My Hero Academia - Under Pressure - Season 2 - Chapter 3 - A Race, A Chase

The crowd cheered.

Class 1-B stepped out into the main arena and many waved to the crowd as they cheered them on.

"And here is Class 1-B!" came an announcer from a booth overlooking the stadium. "There are said to be some really heavy-hitters in this group, just like with Class 1-A before them. So you Pro-Heroes need to be keeping your eyes on them!"

"No pressure," mumbled Iha after hearing this.

"It's ok, Up Down, we got this," Tonen said with a smile to her.

She smiled back, in her own way, and nodded before continuing on to the section the students were compiling at.

"And next up," stated the announcer, "is the General Studies students!"

Another group entered the arena.

"Don't sleep on this group! They're aiming to get into the hero courses and this is their best chance to show they deserve it, so expect them to go all out!

"Competition, brother," noted Ryo as she looked at the next batch of students.

"Only if we let them beat us, sister," corrected Ryu with a slightly evil smirk.

"Now approaching is the Support Department students!" proclaimed the announcer. "While they may not get as much credit as the other courses, they're vital in Pro-Hero life for more reasons than you might think! Some of my gear even came from Pro-Supporters! So give them a hand!"

The crowd cheered, which made Goya annoyed, "Cheering the lambs alongside the shepherds, pathetic."

"And finally, the Business Department students! You'll be seeing a lot of them throughout the Festival...mainly because of them selling you lots of stuff. But hey, A for knowing what you can do best!"

As the final batch, Kuroda and Hana looked up at the booth with wild expressions.

"Who is doing the announcing?" Kuroda asked.

"Yeah, they're doing a bit of double-dipping with the praise and jokes," added Hana.

Inside the booth was Uyeki Suzutsu, one of their teachers. She was in her Hero attire and seemed very happy at what was going on.

"Uyeki Suzutsu. Teacher and Pro-Hero. Hero Name: Projection. Quirk: Sound Throwing. Like a ventriloquist, she can throw her voice, but in greater affect, she can mimic sounds and throw them to any location she wants. That may not SOUND like a cool Quirk, but trust us, she can screw with you if you get on her bad side."

"And I'm Uyeki Suzutsu, you call me Projection though," she said with a smile, "and I'll be your announcer for the entire Sports Festival! Now, are you ready to get the Freshmen round started?"

The crowd roared in approval. And all over Japan, and certain parts of the world, many others were watching the event via their televisions and computers.

"Excellent! So, to get this Freshmen round started, we head to the ground level with the Chief Referee, Armed Guard!"

"Oh no..." said Class 1-B in majority.

Armed Guard, fully decked in his hero gear, but with some additions to sell the importance of the event, stood on a stage overlooking the students.

"Your entrance exams were a prologue to your journey," he said in his usual gruff tone. "Your training was the first step. But now, you have a chance to leap ahead to greater heights. The eyes of Pro-Heroes and Japan are on you. So try hard. Because if you don't...I will...KNOW!"

His shout rattled the class, as well as the crowd.

Projection wasn't amused, "Yeah...he does that. Can we get to the rep talk already?"

"Fine...per the faculty, we've selected Kuroda Fuji to speak on behalf of the students. Ms. Fuji, if you would."

With confidence, Kuroda stepped onto the stage and got the mic from her teacher, "Thank you, Armed Guard, and thank all of you who came out to see this. It means a lot to our class. As part of Class 1-B, I can tell you that our time here so far has been transformative in various ways. Today, we're going to show you what we learned in our time here so far. So no matter what class and what student comes out on top, we hope you enjoy the show!"

She bowed to the crowd and they again erupted in cheers and applause. Kuroda rejoined her class and got a playful nudge from Eri, "Well done, class rep."

"If I did anything less than be supportive of everyone I probably would've gotten booed."

"So you tried to do it the opposite way Goya would've?"

"Pretty much."

The two and others who heard the joke snickered but Armed Guard again got their attention by tapping on the mic, "The Sports Festival is divided into certain challenges. The first challenge is meant to weed out many of you. To show us who is ready to go Plus Ultra to achieve your goals. As such, the first test is a race around the arena. If it was a simple race that wouldn't be a challenge. So be warned, there are obstacles and tests throughout the course. The first 64 of you to make it to the finish line will advance to the next round. Go through the entrance to start the obstacle course."

He pointed to a main arched entranceway into the arena. The students looked at it but didn't do anything.

