First event time. Everyone knows how this one goes.
... Right?
(XX)
Izuku rushed through the crowd. The first obstacle was the bottleneck exit from the Arena to the track. Todoroki had already frozen the ground, but he jumped, using One for All to propel himself above the crowd and leap from side to side on the walls, before landing on the ground outside. Like him, many other Hero Course students had managed to avoid Shoto's ice attack and were now moving forward.
"Deku!" Kacchan shouted, rushing past him, "Don't you fucking dare steal my moves!"
"I-I just took inspiration!" Izuku defended, running at a normal pace. Kacchan scoffed but didn't say anything else.
Full Cowling was giving him the boost to keep up with Kacchan, if barely, but others were rushing ahead. Todoroki was using his ice to slide forward, Iida of course was already ahead with his Engines roaring – 'Thinking about it, isn't this race awfully convenient for someone with a speed Quirk? – and others were still behind them.
"You alright Boss?" Pony asked. She was running on all fours, something Izuku had noticed she did whenever she wanted to keep a faster pace. Izuku really wanted to ask about her secondary leg mutation but knew now it wasn't the moment.
Later.
He wanted details.
"Everything alright. What about Himiko and the others?"
"Well, Kyoka and Himiko aren't far behind. Masutaro is further in the back. Last I saw him he was grumbling something about his gas 'being useless for this'."
Izuku nodded, 'You can do it, Masuchan.' He thought.
And then Iida, a few meters ahead of them all, was attacked by a robot, more coming out from the sides of the track, in what was clearly an ambush.
"Ah! And our runners have completed the first kilometer and reached the second obstacle! It's the…" Present Mic stopped a second, probably to read his notes, "… Guards of the Deep Sea Realm! Watch out, students! Those monstrous deep-water machines are here to stop you from completing the race!"
Izuku looked at the closest bot, as it rushed forward, and realized that indeed while being virtually identical to the normal training robots they had seen at the Entrance Exam, a large fin had been added to its 'head', and instead of military green, it was painted grey and white, making it look somewhat like a great white shark.
-x-
"Ugh, again with this." Sharkyonara, the shark-man Villain asked, watching from his chair in the bar the League used as base.
"What?" Invisible Wall, the Chameleon-looking Villain sitting next to him, asked with a confused look.
"Casting the sharks to play the Villain."
"Those are robots, not sharks."
"But they are supposed to be shark robots." Sharkyonara said, pointing at himself.
"Man, we talk about this every time, sharks are scary, I think that's the reasoning. There's a reason Jaws has a shark and not a pufferfish as the antagonist."
Sharkyonara grumbled, "Well, I think dolphins are scarier, and no one ever uses them as Villains."
"Oh god not this again..."
"I tell you, dolphins are the worst! Sharks are amazing, but dolphins?! Those bastards are monsters that torture and kill, and everyone likes them for some stupid reason! Just because they jump out of the water in a loop. Sharks-" Sharkyonara went into a tirade and Invisible Wall sighed. Why couldn't he go with Shigaraki?
-x-
Izuku used Full Cowling and punched. It stung a bit, but watching the robot crumble to pieces in a rain of green lightning was incredibly satisfying. Especially the part where his arm didn't break to pieces. He heard a shriek and turned to see Hana attacked by a robot. Rationally, he knew there was no danger for her, but Izuku still grabbed a piece of the defeated robot and threw it with One for All. The head of the other machine was crashed by the impact. The white-haired girl blinked in surprise before turning to him and waving.
"Boss, don't stop!" Pony shouted, and Izuku gulped. Oh god he had actually slowed down to do that! He turned around and run forward again, reaching back to the people ahead. The battle was thicker there, the robots emerging from the forest more often. Clearly, the obstacle was designed to slow down the front rows. 'Now it makes sense. Speed Quirks aren't always good to fight offensively.' He thought. Proof of that was Iida struggling behind while Kacchan and Todoroki were blowing and freezing their way past their opponents.
And then the ground shook. Looking up, everyone saw the sky darkened by a series of giant robots. "We are the elite guards of the Deep Sea Realm!" The one in the front bellowed with a deep voice that Izuku was fairly sure was just Nedzu's but low pitched, "Surrender to the rulers of seventy per cent of the world!"
True enough, those robots had been modified too, now repainted to resemble humanoid blue whales.
Todoroki planted a hand to the ground, and two of the elite guards were frozen solid. "I thought this would be harder." He said, rushing past. Iida, who had been ahead, managed to follow him through the gap, before both constructs came crashing down. Izuku and Kacchan, along with others nearby, managed to jump out of the way, or at least could take the blow, as shown by Kirishima and a 1-B student covered in metal.
