A.N: We've done it. Just under 7K views, basically fifteen chapters in, yet we've somehow reached over 50 Favs, 50 Reviews, and 60 Follows. Never would I have thought that I'd have reached this point in such a short amount of time. Once more, thank you all for the continued support, and I hope that I can keep things exciting and entertaining for everyone! Onto the reviews!
SkeenTheDream: Congrats on the win dude XD. Happy you enjoyed the speech, and I'm honoured to have someone call what started as a crack-fic of a story legendary. I'll do my best to live up to the title!
God Doesn't Love You: But of course! With Rappa not part of the Eight Precepts, someone will have to take his place. Remember, the specific Buddhist Precept that Rappa in the original timeline was meant to represent and twist was 'Do not kill.' Now, to quote someone who I think would be perfect for that role instead of Rappa, "SHOW ME YOUR BLOOD!"
taylorjohnjero1: Geez dude, 10 pounds? ... mind if I swipe some? Nah, for real though, as someone who also loves cheese, I enjoyed the analogy and I'm glad you saw the main points I was going for in the chapter, though I will say, I didn't factor in just how much more valuable a supposed infinite wood-supply would be on an island nation. As for the Canon parallel regarding Rumi's father... wouldn't say redeemable, but I'd rather not spoil too much. ;D. I hope I can continue to make each chapter as delectable as the last, and then some!
StandUpKeepMovingForward: ;D
JaxTheGamer: Well well good fellow, it's a blessing to see you well and wealthy! Glad to see that you're still enjoying the story, and I definitely hope you stick around, because I've got a good deal of cool stuff planned! Safe travels good sir, I must relax by the fireside reading classical greek literature (sips burbon). Stay classy my dude!
Now then... let's get ready to RUUUUUUUMBLE!
Rumble, Young Man Rumble!
Chapter 14
Catch-up if you can!
"ARE YOU ALL READY!?" Present Mic's voice seemed to cancel out all other noise, every stingle student ready and waiting as the air fell silend. Kendo only grinned as he knelt down into a sprinter's stance. This was the moment that he had been waiting for. Five months of training, one week of waiting, four days of practicing his combinations and the new application of his quirk. All of it led to this moment.
"FIVE…!"
'A race may not be my thing…'
"FOUR…!"
'But I'll damn well give it a shot!'
"THREE…!"
Kendo looked over to see Rumi a few feet away from him, both of they eyes meeting. She smirked fiercely back at him.
"TWO…!"
'Now it's time…'
"OOOOONE…!"
'To finally RUMBLE!'
"OPEN THE GAAAAAME!" The massive doors swung open, and everyone rushed towards it in a maddening pace. Only problem was, they were intentionally opened very narrowly, bottlenecking the horde of students. People pushed and shoved, Kendo even finding it difficult to move. His eyes darted around, his mind working quickly.
'Can't go through without hurting anyone,' He thought as he eyed the parallel walls, grinning as he realised how close together they were. 'Gotta go over!' He grunted as he blasted off the ground and a solid ten feet into the air. He twisted his body and kicked off one wall to the next, each leap leaving cracks across the stone before he finally pushed himself out into the open air, a stretch of dirt curving to the right ahead of him marking the path.
"Nice try Big-guy, but you ain't the only one that can jump!" He looked over his shoulder, grinning like a madman as he saw Rumi gracefully bound over the competition in a single leap, winking at him before taking off to claim first place. "Damn!" He laughed, pumping his legs and tearing across the dirt path. "I ain't gonna fall behind Usagi!"
"Looks like the one to take first place is Rumi Usagiyama! This bunny isn't going anywhere but forward!" Present Mic called out. "In second place so far, we've got the man behind that rousing speech, Kendo Rappa! Though it isn't first, he doesn't seem too upset! Finally, we seem to a have a two-way tie for third place between Sendo Shigan and Shinji Nishiya, neck and neck!" Indeed, the two of them had their own unique ways of attempting to pass each other. Sendo was using his quirk to fire bullets from his knuckles and palms, using the raw recoil to blast him forward. Shinji was latching onto the ground quite far in front of him with his branches and yanking forward with each of his jumps while drawing some of the bark back into his body.
"Hmph, I'll admit," Vlad King, the second announcer of the Sports festival said, "Class 1-A is without doubt the most talented bunch of students U.A has seen in quite some time. However, don't underestimate class 1-B!" Just as he said that, there was a sharp *BANG* that went off behind the leading three, all of them immediately getting out of the way as something small and incredibly fast whizzed by them. Turning around, they didn't see anything except a small hole in the floor rapidly closing in on them, passing right by Ryuko her dragon-human hybrid form. A hand popped out of the hole, a finger with something rotating at incredible speeds pointed right at her.
