Author's note; Thank you all so much for all the positive feedback. I was so scared for so long back there. Thank you all. I'm sorry chapter 11 took so long, but here it is! The start of the race chapters!
That's right readers, buckle in! I'm going overkill for the Sports Festival! Plus Ultra!
A comfortably dim bar situated far from prying eyes. Its brick walls and reinforced doors protected the serenity and comfort of its guests. Red topped stools with little back bracers sat in a line at the bar counter, all comfortably worn. The wall of drinks towered, lit with a warm orange backlight, more for looks than for use. A jukebox slumped silently moping in the corner. At the far end of the bar, a television was standing at attention, ready to be used, unlike its jukebox counterpart. The remote perched on the counter's edge while the dark screen reflected the mostly empty bar. A flamboyantly dressed woman and a suitcase alone amongst the stools and booths in the dark reflection.
Lucy sat at the bar and swung her legs mindlessly while she rested her elbows on the counter. Little lazy twisters of boredom popped up around her head with a monotonous and sluggish ticking sound. Her rose tinted glasses did little to hide her bored and slightly annoyed expression. By her side, with a seat to himself, sat the guitar case that Monster inhabited. Lucy's hat sat atop it. The faint sounds of Monster taking a nap rumbled from within.
Kurogiri motionlessly stood behind the bar as he stared at the young lady he was supposed to be looking after. "Can I get you anything?" He prompted the silence in a desire to be useful.
Lucy's eyebrow twitched as frustration literally cast a bubble up by her head. "Could you not have just teleported Doc here?" She gestured to the table. Her movements conjured up a doodle of Garaki and a block vortex. She clapped them together and dispelled them.
"Dr. Garaki had certain errands to see to. I am certain he will arrive shortly, he's not known for tardiness after all." Kurogiri stated as he raised a hand to his vest. "But if it troubles you so, I could relay a message to him"
"It's just that he's really cutting it down to the wire. We're supposed to watch the UA sports festival together." Lucy gestured to the TV while figments of a stadium full of menacing heroes popped up beside it.
"Hmmm?" The suitcase growled as Monster started waking up. "Is it time for the game yet?"
Lucy checked her watch. Figments of numbers popped up around her head. "30 minutes till the speaker takes the stage."
"30 minutes till we get to see the heroes celebrate normal and heroic Quirks." Monster huffed grumpily in the bag.
Lucy smirked at the familiar rant they both knew by heart. Her boredom twisters spun away and disappeared as doodly figments of cartoonishly big headed heroes began to pop up around her. "Heh. Yeah. But this sports festival is special, this is All Might's class, and Tomura's killer is in it."
A life sized figment of Tomura appeared in the seat beside her. His form was drawn in roughly, but all the features were clear enough. He seemed grumpy and dismissive of everything around him. She could never imagine him looking happy, just gloomy and angry.
Kurogiri reached over and waved his hand through the Tomura drawing causing it to break, dispersing like mist. "Tomura will have his vengeance when he wakes up. I'm certain it will be high on his list."
Lucy looked over and saw her Tomura figment fading away. A shard of pain flared up behind her, a chain of triangular pieces of glass that ran from her nape to her tailbone. It weighed down on her and burnt a little red as she said, "Oh. Sorry about that… My thoughts are littering out again…"
"There's nothing to be sorry about." Kurogiri said with his comforting tone. "Your Quirk is as impressive as it is honest. I am sorry that the rest of the world can't see that."
The chain cooled down a little and retreated away from view. Lucy smiled a little, just a bit sad, "Yeah, that's why we're here after all. Thanks Kuri."
The bar room door jiggled as someone unlocked it.
Lucy perked up, little cracks of stress webbed out around her, each segment flashing a vision of what she thought could come through the door. Kirogiri's eyes flicked over to the door yet he didn't move a muscle. Monster remained silent in his bag.
Dr. Garaki stepped into the bar holding a grocery bag. He wiped some sweat from his wrinkled brow. "Whew. Sorry." He huffed. "I've been so busy lately. Just stopped by the store for some snacks and," he fished out some notepads and pencils, "study materials. So very few schools broadcast their upcoming heroes with such foolish bravado as UA."
Lucy smiled excitedly. After having been taken in, before she had finished her schooling, Dr. Garaki had to homeschool her. Something she picked up quickly with her active and hungry imagination.
Immediately her thoughts began to tumble out of her through her Quirk. Jotted lines of garbled text scribbled into the air around her reading nonsense like 'The fourth of apple purple'.
Monster reached out of his guitar case and took the bag from Garaki. "Busy with what?" He asked a little grumpily as he began to empty the bag onto the counter.
The old doctor took a seat beside them. He gave a nod to Kurogiri before turning back to Monster and Lucy, "Tomura's recovery was trickier than expected. However, he should be back to normal in a few more days."
Kurogiri poured Garaki a drink. It was just a soft cider, as alcohol wasn't good for his fragile health.
Garaki took it with a small "Thank you." Before returning his attention to Lucy and Monster. "As you may have known, Tomura was killed during our raid on UA nearly a month ago."
"I returned his severed hands for you." Monster tiredly interjected. "Not that there was much else left."
Lucy remembered vividly. Her memories of the event began to play on the TV beside the group.
The memory of that pink, monstrous girl with a hurricane of acid chased them down. She was yelling about how Lucy was wrong to go down this path, how it was a failure of her character.
"Yes well, you may also recall that All For One gave him a copy of super regeneration. There was a slight complication however." Garaki took a sip of his drink and leveled himself as he collected his thoughts. "Being only a set of hands, his body couldn't fully support the requirements for the regeneration process. I had to personally oversee his growth in one of the stasis tanks. Manually supply glucose and oxygen for what little energy production he could muster, then make sure that he was getting all the necessary components to begin reconstruction."
Figments of chemical structures popped up around Lucy's head as she imagined a fish tank with Tomura in it being fed sugar. "Hehe." She giggled.
Dr Garaki nodded at the figment. "You're not too far off conceptually."
He continued his mini lecture, "As Tomura's body began to regenerate, it had to rebuild his organs first. This is what was so difficult and what took so long. Super regeneration doesn't work for free and takes energy, but if the body cannot supply energy due to the damage it's undertaken, then no regeneration can occur."
Lucy snapped her fingers as a graph was drawn up. "Exponential growth curve! The more body he has, the more energy he can produce, the faster he heals!"