Projection groaned over the microphone, "Way to kill the start, Armed Guard! Students, on your mark, get set, GO!"

With her screaming, the start the race began in haste. The horde of students moved towards the entrance. Or at least most of them did on foot.

Oshibu licked his chops as he adjusted his shades, "A race, huh? Watch as I come in first!"

He blitzed out of sight and quickly made his way in front of the mob and blitzed even further down the track before anyone could even react to him.

Goya was another who seemed unfazed by the quick start to the race, "An easy way to show off my abilities."

He levitated himself off the ground and proceeded to go above a majority of the mob and get ahead of them.

Within the horde, many of the students realized that they could, and should, use their abilities to get out of their current situation, so many of them did. Including Hana, who melded with the ground to get away, as well as Anno and Kanagita who transformed and created their own holes through people.

As they got out of the entranceway though the obstacle course started to show its teeth. For immediately, a series of very familiar robots appeared before them.

"Are those the robots from the entrance exam?" called out one student.

"That's just mean, those things suck!" cried out another.

Many with offensive Quirks though weren't fazed by the robots and took some of them out. The ones that couldn't, or wouldn't for one reason or another, just waited for an opening to be had and went around the fallen obstacles.

One such person was Tonen. He had played it mostly safe in his final training in the days leading up to the Festival so that he would be at max air pressure for the event. And he knew that this was arguably his first big test, because he could've easily ripped through the metal of the robots, but doing so would cost him his stockpile in the long run.

Instead, he merely watched as some of his fellow classmates tore through the robots and went through the gaps they had created. Some of the others in Class 1-B saw Tonen do this and followed his example, like Wasuke, Iha, and Azujima.

Kuroda however had no such intention of playing it "safe", to show off the power of her Quirk, she raced up to the biggest robot near her and touched it, "Let's see how you like being..."

Near instantly, the metal of the robot shifted into a whiter substance, one that rendered it inert. She saw a fragment of another robot near her and picked it up and turned it into diamond then swung it at the newly changed robot.

"...as light as a feather!"

As the diamond piece hit the robot the impact shattered it, but not into metal pieces, but rather, feathers that floated in every direction.

Projection gaped at this as she watched it happen, "Are you kidding me? Did she just turn that robot into feathers? Did anyone know she could do that?"

"I did..." joked Kuroda to herself before pushing onward.

The robots were quickly taken out by the various students, and when they were the path opened up in full and the horde once again poured forward to see what else awaited them.

They were given their answer soon enough, because they were introduced to a section of land that looked anything but standard.

"Uh-Oh, looks like the bulk of our students have reached the second phase of the obstacle course! The Steps Of Doom! This large section of land has all sorts of knick-knacks and doo-dads made by fellow teacher Duplicate! If you're smart, you'll be fine! If not...well...Life Force is standing by to heal you."

The Twins were among the horde that approached the swath of land and both of them looked at it ominously.

"Now might be the time to transform, brother," suggested Ryo.

"Fair enough, sister, guide me on my way," acknowledged Ryu.

He went into his Mech form and his sister grabbed on and they blasted across the land. Ryo's powers were working overtime telling the machines that had the booby-traps to not harm them, but her eyes went wide at one point, "Fly up!"

At her command, Ryu flew straight up, and no sooner had he done so than the ground beneath him shot up in a massive pillar. He flew as fast as he could with his sister hanging on for dear life until finally the pillar stopped.

"Nice work by The Twins!" proclaimed projection. "And that's just one thing we whipped up for them. Wonder what the students will trip next..."

"Let's not find out sister, and just fly to the end, shall we?" said Ryu with a scoff.

"Indeed, brother," replied Ryo, "just go slow on the descent, I'm not good at heights."

With a nod, the two lowered themselves down just enough to glide over to the ending sections.

Back at the beginning of the Steps of Doom, many of the students weren't sure what to do given what they just saw. A few got impatient and just raced across the area. When they did, several traps sprung forth. A few actually catapulted them into the air and launched them backwards.

A few students activated pitfalls that dropped them a few feet below ground, and because their Quirks couldn't help them, they were essentially out of the race.

Eri watched as one General Studies student pressed a switch and a cage formed around them, trapping them within it, "Well...they're getting rather clever with these..."

Sanda looked around for an option on how to get through, and looked at Tonen who was struggling himself. But when he did that, Sanda remember d his 1-on-1 fight with Tonen in the early days of school and the wall of earth he made.

"That ought to work," he said to himself, "no overthinking, just one big earth shield!"