"Did Todoroki just try to kill us?!" Pony shouted, having used her horns to lift herself up and away from the falling robots.
"I… I'm not sure." Izuku admitted. 'What the hell Todoroki, that was dangerous.'
He jumped forward, making it over the downed bots. Todoroki and Iida were still ahead, and Kacchan was flying past one of the other 'elite guards' when something else blew it up. Izuku glanced back to see Yaoyorozu with a cannon of all things at her side.
He was fairly sure he heard the blond teen from 1-B, Monoma, shout 'Knew bitches love cannons!'
He was also fairly sure that he saw Kendo, that was just then jumping past the felled bot, slap him in the back of the head.
He pushed past another frozen robot, and then leaped over a piece of the path that had been completely frozen. Judging by the slide marks, Todoroki had frozen the path to both make a robot fall and make it harder for Iida to run over it. Since he was still fighting the bosses, it probably didn't count as a direct attack.
He reached Todoroki and Kacchan at the front just as they saw the next obstacle approaching. Looking behind, he noted that there was actually far less of a distance between him and the rest of the students than he had expected. Todoroki was somehow able to keep up with him and Kacchan despite his Quirk not giving any direct speed boost, but he wasn't the only one. A student he knew was from Class B was swimming in the ground – cool – and the large guy from a few days before, the kind one from the same Class that had offered them candies, was seemingly rushing forward punching his way through the machines in his path. Another student, a girl with vines for hair, was using them to grab on tree branches and half-fallen bots and jumping like some sort of Spider-Man.
"And the students have reached the next obstacle!" Present Mic shouted, "Can they make it across the Deep Sea itself?!"
Izuku realized what he meant. First, the ground shifted from earth to sand, making him stumble for a moment. And then, in front of them, was a vast gorge. Looking down, sea water splashed against the two sides of it. It was about five-hundred meters wide, with rocks connected by ropes creating the only path across.
Iida looked a bit downcast, and Izuku could see why, since he was at a disadvantage suddenly, but he himself…
Oh this was a good obstacle.
He jumped forward, using the closest rope for a moment and then reaching the next rock. The sea below splashed and stormed, and Izuku could feel wind of all things rise from the depths – Was that a hidden Quirk user, or just tech going all out?
Kacchan was doing a similar thing, jumping from one rock to the next, and Todoroki turned the ropes into bridges by creating enough ice around them. Slippery, but they would have a use. Iida was using his Quirk to propel himself forward across each rope, Tsuyu was climbing it… Each of them were doing their best, and Izuku wasn't going to fail either.
-x-
"Anyone that catches your interest, boss?" Tesla asked, leaning toward his boss. Shigaraki narrowed his eyes. He didn't care about the guys at the front. The speedster and the ice dude were from Heroes family, and both bomb guy and Midoriya were untouchable. Pity, the Bakugo brat had the right attitude.
He moved his eyes down toward the bulk of contestants. The frog, the girl covered in machines, the metal and rock duo – not music, just what their bodies seemed to be made of – and so on and so forth. "Most of them are 'good', but we need to keep watching."
"I concur!" The man to Shigaraki's left suddenly shouted, making him jump from his seat.
"Who the f-" He started to shout, before stopping.
No.
Couldn't be.
"It's good to see someone take the time to properly examine each candidate." The Hero said, smiling jovially, before cleaning a tear slipping out from under his mask away. "So moving to see the next generation step forward."
"Oh my gosh!" Someone shouted.
"It's him!"
"Is that Crust?!"
The Number Seven smiled. "Don't worry about me, and look at them!" He said, pointing at the students still running, jumping, or in some cases flying across the gorge, "They are going to be the protagonists of the next generation!"
Shigaraki was still considering what to do. A part of him wanted to ask Crust for a high five. Or a handshake. Just some pitiful way to die for the sucker.
Then again, that would go against his long term goals. Ugh, having plans was hard. Why couldn't he just dust everyone and be done with it?
"If I might ask!" Crust suddenly said, turning toward them, "Are you by any chance recruiters from some Hero Agency?"
"… Well, you could say that." Shigaraki said, "I'm Shimura Togaraki, from the… A.F.O. Agency. Sorry, but I can't give further details."
"Ah, I see, Underground Heroes. I respect that." Crust nodded, "Well, I will leave you to enjoy the festival." And with that, he turned back to the race.
