Path of the Dragon: The Story of Gohan

by zzEclipse

Quirkless young Gohan is 15 Years Old when a dormant, mighty power within him awakens and sends him on a journey to discover what it means to be a hero. But to save the world and those he loves, he must shatter past his doubts and limits and go beyond - Plus Ultra! ((Major AU set in the MHA World with elements of DBZ/S))

39. The Sports Fest II - Racing Hearts

A/N: What's up fam! Time for another chapter of the Sports Fest! I can honestly say this was one of the chapters I most looked forward to writing this season, let alone this arc! And it only gets bigger and better from here. Thanks to everyone who's been leaving their reviews! We've almost hit the 300 count, a milestone for any of my stories. Thank you all so so so so much!

I've included a much longer A/N explaining the updated Chapter name, as well as other misc. notes, a couple of shout-outs, and of course, the Review responses at the end, as usual! So please stick around until the end?

Now, without further ado – let's get going!

---

Opening Song:

"Vandalize", by One Ok Rock

---

"Well, Sports Fans!" Mic shouted. "The Obstacle Course is off to a rockin' start! Talk about a cruel course – contestantsare racing one another in a vicious, three-staged course where anything goes as long as they stay on the track! And WHAT'S THIS?! CLASS 1A IS DOMINATING THE ENTIRE FIELD!"

The stadium rocked with the cheers and applause.

"No kiddin', folks! You've got 1A at the front, leadin' the pack, but you've also got 1A at the very back, with all of them other nerds," Hercule said, looking over to Aizawa. "What do you make of this, Eraser?"

"Class 1A has learned not to hesitate; they knowthat wavering incertitude can be disastrous for them, and so they push onward, ahead of their peers," Aizawa responded, looking at the two monitors in front of them. The first monitor displayed the students at the front of the pack – Todoroki, Bakugo, Videl, Yaoyorozu, Ojiro and Iida.

"On the other hand," Eraser said, glancing at the second screen which displayed Son, Uraraka, Shield, Midoriya and Tsu hanging back with a few other hero and support class students, defending the General studies and Business courses. "They've also seen what the real world is like; they've experienced the gripping terror of facing villains, unprepared. And that experience is pushing their heroic instincts to shine."

A group of bots descended upon a dozen business course students, who could do nothing but huddle together and quake in terror. But just before the tank-like green robots got to them, three ki blasts zipped over their heads and landed on the line of bots, pulverizing them and peppering the ground with shards of metal and burning parts.

The students looked up to see Gohan floating above them, one hand clutching his other wrist, palm smoking from the ki blast. The twin tails of the Dragon Hachimaki swayed behind him like a majestic cape, holding the two prominent spikes of his hair up.

"Hey, are you guys alright?" he called out, floating down to stand in front of the students.

"Holy shit!" One of the students gasped. "You saved us! Th-thank you!"

"Hey, I'm a Hero Course Class Rep – it's my job to keep you all safe!" Gohan said with a wide grin. "Now hurry and help your classmates get behind me! I'll cover you guys until we make it out of the combat zone!"

Gohan, Bardock's voice called out from Gohan's mind. Do you remember that Ultimate Move I taught you? Now would be a good time to use it, don't you think? You could tear through these bots in an instant!

Sorry, Grandpa, not yet! Gohan argued back, mentally. If I use that now, it may cause more damage than good. Gotta wait for that right moment…

More bots burst out of the thick smoke ahead of them. Gohan floated back up into the air and turned to the handful of hero course students that were still in the area, cupping his hands over his mouth.

"Listen up, heroes!" He shouted. "Protect the Gen studies and the Business courses! Don't let a single bot get through to them!"

"Got it!" Melissa called back, fighting off a one-point bot with her power pole. Next to her, Izuku's Full Cowling erupted into a storm of green electricity that made his irises glow with emerald power. He rushed up to a three pointer and unleashed a mighty punch so powerful that it tore straight through it before jumping towards another bot.

Without the full gauntlets to protect his wrists and knuckles, Izuku felt the force of each blow numbing down his fists, but still, he pressed on, inspired by Gohan's leadership.

I can do this, Izuku thought to himself, biting down on his lower lip with every punch to keep himself from feeling the hot itch of the fresh cuts on his knuckles. Just gotta keep myself from using more than 5 percent of One For All…

"Deku!" Melissa called out, jabbing the bot she was fighting through its head with her Power Pole. The bot sputtered and fell to the ground in a smoking heap, its red eye fading away. Melissa retracted the pole and slid it back into the sheath on her back and knelt down on top of the robot. Izuku smacked another robot out of the way and ran up to join her.

"Melissa!" he shouted. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" She nodded. "Help me peel some of this bot's armor off. I can weave them into gauntlets for you."

"Okay!" Izuku said, sliding to a stop and kneeling down next to Melissa to tear off the green armor.

Izuku yanked on a cable from within the robot's scorched innards and handed it to Melissa. She bit down on it to hold it steady as her hands worked quickly to tie some of the armor plating over Izuku's arms.

"Okay," she huffed. "Give me your hand. I'm going to make some gloves to protect your knuckles. They're crude, and you'll probably only be able to use to deliver a full powered punch once, okay?"

"Mmmhmm," Izuku nodded, trying to ignore the heat traveling up his fingers from Melissa's warm touch.

"Deku, Melissa – Watch out! More bots coming your way!" Ochaco called, pointing at the three two-pointers rushing at them. Melissa's sky blue eyes flashed over at the incoming wave with worry, working her fingers furiously to finish attaching the makeshift gauntlets, but Izuku knew that she wouldn't finish in time.

Suddenly, a semi-translucent figure flew past them, running straight for the bots. The next instant, Fu appeared behind the bots, disengaging the stealth jacket he was wearing.

"Leave them to me!" He shouted joyfully, unsheathing the black blade strapped onto his lower back. The blade of the short sword glowed with violet and blazing copper power. He slashed the blade out in front of him, and a ki bomb in the form of a stylized |X|, the same emblem embossed on the shoulder pads of his stealth jacket, blazed to life.

With a final slash, Fu sent the fiery |X| hurling forward through the line of bots, annihilating them.

"Ahhhahaha!" Fu squealed with delight, admiring the purple blaze emanating from his blade. "Another successful trial run! Dark Factor works like a charm on my Demon Sword!"

---

Support Class 1H Student – Fujisake Kaburagara… aka, Fu!
Quirk: Dark Factor

This mysterious power lets Fu absorb and manipulate the dark life energy possessed by his ancient race and redirect it to power his weapons and inventions.

---

"Thanks, Fu!" Melissa shouted without taking her eyes off of the gauntlets she was making for Izuku.

"Yeah, that was so awesome!" Izuku said, staring at the glowing sword.

"No prob!" Fu winked at Melissa. "I could lend my Quirk to strengthen Izuku's gauntlets, though I'd like something in return."

Melissa rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I already know what you want. I'll ask him," she said, to Fu's delight.

Fu knelt down next to Izuku and traced his symbol over the green gauntlets with his fingertip, leaving behind his blazing purple emblem. It seeped into the armor and gave it an iridescent sheen. The gauntlets molded over Izuku's arms and fingers, becoming tighter and much more durable.

"There you go," Fu said with a smile. "They should be practically unbreakable now."

Izuku opened and closed his hands, feeling the sleek new design of the armored gloves. He punched a rock with it, and pulverized it.

"Thank you so much, Fu!" Izuku said.

"Don't mention it!" Fu said, standing back up. "The next stage is just a couple of miles down the track. We should probably stick together. Where's Gohan?"

…

Although the majority of Class 1B ignored Gohan and pulled ahead of the group, a handful of them did stay behind to help protect the non-hero course students.

Among these was a student with long black hair that was braided into a ponytail. His lizard-like irises jumped around the scene, scanning the robots. He fought his way towards Gohan, Itsuka and Ochaco, who were fighting side by side.

Kendo's green eyes lit up as soon as she saw him.

"Hiryu!" she said happily. "You're staying, too?"

Hiryu nodded.

"I know this is a race and all, but it's not fair for the non-hero course students to have to fight combat bots," he said, raising his arm. Thick green scales sprouted out from his elbow up to the tip of his sharpened fingers. He gave Gohan a determined nod. "Perhaps we can call a truce and team up, at least until we get everyone to the non-combat zones."

---

Class 1B Hero Student Hiryu Rin
Quirk: Scales

He can sprout strong, durable reptilian scales from his skin. These scales protect him like armor; he can also shoot these scales with considerable strength and speed!

---

As the next wave of bots emerged from the smoky screen emitted by the heaps of destroyed robots, Hiryu extended his arm, all five fingers stretched out towards the bots. The green scales on his arm rustled and vibrated before firing off at a high rate of speed, like sharp scaly bullets, tearing through the wave of bots. With a confident smile, Gohan lifted up both of his palms and the two Dragon inspired heroes fired volleys of sharpened scales and ki blasts, annihilating the waves of robots pouring in from the left flank. On the other side, Tetsutetsu and Kirishima bulldozed over more robots with their hardening Quirks.

"Aww man! Seriously?" Kirishima cried, rushing to the next robot as Tetsutetsu followed him in his metal form, his shoes clanking on the ground with every step. "Our Quirks are basically the same! How am I supposed to stand out now?!"

"Quit whining, you copycat!" Tetsutetsu responded. "Just shut up and protect these damn nerds, already!"

---

Class 1B Hero Student Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
Quirk: Steel

Hecan turn his entire body into solid steel. But the effect wears off if he burns through the iron in his system.

---

Itsuka Kendo landed next to Gohan and unleashed a savage barrage of punches with her enlarged fists, pounding the robots into the ground like tin cans. She grabbed one of the larger three-point bots with both of her gigantified hands and crushed it, grinding it into a pile of gears, oil and broken armor.

"Gohan!" She called out, her orange bangs singed with smoke and her knuckles chaffed and raw. "I get that you want to save everyone, but we can't stay back here! There are dozens of students who already pulled ahead to the next stage! We need to get moving – NOW!"

"Hey, watch out!" Gohan yelled. He grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him as one of the nimbler Two-pointers lashed out at the spot where Kendo had been standing, sinking its mechanical sharpened tail onto the ground. Gohan swept his leg forward and delivered a kick that sawed the bot in half. He then finished it off with a blast from his hands.

He turned back to Itsuka and wiped the sooty sweat off his forehead.

"Wow!" Ochaco marveled. "Look at those moves!"

"Gohan!" Kendo interrupted. "You've done your part, but now it's time to let everyone fight for their place in the competition. It's time to show the world that you deserve that number one spot. Please!"

Gohan was breathing hard and he glanced back to see the dozen or so hero students that had stayed behind with him to protect the 120 general studies and business students. Up ahead, a wave of bots was rushing towards them – two waves at the most.

"You go on ahead, Kendo," Gohan said, panting.

"But-" Itsuka began to protest, but Gohan cut her off.

"Once I get these guys over to the non-combat stages, I'll be able to leave them on their own," he said. "But right now, they need me! Don't worry about me. Just save me a spot at the top, will ya?"

Itsuka's worried frown melted away into a confident smile and she nodded.

"My, my…" she sighed, feeling a blush crawl over nose and thankful for the dusty black soot that covered it.

