETTING AS MUCH SCREEN TIME BUT THIS NEXT GROUP IS STILL CHOCK FULL OF TALENT, WELCOME HERO COURSE CLASS 1B!" He hardly waited before announcing the others. "NEXT UP ARE GENERAL STUDIES COURSE CLASS C, D AND E! SUPPORT CLASSES F, G AND H! AND FINALLY BUSINESS CLASSES I, J AND K! GIVE IT UP FOR ALL UA FIRST YEAR CONTESTANTS!"
It wasn't long before they were all gathered in front of a big white stage that was raised a few feet off of the ground, on it stood Midnight. "Now for the introductory speech!" She announced after cracking her whip like weapon to get everyone's attention, not that she needed to with an outfit like that.
"Someone should talk to Ms Midnight about what she's wearing." Kirishima commented with a light blush.
"Yeah that costume should come with a warning." Kaminari agreed.
"What's the matter Red? Has the harlot got you all hot and bothered?" Spider teased from behind him causing the teen's blush to darken.
"That's not fair, I'm only human." He whined looking behind him to the smirking culprit.
Before she could reply Midnight cracked her whip again and began speaking. "For the student pledge we have Spider PoisonBlood!"
Said student promptly choked on air. "The fuck you do, I wasn't told about this." Spider responded just loud enough for Midnight to hear causing said hero to glare at the Dovahkiin and mouth the word 'detention'. "Fine." The Dovahkiin grumbled and plodded up the steps towards the microphone Midnight vacated. 'This should be Iida's job, he is the class representative so why am I here? The only thing I did was score the highest on the hero course entrance exam.'
She could hear some quiet conversations between the others gathered behind her saying things like 'Didn't she talk to us in front of their classroom the other day', 'I wonder if what she'll say', or 'I think she's the one that got the school to reset one of the battle centres at the entrance exam.'
Steadying herself Spider leaned towards the microphone to begin her 'student pledge' whatever that meant. "Greetings to you all," As soon as she started Spider noticed something uncanny from her new vantage point. Kaminari was nervously playing with Ojiro's tail and it would have been an injustice not to point out how cute that was. "Before we begin I would just like to draw everyone's attention to two of my friends in class 1A." Her left hand gestured towards the aspiring heroes. "Kaminari seems to be a little nervous and Ojiro has kindly let him play his tail to calm his nerves, can we all just take a moment to appreciate how adorable that is."
There were a great many people cooing from the crowd as the cameras on all the giant screens faced the two hero students, Kaminari now semi hiding behind his friend's tail while Ojiro just blushed and brought his hand to the back of his neck.
"Anyway, I hope you enjoy the festivities and cheer in support of my fellow students regardless of their course as we give it our all." Spider couldn't quite think of the way to end it until she wracked her brain for that motto the school had. "Plus ultra." She stated and got a hearty response from the crowd surrounding them as she returned to her previous position among her classmates, more than a few in the groups not part of her class were happy that they were also included in the pledge.
Once the everyone settled Midnight was back in action. "Without further ado lets get this started!" The screens around the stadium that once had Present Mic's face switched to say the words '1st game' as Midnight continued. "This is where you start feeling the pain, the first fateful game of the festival!" At once the screens changed to say 'Obstacle Race.' "All classes will participate in this treacherous contest, it's four kilometres around the outside of the stadium, I don't want to restrain anyone (at least not in this case) as long as you don't leave the course you can do whatever you're heart desires!"
"Hmm, I guess that means I can't teleport to the end then." Spider thought out loud getting a few heads to turn her way.
"Not that I'm complaining since you'd win pretty much instantly if you did but why can't you teleport?" Kaminari questioned.
"I travel outside of this realm of existence through another and then back into this one so I would technically be leaving the course." Spider answered though it only seemed to confuse a few people some more.
At Midnight's next words everyone took their places behind a large metal gate that had three green lights at the top, once all three went dim it was time to go. The tension in the air was palpable as everyone's focus was drawn towards the lights, an intense quiet between them all. One light dimmed followed by another. Spider could hear their heartbeats quickening with every passing second while she gathered a green ball of magic in her hand.
The last light went out, Midnight cried for them to begin the race and immediately Spider slammed the magical energy into the ground causing it to explode in a great haze of sickly green light encompassing every student in around the Dragonborn and paralysing them. As if on cue the each fell to the ground unable to move.
Taking her time Spider stepped over the bodies of her competitors and walked through the tunnel unhindered until she reached the other side. If she happened to step on a few less than sociable students on the way past, well neither here nor there. Though she did pick up and carry a few other students out of the tunnel, completely ignoring the stunned silence of the crowd as she unceremoniously dumped them to the side and kept walking.
Those now paralysed outside the tunnel included Bakugo (after being stepped on of course), Kaminari, Kirishima, Tetsutetsu and Midoriya.
"NOW THIS IS A SURPRISE, NOT ONLY DID SPIDER POISONBLOOD OF CLASS 1A IMMOBILISE THE COMPETITION, SHE'S HELPED A FEW OF THEM OUT OF THE TUNNEL!" Present Mic's voice rang out across the stunned audience.
"She's being irrational and helping her friends past the first obstacle." Eraser Head clarified over the speakers for the first time since the start of the festival.
Spider felt more than heard herself growl at the implication she was friends with a certain explosive hero student but let it go for the sake of her sanity. It wasn't good to hold on to petty grudges after all. Not long after leaving the five students behind a few of the dark green two and three pointer robots she recognised from the entrance exam clambered onto the stadium to block her way.
"FUS!" Spider's thuum blasted the three into scrap metal, blown away along with a section of the track itself, though she walked on as if it were perfectly normal, this shook the crowd out of their daze and they cheered for the only student actually able to move despite her doing so in a slow fashion.
"THIS IS QUITE THE DEVELOPMENT, NOT ONLY HAS SHE DISABLED ALL OF HER COMPETITION MS POISONBLOOD IS LITERALLY BLOWING AWAY THE OBSTACLES WITH EASE!" Present Mic's voice reached her ears and she idly wondered if he'd been talking all along and she hadn't noticed. "BUT WHAT'S THIS, MORE ROBOTS HAVE ENTERED THE FIGHT, AND THEY DON'T LOOK EASY TO TAKE DOWN!"
He was referencing the three zero pointers that had risen from the ground followed by at least seven others behind them, their red glowing eyes targeting the Dragonborn on her approach. Electricity crackled around her as she charged the chain lightening spell, blasting the middle robot with over a billion volts, it promptly exploded along with it's comrades on contact with the spell as it arced between them, debris flying everywhere, one piece even crashed into the Dovahkiin only to be batted away like an annoying fly.
"I do hope they have something more challenging for the next section." Spider said to herself as she pushed her way through the wreckage the robots made after her attack. It was however getting a little difficult to drown out Present Mic's rambling.
"DANG ERASER! WHAT KIND OF TRAINING HAVE YOU BEEN PUTTING YOUR STUDENTS THROUGH FOR HER TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT!?"
"Nothing. She just came like that." Aizawa responded in a bored tone.
"YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST FOLKS, ERASER HEAD IS A TERRIBLE TEACHER!"
Spider had to hide a laugh behind her hand when she heard that, just imagining the glare Aizawa would surely be levelling at her English teacher was too much. 'I'll have to get Present Mic something for that, also to apologise for my attitude before the festival.' She thought regretfully. Hizashi Yamada was one of the few people that while sometimes annoying, was nice to the Dragonborn unconditionally.
"AND NOW SHE'S ARRIVED AT THE FALL! HER COMBAT ABILITIES WON'T BE MUCH HELP HERE, I WONDER HOW SHE'LL MANAGE!" Present Mic quickly continued with his commentary and ignored the angry alley cat next to him.
In front of her was a canyon that had small island at least twenty feet away from each other and a long, long drop between them, though most were connected by steel wires. Gathering her magic Spider summoned several draemora from oblivion, bending their material form to her will until a great bridge was formed through purplish flames.
It had an obviously daedric appearance with sharp angles and screaming faces etched into the framework all the way along the supports and the side of the bridge itself. High above each of the bridge's supports were wickedly burning flames acting as checkpoints and garnered the most attention from the crowd. Because really who would want to look at something as grotesque as the bridge itself?
The construct cut a straight line across the canyon allowing Spider to simply continue walking to the other side. On the way across Spider released several illusion spells as she passed through the 'checkpoints' on the bridge. The first released a spiralling wave of orange flames that eventually took the shape of a large sabre cat, the second spewed arcs of fierce lightning and formed a huge eagle with it's wings spread in all their glory.
The third and fourth checkpoints blasted a bolt of frost and ash respectively. Frost eventually becoming something loosely representing a frost troll but prettier, while the ash swirled into a giant spriggan.
Each creature was elegantly detailed through the use of Spider's magic and it wasn't difficult to conclude they held the stadium's attention while the Dovahkiin completed her leisurely stroll.
'That's right, look at the pretty colours.' Spider thought as she finally stepped off of her creation before banishing it from existence with a wave of her hand once it's purpose was complete.
It had reminded her of the bridge now connecting the college of Winterhold to the city itself. The thing was in such disrepair until she became the Archmage. Honestly just how long they willing to leave it until someone conjured a fucking hammer to fix the thing made her almost too embarrassed to accept the job. Almost.
"WHAT A DISPLAY, AND I CAN'T HELP BUT NOTICE NONE OF THE STUDENTS HAVE MANAGED TO GET BACK UP SINCE HER FIRST ATTACK, JUST HOW MANY QUIRKS DOES THIS GIRL HAVE?!" Present Mic cried.
"Some would say too many for her own good."
'Careful Aizawa, green really isn't your colour.' Spider chuckled to herself at the thought of her 'teacher' being envious.
As if in answer Spider became a blur of movement almost invisible to the human eye as she used her thuum to travel from start of the canyon to the finish line past the turn in the track and on the opposite side of a mine field which promptly exploded in a flash display alerting everyone to her location.
"SPIDER SEEMS TO HAVE STOPPED JUST SHORT OF THE FINISH LINE, I WONDER WHAT SHE HAS IN MIND!" Present Mic announced as the Dovahkiin brought up her hand high above her head, with a snap of her fingers and a puff of green light she stepped over the finish line just as the other students were able to begin moving again. She was even cheeky enough to give them a little wave from the other side of the stadium.
"AND WE HAVE OUR WINNER WITH THE REST OF HER COMPETITION STILL AT THE STARTING LINE SHE CAN NOW SEE THEM AHEAD OF HER, THIS GAME BELONGS TO SPIDER POISONBLOOD! I WONDER WHO WILL BE ABLE TO CLAIM SECOND PLACE!" You had to admit UA picked one hell of an announcer.
Spider made her way towards Midnight who was still on the raised white stage area and stood in front of her. Same place the Dragonborn had been with her classmates earlier, looking up at the pro hero she could see a nervous glint in her eyes.
"Still think you could take me down if I went rogue?" Spider asked her casually.
Midnight scowled but eventually grew a smirk. "Try not to look at me too long PoisonBlood, wouldn't want you to have to remake your jaw again after it hits the floor." She said, completely ignoring the question.
"... Go fuck yourself." The Dragonborn articulately responded.