Garaki waved a little cheer, "Exactly! Super regeneration can regrow a nomu's missing arm in no time because the nomu has nearly limitless energy to supply. If it loses half its body, it can call upon its other half to supply regeneration in no time. But," The doctor got excited as he began to explain, "if you were only a set of hands with health as bad as Tomura's…"
"Slower regeneration." Lucy filled in. "More room for failure and starvation."
Garaki sighed. "Which is why I've been so tired lately. That boy never took care of himself, and now super regeneration is asking for energy he can't supply on his own. That means that I had to take care of everything else."
"Then…" Lucy became a little downcast. A shadow blocked over her eyes behind her glasses as her voice became hesitant and nervous. "Why hasn't Sensei healed properly."
The doctor fell silent for a moment before taking a slow, long breath. His voice was calm, yet grim, as he was discussing something a condition that could never truly be cured. A doomed topic that he had been working on for years, and all solutions were not looking good. "Your Sensei and I… you know how long we've lived. My Quirk, life force, extends one's life at the cost of their vitality. It causes us to grow old slower. It doesn't reverse the process, nor even stop it, just prolongs it. We're already so old that even with super regeneration… It's like trying to draw and erase a canvas over and over. The image becomes muddied, the canvas begins to degrade. Super regeneration has its limits, and one of those limits is vitality, something my Quirk spends to extend life span."
"Then why don't you-" Lucy asked nervously as she tried to throw a new idea in only to be cut off.
"Try combining super regeneration with another Quirk to create a Quirk that can rewind aging?" Garaki already knew what Lucy was going to ask. He sighed as he continued, "Super regeneration is… picky. It won't heal some things, such as mental afflictions, or our problem, aging. Aging could be considered a form of damage, as nervous tissue begins to degrade, genetic mutations such as cancer become more likely, mitochondrial oxidative inefficiencies, …" He began to list every form of aging he knew.
Lucy blinked as she became completely stumped. She had become completely lost by this point. Spirals of confusion and befuddlement spun around her head.
"Whatever it is." Monster huffed from within his bag as he opened the packet of chips with his long, bony hands. "I'm sure you'll figure it out." He pulled a chip through the case and into his space to eat.
"I do believe the sports festival will be starting soon." Kurogiri reminded the group as he set down glasses of ice for the drinks.
"Ah! It should be about time!" Garaki exclaimed as he tried to get comfortable at the bar with a notepad ready.
"Now remember Lucy." He said as she took up her own notepad. "We're not only here to see the Quirks of the upcoming heroes, but also to find the heir of All Might."
Mrs. Midoriya put her hands together as she went over everything she had brought to the couch.
Tissues, check. Tear buckets, check. Water and tea, check. Memory space to record her baby boys sports festival, check.
She was super nervous and had to keep calming herself down. Her son had finally grown into his Quirk, at eighteen, and was pursuing his dangerous dream. Taught by his dream hero All Might! A mother could only worry so much!
"Let's go Izuku." She whispered in cheer as she sat down and got ready to watch.
A man grunted as he collapsed into his couch, an ice pack clutched in his grasp. He pulled off his armor and shirt and winced at his new bruises.
He didn't live in a very nice place. He barely spent time here at all actually. It was a place for him to maintain his equipment and his body, for his crusade against false heroes was never ending.
He bit back a hiss as he placed an ice pack to his abdomen. "False hero scum."
His latest encounter had put up a hard fight. 'Ingenium was it? The crusade stops for no one, not even him.'
'Today's the sports festival. I'm stuck healing here.' He grimaced in pain as he reached for the remote. 'Let's see if this batch of new heroes is as corrupt as the last.' He mentally spat at the idea.
Mr. Tenikari fixed his shirt before swinging open his apartment door.
"AYYY!" A chorus of greetings shouted off.
"Welcome on in everyone!" Mr. Tenikari waved his work friends in through the door. "The festival is about to start!"
"Got beers?" Manwell asked with a smile as he was the first through the door. He was a man of average height and appearance. No Quirk.
"HA!" Mr. Teniakri laughed as he slapped Manwell on the back. "Don't pull my leg like that! Of course I have beer!"
Tiamuth huffed a laugh as he stepped in with a bowed head to dodge the doorframe. "It has been too long my friend!" He was a large, burly man with a gallery of scars. A mutant with red reptilian features and two long horns that ran back from his forehead to behind him. Scars ran down his arms and back from a past he'd rather leave behind. In his claw-like hands was a big pot of meatballs.
"Indeed!" Mr. Tenikari cheered as he waved him in.
He squinted as he glared at the last guest. His teeth grit in disgust.
"Are you going to welcome me in Mr. Teniakri?" Lordra asked. She was a decently tall, slender woman with chestnut hair that hid her long pointed ears. Her Quirk, balance sense, allowed her to see and sense the stresses a structure was under. A lot of costs had been saved by her being able to see structural integrity.
Mr. Tenikari snorted as his facade broke into a chuckle. Then an uproarious laugh that came from his stomach. "Baw hahahaaa! Of course! Of course! Make yourself at home!"
"I can't believe your daughter got into UA." Manwell said with the nod of his head. He plopped down into the middle of the couch and kicked his feet up onto the coffee table.
"I won the bet." Tiamuth grinned as he set down his pot of meatballs.
"There was a bet?!" Mr. Tenikari's thick eyebrows rose high enough to see his eyes.
Lordra sighed as she took a chair away from the gaggle of idiots. "Yes, there was a bet."
Tiamuth's grin grew wider and more draconic and smug with Lordra's sigh. "She bet that Tanya would go into the business course at UA." He threw Lordra under the bus while taking a seat at the edge of the couch. The couch creaked under his immense weight. He shimmied into his corner in an attempt to take up less space.
Mr. Tenikari stared at Manwell in amazement. "What did you bet on?"
Manwell shrugged. "Hey, I bet she would come work with us. Couldn't blame a guy for wanting a few more hands on deck." He threw his hands up.
"You already know," Tiamuth's wide, gloating smile bared his rows of fangs, "I bet on her becoming a hero. That girl has too much fight in her and is too smart to be a villain."
"You guys had a bet." Mr. Tenikari looked around in bewilderment. "On my daughter."
Manwell tried to avoid the father's roaming stare by leaning back and trying to disappear behind Tiamuth's shoulder while the big guy merely grinned with his large, sharp teeth. Lordra kept her head down in her hand as she was disappointed and annoyed.
"Even Lordra was in on it?" Mr. Tenikari jabbed a thumb over at her. "Madam prim and proper herself."
"I can't deal with you idiots sober." She muttered as she got up to go get a drink.
Mr. Tenikari put his hands on his hips and declared, "And none of you thought to invite me?" He grinned.