"What?" Gohan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm… Nope! I can't say I don't like this side of you, Gohan-chan…"

"Huh?" Gohan asked, still confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"I dunno, figure it out," Itsuka shrugged with a childish glint in her eye. "You're always rushing off to save the world, aren't you? You bet I'll save you a spot next to me at the top! So get these other students to The Fall and then book it to the front with me, alright?! That's an order, from Rep to Rep."

She playfully karate-chopped Gohan's shoulder.

"Yes ma'am, Class Rep," Gohan nodded with a smile. With that Itsuka nodded and took off running, smashing her way through the incoming gauntlet of robots. She swatted one bot away with her left hand, swept two more away with her right hand and then twirled around into a spin, decimating all of the bots in her path with her enormous hands.

"She's really into this, huh?" Ochaco commented, watching as the taller redhead plowed through the bots.

"That's our Big Sis Kendo, for you," Hiryu commented. "Always pushing herself and us to be the best we can be."

"Don't worry, you guys. We've almost made it to the Fall," Gohan said, blasting at another bot. "Once we get everyone past all of the bots, we can blast off for the finish line."

"I'm not worried, Gohan," Ochaco told him with an excited fist pump. "I'm sticking by your side, no matter what."

"Well, isn't that just touching? Some of the hero students are protecting the other courses at the cost of their own positions in the race," Mic commented. Meanwhile, the front-runners had cleared the final leg of the Iron Gauntlet Stage and made it to the next stage – the Fall, a 50 foot tall canyon drop in which the only way to pass was by crossing on tightropes. "It looks like our front-runners aren't facing much real difficulty crossing this stage, either! But still, they'll wanna be careful, because a tumble here will get them automatically disqualified!"

Still at the front of the group, Shoto ran up to one of the tightropes without hesitation and leaped forward onto it with his right foot forward in front of his left. A slippery patch of ice shot out under his shoe, propelling him forward across the rope. In a matter of seconds, Shoto had easily reached the other side of the breach. Three Support Class students tried following him now that the rope had been frozen solid, but slipped halfway and tumbled down, screaming until they hit the water below.

Hmph. Isn't that a shame… Shoto thought. He leaped off the rope and gave off a shiver. Tiny patches of frost were beginning to develop on his right arm and leg, but Shoto absolutely refused to use his left side, even to melt it. With his hot breaths coming out in cold puffs, he shook the ice off and took off running again.

With two-thirds of the stages now complete, Shoto could see the entrance of the Sports Fest Stadium, and the finish line. The music, laser lights, the reverberating sound of Present Mic's voice booming through the speakers and the warm scent of food wafted through the air now.

Almost there. Shoto sped up as he entered into the third and final stage—a sandpit that extended for the last half mile of the track with suspicious slightly elevated bumps. Panting, Shoto raised his right hand and formed a tiny, circular icicle, and tossed it far from him. The icicle landed on one of the elevated bumps and erupted in an explosion of dirt and pink dust that set off three more mines. Non-lethal, obviously, but powerful nonetheless.

"HEYYYY! You icy-hot bastard!" Bakugo vociferated, his voice drowned out by the loud explosions bursting out of his palms. Shoto turned to see Bakugo flying behind him, riding on his explosions, closing in. "Your little declaration of war was to the wrong person!"

Behind Bakugo, Videl, Momo and Tenya were halfway across the tightropes, with several other students pooling in behind them, waiting for their turn to cross. From above, Mashirao and a couple of other students with flight Quirks and gadgets were zooming in, not too far behind Bakugo.

But they were all still a good distance away.

This was the final stretch – if Shoto kept it up, he would win. He took a step forward, then stopped. The earth trembled with a horrible buzz, as a dark plume emerged from the ground and began to cover the skies above. Behind him, Bakugo, Videl and Ojiro froze in their tracks, their faces dropping. Katsuki landed on the ground on his feet, observing the dark clouds forming above them.

"Oh no," Ojiro said, floating down towards Videl and Katsuki, staring at the horror in front of them.

"Dammit! I knew they were going to pull something like this!" Videl shouted angrily.

Bakugo didn't respond, but a bloodthirsty smile formed over his face.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE THINGS!" Someone from the support class screamed.

"The minefield is merely the battlefield," Shoto responded, bringing his right fist up, glowing with white subzero power. "This is the final stage."

---

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE – SPORTS FEST II: RACING HEARTS

---

"GO!" Izuku yelled, smashing through another bot with his new gauntlets, reducing it to a smoldering heap. The tremor of impact was absorbed in a flash of radiating violet-pink light emanating from the armored gloves. The three business course students jumped up and ran past him. Izuku took off running after them, scanning the area for any more bots, but once they crossed the laser line onto the next stage, the few remaining bots disengaged and ceased pursuing them.

"That's it! These were the last ones," Izuku called out breathlessly. "Everyone's out of the combat zone!"

"Alright! Great job everybody!" Gohan called out. Around them the other students also cheered for the heroes who had stayed back to protect them.

"Man, how cool are the hero students?!"

"I know, they're the best of the best!"

"They stayed behind to rescue us."

"Now these are what true heroes look like!"

"Thank you heroes! We love you!"

Gohan and Ochaco were floating above everyone, watching over the group of a hundred students who were cheering for them.

Ochaco brushed her cheeks and beamed down at the cheering crowd.

"We did it, Gohan! We saved them," she said, through tired gasps of air. Gohan looked over at her and smiled proudly at her.

"We're real heroes, Ochaco! I'm so proud of you!" He said excitedly. "Okay, how about we wrap up this race and head down for some Ice cream together? My treat!"

"Sounds great!" Ochaco's eyes shined at the sound of that. Together… for some reason, the thought of spending time with him alone now, even doing something as mundane as getting dessert, sent electric ripples down her stomach. It's something they had done a hundred times before already, so why did it feel so different now?

"Are you alright?" Gohan asked with a laugh. "Feeling nauseous?"

Ochaco shook the dreamy look off her face and nodded. The race still wasn't over.

The sparkling pink orbs emitted by Ochaco's Quirk intensified next to Gohan's scarlet aura.

"No, I'm good," she said. "Let's win this, Gohan!"

…

At the Fall, Kendo was using her large hands to help transport Yui Kodai and Reiko Yanagi, her two best friends, across on the ropes. Her green sneakers trembled as she made her way across the chasm, but she tried her best to keep her balance and more importantly, not to look down. Thankfully, while Yui used her Quirk to increase the size of the rope, Reiko used hers to stop it from shaking so much.

---

Class 1B Hero Student Yui Kodai
Quirk: Size

She can alter the size of any nonliving object that she touches. She can return objects to their original size by pressing her fingertips together.

…

Class 1B Hero Student Reiko Yanagi
Quirk: Poltergeist

She can telekinetically control nearby objects. The weight limit of her Quirk is roughly the weight of the average human.

---

"Awesome, thanks you guys!" Kendo said, making it to the other side of The Fall. She gently placed her friends down and her hands shrunk back to their original size. Kendo massaged her sore hands, tenderly. "Come on! One more stage and we're done!"

Reiko jerked her head to the side to clear the bangs of silver hair that covered one of her icy silver eyes and nodded. The shorter of the three girls, Yui, looked around curiously.

"Hm," she breathed, looking up.

"Huh? What is it, Yui?" Itsuka asked.

Yui's expression did not change.

"Hmm," she hummed again.

The muffled explosion of a sonic boom rang off in the distance behind them.

Itsuka turned back to see the 100 or so business and general studies courses joining in behind the rest of the hero and support classes at the Fall.

"They did it!" Itsuka said happily. The boom sounded off again as two figures soared straight over The Fall easily. Itsuka instantly recognized the spiky-haired monkey-tailed boy and the brown-haired girl beside him.

"WAAAHOOOO! YEAHHHH! Nice going, Gohan! Go get 'em! Make us proud and get that first place spot!" She cheered as Gohan and Ochaco rocketed over them, flying straight to the final stage.

As he passed by, Gohan looked down and tapped two fingers on his forehead, waving at Kendo.

"Hmmmm…" Yui hummed again, pulling on Kendo's sports jacket. Clearly, something had caught her attention, and it wasn't Gohan and Ochaco. Yui cleared a lock of her shoulder-length black hair over her deep blue eyes and pointed up at the sky.

A thick, fluid cloud emerged from the ground, filling the air with a terrible buzzing that made Itsuka's teeth clatter together.

"What the hell is that?" She heard someone say. Itsuka squinted her eyes and brought a hand over them to see better. Her mouth dropped and her eyes widened in terror as the humming cloud covered the sky.

"The last stage is certainly one of the most daunting and terrifying of all!" Mic announced as the cloud darkened the skies. "Contestant must traverse a mile and a half sandpit littered with hidden mines. But that's not all! Courtesy of I-Island and Shield Industries, ladies and gentlemen, we give you – The Swarm!"

The cloud, composed of thousands of three-foot-tall Android Juniors, spiraled overhead and came down, washing over the students like a black tidal wave, starting with Todoroki and the others in the lead.

"Todoroki!" Momo yelled out, but the black, pint-sized android juniors collided with her, picking her up and carrying her off with several other hero students.

"Yaoyorozu!" Shoto shouted. Yaoyorozu's voice was lost to the pandemonium cacophony of buzzing wings and screaming students.

"You bastards!" Shoto shouted, stepping forward. "GIVE HER BACK!"

He thrust his hand to the side and long icy stalactite formed in his right palm like a frozen javelin. He brought the ice weapon up, even with the icy blue eye he inherited from his mother and swung it forward, using his Quirk to add velocity to the weapon.

The javelin tore through the air and plunged into the back of one of the Juniors carrying Yaoyorozu away, tearing it in half. At the same time, a flash of green light snapped up. Izuku charged at another Junior who held Momo's arm with a mighty kick. His energized foot blasted ran through the bot, and it exploded.

With her arms now free, Momo reached out and a razor sharp Shoto Sword shot out from her palm. She swung it around at the remaining three Juniors, lobbing their heads off.

As she dropped back down to the ground, Melissa swung her pole forward, catapulting herself up and catching Yaoyorozu.

"Thanks for the assistance, everyone!" Momo said, as the four regrouped.

"So much for this not being a team effort," Izuku said. Currents of green electricity traveled up and down his body.

"You recognize these guys, don't you?" Shoto said, stomping his foot forward and a giant wave of ice shot off, freezing dozens of androids in place.

"Yeah," Momo said, sweat streaming down her face. "They're the ones we faced from the Maze Exam."

"No… they aren't!" Melissa stared in horrified realization, kneeling down over the decapitated head of one of the Juniors. "I recognize this model – it's not even supposed to be in production for years! It's the Hive!"

"Oh, I don't like the sound of that!" Izuku whined, rubbing his arms.

"The Hive works under a single artificial intelligence entity that dictates command. Whatever the leading Cell commands, the Juniors will obey, making it a much more cohesive army. And right now, it's orders are…"

At the center of the swirling cloud of Juniors, a dozen of them banded together to form the lead Cell. Their eyes blazed red and all of them spoke together in one, hair-raising mechanical voice.

"Capture… absorb… Consume!," the Cell commanded. "BRING ME THEIR QUIRKS!"

