Two weeks came and went. Today was the first day of UA's Sports Festival, with one day for each grade level, and Dokusei and the rest of his class were in the waiting room. Nerves were racking some of them, while Dokusei did some stretching to relieve some of his.
"Alright, everyone, I hope your preparations are done because we'll be leaving at any moment!" Iida informed everyone.
"Here, Uraraka, have some water." Tsuyu handed her a bottle.
"Man, I wish I could wear my costume." Kaminari let out a sigh.
"It would give us an unfair advantage against the other students." Tokoyami clarified.
Dokusei stretched his back, getting a very satisfying round of pops. "Would still like to at least wear my gloves..."
"Midoriya," Dokusei heard Todoroki speak.
"Yes, Todoroki, what is it?" Midoriya asked.
"Objectively speaking, I think I'm stronger than you in terms of strength," he started, making Midoriya confused for a moment. "You've managed to get All Might's eyes on you. I don't want to pry, but know this" -Dokusei could feel the tension rise after his next sentence- "I'm going to beat you."
Dokusei and everyone else was shocked at the declaration. "Come on, everyone, we're all friends here. It's friendly competition, not a fight to the death." He walked up to the two with Kirishima.
"Yeah, man, come on; no one needs this stuff right be-" Kirishima put a hand on Todoroki.
"I'm not here to make friends." He shoved off the hand. "I'm here to become a hero."
"I don't know why you're telling me this." Midoriya looked down at his clenched fists. "And yeah objectively speaking, you are stronger than me. I think a majority of the people here couldn't hold a candle to you."
"Mordy, come on," Dokusei said.
"Midoriya, dude, don't be so negative..." Kirishima tried to lift Midoriya up.
"But even so!" Midoriya all but shouted. "Other kids from the other departments are aiming for the top too. And I can't let myself lag behind the rest." He gave Todoroki a face of confidence. "So I'm going to aim for the top with all my might!"
Dokusei gave Midoriya a smile. "When his back is against the wall, Mordy can really show that he has a backbone..." He looked at Todoroki. "What's your deal with Mordy, Pokéball...?" He let those thoughts leave as Iida announced they needed to get on the field.
They could hear the massive audience well before they entered the field. "Man, this is getting a little nerve racking..." Uraraka commented.
"Yeah, this is almost as bad as belt testing..." Dokusei chuckled. "You'll be fine, Care Bear."
"Now introducing the first year classes! We have the class that survived the villain attack, the one that has the biggest spotlight! HERO COURSE CLASS 1-A!" Present Mic called out from the PA system.
"Yeah, totally calming our nerves, Mic... thanks..." Dokusei muttered out loud, seeing so many people focusing on them and cheering for them. "Yeah, this might actually beat belt testing..."
"And following right behind them, although they haven't done anything of note, also from the hero course, class 1-B!" Dokusei could see the other students from all departments slowly coming out. "Right behind class 1-B are the classes of general studies, support class, and management!"
"Way to make the other classes feel special, Mic..."
"Now our host for the events, one of UA's faculty members, the Rated R Superhero! Midnight!"
She waved around a flogger like a whip, gaining everyone's attention. Long purple hair was the first thing Dokusei saw; her outfit was next. Leaving little to the imagination was a bit of an understatement. "Anyone check if the Pervy Grape is on his leash?" he asked rhetorically while looking away a bit. He wasn't the only one making a comment about her outfit as it seemed to irritate her.
"Silence!" She put her foot down. "My outfit is appropriate as it is!" She calmed down for a moment before speaking again. "Now will the student rep step forward and deliver a hopeful speech!" Everyone looked around trying to find them. "Katsuki Bakugo of class 1-A, please come to the stage!"
Dokusei shot his head to the guy so fast that he got whiplash. "Short Fuse/Kacchan is our representative!?" both Dokusei and Midoriya said at the same time.
"He got first place in the entrance exam, remember?" Sero reminded them.
"Yeah, in the hero course exam," a lady from general studies commented.
Bakugo walked to the stage, not affected by the stadium full of people. "I'm going to make this clear," he started. "I'm going to win." He said it with extreme calmness. While everyone was either booing him or in shock like most of 1-A, he continued before leaving. "You all will make fine stepping stones for me."
Dokusei looked at him as he left. "Something's off..."
Midnight continued without missing a beat. "Alright, with that out of the way, we can move on to the first event!" She swung her whip to the screen behind her. It was cycling through options like a slot machine; one of them was eleven way football. "And your preliminaries for the first event is...!" It looked like it was going to land on the football game, but it quickly changed to Obstacle Race! "An obstacle race around the stadium!"
