A Fool's Bonds
Chapter 22
-Izuku-
Standing in the throng of the other competitors, Izuku let out a deep breath; tensing his legs as he got ready to bolt the instant that Midnight gave the signal to start.
His various bonds were scattered throughout the horde of competitors, having all agreed not to help each other in this first task unless someone was in desperate need of assistance. The second task was the teamwork one anyway and they all wanted to earn their own spots.
He noted a distinct head of red and white near the front of the pack, Todoroki's shoulders tense and the foot of the recommendation student's ice half was digging against the ground. That, and just from knowing Todoroki, were the only warnings he got. The second Midnight gave the call to start, Todoroki shot forward, freezing the ground around him to try and stick everyone in place. Try being the operative word as the entirety of class 1A had noticed what Izuku had in some way or another.
"You've got to try a lot harder than that Icy Hot!" Bakugo roared, flying through the air via his explosions, "Cause I'm coming for you!"
"A little ice isn't enough to stop me!" Eijiro shouted, barreling through the ice in his hardened form, Kyoka leaping off another student while Momo pole vaulted into the air.
Izuku himself had transformed, Momotaro's strength letting him tear through the layer of ice as he charged through the tunnel, right into the next task.
"THE ROBO INFERNO!" Present Mic shouted excitedly as the crowd roared, the machines from the entrance exam readying weapons. To make it worse, he could see the towering form of various zero pointers up ahead.
"Did the Hero course seriously have to fight those things to get in?!" one of the other students who'd managed to get out of the ice shouted, voice cracking from fear as more and more people broke out of the ice which only weakened the frigid trap further thus allowing more people to escape.
Tuning the panicking competitors out, Izuku swung his blade, cutting through the robots in his way. The metal of the machines was easily falling to his sword as Izuku, and the other racers, got closer and closer to the waiting Zero pointers.
Then he felt the rush of cold air, three of the massive machines covered in ice mid step. The metal groaned and screeched in protest at the forced stop before a loud metallic snap was heard, and the titans began to topple, falling back towards the other racers.
He wasn't sure if it was unexpected on Todoroki's part, if the ice user had just expected for security measures to be in place, or if for some horrible reason the first year hadn't cared about the risks. But the reason why didn't matter, stopping a tragedy did.
"Judgement!" Izuku's voice went from the youthful hopefulness of Momotaro to the unstoppable commanding tone of "Kronos!" his now blond hair flying back as he thrust a hand out, fingers curved as if clawed. He had been training hard with this form he had gained from his mother, trained to mitigate the degradation of anything he slowed with his powers.
Now he did the opposite. He made it worse; he lashed out against the falling titans of steel with everything he had. The harmful ravages of time were fully directed at the metal as it began to rust and crumble, scattering into the breeze before it could even so much as rustle the hair of the closest person who would have been caught in the catastrophe.
Dropping his Judgement form with a gasp, having never pushed that form in such a way before, Izuku forced himself to keep running. There was still a race going on after all.
-Tomura-
"He…he dusted it." Tomura was starting to hyperventilate as he stared at the screen wide eyed. His master had insisted that he watch the UA Sports Festival to gather information about his future enemies. And now he was seeing that green haired little shit who fought Nomu somehow had a power just like his?!
"Not exactly." His master's voce was calm and coldly calculating as always, likely watching through some sort of technology quirk "He declared that form as 'Kronos'. That is an old legend from Greece. The king of the Titans, who embodied the harmful effects of time. He isn't forcing an object to decay into dust. He is forcing it to age rapidly, admittedly achieving a similar effect."
"That's quite the lethal power if utilized on a person." Kurogiri remarked, idly polishing a glass,
"Which would ruin his reputation as a 'hero'." All for One scoffed in derision, "Such wasted potential."
"Yeah…wasted." Tomura spoke softly, eyes locked onto the hero with a power oh so similar to his. A power not being utilized to its fullest. And an idea started to form in his mind, "Kurogiri, contact Giran for me. I need to hire someone."
-Inko-
Inko felt her legs tremble weakly as she stared at the TV screen. On it her baby boy, her little Izuku, someone who hadn't spoken to her since their shouting match over the phone…was saving lives.
She'd never wanted him to be a hero. Why did her baby have to risk his life fighting villains. He wasn't as aggressive as Katsuki, not as battle hungry. So why? She knew he wanted to be a hero but had hoped that, if she kept pushing, he'd change his mind. That he'd pick a safer dream, one that wouldn't have him risking his life. Then there was his quirk, one that constantly brought up memories of the bastard she'd been dumb enough to marry, a piece of scum where the only good thing he ever gave her was Izuku.
But now, her little baby boy was using his quirk and saving people. The TV picked up the words he said, 'Judgement' and 'Kronos'. The 'form' her little boy had gotten from her. Power that she had given her precious boy was letting him save lives and there wasn't a scratch on him.
But most of all, there was the smile on his face. A smile she hadn't seen for a long time before her son began training with his quirk again. Before he started making friends. Before…before he got the chance to be a hero.
She still didn't want him to be a Hero, didn't want him to do something so dangerous. But she knew he'd never listen to her. And she knew if she kept pushing, then he'd never speak to her again. And that was the worst thing she could imagine.
-Izuku-
Pumping his arms, Izuku ran along the wires over the gorge of the second hurdle, currently in his base form. He'd spent enough energy as it was as Kronos and knew he'd need more energy yet to come. It was best to preserve it.
"Come on, that has to be cheating!" he could hear Ururaka protesting from the back part of the gorge while someone else cackled loudly. Given the sound of engines revving it was probably a support student who had gear that was helping them traverse this.
"Bout time you caught up Boss." Kyoka laughed as he got to the other side, "Was starting to think you'd stopped to smell the roses!"
"Ha, ha, stick to coffee as your day gig, your jokes need work." Izuku shot back, giving his Strength a grin as they ran, catching up with the other front runners who were partway through a damned minefield of all things. Getting an idea, Izuku grinned. They'd promised not to help each other but this was the tail end and he wanted to make a splash.
"FOOL!" Izuku transformed into his superhuman form before scooping Kyoka up into his arms as the punk rock hero let out a startled noise. With that, he bolted, grabbing Mina, Eijiro, and Momo into his arms as well as he barreled through the Mine field, setting them off behind them and causing chaos that soon caught up with Bakugo and Todoroki who'd been duking it out for first uncontested up until now.
"WHAT?!" Todoroki was livid at the sudden upset as Izuku ran past, his arms full of his friends as Bakugo just snarled, firing off more explosions to try and outpace the massive pink cloud chasing everyone.
"Toodles!" Izuku laughed, making it out past the minefield and through the tunnel.
"And in first place we have…how do we count this?!" Present Mic's confused shout was drowned out by the cheering of the crowd at the spectacle of one competitor literally carrying four others over the finish line for first place.
"Izuku!" Momo finally found her voice as she started swatting his head, face flushed red "Put me down!"
"Oh, come on girl, you know you like this!" Mina laughed as Izuku laughed happily.
"I could do with being on the ground." Ejiro rolled his eyes, the redhead thankfully no longer rocky and hardened.
"Sure. And here's a souvenir." Izuku grinned and plopped Mina bridal carry into Eijiro's arms as the two suddenly got flustered, Momo and Kyoka sitting on Izuku's shoulders as more and more of the top forty-two began to file in. he couldn't wait for event two.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO TEAMS BIGGER THAN FOUR?!"