Lordra looked behind her as she pulled a beer out of the fridge. "What?"
"HUhaha!" Tiamuth laughed as his grin broke into full on joy. "I KNEW IT!"
Manwell started lightly slapping Taimuth's arm. "Oh shut it you big lizard!" He shouted through his own smile.
Mr. Tenikari grabbed him and his friends some drinks before thudding onto his own side of the couch and passing them over.
"But Lordra though?" Mr. Tenikari shook his head in mock amazement. "I could never have imagined such behavior out of you."
She pulled her bottle down from her lips. "For the record, it was not my idea."
Manwell rolled his eyes and whispered, "Yet once the name Tanya was dropped, she hopped on immediately."
"Had such high hopes for my daughter, did ya?" Tenikari smirked before rolling his shoulder while his mood turned a little somber. "But, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want you to win this one."
"Oh?" Lordra asked as let her drink rest.
The guys were curious as well. Manwell leaned in wanting to know more while Taimatt raised a brow.
"You always knew how my daughter had a mind for things I didn't." Tenikari looked down at his beer. His posture slumped till his elbows rested on his knees.
"Well that ain't hard- ow!" Manwell taunted before yelping at Taimuth's elbow jab.
"Shut it." He growled under his breath.
Tenikari continued. "Laugh if you'd like, she's way smarter than me. Back when she was a little girl, and she was just in elementary school, I remember I received a report from the teacher. 'High marks in all subjects, shows an abnormally high academic intelligence, lacks interpersonal skills.' And that had always rung true her whole life."
He rubbed his thick brow as he continued. "It was back in middle school when she had revealed that she can do my taxes for me. Better than I ever could too. But that was also when the parent complaints started to come in. She had been threatening some of the other students and even getting into fights at school. You know how guys can be at that age, some of them needed… correcting. Well, she had taken that into her own hands once the teachers had ignored her complaints."
He smirked a little. "Not that I blame her. Some boys have to learn the hard way and I wouldn't want her being pushed around by anyone like that. Anyways, that had started her tendency for turning in reports to the school board about the teachers and trying to start lawsuits. Fights were always breaking out amongst the middle schoolers. It was hell. But… not for her though."
"I've been hearing about those scandals at the middle and high schools." Tiamuth rubbed at his jaw as he thought deeply about it. "The teachers are favoring turn over numbers and potential upcoming stars over behavioral and even educational duties."
Tenikari nodded his head. "Yeah… And you all know Tanya. She was caught in the crossfire, but they had failed to realize that she was the threat."
"That's why I bet on her being a hero." Tiamuth said with a nod as he leaned forward till his elbows rested on his legs. "She fought an entire school's worth of corruption, both adults and students alike, yet came out just fine. If that ain't hero material, I don't know what is. Like I said, she has too much fight in her to do nothing but she's too smart to be a villain."
"Yeah, I just wanted…" Mr. Tenikari was worried, and his voice slowed on his hesitation. He took a deep breath, "I just pray she'll be alright."
"Drink up Karl." Manwell said with a comforting tone as he lifted his own drink.
Tiamuth raised his drink. "Today, we watch Tanya deliver a beat down."
"To her path, and her choice." Lordra declared as she lifted her drink.
Karl Tenikari raised his drink, took a deep composing breath, and shouted, "To the greatest asswhooping UA's Ever Seen!"
"YAAAAY!" The guys all cheered while Lordra threw her head back and laughed.
Tanya stood in the changing room at UA as she slid her workout jacket into position. The entirety of Class 1As girls were getting dressed out together.
"It's a shame we couldn't wear our costumes." Uraraka said with a hint of dejection as she pulled her shoes on. "It has some good support for my nausea."
Tanya was about to talk before Mina jumped in and cut her off. "You could have filled out a form ahead of time." She said happily.
"What did you ask for?" Tanya asked, partially amazed that Mina had already handled the support gear request form.
Mina pulled her shirt's collar to the side to show her bra strap. It was the same blue and purple design as her hero outfit. "Acid resistant athletic undergarments, or Arau for short." She grinned before sitting down and beginning to pull on her shoes.
Her pink shoes had holes in the bottom. "These are also acid resistant."
"Wow!" Uraraka cheered. "You're all geared up! But, why not the clothing?"
Mina grinned as she grabbed her jacket. "It actually is! It was a huge hassle to get them to make it for me in time, haha."
"Can't have you revealing yourself during the sports festival." Tanya nodded. 'She appears to be on top of things.' She mentally complimented.
Mina chuckled. "Yeah. It beats the melting accident when my Quirk came in."
Toru audibly smirked, "Heh, I couldn't imagine that being embarrassing."
Mina stuck her tongue out at the floating clothing. "Invisi-girl."
"Oh! I love it!" She threw a fist up in excitement. "I'll keep that in mind for a hero name!"
"Well at least it won't happen to you today." Tanya rolled her shoulder as she stood up and began to make her way out of the changing rooms.
The waiting room was a bland white box, with a stripe of purple that wrapped around the wall from the floor to waist height. The ceiling was a purple tileset, the floor a gray black. Four white, hard edged tables with cheap folding chairs lined the room. Big, dark blue lockers stood around the room.
Tanya took a head seat at a table. Her 'team' sat around her. She was focused on the game ahead and not focused on the room.
To her left, Bakugo kept a calmer scowl than usual. His eyebrows furrowed as he relaxed in his chair, an arm tucked over the backrest.
To her right, Mina started leaning back in her chair. Her hands kept out in front of her for balance. "Ooh." She hummed as she kept balance, a smile crept onto her face.
And further down past Mina, Sato took a deep breath as he kept his hands out on the table. Dozens of worried thoughts jumped into his head and had to be forced out one at a time.
Around the room, the students were getting their heads in the game with their own rituals. Some chatted and tried to keep the worry at bay, others sat in silence.
Sitting with Jiro and Kaminari, Momo ate a little box of petit fours, little rich cakes. For once she took little enjoyment in them, the flavor being lost in the oncoming wave of pressure.
"Do we have any gameplan?" Sato asked to break the ice with Tanya. He had a weak, brittle smile on his big lips. 'She always seems to have an idea.'
"Are we talking plans now?" Mina asked as she let her chair fall forward.
Tanya bit her lip before leaning forward and talking to her table. "The first round is likely going to open up as a qualifier. Every year they have a larger student body than the audience could keep track of, so they have to sort."
Bakugo lifted an eyebrow at this but kept his silence. 'What use is scheming this?'
"It's likely that they'll look to disqualify everyone but the hero course students, as having untrained students in the later rounds would be disinteresting to audiences." Tanya put her hands together as the generals of her past life would have. A smile crept more and more onto her face.
