Inside the apartment she shared with her son and the mysterious young Raymond Blackmore, Inko Midoriya was hysterical. She had just seen her son, her son who for so long had been Quirkless, helpless, hopeless... he had just come in first in an event at the UA Sports Festival! There he was on her television, a smile on his face, his hair tied back in that roguish ponytail and a grin on his face, pointing at the camera confidently. He knew which channel she would be watching, it was the same channel they always watched. He winked, before the feed switched to an announcer talking about his shocking early victory, quite possibly the fastest in UA history. That was still being debated, apparently, but nobody was quite sure one way or another.

Inko didn't care if it was the fastest victory in all of human history. It was a victory for her son, her beloved son whom she had foolishly doubted so much, and that was all that mattered. She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, cleaning up drips and drops of water before sniffling a little and returning her attentions to the TV. On screen Izuku was standing, hands folded behind his back, waiting at the finish line for others to arrive. He was pointing at the tunnel leading to the finish line, however, that strange ethereal figure forming around him.

On the television camera it was hard to make out, but it was clearly there. Bother Katsuki Bakugou and another boy with two-time hair in red and white were racing toward the finish line, dodging a variety of mines, but disaster struck as they hit the tunnel Izuku was pointing at; they both disappeared from sight. The cameras adjusted; the two were back at the starting tunnel, Bakugou cursing up a storm and the other silently continuing to slide along a track of ice.

Inko saw Blackmore moving toward the finish, sprinting at full-bore toward the finish line. He had used his liquid-form to move over the large chasm obstacle, sliding along the ropes faster than any person could hope to crawl, and therefore had given himself an impressive lead. Izuku saw him coming, clearly, lowering his hand for a moment and letting him move through the tunnel.

"COMING IN SECOND PLACE; RAYMOND BLACKMORE, AN EXCHANGE STUDENT FROM THE USA!" Present Mic shouted, clearly excited. "WHY DID MIDORIYA LET HIM THROUGH HIS IMPASSIBLE QUIRK? WHO KNOWS, LISTENERS?"

Another boy was racing toward the tunnel, a tall muscular fellow with glasses on his face and dark hair. Inko recognized him as Tenya Iida; her son mentioned the boy on occasion, apparently they were rather like friends at school. Behind him was a girl with long black hair, riding on a bicycle. Tenya was faster, the engines in his calves incredibly powerful, but he too hit the barrier Izuku had made and disappeared. The girl came to a screaming halt, hitting the brakes on her bicycle and turning it so she didn't enter Izuku's strange portal.

In the arena, Izuku grinned, glancing at Blackmore.

"Do I let her through?" he asked his butler. "Or should we let her wait a while?"

"I believe you should let her through, sir." Blackmore said. "Besides, sir, isn't it rather unsporting to continue to participate in the event after finishing, sir? Apologies if I overstep my bounds, sir; I simply do not wish to see you branded as a cheater, or something else of a similar sort, sir."

"If they didn't want me doing this, Present Mic would have said something by now." Izuku replied, shrugging. "Besides; isn't the point of an obstacle race to find creative ways around the obstacles to maximize your success?"

Blackmore considered that for a moment.

"I was never really given to obstacle racing in the past, sir." he admitted, nodding sheepishly. "But I believe I can see the logic in that. So you are engaging in the race once again, sir, not as a competitor but instead as a sort of additional obstacle, one for the various assembled parties of your former opponents to attempt to surmount?"

"Yes." Izuku agreed, nodding. "Precisely that. Also, never stop talking that way, it's amazing."

"Understood, sir." Blackmore replied, bowing his head before looking toward the tunnel. "Ah, here come those two again. Fearsome fellows, aren't they?"

Bakugou and Todoroki were tearing up the track a second time, their hyper-mobile Quirks letting them tear past most of the obstacles with utter ease. Izuku didn't relent on using D4C, his finger staying levelled at the tunnel.

"Come on..." he said, voice low. "Show me. Show me you can do more then overpower and overwhelm, show me you can think..."

Bakugou spotted him through the tunnel and howled with rage, pushing himself to go even faster, before coming to a screeching halt a few inches from the area of D4C's effect. He scowled, staring at the tunnel for a moment, while Todoroki came to a stop also. Izuku hummed softly, a meaningless tune as he waited for the three at the tunnel entrance to figure out a way inside.

Todoroki frowned, before a pillar of ice shot up from under him, propelling him up and over the arena wall. Bakugou swore loudly and began following him with explosions burning from both hands. Izuku watched as they disappeared behind the wall, then reappeared at the top. Todoroki slid down an ice slide on his way down, coming to a stop and stepping over the finish line with a frown.

"THIRD PLACE GOES TO SHOTO TODOROKI!" Present Mic announced, leading to Todoroki scowling before walking past Izuku and standing in the field alone.