"SHIT!" She shouted, blocking her face as the finger fired at her scaled arms, the thing being a literal nail-bullet that bounced off of her scales. Still, it had enough raw force to knock her clean off of her feet, her back slamming into the ground while the next figure popped right out the hole. He had messy black hair, sharp eyes and a goofy grin on his otherwise normal, if not fairly handsome face. His build was lithe and clearly athletic as he cartwheeled himself into a run, winking at a flustered Ryuko. "Sorry, but I've got a race to win! Nyo-ho!"
"You're on buddy!" She roared out, digging her claws into the floor and pushing off to catch him.
"It looks like the ace of 1-B has made his appearance and taken fourth place, ladies and gentlemen, KAITEN 'GYRO' KAIBARA!"
'I'm faster, but he's way more versatile than me,' Kendo thought as he picked up the pace, 'Gotta watch out for him!' As he turned from the final stretch of dirt, he skid to a stop right as Rumi dove in. 'Seriously, how the hell does U.A get funding for shit like this!?'
"Looking like the first few students have reached the first obstacle of the race, or should I say, the first THOUSAND!? This is JUNGLE-GYM HEAVEN!" True to its name, there were moving slides, small tunnels, bounce-pads, bars to hang and swing from, nets, ropes, all of them mish-mashed together by the literal thousands, stretching for what appeared to be a quarter-mile and hanging over a giant pit. The worst-part? All of it was constantly moving and changing thanks to some mechanical wonder, with some tunnels abruptly turning upside-down, platforms randomly spinning, and was that pit full of lava at the very bottom? "Time to test my agility!" Kendo laughed, leaping right in. His eyes constantly darted around as he jumped from platform to platform. His body felt the platform underneath his feet rumble before his mind actually registered it, and he instantly jumped to grab a rope before it crumbled away. "Shit, that was close!" He laughed, his blood singing. "The next platform is a bit far though… I got it!" He focused, slightly swinging his body to gain momentum as the muscles in his shoulders and arms coiled. "NOW!"
*SNAP*
His arms yanked him right off the rope and into the air with more power than he intended, sailing over the platform he was aiming for and sending him tumbling into one of the smaller tunnels. It was at an angle, sending him sliding straight down to the pit. Again, he didn't think, only reacting to the threat as he kicked off the slide at the last moment, grabbing onto a net and hoisting himself up. "Holy SHIT this is fun!" He roared with laughter as he hopped into a stable platform. While his quirk wasn't suited for this type of agility, his athleticism and instincts certainly were. Still, that paled in comparison to Rumi's raw agility and her ability to think rapidly under pressure, her body practically flying from obstacle to obstacle as she wore a beaming grin on her face. "This is my kinda speed!" She laughed as she flipped over a swinging net, catching a rope and front-flipping onto a platform. She glanced behind to see Kendo managing to keep up, though it definitely took more effort on his part rather than hers. "Smooth bastard's actually keeping up with me!" She laughed, upping her pace even higher.
"Looks like the top ten are making their way through and out of the jungle-gym! But can they deal with a full-blown MINEFIEEEELD!?" This one made Kendo and Rumi scrunch their faces in annoyance, both of them forced to slow down and watch their step lest they get blown sky high. "Funny how power-types like us get all the hype, but when shit like this happens, we're forced to slow down!" Rumi laughed ruefully as she carefully hopped from spot to spot, Kendo having closed the distance between them.
"No time to bitch about it now!" He laughed back, eyes darting all over the place before he jumped, landing safely. On the other hand, where power-types struggled, the more versatile quirk-users shined.
"Piece of cake!" Kaiten laughed, his fingernail spinning rapidly as he lay down on the floor and shot right at his own chest. His body was sucked into the floor in the shape of a small hole, only his eyes and up remaining as he seemed to slide across the ground at a brisk pace. He passed right over mines without ever triggering them, the crinkle in his eyes showing that he was grinning confidently. Shinji and Sendo were right behind him, the former using incredibly thin but sturdy branches like stilts while the latter used his gun-recoil to stay afloat in the air, manoeuvring very will in the air, even if his speed was somewhat slow. There was one who shined the most in an obstacle such as this: a gust of air knocked nearly everyone off balance as a massive shadow passed over everyone.