"Don't audiences love a good underdog though?" Sato asked wearily. His question held a dual purpose. 'It'll be hard to be liked or picked up by agencies later with Midoriya… doing what I can but flashier.'
"Underdogs are good for the masses looking for entertainment." Tanya said as she had wished this could be a simpler display, but international television could suffice. "But UA Academy is not catering to them, this festival is really for the agencies watching. All the spectacle and show is just for profit returns." Tanya pointed out and dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand.
As Sato shrunk back, slightly saddened, Mina eagerly pressed her own thoughts. She nearly bounced out of her chair "That would mean only a few more spots than the two classes!" Her eyes looked up as she took count, "So… just over forty!"
Tanya nodded. "We don't need to know how many, just that information makes this easier. The next game after the qualifiers will likely be a team game to bunch up the forty hero students into easily watchable groups. I'd look forward to having you all on my team."
Bakugo spat at the idea as he kept his relaxed posture. "Scheming a team up?! Fuck, you sound like Deku right now. No, I'm winning this on my own."
"We're all friends here, and yeah, we'll compete against each other at some point but that won't be every round." Mina tried to persuade him with her big grin.
"Like hell I'll be Angel Wings lap dog!" He slapped the table. The others beyond the team jumped before glancing over at him.
Sato held his hands up nervously as he tried to reason with Bakugo. "But you're not. I thought we agree-"
"Our little deal was that you extras cover the shit I don't want." Bakugo shot up, his chair scraped back with an awful sound. He pounded his finger against the table as if stabbing at an invisible document. "I want to win this, indisputably! And that includes over all of you!"
"Does this not constitute fairplay?" Tanya's wings twitched in anger as her lip curled up to the side. She didn't want to lose one of her teammates before the games had even begun. "All of the players, all of us, are allowed to scheme as we see fit." She dragged his term with venom as she gestured to the class.
"Ha." Bakugo huffed. "We're all competition! That means you too Angel Wings." He turned his back on the table.
Tanya stood up, her wings unfurled behind her as her temper rose. 'I will speak to him in the only language he understands, aggression!'
"And what does that mean?!" She barked back. "What do you have to prove beyond winning?!"
Mina watched in awe, her head turning back and forth. 'Look at them go!' She mentally cheered.
Sato shrunk back a little more. He was already feeling small from the idea of having to go up against Midoriya, and now his friends had begun to fight again.
"If I team up with you, that means that I am not the best here. No, that would make it you." Bakugo growled as he turned back and pointed at her. "Even if I win first place, it will be off of your plans, your coattails. I agreed to be in this little group to cover shit I don't want to do, but this is exactly what I want."
Tanya's temper flash froze. Her snarl dropped as she went cold and focused. Her wings settled down and folded back up behind her as she glared at him like he was nothing more than a battle report on her desk. "I understand. But what will that mean if you don't win? That you would rather lose alone than win together?"
Bakugo grinned a wicked smirk that bared his teeth. He felt the challenge she had issued him. "I will win Angel Wings. Even if that means going through you and your shit team of extras."
"Oh ho! It's on!" Mina grinned as she leapt to her feet and darted to Tanya's side. "I want in on this!"
Sato scratched at his cheek. There was no blush, only guilt and fear. "Whatever…" He gulped down his hesitation. "Whatever gets me the best chance at proving myself over Midoriya…"
Bakugo turned his head around with a cocky smile. 'Diabetes, that is the first thing out of your big mouth today that made any sense.'
"Oh?" Mina asked as she stepped away from Tanya. She became a little concerned over Sato's downtrodden tone. 'I hope he'll tell us what's wrong…'
Tanya smiled calmly as she retook her seat. Her wings tucked over the back of her chair once more like a high throne of white feathers. "I assure you Sato, stick with me, and you'll get your chance."
Sato lowered his hands down into his lap. "It's just… He's so strong, and that's all I have to offer… He blew me away during our indoor training with All Might. I can't shake the feeling he's only going to get stronger."
Tanya grinned. "If you want to feel stronger than him, then win where he does not. Beat him."
Midoriya, who stood in the middle of the room beside his seated friend Uraraka, could feel an overwhelming premonition coming from across the room. He tried to breathe it out. His skin crawled and shivered under the cold glares of Tanya and Todoroki. For once, Bakugo was not focused on him.
There was a new set of eyes. A brown, soft set, full of desperation. It was only for a moment that Midoriya saw his glance. They met eyes and Midoriya was left with more questions than answers.
The UA sports festival arena was jam packed. Its massive colosseum walls rumbled with anticipation and excitement. Seats were filled to the brim with hundreds of eager viewers. Rows and rows of heroes, sidekicks, and civilians were crowded on top of each other to watch the students compete.
Present Mic began casting."HEY-!"
"YEEEAAAHHHHHH!" The crowd roared immediately.
"EVERYBODY!" Mic continued his opening, "HEROES! FANS! MASS MEDIA! THE EVENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! WHERE THE AMBITIOUS YOUTH BATTLE IT OUT, THE U! A! SPORTS FESTIVAL!" His voice nearly peaked his microphone.
Aizawa recoiled away as Mic went over the top and his ear rang. "Do you really need that microphone?" He grumbled.
Jets of sparkling fireworks burst around the rim of the colosseum as the students made their way out onto the field. Explosions of color blasted overhead and rang over the cheers of the audience.
Tanya kept her march steady and purposeful. She was used to being in the public eye. It used to be as a war hero, now it was as a competitor.
'So these are the people I will be working alongside.' She thought to herself as she saw the hordes of heroes in the seating. A smirk grew on her face. 'Yeah. First impressions matter the most when meeting a future business partner. It's a highly elaborate interview.'
She could nearly feel Being X's gaze over the festival. She grimaced in anger for a moment before burying it away. She had always known he was influencing the school, but today, that fiend may as well be amongst the audience.
Mina spun around with awe in her eyes. "There's so many people here! To see us?!" She smiled and cheered. "This is amazing!"
Bakugo kept his focus. His eyebrows were furrowed as he marched with his hands in his pockets.
Sato walked along with a pale and dumbfounded expression. It was daunting to see this many people here to see him. He kept his movements steady and tried to keep a serious posture. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead and his heart drummed a daunting beat in his chest.
Sero rubbed at his jaw. "A bit nerve wracking," he flexed his arm with a sly grin, "good thing we've been training extra hard for this!"