Moving on, It was an interesting twenty minutes that went by as Spider watched the race along with everyone else on the screens around the stadium. Todoroki had been successful in freezing a lot of his competition in place at the mouth of the tunnel after recovering from the paralysis effect, he likely did it so quickly because of his past experience with it along with Sero. Most of her classmates were able to dodge it and continue the race along with a few of the class 1B.
But the five front runners were the ones Spider had carried out herself, Bakugo had immediately blasted himself into the sky and rocketed above the track in an early lead. Kirishima and Grey were evenly matched as they sprinted side by side giving each other strange glances the entire time.
Midoriya was able to show off his quirk, small arcs of lightning sparking off of him as he rushed past his competition and kept pace with his rival from the ground, stumbling through the debris made by Spider's obliteration of the robots made it difficult but he persevered, being so creative as to pick up a sheet of scrap metal without stopping.
Kaminari, bless his soul was just trying to keep up with them. He didn't but at least he tried.
It didn't take long for Todoroki and Iida to speed past the back three and catch up to Midoriya and Bakugo as they dodged or went over the fallen robotic villains. Unfortunately Midoriya had weighed himself down by taking the scrap metal and was starting to fall behind slightly as Bakugo kept a steady speed along with Todoroki and Iida.
Still it was thanks to his newfound control over his quirk once they reached the canyon area Midoriya was able to jump from island to island even with the metal sheet in his arms, managing to pull ahead of Iida but falling just short of his two main opponents until he made it to the other side.
"I still don't know what the clunky shield is for but I'm glad he's near the front and hasn't tripped over his own feet yet." Spider talked to herself quietly as the race unfolded.
Finally the three reached the mine field where a straight line of exploded bombs showed a clear path of safety, Todoroki opted for sliding across it as he created a path of ice under foot essentially blocking it off from the other contestants while Bakugo just flew overhead, his explosive blasts keeping him airborne. curiously Midoriya was slowing down as if calculating something on his approach until he rather violently sped back up and leapt higher into the air than he could safely land from.
Whilst yes he was still pretty much neck and neck with the other two, it's not like gravity would give a shit as it dragged the teen back down to earth.
That's when she saw it.
The look.
One of the cameras was focused entirely on Midoriya and just as he was reaching the midway point of his descent his demeanour was like nothing Spider had ever seen in him before. Gone was the cute, nerdy boy that got nervous when asking her a question. In that moment, with power flowing through his veins, his teeth bared, eyes so dead set on their target they appeared to glow a radioactive green, Izuku was looked every bit the legend he strived to become.
Angling his body, Midoriya raised the sheet of metal above his head then launched it to the left side of the minefield directly below him where a large clump of the explosives had been knocked towards each other. The scrap metal impacted the mines and was immediately shot back into the sky right underneath the teen, Midoriya landed on his new stepping stone after a small flip mid-air to brace his legs and with both feet launched himself this time directly towards the finish line like a living bullet.
"AND IZUKU MIDORIYA HAS LITERALLY SHOT HIMSELF INTO FIRST PLACE IN AN OUTSTANDING MANOUEVRE, WHAT DO YOU THINK ERASER?"
"He's been training hard and the results have clearly been paying off."
It seemed Spider was the only one actually aware of Midoriya's most pressing issue. The ground.
Yes Midoriya had now secured an incredibly healthy lead against Bakugo and Todoroki but the teen was literally about ten inches from having his body scraping across the floor. At the speed he was going the skin, muscle and hell even bone will be torn away once he has his inevitable meeting with lady earth.
But with the finish line so close, Midoriya still had that determined 'no matter the cost' look plastered on his face even as he inched closer and closer to his painful reunion. Todoroki appeared to realise the green haired teen's problem too as the boy attempted to send a wave of ice to catch him or at least make the fall smoother but it was too late, it wouldn't reach him in time.
Midoriya had his right arm extended as he raced through the air and after it had crossed the edge of the painted ground he heard the words he'd been counting on since he made that first jump.
"TIID KLO UL!" Spider's thuum had an instantaneous effect. The world had slowed to a complete stand still as she approached her foolish, damn near suicidal friend. In the time it took her to say the words Midoriya was fully over the line but so close to the floor she was tempted to check if he was actually touching it. She wanted to be mad as she grabbed the teen and pulled him upright, but how in oblivion was she expected to stay angry at a face like that? It was positively vicious.
The kinetic force was dispersed as she dusted him off and released the effect of her shout on the teen. Midoriya then had the audacity to look down at himself and the currently paused stadium, allowing his previous expression to drop and a relieved grin to overtake him.
"I KNEW IT!" He cried and jumped with his fist in the air.
Spider crossed her arms and smiled back ruefully. "Yeah well I won't always be there to catch you so be more careful next time, you're mother will yell at me for not stopping you."
Izuku was almost in his own world as he muttered to himself in a series of indecipherable noises one could easily mistake for a dark incantation until he seemed to register what the Dragonborn had just said. "That's not true, mom loves you too much, or she likes the price of the rent at least."
Spider smacked his shoulder playfully. "You're getting too cheeky for your own good mal hun." (Little hero).
"Never mind that, YOU STOPPED TIME!" Midoriya yelled for a second time and marvelled at the statue like figures in the audience before turning to see Todoroki and Bakugo a good thirty or so feet from the finish, barely formed ice still stretching it's cold fingers towards the two. "I have so many questions abou-" He was stopped from talking after he turned around and found Spider's index finger over his lips.
"After the festival darling. We do live in the same building so it's not like I can get away from you." The blonde promised and was glad to see Midoriya nod the affirmative. It did nothing to distract from his clearly fidgeting fingers and abundance of excess energy. Rolling her eyes Spider summoned the notebook he clearly wanted and passed it to him along with a pen in a haze of purple flames.
No matter how many times she did this it didn't fail to get the same reaction. Wonder at seeing the quirk in action, surprise she was being kind followed by a gratefulness he really shouldn't have for such a small favour. Still it brought another smile to her face when the teen wrote in the blank pages eagerly.
"Before I put everything back, how did you know I could stop time to help you?" Spider asked him curiously as Midoriya continued to scribble away.
Without looking up he replied. "Oh I didn't, I just remembered that back on the first day you said those weird words but nothing happened except for Mr Aizawa being on the floor and you were a few steps to the left from when I last saw you. Stopping time briefly was the most likely theory."
She wasn't sure if she should congratulate him for figuring it out or smack the teen upside the head. "You based your entire plan, which could have ended up with you horrifically injured might I add, on a theory?"
"Yup!" Bastard looked proud.
Spider's eyes narrowed. "That was dangerous."
'Like you have room to talk, Dovahkiin.' Came an unwelcome interruption from one of the dragon souls.
'... Shut up.'
Midoriya made to reply, unaware of Spider's internal argument. "Not really, I knew that you'd be fast enough to catch me with the telekinesis you told me about from the entrance exam or if worst came to worst, I saw you manage to regrow your entire jaw back in the USJ when you were weakened. It shouldn't have been too hard to heal me if I got seriously hurt." He finished writing and handed the notebook back to the Dragonborn.
Taking it and placing the notebook in her inventory with a shake of her head Spider began releasing the power of her thuum and time slowly returned to the world. "I'm starting to see why Aizawa calls you 'problem child' in class."
The roaring of the crowd leached its way into their ears and everyone began moving again. That included Todoroki's ice meant to catch Midoriya, fortunately said teen was off to the side looking like he hadn't almost just died but the Dovahkiin was stood right where he'd been falling.
In the span of four seconds Todoroki and Bakugo crossed the finish line in third and fourth place respectively while ice cascaded over the Dragonborn completely encasing her after the dual quirk user lost his sense of control at seeing Midoriya stood safely past the finish line.
"AFTER THAT EXHILERATING FINAL PUSH WE FINALLY HAVE OUR TOP FOUR, IZUKU MIDORIYA CLAIMING SECOND PLACE WHILE SHOTO TODOROKI AND KATSUKI BAKUGO TAKE THIRD AND FOURTH PLACE RESPECTIVELY!" Present Mic cried as the stadium's crowd roared to life with renewed vigour over the three new contestants. "BUT WHAT'S THIS? SPIDER SEEMS TO HAVE GOTTEN HERSELF A LITTLE STUCK AS THE REST OF THE STUDENTS ARE CROSSING THE FINISH LINE ONE AFTER ANOTHER."
"She'll be fine." Came the unenthusiastic response.
'Dick.'
Todoroki had approached with his left arm raised but stopped when he saw the ice splinter and crack moments before it exploded outwards and Spider just walked out of her frozen prison. Looking to Todoroki he was surprisingly able to hold her stare.
"Sorry. I was trying to stop Midoriya from hitting the ground." Todoroki explained with an unsure expression.
Spider just placed a hand on his shoulder and said. "You tried to help a classmate in the middle of a competition, if I didn't know any better I'd say you've grown a little from the boy who 'wasn't here to make friends.'"
"LETS HEAR A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR ALL OF OUR COMPETITORS AS WE COMPARE THE RESULTS!" Present Mic called out as the race came to a close Spider once again walked towards where the other students congregated and stood in front of the white stage Midnight was on, many of the teens shooting glares her way which she dutifully ignored as Midnight began speaking again.
"Only the top forty two can proceed to the next round but don't be too let down if you didn't make the cut, we've prepared other opportunities for you to shine." The pro hero licked her lips suggestively while Spider rolled her eyes at the action. "Now the real fun is about to begin, the chance to fully move yourselves into the limelight, prepare yourselves... for this!" As she spoke the screens once again changed from Present Mic and displayed the words 'Cavalry Battle' as the game.
"Damn it I suck at this." Kaminari complained.
"The contestants will form teams of two to four as they see fit." And image of the pro heroes 13, All Might and Present Mic appeared on the screens, 13 and Present Mic holding up All Might like they were a horse and he the rider. "Everyone will be assigned points based off of their position in the obstacle course, the point assignments go up in increments of five starting from the bottom for example 42nd place is worth five points and 41st is worth ten." Midnight stopped before gearing up her voice dramatically. "AND THE POINT VALUE ASSIGNED TO THE FIRST PLACE CONTESTANT IS TEN MILLION!"
Silence
"Really..." The purple haired boy that declared war on class 1A started speaking.
"In other words if we take down her team..." Said a girl with pink dreadlocks decked out in support gear.
"You'll be guaranteed the lead yourself!" Spider heard everyone aside from a rare few say as they turned their eyes towards her like starving lions ready to rip her to shreds for the chance at glory.
Raising her head to glare back undaunted by the prospect of taking them all on she responded, her voice taking on a sharp edge. "A group of hardened criminals challenged me and left the USJ in body bags, think you can do any better?" Her words cut through their pack mentality like a hot knife through butter, they knew that she wasn't kidding. Unconsciously everyone took a step back making the Dovahkiin smirk.
Midnight went on to explain the rules of the game, that it would last fifteen minutes, the points would be known by the headbands they had to wear from the neck upwards, including stolen ones so the more you had the harder it was to manage them. Even if the headbands were to get stolen or the team falls down they could keep playing until the timer ran out. Quirks could be used as much as the contestants desired however causing a team to fall on purpose was grounds for disqualification. *Cough* What's the fucking point then? *Cough*
Now they had fifteen minutes to build their teams and unsurprisingly most people were avoiding the contestant with ten million points despite her powerful display leaving her alone with her arms crossed scanning the crowd for at least one person in order to have a team. Midoriya seemed to have his hands full with Ururaka, Tokoyami and the pink haired girl from the support course. Todoroki had his own team with Kaminari, Iida and Yaoyorozu. Even Bakugo was flooded with offers before siding with Kirishima, Ashido and Sero.
