"Uh… should we be worried about that?" Hitoshi asked. Principal Nedzu's announcement had just played for all of them, which had caused Bakugo and his team's assault on their makeshift stronghold to halt. Which Ahsoka and her team were glad for as while it was hilarious watching the exploding teen constantly be sent flying back as he got nailed by their paintballs they did need a chance to reload. Both their guns and Momo, who needed to quickly down some more of her emergency food bars in order to be able to generate more equipment for Mei.

"Depends on what the Hunters actually are," Momo reasoned between bites. "I mean obviously they are going to be an obstacle but at least they aren't the villain bots… far too big to get in here."

Ahsoka though wasn't as for sure as her newly minted friends. The Force was warning her that there was trouble coming. Not danger… other than the standard kind one got from a competition but not the death dealing warnings that she'd dealt with since becoming Anakin's padawan.

'Yet it feels… familiar…' she thought to herself, trying to work through just what the Force was trying to tell her. While both her Master and Obi Wan were known to get Force visions (though Anakin handled them far different from his own Master from what Ahsoka could tell) her Force abilities had never been those of the mind. Or the minds of others. She could do the standard Force Suggestion and the like but it would never be her strong suit.

'You are a Togruta," Obi Wan had recently reminded her when she'd shown frustration in being unable to use the Force to detect injuries; it had been one of her weekend lessons and she had been failing miserably. "It is only natural this would be difficult for you. Who we are affects our ability to use the Force. The culmination of all our existence and our genetic selves lead us to the correct path. Being Stewjoni gives me a more natural inclination towards the Cosmic Force… much to the annoyance of my master." He'd smiled at that and Ahsoka had too; Stewjoni were known for being very focused on 'the bigger picture' and plotting and planning… making them utterly insufferable at times. "You are a Togruta… a hunter. A predator. So naturally your Force abilities are more combat focused. Don't despair at that… use it."

Ahsoka took a calming breath and allowed the world to flow around her. Just as she had learned eventually Force Injury Detection by considering it a battlefield medic skill so too did she now tune into the world and see how the Hunters were affecting the battle. She sensed Uraraka and her team fighting with some students from 1-B. Izuku leading his partners through the halls. The-

Her eyes flew open.

"Battle Droids," she whispered.

"Battle what now?" Mei asked, confused.

But Ahsoka was already moving towards one of the small holes in their barrier. "Bakugo! Listen to me-"

"You going to fucking surrender now, Shit Horns!?" Bukugo demanded, causing Ahsoka to roll her eyes.

"Listen, we need to work together here," she told him. "Truce and all that."

"Ah, I see," Bakugo said with a dismissive sniff, peeking his head around the corner. "You realize we're about to shatter your defenses and you are desperate to save face! Well, maybe if you toss out your headbands I'll consider it."

"No you idiot!" Ahsoka snapped. "Listen, there are-"

"Idiot?" Bakugo snarled. "I'm the idiot? Because I didn't fall for your brilliant scheme?" His tone was mocking as he said the last two words."

"That's not what I'm saying!" Ahsoka complained. "The Hunters are-"

"Aw, is that what is scaring you? If you can't handle whatever teddy bears the rodent is sending our way-"

"They are Super Battle Droids!" Ahsoka snapped. "Machines built for war and destruction. Top of the line!"

"…that it?" Bakugo said dismissively. "We took those things on during our entrance exam and they were nothing then. And while you probably regressed in skill I've only gotten stronger."

Mei raised an eyebrow. "You have to be impressed with his confidence."

"Or his delusions," Hitoshi stated.

"Ahsoka," Momo said, drawing her attention away even as Bakugo called out how his team was going to take her and her allies out, "what exactly are Super Battle Droids?"

Before she could answer though they heard it.

CLANK CLANK CLANK

"Bakugo," Tsu called out, "something is coming!"

"Must be those stupid Hunters the rat was going on about. Come on, let's take'em out!" Ahsoka listened as she heard the sounds of her classmates moving into position…

"Target acquired," a familiar robotic voice declared that had her at once going for her lightsaber only to remember it wasn't with her.

There were a few explosions… and then Ashido came racing around the corner, eyes wide in panic as the tall, dark blue form of the Super Battle Droid marched towards her, raising its arm and firing off stun blasts that she just barely managed to dodge.