Shigaraki considered switching seats with someone, and looked at his followers, only to see all of them looking distinctly not in his direction.
Assholes.
-x-
Aizawa frowned. The first event theme had shifted, he noticed. Of course, publicly they made a show of the Events being randomized, but in truth they couldn't really do that, or they would have all been shallow and uninteresting. For Aizawa, that was fine, but for the audience not as much. What they really did was create two options for each section and just roll between those two, while pretending there were a dozen.
A logical deception, one could say.
Still, the theme switch was rather odd. Originally, it was supposed to be warzone-based: robots colored in military green, a large ditch with ropes, and then a minefield. "Yamada." He called.
"Yes, Shota?"
"Can I see the program for this event?" He asked. He really hadn't paid attention to the final version, since he had seen the one that was supposed to pass right before… the USJ. A weird feeling of foreboding came to him as he looked at the paper Yamada had pushed toward him. He remembered Nedzu's comment from the day before, when he said it would take an absolute idiot to attack the Festival, and while he agreed, he still wasn't sure why the Principal believed there wasn't at least one Villain that was stupid enough. With his arms in a cast, he could hardly hold it himself.
So, Deep Sea Guard, Crossing of the Deep Sea, and then…
"What the hell Nedzu, that's what you meant?!"
-x-
"Mwahahahahahah!" Nedzu laughed from his position on the stage.
"You ok sir?" Snipe asked, standing next to him. "Something funny came to mind?"
Nedzu just smiled.
-x-
Finally, Izuku stepped on the sand on the opposite side. To his left, Bakugo and Todoroki had also reached the ground roughly at the same time.
They looked at each other for an instant.
And then Bakugo roared. "Fucking extras, eat my dust!" He shouted, and created a much larger explosion, shooting forward like a rocket.
"Kacchan!" Izuku shouted, jumping forward, and Todoroki started to run as well, keeping up pace with Izuku as they tried to recover the distance lost from Kacchan. "By the way, Midoriya!" Todoroki shouted as they run not far from each other. "I wanted to tell you something!"
"Todoroki, is this really the moment?!" Izuku shouted.
"I just wanted to say that, since I think All Might has his eyes on you, I will b-yagh!" Something hit the ice user straight in the face, some sort of goo that stuck to his face and made him fall to the ground when he stumbled on his feet.
"Todoroki?!" Izuku shouted, without stopping.
"Eyes on the prize boss." Tsuyu said, pulling him aside in time to dodge another goo projectile, that instead rushed past him and sailed toward Momo, a few tens of meters behind. The student turned around and the impish creature she was carrying on her back shouted before he was hit in the face by whatever the projectile was, sliding off her back.
"This is unfair!" The impish creature shouted. Oh, that was Mineta.
Izuku looked ahead, to see that the attack came from the treeline. And that Bakugo, further ahead, was shouting and facing something. The rest of the front group kept moving forward, and then blinked.
Bakugo was fighting a large, hulking creature sitting on a throne, wearing a crown, who had just shouted at him and sent him flying back. Around the throne were a hundred or so individuals wearing black, skintight bodysuits that covered their faces as well, filling over half of the large clearing. On top of their head was a large helmet similar to a medieval knight.
"Pass by, Heroes." The man sitting on the throne said, and Izuku recognized him. Gang Orca smiled. "The Deep Sea King is merciful today."
'And the students have reached the third stage of the race, the Hall of the Deep Sea King! This infamous Villain from the underground has come with his followers to kidnap children for his army! Can the students beat him, and save a child, or will they decide to pass by?!" Yamada shouted.
"This is the Heroic Race." Eraserhead explained, reading mechanically, "You can either decide to run ahead, or stay and fight. However, if you take the helmet of a minor Villain, you will advance ten positions at the end of race ranking. If you take the crown of the Deep Sea King beyond the finish line, you will gain one hundred positions and are guaranteed to take first place. On the opposite, if they can capture you somehow, you are out of the race."
"What will the students do?!" Yamada shouted, "Run, save, or fight?!"
Izuku gulped. The explanation had given some other students the time to arrive, but like him others were trying to decide what was the best option. Getting first place in the race normally, or trying to fight and risk falling down in the ranks or outright get removed.
"Do not pursue." Gang Orca ordered, playing the part of the Villain perfectly by raising a hand and gesturing to his followers, "We have what we want. Let the Heroes and humans run with a tail between their legs."