"Perhaps I was a little harsh with my words earlier." Spider said to herself until a familiar tired looking teen approached.
"Still alone I see, want to join up with me?" He asked more politely than Spider remembered him being.
"Do I have a choice?." She responded causing a smirk to form on the teen's features, at least until she spoke again. "Will it just be us or are there others?" Spider inquired as the purple haired boy practically jumped in surprise, eyes wide open for possibly the first time in his life. "My apologies, I should have asked your name first, I'm Spider PoisonBlood."
"I-I'm Hitoshi Shinso... how are able to resist my quirk?" He blurted out before he could stop himself.
"I'm afraid I don't know what your quirk is but the answer is likely that my own quirk counters yours, I hope that won't be an issue." Spider answered. While it was true that she didn't know exactly what his quirk could do she did feel a tug on her consciousness, had she been a regular person it would have taken a great deal of time and energy to resist the invading thoughts, however almost as soon as it tried to enter the quirk's effect was torn to pieces by the countless souls guarding Spider's consciousness.
The dragon's liked to have something to do every once in a while.
"...No it won't, with the two of us we're almost guaranteed to win." He replied falling back into his usual demeanour.
"Don't worry about that, I'll ensure our victory personally." She smirked. "Though you didn't answer my question, are there any others on our team?"
"Yes, those two." Shinso pointed towards Ojiro and Shoda. Strangely they were just standing there motionless as if waiting for something to happen, pupils and inner iris blank. Both Spider and Shinso walked over to them and then the pieces started to fall into place.
"Mind control I take it?" Spider asked the purple haired teen.
"That's right, it only works on people. Everyone except you at least." Shinso responded. "You don't mind them like this do you?"
"I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I'm working on rebuilding trust between myself and Ojiro here, but I can create team mates if you would open to that instead? I'm sure after waking up these two would rather find their own team." She offered Shinso the alternative.
The tall teen considered it. "What do you mean 'create' team mates?"
In answer Spider summoned a dark purple ball into her palm and threw it to the ground where two mid tier draemora lords appeared with their weapons drawn and causing everyone nearby to look their way in shock.
"Stay your blades, they won't be necessary." Spider ordered and the two sheathed their great swords.
"AWW COME ON! NO FAIR!" Ashido cried from across the field.
"Deal with it!" Spider called back before looking to Shinso who was still staring at the draemora. "As middle tier Draemora even one of these guys is the equivalent of at least three regular pro heroes. I assume this will be enough?"
"More than enough." The purple haired teen replied, still dazed.
"Excellent." Spider snapped her fingers in the direction of Ojiro and Shoda, a small spark of green light had both of them shaking themselves awake.
Ojiro was the first to look up at the Dragonborn, Shinso and the Draemora in confusion. "Wha... what happened? I don't-"
"Mind control, I figured you'd both want the choice in who to team up with in the next game rather than being coerced." Spider replied as if it were yesterday's news.
Ojiro's brows furrowed. "Mind control?" He looked over to Shinso who was a little nervous now. "That was you?"
"Yeah," His hand found the back of his neck. "Sorry about that."
The tailed teen shook his head again. "It's fine, not like you aren't supposed to use your quirk in the festival after all."
Ojiro and Shoda left shortly after to find their own teams meaning Spider and Shinso were alone in their group with two six feet tall draemora. Without their helmets to complete the armour set everyone could see their angular faces, spiked features and natural horns as well as the red markings. It was easy to equate them to demons even for those who had never seen them before.
Somewhere in the crowd, Kendo was having a hell of a time stopping Shiozaki from performing an exorcism.
"You're... different." Shinso said cryptically.
Spider smiled. "It's a gift, but what brought this on?"
He grimaced. "My quirk, most people think I'm a villain in the making after knowing what it is." The reaction he got was... unexpected as Spider laughed and seemed to lose herself in how amusing she found that statement which did nothing to wipe the look of shock off of Shinso's face.
Once she regained her composure Spider finally responded. "My apologies, it's just that there are at least seven quirks I'd rather have than yours if I were to be a villain." At his confused look she elaborated. "I'm not saying your quirk wouldn't be useful but someone like Recovery Girl's would be much better." Although she hadn't met the woman, Midoriya hadn't shut up about how cool her quirk was after he saw her at the entrance exams.
Despite his clearly shooketh state he was able to ground out a question. "Recovery Girl's quirk?"
Spider nodded. "While it's weaker than my own healing powers it's undeniable how valuable such a quirk would be to any villain team, as for any others they're just personal preference."
"You're the first person to say something even close to my quirk not being a villain's."
"I'll be honest with you, in the same way I believe Izuku is wasted as a hero, I think you would be wasted as a villain, after all I can think of so many more applications to heroics than I can for crimes when it comes to your quirk." She told him honestly.
"Really?" The teen looked like he was the most hopeful he'd been in years.
'I don't like what I'm seeing, did the people around him treat him similarly to Izuku? Possibly worse if they thought he was a villain in the making.' Spider thought grimly. "Of course, do you know how many villains feel the absolute need to monologue for everything they do? Your capture rate would be through the roof and collateral damage basically none existent. Much better than most of my class would be capable of if I'm honest."
Secretly, Spider thought back to the many situations Shinso's quirk would have came in clutch during her early days. 'I would have given this kid five thousand gold and a house in Solitude and weekends off for like, five minutes of his quirk per day.'
He looked at the Dragonborn like she was the greatest thing in the world (which she would totally agree with) and gave her a real smile eerily similar to Aizawa's. "Thank you."
"Any time, now let's get you into the hero course because I'm not settling for second place." She replied.
Shinso nodded and the two discussed their strategy for the game as everyone would be gunning for them. Spider smiled as she informed the teen about another of her unique abilities that they could use to their advantage. Before they knew it the game was set to commence. Spider was at the front while the summoned draemora were behind her and Shinso was the rider, a victorious smirk on his face.
"Well when we win this I'll be glad your in the hero course with me." He said, eyes hardening as the timer counted down.
"I like your spirit." Spider grinned as Present Mic began announcing the start.
"THREE!"
"TWO!"
"ONE!"
Midnight took over from her stage with the final "BEGIN!" Setting off the rest of the teams to start charging forth directly towards them. Apparently they thought not being able to knock them over equated to powerless. Granted they didn't see her other abilities but surely they heard the commentary? Her classmates should know better at least.
There were eleven other teams in total, each an equal distance apart, obviously some were faster than others practically clashing with each other as they sprinted for the ten million points. Purple flames began growing around Spider's group as the others closed in, waiting for the perfect moment when they finally got too close for comfort, Spider and her team vanished reappearing at the opposite side of the marked area that the cavalry battle took place in. This caused many teams to crash into each other though surprisingly no one fell as their team were able to catch them.
"Is there anything your quirk can't do?" Shinso inquired as he surveyed the chaos they had caused.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Spider replied as she too watched the other teams struggle to regain their balance and find them. As amusing as it would be to simply make herself and her team invisible it was much more fun to show off a few of her more flashy spells, so that's exactly what Spider did for the remainder of the game. Once a team got close a new spell would hinder their plans.
Grey's team came face to face with a wall of fire forcing them to turn around, Todoroki's head on assault was met with what must now be the bane of his existence; an illusion spell that forced his entire team to flea from the terror it invoked(at least they managed to grab a few headbands before they made that mistake), Bakugo bravely decided to launch himself through the air in an attempt to grab the headband but in response Spider used her thuum to make her team ethereal meaning the explosive teen passed right through them and Bakugo's face suddenly became very good friends with the floor.
Her favourite attempt however was when Midoriya's team literally flew in from behind them, Tokoyami's dark shadow quirk made to grab at Shinso from the front while Midoriya reached over from the back seemingly trapping them until his team vanished in a haze of purplish flames and reappeared on the opposite side of the battle area, staring at them.
In response Spider held out her hand and more oblivion bound flames swirled in her palm until Midoriya's own headband rested there instead, teleported from his head right into her hand. She waved, teasingly moving the white and red cloth from side to side as Midoriya checked his head for the missing points.
"Are you going to give me the points so you can stop flirting with your boyfriend or what?" Shinso asked from above her.
Spider chuckled and passed the headband to her partner. "I was just teasing my friend, no need to get testy."
"If you can just teleport everyone's points into your hand why don't you do it?" He asked, accepting the headband and securing it around his neck.
The Dovahkiin shrugged. "Where's the fun if I don't get to show off a little? Besides it would be a boring final with just the two of us."
"Fair point." He replied.
Eventually the other teams just stopped trying as they were batted away from the ten million as easily as one would breathe. That being said, it did take Bakugo eating dirt a few more times before he either got the message or found a new target. So long as he was being a nuisance elsewhere and passed into the finals it was fine by the Dragonborn.
That was until there was around a minute left on the clock and Spider's team was being rushed by a group she'd seen stealing headbands from almost everyone but her group. Though now it appeared they had none, probably pissed off the wrong guy who targeted them or something. The team consisted of Monoma as the rider, Komori, Kuroiru and Tsuburaba.
"What a fascinating team, I didn't think anyone from class 1A would degrade themselves enough to work with anyone from general studies." The blonde mocked as his team came to a stop in front of them. His voice sounded wonderful however the attitude behind it left much to be desired. Spider was almost glad he'd refused to properly meet her.
"Would you like to handle this one Shinso?" Spider asked the purple haired teen currently above her.
"I thought you'd never ask." He once again smiled in that same creepy way Aizawa did. They had to be related no matter what their auras told her, these two were practically the same person.
"You know for students in the hero course I've not heard a lot about any of you, I guess class 1A just has better students." Shinso taunted. The irritated expressions were instantly made known and unsurprisingly every member of the blonde's team protested verbally causing them to become influenced by Shinso's quirk and they just stood there like living dolls. "Now go harass someone else."
Spider let out an amused chuckle when the blonde and his team all but sprinted towards Grey's team and hurled insults at them in the final ten seconds of the game. "I told you we would win."
"Glad I listened, and about before... no hard feeling about the whole declaration of war thing?" Shinso asked.
"I would have destroyed you if I ever took it seriously in the first place." Spider responded casually and there was an audible gulp from the purple haired teen.
"TIME'S UP!" Present Mic's voice boomed across the stadium. "AND WITH THAT THE SECOND ROUND IS OFFICIALLY OVER, NOW LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT WHO OUR TOP FOUR TEAMS ARE!" The screens changed to only the teams with the most points. "IN FIRST PLACE, TEAM SHINSO!"
"As if there was any doubt." Spider said as she helped her partner down from his perch on their team mates.
"IN SECOND PLACE, TEAM BAKUGO!" Present Mic continued. It made sense since his team played the most aggressively out of everyone. "IN THIRD PLACE IS TEAM MIDORIYA!" Another team that was able to use mobility to their advantage in order to snag points where they could and keep them away from the other teams. "AND FINALLY IN FOURTH PLACE IS TEAM TODOROKI!" Present Mic finished. The only reason they still had their original and stolen points is because there's nothing that makes you run away faster than pure terror, Spider would be surprised if the adrenaline fuelling their ten minute sprint around the arena would wear off any time soon.