He touched the ground with his hands and raised them up, a sphere of earth formed around him and then he used the earth to launch him forward. Some of the traps recognized what he was doing and certain traps sprung.

Like with The Twins, columns of earth shot up at him, but because of his position, all they did was flung his earth sphere higher into the air and didn't stunt his progress.

Eventually, his forward momentum carried him to the end. He dropped the earth and was a bit wobbly, "Is this what Ueno feels like? I mean, I guess my vertigo is temporary and to be like Ueno I'd have to have it permanently or something like-"

A horn blasted and stopped his rambling, and over the loud speaker Projection said, "And we have our first place finisher!

At the arena interior, Oshibu was waving towards the crowd, "And it's Class 1-B's Oshibu Noka, we honestly didn't even see him get through the final task...somehow...but that's what happens when you have blinding speed like he does! 63 more spots to fill, who will show up next?"

Back at the Steps, the horde was getting restless, and many of the Hero Course members from both classes decided enough was enough, they all started to use their various Quirks to try and get through no matter the risk.

Ikaim, for example, used his ink to jet across the field and when the obstacles tried to get them he changed course in midair to get around them. Hana again went into the ground in order to go through the obstacles, and because of her connection with the ground was able to avoid tripping them.

Anno and Kanagita teamed up to just bulldoze through things. Anno got caught in a cage but ripped right through the metal, and Kanagita fell into a pit but was able to jump out of it with no issues. Chuya used her water body to take no damage as the obstacles and traps tried to contain her. Doza used his resonance to get through things even when he got caught on a pillar, he shattered it and proceeded.

Fenella and Ebirima actually teammed up to get through by using Fenella's runes and Ebirima's bubble gum blasts to trip things so that they knew what was ahead of them.

The more the traps got tripped, the easier it was to go through, and the majority of the class realized that and hung back until more tripped them.

On one side of the steps, Azujima looked at everything and realized what he could do, he saw Iha next to him alongside Tonen and reached out for her, "Ready for a team-up to show what we can do?"

"Ok," she said with a shrug.

She powered him up and using a focus that he had been practicing he touched the ground and could instantly sense where all the triggers and traps were for the area.

"Follow me."

"Happy to, Azu," remarked Tonen as he followed his friends.

As the three made it, more horns went off and Projection noted that more students had arrived, slowly lowering how many were left to fill out the board.

The crowd of students raced as fast as they could to the final obstacle and most were stunned into stopping when they saw it.

Ueno actually stopped his wobbling to look at it better, "...what is that?"

"That is our final challenge, the mega-laser-grid!" shouted Projection in a way that made her voice echo at the last few words. "The three students that arrived went through this so quickly that I didn't get to explain it, but now I can!"

The students from afar noticed that this was indeed what she described. Because before them was a literal towering set of laser grids. Ones that didn't just go high and deep, but were moving slowly.

"This very special obstacle was made by The Tinker and will test how our students can get through an obstacle that seems impossible but isn't...as the other students proved easily...but this should be fun! And...for those worried that the lasers might seriously injure the students, fear not. These are special lasers that don't emit burning heat, but will merely shock when touched. At worst, they'll get knocked out. Again...we have Life Force on standby."

As the majority of the students approached, there was one student who was looking at the grid with intensity, it was Goya.

"I could go over it, but that would be a waste as I've flown over most of the course! I must put on a show..." he mused to himself, then when he heard the others getting closer, he grimaced. "Fine, I'll do this the hard way."

He motioned his hands to the towards the helped control the laser grid and pulled off some metal panels. Goya positioned the panels around him so that he could walk cleanly through the grid and the lasers couldn't touch him. He smirked as it worked to perfection.

As he was doing this at a rather nonchalant pace, Wasuke was one of the first from the rest of the group to reach the laser grid and he smirked as well, "That's not a bad idea!"

With a roar, he enlarged the two parts of his shield and just like Goya, used the metal to reflect the materials away from him. He did this with a sprint instead of a walk so he actually made it past Goya despite him having a larger lead at the time. Sanda did his earth sphere trick and also raced past Goya right as he was getting to the end of the laser grid.

"Later!" teased Sanda as he blasted past Goya and towards the exit.

"Appreciate the tip!" added Wasuke as he sprinted by.

Goya fumed at this, "How...DARE YOU!? This was MY CHANCE to put on a display and you decide to copy my talents?"

He reached out to stop them with his psychic powers but stopped when a noise reached him. He turned and saw the vast majority of the rest of the students were approaching the laser grid. Including Tonen, Azujima and Iha.

