Everyone was pushing each other around, shouting at each other. I just stood back and watched, waiting for the right moment.
"Okay everyone, are you ready? Three, two, one... GO!" Midnight shouted. Everyone quickly started running, and just as I thought there was a huge stampede in the tunnel.
I saw Todoroki make an ice path that slowed everyone down, and also saw a few people avoid it from where I was standing at the back of the pack. I focused myself on Todoroki, seeing as he was the one who declared war on ME and claimed my eyes shut.
When I opened them, I found myself in the lead, and now ice path ahead of me. I quickly started running forward.
After a minute or so of running, I approached the first obstacle. There was a sign that said something about robots, and I already knew what was coming.
With a huge crash, dozens of robots started appearing from nowhere. I saw all of the one, two, and three-pointers, and a few of the zero pointers as well.
"Where does this school get all it's money for these things..." I muttered as I advanced forward.
"And our first competitor has reached the robot zone! His name is Robaato if you remember from before. His quirk? Swap! He can pretty much swap anything he sees with another thing he can see, but apparently, he can swap himself too!" I heard Present Mike announce.
I ignored him and continued running forward. Did he have to announce my quirk to everyone? It could have been used as a surprise...
Anyways, I was running forward when the first robot locked onto me. I quickly splayed out my hands, one pointed at the robot while the other was facing a rock. I swapped both of them and continued forward, coming up with the zero pointers.
They looked a lot smaller than I remembered, and I calmly pointed one of my hands and the hunk of metal and my other at a large cloud above me. Before I swapped them, I shouted: "Be careful everyone! Watch your heads!" I quickly swapped them, suddenly enveloped in a large cloud. I rushed forward, hidden by the smog. The robots could not see me or lock onto me anymore.
I quickly ran on, passing the robot zone. I heard others screaming, and hoped that they were not hit by the falling robot. I didn't have time to check though; I had to win this.
I continued to run for another couple of minutes, with a large lead. I could hear faint explosions behind me, and just as I reached the second obstacle, I could see hear Bakugo distinctly. He was shouting something along the lines of "Come back here and die, pretty-boy!". I ignored him.
I arrived at the second obstacle, quickly taking it in. Let's just say I was glad I learnt how to swap myself.
"Wow! Robaato quickly advances to the second obstacle, the abyss! Don't fall, or you will be disqualified from the tournament!" I heard Present Mike say. "Aizawa, your students are amazing! They're all taking the lead. Robaato is really far ahead though."
"Yes, they are good. I didn't make them like this though. Their experiences with the villains have taught them not to hesitate in important situations." Mr Aizawa replied.
"And there you have it, folks, Aizawa is a bad teacher!" Present Mike shouted. I quietly laughed to myself before forming a plan in my head.
I obviously was not going to try to climb across the ropes, that would take to long. There was also nothing I could swap with on the other side of the large canyon.
Just as I was thinking, I turned to see Bakugo approaching, and before I knew it he passed me, blasting himself over the canyon with his explosions. This gave me a great idea, but I felt really bad for thinking of it.
"Suck it, loser!" Bakugo shouted as he neared the other side of the canyon. Just as he passed over the edge on the other side, I closed my eyes tight, opening them to see that I was now across the second obstacle.
"Sorry, Bakugo! I shouted as loud as I could, turning before he could shout back at me.
"Wow, a dirty but effective trick. Poor Bakugo, am I right?" Present Mike said.
"A good strategy by Robaato. It was also quite amusing." Mr Aizawa chuckled. Yes, chuckled.
I continued to run forward, hearing Bakugo slowly gaining on me. I arrived at the third obstacle and was shook.
"Ah, still in the lead, Robaato arrives at the final obstacle. The landmines! One wrong step and you'll be blown into tomorrow." he lowered his voice. "Don't worry though, these bad boys aren't powerful enough to hurt you, but they will make you go home crying!"
While I wasn't sure about that, I was sure that I needed to hurry up. I could see the other catching up with me a few hundred meters away.
I quickly searched around the minefield for anything to swap with and saw a little mine about two-thirds of the way across the minefield. I quickly swapped myself with it and tried to think of another way to advance. I could see little stones on the ground around me that must have been made from when the mines were dug. I picked up the largest one I could see, and threw it. Just as it reached the top of its arc, I swapped myself with it.
I didn't account for the speed that I was moving and quickly started to advance towards the ground. I didn't have time to swap myself for something to save myself, so I landed hard on the ground, hurting my arm and scarping my knees.
I tried to push myself up, but my arm hurt like crazy. I think I had broken it. I had to keep going, though.
"Ouch. Robaato get's across the minefield, but at what cost? His arm looks really damaged, what do you think Aizawa?" Present Mike asked.
"That move was extremely reckless. While I'm disappointed in Robaato, it worked out in the end." Mr Aizawa stated.
I understood what he was saying but honestly didn't care. All that mattered was making my way to the end. I was so close.
I got to my feet and started to make my way to the end of the path, clutching my arm. I quickly advanced, moving as quickly as I could despite how tired I now felt.
I was about 100m from the end when I heard a large explosion and turned to see Midoriya flying through the sky past Bakugo and Todoroki. They were far away though, so I wasn't worried. I had too large a lead for them to catch up.
Just in case though, I started to sprint as fast as I could through the final stretch of the tunnel. Just as I passed through, the crowd erupted in a huge cheer. I was so tired that I just sat down, and tried to get my breath.
"Here he is, the man who got first place on the entrance exam has also gotten first on the obstacle race. Robaato Riamu!" Present Mike shouted.
While I was sitting down, I realized how far of a lead I had. Two men came over to me and quickly took me to Recovery Girl before the next event began. We had a bit of time because we had to wait for everyone to make it back. After she had healed my arm and told me off, I was sent back into the arena, just as the final person made it through the tunnel.
"And there we have it!" Midnight announced. "I will now display the scores for the event. The top 42 contestants will be moving onto the next round."
A screen rose onto the stage Midnight was standing on that displayed everyone's places. I saw my face next to a large number 1, and after me, I saw Midoriya, then Todoroki, and Bakugo making up the leaders of the event. I scanned the entire board and was pleased to see that Uraraka, Kirishima, and the rest of class 1-A had also made it through the first round.
"Now, I will explain the next event. The next battle will be... A Cavalry Battle!" Midnight announced as the screen changed to show a diagram explaining how it worked.
"You will make teams of 2-4 people. Every person will be given a headband with allocated points based on their places on the first battle, with first place having the most points," she explained. This made sense to me.
"Now, we will allocate the point!" Midnight shouted as the screen changed to show everyone's place starting from 42nd and slowly moving up the 1st.
"The points go up in increments of five, with the only exception being first place. First place will be granted..." she paused. "ten million points!"
What. Excuse me, I think I just went deaf. What was that?
Everyone turned towards me, seeming to either pity me or look at me like a hunter stalking its prey.
"A battle where those at the bottom have a chance to overthrow those at the top. How exciting." Midnight said, licking her lips.
Oh, how I wish I was just in my bed sleeping right now.