"That," Ahsoka stated. "That is a Super Battle Droid."

~MC~MC~MC~

"MOVE!" Izuku shouted as he led the charge through one of the larger areas of the building. He spotted Uraraka and her team trying to deal with the Hunters that had them pinned down, several headbands already wrapped around the robot's arm as it fired on the students. Dark Shadow was hovering over Tokoyami who'd gotten clipped by a stunner, which hadn't knocked him out but had left him dazed and disoriented, while Jiro was trying to sneak up on the robots; the lack of any headbands on her made it clear just who had gotten attacked first by the Super Battle Droids. Todoroki had formed an ice barrier for himself and Uraraka to hide behind, the former firing off at the droids that only pushed them back but didn't actually hurt them while Uraraka had been forced to just throwing whatever debris she could at the attackers.

"Izuku!" she called out.

"Inasa, you go left. Ida, to the right. Get to the corners of the room, bunker down, and stay there!" Izuku charged forward, spinning some piping he'd picked up and slamming it down on one Super Battle Droid's arm so that the limb trembled and shook, sending its blast off wide. He spun around the Hunter, dodging a swipe it made at him, before driving the pope into the joint of its arm, causing sparks to shoot out. But Izuku continued to press on and eventually the arm popped completely off, allowing Izuku to grab it before he rolled towards the barrier.

"Todoroki, the floor!" he shouted and after a moment the quiet student nodded and fired a blast of ice at the floor, creating a sheet that caused the Hunters to begin slipping and sliding. "Inasa! Whirlwind! As many different directions as you can!"

By that point Ida had come over and was helping Jiro look over Tokoyami, making sure he was okay. "He's coming out of it," he assured Dark Shadow who nodded in relief.

"It is time for my Super Move! My very first one!" Inasa said with a laugh. "Tornado Alley!" He thrust out his hands and several different gusts of wind, coming from different directions, began to push the Hunters about the floor, causing them to spin and careen about. Izuku, during that time, had figured out how to trigger the blaster in the arm he still had and fired on the Hunters. While the Stun Blasts didn't do much to hurt them it did add to the confusion, causing the Hunters to begin striking each other.

After a minute or so all of the Hunters were down.

"Lousy clankers," Izuku muttered to himself before going to see if he could salvage any parts from. "Jiro!" he called out, yanking some headbands off and tossing them to her.

"Thanks," she said, looking at the bands before holding half of them out. "Here… you deserve some."

"Keep'em," Izuku stated. "We're more than good."

That made Tokoyami frown, blinking his eyes as he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "We have more than you…"

"We'll be fine," Izuku assured them. "Ida, how much more time do you think we have?"

"About 6 more minutes," the tall teen stated after a moment.

"Alright, then probably best we all stick together. People are going to be getting desperate and I bet the Hunters will be more active in terms of attacking us." Izuku stood up and tossed Uraraka one of the droid arms, the young woman catching it and looking it over. Unlike during the exam she didn't argue at all with him, accepting the weapon with a nod. The Second Event was showing her she desperately needed a long range weapon. "Ida," Izuku said, tossing him a weapon as well. "With Inasa and Todoroki using their quirks it will be too dangerous for you to use yours."

Ida considered the weapon for a moment before nodding.

"So we're following him?" Todoroki asked.

Uraraka nodded. "Izuku is one of the best strategists I've ever met and he's been trained by the pro hero Dualshot. We follow him."

That was all Todoroki needed to hear.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Let me in let me in let me in!" Ashido pleaded and after a moment Ahsoka nodded, the girl diving into the bunker. "Tsu! Come on!"

But Tsu merely shook her head before using her tongue to snag the headbands that she, Bakugo, and Kirashima had, tossing them to the acid producing girl.

"Hey!" Bakugo roared. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Now we don't need to worry about them," she pointed out. "We can fight those robots without needing to focus on protecting our points."

Bakugo considered that before smiling a rather sharp grin. "Oh… yeah," he said in a delighted growl before turning back towards the robots. "DIE!" he roared as he began to fire off explosions, Kirashima hardening himself as he began to throw punches while Tsu leapt onto the ceiling, working to draw fire away.

"Thanks," Ashido said, hand pressed against her chest as her heart thundered. "I am going to have a phobia about robots, I just know it!"

"It will be fine," Ahsoka said before handing her headbands to Hitoshi.