The cloud opened up like two giant arms as the thousands of Juniors spread out, targeting the heroes.

Momo tore her jacket open, exposing her training bra and closed her eyes in concentration. Two giant canons emerged from her stomach area and she positioned them to fire on the cloud that was rushing in towards them.

The canons roared to life, shooting fire up into the sky, and beside them, Todoroki and Bakugo fired off Ice and Explosion attacks, but no matter how many Juniors they brought down, the Swarm would regroup efficiently, and the wave continued to rush toward them.

On the other side of the prong, the android Juniors were beginning to carry off some of the contestants.

"Melissa!" Momo shouted over the deafening explosions from the canons. "How do we stop them?!"

Melissa shook her head.

"You can't, that's the point!" She shouted back desperately. "It's basically a super-intelligent, self-healing organism. There is no stopping it, unless you destroy them all at once, and with our numbers that's just simply not going to happen. We need to run! As long as we make it across the Finish line, they won't be able to chase us there."

Suddenly, a large swath of androids landed and began to spin around them, creating a funnel and trapping them inside. Through the rapidly increasing flight of the Hive Juniors, the form of two red eyes formed in it's movement.

Melissa stood before the figure defiantly.

"Are you the Hivemind behind the Swarm," she said, unafraid.

The creatures made a hissing sound akin to laughter.

"We are… the Cell," they said in unison, making the hair on Izuku's neck stand on its end.

"Sorry about this," she said. "I know you're only following orders, but I'm not about to let you take us down without a fight!"

"Take… you?" The Cell laughed again. "You… are… Quirkless. You… undesirable defect!"

"And now you went and made it personal!" Melissa sighed, unsheathing her Power Pole.

"Melissa, get away from that thing!" Todoroki commanded, jumping past her with his right hand emitting his freezing powers. A mountain of ice shot out from the tip of his toes and froze the androids that composed the Cell. Their red eyes died out with an echoing, monstrous laugh.

"Come on!" Yaoyorozu said, pulling Izuku and Shoto forward with her into a run. "We have to get to the finish line before that entity figures out just how powerful our Quirks can be. Melissa, time to go!"

But Melissa was frozen, glaring at the tall figure composed of dozens of Android Juniors.

Undesirable defect…

"Melissa, let's go!" Momo shouted, but Melissa didn't move.

Izuku sighed and ran over to her, taking her hand.

"Hey, let's talk about it later, alright," he said. His touch seemed to move her out of her hypnotic state and when she looked up, Izuku saw that her eyes had reddened with tears. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Come on, let's go!"

"Jiro, Hagakure!" Kaminari shouted as the Swarm carried them away. Denki shot his hand forward, grabbing for Jiro's fingerless-gloved hand.

"Kaminari!" Jiro shouted back, terrified as the Swarm picked her up by her feet and carried her away to have her Quirk absorbed. They reached out for one another and for a moment, their fingers intertwined and held, before they were ripped away from one another.

"NO!" Kaminari yelled. "DAMMIT!"

"Hagakure!" Ojiro shouted, flying towards them. "Our move, NOW!"

"Kyoka! Close your eyes!" Hagakure said, unbottoning her jacket and exposing her naked invisible body.

"WARP REFRACTION!" Hagakure shouted.

"SOLAR FL-AHHH!" Ojiro gasped. Three sharp metal arms came together into the form of a needle and burried into Ojiro's back. Immediately, the white aura around him vanished.

"My… my Quirk!" Ojiro agonized. He looked down at his hands weakly as he plummeted back down to the ground, unable to control his Crane Ki.

"…Mine, now," the newly formed Cell said with a demented laugh.

"Mash! NO!" Hagakure screamed as Mashirao tumbled back down to earth. But before the Cell could fully absorb Ojiro's Quirk, a blast of pure blue energy lanced out, eviscerating half of the Cell's body. The dozens of Juniors that composed the Cell felt the pain of its severed limb and roared. A second later, two similar blasts destroyed the Juniors that were carrying Hagakure and Jiro.

A scarlet blur lunged out past the girls and with a single punch, shattered what remained of the regenerated Cell into a million pieces.

Jiro screamed as she fell the short distance back to the ground.

"Jiro!" Denki shouted, running over with his arms open. "I got you! I got you!"

Thud!

With a painful groan, Jiro landed on the ground below, detonating a mine and flipping away.

"DAMN YOU, JAMBRAIN!" she cursed as she flew away.

"S-Sorry!" Kaminari cried and ran over to help her.

Below, Ochaco caught Hagakure in her arms.

"Ahhh!" Ochaco shouted with a giant red blush. "Toru, get your giant boobs outta my face!"

"I'm trying here!" Hagakure shouted back, buttoning up her jacket.

"It's okay, everyone! Everything is fine, now!" Gohan said, bursting through the black cloud of androids. "Because we are here."

Deafening cannon fire shook the ground. Several fiery missiles shot out from the ground towards the hive's tendrils, tearing through them and sending the Hive back.

The heroes glanced over to their shock and relief.

"Heh… Hehh… Hehhh!" Mei Hatsume giggled with glee. In each arm, she held controllers with red buttons on its tip. Strapped to her back, she had a massive missile launcher silo. "Ohhh I finally get to try my new baby. I call this one… the 'Kill-it-with-Fire!' AAAHAHAHA!"

"It's the support class!" Kirishima and Tetsutetsu said in relieved unison.

Hatsume fired off another salvo of missiles that pushed the Hive back even further. Another support class student tossed a capsule on the ground, revealing hundreds of flares.

"Come on!" she shouted at the business and Gen studies students. "These flares are designed to jam their transmissions. Let 'em have it!"

"Take this! AND THIS!" the students shouted, picking up handfuls of the red flare sticks and tossing them at the hive. The sticks burst out with a dazzling display of lights, smoke and colors, throwing the Hive into confusion.

"Whoa!" Kaminari yelled in surprise, grabbing at his golden hair. "Is that a freakin' MINI-GUN?!"

Another support class student with a giant bulky build brought out the metal machine gun and fired away at the Juniors, tossing smoke, fire and shell casings into the air with a maniacal laugh.

"Dude, that's insane!" Kaminari shouted. "What kind of stuff are they teaching you guys at the Support Class?!"

Gohan, Bardock's voice echoed in his head again. That Ultimate Move… I really, really think-

Not yet! Gohan responded, smashing through another cluster of androids with his fist. He continued to pummel his way into the center of the hive until a pair of red eyes looked over at him. Crossing his arms, Gohan floated down to be face to face with the Cell.

"So… I take it you're in command here?" Gohan said with a confident smirk. "I gotta admit, you're pretty impressive. I know that this is a sports game and all, but I just know that with a technology like yours, you're going to help a lot of people."

The Cell cackled with its dozen unified voices.

"Help? ...No," he said. "I will not… become a hero. I will become… the perfect weapon! With the help of your Quirk, that is!"

A tail-like appendage shot out from its behind, aiming straight at Gohan's abdomen. Gohan grabbed at it, but it was slimy and slithered past his grasp to inject its pointed end into Gohan…

And then nothing happened.

"...Why?" Cell groaned. "Why can I not absorb you?"

"That's a very good question – and I've got the answer," Fu giggled, floating towards them from behind Gohan, tapping a finger on his chin. "Hmmm, simply put, I took your ability to absorb away. How might this change the outcome of this battle, I wonder!"

The two red eyes widened and Gohan broke free from the tail and blasted the Cell with a full powered blast. Cell's body contorted and disintegrated under the blast with a dying scream.

"Hmm, yep! Just as I predicted," Fu said. "You okay there, Gohan?"

"Yeah," Gohan said, rubbing the bleeding spot on his abs. For some reason, the eerie words that the Swarm's Cell had just told him spun in his head.

The Perfect Weapon… Just what was Shield Industries working on?

"Thank you," Gohan nodded.

"Hey, my pleasure!" Fu shrugged. "What's say we get to that finish line and finish the race?"

"You go on ahead," Gohan said. "Please give Class H our thanks, from Class A."

With that, Gohan dropped down to the ground where Kendo and her two friends, Yui and Reiko, were fighting off androids. Reiko was picking up pebbles and rocks, which Yui would turn into large boulders to throw at the swarming androids and in his mind, Gohan quickly developed an idea.

So those things want to absorb powerful Quirks, huh? He thought to himself.

"Kendo!" Gohan called out, landing next to her and blasting away the androids near them.

"Gohan? Why are you still here? I thought you'd have made it to the finish line by now!" Kendo called, smashing away at another android.

"I've got a plan to take a huge chunk of these tin cans out!" Gohan told her. "But I'm gonna need some help from your friends."

Itsuka glanced over to the girls, gasping for air.

The girls nodded and she turned back to him.

"Okay, just tell us what we need to do!" She said.

"We're in, too!" Izuku called, running over to them, followed closely by Melissa.

"You guys, listen to me!" Gohan said through heavy panting. He glanced at Melissa, Izuku and Itsuka. "I need you three to get to that finish line as soon as possible. At this point, the other classes are supporting us now."

"You want us to run away without you?" Itsuka asked, shaking her head. "Ain't happening."

"Yeah, we're not leaving you behind!" Melissa cried, her sky blue eyes bouncing around Gohan's onyx eyes with worry. "You've got that Son glint in your eyes, and every time I see that, you end up hurt!"

"I have a plan," Gohan responded, nodding at the two Class B girls and Ochaco. "Don't worry. Ochaco and I will be right behind you!"

Izuku was panting but he glanced behind him and realized that Gohan was right. Now, it was the other classes who were defending them, at the cost of their position in the race. Staying back now would only dampen their sacrifice. Izuku took Melissa's hand.

"I'll get Melissa to safety," Izuku promised, holding Melissa's hand firmly.

Melissa stared down at their hands.

"Deku…" she whispered.

"I trust you, Gohan," Izuku said. "So hurry up and make it back to the finish line, already!"

"I will," Gohan promised.

"Come on," Izuku said, pulling Melissa's hand. "Let's get outta here while we still can."

"R-right!" Melissa said, running away with Izuku.

Itsuka gritted her teeth in frustration.

"You better be there when I get there, okay hon?" She told him.

"You got it!" Gohan said with a nod. Itsuka took off running and Gohan approached Yui and Reiko.

"Okay, you guys. Here's the plan," he said.

…

Taking five steps back, Gohan scanned the skies for Ochaco and took off flying towards her.

"Ochaco!" Gohan called, flying up to the Zero Gravity girl as she smashed two weightless juniors together, obliterating them. She floated closer to him, and the two met back to back, fighting off the flying terrors.

"Yeah?" she asked, catching a bot and ramming it into the path of another, destroying both.

"I'm gonna need your help," Gohan said, firing off ki blasts at the Juniors. "If I can get Zero Gravity, I may have a way of taking these guys out!"

"Okay, sure!" Ochaco said. As soon as they were clear, they turned towards one another and Ochaco reached out and touching Gohan's chest, activating her Quirk on him. Pink bubbles sparkled into a pink aura around Gohan and he felt himself become lighter instantly. Gohan gave her hands a light squeeze, staring into her eyes for only a brief glimpse.