The four teams would advance to the final round... after lunch. Since there were only two students on Shinso's team two from the fifth place team were bumped up to the finals. That included Grey and Shiozaki. Yay.
Still that would have to wait as Spider followed the student body out of the stadium and towards the cafeteria in the main school building. She wasn't entirely sure why she was going there since there was no one who particularly needed her or anything and it's not as if Tamaki was there to have lunch with. As a matter of fact she wasn't sure where the indigo haired teen was.
"I wonder what Tamaki's up to today." Spider asked softly.
*Elsewhere, at the Amajiki residence*
Tamaki was in the living room sat directly in front of the tv and bundled in thick layers of blankets. Remote held tightly in both hands he rewound the live footage from the first year sports festival, all it was showing right now was an interview with All Might about what he thought of the results so far while the contestants were at lunch.
The teen paused it near the beginning of the obstacle race, just before Spider created the huge bridge across the pit, and pressed play. He liked the way the Dragonborn looked as she concentrated on bringing her creation into existence, as well as how she carefully crafted each illusion above the four blazing checkpoints. The eagle was his favourite though. It reminded him of how free he felt when he was with her, even if he didn't always outwardly express it.
On screen, Spider had just reached the end of the bridge and raised her hand to take it down when Tamaki suddenly sneezed.
Was someone talking about him?
*Back at UA*
The Dovahkiin found an empty table easily enough since most others were more focused on getting food from Lunch Rush before finding somewhere to sit so it was simple to take out her journal and fall back into her regular routine. Unfortunately she was stupid enough to nab one of the medium sized tables without thinking and once her friends recognised her they started taking seats around the eight person table.
That included Uraraka and Iida who were on Spider's side of the table, then Tetsutetsu, Kirishima and Ashido on the other. So of course with the inclusion of the last two they dragged Bakugo along with them. Whoopie.
The spare seat was being saved by Uraraka and Iida for Midoriya when he got to the cafeteria, apparently he went to talk with Todoroki and said that it shouldn't take too long so they can go on without him.
Still even the thought of Midoriya brightening the atmosphere didn't put Spider in a better mood what with Bakugo glaring at her but not being man enough to say anything first. Guess he finally learned how that'd turn out.
"If you don't blink soon you'll have worse dry eye than Aizawa." Spider told him without looking up from her journal.
Bakugo looked ready to start barking but Kirishima elbowed him and sent a look at the blonde who huffed and started speaking in a manner befitting a regular human being. "I didn't need your help in the obstacle race, I would've been fine by myself."
Still not looking up Spider allowed the barest hint of surprise to enter her tone. "Would you look at that, it speaks. Shocking."
"YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME BI-" Bakugo was barely being held back by Kirishima and Ashido and the table shuddered as the teen fought back until Spider threw a calm spell at him. "I fucking hate you, slack jaw." He said once he was safely back in his seat. It probably wasn't helping his mood that Tetsutetsu was openly laughing, Uraraka desperately hiding her giggles and Iida giving Bakugo a lecture on proper behaviour in the cafeteria.
"Feelings mutual, Kacchan." Spider replied.
Kirishima sent a pleading look her way. "Come on man don't antagonise him."
"Come now Red, don't tell me a little banter isn't allowed." Spider actually peered over her journal this time.
Before he could respond Tetsutetsu joined in. "No way, she gave you a nickname too?" He asked getting excited.
Kirishima looked like a puppy with a new playmate. "Heck yeah! I got 'Red' what's yours?" He told the other boy gesturing to his dyed red hair.
"She calls me 'Grey' because of my hair too!" Tetsutetsu declared.
'Was it a mistake to allow those to to sit next to each other?' Spider thought to herself before they both stood up suddenly.
"COLOUR BROS!" Red and Grey yelled as they fist bumped next to Bakugo who was aggressively shovelling his food into his mouth while Ashido recorded the interaction on her very pink phone.
Spider shook her head fondly and put her journal away as Midoriya finally taking a seat next to Iida, looking as if he'd seen a ghost. "Something wrong little hero?"
If she'd hoped the affectionate nickname would break him out of the state he was in then the Dovahkiin was disappointed as Midoriya just looked over, a few tears prickling his eyes. "I'm just nervous about the finals." He responded and while Spider could tell that was at least partly true there was definitely something more to it. But the boy didn't seem comfortable talking about it and if anyone else noticed the teen's eyes water a little they didn't comment so she left it alone. For now.
The following conversations were as polite as you could get with a forcefully calmed Bakugo at the table with them. The so called 'colour bros' were getting along like a house on fire even if they were slightly put out by having similar quirks. Iida and Uraraka quickly cheered Midoriya up with praise over his newfound control of his quirk and congratulated him on second place in the obstacle race which had Bakugo growling.
The Dragonborn was incredibly curious how he was projecting such an aggressive aura while under a damn calm spell but she'd never voice it.
There was one curious thing that happened near the end of lunch though. Yaoyorozu and Jiro approached their table and gave all the girls orange cheerleading outfits similar to the ones Spider had seen the American entertainment wearing. They explained that there would be a cheer battle this afternoon during the side games for the other students who didn't make it to the finals. 'Came from Mr Aizawa himself' they said.
Looking from the outfits to the other girls Spider couldn't help but think this was doomed to fail. There was no way Yaoyorozu would make up something like that by herself and Jiro wouldn't be caught dead in anything this girly unless she absolutely had to, so the question remained, who convinced them this was legit.
One person came to mind immediately but the small purple boy wouldn't have the clout to pull this off by himself, they'd never have believed him so he needed help. Someone who was a trustworthy enough face for the girl's but also dubious enough to actually go along with this plan.
"Ashido." Spider called over to the girl who was fawning over the cute outfit but complaining about how orange wasn't her colour.
"Yeah, what's up?" The pink teen asked after putting her outfit down on the table.
"Doesn't Kaminari usually hang out with you three, where is he?" Spider asked casually.
The girl grimaced. "Bakugo called him a traitor for teaming up with 'IcyHot bastard' and wouldn't sit with him so he told us to just go on without him, I think he and Mineta had lunch together instead."
Spider nodded and stood up, thanking her for the information and saying her goodbyes while she apparently went to go change. While the Dragonborn did head towards the stadium where she had a feeling the electric blonde was located it didn't take long to run into him waiting in a hallway after Mineta went to the bathroom.
"Oh hey Spider, did Yaoyorozu tell you about the cheer battle?" Kaminari asked with a gleaming smile after noticing the outfit she was carrying.
"Nice try Sparky, better luck next time." She told him and threw the uniform at his chest which he caught with a bit of surprise.
Kaminari let out a disappointed sigh. "You didn't tell them did you? I don't wanna die before I see them look like idiots."
"No I left without letting them in on the ruse, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it amusing." She told the teen, ruffling his hair affectionately. "Besides you can always play dumb, it's one of your strong suits."
"You're not mad we tried to get you too?" He asked and tried to fix his now messed up hair.
Spider shrugged. "I might have felt a little left out if anything."
The two made their way towards the arena as lunch came to a close, abandoning the purple midget in the process. They were amongst the first students on the field and picked out a prime viewing location for when the girls made their debut.
"You're recording this right?" Kaminari asked as the shadows from the tunnel leading to the changing rooms shifted, vague orange shapes becoming visible.
"In high definition." Spider responded as she held her phone just above her head and zoomed in on the rest of the girls in their class.
"...HOLD UP!" Present Mic called out over the speaker. He's been talking about the side games being kicked off after the lot draw for the finals when the girls entered the light of the stadium, the constant cheering getting louder at their appearance.
"What are they doing?" Aizawa asked in a voice that was just so... done.
"LOOKS LIKE CLASS 1A HAS GONE FULL ON FAN SERVICE!"
Mineta was off to the side drooling while Spider and Kaminari struggled to contain their laughs. Most of the girls looked embarrassed but Yaoyorozu and Jiro were furious.
"WHAT! YOU TRICKED US?!" The ponytailed teen cried, waving her custom yellow pompom above her head trying to be threatening.
Jiro opted to drop her pompoms and yell over to Spider who was still recording. "YOU WERE IN ON THIS!?"
That did it, the Dragonborn had to stop filming or she'd drop the phone, barely managing to capture the little dance Hagakure did when trying to convince the other girls it wasn't so bad and this could still be fun.
When Spider and Kaminari had finally calmed down he had to lean on her shoulder just to keep balance. "Please send me that, better yet put it on the group chat."
"You read my mind." Spider told him and held up her phone to show him that it was already halfway through being uploaded. It would be the only thing she's contributed to the chat besides 'hello' from when she was added.
"You know we're gonna die for this."
"For boosting their popularity?" The Dovahkiin asked. If the crowd's reaction was anything to go by then the girls just earned themselves a lot of fans through this little stunt.
Neither had time to continue the conversation however as Midnight had appeared and cracked her whip to gather the attention of everyone present. Midnight used the attention to talk about the next round being a one on one tournament and that they would draw lots to see who fought who.
Seeing several of the large screens around the Stadium light up and show the results Spider saw that her first opponent would be the acidic pinkette. Then when she looked over to see Midoriya's match would be against Shiozaki. 'The queen of vine' Kaminari called her but the joke was lost on the Dragonborn. Speaking of the blonde it appeared his match would be against Shinso... LOL.
Being given the option to either participate in the recreational games or prepare for her match against Ashido, Spider decided that while the other games did sound tempting she instead headed over to see Todoroki who had quickly stalked off after drawing his lot and was hiding out just outside the stadium at the edge of the forest.
The teen was sat on the ground against the stadium wall and looked up as he heard her approach cocking his head to the side. "Do you need me for something?"
"In a way." Spider replied while taking a seat next to him. "You've been more tense than usual, I take that to mean a certain someone is watching your progress."
"Hmm you're right." Todoroki hummed. "I can already feel how upset he is about me not using my left side and losing to you in the first two rounds."
"Please don't tell me he is so confident that he believes himself to be stronger than I am even after that display." She rolled her eyes at her friend's grim expression of confirmation. "Does this mean you've decided against using your left side permanently?" Spider asked switching topics.
Todoroki brought his hand up to the scar over his eye for a moment before dropping it back to his side. "I don't think so, what you said made sense but... I'll have to wait until the right time, when I can let go of all the bad memories I've associated with it for so long."
"That's understandable." Spider responded. The two just sat there in silence after that enjoying each other's company while the first match was starting up inside the stadium. If Spider remembered correctly then it was Midoriya's match that she was missing though she couldn't remember who he was against. 'I'm sure he'll forgive me for not watching this time, beside I have faith the boy will win.'
Todoroki looked to the ground between them for a minute before finding the courage to speak again. "Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?"
"Complete waste of time." Spider replied instantly to the teen's surprise. 'It's that not hard to guess.'
"... What?"
Spider sighed. Sometimes she wondered if anyone had even a facet of intelligence anymore, though after witnessing that disastrous training between Izuku and All Might she doubted it. "This world has had many medical advances that people in my country could only dream of, that includes advanced surgeries. Are you seeing where I'm going with this?"
Todoroki shook his head. "No."
Since he didn't seem willing to add more Spider continued. "I assume your father picked out a wife with an ice quirk and copulated until you were born?" The boy nodded. "Like I said, a complete waste of time, he didn't need her, only the eggs. If he'd only taken them instead and used surrogates then he could have had upwards of three hundred children at once if he wanted to, each with the possibility of a perfect combination. Even if he ended up with multiple it never hurts to have spares."