Bakugou came down a couple seconds later, landing on all fours and blasting himself over the finish line with a final roar of anger. Outclassed by the half-and-half emo, outclassed by that stupid blonde in the mask, and worst of all, outclassed by shitty fucking Deku! Quirkless, useless Deku, born without power, without strength, the sort of person that was supposed to stay beneath Bakugou, a stepping stone on his road to the top. And here he was, first fucking place, right after Bakugou swore he would win in front of so many people...

"FOURTH PLACE GOES TO KATSUKI BAKUGOU!" Present Mic shouted, his voice like salt in the wound that now marred Bakugou's pride.

Bakugou swore again, before stalking away and standing off to one side, hands shaking with pent up fury and jaw clenched, forcibly biting back a withering tirade of enraged curses.

Blackmore watched him go, before turning his attention to the arena exterior and seeing a familiar figure moving across the last stretch of the race; a girl of average size, with long green vines emerging from her scalp instead of hair. She was running, but came to a stop when she saw Yaoyorozu standing in front of the arch. Then she saw Izuku, and her eyes narrowed.

Blackmore watched as she scanned her surroundings, before looking up and nodding once. Her vines lashed out, digging into the concrete of the arena wall, and she began climbing. Furthermore, vines descended and wrapped around Yaoyorozu, who looked quite surprised in the moments before she was completely entangled, and the two began climbing. Up one side they went, and down the other they came, past the cheering audience in the stands, before they came to land on the ground, mere feet from the finish line.

Yaoyorozu emerged from the bundle of vines and staggered forward, confused, resulting in her crossing the finish line. Present Mic announced her fifth-place position. Izuku scarcely noticed; he was busy watching as the vine-haired girl looked at him with the strangest expression of disappointment on her face, before she clambered back up and over the wall, without crossing the finish line.

Izuku grinned.

"Ah..." he said, voice low. "So that's the game we're playing now..."

Blackmore swallowed, hard.

He kept up D4C's influence over the tunnel, but he needn't have bothered. Every student who approached was spoken to by the vine-haired girl, who would then carry them over the wall. Several students refused; Shoji scaled the wall with his six arms, impressing all present, while the pink-haired girl from the support department flew over with what was indeed a jet-pack. Sero had scaled the wall alone, but Kirishima had needed and gratefully accepted the assistance of Ibara.

But most accepted assistance from the vine-haired girl. Present Mic took more than one audible note of this almost excessive display of sportsmanship, before contestant number thirty-nine was over the finish line and the vine-haired girl, named Ibara Shiozaki according to Present Mic's running commentary, stepped over the finish line herself and ended the race.

"AAAND THAT'S A WRAP WITH NUMBER FORTY; IBARA SHIOZAKI!" Present Mic called. "IT WAS A STRANGE RACE, LISTENERS, BUT I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE IT WAS AN IMPRESSIVE SHOW NONE THE LESS!"

Izuku let D4C drop, the tunnel usable once again, before rolling his shoulders and turning to walk toward the stage where Midnight looked like she was going to announce the next event. He was stopped, however, by a hand on his shoulder, and when he turned he found Ibara behind him, eyes narrowed once again.

"Hello, Shiozaki." Izuku said, nodding. "I have to say, I was impressed by your-"

"You tried to sabotage the event." she cut him off. "Why?"

Izuku took a long breath and then let it out in a sigh, eyes closing for a moment before he looked over his shoulder at the rest of the students assembled. Most of Class 1-A and 1-B had made it, making up the majority of the forty students. Izuku smiled.

"I wanted to see." he said. "I wanted to know whom among this mess of egos and arrogance would be willing to put aside their pride and accept help. One final obstacle, one most Quirks would be helpless against. Not a test for their power, but for their willingness to cooperate."

"So this was a test?" she asked.

"Yes." Izuku smiled at her, before letting D4C form around himself. "This power of mine... it shows me things. My consciousness exists across an infinite number of realities, where these same things happen time and time again. The same race, the same winners, the same losers, the same barks and shouts and taunts. But this time..."

He looked at the crowd again. New faces had made it. Not every hero class student had crossed the threshold, unwilling or unable to accept help. The blonde with the loud voice, like Bakugou but with no visible Quirk, had refused and been left behind. Kaminari and Tooru had both been too slow, unable to reach the arena fast enough. Others had succeeded in their place.

A business class student, adjusting his collar and looking quite shocked he had made it this far. General studies students, two of them; the one with the purple hair and eye bags, who Izuku knew almost always made it. The other was a girl, tall and thin, who rocked back and forth on her heels, waiting impatiently. The support course girl, the only from her class.

Present Mic had announced their arrivals with audible surprise; business course students never made it this far. General studies course students could on occasion, and maybe a support course savant or two, but four non-hero course students at once? Almost unheard of!

"New faces are here now, who in other worlds would never have had this chance to shine." Izuku continued, looking into Ibara's eyes as he spoke. "So do not think of me me as some bully who sabotaged other's chances; I changed the script this all runs by, and let others have their chance where before they would be left to linger in mediocrity."