Dokusei sighed; he definitely did not want to play eleven way football. "How would that even work...!?"
"The rules are simple!" Midnight spoke again. "All eleven classes will participate in a nearly four kilometer run on a track that surrounds the stadium." The star line opened up as everyone made their way to it. "The first forty-two people to reach the finish line will move on to the next event!" Most of Dokusei's class was in the front, but he was stuck in the middle. "Feel free to use your quirks however you like, but make sure you stay inside the track; going out of bounds will result in an automatic disqualification!"
The lights above the start line flashed red. "And remember-"
They flashed yellow. "-to go beyond!"
Green! "Plus Ultra!" Everybody booked it to the tunnel, but soon realized something. The mass of students was larger than the tunnel could hold, unless you could get on top of them.
Dokusei couldn't fly, but he could do something about the crushing weight of the people around him. He readied his claws, venom dripping from them. "Sorry!" he yelled repeatedly as he stabbed his fellow peers. The toxin didn't outright paralyze them, but it did slow them down enough to make moving them out of the way easier.
A sudden wave of cold air was his only worry; he jumped into a student just in time for a sheet of ice to trap any unfortunate enough not to move in time. "Dammit, Pokéball..." He started to jump from student to student, eventually getting out, seeing most of his class in front of him. Dokusei ran to catch up, hearing Present Mic saying Todoroki was in the lead. And nearing the first obstacle. He caught up just in time to see Mineta get clocked by a robot from the entrance exam. "Heh, can you hit him again...?"
"Welcome to the first obstacle, ladies and gents!" Present Mic spouted. "The Robo Inferno!" A lot of robots were there, especially the Zero pointers, yes pointers! As in multiple!
"Fuck, how many of these guys are there..." he quickly said before he dodged a minor bot attack and swiftly kicked off its head. "Huh... that was easier than last time."
Dokusei felt another blast of cold air. Looking towards the source, he jaw dropped as Todoroki just froze a zero pointer in one move! He saw students try to follow Todoroki, but soon the Zero fell on top of them. Luckily, most got out of the way in time. "1-A's Todoroki forges a path ahead and blocks the others in one fell swoop! That's cold!" If you listened closely, you could hear Aizawa groaning at Mic's pun.
Dokusei started moving forward; his goal was to get past these bots, not defeat them. Ducking under a swing of one, he saw Kirishima and Tetsutetsu burst out of the wreckage of the zero pointer Todoroki toppled. The boy from class 1-B had a very similar quirk to Red horns, just metal. "Well his name is iron... four times..." Kendo told him some stuff about her classmates, but not much.
A Zero pointer tried to grab him, but he was too quick for it. "They may be big and strong, but they're slow and dumb!" He was swiftly able to weave between the giants, taking out the smaller ones when they got in his way. "Man, this is so much easier than the entrance exam!" He kicked one of the one pointers' arm off and beat it to deal with it. Not wasting anymore time, he bolted through the last of them, finally!
As he made his way to the next obstacle, he saw many of his classmates stopped ahead of him. "The next obstacle is upon us!" Mic called out again. "Hope you're not afraid of heights, because it's a long drop! The next obstacle: The Fall!" Many of his classmates stopped to look at the obstacle. A chasm filled with rocky platforms connected by tight ropes.
"Can't win if you're standing still, guys!" Dokusei said as he passed them, barely slowing down, and ran across the rope.
"1-A's Todoroki is still in the lead as he passed The Fall with no problems, but 1-A's Bakugo is closing in!" Mic's commentary gave Dokusei much needed insight. "And- Woah! 1-A's Sumiteru is literally running across the ropes like they're nothing!"
"Hey, this isn't as easy as it looks..." Dokusei was about halfway there when Mic announced about him. A lot of his more mobile classmates were keeping up with him or just out right passing him. "At this rate, I'll make a decent placement... but I want to make top ten!" With that, he pushed himself, clearing the rest of the pillars and jumping the last one, hardly breathing hard at all, but his veins were starting to darken.
"The last obstacle is here, everyone!" Mic once again yelled everything. "Watch your step or you'll go sky high! it's the minefield!"
Dokusei slid to a stop. "Fuck..." He could see Todoroki and Bakugo almost through the field and Midoriya just reaching him. "Good luck Mordy!" He slapped his shoulder, not asking why he had a slab of metal with him. He just did something that no one in their right mind would do; he charged head first. "Time to pull a Kirishima..." He coughed a bit, veins darkening. His vision was going a bit dizzying, but he pressed forward. He stepped on a mine, startling him, but nothing stopped him; he felt no pain!