Shoto was openly frowning at her. Not good. He looked ready to start shouting but she quickly quieted him.
"Don't give me that look, you asked me if I knew what a quirk marriage was and I told you why they were pointless." Spider pointed out.
The frown stayed. "Am I supposed to be glad the old man wasn't able to ruin more of his potential children's lives?"
The Dragonborn sighed again. "Todoroki... My brain is hardwired to look at a problem and find the best or most satisfying solution, it doesn't really matter what the problem is. I'm sorry if you didn't like my answer, I'm not endorsing what your father did, but I'm not about to say I couldn't have done the same thing just better either."
Todoroki gave a rueful laugh that was more of an exhale than anything else really. "Guess I can't be angry at you for being smarter than him. At least you're here to become a real hero, not like him."
"I'm not here to become a hero." Spider replied as she reached into her inventory for a bottle of that peach flavoured water he liked. Twisting the container between her fingers before passing it to the teen.
He took it slowly. "Why are you here then? You're stronger than anyone here, even most of the teachers."
"All of the teachers." Spider corrected. Going back into her inventory she pulled out the notebook Midoriya had been writing in after he finished the obstacle race and showed it to Todoroki. Across the front it read 'Hero Notes For The Future! 14'
"That's Midoriya's." Todoroki said after unscrewing the cap and taking a drink.
She nodded. "Midoriya was one of the first people I met when I arrived in Japan. He was nice and I get attached easily, he confided in me that he wanted to be a hero and I decided to support him. So if he were to show up at my door tomorrow and tell me his new dream was to start a coffee shop I'll drop the uniform and don an apron instead."
The teen hummed. "So are you two dating?" he asked after a while.
Spider chuckled again, mainly because he was the second person to suggest it today even if it wasn't a joke this time. "No, I think of Midoriya as more like a little brother. There a reason you're asking?"
Todoroki took another drink in lieu of answering for a few seconds. "No." He finally said after draining the bottle and handing it back to a shrugging Dovahkiin who banished the empty container.
Then she felt it. A change in the thick blanket of inside of the stadium. Seven new souls she hadn't felt before now, staring at another oh so familiar aura. Midoriya's presence felt restrained, it was likely the religious 1B student had managed to trap him with her quirk and he couldn't find a way to escape... so what were these new aura's doing? And why were they... connected to Midoriya's own aura?
"Is something wrong?" Todoroki asked when he noticed her perplexed expression.
Suddenly, just as fast as they were there, the souls disappeared. Or more accurately went back into hiding their presence within Midoriya's. "No, but it might be something I have to take care of later.
Around five or so minutes later Todoroki stood after they both heard Present Mic faintly announce Midoriya's victory in a 'kind of exciting' match. Though she wondered how it could have been so underwhelming to deserve the jab Spider's focus was taken by Todoroki offering his hand to help her up. Accepting it she rose from her seat and followed him back inside towards the stage tunnel past the waiting rooms, placing the notebook back in her inventory.
"You're match is next correct?" Spider asked.
Todoroki nodded. "I'm against Sero."
Spider laughed into her hand at hearing the match up. "The poor boy will be annihilated." She struggled to say just thinking of what awaited the cellophane quirk holder.
As they walked around another corner Todoroki stopped suddenly when they spotted a large man that appeared to be on fire waiting about fifteen feet away. From the way his body tensed at the sight Spider knew it was a conditioned response at this point, he wouldn't have been able to supress it if he tried, and going from the similarity in their auras... that left very few possibilities as to this man's identity.
Looking from the flame hero to her friend Spider spoke clearly enough for him to hear. "I don't remember inviting the walking campfire here, do you?" Despite himself Todoroki snorted at the joke making Spider smirk herself having found a weakness, the boy couldn't resist jokes made at his father's expense.
Endeavour glared at them in a sidelong look. "You're acting disgracefully Shoto. If you used the power in your left side you would have had an overwhelming advantage in the obstacle course and the cavalry battle." He growled out once the two began moving towards him.
"One word from you and I'll put him in his place." Spider whispered just as they passed the pro hero, another deliberate move so that he heard exactly what she said.
"That a promise?" Todoroki replied, the barest hint of a smile in his voice.
"DO NOT IGNORE ME!" Endeavour pushed himself off of the wall and stormed towards the two students making a move to grab Shoto catching his son off guard.
Spider reacted immediately, spinning around to face the threat and grasping the elder Todoroki's wrist and breaking part of the gauntlet he wore in her grip making his eyes go wide in shock before his shin was kicked in breaking the bone. The man barely had time to yell when he was suddenly kneeling and Spider's hand at his throat having released his wrist, cutting off any sound louder than a choked gasp, a purplish blade in her off hand hovering over his left eye.
Instantly the flames surrounding his face, shoulders and body cut off, snuffed out as easily as a tiny spark. It was as if being in contact with the Dovahkiin caused the quirk to vanish. Who said something had to physical to be destroyed?
"It's a little different when you confront someone who knows how to fight back." Spider's voice dripped with venom. While she didn't know the full story, she'd been alive long enough to have seen similar cases. "How old was he when you first hit him hard enough to break a bone or two? I'm guessing four, five if he was lucky." Her grip on his throat tightened at her last word, threatening to crush his larynx, Endeavour's eyes almost bulging out of his skull from the pressure. He desperately tried to activate his quirk to fight off the Dovahkiin, but it wasn't there. Despite how much he reached for it, all he found was nothing as if it had never existed.
She was about to press on when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Let him go." Todoroki's words held no real compassion. "He isn't worth the trouble."
"... Fine" Spider dropped Endeavour who fell to the ground practically coughing his lungs out. "I'll even fix him up after we've talked, but for now you've got a three second match to win." Spider nodded to the teen who smirked back.
"I'll do it in two." He replied confidently as he turned and walked away towards the arena, without a care for the man suffering on the floor.
"I don't doubt it." Spider spoke to herself as Endeavour finally stopped being a baby about being lightly choked. She kneeled down to his level matching his teal eyed glare with her own emerald orbs that blazed with a far brighter fire than his could ever hope to accomplish. "I'm not going to waste either of our time." Her voice was cold, piercing through any mental defence he could muster through the pain. "That boy has become dear to me, if you're looking for a punching bag and seek it in him then I'll tear you apart and devour whatever remains of your rotten soul joor." The final word seemed to pulse through the man's very being, reminding him that despite his power, wealth and influence he was human. Weak, fragile and mortal, whilst the being that kneeled hardly a foot away from him was far from it.
Standing back up Spider stepped past the man, carelessly tossing a restoration spell his way and healing the wounds she'd caused and even as his flames returned the man him was in shock at the power she held in her words alone. Though he was too proud to admit it to anyone, for the rest of his life Endeavour would get a cold shiver steeped in dread from the base of his spine that creeped over his body until it settled into his very bones whenever anyone mentioned the Dragonborn's name. Even after she was long gone from this world he was afraid that she would return to finish the job, and he would be powerless to stop her.
"Sometimes it isn't a hero that sets out to save someone. Sometimes it isn't a villain that takes a life. Sometimes it's the monster who stands between the two that keeps them in line." The Dovahkiin repeated the words of her old friend. Picking a room at random she entered into one of the waiting areas, currently there was no occupant so Spider took a seat at the table in the middle of the room. "I can't help but wonder what that old dragon is doing these days."
It was strange to think back to her home after all these years away, it was the place that held good and bad memories but in the end it's also a place she hoped to never see again, not when there are so many new worlds to discover.
It wasn't that she didn't miss certain ways of life in Tamriel but... there was no reason she couldn't bring those things here, right? The only things standing in her way were laws, heroes and time. The first had never stopped her before, heroes in this world were push overs in comparison to her own world's pinnacle of the mortal races, by the divines a particularly good destruction mage could more than match Endeavour's quirk. That just left time.
She had plenty of that now. So much she wondered if that was the reason she'd slowly unravelled after all those years flitting between Oblivion and Tamriel. Humans weren't meant to live this long, even if she had the soul of a dragon that was just basic instincts that changed, Spider's mind was preconditioned to expect a death that would never come.
'Side tracked.' She scolded herself. 'I have time, I have the resources. I can start as soon as the festival is over if I wished.'
Speaking of which... an announcement over the speakers told the Dovahkiin that her match was up next, it had been around twenty minutes since she left Endeavour so either the others must have been evenly matched or one of them just took a long ass time.
Spider exited the room and walked along the corridors she'd just escorted Todoroki through until she was going through the tunnel leading to the stage and out into the light of day, the sun shining brightly overhead. Both she and her opponent stepped up to the arena while Present Mic announced them.
"AND HERE'S WHAT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!" He cried. "THE LADY OF DEATH ITSELF, SPIDER POISONBLOOD!" Spider stood on her side impassively while the crowd cheered, waiting to see what new ability she would use in this fight. "VS THE CORROSIVE QUEEN, MINA ASHIDO!" Another cheer from the crowd was incited though it didn't look to improve her classmates confidence.
In a small pause Spider heard Mineta start shouting about how they were finally getting a real 'cat fight' and be promptly whacked over the head by Asui. Meanwhile Midoriya had another fresh notebook handy and was staring at the two contestants intensely from his position in the stands with a few others from class 1A. Spider gave the teen a nod and a confident smile when in reality she was just thinking, 'Where in oblivion did he get that notebook? Did he have it this whole time?.'
Midnight brought her out of this crisis of faith with a crack of her whip. "LET THE MATCH... BEGIN!"
"Is there a point to me even trying?" Ashido asked half heartedly. "You can just paralyse me and throw me out whenever you want to."
"I think I'll be showing you all something new, it's up to you if you're brave enough to fight it." Spider replied, stepping forward as she gathered a dark bluish purple spell. Ashido made her decision as she too advanced, sliding forward with the help of her quirk hoping to surprise the Dragonborn. A foolish plan. With a small boom of wind Spider was rendered invisible when she released the spell.
Surprise echoed through the crowds as they watched intently. Ashido brought up her guard and skirted around the edges of the boundary before planting herself in the middle of the arena looking around and straining her ears for the slightest sound. Then an idea struck her, producing acid from her palms she began to spin, splashing the substance everywhere in order to find her opponent.
In a flash of green Spider appeared at the edge of the arena slightly steaming from the acid that was thrown all over her. That should have been Ashido's first clue. Mina immediately set off attempting to ram full force into Spider and shove her out of bounds, and when contact should have been made the image of the Dragonborn disappeared in another flash causing Mina to essentially throw herself out of the arena. Spider then revealed herself to be exactly where she was when she vanished, having not moved a single step since. Interestingly without any acid on her either.
"WHAT A DISPLAY! BUT WE HAVE OUR WINNER, SPIDER POISONBLOOD!" Present Mic called out inciting more cheers to erupt from the crowd. Honestly if this went on any longer Spider wondered how they would take it when she eventually leaves without becoming a hero. Poor people would end up heartbroken.
She had just dropped down from the arena to make sure Ashido was alright and healed a few scrapes she had gotten from the fall which most people saw and took avid interest in. Someone with a healing quirk was very rare and valuable in the hero business, not even counting her already impressive feats.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Spider asked again as the teen picked herself up.