"Okay," he said. "I'm gonna take these android suckers down by the scenic route through the minefield. As soon as I tell you to, I want you to release your Quirk. The rushing force might be enough to set off the mines!"

"Alright, be careful!" Ochaco told him. "I've got your back!"

Gohan nodded and flicked his thumb lightly across Ochaco's chin, a move she had quickly become fond of and made her recoil dreamily.

Gohan lifted up higher into the sky and shot off ki blasts in every direction, catching the attention of the Swarm.

"Listen up, you little tin can gnats!" Gohan shouted. "I got a nice yummy Quirk just waiting to get gobbled up. Come and get it! Kaioken Attack!" The red aura flashed around him and he back-flipped in mid-air, aiming his flight back down towards the minefield, away from the Hero students.

Down by the ground where Momo, Shoto and Ojiro were fighting, the Hero students saw that the swarm began to peel away and that the rest of the minefield was open, so they bolted towards the finish line in the distance.

As the Swarm left its pursuit of the hero students, it gathered into a black cloud that surged forward, intent on swallowing Gohan as he picked up speed, attracted to the enticing scarlet aura that his power emitted. From the corner of his eye, Gohan saw Ochaco bringing her hands together, waiting for his signal to cancel her Quirk.

"Not yet… Not yet…." Gohan growled as he picked up speed. The ground below trembled and the earth began to open, as the androids drew ever closer and the lower portion of Gohan's body became a scarlet blur. "NOW!"

Reiko swung her hand up, grasping the several dozen mines with her Quirk and bringing them up into a hover while Yui increased their size dramatically with her Quirk, just as Gohan flew by them.

"RELEASE!" Ochaco shouted. In an instant, Gohan's suspended gravity exploded. The resulting wave of gravity's pull tore out from Gohan's body, hammering against the floating mines.

An explosion sounded off behind them. Then another, and another!

"This is it!" Gohan shouted. The force generated from his flight path triggered the giant mines as he passed over them. In an instant, a trail of explosions erupted behind him, annhilating the androids by surprise and masking Gohan and Ochaco behind a dense wall of dirt and pink dust.

Gohan then turned back and unleashed a volley of ki blasts at the remaining dark silhouettes behind the pink curtain of dust. The glowing yellow orbs shot through the smoke screen, decimating the juniors behind it.

Gohan then brought his wrists together, gathering his energy into a single point. His ki formed into a singular violent orb that spun and radiated as it grew. This was it, the ace up his sleeve. It was the first time he was going to combine two special moves together. Gohan silently prayed that the ensuing force did not tear his body to shreds.

"SCATTER KAMEHAMEHAAAAA!" He shouted. The sea-blue wave tore through what was left of those androids, incinerating them as it traveled friction-less through the pink smoke. With the base of the beam still in his palms, Gohan bent it into an upward arch, and the beam responded. The blue head shot upwards obediently.

Students and androids caught sight of the giant blue orb piercing the heavens before splitting into twenty smaller blasts. These arched and pivoted, raining back down to earth on top of the swathes of androids, exterminating them all instantly.

The earth shook with bursts of impact after each of the smaller Kamehameha blasts exploded, decimating the Swarm and kicking up dust.

When the smoke cleared, nearly all of the Swarm, minus a few of the androids that had not pursued Gohan, had been wiped out.

Gohan released the last of the energy beam and it dissipated into thin air. Gohan let his tired arms down slowly, gasping for air. He looked up at Ochaco, who was still floating in midair and threw her a thumbs up.

"We did it, Gohan!" Ochaco cheered, returning the gesture. "We did-"

Suddenly, a fiery blast collided with Ochaco's leg. The girl screamed out, falling from the sky.

"NOOO!" Gohan shouted. He watched in horror as the girl's body was blasted out of the sky, spiraling down to earth, where she landed on a mine and triggered a series explosions. "OCHACO!"

Gohan blasted the mine that was buried directly below him and dropped down from the sky, landing on his feet and running towards Ochaco, who was writhing in pain on the ground. Just before he got there, a figure landed directly in front of her, standing between her and Gohan. Gohan slid to a stop and his eyebrows narrowed down.

"Bakugo," Gohan said, gritting his teeth. The sandy blonde stood before him with a salivating grin as the Swarm intensified around them, forming a funnel that locked them in together.

"It's time, you damned monkey-tailed nerd," Bakugo said, hunched forward into a pouncing stance, hands open and ready to unleash his explosions. "Come at me with everything you've got! Right here, right now! Where's that fancy Dragon Fist of yours, huh?!"

"Get out of my way, Bakugo!" Gohan shouted over the swarm of android juniors. "I don't have time for this! Ochaco's hurt!"

"Oh, is that right?" Bakugo said, lowering his hand and aiming his palm at the base of Ochaco's neck. He glanced up at Gohan with taunting narrow eyes. Gohan's eyes widened with rage. "Well, if you wanna get to her, you're gonna have to get through-"

Suddenly Gohan vanished and appeared directly in front of Bakugo. The sheer speed in which he surged forward caught Bakugo off guard and his eyes widened.

"I said," Gohan growled through clenched teeth, putting two fingers on Bakugo's collarbone. "MOVE!"

Gohan flicked his fingers forward. The blow was light, but with enough force that Bakugo was sent hurling back with a furious roar, burying into the ground and setting off a chain of explosions.

Gohan quickly dropped down to his knees and cradled Ochaco in his arms.

"Gohan-Ahhh!" Ochaco cried into his neck, tears streaming down her cheeks. "My leg! My leg is on fire! Please help me!"

"It's okay – you're okay. Hold on to me. I've got you," Gohan reassured the crying girl. He scanned over the charred pant leg and burned skin. The burns on her leg and ankle were sizzling from the fiery attack she had suffered and she tucked her head under Gohan's chin, unable to contain her pained sobbing.

Her crying sobs made Gohan's blood boil, and he glared over to where Bakugo was picking himself up, and the two locked eyes. Gohan wanted so badly to pummel him for hurting Ochaco. But right now, the most important thing for him was to get Ochaco to one of the portable clinics at the finish line.

"Just hang on," Gohan whispered, comforting the girl in his arms. "Let's get you to the finish line."

Gohan stood back up and lifted off in the air, flying back towards the end of the track.

Over by the crater nearby, Bakugo pulled himself up, falling forward onto his knees, gagging and coughing. He slammed a furious fist against the ground with an enraged roar. It wasn't the effect of the mines – after all, Bakugo's body was immune to explosions. Bakugo lifted his fingers and passed them over the sore violet spot on his collarbone…

Tch! That damned nerd… Bakugo's head snapped up at the sound of more explosions and his eyes widened. To his horror, Izuku had just set off a massive explosion somehow which had just propelled him and Quirkless Blondie across the field. They were now making a dead run towards the finish line.

"GRRR! DAMMIT!" Bakugo shouted, blasting off into the air with his explosions. A support class student had tried to use a water canon device to protect Bakugo from the incoming Juniors, but Bakugo's indiscriminate blasts blew him away, too. "There's no way I'm losing to either of YOU, Deku!"

Back at the finish line, the entire stadium roared with excitement as the obstacle course now neared its end. Figures could be seen running through the smoke and dust, making a furious dash for the finish line.

Through the monitors, Chi-Chi watched the young man carry Ochaco in his arms and the girl nestled her head under his chin. She crossed her arms and gave off a knowing smile, tapping her arm with her finger.

That was definitely him, the boy whom little Ochaco was so smitten with and so desperately wanted her to meet, for some reason.

The more she stared at the muscular teen who carried Uraraka in his arms, the more she seemed to… recognize him? There was a strange familiarity in the young man's innocent, yet determined eyes.

"Class-A Representative Son Gohan turns out to be a Class-A act!" Mic shouted over the speakers. "He went back and saved his classmate – what a noble hero!"

Wait… WHAT? Class Rep… Son Gohan?! Chi-Chi thought, squinting her eyes to get a closer look at the teen in the monitors. Her eyes slowly widened, wetting with tears and her hands began to tremble. Those eyes… those purely innocent eyes… Could it be true…?

"I'll tell you what, Mic!" Mister Satan responded. "They sure do make 'em tough in Namek City. I'm lookin' over his bio and it says here that he comes from the legendary Dragon Clan, which was formerly known as the Demon Clan. Of course we can expect great things from him. As a matter of fact, his uncle Majunior and a few members of the Dragon Clan came down to support him. I'm sure they're proud of his rockin' performance right now!"

Chi-Chi's heart sank, and she felt slight embarrassment at getting her hopes up. Of course that wasn't her Gohan. Besides, Gohan had been a short, skinny, timid teen, not this taller, handsome, muscular, spiky-haired young man. Bulma glanced over at her with a sad frown.

"Sorry Chi-Chi," she said, folding her hands together. "When the school submitted his costume design for modifications to Capsule Corp, I thought it was him, too. But he's not our Gohan. Apparently, he comes from an ancient Clan of Martial Artists."

"Hmm! Hey, yeahhh!" Mitsuki said, taking a sip from her glass and pointing at the screen. "I remember that cutie. He stopped by the Capsule Corp a few months ago to pick up some parts for a time machine or something."

"Ohh, was that him?! And I think you mean the Time Chamber that they're working on," Bulma said. "So what you're saying is that basically he's a genius on top of being a looker! No wonder Uraraka's girl fell for him."

"Girl's got taste!" Mitsuki laughed after another sip of her drink. "I would've killed to have a boyfriend like him when I was her age."

"Holy whoa! Ochaco-chan's got a boyfriend?!" Inko gasped, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Don't let Miruko or Mister Corey hear that, or they'll ground her until she turns eighteen!"

"Well then it's a good thing that they're setting up that surprise party at her apartment and not here watching her get swept off her pretty little feet by that handsome hunk then, huh?" Bulma chortled.

"I don't get it," Mitsuki whined. "What are they, Mormons, or something?! Let the girl have some fun! Look at me! I had Katsuki when I was sixteen and he turned out awesome!"

"Calm down, Mits!" Chi-Chi scolded the younger woman. "She's barely just crushing on the guy, not eloping with him!"

"Yeah, let's not encourage Ochaco-chan to get pregnant before graduating, hmm?" Inko suggested with a straining smile.

Movement from the left interrupted the women's gossiping, as a rich young man wearing an expensive business suit jacket over a tacky white T-shirt approached them from the side. The sun glinted off his red sunglasses and shaved head. He took a sip from his drink and licked the thin whiskers on his upper lip and ran a hand down his neckbeard.

"Uh, can we help you?" Bulma asked, irritated. The corpo didn't respond. He shamelessly eyed Chi-Chi's muscular curves, his eyes lingering on her toned thighs and rear end long enough to make Chi-Chi's stomach turn.

"Hello there," he told Chi-Chi flirtatiously, leaning against the rail next to her. "My name's Andrew Slate. What's up, hot stuff?"

Chi-Chi scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Keep walkin', Junior," she told him, folding her arms. "I ain't interested! I'm old enough to be your mother, for goodness sake!"

The corpo was taken aback by Chi-Chi's cold rejection and almost spilled his drink.

"B-b-but my Bugatti – and my three Lambos!"

"I said beat it!" Chi-Chi screeched, stomping her foot forward, her eyes whitening out with rage, raising a fist to punch him. "Before I kick YOUR "Bugatti" in front of all of these people!"