Koda was shivering like a freezing animal. His hands were clasped together and he hunched over as if to escape the gaze of the audience. "I-I-I don'tknowifIcan," he was panicking before being cut off.
"Come on man. This is your time!" Kirishima gave Koda his shark toothed smile. "You've come this far. A little crowd isn't gonna stop you. Just think of one person in that crowd that is cheering just for you."
'Just focus. You have to make mama proud.' Koda gave a jittery series of rapid nods as he forced his way forward. His hands were still clasped in fear, but his stride opened as he pushed forward.
Todoroki remained unflinching under the eyes of the audience. He knew he was probably being talked about as his fathers son and nothing more. He felt his fathers shadow looming over him, a near inescapable, cold grasp. 'Today I put him out of my life. I've only used my ice since I came to UA, and today, in front of the whole world, I will show how strong I am without his gift.'
Iida marched forward, his arms swung like a marching toy soldier. His gaze was set in steel and his nerves were chilled in ice. 'This is what you've been training for. You can't look uncool in front of your brother.'
Deku shuddered and kept glancing around the top of the colosseum. His hands were tucked up by his chest as if in protection. "T-this is all t-too much!" He squeaked and sputtered nervously.
"Oooh!" Uraraka was in awe at the spotlight they had been given. "There's so many heroes! Deku… Deku?" She asked as she turned and saw him shriveling up.
"Don't worry about it Deku, they're heroes just like us!" She cheered for him. Her smile slipped a little from her face as he had barely registered her.
Deku's brain raced a mile a minute, he began to panic and draw up paranoid ideas of what could happen. 'All Might is watching! I, I can't screw this up! You trained under him for this! This is my time to-'
'Your time to show the world; I am here!' Toshinori thought as he watched all the students walk out onto the field. With weathered yet hopeful eyes, he watched his prodigy and successor walk with his classmates. 'To think, even a month ago, you couldn't control One For All. You've really come so far, Midoriya Izuku.'
Toshinori sat alongside the other hero teachers in a special seating section reserved for them. Alongside him was; Thirteen, the rescue teacher, Power Loader, the support course teacher, Snipe, the third year teacher, Hound Dog, the counselor, Ectoplasm, the math teacher, and Vlad King, the teacher of the 1-B hero students.
"Pardon me gentlemen." Snipe tipped his hat as he stood up. "I'm needed out on the track." He mumbled under his breath, "Awful lot of fliers this year."
"And here comes Class B!" Present Mic announced. His voice spiking above the chaos of the cheers.
Tanya's focus was momentarily broken as she glared over into the class cluster. She grit her teeth as she saw Shiozaki's head of vine hair. 'Today I have two people to beat.' She began to give herself a mental briefing.
'I must beat Midoriya Izuku. All Might has to be watching the festival. If I can show him that I am better fit for his focus, I can secure my future. But I must have a complete victory over Midoriya to achieve this.' She hated Midoriya ever since he recklessly blew apart their training yet was loved by All Might for his destructive potential. Raw power does not equal pure value.
'Secondly, and more importantly, I must defeat Shiozaki Ibara.' Her blood began to boil under her skin. 'I don't yet know what her plan is here, but I have to secure my future. A future her existence jeopardizes. Even if I can just beat her today, it would prove that I am still in control.'
Tanya began to laugh under her breath. 'Securing my future one step and success at a time. Beat Midoriya Izuku, gain All Might's favor, and beat Shiozaki. A clear set of objectives. Just win the sports festival!'
Mina squinted in concern as Tanya was giggling. "What's on your mind?"
"Victory." Tanya answered as she quit laughing and got her wings under control.
Mina grinned as she jumped out past Tanya and threw a fist into the air. "It's first place for me!" She cheered.
"A wonderful mindset to have." Tanya still wore her smile. "And one that I share as well."
Shiozaki walked out onto the field. A sense of warmth flooded her as the sunlight graced her hair. 'The weather is fantastic today God. Thank you.' She prayed.
She looked up at the massive crowds cheering for them and felt calm. 'Even a stadium full of people, and it all seems so small compared to the bigger picture.'
A head of golden hair and a set of large, white wings bobbed into view amongst class A. 'That must be Tanya. The poor angel who has defied God's light. Worry not, I will return you to his righteous path. I will show you why defiance is faulty. I will return you to His righteous path.'
In the middle of the field was a raised stage and a microphone. The crowd hype quieted to a steady buzz of excitement as the spotlight heroine took the stage.
Midnight, the R rated hero for good reason, strutted up onto the stage, whip in hand.
Both the audience and the students began to chatter about her choice to wear her hero outfit till she snapped her little red whip and shouted "Quiet everyone! It's time for the student pledge!"
"Student representative, may you come to the stage! Shiozaki Ibara from Class B!" Midnight announced.
Tanya's heart fell into her stomach. 'You've got to be joking. How many strings did Bei-... Oh no…' The color began to drain from her face as the gears spun inside her head.
Ibara kept her hands down and together as she peacefully walked out in front of the crowd and climbed the stage. Not a flinch of stage fright or doubt in any of her measured, steady movements.
Tanya looked up in bewilderment and fear as her opposition stood in front of the mic. 'Being X was getting desperate, the better question would be what strings didn't he pull! He's already investing so much into her, of course he'd give her ample opportunity to succeed.'
Shiozaki raised her clasped hands over her chest as she bowed her head down for the mic. "I pledge to use my God-given abilities to bring everyone onto the righteous and holy path. I pledge to fulfill my purpose as God's loyal shepherd and guide everyone towards good."
The audience, the students, the staff, everyone stared blankly. Dead silence as Shiozaki looked up from the mic, her hopeful face faltered under the discomfort of the crowd.
"You'll get them next time, little listener." Present Mic shouted over the speaker.
Shiozaki looked around in confusion as she was ushered off the stage by Midnight. "Wait? They didn't like it?!"
Tanya laughed to herself. 'This can't seriously be your champion? The great Being X, and he can't even find a half decent speaker!'
Mina made a saddened, empathetic face as she said "Ooo. That was kinda lame."
"Now!" Midnight snapped her flogging whip and dispelled the silent awkwardness. "Let's get this festival started!"
The stadium erupted once more.
"The first round is what many of you would call a qualifier! With so many students to weed out, many of them will be drinking their own tears! Year after year, the first round continues to be passionately fought over!" Midnight licked her lips in excitement.
"For this year's first game," Midnight whipped her flogger as a holographic screen was projected behind her. It played out an exciting tune as it spun like a slot machine. "An obstacle course!"
The screen presented a diagram of the stadium with a track that ran around it.