"Yeah." Ashido replied in a sigh. "I lasted longer than I thought I would against you anyway."
Spider smiled and followed her off the field, through the tunnel and up to the class 1A viewing stands. Ashido took her spot by Bakugo, Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero at the back while Spider opted to go nearer to the front in order to get a better view of the matches. While the next one was being set up she got an unsurprising text from Kaminari that he'd lost his match against Shinso, he even asked if she'd been brainwashed during the cavalry battle.
Spider: No, he tried but his quirk was cancelled out by my own.
Kaminari: And you still teamed up with him? *Gif of confused woman while complicated math appears in front of her.*
Spider: He amused me.
Kaminari: Everyone amuses you
Spider: True, but did you see anyone else lining up to team up with me?
Kaminari: Yeah that's fair, you were pretty scary when you threatened to kill us.
Spider: I did no such thing, I merely reminded you that I'm not afraid of a little... mess
Kaminari: Scary *ghost emoji*
Spider shook her head and put her phone away when Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu stepped up to the arena. She needn't have bothered.
Dark shadow barrelled into the creation quirk student and knocked her out of bounds within thirty seconds. It was a valid strategy but... where was Tokoyami's sense of showmanship? Give your audience a little drama at least.
Oh well, next up was the fated clash between the 'colour bros' to finally decide once and for all who would be the best of the pair. Or you know, for now at least.
As they squared up to each other in front of the stadium Spider could hear the two exchange a few short words along the lines of 'no hard feelings' and 'lets give them a show' and the Dragonborn was actually looking forward to this. On one side, Kirishima had decided to use his time leading up to the sport's festival training either by himself or having Ashido throw acid at him to test his toughness.
Grey however. Well he had the benefit of accepting Spider's help when it was offered. She was eager to see her training in action since none of the others mad it into the finals.
"BEGIN!" Midnight announced with yet another crack of her whip.
The two boys charged at each other as fast as they could, swiftly closing the distance. Kirishima's entire body was hardened as his arm reared back in order to strike his opponents chest, believing Tetsutetsu was aiming to do the same as the steel quirked teen looked poised to strike. Only he didn't, the feint knocked Kirishima off course when Tetsutetsu dodged to the inside of his guard. Using Red's own momentum against him, Grey was able to twist, grab his arm and throw the other teen over his shoulder into the concrete floor. Hard.
Cracks immediately formed underneath the hardened hero student and chunks of the arena went flying, kicking up dust from the point of impact.
Spider leaned forward in her seat next to Midoriya who was furiously scribbling notes with his left hand and precariously balancing a notebook on his knees, trying to hold it still without jostling his bandaged fingers. She shook her head and flicked a healing spell at him but didn't dare look away from the arena.
Grey had already attempted to capitalise on Red's downed state with a stomp to the chest but it looked as if he'd seen it coming and quickly rolled out of the way and scrambled to his feet.
'He's learning.' She thought with a smirk.
Still Tetsutetsu pressed his advantage, with Kirishima being unsteady on his feet it was easy to land a solid blow on the red head's temple and send him spinning back to the floor, edging dangerously close to the boundary line.
Surprisingly Grey let the other teen stand up without much fuss and the two squared off again, roughly four feet of distance between them. Kirishima looked tired, not just from taking the hits but from keeping his quirk activated over his whole body for so long, that's when Spider saw the realisation dawn in his eyes.
He'd just noticed that Tetsutetsu wasn't tired at all, that being because the steel like skin ended half way down his neck and his hardened arms barely reached his elbow before turning into regular flesh. He wasn't using his quirk any more than he had to.
It was over quickly after that, Kirishima tried to copy his opponent's strategy and that left him open while he concentrated on softening only certain parts of his body rather than the whole thing. Tetsutetsu was able to charge in and surprise him with a well placed punch to one of the first places Kirishima would have softened, his shoulder.
The hit knocked the teen backwards several steps and even as he fought through the pain, quickly hardening the area again to at least offer some relief and step back into the fray, Midnight's whip cracked the air.
"KIRISHIMA IS OUT OF BOUNDS, TETSUTETSU IS THE WINNER!" She announced.
Spider sat back in her seat, satisfied that her teaching wasn't too rusty even after all these years, and even though Red looked more than a little put out from losing he shook Grey's hand and the two separated to clear the ring for the next contestants.
Uraraka and Bakugo.
When the two met in the arena Spider ignored the useless noises around her. As much as she liked Uraraka and her help with Izuku, the Dragonborn couldn't deny the facts of the girl's situation. Bakugo easily blasted her away and knocked Uraraka down every time she charged. Slowly wearing her down without over exerting himself in the first match.
Loathe as Spider was to admit it, the teen was smart about it.
Apparently Eraser Head semi agreed, when a pro started heckling the match saying Bakugo should just end it, Aizawa started talking about the explosive quirk user showing his opponent respect by taking her seriously.
While the Dovahkiin could see his point, if Bakugo took this fight at all seriously he would have blasted her out of the ring the moment the match started rather than wearing Uraraka down. This wasn't respect, it was strategy.
Despite the valiant effort Uraraka put into the match, she was defeated. Aside from a brilliant move where she floated rubble made from Bakugo's explosions and sent a metric ton of it crashing down towards the teen, there wasn't a whole lot about the match that was memorable, especially since her special attack was blown sky high and the girl gave out from exhaustion.
Five minutes later Spider found herself outside one of the waiting rooms after wishing Midoriya luck in his match against Todoroki. She knocked and heard the voice inside go quiet.
"Come in?" Uraraka called.
So she did, entering and closing the door behind her Spider saw that there were some tears in the girl's eyes and she was on the phone with someone. Spider nodded and leaned against the wall until the conversation came to a close.
"Uh huh." *Sniffle* "I love guys you too... no don't worry about me, one of my friends is here so I'll be fine... goodbye." Uraraka hung up and put the phone on the table in the middle of the room. "Hey." She said with a little wave and forced smile.
"Sucks doesn't it." Spider eloquently began. "But defeat doesn't have to be a bad thing, sometimes we learn more from our failures than our victories."
The girl looked down but nodded. "Yeah. But like you said, it sucks."
Spider crossed the room to stand in front of the brunette and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as a green light transferred from the Dragonborn's palm into Uraraka. "This is a temporary fix but I think you'll appreciate it all the same." She said as the calming spell took effect.
"I... I feel better." Uraraka said looking down at herself in confusion. "Is this what you did to Bakugo at lunch?"
"And Todoroki on our second day." Spider added.
The teen nodded. "How long until it wears off?" She asked hesitantly.
"Long enough to last until I put Bakugo through the arena floor." Spider told her with a smirk and received a giggle. "Once you see that I think you'll have forgotten about the sting of your own defeat."
"You're probably right." The girl smiled again.
Good, smiling was good.
Then worry flashed in her eyes. "Wait who's match is it? I don't want to miss too much."
"Todoroki and Midoriya. But I'm sure he'd rather know you were okay than have you supporting him during the fight." Spider reassured her.
Uraraka jumped, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Well I'm fine now so lets go!"
"As you wish." Spider smiled and with a wave the two were engulfed in purple flames. The Dovahkiin appeared next to Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido and Bakugo surprising them while Uraraka reappeared by the front seats next to Iida. Taking a seat and ignoring the startled expressions of everyone around her Spider instead focused on the tail end of Midoriya's match against Todoroki. Apparently the one on one fight with the green haired teen was all it took for Endeavour's son to start using his fire.
"Let me guess, Midoriya said something inspiring and now he's fucked himself because of it." Spider stated not really expecting an answer as the two combatants went all out against each other. With her enhanced hearing she was able to make out exactly what was happening in the arena.
Midoriya looked pretty beaten up with his right hand broken and discoloured, his clothes were torn and ice crystals clung to his legs. He also had trouble standing given his hunched posture. Not that Todoroki looked any better, the teen had a large bruise coming in on the right side of his jaw and he seemed to have a hard time stopping himself from shivering even with the raging flames o his left side.
"You're crazy." Todoroki tells his opponent bringing a smile out of him.
"It's called being a hero." Midoriya answers as they both charged toward each other, Midoriya with his one good arm and Todoroki a shield of ice followed by an explosion of flames, the impact culminating in a huge shockwave of fire, wind and ice.
Cementoss had tried to mitigate some of the impact from their attacks using his quirk to build several walls between them however the resulting explosion still managed to damage both of them, one more than the other. Though the resulting shockwave was still nothing to sneeze at as Spider had to physically catch Mineta lest he fly away.
Midoriya was blown out of bounds by the blast while Todoroki managed to keep himself inside by creating a thick barricade of ice at his back, yet half of his clothes were burned off revealing a portion of his toned chest and abdomen.
"My work is never done." Spider sighed as she once again stood and headed to Recovery Girl's temporary office near the waiting rooms to wait for Midoriya. There was an absolutely hilarious conversation between the school nurse, Midoriya and All Might where Recovery Girl said the teen wouldn't be able to use his quirk like that again or he would literally destroy his arms since the bones had splintered off. She also, and I shit you not, scolded Spider for encouraging the teen's reckless behaviour by healing whatever injury he got and if it came down to it, the nurse wouldn't heal Midoriya if Spider wasn't around to do it herself.
"Just what do you find so funny missy?" Recovery Girl asked in a huff. For a first meeting the Dragonborn was not making a good impression.
"The fact that you don't see how funny this is just makes better." Spider retorted and wiped a mock tear from her eye. "You're the school nurse. Healing students that get hurt is quite literally your one fucking job and you just said you would refuse to do it."
"Language young lady!." The elderly woman berated.
"Hey, you asked." Spider reminded her. "Besides, you're acting as if I don't hold ten times the healing your quirk does in a bottle." To emphasise her point she threw a small red potion at the currently mummified teen. "Drink." She told him.
While Midoriya may have failed to actually catch the potion, instead letting it fall into his lap since his hands were still injured, Midoriya carefully managed to pull the cork out and sip the soothing liquid, healing his body back to full strength and pulling the bones back into place before repairing the damaged muscle tissue.
"This doesn't make any sense." Recovery Girl said as she examined her patient.
Midoriya groaned as he related to that sentence way too much. "Nothing she does makes sense."
"Doesn't have to so long as you're okay now." Spider told him.
"That's hardly the point, it was incredibly dangerous for young Midoriya to use one for all at one hundred percent the way he did, especially after the training you two have been doing to control it a little at a time." All Might interjected. He was in his smaller form but looking infinitely better than when she had first met him.
"Hush." Spider replied throwing a healing spell that smacked him dead in the chest, only this time at the blonde man causing him to fall against the bed Midoriya was currently laying on. One hand clenched his abdomen while he used the other to retain his balance. "Hmm that's curious." Was all the Dovahkiin said until she remembered a small detail All Might had shared with her about a few of his organs being removed. "The sensation will pass in a moment just wait for the synthetic stomach to be replaced and you'll be fine."
Recovery girl was already at All Might's side when she turned to the Dragonborn confused until her patient to suddenly rose by himself suddenly buffing up in muscle form and striking a pose. "I AM HERE!" He announced.
"You never left." Spider deadpanned. "You know what I regret this decision already, maybe I can change you back."
"NO, NO THAT'S NOT NECESSARY! I'LL TONE IT DOWN." All Might backed away.
"Whoa, what did you do?" Midoriya asked wide eyed.