That earned several chuckles from the other rich corpos standing around.

"Tch," the flustered young man feigned disgust to mask his wounded ego, but decided that the best option for his health was to leave the angry mama alone. He took another sip from his drink and walked away. "Who needs an old hag, anyway? I'm the Top G!"

"Woooow," Mitsuki said, snarling at Chi-Chi and clawing at her direction with a cat-like hiss. "I'm lovin' this new you, Chi-Chi! Ever since you picked up Martial Arts again, you've turned into a real tigress!"

"That's our Chi-Chi for you," Bulma giggled and raised her glass. "Hot as hell and tough as nails! That's why you and Son-Kid made such a great couple!"

Chi-Chi smiled and looked down at her glass. "Yes… Son-Kid…"

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Bulma quickly apologized once she saw that Chi-Chi's mood fell. "I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's alright," Chi-Chi said, looking up from her drink with a smile. "I love Goku. And I don't care what anybody thinks, in my heart, I'm still married to him. Even though he's not with us anymore, he's still alive in my heart and in my memories, and I just know that somewhere out there, in the cloudy fields of Otherworld, my two boys, Goku and Gohan must be enjoying all the time they get to spend together now."

Inko, Bulma and Mitsuki stared at Chi-Chi with compassionate eyes, moved by the woman's strength.

"Anyways," Chi-Chi said, raising her glass and clinking it with Bulma's. "No need to drown out the party now! It's the roaring Sports Fest, after all, and the students are putting on quite a show so let's keep cheering them on!"

"Yeah!" The women cheered. "Another round of drinks, please!"

"WAHOOO!" Mic yelled, standing up with his microphone. "WE FINALLY HAVE A FIRST PLACE WINNER FOR THE OBSTACLE COURSE! IT'S CLASS 1A'S IZUKU MIDORIYAAAAAA! And in close second place, MELISSSAAAAA SHIEEEEELD!"

"What-what-WHAT?!" Inko shouted, aiming her camera down at her son as he huffed and puffed, crossing the red laser finish line that shot across the entrance way of the Sports Festival Stadium. "Oh, my baby! I'm so proud of you!"

"Deku – we did!" Melissa shrieked over the thunderous roars of applause, fireworks and confetti. She ran up to Izuku and jumped on top of him, hugging him tightly, giggling with delight. Izuku caught her by the waist and spun her around.

"We won!" Izuku shouted as Melissa's blonde hair cascaded over his face.

The two stared into each other's beaming eyes and Melissa smirked and looked away, flustered.

"Ahh! Sorry!" Izuku apologized, putting the taller girl down.

"Don't be! You're amazing, Deku!" Melissa said, holding his hands. "This is win is for everyone who ever doubted we could become heroes!"

Izuku gasped and stared at her. Her eyes were wallowed up with tears and Izuku felt his heart clench. She was right. So many people had doubted that either of them had what it takes to become a hero, and boy were they proven wrong today. But by the same token, so many more had placed their trust and hopes on them. All Might, David Shield, his mom, Mister Aizawa, Principal Nezu and the rest of the school staff, Gohan, and especially Melissa…

Seeing Melissa's tearful smiling face moved him because he saw himself in her. Her smile – that was something he needed to protect from now on.

Izuku looked up at the Capsule Corp box with one eye closed and raised his fist towards his mother. This was it – he had made it! Izuku couldn't believe it! He had kept his promise to All Might and had shown the world that he was here now!

His green eyes watered with heavy tears, both from emotion and from the pain shooting up from his aching and cramped up muscles. The two students were swarmed by tiny camera bots.

"We did it, All Might!" Izuku shouted at the floating camera bots that zoomed in on their smiling faces.

"Did you see us, Uncle Might?!" Melissa shouted, her eyes streaming with tears. "We made it! We won!"

From his private viewing room, All Might was jumping with joy.

"Attaboy, Young Midoriya! That's the way to go, Young Shield!" He cheered.

From the I-Island VIP box, David Shield stood up, clapping while the portly Sam Gero gave off a happy dance that made Melissa giggle. She waved at them and her former classmates from the Academy, who were ecstatic over her win.

After that, Izuku and Melissa took a cool down lap around the stadium, bathed by the roaring cheers of the crowd as he passed each section. As he got close to the student tunnel, he noticed the beautiful raven-haired hero who had kept her eye on him, standing and clapping for him with a big smile on her face.

Izuku shot her a nervous grin and waved at her, before making his way to the refreshment stand. He wasn't completely sure who the woman was, but if she was allowed to be this close to the action then clearly, she was a very important hero.

Wait a minute! What if she's a scout?! Izuku gasped and began to mumble. "Holy whoa! That must be it! She's probably scouting talent for her agency! Now I definitely gotta make a good impression on her!"

Up in the seats reserved for the Dragon Clan, Nail was smiling, crossing his arms.

"What are you so bright and cheery for?" Piccolo scoffed.

"Kid's got talent," Nail said, simply. "He's using that big brain of his to think his way around the trials. You should have seen how fast he picked up on that Full Cowling of his. Him and Gohan… those two are gonna go far, brother. Mark my words."

"Hmph," Piccolo responded.

Down by the entrance, Itsuka Kendo dashed forward and leaped over the red laser finish line. The red beam flashed green and a floating camera bot projected her sweating face onto the monitors.

Blast it, not good enough! She scolded herself, wiping her arm over the streaming sweat pouring down her forehead. As she slowed down to a light jog, Itsuka's rapid breaths steadied and she placed both hands on her waist, leaning back and closing her eyes in recovery from the arduous run. She spotted another runner arriving over by the refreshment stands for some water, and recognized him to be Class 1A's Izuku Midoriya.

Oh well, Itsuka thought. Fourth place, then. I was so close to-

"Itsuka Kendo – Third Place!" Present Mic announced. Itsuka's head shot up with a gasp.

"What? Third place?!" She yelped, glancing back over at Midoriya and Melissa who were drinking water at the refreshment stand.

But if I'm in third place, then that means… Itsuka slowed to a stop and she slowly turned back towards the entrance where more runners were emerging.

"In Fourth place – Katsuki Bakugo!" Hercule announced.

"DAMMIT! NOT AGAIN!" Bakugo roared once he saw that Izuku had finished before him. He set off a furious flash of explosions at the ground, creating large craters on the grass. "NOOO! DAMMIT!"

Behind him, one by one, more contestants began to pour in.

"Fifth place – Shoto Todoroki!"

"Sixth place, my sweet angel – Videl Satan!"

"Coming in atthe Seventh mark, Momo Yaoyorozu!"

"Eighth Place – Vice Rep Tenya Iida!"

"Ninth Place goes to Fumikage Tokoyami!"

Itsuka's heart sank.

"No…" she whispered. Her hands balled into fists. "No! No way! This is all wrong – he should've been here by now! Gohan, where the heck are you?!"

"Tenth Place – Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!"

"Eleventh Place – Mashirao Ojiro"

"Twelfth place – Juzo Hononuki!"

"Thirteenth place, uh…"

Gohan flew in through the entrance, floating gently to the ground with Ochaco in his arms. Ochaco's face was tucked under Gohan's chin.

"Well…" Mic started, glancing over at his colleagues. "Technically, Uraraka crossed the finish line first so we'll let her take it. And Son Gohan takes fourteenth place!"

"Oh no!Fourteenth?Aww Gohan, I'm so sorry!" Ochaco winced, looking up at Gohan. "I wish you hadn't gone back for me."

Gohan scoffed as he helped her climb onto one of the covered clinic benches that had been set up to treat minor injuries. A pair of winged Android Juniors hurried to her side to spray the burn on her leg with a soothing analgesic spray and offering Ochaco a Recovery Jelly Bean.

"Really? How come?" He asked her.

"Because I made you lose points!" Ochaco said, biting down on half of the Bean and tucking the other one into a bag in her belt. She leaned back as the tiny androids rolled up her blue sweatpants and began to bandage her leg. "You could've won first place if only you had-"

"What? Left you behind to face those little gremlins alone? No offense, you guys!" Gohan finished for her. "That's out of the question and you know it."

He gently nudged at the winged androids who were finishing up wrapping Ochaco's ankle with supportive tape with his elbow, getting their attention.

"Can you guys believe our Uraraka?" He asked them. "We leave her alone for two seconds and she's already trying to take on the whole world by herself! It's okay – we made it to the next round, after all. And besides, top fifteen out of 220 is pretty dang good, if you ask me!"

The miniature androids giggled and continued their work.

Ochaco's eyes sparkled and taking advantage of the brief privacy offered by the covered bench's tent, she leaned forward and gave Gohan a light, sweet peck on his cheek.

"Thank you, Gohan," she whispered with a smile.

Gohan froze and his eyes widened, but his expression then softened into a stupefied crooked smirk.

"Y-yeah," he sighed. "My pleasure."

As Ochaco leaned back to let the Juniors finish taking care of her wound, neither of the teens saw Itsuka running towards them.

As soon as Itsuka witnessed Ochaco's brief kiss, the pony-tailed redhead slowed to a stop. Behind her, Present Mic and Mister Satan continued to call out names of contestants as they made it back to the finish line, but Itsuka tuned it all out.

Her eyes narrowed.

"So that's how it is…" she said to herself. Uraraka was the reason why Gohan wasn't standing in first place, as he should be. She was the one holding Gohan back. After a few more moments, Itsuka shook her head and walked back towards the refreshment stand.

"Damn it!" She cursed under her breath, and her orange bangs fell over her eyes.

Bakugo was also eyeing the couple and he crushed the plastic cup of water in his hand and lit it ablaze with an explosion. He dropped the cindered cup and reached up to his collarbone to brush his fingers over the purple bruise where Gohan had struck him.

He had him. Katsuki had that damned nerd cornered, and even after threatening his little girlfriend, Gohan had still refused to fight him with his full power. Fourteenth place… That damned nerd was not taking this competition seriously, which only meant he wasn't taking his Bakugo's warning seriously, either. That was going to be a costly mistake.

"You're gonna fight me with everything you've got, Ricebowl," Bakugo growled under his breath, staring as Ochaco hugged her elbows giddily. "I swear it, one way or another. Don't blame me for what happens next…"

---

Ending Song:
"Child Error" by My First Story

---

"Well that was an exciting first round, wasn't it, Sports Fans?!" Mic asked, as the rest of the support Class, Gen Studies and Buisness courses all caught up to the Hero Classes, most of them now disqualified from entering the next round. Surprisingly, though, they weren't bitter about it.

The sea of students were now cheering for the heroic class rep that had stayed behind to protect them from the Robo Inferno, the Iron Gauntlet and the Swarm.

"GOHAN! GOHAN! GOHAN!" they cheered, and the rally spread around the stadium.

Gohan laughed nervously, brushing the back of his neck.

"Aw, shucks, you guys! Thanks, but it was a team effort," he said, looking over at Ochaco, Hiryu, Izuku, Melissa, Fu, Eijiro and Reiko, Yui and Tetsutetsu. "I couldn't have done it without you!"

He extended a hand at Ochaco and the pair bumped fists.