"Going out to help the idiot?" the purple haired teen said dryly.

There was a boom and Ahsoka looked up at the roof.

"Just making sure he doesn't bring everything crashing down on us."

Mei tossed her a sword that she and Momo had crafted. It wasn't at all like her lightsaber, feeling more like a using a baton, but Mei had gotten some plasma to run through its edge so that it was super hot and thus would cut in a similar way to her light sabers. "Show'em how well my babies work!"

"Will do," Ahsoka said with a cheeky grin before leaping out of the bunker, slicing at one of the Super Battle Droids that had gotten a touch too close for her comfort. Another fired at her and she cursed herself as she was forced to duck, having forgotten until the last possible moment that weapon couldn't reflect bolts like a lightsaber could. While she was glad for the weapon it was screwing up all her reflexes and muscle memory, forcing her to think a bit too much about what to do at all times. That slowed her down and she utterly hated it.

"Trying to steal the spotlight, Shit Horns?" Bakugo snarled as he fired over several more explosions, caving in a wall for his trouble.

"I've always had it," she taunted. "Can't steal what always belonged to me."

"Fuck you!" Bakugo roared. "You're just a stepping stone for me! I'm going to be the Number 1 hero in the world, not you, and there is nothing you can do to stop that! You are so far away from the spotlight it looks like a star to you!"

"You know," Ahsoka said as she swung the sword and took off the leg of one of the Super Battle Droids, causing it to fall to the ground in a heap, "you keep calling us stepping stones." She drove the blade down into the main body of the droid and then twisted to the left, slicing through the metal though she did have to put a bit more effort into it than she would have if it had been her lightsaber. Honestly Ahsoka was learning to never disrespect her weapon ever again.

"Because that's what you are!"

"Stepping stones are something that lies in front of you." She smirked. "Meaning that we are already ahead of you and you are having to play catch up."

"…you think you are better than me you fucking bitch?" Bakugo roared as he sent out a series of quick explosions at another squad of Super Battle Droids that had been attracted by the sounds of battle. Limbs went flying, which Ahsoka caught with the force and sent flying back at the droids, cracking the metal against their armored torsos and hidden heads.

"Well, you are the one saying it…"

"You are not fucking better than me!" Bakugo shouted as he leapt suddenly forward, grabbing at one of the Super Battle Droids and, in an admittedly impressive display of his quirk, created a micro explosion that ripped its arm off, allowing him to send a bunch of nitroglycerin into the droid's torso before kicking it away, causing it to stumble into several more droids that were caught in the explosion. "I will be the greatest hero ever!"

"…will," Ahsoka taunted.

Bakugo let out a scream of rage but before he could do any more the Super Battle Droids all shut down and a deceptively happy chime sounded in the building.

"And that… is… time!" Present Mic declared. "All students please come out now and we will give you your scores!"

"And I wouldn't bother being sneaky about collecting any fallen headbands," Obi Wan stated and Ahsoka heard the distinct yelp of Mineta from General Studies.

"Now we'll see which of us is the best," Bakugo warned her, hands stuffed in his pockets as he stomped off.

"One day he's going to forget to wear his explosion proof jeans and blow his dick cleeeeeeean off," Hitoshi muttered as he emerged from the bunker, Ahsoka chuckling at that as she lead her group to the exit, Ashido joining them since Bakugo had stormed off so quickly that he'd forgotten to wait for her.

"So, how do you think we did?" Momo asked.

Hitoshi was the one who answered. "Does it matter? So long as we make it to the next round I'm good."

Mei nodded. "The last round is always one on one fights in a tournament style! That's where you truly get to make a splash!" She rubbed her hands together in glee. "Oh… me and my babies are going to do such amazing things…"

Ahsoka though tuned them all out. 'Hitoshi's right. All of this was just the buy in to get to the true meat of the Sports Festival. The final tournament is where I'll get a chance to truly show off how skilled I am.' She took a breath. 'Adventure… excitement… a Jedi craves not these things.' She could hear Master Yoda repeating those words to her and all the other younglings in the crèche when they had gotten a bit too rowdy playing their games. She understood that it was Jedi's duty to serve the people and that the current hero system was far too focused on fame and glory.

Yet…

'I want to win,' she thought to herself. 'I want to prove to everyone that I am the best. That I have the skill and talent needed to be a hero in this world… a good one. A great one.'