"All eleven classes of students will race around the outside of the stadium. Roughly four kilometers!"
The screen showed a transparent red, boxy barrier over the top of the race track.
"In the spirit of competition, a height limit has been enforced! It will warn you if you get too close by showing a red hologram wall. After that, our school's selling point is freedom!"
Midnight ran her tongue over her lips. "As long as you stay within bounds, it doesn't matter what you do to each other. Now! Take your places everyone!"
The student horde crowded near the exit gate. Tensions and adrenaline ran high as everyone was ready to cut loose.
First Light!
Tanya took her place at the back of the pack. 'Everyone with area abilities is going to open with them. The first obstacle isn't out there, it's right here.' Her wings flexed and spread out as she squatted down. Her heart began to beat in excitement.
Second Light!
Shiozaki stood surrounded by her classmates. She tried to stomach all the nudging and bodies pushing up against each other. A bit too claustrophobic for her tastes.
Third Light!
Midoriya's nerves began to harden and cool down. His head was getting into the game as his Quirk began to hum to life.
Go!
Tanya took off into the air, well above the crowd. Her wings began to beat as she darted over their heads.
A sudden chill ran over everyone. The temperature plummeted as a frigid frost swept forth. Frrrerrrr!
"Todoroki!" Tanya shouted in anger as she swung her wings around her to air wall away the frost. 'Of course the bastard would try to freeze everyone!'
"The first sifting." Todoroki said coldly as he expelled frost from his arm. "I have to remove them."
Fzzchzz! Ice sang as it began to form along the ground and walls. It grew and spread like jagged sheets, instantly trapping anything in its path.
A horrifying cacophony of screams filled the air as ice swept up and captured the students feet and legs. The freezing cold fog flooded the tunnel and blocked everyone's view.
Tanya dashed out of the fog and quickly flew into first place! She was a little cold from the blast, but not frozen.
Todoroki jogged out of the fog, the ground froze around him with each step. And yet, even with all his freezing, none of class A were frozen.
Shooooom!
He was surprised for a moment as Iida sped past him.
Dur! Dududududu! Boom!
"Don't try that half assed shit on me, you half and half bastard!" Bakugo shouted as he explosion jumped past.
Todoroki's eyes widened as he looked behind and realized that class 1-A was more tenacious than he had expected. 'Just running won't outpace all of them.'
He froze the ground under his foot, creating an ice slab. He stomped onto it, breaking it off the ground. With a change of stance, he put his right foot on the back end of the ice board he had made and began to emit more ice.
A line of jagged ice crystals was left in his wake as he began to skate forward.
"That was a really cold move!" Mina shouted out beside him as she skated on her acid. She had a competitive grin on her face and was able to keep pace with him.
Another flash of blonde hair zipped overhead.
"What's this?! A dazzling display of skill all around! Now the students are filing out, it looks like it'll be a hard fight for any place! It's anyone's game!" Present Mic shouted. "This is going to be a wild first year match up!"
Aizawa's calming voice was given space. "The hero students are forward and opportunistic with their abilities, both Quirks and skill sets. The race does disproportionately favor mobility and speed Quirks, but that does not give anyone else an easy round."
Rikido Sato grit his teeth and tried to move his foot, shin deep in ice. "GRRR!" He strained.
'I didn't want to activate my Quirk so soon.' He thought as he pulled out a set of sugar packets. 'I don't know how long this race will take, and I cannot afford to crash. Aim high then!'
He ripped open several packets with his teeth and began to down them. His muscles bulged and stretched his gym uniform. His mind began to focus in and sharpen to a single point, the rest turned to a blurry mess.
"Sugar! RUSH!" Sato roared as he pushed forward, the ice breaking with newfound ease.
His heart pounded and took off in a mad sprint. The ground rumbled like the stampede of a massive beast.
Izuku Midoriya was experiencing the same problem.
'Just breathe, control it. Don't break the egg.' He repeated to himself like a mantra.
Red cracks began to glow along his skin. Green lightning began to crackle and dance. "Full Cowl, Five Percent!"
He broke free and began to run forward. Each step wide and light, swift like wind.
Sato glanced to his side as he saw the green lightning. "Not this time Midoriya." He snarled. "You beat me once, not again."
'His Quirk has changed! My gut was warning me something was off!' Sato scowled to himself. He could feel the inkling of a larger picture, but the idea just trapped beyond his tunnel. Like a station blurred by static.
"Huh?!" Izuku was taken aback by Sato's anger. "What did I do wrong?!" He asked worriedly.
Sato answered with a roar of effort as the two raced past the rest of the runners, both able to easily maintain a full sprint.
In her apartment, Inko Midoriya began to tear up and cry. "M-My boy!"
Her first time seeing Izuku's Quirk in action, and he was already keeping pace with the others.
"What a beautiful Quirk you've grown into." She sniffled as she cleared her excited yet tear covered face with a tissue. Inko watched with love and guilt as her boy sparked with brilliant green lightning and ran at blazing speeds.
Hatsume Mei fell back out of the air after having used her hover boots and jetpack combo. "Phew. That guy nearly froze my babies!"
She began to run ahead, her heavy boots clunking along. "Just have to qualify and look good for the investors!" She repeated to herself. "The higher up, the less crowds, the more eyes on me!"
She heard a series of cracks and shatters around her. Ice began to burst and break as green vines began to speed through.
Mei picked up the pace as she quickly realized that free competition means more competition. Her hover boots continued to clank along.
Shiozaki took a deep breath as she shivered. "Such an underhanded tactic. Is this what the son of the second hero has to offer?" Her vines burrowed around and began to free her fellow students as she started to jog.
Tanya continued to hold first place. A high flight speed and uncontested start, but one she knew could be threatened.
She could hear the low roar of Iida's engines and the blasts of Bakugo's crude flight. She glanced behind her and saw a new threat.
A blonde girl with large, upwards pointing horns. For feet she had hooves and she rode atop a set of detached horns. Big blue eyes and a smile comparable only to that of All Might, a big american grin.
'I don't know who she is or what she is capable of.' Tanya tucked away the new problem for later as she turned back to focus on flying.
Her eyes widened as she saw their second obstacle. A horde of bots of every type, including a towering team of zero pointers.
"Targets acquired!" The bots shouted.
A vast row of three pointers turned their artillery tubes and began to fire off their rockets. Row after row of artillery, all seeking the front flying group.
Tanya dove upwards in hopes to escape and let her competition take more of the pressure.
She climbed and climbed till she was just above the heads of the zero pointers, a few rockets chasing her, when she had to hard stop with a wind blast.
