Roaring Sports Festival

Elsa knew she was at a disadvantage from the get go, but she didn't let that bother her. There would still be time to catch up.

'Just focus on finishing,' she told herself. 'That's all that matters.'

The lights turned on, and she took her position, ready to run. 'This time, no hesitation.' She told herself, face set. 'Just keep your eyes on the prize.'

One light down…

'You don't have to beat them, just catch up to them!' She told herself, heart already hammering in excitement. 'Prove that you belong here!'

Second light down…

'Show them you have what it takes to be a hero!'

Start.

The race was on- and Elsa was instantly squished. She kept her hands to her chest, careful not to touch anyone. But that was impossible, literally everyone smashed up against each other in a mad scramble for the exit.

'I can't breathe!' she mentally panicked, claustrophobia taking over even as she tried to push. 'I'm going to die before I make it through!'

And more importantly, she couldn't move past the bodies to get to the other end of the narrow entrance. At this rate she'd be behind for the whole race!

There was a sudden surge of cold, and a freezing mist that engulfed her, catching her attention and getting her focus. She looked down when her feet refused to move, seeing that they were encased with ice.

'Another ice quirk?'

Shoot, this was bad, this was really, really bad-!

She focused on her feet, breaking out of the ice casing with her own short spires, and jutting her arms up to pull herself out of the crowd. She was standing on a thin pillar of ice a few feet above everyone. Shooting her arms out, she created a bridge of ice to the wall and along it, racing over everyone's heads to reach the entrance.

'If someone with the same quirk beats me, Endeavor will choose them as a sidekick instead!' She realized. 'I have to beat them if I'm going to be noticed! I have to!'

She burst out of the entrance back into the light, taking note of the frozen ground below. It was brilliant, using the quirk to either trap everyone, or freeze the ground and make it too slippery for everyone else.

Were they allowed to do that? Since the race was still going and no one stopped them, she would assume so. Midnight had said they could do whatever they wanted. Looked like some people were taking that seriously.

Luckily, ice wasn't a problem for her.

She shot the end of the bridge over the trapped crowd to the ground, creating a quick slide for her to go down. She focused on her feet again, this time encasing the soles of her shoes in ice, and launching herself off the slide. She weaved through the stumbling, slipping crowd, skating around them without too much trouble. Aishida squawked, barely avoiding her in her frenzy. 'Thank you, Anna.'

The ice ran out, putting her back on solid ground and back to running, cracking the ice off her soles. Elsa lucked out, having the first leg of the obstacle course be to her advantage, but she knew this wouldn't carry her to the finish line. She was going to have to be more aggressive if she had to catch up. She did not want a repeat of the beginning.

The crowd in front of her had slowed down, and she did the same, moreso out of a desire to avoid getting too close to them. Then she saw them up ahead; the massive 0 point villains from the first entrance exam.

She took off for the front, for the first time her heart beating in excitement. She already knew she could take them, and now would be her chance to prove it! Time to make up for her failure at the entrance exam, she'd prove her skill once and for all!

She heard it before she saw it, a massive wave of ice overtaking the middle behemoth and freezing it over. It turned into a gargantuan mountain of metal and ice, glistening menacingly in the sun. As she ran, Elsa couldn't help but gasp, the first pangs of doubt creeping in on her. This one was powerful. Had circumstances been different, she would have been thrilled to meet another ice user. She might have talked to them, hoping to be friends, and finally have something in common with someone else.

But here, on the obstacle course, this other person was a threat to her dreams. She was competing against the same quirk, that looked just as powerful as hers, but appeared more skilled and trained. (On the other hand, maybe people would assume this person was responsible for Josei instead of her.)

'What if I don't win this,' she realized with dread. 'What if Endeavor will notices them instead, and decides he'd rather take someone who has full control and is more skilled?'

Anyone would.

Had things gone on that way, she might have given up. Just called it quits and gone home, hating herself and her foolish dream.

But there was a loud creak suddenly from the frozen behemoth, and she noticed the ice crack off as it began to topple. And because she had never stopped running, she burst through the crowd, just in time to see two students near the robot, right in the way of it's fall.

"WATCH OUT!" She screamed, flinging her arm and shooting a beam of particles to erupt a gargantuan frozen spike.

Everyone screamed from the second wave, unconsciously flinching back because it was so close. It speared the frozen robot, breaking the shell and halting it's fall in place.