Ibara stared at him for a long moment, before looking at Blackmore, who shadowed Izuku as always. He still had his mask on, meeting her gaze with his own hidden expression, his stance calm and level. She thought for a moment.

"Perhaps... perhaps I have misjudged you." Ibara said, nodding slowly. "Yes. Whatever comes next, I will not rush to conclusions, Midoriya. Good luck."

She nodded, before stepping past him to join the crowd of students. Izuku sighed, rolling his shoulders. His knowledge of other realities where the race had been shorter had already warned him of the coming inevitability. He looked at Blackmore, who he knew he could not side with. Blackmore needed to learn to work alone and with others. No, Izuku would find other partners.

Then Midnight spoke, and Izuku listened.

"For the next event, we'll be doing something a little different..." she smiled coyly. "That's right! It's time for..."

"A chariot competition..." Izuku muttered.

"Capture the flag!" Midnight said, cracking the riding crop she held in her right hand to punctuate her remark.

It also handily punctuated the choked gasp that escaped Izuku's throat despite himself. Had he altered his own reality that much? No other reality he could comprehend had capture the flag as their second event! None of them! Not even the weirder ones where he was the only man in the class or the one where he was a vampire! Blackmore looked at his master with concern, but Izuku waved him off. Capture the flag. Izuku could play capture the flag.

"The rules are simple!" Midnight continued. "Ten teams of four, no more and no less! You get to choose your own teams, so think carefully! Each contestant will receive points for their placement in the last event; fortieth gets five points, thirty-ninth gets ten, and so on. Except for first place..."

Izuku rolled his shoulders. Ten-million.

"First place starts with zero points!" Midnight declared, cracking her riding crop again and making Izuku facepalm. Of course one change wasn't enough... now there were to be two.

Suddenly everybody was staring at Izuku, as he sighed softly. Zero points. He'd have to work hard for a win then; no chance he could just stay on the defensive. He let D4C sheath his body once more; he needed to consult the other realities for information. On Quirks, more importantly; he needed to know what he was dealing with. Midnight told the students they had ten minutes to form their teams, and Izuku got to work.

First, Defense. Some who could take hits and keep moving; three prospects for that. Kirishima, who was already speaking with Ashido, or perhaps the class 1-B student Tetsutetsu, who was like Kirishima in almost every way. Or, if both of those failed, Tsuburaba. Solid Air could come in handy as far as Defense was concerned.

Tsuburaba had come in thirty-seventh, and nobody seemed all too interested in speaking with him, Izuku noted. He was only worth twenty points, after all. But that Quirk... Izuku made his way toward the boy, tapping him on the shoulder.

Kosei Tsuburaba was standing alone, trying to figure out who to team up with. A few students from his own class would probably be his best bet, he figured. Manga and Kojiro would make for a great team, and then if they could convince Ibara or Yui to join up with them they'd be even better off. Yui could supersize his air walls and make them impassible, while Manga could fend off enemies and Kojiro could lay traps with his glue... then something tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned to face Izuku, startled. What did class 1-A's rep want with him? Was he trying to size up the competition?

"I require your assistance." Izuku said, making Tsuburaba pause in his thinking and listen. "Would you care to join my team?"

Tsuburaba stared at him for a second, and Izuku smiled.

"My D4C allows me us to be hyper mobile, and your Solid Air could create platform for us in mid-air." Izuku explained. "Furthermore, my Quirk works when an object or individual moves between two solid objects. Were those objects invisible..."

Izuku grinned, a wicked expression. Tsuburaba took a moment to catch up, but when he did...

Both smiled, and Izuku offered the boy a hand. Tsuburaba took it gratefully.

"Alright... team." Tsuburaba said. "But we need two more, right?"

Izuku glanced over his shoulder, where the business class student and Kyoka Jiro were both talking, the former looking quite nervous indeed.

"I have two in mind already." Izuku replied. "Come with me, if you would."

AN:

And that's another one gone and done!

Making use of low-tier characters is one of the best parts about fan fiction, in my opinion; sure, I could have Izuku form the ultimate power team with all the heavy hitters who have long, detailed backstories, but where's the fun in using the characters everybody's already seen before? Give me D-listers or give me death, I say!

Ibara is great, but Kyoka is the best girl of all and if you think otherwise I hate to say it but you are morally, legally, spiritually, physically and objectively incorrect.

Izuku isn't quite omniscient, as I hoped to make clear here, though having access to infinite realms full of other Izuku's to collect information means that yes, he will know a lot of stuff. Especially about Quirks because what else would Izuku ever pay attention to?

Capture the flag will be fun. I have plans, lots of plans, and you'll get to see them all. As for the other JoJo's characters, Ringo and Okuyasu; they'll be here eventually, fear not.

As it stands, however, this is farewell from me for now. Hope you enjoyed!