A big red circle was holographically projected above her by a series of stage lights that lined the course.
"There's the height limit!" She grit her teeth before closing her wings and diving back down, threading the needle and darting between the rockets that were after her.
'Too low to fly clearly over the massive robots.' She thought as she dove back to the ground as the rockets followed her. 'New plan.'
She watched the ground closely as it sped towards her, the horde of three pointers took aim again.
Her wings spread wide as she hard banked horizontally again, dashing mere feet above the ground with the rockets following behind. She closed her wings again and darted between a set of three pointers.
Explosions sounded off behind her as she grinned. 'Now for the big ones.'
The zero pointers began to reach for Tanya only to be too slow. She kept low to the ground as she flew between their gigantic tank treads where they couldn't reach her.
She emerged from the other side, maintaining her first place position.
Iida went into a slide to stop as he saw the rows of one pointers that blocked his route. He glanced around before taking off to the side.
A pack of one pointers began to speed over to block him, their tires squealing into action.
He leaned hard till his hand could nearly touch the floor as he drifted a sharp turn that left the one pointers in a scramble to change directions.
The robots scraped their hands as they tried to make the same turn only to slide into the wall and start piling up.
Iida picked up speed again till he zipped past the occupied three pointers, several of which were already being blown up.
He looked up in repeated awe at the size of the towering zero pointers while never slowing down. He made a slight turn and came at them from an angle
They began to reach down for him, their shadows casting over him.
With the roar of his engines flaring, the massive robot hand in front of him, and his brother's pride on the line, he squatted down. His engines flared as he went into a high jump. His teeth were grit as the wind whipped at his face.
His backspin landed him into an awkward roll atop the wrist of the gargantuan machine. He popped onto his feet and began to run along the side of the zero pointers forearm.
It began to swing its arm in an attempt to get him off.
Iida went into a slide, willingly sliding off the side of the arm before it could throw him.
He planted both of his feet together, his engines still propelling him forward and slightly softening his descent. His feet made contact and he rolled down onto his shoulder and back up into his run.
Bakugo blasted one of his hands and put him into a spin. "Ahhh!" He roared as he readied his other hand as the rockets came in.
Booom! His explosion met the rockets in an expanding sea of smoke.
Black smoke burst through the pink concussive clouds before Bakugo came shooting out!
His red eyes were full of fury as he was trailing behind Tanya once again. 'That damned bitch is always ahead of me! Fuck!' His wrists began to get sore from the blasting. Not enough to make him concerned though.
He repeated his explosive parry again and blast jumped over the three pointers.
The zero pointers that weren't occupied with Iida made their swings for Bakugo to swat him out of the air.
"You trash heaps are too slow!" He barked as he began to bounce around in the air. Explosions burst from his hands as he shot around sporadically, still keeping a lot of forward speed.
A hand came so close he could feel its air wave sweep at his back. He could hear it, his explosive cloud wrapping around him with nowhere else to go.
"Far too slow to stop me!" He roared as he shot past.
"Horn Cannon!" Pony cried as she bowed her head.
Her horns shot off her head and a new pair would grow in instantly. Horns swarmed out like a machine gun.
The missiles ahead of her began to explode as horns crashed into them. Pink clouds burst forth for her to fly through.
She flew past the three pointers whilst firing off horns. A fireworks display of pink went off beneath her as she fought her way through.
The zero pointers were recovering from dealing with the others but still had enough time to try and deter Pony.
Like a skier sliding down a treacherous slope, she arced and bent her flight past the zero pointers. Long, clean banks around the swings of the giants.
"And the fastest of the class is already past the robots! How fast are these rookies?!" Present Mic began to cheer them on.
"Being quick has gotten them far, and will get them further if they keep their focus." Aizawa warned. "This race however is not entirely about them, but about how the non-speedsters approach their challenges."
Ashido Mina pumped along like an ice skater. "Acid skating!"
There were a collection of students around her, but none more immediately threatening or as close as Todoroki on his ice board.
They rounded the corner and saw the horde of robots before them. Equally undeterred, they both began to speed into them.
Mina brought a coat of acid on her arms and began to spray her way through, instantly melting apart any one pointer that came close.
"Robots?! We already fought robots for the entrance exam!" She half complained at the repetition and cheered at how easy they had become to destroy.
She slowed down as the shadow of the giant zero pointers hung over her. "Oh. Yeah, them…"
Todoroki swung his right arm forward and set forth a new wave of frost. The one pointers froze over like a gallery of ice sculptures.
"If they had gone through all this trouble, I wish they had prepared better." He said dryly as he stepped off his board and reached his hand down.
Mina backed away as ice began to grow around Todoroki and the frost began to pick up again. "Hey! Be careful!" She cried as an ice structure got a little too close for comfort.
The lead zero pointer reached down towards them.
Mina prepped up her acid skates again and got ready to start moving again before -
Fwwhhfhhh! Todoroki let loose another vast wave of frost. It billowed and blew as it blanketed over the zero pointer, freezing it solid.
Mina's eyes widened as she took off. The zero pointer was falling! "Are you out of your mind?!" She screamed.
"You shouldn't be in my way." Todoroki hissed coldly as he slid along beside her. The two of them slid along under the zero pointer.
Crrrrsshhhh! The ground shook as the zero pointer crashed down. A wall of dust billowed forth like an oncoming wave.
"This is a race, not a deathmatch!" Mina yelled at him. She had to raise an arm up to protect herself from the dirt, completely blinded to where Todoroki had gone.
"If you wanted to stay safe, you should have stayed back." Todoroki spoke heartlessly. His disembodied voice got further away in the clouds.
"You're worse than Tanya! At least she's not -" Mina was cut off as Present Mic screamed over the speakers.
"Someone's buried underneath!"
Todoroki remained unfazed and sped on. The dust began to settle as he made his lead.
Mina spun around on her acid skates, her speed dropped away as her heart fell into her stomach. "Oh god…"
She peered through the dust at the corpse of the giant, hoping to see anything, any sign that they were fine.
Crushed under the corpse of the giant, a student was buried in the dark.
'Black bastion!' Tokoyami grit his teeth and hissed to himself. He had wrapped and coiled Dark Shadow around him, layer after layer. The frigid metal shattered over them yet buried them under its weight.
"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami called out. He could feel them growing stronger. The darkness grew heavier as Dark Shadow fed. "Dig up!"
Mina breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Dark Shadow blast through the top of the zero pointer. The shadowy Quirk stretched into the air. 'He looks bigger than last time I saw him?'