She knew that it could be seen that she was no better than Bakugo, wanting to be on top. But in her heart she knew she was different from the explosive brat. He wanted to just be all by himself on the top with everyone groveling at his feet. She had no problem bringing others along with her, so that they all could be at the top. Mei, Momo, and Hitoshi? She had done all this for them as much as herself. Same with Uraraka and Izuku. She wasn't a loner… and she was nothing like Bakugo.

That's what she kept telling herself the entire time she walked back out of the building.

By the time she was out she almost believed it.

~MC~MC~MC~

Uraraka was getting excited.

Midnight was announcing scores and it was becoming more and more clear that her team was the one that was going to make it to the next round. Too many students had already had their scores read and Uraraka and her team was still on the top of the pile.

'Now I just need to get ready for the next round,' she thought to herself, glancing over at her team mates.

"There is a taste of despair in the air," Tokoyami stated.

"I taste cinnamon," Todoroki said. "I think its from the treats people are buying."

That made Uraraka laugh. "Good one."

"What was? The treats?"

That made her giggle again. "I never realized how funny you were!"

"…no one's ever said I was funny," he murmured.

"Well, you are."

"…I like how you cut your hair," Todoroki stated.

"Thank you!" Uraraka said with a beaming smile, Todoroki's own mouth twitching at that.

"Coming in with 3,750,000 points… the team of Tano, Shinso, Yaoyorozu, and Hatsume!"

"AWWWWW YEAH!" the girl from the Support Class cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "My babies beat you aaaaaaaaall up!"

"That puts them ahead of us," Jiro stated.

"We're still in a good position. There aren't enough team that can beat us," Uraraka reasoned out.

"And also coming in with 3,750,000 points… the team of Bakugo, Kirashima, Ashido, and Asui!"

"NO!" Bakugo screamed in outrage. "No fucking way do I tie for first place with Shit Horns!"

Midnight smiled at that. "Well blondie, you'll be quite happy to know that you are right."

Bakugo instantly puffed up at that. "I knew there was a fucking mistake! As if I could be tied with Shit Horns."

"Oh, you are tied with her," the heroine stated. "its just that it isn't for first."

"…WHAT?!" Bakugo screamed.

"In first place, with an impressive 5,800,000 total is the team of Midoriya-"

"DEKU!" Bakugo roared, explosions bursting from his hands that caused everyone around him to jump. "You fucking beat me?! Me?! How the fuck did your-"

Midnight, by that point, had released her knock out gas and Bakugo crumpled, Kirishima catching him just before he slammed into the ground.

Uraraka was just as startled but for the opposite reason. While she knew that Izuku was cunning he had been at a massive disadvantage when it came to this event. Even with a powerful team he would have been targeted; she herself had been attacked more than once, along with Jiro, because people had seen Tokoyama and Todoroki and believed them the strongest members of her foursome and thus the two girls were the better ones to go after. She looked towards Izuku and wondered how he had done it.

"As I was saying: the team of Midoriya, Ida, Inasa, and Kagakure!"

Uraraka frowned, trying to figure out just who Kagakure was. The name didn't sound familiar so-

"WE DID IT!" a girl squealed and Uraraka turned to see Izuku floating in the air. Her eyes went wide, wandering just what was going on, but then the voice declared, "That was such a brilliant plan! I can't believe it worked!"

"We were only going to slow you down," Izuku said as he was set down and he looked at… nothing. "But we worked wonders as a distraction! And there was nothing saying we had to hold onto our own headbands…"

Uraraka could only stare before she shook her head, Ahsoka walked up to her with a bemused little smile. "You ever get the sense that if Izuku had been found by someone other than Rex he could have destroyed us all?"

"Every day," Ahsoka admitted.

"And there you have it folks!" Present Mic called out. "The final 16 students who will be competed to be champion of the UA 1st Year Sports Festival! And by that I mean they are in their first year, not that this is the first year we are doing this. Though I suppose since they are 1st years for them this is their first sports festival-"

"Who let him eat sugar with his lunch?" Aizawa complained.

"-and of course in Canada the whole thing would be flip-flopped."

Thankfully Mr. Kenobi took over. "And now we can announce the brackets for the tournament! These has been generated randomly… good luck."

"Well," Ahsoka said dryly, "this is where the fun begins."