Goya's anger turned into a sinister smile as an idea came to mind, "I'm sure they won't mind me making this tougher for them..."

With a deep breath he channeled his psychic energy and he grabbed many students that approached, Tonen saw this at the last second and blasted himself into the air to get away. While he escaped, a dozen or so didn't, and once in his grasp, he flung them at the rest of the students. A massive collision occurred and many were knocked back pretty far. Those that didn't get caught kept going forward, including some of Class 1-B, but Goya didn't mind. He merely laughed and levitated his way to the end.

"Bye-bye..."

Projection was again shocked by what she saw, "I did not see that coming! Goya Ramasu intentionally flung many of the students back, including ones from his own class! Guess he doesn't like getting shown up. Not that it matters as he's now entering the arena within the top 10. Now though, the race is literally on as...wait, what are those two doing to the laser grid?"

Two oddly sympatico girls held hands and aimed their free ones at the devices of the laser grid. A flash of light and energy occurred and the laser grid shorted out and shut down.

"Success!" said the two as they proceeded through without issue.

"Woah! Class 1-A literally shines as two of its top members make it through and have literally made it easy for everyone else to finish! Which means...we got a race to the end, folks!"

Tonen touched down on the ground just after the laser grid went down and saw that about two dozen students were going through the now open grid toward the finish line.

He prepared to burst forward but a faint groan caught his ears. Tonen turned and saw Azujima trying to help Iha up, and all around them the other students were getting up and realizing the opening that they had.

"It's open!" shouted one Support Student. "Every student for themselves!"

A stampede burst forth, and Tonen saw as Azujima and Iha were about to get caught in it. In that moment, he froze and didn't know how he should proceed.

"They say that every hero has a few moments that define their career. One is when they decide to be a hero. Two is when they save their first life and realize that this is what they want to do. But another moment is when they have a choice in front of them and have to decide between an easy victory, and a harder but truer path. I told everyone in 1-B that we were on our own unless a team-up situation was necessary. I could've easily gone to the finish line and no one would blame me. But as I saw Iha and Azujima, their faces as they realized they couldn't stop from being trampled on their own, my heart was shouting to save them. Would I follow my own rule and just get the victory? Or would I risk it all to save my friends and help us all succeed? Well...I did say I was trying to be a different kind of hero, right?"

Tonen's face shifted and he extended his arms backwards so that he would be launched towards the stampede, "KAH!"

With his shout he blasted forwards, much to the confusion of Projection in the booth, "What is Tonen Keitomo doing? He's going away from the finish line! What is he hoping to do?"

He didn't answer, but instead continued towards the stampede. As he did, the horde of students didn't stop. Some even got their Quirks ready to attack him. They were getting dangerously close to Azujima and Iha so he poured on the air pressure and got within their range.

"Back off!" he shouted and shot his arms forward, sending a blast of air towards the students closest to his friends.

The air pressure slammed into them and shot them into the air and basically out of the contest. However, he didn't hit everyone because it was a focused blast, and it shot him backwards and onto the ground.

Tonen didn't let that deter him though and he got up and raced towards the other two, "You two ok?"

"What are you doing, TK?" asked Azujima, shocked at what was going on, and seeing many students run by them towards the finish line. "You're going to lose!"

"Why come back?" wondered Iha with equal confusion.

"You two are worth it," he answered with a smile and he sat down and removed his shoes. "Besides, I followed you two through the steps, only fair I pay you back."

He laughed and started to take off his socks, which really got Iha's attention, "What are you doing?"

"Something stupid. Ok you two get on my back and hold on for dear life. Up Down? Power me up and don't stop until we're at the finish line."

Azujima was stunned by all of this, "TK...I don't..."

"Azu, do you trust me?"

"Always."

"Good. Then trust me now. You don't deserve to go out like this, neither of you do. So grab on and let's go!"

He got on one knee so they could each get on, Azujima was first, then Iha was second, "I'm good."

"You two are heavier than I thought, ok, Up Down, let's blast off!"

She touched his shoulder and turned on her power, Tonen could feel the new levels of strength flowing through him and now upright, he focused as much air as he dared through his feet and roared. The air blasted out from his feet and shot him diagonally through the air.

As it did, he made sure to keep an eye on the horde of students racing towards the finish line as well as his distance from the arch that led to it.

Once he felt he was at the right Apex, he stopped midair, shifted position, and then blasted straight towards the ground.