"Die!" Bakugo shouted, rushing forward and launching an explosion. Gang Orca blocked the blow by using his sonar, still without standing up. A few of the grunts – who were likely Gang Orca's sidekicks – were blown away, but managed to stumble back up.
'He isn't going to stand up from the throne.' Izuku realized, 'And his sidekicks aren't going to move from there either, so…'
Todoroki was the second to act, launching his ace forward, only for Gang Orca to see it coming and blowing it up with another hit of the soundwaves he used to attack. That started the assault of more and more participants, to which several of his followers dove out of the way, before shooting toward Todoroki and the other students the mysterious gunk that had hit him earlier.
"What is that?" Izuku asked.
"It's some sort of sand and water bullet." Todoroki explained, "It doesn't do much, it's just rough and coarse and gets everywhere." He cleaned his face with his hand, sputtering some out of his mouth to emphasize the point, "I hate sand."
"I… I can tell." Izuku looked around. Most Hero Students had decided to engage the sidekicks, and already one or two were running away with their prize, the girl with vines trying to restrain the closest one, but it seemed only Bakugo was going after Gang Orca himself.
Everyone was competing, trying to grab the closest opponent, sometimes even getting in the way of each other, and as more candidates arrived, the situation became more chaotic.
-x-
"I feel insulted." Shigaraki mumbled, low enough Crust wouldn't hear. Which was easy, considering the man was cheering loudly. Ugh, Heroes, always so dramatic.
"Why, because he has better presentation?" Tesla asked back. Shigaraki stared at him, scandalized. "What? The man is a humanoid orca sitting on a throne, wearing a crown and white suit. That just screams 'I'm a high-tier Villain."
Shigaraki tried to argue, but really couldn't. Dammit, he needed to...
He needed to dress b...
He gulped. 'I will think about it later.'
-x-
"Boss!" Kyoka shouted.
"Izuku!" Himiko added, "Should we run away while people are busy here?!"
Izuku looked toward the exit of the clearing. Already, the blonde guy from 1-A and a few other students were pushing past, ignoring the 'Villains' completely, and in return were being ignored by them. Izuku bit his lip, and then spotted Tsuyu, Iida and Pony, fighting each an opponent. And Bakugo and Todoroki, trying to get the crown, but in each other's way, Todoroki's ice getting destroyed by Bakugo's explosion or by Gang Orca himself.
'Heroes shouldn't try to do everything by themselves. That's they way of the glory, the false Heroes.' Stendhal's words from his training rushed through his mind. The same words that had helped him during the exam.
"Kyoka, Himiko, get Pony! Mustard too if he is here! Anyone that wants to help!"
-x-
Gang Orca, real name Kugo Sakamata, enjoyed watching children grow into proper Heroes. It was the kind of thing that warmed his heart, to see a young man or woman push their way through Hero School and achieve something in the world. And UA was the best in the East, even if Shiketsu gave it a run for its money in western Japan.
So, when Nedzu had come to him, asking the current Number 10 to bolster the defenses of the Festival while also training the young Heroes in training, he hadn't given up.
The plan Nedzu had concocted served a number of purposes. It showed the world that UA took seriously the danger the League had shown to pose by involving a Pro Hero in the event, and a member of the Top 10 at that. It helped the Hero Students, the ones that would be most likely to take the challenge, showcase their skills to the Pros that would then take them in for an internship. It kept them occupied so that some General, Business or Support students might get a position in the further rounds for once, though admittedly that last one was just Gang Orca's guess.
And at the same time it proved the world that UA students weren't pushovers.
He felt the cold once more, and looked at the student using ice. Endeavor's son, Shoto Todoroki, was attacking him relentlessly, but it was starting to show, patches of ice growing all over his body. He destroyed the ice once again, shivering slightly. Ugh, the throne was getting pretty cold, but any second now…
In came the other student, the one that was first and yet had immediately stopped and attacked when Kugo had given him the same 'Villain' speech he had given the rest of the students.
He bounced him back once more, wondering how much longer the kid could go. As per the plan, he was to stay put on his throne, only defending himself.
And then a group of four students showed up. One was the green-haired kid that had arrived with the Todoroki child, and the other three were three girls. Purple hair, horns, and a long, frog-like tongue were the immediate distinguishing features.
"You want to challenge me, Heroes? You will waste time." He said.
"Deku, get the fuck away from my crown!" Bakugo shouted, and Gang Orca blasted him again with his soundwave Quirk.