"Who-ho, what's this?!" Present Mic erupted in glee. "A rescue on the obstacle course! Haven't seen that one before!"

"Todoroki's moves have been logical and calculated, while hers was emotional." Aizawa pointed out dryly. "An admirable trait on the battle field, not so much in a race."

"Whoooooo baby! She's gonna pay for that one, that's for sure!"

Aizawa said nothing else, his lips tense under the bandages.

"Another ice user?" A student complained.

"Seriously?!"

Elsa was already sprinting around the seven meter thick spire, too fearful of the fate of the two students. "Are you ok?!"

"Yeah!" Called the first. He had wild spikey red hair, and was grinning to show off his sharp teeth. He gave her a thumbs up, seemingly unshaken. "We're good!"

"It'll take more than that to take me down!" Exclaimed the second, a boy with wild eyes and wild silver hair. "Stupid 1-A, trying to take the rest of us down with it!" He charged with a yell. "YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

"Nice save!" The second boy complimented her before taking off. "Super manly!"

And despite herself, Elsa gawked, taken aback. Manly? "I beg your-!"

But she didn't have time to argue it, the crowd of students finally charging around her spire through the opening she had created. She tsked and went back to the race, fire reignited and determination set.

It may not have been the point, but a part of her felt accomplished. She had helped somebody. She had saved somebody!

Maybe she could do this after all.

As Hans watched, his lips were thin.

'Don't worry about anyone else, Elsa.' He mentally chided. 'You have to be cut-throat in this, otherwise you'll never make it!'

As others took out the robots, Elsa focused on weaving around them, figuring it would save her time. Some were doing the same thing she was, using other people's efforts to get ahead. At least until they got to the other zero point villains.

She saw others using their quirks to jump over it, wondering briefly if she could do the same. She could shoot a pillar of ice under her feet and try jumping over it.

'No, it's too high, even for me. she realized. 'And it's still moving- it could hit me before I got down.'

A robot jumped out at her side, and she speared it instantly to shove it out of her path, focusing back on where the last 0 point villain awaited her. It was true that class 1-A had more worldly experience than her, and was more trained for combat. But when you spent over six months thinking you were the most terrifying force to man, every other fear simply fell away like an obstacle, and every enemy was simply an opponent to take down.

She fired her icy beam at the massive behemoth's body, encasing it in ice. The robot targeted her, bringing it's arm out to try to slam into her. But she charged forward, moving her ice up to spread it to it's head and freeze it and it's arms solid. She made it just in time, the massive arm creaking to a halt before it hit her.

'Yes, made it!' she grinned in triumph. 'Now I just need to-'

She stopped, seeing it's legs still stomping around, and inwardly cursed at her carelessness. It was still functioning and near impossible to pass safely. She was just about to freeze the bottom half, when a loud bang erupted behind her, and the 0 point villain shattered to pieces. Elsa shouted, shooting up a wall of ice to shield herself from any flying debris, and looked behind her to see a girl with her top half unbuttoned, wielding a canon.

'A canon?!' Elsa couldn't help but gape. 'She can create canons?'

There was no time to gawk however, everyone taking the opening to charge forward. Elsa brought her head back in the game and joined them.

After going through the second leg, she needed to take a slight break. Though that was also because the second leg forced her to stop to comprehend what she was facing.

It was a massive gorge, dotted with stone island plateaus, connected with thick sturdy ropes. Elsa took in the scene, already marveling. None of her practice and training prepared her for tightrope walking…

In the stands, where the cameras were focused on the boy already ahead, Hans began calculating. He was using his quirk to slide across the ice, giving him a huge berth between himself and the students behind him. Hans could see how good he was- the athleticism, the determination, the quirk- this guy had everything going for him to become a fantastic hero.

'Elsa won't win this,' Hans mentally concluded. 'Even if what she said about Endeavor were true, there's no way he wouldn't pick this guy over her.'

".. the son of the flame hero-"

Hans gaped, turning his attention to the conversation to be sure he heard right. The son of Endeavor?! Was that true? But he was using an ice quirk, how-?!

But if this was his son, then he was definitely a shoe-in for that coveted internship. And that begged the question of what happened to Elsa when he and Eraser Head had to come in to save her and the other girls. He had thought it was strange that the number 2 hero would compliment her, no matter how strong she was. He wasn't known for his friendly disposition. Even just an off-hand commentary of her power wouldn't make sense if his own son could produce the same results just as well.

So what had he meant by 'he could 'use' her'?