Tokoyami was pulled out by Dark Shadow, who had become nearly the size of a bus. "There Dark Shadow, calm down." He tried to soothe his Quirk as it slowly shrank down to its normal size.
Mina turned back around and began to speed up. Her heart pounded with a competitive drive, fueled by a newfound fury. Her strong legs pumped her acid skates. She leaned forward and swung her weight into it.
"Todoroki!" She shouted as she pushed herself faster and faster.
Sato and Midoriya kept neck and neck with their sprinting, neither gave an inch.
"What did I do to make you angry with me?" Midoriya pleaded as his full cowled run skipped along.
"I've worked too hard to have all my work blown away!" Sato shouted. His sugar boosted run pounded the earth.
They came to the horde of robots.
Sato leapt into the fray and began to smash his way through. He grabbed the nearest one pointer and began to swing it around like an oversized club. "Heeyaaaa!" He roared as scrap metal began to fly around him.
His fury at what had been done to him during the indoor training was slowly being worked out on everything in his path. He would prove to himself, no, to the world, that he didn't have a second rate Quirk. He would prove that he could be a hero and put his strength to good use.
He took his battered club of a bot and hurled it forward to get through the wave of one pointers.
All of his newfound strength, it all seemed so small in comparison to Midoriya breaking even a few fingers. And to see that the self destruction wasn't even needed, it struck a chord.
Sato cleared his way with destruction and aggression. He smashed, bashed, and tore his way through.
Midoriya bounced around, ducking and dodging, diving and weaving. 'I didn't know Sato felt this way.' He thought to himself in worry.
He side jumped and skipped around a one pointer. 'I have to give him a fair fight, the same as the rest. I have to show the world I am here!'
A one pointer wound up a punch at him. Midoriya skipped back and let it roll towards him.
'Don't break the egg. Let it pick up speed and do the work for you.' He took a deep breath before dashing under the wild swing from the one pointer. He struck up at the weakly constructed shoulder, widely exposed from its missed swing.
Trschschs! The metal shattered from Midoriya's punch. It's arm fell from its destroyed socket as Midoriya kicked off the bot and kept up to Sato.
The two of them sprinted around the frozen zero corpse and saw the zero pointers busy with the faster students like Sero and Tokoyami. The duo ran by as the zero pointer had their hands full.
Sero was sporadically grappling and pulling himself out of harm's way. "Woah, these things are big!" He laughed as he flew through the air.
"Man made the titans of old." Tokoyami nodded his head as Dark Shadow pushed off the ground and launched him over the shoulder of another zero pointer.
Mei wiped the sweat from her brow as she activated her super jump with her hover boots and jetpack. "So many threats to my babies!" She yelled out.
The ground where she was standing turned to sludge as Juzo swam by. She looked on in horror for her babies as more and more of the track was reduced to sludge. Every robot that came close melted and became part of the mud pit.
Mei fired her waist mounted grappling hooks to pull her forwards and out of the way of a wave of glue and spores fired from Kojiro and Kinoko respectively.
She saw the shadow of a small creature flying towards her. She pulled out her net gun and fired the first of five nets. "Four shots left."
"Ahhhh!" Mineta cried as he was ensnared and plummeted away from Mei.
Mei activated her metal extending rods to jump back into the air and dodge a one pointer. The crowd of bots had begun to slim down as the students had been tearing through them all.
Mei was having a rough time. Her babies were only fast in short bursts and would overheat if she overworked them. But so many of the runners had Quirks that could damage them. From glue, fungal growths, sticky purple balls, vines, sludge and so much more.
Momo huffed in effort as she waded out of a sludge pit and scraped mushrooms off her arms. She then pulled a bicycle from her exposed stomach. "A lot of the runners have crowd control Quirks. This is exhausting."
Toru cried out as she sprinted, hard as she could, to escape the reach of Bondo's glue. "Please! Haven't I been through enough!" As she ran right past the robots without being detected, being just a floating gym outfit to them.
"That's it!" Kaminari shrieked as he headbutted into another of Kosei's air disks, which they were using to stay above much of the chaos. "Everyone's getting SHOCKED!"
ZZCHZZZCCHHWW! Yellow lightning cracked forth Kaminari as he barreled forth. The other students howled as he blitzed by and zapped them.
He smiled as he put some room between him and the endless wave of student-made obstacles. A dumb grin crept onto his face as his brain got a little scrambled from the lightning output.
Shiozaki kept a steady jog alongside the other runners. Her vine hair would rapidly grow before cutting itself off and burrowing into the asphalt.
Fountains of vine growths sprang up to ensnare the robot horde wherever she could spare the hair for. A feat that swiftly carved a swath through the horde.
She gazed up at the zero pointers without fear as she ran towards them. She watched as they were too busy dealing with the other students to notice her.
Shiozaki's jog came to a slow stop. Her breathing slowed down to a peaceful rhythm as she put her hands together. She closed her deep green eyes. "God." She softly pleaded. "Please, grant your loyal shepherd passage."
Her vines began to shiver for a moment. They shuddered before driving into the earth.
Crrrrraacckk! The ground began to rumble as the asphalt began to break in long lines originating from her.
The other students were shocked and looked around in fear.
"Don't tell me they have something bigger than a Zero Pointer?!" One of them cried out.
Vast towers of vines broke free from the earth, growing and wrapping and spreading.
The zero pointers struggled against them as the sea of green spread and dug under their armor.
TCHRRRRrrrrrr! The zero pointers struggled to move as their joints began to lock in place.
Five entire zero pointers came to a crunching halt as Shiozaki panted. Her face paled as she staggered to the side before catching herself with her own vines to lean on.
"Huu hu hu." Shiozaki smiled through her panting. She smiled up at the power she had been blessed with. "Miraculous growth."
"What is happening at the back of the race?!" Present Mic screamed. "What are you teachers feeding these kids!? It's rare to see a feat like Todoroki's, but to see multiple hero students come out the gate like that!"
"It's not unexpected. The more speed oriented Quirks took to the front, but the back would still have powerful students." Aizawa tried to explain the seemingly present power discrepancy.
Authors Note; Ok, so readers. I have some announcements.
I have a discord account, BrettFire, has a picture of Tanya with wings on it. You can find me in the Youjo Senki discord and you can find more announcements from me in the Emerald Library, a writer's discord.
The total writing for the race part of the sports festival started to become so long that I cut it in half. It was actually killing me, on top of my busy life. The current length of what would have been chapter 11 was 15 thousand words and the race still wasn't finished!
Head to the Emerald Library if you want more updates from me, you want to partake in discussions, or if you want access to the questions I ask which shape the flow of this fic.