"TK, we're going to crash!" shouted Azujima as they got closer to the solid earth.

"Not today!" Tonen shouted back

The students were unaware of what was above them, not until Tonen got right in front of them and sent an air blast in all directions to stop him cold inches above the ground and then once again blasted forward.

The trio shot through the tunnel, around the students that were already in there, and then shot out of the arch and to the finish before touching down somewhat hard on the ground. Separating the three as they rolled across it.

"Oh my goodness! I can't believe what we just saw!" Projection exclaimed, and she did various sound effects to cement the epic moment. "Tonen Keitomo grabbed Iha Jun and Azujima Yakishi and was able to perfectly manipulate his powers, with a little boost of course, to worm his way ahead of the others! What a showing!"

The crowd cheered for Tonen's exploits. And as he slowly looked up from his grounded position, he saw some of his other classmates race to help them up, Kuroda led the charge as she got to Azujima, while Eri got to Iha.

"You two ok?" asked Kuroda with a look to them both.

"Rough landing," joked Eri as she helped Iha up.

"Blame Tonen," Iha said with a small grunt.

"Yeah TK, what happened to, 'Not today!'" joked Azujima with a smile to his friend.

Sanda and Wasuke helped Tonen up, "Forgive me for being not having a pilot's license. Landing is apparently the hard part!"

"That was very bold, Tonen," Wasuke said with an approving look.

"Yeah man, what happened to everyone needs to show themselves off?" wondered Sanda.

Tonen looked at Iha and Azujima and saw their relief and joy at having made it to the next round, he shrugged and said, "Rules are meant to be broken."

Kuroda did her best to hide a smile, "Well said."

"Thanks K-Rep. Oh! Has everyone made it? I lost track of everyone after Goya's dick move."

"Yep! After the laser grid shut down the majority of us got through. Ueno was the last one to get through before you guys bolted in."

Tonen looked around and saw Ueno sitting on the ground, wobbling more than ever, "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"And...that's it!" came the voice of Projection. "With that, the 64th student has arrived and the preliminary round is finished!"

The crowd cheered at the revelation. The majority of Class 1-B sighed in relief that they had gotten through mostly unscathed, with many of them showing off their powers in impressive ways.

"We'll give our students a moment to rest in a bit, but now, back to the stage with Armed Guard who will announce the next event!"

Armed Guard gazed at the students with intensity, "That first test showed more than you realize, in the good AND bad ways...but that doesn't matter right now. Because right now is where things get very serious. Because now...the numbers will get a LOT thinner."

Many students gulped at this. Which made the teacher happy.

"There are 64 of you now, but at the end of this next round there will only be 16. That's right, only a fourth of you will make it to the next round and that should make you terrified because this next battle could be anything. Behold the rankings!"

He motioned to a giant screen on the arena and from it came 64 name plates with pictures of the students. Tonen grimaced slightly as he saw that he was in the 50s due to his rescue of Azujima and Iha, but he knew it wouldn't matter if he made it to the next round.

"This shows where you are right now status wise, and depending on the next event, that could mean everything...or nothing. So, allow us to show you the next event!"

The mega-screen changed and a series of event icons were shown, then came together and like a slot machine were rolled out for all to see. Eventually, it stopped at a Gemini-like icon.

This surprised Armed Guard a bit, "Interesting...a Tag-Team Elimination Bout! Haven't seen one of those in many years. The good news for you in the lower ranks is that this means your failure to come in higher won't affect you. The bad news is that this means ALL of you are equally as likely to fail in the next event. Because you will be paired with someone at random, and that will be your teammate. Your goal is to KO or trap the other teams. That means BOTH have to be taken down. The teams will be eliminated until eventually 8 teams of 2 remain, giving us the 16 participants in the final round."

The students weren't sure what to make of this. Mainly because while the obstacle course could be defined as a test of skills and strategy and thoughtfulness, this next test was that of adaptability alongside a stroke of luck. Get the wrong partner, and you would be done. Get the right one, and you could glide to the end easily.

"So...let's find out the pairings!"

Armed Guard motioned to the screen and the pairings shuffled up the students. Tonen watched in earnest, both curious and worried about who he would get.

It was true he didn't care too much about winning the tournament, but he did want to advance to the final round event at least so he could further showcase his abilities. Would luck be on his side? Or would he get paired with someone that would hinder his chances?

"The pairings are done, behold the teams!"

The students looked at the board and many were shocked by who they saw got paired. This next round...would be a very hard competition indeed.

*credits*