That was the signal to rush in it seemed. The frog-like student, the green-haired teen called 'Deku' and the girl with purple hair and – were those jacks for ears? Man, Quirks were weird sometimes, how did evolution go 'You get attachments that are becoming widely obsolete' – and the student with horns shot one of them forward.
He responded with another wave of sounds, but surprisingly, the girl with jacks for ears moved them forward. The frequence they produced distorted his own soundwaves, reducing their effect, though clearly not strong enough to compensate for them entirely if the horn shattering was any indication.
'How interesting…' Kugo commented, before 'Deku' and the frog girl reached him. He blocked a kick and a punch with his two arms. And then breathed in, before launching another wave of sound waves.
"You will have to do better." He replied, and for a moment the four teens looked surprised, before they started to smile and ran off, taking on instead a few of his sidekicks. In a group, the four of them easily overpowered four of his assistants, given they were all holding back and the weapon they were using hardly did more than disturb an opponent, and made off with an helmet each.
"What a pity." Sakamata commented, before frowning. Why had Shoto Todoroki stopped from his own attack? And where had the explosive child gone?
He scratched his head in confusion.
His empty head.
He tapped the black and white, smooth skin all over.
The crown was gone.
-x-
"Let's go Himiko!" Izuku shouted, the girl toying with the crown she had stolen from Kugo Sakamata by sneaking behind him and using the opening they had created to grab it from behind the throne. Izuku, having trained with Stendhal, had been told about her skills, not to mention that All Might had commented on it and Masutaro had told him about the Hero Shop incident.
She was really good at stealth.
"Thank you!" She frowned, "Here, take it and give me the helmet."
"But the rules say…" Kyoka started, but Himiko shook her head.
"The rules say you can only carry one past the finish line." She said, "You came up with the idea, you should have this." Himiko grinned, and exchanged Izuku's helmet with her crown.
"Alright! The Boss has already won!"
Izuku smiled. He had done it. All he had to do was finish the race and…
And then Aizawa's voice crackled through the speakers. "Oh yeah, by the way, you can't harm another participant, but you are allowed to steal the crown." He clarified.
"Professor Aizawa, why?!" Izuku shouted.
"Don't look at me Midoriya, I don't make the rules."
"… Wait, you can hear me?"
"No, we just have a really good camera and I can read lips. Also, dodge Midoriya."
"Dodge wh-" Izuku didn't finish, instead feeling cold creeping from behind and jumping to his left on pure instinct, narrowly avoiding the incoming ice.
"Midoriya!" Todoroki shouted, running forward behind them, closing the gap, a helmet in his hand and ice opening the path, "This isn't over! I will b-"
"Deku!" A roar and an explosion distracted everyone, and they turned to see Bakugo, a helmet on his head and a raging fury in his eyes as he rushed forward, "Come the fuck back here you little bitch! Give me the crown!"
"K-Kacchan, I…"
"Izuku." Himiko tapped him on the back, "Run." She was starting to pant, and Izuku realized all four of the girls had done their best to keep up with them.
"What?"
"Win the race boss!" Kyoka shouted, as she also fell behind, "See you at the finish line!"
Izuku nodded, speeding up. Thanks to Full Cowling, he was managing to keep his distance from Kacchan and Todoroki, and Iida was still nowhere to be seen. In fact, he was starting to overtake some of the students that had moved ahead, much to his surprise. 'I guess I shouldn't be surprised.' He thought, 'One for All is All Might's Quirk after all.'
For a whole minute, the last kilometer of the race was just him rushing forward, Bakugo and Shoto trying to overtake him, a few other students behind trying to pass the two but getting blown back by Kacchan's explosions or slipping on Todoroki's ice. And then…
"And the final obstacle is reached by the first contenders with a helmet. Among them is also Izuku Midoriya, the king of the race!" Yamada shouted excitedly, "Can he pass the last test, the Trap of the Deep Sea King?!"
"He absolutely can Mic. He can literally make the whole distance in three jumps, four tops."
"Ssssh, spoilers!"
Izuku wondered what that was about as he watched some of the students that had moved past the Villains shuffle awkwardly through some sort of sand pit, covering the last 200 meters toward the arena entrance.
"That doesn't seem so b-" He started, then Monoma, the guy from 1-B with blonde hair, stepped on something. He whined.
And then a landmine exploded. It wasn't, of course, a real, dangerous landmine, but it still sent him flying back in a pink explosion, fall on another landmine, fly further back, get pushed on another landmine, and then… well basically he was getting a very close experience of Kacchan's brand of friendship right now.