"I've just been giving him minor potions of healing all this time so that when I used my restoration magic it didn't come as such a shock to his system for his organs to suddenly be back where they used to be." She explained easily. "It won't permanently fix his body, once one for all has burned out, in all likelihood his muscle form will be a thing of the past but at least he'll be able to eat properly and won't look like he'll be about to keel over anymore."
"Magic? but I thought your quirk was energy and matter manipulation?" Midoriya looked at her puzzled.
'Damn, my tongue slipped.' Spider berated. "That's essentially the same as magic and I'd rather just call them spells than restorative energy or illusionary light." She explained with a straight face.
"I guess that makes sense it would be easier although if that's the case I wonder why..." Midoriya was off in his own little world rambling about the intricacies of Spider's quirk allowing her to take a silent breathe of relief. A nasty habit she still had considering she actually need to breath anymore, it only showed weakness.
All Might cleared his throat and brought Midoriya back into reality as he stopped muttering. "Sorry I didn't mean to-
Spider stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on his head. "Izuku, whenever you geek out about something at home what do I keep telling you?"
The teen blushed and ducked his head slightly. "Never apologise for being the smartest person in the room."
"That's right." She told him with a comforting smile and ruffled his hair affectionately.
An announcement on the speakers outside declared Spider's match to be up next so she excused herself and made her way onto the arena floor, on the way she ran into Todoroki headed towards Recovery Girl's office to get his jaw fixed as well as several other bruises she could see peppering his body, on closer inspection it looked like even at five percent power Midoriya managed to crack the bone in some places.
It was nothing a little healing spell couldn't fix though, and she took a great amount of satisfaction watching Todoroki squirm when she asked one simple question. "So, what changed your mind about using your fire?"
The usually blank expression had fallen apart almost instantly and Todoroki was clearly trying to look anywhere but at the Dragonborn. "He... during the match, Midoriya convinced that it was my power and not the old man's. For a minute I actually forgot he even existed when we clashed."
Spider's expression shifted to mock offended as she crossed her arms. "Oh I see how it is." The Dovahkiin leaned forward into the teen's personal space making him hilariously uncomfortable. "When I tell you it's not his quirk you start talking about genetics but when Midoriya tells you that it's 'your power' then apparently it's flame on." Her smug smile would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life. "Something you want to tell me?"
In a stroke of unprecedented luck, Todoroki was literally saved by the fucking bell as Present Mic called for Spider to 'hurry her butt up' and get to the arena. So she stalked off toward the sound of cheering but not before levelling a sly look at Todoroki's thinly iced over cheeks (his attempt to hide his blush). Present Mic gave her pretty much the same introduction as before while her opponent Tokoyami received the title 'dark prince' due to his disposition.
From the moment they were told to begin Tokoyami called on Dark Shadow to fly towards the Dragonborn at top speed. The cheeky entity even had the audacity to cry out "SHE'S MINE!" And laugh on his approach.
For her part Spider merely watched until the bird like shadow crashed into her with full force. She remained unmoved. This confused both of her opponents, Dark Shadow swooping in for another attack only for Spider to grab its neck locking it in place no matter how much it struggled. Leaning towards its ear Spider whispered a warning, her voice as cold as the grave. "Ru hofkiin mal sivaas." (Run home little creature).
Suitably terrified Dark Shadow retreated back into Tokoyami so fast the teen acted like he'd been sucker punched . "How did you do that." His voice was pained as he doubled over to contain it.
When he looked up again Spider was in front of him causing the boy to fall back in surprise, except he didn't hit the ground. Spider's hand glowed a pale green as she used a telekinesis spell to lift the birdlike boy off of the ground and as gently as she could, float him out of bounds despite his struggling.
"Practice and experience." She said answering his earlier question and leaving the stage and waited out the next two matches until it was her turn to step into the ring again.
From what Spider heard over the speakers, just before her match with Tokoyami, Shinso had managed to beat Iida but lost to Todoroki as the dual quirk user apparently wasn't in the mood for talking. Then Bakugo and Tetsutetsu duked it out however the strategy of only hardening certain parts of his body was almost useless in the face of Bakugo's relentless assault. Grey wasn't even able to do one of the simple grapples Spider had taught him and soon found himself unable to continue.
The bitter part of the Dovahkiin wasn't even sorry that happened, because now she was face to face with 'explosion boy' himself, as Spider had heard Kirishima so lovingly dub him back in the stands.
"BEGIN!" Present Mic announced after talking them both up and getting the crowd excited over the match. Apparently he'd now taken over starting the matches from Midnight.
"DIE!" Bakugo screamed as he launched towards the Dragonborn before bringing both his hands together and creating the biggest explosion anyone had seen from him yet, completely covering half the arena in light created from the quirk and almost reaching people in the lower section of the stands if it hadn't been for Cementoss shielding them with his quirk. Despite this the hot headed teen didn't appear to be finished as he fired off blast after blast of the high powered attack until he finally placed his hands on his knees, panting from exertion and allowing the smoke to clear.
Those that had sensed the pattern from previous fights were unsurprised to see the results of Bakugo's attack. Spider stood perfectly still in the same position she had been in when the match started. Completely unfazed. "Finally, enough of this passive aggressive shit" She said calmly in stark contrast to her opponent.
"WHY WON'T YOU GO DOWN?!" Bakugo cried as he charged in once again, not giving any thought to his slightly weakened state.
The teen attempted to hit her with an open palm swing powered by his quirk for the extra oomph. Spider caught his wrist and tightened her grip causing him to yell in pain and fall to his knees in a way that the members of class 1A remembered from their first day at UA during Aizawa's quirk test.
"Pathetic as ever I see." She taunted, looking down on him as he weakly blasted her with his free hand until he suddenly stopped as a dark aura threatened to overwhelm him, horror encroaching on his features when no matter how hard he tried he couldn't use his quirk. It was gone. "I'm going to make this exponentially clear." Her voice cut straight through his panic but didn't lessen it in the slightest. "I have been just shy of nice to you because Midoriya practically begged me not to make a big deal about what you did but in my eyes you are a narcissistic waste of human skin who told my friend that he was so useless he should kill himself."
Releasing his wrist Spider backhanded the shell shocked Bakugo sending him rolling over the arena. He barely managed to stop himself with his quirk as it suddenly reappeared now that he wasn't in contact with the Dragonborn.
"This won't heal the damage you've done, but it will sure as hell make me feel better." Spider growled as she stalked over to the explosive teen who was scrambling to his feet and already holding his hands out for another blast.
Ignoring the smoke and kinetic force as it moved over her form, the Dovahkiin got in close. A right hook from Bakugo was swiftly blocked with her left forearm as she sent a punch into his stomach and knocking the breath out of him. Now hunched over Bakugo found himself grabbed by the back of his neck and thrown into the centre of the arena, stopping just short of the debilitated mess that was the other half of the stage he'd blown apart. Face, arms, legs and side connecting harshly with the unforgiving cement.
Still he didn't give up. Attempting to pick himself up and fight back, the blonde snarled angrily as he got to his hands and knees only for a hard smash from Spider's rising knee to his temple to put him back on the ground.
Blood was cascading down his face and body from several open cuts and his head felt like it was filled with cotton, vision so blurry he couldn't see his own hands in front of his face. Bakugo again refused to stay down.
But as with all things. Determination will only get you so far in the face of absolute power.
With the explosive quirk user on his stomach and trying desperately to push himself up, Spider came to his side and grabbed his left leg by the ankle, picking it up but placing her foot on the inside of his knee. Without hesitation the Dragonborn viciously snapped the limb, twisting it in the wrong direction, making it impossible for him to stand or think through the pain. He probably wasn't even aware that he was screaming.
Midnight and Cementoss were making noise. So much pointless noise that fell on deaf ears as Spider dropped the leg and went to kneel by Bakugo's head, grabbing the back of his collar and raising his head to her level. "Tell me, how does it feel? What's it like to be a pathetic, useless Deku?"
She didn't wait for an answer. Only dropped him and allowed Bakugo's face to kiss the floor as the referee pronounced to the Audience that Bakugo was unable to continue
"THE WINNER OF THIS MATCH IS SPIDER POISONBLOOD, AND DON'T WORRY, BAKUGO WILL BE A OK AFTER A SHORT VISIT TO OUR VERY OWN RECOVERY GIRL!" Present Mic called out over the speakers. Spider decided to wait the few minutes it took to repair the arena at the edge of the stands so that she could take her position as soon as possible while Bakugo was taken out of sight on a stretcher by some med bots.
A familiar push against her consciousness alerted Spider to one of the dovah asking for attention. 'Yes, Strunahviing?'
'Dovahkiin. You have just spent the last ten minutes beating a teenager senseless in front of thousands of people who paid to watch. How do you feel?' He asked her, a strange question from the dragon who normally wouldn't care for anything past meditation.
Spider thought on it. It felt good to inflict pain, especially when it was deserved. Yes Bakugo was young, he grew up in an environment that practically encouraged his behaviour, but did that justify being so cruel to someone that couldn't even fight back? Did that mean he should be absolved of his actions?
The Dovahkiin finally decided when she thought back to one of those evenings before she attended UA, when Midoriya would come back from school and training drained of energy, barely able to eat his dinner without falling asleep but not wanting to be restored either. 'It feels nice.' He'd said.
They sat in Izuku's room, his defences momentarily down as he told her of his less than pleasant experiences with the relentless explosive teen.
The scars he carried from when his quirk was that little too close to bare flesh. The aggressive hate that sparked in Bakugo's eyes whenever Izuku said he wanted to be a hero and the ridicule of his peers that followed. Years of the green haired teen slowly being broken down into a patchwork person, held together loosely by the thread of hope that maybe, maybe his idol would say different.
'Pretty damn justified.' Spider told him without wavering even a little.
'I see... perhaps now he knows even a little of what he put your friend through, he'll pick up the pace in becoming a better person.' Strunahviing replied cautiously.
'I think we both know that's not the reason I did it.' Spider crossed her arms and leaned against the viewing stands.
'No, I suppose not. You were always too emotional when it came to those you care for.'
Spider ignored him after that and waited until Cementoss was done.
Present Mic started up again as the Dragonborn noticed Todoroki exit one of the tunnels. "WELCOME TO THE FINAL ROUND OF THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL, IN JUST A MOMENT WE'LL FIND OUT WHICH FIRST YEAR WILL COME OUT ON TOP!" The crowd responded positively at that, their cheers getting louder and louder. "YES IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS FOLKS, FROM THE HERO COURSE, SHOTO TODOROKI!" Said teen had just taken his place at the opposite end of the arena to the Dovahkiin. "VS HIS CLASSMATE SPIDER POISONBLOOD! NOW BEGIN!"
Todoroki managed to freeze a few inches of the ground when she grabbed him by his new P.E uniform and tossed him high into the sky at least thirty meters above the stadium. He was even able to get up close and personal with the drone UA used to take aerial pictures as he reached the climax of his flight and began to fall.
Unfortunately there was nothing Todoroki was able to connect his ice to in order to slow his descent while in the air and he was too out of practice with his fire for flight or even just hovering. Not that he'd be able to do that with any grace anyway since only one side of him could produce flames so the balance would be terrible. Surprisingly Todoroki was fairly calm thinking about all this while the wind ripped its way past his ears as he plummeted towards his death if nothing happened soon.