"What's this!? In a turnaround, Ryuko Tatsumi soars over the competition with little effort! Literally!" Her full-dragon transformation was built to literally make an obstacle such as this a literal cake-walk, soaring over Kendo and Rumi as they were just over half-way through. Yet, both of them saw it: the strain on Ryuko's face, sweat dripping from her uniform, and their suspicions confirmed as she immediately changed into a full human right as she passed the final mine. 'She can't hold it for long!' Everyone's pace picked up even more frantically, bounding from place to place as they raced to catch up to Ryuko. Rumi was naturally the next to make it out, no thanks to her much longer jumps. Kendo on the other hand was neck and neck with the supposed 'ace' of class 1-B, both of their feet tearing across the dirt as they continued to hinder each other. Kaiten shot a barrage of finger-nail bullets, though Kendo's fists flashed through the air, shattering or knocking them out of the way as he tried to grab his opponent. The attempt was dodged smoothly as he flipped over him at shot at Kendo's shoulder, though the larger body was just as nimble to duck under the nail-bullet with a grin.
"You're faster than the stories say!" Kaiten laughed as they continued to run side-by side. "I actually came third in the entrance exam on points, you know!"
"Hah, this ain't the Entrance Exam!" Kendo barked out, grinning right back at him. "But I'll give you props, you ain't half-bad!"
"I refuse to settle for half! I'll take the whole cake!" Kaiten laughed again, the nails on his fingers spinning while Kendo's shoulders grew warm again. Right before they could engage in another brawl, there was a deafening crash of metal on metal, both of them screeching to a halt as they turned to see the final obstacle looming over them.
"They say that the final stretch to freedom or victory is filled with the greatest hardships! Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the final wall that our students will have to bust through: ROBOT RUUUUUUMBLEEEEEE!" A final quarter-mile stretch, straight back to the Arena, and it was absolutely filled with every range of android from the Entrance Exam, One-pointers all the way to the numerous, towering Zero-Pointers.
"…Speaking of the Entrance Exam," Kaiten chuckled, "Let's hold off on our tussle until the actual Tournament, shall we?"
"Hmph, fine," Kendo grunted before he let loose a bloodthirsty grin. "Besides, this'll be a great warmup! Time to RIP AND TEAR!" Both of them roared as they plunged themselves into the horde of robots, Kendo immediately tearing off two heads in a single swing. 'Too wide! Keep it fast and compact!' As a Two-pointer bore down on it with its guns and arms ready to attack, he dashed forward and twisted his hips, his left hook literally shearing it clean in half from the waist. 'Just like that! Passed clean through like a hot knife through butter. Thank you Sendo!' A Three-pointer flanked by two One-pointers opened fire on him with a hail of rubber bullets, still travelling at the speed of an actual bullet. Once more, he didn't think, only acting, running straight as them as his fists blurred to life.
*BANGBANGBANGBANG*
Every shot was deflected with his fists, sending them ricocheting right back at them with enough force to blast holes through the metal, tearing all of them to shreds. A fair bit ahead of them and wading through the horde with a storm of kicks. She snarled as a roundhouse ripped through a Two-Pointer like paper, hopping off its corpse and crashing into another. "Shit, she's still ahead of me!" As combat-oriented as Rumi was, her ability to deal with larger foes and deal extreme collateral damage wasn't on part with someone like Ryuko, her half-dragon form more than enough to bowl right through clumps of them without stopping.
"I AIN'T STOPPING HERE!" Rumi bellowed, her feet blasting off the floor as she raced forward, idly tearing through whatever was in her way. Both Kendo and Kaiten were hot on her heels, the latter firing off nail after nail to punch right through their heads. Still, the numerous Zero-Pointers loomed in the back steadily trudging forward and ready to slap away as many students as possible.
'Shit, I can't deal with them without that 'thing!'' Kendo thought as he grit his teeth, wracking his brain as its giant hand bore down on him. '…maybe I don't need it here. I know that its shoulder-joints are weak, so all I need to do…!' A massive grin on his face and his boiling blood distracted him from the feeling of the muscles in his legs coiling as he crouched, power set to burst from him. 'All I gotta do is REACH IT!'
*SNAP*
His body disappeared, the ground where he once stood shattering like glass. He managed to launch himself right up to the robot's elbow-height, his adrenaline running so high that it didn't truly register to him. Landing on its forearm, he barrelled forward before leaping in front of its shoulder and clenching his fists, feeling that coiling sensation his shoulders, and he roared and his blasted his fists forward. It took three seconds for him to tear through its armoured shoulder, ripping its arm off as the machine reeled away, as if in pain while its arm fell to the ground in a burst of dust and debris. Even falling from such a height, he was in complete control as he dove right into a Three-Pointer, crushing it under his diving fist to cushion his fall. Scrambling out of the crushed pile of metal and wires, be broke back into a sprint.