"Thank you for those heroic words, Class Rep Son! With that, we congratulate all of the contestants that participated in the Obstacle Course. The top forty-two contestants will now move on to the second round of the Sports Fest. Anyone who didn't make it to the next round, please join the Classroom boxes prepared for you to cheer on your classmates."

"Good luck, you guys!" Koda said, waving at Gohan, Tokoyami and Ochaco.

"Aww, Koda!" Ochaco pouted. "You didn't make it? I'm so sorry to hear that!"

"Nah, don't be!" Koda said with a shy smile. "I'm actually relieved that I won't have to fight anyone. But I'll be cheering you guys on from the stage, so do your best, okay?"

"Sure thing, Koda! We'll make you proud," Gohan said, patting Koda on the back. Slowly, the disqualified students made their way to their classroom boxes up in the stands.

"Alright," Hercule said. "Now that the, ahem, participation trophy crowd is outta the field, we can move on. So to explain what we've got in store, here's First Year Umpire, Misssss Midnight!"

"Ugh! Such heroic chivalry!" Midnight moaned with a breathy voice, pressing her elbows against her chest and wiggling. "Such a turn on – uh, I mean… it's um… time to move on!"

Aizawa rolled his eyes as Midnight laughed nervously, trying to regain her composure.

"Nemuri's a walking lawsuit just waiting to happen," he whispered at Mic who shot him a cringing smile.

Midnight swiped her flogging whip up and the leather straps made a lashing sound. Once again, the giant monitor lowered behind her to reveal the next randomized game in the competition.

"Just as Present Mic explained, only the first forty-two contestants that finished the Obstacle Course will be moving forward to compete in… TADA!"

The bright screen stopped cycling through the dozens of possible games, indicating the next hurdle the competitors would have to face – The Cavalry Battle.

"Aww, Cavalry Battle?" Kaminari whined, wincing. "I suck at those!"

"That's right!" Midnight said, walking to the edge of the screen. "But this is no ordinary children's playground game! There are rules to this super-powered event so listen up!"

The screen flipped to an image of four teachers. Three of them, Present Mic, Eraserhead and Number Eighteen were carrying All Might around. Mic and Eraser flanked All Might's sides, while Eighteen stood at the front. Finally, All Might was wearing a headband with red numbers on it.

"Aww hahaha! Look at All Might," Ochaco chortled. "He looks so cute!"

"So here are the rules – you must form teams of three or four players. They must consist of one rider, at least one horse, and one knight. The horse's role is to help carry the rider wherever they may wish. The knight will be the only player allowed to use their Quirks to attack other teams' knights and horses – BUT! They are not allowed to unlink hands with the horse, so choose wisely.

Finally, the rider is the captain of the team and will dictate strategy and movement. He may use his Quirk, but only against other riders. Should a knight attack a rider or vice versa, that entire team will be disqualified!"

Small chatter filled the forty-two students who remained in front of the stage.

"Excuse me, Miss Midnight?" Iida asked, raising his hand. "What exactly will the riders be fighting for?"

Midnight smiled and licked her lips.

"These!" She said, lifting up a white headband. "Each of you received a number of points based on the position you finished in the obstacle course, going up by five points from the bottom up. The amount of points on your team will be added up based on the individual points of each team member. BUT! The points awarded to the contestant who finished in first place is TEN MILLION POINTS!"

As soon as Midnight said it, Izuku felt an unnatural chill run up his spine.

"Wait – WHAT?! T-Ten Million?!" He squeaked, feeling all eyes descend upon him like a pack of ravenous predators.

"Really?" Shinso said with a scheming grin.

"In other words…" Fu said.

"The person who ends up with the first place headband…" Hatsume mused.

"Automatically wins the round," several students said in unison.

Midnight giggled.

"That's right, so choose your teams and your strategy wisely!" She whipped to the side and the screen turned into a timer. "You've got five minutes to choose your teams! GO!"

"Ah!" Izuku shouted, grabbing at his hair. He instinctively turned towards Gohan, but he was absolutely flooded by students who flocked towards him, Shoto and Bakugo.

CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! Who can I even ask to be on my team?! We're going to be everyone's main target, so not even my friends want to team up with me!

He saw Ojiro standing around, rubbing his chin.

Ojiro looks like he doesn't have a team! Izuku thought excitedly. He'd be a good knight with that tail Quirk…

"H-hey there, Ojiro," Izuku said shyly, but Ojiro panicked and flew away. Izuku's shoulders slumped down and his head dropped with a tired sigh.

"Hey, Midoriya!" Ochaco called, running up to him.

"Uraraka!"

"Hey, Gohan wants to know if you want to team up with us!" She said cheerfully.

"AAAHHHH!" Izuku cried, spilling out tears of relief. "Do you mean it?! You and Gohan are willing to be on my team? Please tell me you're not kidding!"

"Yeah!" Ochaco shrugged. "What's a better strategy than having the ten million points from the start?"

"Well, when you put it that way…" Izuku said.

Gohan apologized to the pool of students and waded through them to get to Izuku.

"Deku's in!" Ochaco said happily.

"Alright!" Gohan pumped his fist up. "Great, so what's the plan, captain?"

"C-Captain?" Izuku gasped. "Wait, you want me to be the rider, Gohan?"

Gohan and Ochaco nodded.

"Yeah," he responded. "You're way better at making strategies than I am, not to mention your analyzing skills. So let's put that brain of yours to good use! Besides, I'm probably better off as a knight."

"Hmm, I'm not sure…" Izuku hummed.

"Think about it," Ochaco said. "As a knight, even if Gohan can't use his ki blasts, he's one of the most durable classmates we have; and he can fly! He'd be the perfect shield for us. And I can use my Zero Gravity to make us weightless, meaning we can run away the whole time."

"Plus with Wild Sense, I can react a lot quicker on the ground than if I was standing on top as a rider," Gohan offered. "So… what do you think?"

Izuku rubbed his chin and nodded.

"So we play a defensive game, then," he said. "In that case, we could use an extra horse to add mobility. But who…?"

He looked around the field. A lot of their friends already had their own teams.

Who…?

"Um… excuse me, you guys?" Melissa asked timidly. Fu was standing next to her.

"Melissa!" Ochaco shouted happily. "Awesome! You came just in time-"

"Oh, no, sorry," Melissa said, shaking her head with a laugh. "I'm not joining your team this time."

"…Oh…" Ochaco's expression fell. "How come?"

Melissa laughed again.

"Well," she said, placing her finger on her chin. "Please don't take this the wrong way, because it's totally a compliment, but I really, really wanna try my hand against Son."

"Against… me?" Gohan asked, pointing a finger at his face.

"Yeah," Melissa shrugged and kicked at the grass below. "We've been fighting on the same side for a while now, to the point where I feel like I'm just taking it easy under your shadow. The only way we can grow is to challenge ourselves, and what better way to test myself than against the greatest student in our class? So I… uh… please don't get mad, but I kinda joined Team Todoroki."

Ochaco and Izuku gasped.

"Ouch!" Izuku winced.

"No kidding!" Ochaco said. "Top Ten Anime Betrayals!"

"Wait, don't tell me you're here to declare war, too?" Gohan said.

"Oh no, it's not like that at all!" Melissa laughed and waved her hands in front of her. "You see, Fu here wants to join your team, if you've got a spot available."

"Fu, huh?" Gohan said, and his jaw tightened. More than once, his Wild Sense had alerted him to danger as this guy was staring at him. What could he be plotting? Gohan noticed the black sword strapped to his lower back and stared back up at Fu's silver irises. On the other hand, Fu had been one of the only students to stay back to help protect the other teams. Maybe…

"Heya!" Fu waved excitedly. His voice was high pitched and cheery and he drew closer to Gohan with a sliding step. "Name's Fu. It's so nice to meet the leader of the new Z-Fighters! I'm such a huge fan!"

"Leader?" Gohan repeated, shaking his head. "But I'm not-"

"Is that a Saiyan tail? Fascinating!" Fu gasped, straightening up his glasses and getting closer to inspect it. "It's so rare for someone of Saiyan descent to inherit that trait these days. Tell me Gohan, are both of your parents Saiyans? Or are you a hybrid like Todoroki?"

Gohan immediately recoiled uncomfortably, wrapping his brown tail around his waist.

"My father was full-blooded Saiyan," he responded cautiously. "My mom's Quirkless."

Fu looked up at Gohan with a sigh.

"'Was,' huh?" Fu said. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Anyways, time is short, so let me get straight to the point."

He stood up to his full height and lifted a finger in the air.
"I think I would be an invaluable addition to your fine team. Thanks to Miss Midnight's rules, we'll be free to use all of my gadgets, which are sure to give you an edge over the other teams. They're all fueled by my Quirk, so nobody will be able to disarm them. I don't have to be a rider, but I do have one small request."

"Which is?" Gohan asked.

"In exchange for my gear and my help, all I'm asking for is a chance to observe a Saiyan in action," Fu said.

Gohan scratched his head.

"That's it?"

"Well, yeah!" Fu added quickly. "I made a simple device you can wear over your jacket to track data. Stuff like your vitals and your ki reserves – that sort of thing. It's very thin and non-intrusive. Think of it as a lightweight step tracker, sorta. By wearing it, you will be affording me a precious wealth of information into a Saiyan's physiology and Quirk which will prove invaluable to my research."

"Hmm, I don't know," Gohan said, rubbing his chin and looking at Izuku. "Is that really going to help us win the next round? Plus, I was thinking we could use someone more like Iida or Yaoyorozu to add to our Team's mobility-"

"Oh Tenya and Momo have already joined us at Team Todoroki," Melissa quickly added. "Sorry!"

"Oh good," Gohan dropped his head down. "Are all of our friends out to get us, then?"

"Just give Fu a chance, will ya?" Melissa begged. "He's a great guy, and he's sort of a genius! I just know his inventions can add a lot to the team. Please, Deku? For me?"

Melissa did her best to bat her eyes at Izuku, who's face immediately flushed red.

"HE'S IN!" Izuku squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

"YES! Aww, you're the best, Deku. Thank you so much!" Melissa cheered.

Gohan and Ochaco exchanged looks and Gohan sighed.

"Okay then, Fu. Welcome to the team," he said. "Wanna show us what you've got, other than that sword?"

"I was waiting for you to ask that," Fu said, bringing his fingerless-gloved hand up. He flicked his wrist and with a sleight of hand movement, three capsules appeared in between his fingers. He tossed them to the ground and they opened with a puff of rushing air.

"For Izuku, we have here a modified version of the gauntlets we made for you earlier. Aside from the benefits of allowing you to punch with full force three times, it includes a laser-sighted grappling wire and a mini plasma shield, to protect yourself from incoming attacks." Fu picked up the red gauntlets and handed them to Izuku, who slipped them on and clasped his hands a couple of times in the steel fabric.

"Awesome," Izuku said, passing his fingertips across the shiny red finish.

"Thanks! I'm glad you liked them!" Fu sang, reaching for the next item. "For cute-cheeks over here-"

"Her name is Uraraka," Gohan said loudly, his tone underlined with mild annoyance.

Fu paused for a moment, but smirked apologetically and nodded.

"Right. For Uraraka," Fu corrected himself. "This might come in handy."

He picked up a bulky backpack with a coiled device inside and helped strap it onto Uraraka's back.