Izuku grimaced, before jumping forward. From his tests, a single jump from One for All could take him about fifty meters ahead.
He landed. If he was lucky, there was no landmine.
Something clicked under the sand.
He looked to the left. For some reason, he was fairly sure he was looking directly at one of the cameras. Unknown to him, the close-up of his face, the expression of utter resignation as he heard the click of the landmine, would soon become a meme on Japanese social media, known as 'UA student resigned to die'. Many memes would sprout from such a piece of art, from the basic photoshopped '[chuckles] I'm in danger' to many, many so-called 'dank' memes, though alas in a week it would be pushed into obscurity by 'Villain Regrets His Life Choices' as a meme base with the same premise.
Izuku was not aware of any of that, nor did he wish to be made aware of it, instead focusing on quicjly jumping out of the way.
The explosion buffeted him, but he was still flying forward. A great improvement.
"Deku!" Bakugo's shout coming from behind made him turn, the teen, he realized, now mere meters from Izuku. There went the improvement. "Give me that crown!"
He also spotted Shoto running, creating a trail of ice ahead of himself to freeze the bombs, even when that was making a pat for his other opponents. The teen was grimacing, and ice was starting to cover his body in great quantity, but for some reason he wasn't using his fire. That sounded pretty dangerous. As his classmate and Class Representative, maybe Izuku should have a talk with-
"Deku!" Oh right, the bigger problem.
"I'm sorry Kacchan...!" Izuku shouted, landing, followed by Kacchan. Izuku stepped on a landmine, and then kicked back, then jumped, knowing the sand all around was being kicked in Kacchan's eye, slowing his reaction, "But I promised to win this!"
And the landmine exploded, pushing Kacchan back. Of course, Izuku's fellow student was more than capable of recovering quickly, but it still gave Izuku time to close with two more jumps – those, without explosions – and reach the final lap.
Todoroki was right after him, and Kacchan was closing in. Soon, both students were head-to-head, roaring and shouting to reach their classmate.
But it was Izuku Midoriya, crown in hand, that entered first in the arena.
-x-
"Let's goooo!" Nagant shouted while firing a shot at the roof in happiness, "I knew you could do it boss!"
A piece of plaster fell on her head and looked up.
"Ah, fuck." She said as another piece of plaster fell from the area around the hole her projectile had created in the roof.
-x-
"Sir." The Doctor waved his hand in front of the face of the Symbol of Evil, to no reaction. "Sir, are you ok?"
"What."
"Sir?"
"What was that."
"I believe, sir, that was the Green Valley Clan's heir taking the first place thanks to his Quirk and the clever use of his associates and your daughter's help. Why, you can probably…"
All for One grabbed his phone, ignoring the Doctor completely and typing in Hisashi Midoriya's number. The phone rang for almost a whole minute before the man replied, "Oh, All for One." He said, in a tone that made the best effort to sound serious and detached, but actually sounded cheery and happy… and oddly fatigued. The first two were expected, considering his son had just won the first event of the Festival, but the third one wasn't. "Hi. Can I help you? Sorry, but me and Kuraudo are a bit busy doing our best with some buckets to prevent a flood. Congratulations for Himiko, by the way, she seems to be making it to the next r-"
"Yes yes yes, very fascinating, thank you." He bit his lip, "So, quick question. What's… What's Izuku's Quirk?"
Hisashi took a long moment, before asking, "Uh, shouldn't you know?"
"Pardon?"
"Well, Izuku's Quirk came out of nowhere just a few months ago, when he took the UA Entrance Exam. I kind of assumed you gave it to him since it looks nothing like mine and Inko's." Hisashi seemed genuinely surprised, All for One realized, feeling slightly sick, "I supposed it was you, was I wrong?"
"…"
"All for One?"
"Sorry Hisashi, do you mind if I call you back in a few hours?"
"… You called me."
"Indeed. Thank you. Enjoy the Festival. Bye." He closed the call, and then the Symbol of Evil took a deep, deep, deep breath, looking toward the Doctor. The bald man coughed in his fist.
"It's the Midoriya child isn't he? Tomura was right."
Yes. Tomura was right. That was the worst part. All for One lost it. "FU-"
-x-
"What's with the smile Yoichi?" Nana asked, "Happy for Izuku?"
"A bit. But right now, I'm experiencing some amazing schadenfreude." The First replied, a smug grin spreading across his face.
"Sounds good, can I have a bite?" Daigoro asked. Everyone else stared at him. "What?"
Yoichi sighed. And that was joy leaving his soul, replaced by disappointment.