'…Holy crap, how did I just do that!?' The ground suddenly shook like crazy and he glanced over his shoulder to see Yu sprinting right through the Zero-Pointers in her giant-form, a fierce look on her face as she outright punched one of its heads clean off. "You won't catch me off guard like last time!" She shouted as she sprinted forward for all she was worth, forcing Kendo and Kaiten (who somehow managed to keep up with him) to dive out of the way, the massive strides outpacing literally everyone in her path. She smartly transformed back into her normal state right as she reached the entrance to the Stadium. Moments later, Kendo could hear the crowd roar as Yu Takeyama came in first place.
"DAMMIT!" Rumi roared, getting to her feet and sprinting with everything she had.
"I'M NOT FALLING BEHIND EITHER!" Kendo shouted right back, everyone sprinting like their lives depended on it. Though he passed Ryuko, both Kendo and Kaiten were still a fair distance behind her, feet pounding off the ground at the two boys raced neck and neck to try and surpass Rumi. The distance between them slowly but surely shrunk, fifteen meters, ten, eight. Still, as fast as they both were, it wouldn't be enough to catch up to her in time. 'She's gonna save that one last leap to cross the finish-line!' He glanced down as his legs, the muscles in them still ringing from the jump he pulled off earlier. 'If that was what I think it was, then I really need to time this right!' The distance to the finish-line was rapidly closing, a literal light at the end of the tunnel.
'Wait for it…!' He grit his teeth, trying to focus that coiling feeling in his right leg, knowing that he'd have to time his Quirk the moment his foot his the floor at the right time. Thanks to his opponents lighter frame, Kaiten was slowly pulling ahead of him, and Kendo knew that his window was growing shorter and shorter.
'NOOOW!'
*SNAP*
There was a sharp tearing sensation in his right calf as he exploded off the floor, leaping before Rumi did. He travelled faster, closing the distance in a flash with his arm outstretched just as she did the same. Both of them burst into the sunlight, greeted with the roars of approval from the crowd as they crashed into the floor, rolling across the grass for a while before they finally came to a stop, heaving for air. Still, they sat up quickly, listening for the results.
"An AMAZING dive from both of our newcomers! But with a snazzy slow-motion replay, we can see that in second place…!"
Both pairs of eyes shot up to one of the many giant screens, everyone watching with baited breath as they saw the replay of Kendo and Rumi diving at the exact same time, with one winning by a literal fingertip.
"Second place goes to RUMI USAGIYAAAAMAAAAA!" She instantly threw her head back and shot her fists into the air, roaring in triumph. Kendo just laughed, clapping at his equal's success. Third place may not have been his goal, but he was still proud of his achievement.
"Sly bastard, how the hell did you move so fast?" Rumi laughed as she walked over to him, her face glowing with joy.
"Sort of figured something out with my Quirk," He chuckled, wincing as he turned his right leg to look at his calf. The muscle in question wasn't torn, thank god, but definitely pulled, and crampling like crazy.
"The hell happened to your… oh!" Rumi stopped, her eyes wide in excitement as she realized what he was getting at.
"Yeah… I can use my quirk on other parts of my body!" He said. Though he got Third, this was a prize within itself. "…Do you mind giving me a hand? This cramp ain't letting me get up too easily!" He chuckled. She laughed, her cheeks a bit pink as she held out a hand that he took.
"I'm glad to give you a hand anytime, Big-guy."
...
A man just under thirty years of age watched the screen closely. At first glance, he appeared to be a mere salary-man, a fine white suit that was offset with a pair of dapper sneakers along with a red and white polka-dot tie. He smoothed his hair back, a deep green with a streak of mustard yellow, his eyes narrowing on the figure of Kendo Rappa. "Wasteful movements, more than a touch of recklessness, wild and unfocused, yet..." he pushed his glasses up, intrigued. "... he has potential. Very interesting."
(To Be Continued...)
A.N: So, it begins! Finally getting to see the first true sign of Rappa's development with his Quirk! You all have no idea how excited I've been to reach this stage of his improvement, and I'm sure that it'll be exciting to watch unfold for everyone here as well. Also hope that the placement of the students make sense regarding everyone's skills and Quirks. I was considering having Ryuko come in first place, but I changed it over to Yu partially because I wanted to play around with Ryuko's Quirk along with some thematic development for Yu later in the Festival. Also got a somewhat familiar face from class 1-B! The family name should be familiar to some of you, but lets see of anyone can find out where I got inspiration from his quirk-usage from.
Either way, hope you all enjoyed this one, and peace out!