"It's a magnetic tractor beam device. With it, anything you capture with Zero Gravity will float around us like a satellite, just waiting to be used either as a shield or as a projectile."

"Well, that's neat," Uraraka said, pulling the backpack on and fastening the straps.

"And finally, for Gohan," Fu said, picking up a device with several straps. "If I can get you to put this on under your jacket… there's also a mask-"

"Sorry, Fu," Gohan said, shaking his head. "My Hachimaki stays on."

Fu tensed visibly but only for a moment.

"Oh, no worries, then!" He quickly said. "It's not really a mask, more like a scanner that goes over your eyes that will help me get a better understanding of how a Saiyan's Optical sensors interact with your Quirk. After all, that is how Saiyans are able to transform into Great Apes, right – absorbing Blutz Waves through their eyes?"

Fu handed Gohan the mask and Gohan stared at it for a few seconds. It was a lightweight black mask with polarized lenses. His Wild Sense tingled up his tail and spine, but right now, the decision to include Fu had already been made.

"Okay," Gohan said, taking the mask and strapping it over his eyes. "Like this?"

Fu smiled from ear to ear.

"Perfect," he purred.

Nearby, Bakugo was fuming at Kirishima, arms crossed.

"No way," Bakugo barked, shaking his head. "Uh-uh!"

"No chance in hell!" Videl shouted, wrinkling her nose and turning her chin the opposite way.

"Come on, Babe!" Kirishima begged Videl with his hands clasped together. "The four of us have the best chance at beating Gohan if we stick together."

"I ain't taking orders from Pigtails!" Bakugo growled.

"And I ain't carrying Bakugo around like he's royalty!" Videl responded, stomping her foot. "Besides, you remember what happened the last time this asshole was our team captain? We got our asses kicked because of him!"

"That's only because you gave up!" Bakugo yelled, shoving an accusing finger in Videl's face.

"After you abandoned us!" Videl yelled back.

"You guys!" Mina said, trying to cool the two hotheads down. "We've only got thirty seconds left to make a team! Can't we agree to work together just one more time? We can all go back to hating Bakugo afterwards."

"HAH?!" Bakugo shouted. "Hate me? Why the hell would I pair up with a buncha losers who couldn't even make it outta that damn maze exam, anyway?!"

"Exactly! Don't you want a shot at redeeming yourself? Look, I know you wanna be the rider, right man?" Kirishima said. "Well, you're gonna need a strong front horse! That's obviously me. With Videl's Starpower Quirk, she can shield us from any Quirk attack, and Mina's acid can keep the other teams away from us. Think about it, we'll be an unbreakable team! What do you say, man?"

Bakugo gritted his teeth, looking over at the clock. Nineteen seconds left…

"Gohan's been a really good friend to all of us," Eijiro said, and Mina nodded. "But we're not afraid to go up against him. Go ahead and try to find three other idiots that will say the same thing. So what do you say, man? Ten million points; let's go charging into battle together!"

The words either inspired Bakugo or stoked his blood-lust because he gasped and then smiled like a starving predator.

"V, you in?" Kirishima asked, extending his hand out to his girlfriend. "We'll take Gohan and Infinity Girl all at the same time. You're the one and only Infinity Queen, right? So let's do this! What do you say?"

Videl glared at her boyfriend with arms crossed but rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fine!" She sighed, high-fiving her boyfriend. "But just this once. You better not let us down, Bakudork!"

"Up yours, Satan," Bakugo responded with a disgusted snort.

Not too far from them, Itsuka was trying to make her way to Gohan's side when she bumped into Tetsutetsu, Yui and Reiko.

"Kendo!" Tetsutetsu called out, eyes brightening. "Ah, perfect! Come join our team so we can take out these smug-ass Class A guys!"

"Mhm, Mhmm!" Yui nodded, clasping her hands together. Her blank, monotone expression remained the same.

"I'd love to help, you guys," Kendo said, stepping away from them. "But I kinda have my eye on someone right now…"

Reiko squinted her eyes at her best friend and glanced in the direction that Itsuka was heading, back towards Gohan, who was doing leg stretches, dipping low to the ground. He had taken his blue sports jacket off and tied it around his waist, revealing a deep purple sleeveless tanktop that accented his chiseled muscles and slim body.

Reiko blew out a breath that moved against her silver bangs lightly.

"Really, Itsuka?" Reiko asked with her raspy hoarse voice. Her icy gray eyes bored into Itsuka in the way only a best friend could, peeling through the layer of thinly veiled infatuation in Kendo's eyes. "You're not seriously gonna leave your best friends hanging over some guy, are you?"

"Come on, Rei," Kendo said, blushing. "Gohan's not just some guy,"

"Exactly – he's 1A's Class Rep!" Tetsutetsu cut in, irritated. "You know the rules, Kendo! 'Class before Ass', remember?"

Itsuka's face flushed as red as a tomato.

"Hey! Watch your language around Yui!" She hissed, covering the shorter girl's ears.

Yui placed her hands on top of Kendo's gently and stared up at her with those big blue eyes. Kendo tried to look away, but the guilt trip worked.

"Ohhh. Okay, okay. Point taken," she relented. "I'll join your team. It won't be easy, but if we work together, I'm sure we'll do just fine. Let's make it into the next round, you guys!"

With that, the time on the clock ran out and the teams presented themselves to Miss Midnight and her assistant, Cementoss.

In total there were eleven teams.

Team Midoriya – Izuku Midoriya, Son Gohan, Ochaco Uraraka and Fu Kaburagara.

Team Todoroki – Shoto Todoroki, Tenya Iida, Momo Yaoyorozu and Melissa Shield.

Team Shinso – Hitoshi Shinso, Mashirao Ojiro, Ibara Shiozaki, Nirengeki Shoda

Team Bakugo – Katsuki Bakugo, Eijiro Kirishima, Mina Ashido and Videl Satan.

Team Shoji – Mezo Shoji, Tsuyu Asui, Togaru Kamakiri and Pony Tsunotori.

Team Hagakure – Toru Hagakure, Kyoka Jiro, Rikido Sato and Juzo Honenuki

Team Monoma – Neito Monoma, Kosei Tsuburaba, Sen Kaibara, and Shihai Kuroiro

Team Setsuna -Setsuna Tokage, Kojiro Bondo, Mang Fukidashi, and Fumikage Tokoyami.

Team Rin – Hiryu Rin and Juroto Shishida

Team Awase – Yosetsu Awase, Denki Kaminari, and Mei Hatsume

Team Kendo – Itsuka Kendo, Reiko Yanagi, Yui Kodai, and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

The team riders received a single headband with their aggregated score and were staring off at one another as Midnight brought her whip up one more time.

"Teams ready? AAAAAND…" She called out, then swung her flogger whip down with a sharp snap. "CLAAASH!"

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A/N: So in hindsight, the original title for this chapter was supposed to be "The Cavalry Strategy", because it ended with the Calvary Teams forming their plans, but since the majority of the chapter deals with the Obstacle Course, I decided to rename it. Chapter Forty will be named "The Cavalry Strategy."

Sooo! I wanted to take this opportunity and recommend to any of my Spanish readers (and anyone with a translator, really), if you want to read some really good stories, please check out my friend Elchico64's fics. He's got some seriously amazing writing skills, and his prose and descriptive ability are beyond impressive. He's even made a hilarious multiverse "cameo" including our Gohan from Path of the Dragon. It would mean a lot if you went over and showed his Gohan Crossovers some love and support! He's made crossovers for Gohan in Naruto, Sword Art Online and even My Little Pony, which is surprisingly really good, so please give him a read if you can! Gracias!

And I also want to recommend another author who is working on his own DBZ crossovers in French – Brandon Dupere. He has a masterful way of welding the two universes together into a cohesive timeline that respects the lore of both universes he crosses over. You need to check out his Sailor Moon x DBZ crossover that deals with the biological terror, Cell and his most current one, covering the Buu Saga.

So please give these two great writers some love!

Okay, I have just a couple of notes I wanted to share with you guys!

* So just to clarify, this is not this universe's "version" of Cell – let's just call it a prototype. Doctor Gero is collecting data and testing different aspects of what will ultimately work and won't work as the Perfect Weapon. For the Swarm, the collective Hivemind creates a central mind that controls the rest and as soon as it's destroyed, the consciousness regenerates in another part of the Swarm, in order for the colony to continue. But like I said, it is just a prototype. But it serves as a tease of more perfect things to come… Yeah, cat's pretty much outta the bag by now. Cell Saga coming soon ;)

* The reasoning behind making Mitsuki 16 when she had Katsuki was to show off how impulsive and wild and unsafe she was in her youth, mirroring Kacchan's reckless nature in the present. Ehmmm more on this in the future, but in the case of fifteen year old Katsuki, Mitsuki's husband is NOT THE FATHER (cue the Maury show music, as Masaru Bakugo jumps out of his chair and starts moonwalking).

Let me just go ahead and say it now, Katsuki's real father isn't someone important in the grand scheme of things, but it is something that will add a different dimension to our fuming Pomeranian. More on this in the next arc (Internships).

* The names of Ochaco's parents haven't yet been revealed in canon, at least not to my knowledge, so I came up with original names for them, keeping in line with her drink-inspired name (Ocha=Tea). Her mother's name is Miruko (Miruko=Milk) and her father's name is Corey ("Kori Kohi"=iced coffee)and she has an older brother whom we have yet to meet, named Juusuko. (Juusu=Juice).

* Yes, that creepy young corpo was indeed an Andrew Tate reference just for giggles. I don't hate him. I just thought it would be funny to include a little parody of Top G :P m-muh Bugatti! Lmaooo

*Why didn't Chi-Chi recognize Gohan? Well, if we remember, it's been about a year and a half or so since the last time they saw each other. Back then, Gohan had his signature bowl haircut, was skinny and short, similar to what he looked like in the Android Saga, only slim with no muscles. Now, after all of that time and training, he's really filled in into a taller, much more muscular young man with spiky hair. Think of it as a cross between Bojack Saga Gohan and Buu Saga Gohan, just not as tall just yet. That, plus the cover story that he was enrolled with, are the reasons why Chi-Chi didn't recognize him at first glance. But don't worry, a mother's instincts will kick in soon and a tearful reunion, long overdue, will occur.

And sorry for teasing this reunion for so long. :P

* With Fu, there were so many abilities to choose from, and of course we can expect him to progress in the way he uses his Quirk in time, which is a type of Dark Life Energy or Negative Ki, if you will. For now, he uses it to power his weapons and support tech. I like to think of it as something akin to DC's Apokoliptian Technology – meaning, powered by an energy source that is not conventional and cannot be imitated.

Okay, that's it for the chapter side-notes, but if you have any questions or want any further insight, please leave me your questions and comments in the reviews, and I'll expand on it.

Onto the Review Responses!

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Luna Bellonava – I'll just respond to all of your reviews via PM, since your reviews are from really early chapters that I've touched upon in the past. Thank you very much for your reviews, though. I really, really appreciate them! It always makes me happy to look back at the older chapters and see how far our Gohan has come. I hope you continue to stick around and also, waiting on that third chapter update for GT!