Imagine his shock when he suddenly stopped and it didn't involve becoming a smear on the concrete floor. Currently Todoroki was hovering mid-air above above the tournament area, bathed in pale green light for all to see and still high enough that if he dropped it would be painful.
Spider flicked her hand towards the stands where the rest of her class were watching and sent the young man hurtling towards them at a speed that would likely be considered dangerous. Unsurprisingly Midoriya was quick to react, using one for all to quickly jump into the air and catch his boyfr- *cough cough* I mean friend, and lower him gently to the ground when they landed.
"WHAT A POWER MOVE, SHE ENDED THE FIGHT BEFORE IT REALLY BEGIN!" While this did receive cheers it was noticeably less than it could have been since it wasn't a very exciting match. "THIS MEANS THAT THE FIRST YEAR CHAMPION FOR THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL IS SPIDER POISONBLOOD!" Now the crowd kicked up again.
Before she knew it Spider was on another stage raised by Cementoss along with Todoroki and Bakugo who looked particularly subdued. Midnight announced that the explosive teen shared third place with Shinso which he didn't look too pleased about. She noticed her pedestal was higher than the other two giving her a better view of all the students that gathered in front of them as well as the media off to the right.
Everyone was present except for one... Iida. There was no reason anyone should have been excused from the festival until after the ceremony so where was he? The Dragonborn didn't have time to ponder any longer as Midnight started talking again.
"Now let's break out the hardware, there's only one person worthy of distributing the award..." Midnight began as a loud booming laugh echoed from the top of the stadium and a shadow appeared forming a familiar outline. Applause and cheers broke out more than ever as the figure jumped towards the pedestals. "All Might the number one hero!"
Although as Midnight continued she accidentally talked over All Might himself as he said. "I AM HERE TO HAND OUT MEDALS!" On his landing causing a slightly awkward moment between the two pros. Midnight quickly handed the man the medals so that he could continue with the presentation, only looking a little embarrassed.
He accepted them and made his first stop at Bakugo in third. placing the medal over the teen he began to speak. "Young Bakugo, you were against a powerful opponent but I hope you learn from this experience that sometimes a strategy is required in order to win rather than relying on your quirk." Bakugo looked like he wanted to say something but bit his tongue and accepted it, even thanking the symbol of peace for the advice after the surprising hug he gave him.
'My, my it seems the old dragon was right about you growing, such a shame it took a beating to really start making you a better person.' The Dovahkiin thought.
Right next to him on the pedestal Shinso ducked his head when All Might bestowed his own medal.
"Young Shinso, you remind me of Aizawa with how far you've managed to come during the festival. I'm sure Nezu will be calling a meeting about transferring into the hero course, you will be invaluable in the field." All Might said before giving the purple haired teen a hug too then moving on to the second place pedestal, strategically ignoring the tears of joy in Shinso's eyes.
"Young Todoroki, congratulations." All Might placed the medal over the boy's head. "I'm sorry you weren't able to use your left side again as you did in your match against Midoriya however I hope to see it again."
"Midoriya helped open my eyes during our match. I think I understand a little about why you're so interested in him, I have a lot to think about after this. And I still have to settle things with someone." Todoroki replied, the slightest bit of actual emotion entering his voice when he spoke. Spider was glad to hear it while it wasn't just the two of them.
"I'm not sure I've ever see this look on your face before." All Might gave Todoroki a hug just like he did to Bakugo. "I'm not sure of the details but trust yourself and I'm sure you'll work things out."
"Right." Todoroki replied.
"And now young PoisonBlood." All Might began as he stepped up to her. "Today you have demonstrated your prowess and proved that no matter the obstacle before you, you will not bow before it." He finished and placed the medal over her head.
Spider wondered if she was old enough for ancient words of wisdom yet. Yeah after three thousand years she was probably good for it. "No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow."
"Ha, you certainly are spirited." He shrugged off the comment and embraced her. Once he was close enough and sure no one else would hear he whispered. "I cannot thank you enough for all you have done, I never thought I would be able to feel this healthy again. And for assisting Young Midoriya, I only hope you can overcome your grudge with young Bakugo."
"That obvious huh?" Was all she asked when he stepped back. "I think we're good for now."
All Might nodded before clearing his throat and spoke to the crowd of people gathered at the stadium. "HERE THEY ARE THE WINNERS OF THIS YEAR'S SPORTS FESTIVAL, BUT LISTEN CLOSELY, ANY OF YOU FIRST YEARS COULD HAVE ENDED UP STANDING ON THESE PODIUMS. THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE TODAY, YOU'VE CHALLENGED EACH OTHER, LEARNED AND CLIMBED EVEN CLOSER TOWARDS YOUR GOALS OF BEING PROS. I THINK THE NEXT GENERATION OF HEROES IS PROMISING TO BE THE MOST WONDERFUL ONE YET!"
"How inspiring." Spider commented.
"AND THERE'S ONE MORE THING I WANT TO SAY, YOU ALL KNOW WHAT IT IS..." All Might geared up and so did the crowd.
"PLUS ULTRA!"
"GOOD TEAMWORK!"
...
...
...
"WHAT!?" The audience cried making Spider laugh unabashedly at the blunder.
After the event was over Spider didn't go back to class, the gold medal dangling from her neck shining in the evening sun as she sat alone atop one of the many buildings in a battle centre she'd picked at random.
'A chunk of metal, everyone fought each other tooth and claw for this.' She turned the medal over in her hands and traced her fingers over the '1st Place' text engraved on it. 'Perhaps I shouldn't have participated, it's not as if I need to prove myself like the others do... which reminds me.' Covering herself in the flames of oblivion Spider moved through the fabric of the world, appearing next to her friend. The class representative.
She found herself in a clean hospital room, Iida sitting on one side of a young man that bore a striking similarity with him despite the bandages covering his body while an older woman took up residence on the other side. Both jumped at the Dovahkiin's sudden appearance.
"Spider!" Came Iida's startled response.
"You know who this is?" The older woman followed.
"I'm his classmate Spider PoisonBlood, pleasure to meet you." Spider bowed her head slightly in her direction before facing Iida again and smacking him lightly on the head. "Why didn't you call me?" The Dragonborn gestured to the injured man on the hospital bed.
"You were still participating in the sports festival, I couldn't trouble you with my problems while you were aiming to win." Iida told her, voice unsure for the first time since she had met him.
Spider chuckled though it held no humour, she grabbed at the medal around her neck snapping it off. "If you think I care about something as stupid as a sports festival when my friend needs help then you don't know me at all." To emphasise the point she threw the medal into a trashcan located in the far corner of the room.
"... isn't stupid." A weak voice came from the patient on the bed followed by a fit of coughing drawing the attention back to him, both family members by his side in an instant.
"Don't try to talk dear." His mother placed her hand gently on his cheek.
"It's an important... step in... career... it-" He was interrupted.
"What are his injuries?" Spider asked, looking to the older woman pointedly ignoring her child.
"The doctors said he was lucky to survive the blood loss but-" She sniffled clearly holding back tears. "- he's been paralysed from the waist down and he won't be able to breath properly on his own for long periods of time."
"Then consider yourselves fortunate your son made such a resourceful friend." Spider replied raising her hand, golden light encompassing it entirely.
"Wait!" Iida made her hesitate. "You can't use your quirk in public without a hero licence, it's bad enough you used it to come and see if I was alright."
Spider stood there and stared at the teen. "Mey, A hero doesn't let a piece of paper prevent them from helping someone." (Fool). Ignoring the warning Spider released the healing energies watching as the spirals of healing magic enveloped the patient in warm glow, all his injuries melting away as if they were never there to begin with. She only stopped when he sat up for himself removing a few of the bandages to check her work and to see if he looked as good as he felt.
"Tensei!" His mother almost crushed him in a hug which he returned through not as roughly. When they released each other he looked to his brother and did the same. "Thank you." The older woman had left her son's side to embrace Spider in a thanks she could barely put into words. "Thank you." She repeated as tears pricked at her eyes.
"As I said, a piece of paper won't stop me from helping those in need." Spider told her, returning the hug lightly. 'When I feel like it.'
When their mother let her go to return to her son's bedside the patient turned his attention to the Dovahkiin, still clad in her UA P.E uniform comically. "I know you could get in trouble for this so I'd like to say that if there's anything you need just call and I'll do my best."
This time when she laughed it was humorous. "And just what do you suppose anyone could do to me?" Spider asked with a positively wicked smile on her face. "There are faster ways to commit suicide."
It was quiet until Iida connected his fist to his palm as if he had an idea. "I get it, no one would dare to arrest you because you healed an injured hero allowing him to continue keeping the city safe, it would cause a huge backlash on the police force making public opinion of them plummet."
'Sure lets go with that... I mean it's not like there's much difference between what he said and teleporting them to the moon anyway.' Spider nodded before looking to the teen's brother. "Tell me, who did this and are they likely to try and finish the job?"
Tensei looked down at the thought of it. "The hero killer Stain, I'm not sure if I was supposed to be one of his targets but... I can't be sure he won't come back for me or my family." He held his mother's hand tightly at the mention of that last part.
"I see," Spider turned to look towards the window on the far wall. "Lucien." She called out and no sooner had the words left her lips a ghostly figure materialised. His ethereal form shimmering slightly thanks to the lights outside shining through his translucent body. "Protect the hero and his family, if this 'Stain' should come back for them do let me know as soon as you have disposed of him."
"Yes mistress." His faint voice echoed and his dark brotherhood robes shifted until he disappeared from sight. Probably checking the perimeter before returning to his charge.
"Uhm... what was that?" Tensei asked nervously wondering if he was seeing things.
"Your new bodyguard, if the hero killer makes another attempt on your life Lucien will take care of him." She answered matter-of-factly.
"Is... is he another part of your quirk like the warriors you created back on the second day of school?" Iida asked her.
"Are you sure he'll be able to stand up to the hero killer?" His brother added.
"Yes He's a part of my quirk, think of him as a ghost. If Stain makes the mistake of going anywhere near you, Lucien will hunt him down. He does not tire, walls do not stop him, blades do not affect him, and mercy is a foreign concept. Once he has the hero killer in his sights there's only one force in this world that will be able to stop him." Spider paused for dramatic effect. "Me."
"Won't people notice him?" Their mother inquired.
"He's stood next to you right now." Spider nodded to the woman's left indicating the assassin's location. For a moment he shimmered into view only to disappear again like... well a ghost.
Spider put on her most reassuring smile. "You have absolutely nothing to worry about." She said confidently. "I'll see you at school." Spider told Tenya before once again vanishing in a haze of purple flames leaving a very disturbed, confused yet grateful family behind.
End notes.
It kind of annoys me how worked up people get over the whole cheerleader outfit thing in the sports festival. Like I get that in canon Mineta and Kaminari just want to see the girls show some skin but it's like come on... it was basically a prank you would expect from a high school student. It's not really any different than telling your friend it's a costume party and seeing them turn up as Spiderman to a casual dress event. Is it embarrassing? Yes. Is it good for a laugh? Yes. Is it worth getting seriously pissed off over? Not really, just move on.
Rant over.
On a lighter note; is anyone else looking forward to when Durnehviir shows up?
Spider: *Summons this hulking undead dragon*
Aizawa: ...Nope, I'm done. That is not my fucking job.
:~
Thank you for reading.