-x-
Masutaro Sako huffed and panted, entering the Arena with a helmet in hand. "Masuchan!" Izuku shouted, "There you are!"
"Izukun!" He waved, "How did it go?"
"I… I won!" He said, and Masuchan grinned.
"Let's fucking goooooo!" He shouted, before sighing, "Sorry. Ahem. Anyway, I think we made it too." He pointed a finger back, toward Tooru, Mineta, Kaminari and, surprisingly Hana. Each of them was wearing or holding the helmets, or in the case of Mineta had used their Quirk to attach them to their uniform. Smart.
"Oh hi Hana." Izuku said.
"I-Izuku!" She shouted, smiling awkwardly, "Th-Thank you for earlier!"
"No problem, I kind of… moved without thinking." He smiled, before turning to Masutaro, "I'm so sorry Masuchan! I should have waited for you!"
"No, you shouldn't have." Masutaro put a hand on his shoulder, "This is a race. Just because you got the crown, it didn't mean you could just take things too easy."
"Yeah! By the way, great job dude." Kaminari gave him a thumb up, and Midoriya smiled, sighing in relief.
"Thanks. Uhm, did you guys team-up?"
"Sure did." Masutaro nodded, "Kaminari saw you do it and told me, so we decided to work together to take out Gang Orca's sidekick. Teamwork does the dreamwork!" He pointed at Hana, "You should have seen her. She made the ground all slippery, and before that cleaned Mineta's face from all the sand." Hana instantly blushed, covering her face with both hands, Tooru gently patting her on the back, at least if Izuku could read correctly the movement of the girl's arm and Hana's back.
"Yeah, that was pretty good, though my face now is super smooth." He replied, moving a hand over it. It slid right off.
"I-I'm sorry, it should stop in a few minutes…" Hana said from behind her hands.
Izuku chuckled and looked to the right. Bakugo was sulking nearby, refusing to look at him, teeth gritted. Normally, he would have tried to go talk to him, even if that resulted in getting an explosion to the face, but apparently, he wasn't needed. Ashido, Yaoyorozu and Kirishima had all walked up to him to do that, it seemed.
Thinking about it, aside from a few shouted sentences, when was the last time he had gone out of his way to spend time with Kacchan? Before UA, he would always try to speak to him… No, not before UA, he realized.
It was before he met Masutaro and Himiko.
It felt a bit sad. For better or worse, Kacchan had been one of the few assurances in Midoriya's life. Granted, mostly the assurance of the fact he was a ball of ego, anger issues, and insults, given his dumpster fire of a personality, but Izuku had always felt like having him as a friend was something he really wanted. Having a friend driven to heroism, someone to not only reach but surpass.
Now… He still considered him a friend in his mind, but he realized he had drifted away to the point that calling him a friend out loud felt weird. Izuku had Masuchan, Himiko, Kyoka, Pony, for all their… peculiarities as Heroes in Training, and Iida, Uraraka and Tsuyu were also becoming close to him. Maybe he could also start to know more about Masuchan's own friends. Kacchan had apparently Kirishima, Ashido, Yaoyorozu, maybe more people.
They both had different friend groups and hangouts. Different experiences in their time since the year before that were taking them in different directions. Izuku was a Yakuza, while Kacchan had nothing to do with that world.
Maybe they could still be friends, but not… Not as close as they had been as kids. Perhaps not even as close as Izuku had tried to be for the past ten years. Izuku sighed again. Well, who knew? Maybe Kacchan would turn around and become his best friend once again, though… well, now he would have a lot more competition.
"Midoriya." Another voice called him out of his thought. Todoroki, who in the end had gotten a third place set in stone, was surpassed barely by Kacchan's explosion. He seemed to have recovered, the ice vanishing from his right side.
"Oh, Todoroki. Sorry for earlier. You wanted to tell me something, right?"
"Yes!" Todoroki nodded with a surprisingly excited expression, "I wanted to tell you that since All Might seems to have put his eyes on you, I will b-"
"Alright students, eyes on me!" Midnight suddenly called from the stand, interrupting Todoroki.
"Sorry Todoroki, can this wait a moment?"
"… Sure…"
"Alright, we have our results in! I think it goes without saying that, now set in stone, our first place is Midoriya Izuku!" The crowd cheered, while Midoriya did his best to not try to dig himself down a hole out of embarrassment.
"But of course Midoriya isn't the only one that made it! For the next round, forty-six students will move forward, so let's see them all!"
The screen lit up, showing a descending list of students.