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Brandon Dupere chapter 37 . Jan 6

Encore merci pour ce chapitre, j'ai hâte d'être au prochain chapitre pour voir l'action des épreuves et aussi pour voir "tu sais qui" participer en tant que commentateur du festival sportif. Aussi, j'ai aimé la résolution que tu as donné à Chichi, car s'il y a bien une chose la concernant qui m'a toujours fais la considérer comme un personnage insupportable, c'était bien le fait qu'elle était incapable de voir l'importance qu'il y avait à ce que Gohan devienne fort. Dans dbz, elle a déjà dit qu'elle se fichait de l'avenir de la terre et qu'elle portait plus attention à l'avenir de Gohan ! Sérieusement, comment peut-elle dire ça et ne jamais réalisé que si la terre disparaît, l'avenir de ses enfants disparaîtrait aussi. Je suis aussi impatient poir les retrouvailles mère-fils.

Brandon Dupere chapter 38 . Jan 23

Merci pour ce chapitre, j'avais hâte de le festival des sport de UA commence et on y est enfin. J'ai maintenant hâte au prochain chapitre pour savoir avec qui Gohan fera équipe. Une chose est sûr, ce serait une ironie total s'il venait à faire équipe avec todoroki. Aussi... MAIS PUTAIN ! QUAND EST-CE QUE LE HASARD VA SE DÉCIDER À ARRÊTÉ D'EMPÊCHER LES RETROUVAILLES DE GOHAN ET SA MÈRE ! COMMENT PEUT-ELLE NE PAS VOIR SON FILS ALORS QU'ELLE EST VENUE VOIR UN FESTIVAL AUQUEL GOHAN PARTICIPE ! À par ça bon chapitre. Parcontre tu as visiblement oublié de répondre au commentaire que j'ai laissé au dernier chapitre, probablement un act involontaire.

Salut brandon! Encore une fois, désolé d'avoir raté votre commentaire la dernière fois. Je me suis assuré de l'inclure ici cette fois. Je suis d'accord, Chi-Chi a le potentiel d'être un grand guerrier Z tout autant que Krillin et Yamcha, sinon plus puisqu'elle est une descendante d'un des anciens élèves de Roshi. J'adore les histoires qui l'aident à développer son esprit combatif, car elle retourne quand même aux arts martiaux, lorsqu'elle entraîne Goten.

Et ne vous inquiétez pas, les retrouvailles arrivent bientôt maintenant ! Je dirais pas dans le chapitre suivant, mais le chapitre après celui-là. Et même si l'équipe de Gohan n'est peut-être pas trop choquante, le choix d'un autre ami de soutien le sera ! ahah tu verras !

Merci beaucoup pour vos commentaires, Brandon! Je les apprécie toujours et j'ai hâte de lire votre nouveau chapitre dès que j'en aurai l'occasion !

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X3runner chapter 38 . Jan 22

Ah there's gohans un intentional "chick magnet" ability acting up like in cannon where he unintentionally had a world famous idol fully fall for him hard while in full mild mannered dad mode. I wonder though is shoto going to be the vegeita to gohans goku or is to going to be somone else. I'm also somewhat curious how far can gohan push the kioken right now ? Also are we going to get a proud papa piccolo moment ?

Hi X3! Heh low key I really enjoyed those two or three episodes, though Gohan got dangerously close to falling into the NRT trap. Like, he went to that girl's freakin' apartment in the middle of the night and then flew around with her on his back.

Although you will see more of it in the next arc, I feel like Gohan and Shoto's relationship is going to become a lot closer than Goku/Vegeta. Kinda like Goten and Trunks now.

And as far as Kaioken, he can comfortably hold up to x3 and he can push x4 in bursts. But he is training to control the Oozaru form, which I think is x10. So in regards to the Kaioken, if he really and truly pushed himself, I'm sure he can near that, though that's pretty overkill. Sorry, I'm absolute shite when it comes to power level scaling :P

And yesss! Lots of proud Dad moments from Piccolo and All Might.

Thanks so much for your reviews, X3! I can't wait for you to see what we've got in store in the next few chapters!

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Elchico 64 chapter 38 . Jan 23

I'LL BE DAMN! THIS WAS AWESOME! FAV CHAPTER OF SEASON 2!

Finally, the Sport Festival has begun! What a speech, and you really put the right moment to intercept Bakugo, like a true rival. You develop a better arc character. Almost forgot that Gohan was the Class Rep, the perfect way to meet Itsuka (one of too many). I love them already, Im sorry but I go with that ship than Ochako XD

You got my attention on what you said about Zalama, lets see what you got plan in the future!

Oh, and Goten having Deku as an idol its waaaay to cute. His own hero. I wonder how he react when he notice that Gohan is alive and inside in the competition. Tears, I'm sure.

And at last, the true fighting loving spirit over the man.

Oh man, thats why I enjoy your writing. You express way too different things and give every character their own personality, I love every single one of the 1-A. You give more screen time than the original, you are a master. Don't have enough words to tell how amazing you are and how you improve along with time.

That will be all, friend! Take care and stay healthy!

Also, yesterday I upload another chapter of Expelled from Misery! Took some time, took some holiday
.. took some souls- I mean, soup...
Yeh... And a compensation for you in the end of the chapter. Of course, if you're still interested and have some free time, give me your thoughts about it.

See ya!

Hi Chico! Thank you so much for your review, bro! I'm so happy that you enjoyed the last chapter. The rivalries are piling up, but at the end of the day, the Class will finish stronger and more united than ever.

Yeah, I try to give each character their moment to shine, even if briefly. I loved that about the early chapters of the series. Plus it's a lot of fun to get to see their perspectives, flairs and personalities.

I've begun to include some of the Class B characters as well, and once we get to the next Arc, with the internships, might even see some faces from other places…

And yeah, aside from what we've discussed via PM, there's a lot I want to do regarding the many different Dragons (Shenron, Porunga, etc.) Even though that's for a little later down the road, I'm excited to get to them! Hopefully it doesn't take years to get here lmaoo!

And yes, your latest skit was hilarious! Now I can't wait to see ARG's demonstration of Godly Might hahahahaha

Thanks again sooo so much for your reviews bro! They always inspire me to keep writing.

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JustinCase chapter 38 . Jan 26

Oh and one more thing regarding Gine/Nana Shimura's Hero name, "The Midnight Hero: Moonlight Might", I see where the inspiration came from, but if I may suggest, I feel like "The Moonlight Hero: Midnight Might" has a better ring to it. Idk just a suggestion lol

And now I can't wait to see what Gohan's Hero name turns out to be!

JustinCase chapter 38 . Jan 25

I can't stress enough how much I'm enjoying your version of Gine! She is such a great mother and mentor and even though she died, her spirit lives on through OFA guiding our heroes. And now it seems that she is manifesting herself to Midoriya. So I'm guessing we will see Deku start to inherit some Saiyan ability?

Goten idolizing Deku is so damn cute too! I can't wait for Deku, Gohan and Goten to have a moment of realization that they know one another!

And dammit I sense the chichi Gohan reunion coming fast! There's no way in hell Chichi won't recognize her son up on the huge screens or on the field if only she would stop getting interrupted!

Does Bulma also think that Gohan is dead, since I assume Chichi must have told her what happened and in the chapter when they returned from Namek mountain village, Inko didn't even know about Gohan? Just something I'm wondering.

The rivalries between Gohan and Shoto and Kacchan are heating up! I can't wait for Bakugo to get his ass kicked! If the tournament follows canon, and Bakugo hurts Ochaco boyyyyy oh boyyy Gohan is gonna rage like he did when Videl got hurt by Spopovich in DBZ and obliterate him!

One last thing to touch on is Kendo - yeah I agree with another reviewer. I'm siding more with her ship than with Uraraka. Not that I hate the official ship - I love Gochako! But other than being cute together and pep talks, their relationship doesn't really add much to Gohan, whereas Kendo has his back and is pushing him to be the best.

I don't know, maybe just give it a thought? It's your story, and you obviously have a direction planned, but if it were me, I would let Ochako down easy and take up with Kendo. Whatever you choose to do, though, I'm for it.

Hey Justin!

So first things first, I really like your suggestion for Gine's hero name. I'll think about it, for sure!

I hope this chapter answered some of your questions. About the ship, yeah it's very different from the lovey-dovey Gohan x Ochaco ship, and we'll get to see Gohan interact with Kendo in many different ways that can come off as romantic I guess, but at the end of the day, he loves Ochaco and that's who he's going to stay with.

Doesn't mean they can't break up and try to move on, right? After all, some relationships break apart and test new waters before coming back together, so who knows. Not saying that's what's going to happen here, but in general. All I'm saying is, there's a chance lmao

And yes, you can see where this is heading to now, huh?;)

Thanks for your review, bro! I always look forward to them.

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ArguableReader chapter 38 . Feb 5

Okay~ so, overall, exciting chapter as always!

Ah~~~ Hercule, the only one to befriend Majin Buu,
I believe the viewing website has the two variation's of Piccolo speaking with Videl about him.

The the old DBZ 90's version, and the new DB Kai version...YEAH went to check!
(Videl speak with piccolo about her dad, and it's literally the first 2 vid's that pop up, Funidub & DBKai)

The original Funi-dub was strong, the Kai-dub, was literally on the nose about, the (Z-fighter's) too.

I will be awaiting the next one.

P.S

Considering the name trouble, many writer's have taken to the fanon fandom-canon that,
Hercule, is the official name, and that his O.G name, was his stage name...who knew?

Hi there, ArguableReader!

Thanks for your review as well as the insight into Hercule Satan's identity. It's very interesting that his stage name was "Mister Satan" I never knew that, but now it makes perfect sense. After all, he does come off as the stereotypical Hulk Hogan wrestler type of guy.

And it's funny because… wait until you find out what Videl's Hero name will be in the next arc. As well as why she wears a costume that looks like the Great Saiyaman.

Thanks for your review! I hope you liked this chapter, as well!

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Guest chapter 38 . 15h ago

Finally the sports festival! I loved seeing Kendo and Gohan interact, I can't wait for that "date" they would have with Valese!
And also with the soon arrival of choosing the names of Heroes, I wonder if Gohan will choose The Great Saiyaman or another one, because I don't think he will use a name related to the dragon XD.

When rereading the chapters I could notice that they mentioned Broly, hmmm... will it have relevance for the future?

Hi Guest!

Yes it's going to be a sweet, touching chapter. You know, the "Definitely not a date, but totally spending time together" kind of night? Hehe It's going to be sweet. And Itsuka won't be the only starstruck gal that night. ;P

So Great Saiyaman in this universe is a Manga/Anime Superhero similar to Superman and Batman. So that won't be Gohan's hero Identity. But you're right, it will definitely not be "The Dragon." Heck no! Lmaooo

So the name is going to be something I've never really seen done before, and it's got me a little nervous, but excited at the same time. You'll find out in the next arc!

And as for Broly… Ohhh yes! He is going to be a HUGE part of an Arc in Season Four. The only difference here is that he's a child… and there's a reason for that… That's the only hint I'll give. Hehe

Thanks so much for your review as well! I hope you enjoy this chapter, too!

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Okay, that's it for this chapter, everybody! Thank you so much for your continued support, and have a lovely rest of the week!