"What is up with 1-A's Sumiteru?" He could barely hear Mic's astonishment. "Aizawa, what are you teaching your kid!?"
"Nothing I wouldn't normally teach; he's just using his quirk to most likely turn off his pain receptors. Very reckless in any other situation but appropriate in this one."
"I guess this is a good time to explain Sumiteru's quirk!" he started. "Class 1-A's Dokusei Sumiteru! Quirk: Toxigenesis, able to produce varying degrees of poisons, venoms, and other toxins, ranging from very lethal to some so minor they may actually benefit the afflicted. However, he can get sick from over use and nearly all of his liquids are toxic!"
Dokusei ignored the comments about him and his quirk and just soldiered on, hitting a mine every now and then but making progress. Suddenly the earth shook, making him stumble into a mine. The next thing he saw was Midoriya flying past them and catching up to the two in the lead. "Oh fucking hell, Mordy!" He bolted forward, detonating many mines. He knew he wasn't going to be top three, but dammit, he was going to try!
He looked to the ones in the lead, Midoriya still in the air, flipping through it, before he whipped the slab of metal forward and smacked it against more mines, launching him again. "Izuku Midoriya has crossed the finish line first!" The crowd could be heard from where Dokusei was. Pushing himself further, he didn't register anyone next to him as he passed the finish line. He just collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily.
"Sumiteru!" He heard someone call to him.
He looked up to see Uraraka passing by him. He held up his hands. "Stay back!" he yelled before he vomited onto the ground. "Oh fuck..."
"Are you okay?" she asked, keeping her distance.
"I... will be... j-" He vomited again. "ugh... this bad..." He burped and coughed. "Some water and ginger ale should help and a bucket..." Uraraka nodded and went to find what he needed.
He saw Yaoyorozu walk by him with an unwanted passenger on her back. "Hey, Miss encyclopedia" -she looked at him- "I'll get Pervy Grape off, if you can make me a bucket..." Mineta quickly dismounted off Yaoyorozu but was still caught by Dokusei. "I'm just going to make this quick." He injected Mineta with his paralyzing venom. He stopped moving in seconds. "He'll be good by the time the next event star-" He put his hand over his mouth and Yaoyorozu quickly made him a bucket. He barely made it to the bucket in time. "Thanks... Momo..."
"Sumiteru, are you alright?" she asked carefully, keeping her distance.
He just nodded. "Just over clocked my quirk."
"Here you go, Sumiteru!" Uraraka handed him a bottle of ginger ale.
"You're an angel, Care Bear!" He took a slow drink of it; he didn't want it coming back up now.
Uraraka and Yaoyorozu helped Dokusei up as a custodial bot came to clean up the vomit. "Sorry in advance if I lean on one of you..."
"That's fine, Sumiteru, friends help each other out." Uraraka smiled while Yaoyorozu nodded. They looked up to see their placements.
9th place: 1-A Dokusei Sumiteru. "Oh nice..."
16th place was Uraraka and Yaoyorozu was 17th. "You barely beat our Vice rep, Care Bear." He lightly patted her back. He looked at Yaoyorozu. "You did well too."
The race ended as Aoyama was the last to cross the finish line. "With the 42nd spot taken that ends the first event!" Midnight waved her whip about. "Sorry for the rest of you all, but that's how the Sports Festival works!" The screen behind her lit up and started spinning like a slot machine again. "The next event will be...!" Some of the options Dokusei saw were king of the hill, keep away, and tether ball. But what it landed on was something that confused a lot of the contestants. "Human Cavalry Battle!
"How would a team base game work in this kind of event?" Tsuyu asked.
"The rules are nice and simple!" Midnight began to answer. "You can create a team of 2-4 players. Each team will have a point total from each player."
"So your placement for the race determines how many points each one gets," Shoji assumed.
"And if it's anything like the entrance exam, it will be easy to understand," Sato added
Kaminari jumped in before Midnight could continue. "Which means the point value of each human warhorse will change based on who's in it! "
"Will you let me explain!?" Midnight snapped at the students before clearing her throat and calming down. "The points you get based on your placement will start from placement 42 with 5 points and will increase by 5 as we get higher."
Dokusei did some quick math in his head, 180 points.
"With the exception of the person in first place!" Dokusei looked around. "They will have ten million points!"
Everyone's gaze snapped to Midoriya, who looked like he was ready to shit a brick. "Suddenly... I don't envy Mordy anymore..."