1. Izuku Midoriya
2. Katsuki Bakugo
3. Shoto Todoroki
4. Ibara Shiozaki
5. Tenya Iida
6. Fumikage Tokoyami
7. Tsuyo Asui
8. Hanta Sero
9. Juzo Honenuki
10. Eijiro Kirishima
11. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
…
15. Pony Tsunotori
21. Momo Yaoyorozu
22. Ochaco Uraraka
25. Himiko Shimura
26. Kyoka Jiro
34. Masutaro Sako
35. Tooru Hagakure
36. Denki Kaminari
37. Melissa Shield
38. Mei Hatsume
39. Minoru Mineta
40. Hana Shindo
44. Itsuka Kendo
45. Yuga Aoyama
46. Neito Monoma
"Itsuka./Kendo!" Izuku turned as he heard Hiryu and Monoma both talk to the girl, asking the same question, though with different tones, "Why did you rank so low?/!"
"I… I don't know." She replied, "I got a helmet and was running away, when someone called for me. Then I don't know what happened, but I came to almost a whole minute later, when someone pushed me aside, and I didn't have my helmet. I'm not... I'm not sure what that was."
Izuku raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what had happened. A Quirk maybe?
"This was a very competitive year, that's for sure!" Midnight announced, "Not only that, but this is the first edition of the festival in over ten years that sees at least a student of each course make it past the first round!"
Izuku looked around. Shinso Hitoshi and Mashirao Ojiro, who were thirteenth and Twenty-seventh, were standing near a student with a balloon for a head, Ojiro shaking his hand. Hana of course was the Business Course representative, and Melissa and Mei were there for the Support Course. He didn't know if there was anyone else, but it was hard to say.
"And now, let's see our second event for the day!" She pointed her whip toward the screen, and the symbols rolled before stopping on the silhouette of the following event.
Izuku blinked.
And then forty-five students, and everyone in the stands, said the same thing.
"WHAT?!"
The only exception was Mina, who instead shouted a "Yes!" That was drowned by everyone else.
-x.
"What?" Hisashi asked.
-x-
"What the hell?" Tomura managed to say.
"Well, that is certainly unconventional." Crust declared next to him.
-x-
"This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen." Compress said, "Don't you agree Dabi?"
The scarred man was looking at him with a look of deep offense, before turning to the screen, "Don't you dare say that ever again."
"What?!"
"Shut up. This is amazing. If Izuku and Mustard fuck it up despite my teachings, they are dead."
-x-
Midnight, unsurprisingly, was the only one that looked unfazed by the whole thing. Well, most likely because she knew, Izuku reasoned. She actually seemed to enjoy the incredulous looks on the audience's faces, and even more so when twelve pillars of various heights emerged from the ground of the arena, the tallest standing at thirty meters over the arena, right in the center, and the other eleven forming a ring around the central one, with the shortest barely five meters tall.
And atop each of them stood a single machine. A machine Izuku and Himiko knew well, given it had been the protagonist of their first date.
"The second Event of the Sports Festival, ladies and gentlemen!" She pointed to the top. "The game is DDR DDefendeR! The test of Coordination and Cooperation!"
The twelve DDR machines lighted up to life.
(XX)
... What? Don't look at me like that, you thought this is tagged with DDR on Ao3, has consistently mentioned the game and has established who is good at it just for the joke?
... Yeah admittedly I get where the idea came from.
Well, this will be a fun event, I assure you.
As for the race... It was a bit weird to write. It's fun, but at the same time there aren't that many jokes I could make. Granted, I did scrap a few that were less interesting, but I figured focusing on Nedzu's extra measures and Izuku's win was fun.
Also the canon rankings really don't make much sense when you know 1-B's Quirks. Early installment weirdness is a thing there too.
So yeah, Izuku wins. Not by a lot - he is still new to using Full Cowling after all - but by a few meters more than canon. And he also has a rather interesting realization on his relation with Bakugo.
The thing is, in canon Izuku never has friends until high school, and that's also when his relation with Bakugo start to improve. Here, despite Bakugo having gone through his own development, Izuku has also had different friends and different experiences. It doesn't mean that Izuku and Bakugo can't be close eventually, it just means Izuku isn't as focused on Bakugo as he is in canon.
Also, AFO found out about our dear Izuku having a bad case of OfA and Tomura having a terrible case of being right. Tragic news.
On a lighter note, keep trying Todoroki.
You can do it.
You can share your horrible past with Izuku.
I'm sure of it.
Maybe.