Chapter 12: Counting Down From Two Weeks

The engine-legged kid runned, while shouting, "KODAI! JIRO!"

"Huh? Wasn't he one of the injured?" the purple-haired girl asked.

Too late, though.

WHAM!

A quick jet towards Ingenium's younger brother was enough to send him to the ground, altering everyone else. Oh, that, and him shouting, "It's a Villain!"

Well, it was time for Sorahiko to make his appearance.

"What is he doing here?!" the black-haired girl asked.

"Whas he hiding?" the other whippersnapper wondered.

"It can't be! Impossible!"

Impossible? Sorahiko wanted to laugh at that. Less than a week ago, the literal Symbol of Evil crashed their school outing and no one died. At this point, nothing was impossible.

"Todoroki! The strongest in our class…"

This kid is the strongest in your class? Sorahiko looked down at the "unconscious" boy he was dragging behind him. Looks like he was right to choose Endeavor's kid as an accomplice.

Soon enough, the rest of the Class 1-A brats circled around Sorahiko. Though the old man had to admit, Toshinori sure did a number to the place during his fight with that Nomu bastard. Their entire arena was now a flat surface, with only destroyed buildings surrounding them.

"It can't be!"

"Are you kidding me?!"

"For real?!"

Jesus Christ, if those kids spent half the time they did talking training, or doing literally anything else Hero-related, they'd be goddamn Pros already! Sorahiko thought to himself.

At least the tailed one was somewhat proactive, as he alerted Aizawa and Thirteen to the fact that there was a "Villain" at the USJ. Course, that didn't do them any good.

"All right!" the gray-haired man shouted, grabbing the rest of the brats' attention. "No –

BOOM!

Sorahiko managed to dodge out of the way of that explosion at the last second, but the fact that one of the kids nearly managed to get a hit on him was somewhat impressive. Oh, it was that mean-looking blondie covered in black and orange… Bakugou, or something like that.

"You've got guts, kid!" Sorahoki shouted, giving him a wild smile.

The blond didn't respond, as he just went back in for the kill. Guess the little shit's smart enough to know that Heroes can't let fights drag on… but let's see how fast he is.

The explosive brat and Gran Torino proceeded to do an elegant dance of explosions of jetstreams, where one of them was trying to hit and or dodge the other. Sure, Katsuki Bakugou had raw power and battle prowess, but Sorahiko Torinio had speed and experience.

Plus, there was also the fact that the old man was sandbagging for these kids, but whatever.

Eventually, the explosion brat managed to land one on the old man's back, but then proceeded to back away and say something to the Iida kid… Gran Troino couldn't exactly hear what it was, but it was definitely something about "worrying about others and "weaklings."

"Hey, Bakubro," some shirtless redhead called out. "Who're you calling wealkings?"

"We're the twenty students of Class 1-A," a pony-tailed girl said.

Even Toshinori's successor joined in. "We'll all be Heroes one day!"

Wait a fucking minute… is this class having a moment?!

Sorahiko couldn't help but laugh at that. "Hehehe… how precious."

The old man decided to educate these brats on the fact that the world, and especially Villains, didn't wait for them to do their whole "power of friendship" speeches, and decided to launch himself towards the kids and deliver that message to them via his boot.

"I'll take care of it!"

ZAAAP!

Good God, that almost fried me! Sorahiko cursed. All right, so the Frenchie was out, maybe someone more close quarter-based… redhead? No, that kid's hardened himself.

Sorahiko decided to go for the big guy in the banana suit, but the purple-haired punk blasted him with her soundwaves. Getting back on his feet from that, he was now busy dodging tape from one of these brats, and… IS THAT A GODDAMN CANNON?!

Oh, thank goodness, it just fired a net. Sorahiko quickly dodged it, but he was starting to understand now. These weren't the same snot-nosed brats that got their asses handed to them during their first trip to the USJ. These little monsters were now prepared.

"NOW!" the cannon-making lady shouted.

""""LET'S GO, CLASS 1-A!""""

Oh, great, now four of them were rushing him, including Yagi's successor.

Jumping to the air, Gran Torino went and knocked a few of them out, but deep down, he was somewhat impressed. "I didn't think you'd all come to attack me… It's –"

Wait a minute… where's the explosive – SHIT!

BOOOOOM!

If Gran Torino was a second slower, he would have needed hearing aids for the rest of his life. Dodgng to the right, he tried to kick Bakugou off of him, but the blond did some sort of fancy acrobatics with his explosions, getting out of Sorahiko's kicking range.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

And now that brat was trying to do some sort of… fancy ninjutsu? Sure, a kick to the head propelled by his Quirk was an interesting concept, but why do that? It didn't matter, as soon enough, he stopped, and began panting. "It seems that you're tired. Shall we end this?"

"Yeah, let's." The explosive teen smiled, and then charged at him.

Okay, now it was suspicious. A single point-blank explosion to his face? Really? All he needed to do was use his jets to back away from it, why the hell would he do that –?

BOOM!

Turning around, Gran Torino saw another explosion, but not one caused by Bakugou. The dirt behind him was upheaved, like a massive force just detonated from it. And sure enough, something did, as Sorahiko saw a pink comet launching itself towards him!

TOSHINORI'S SUCCESSOR?!

Before he even knew it, the brown-haired girl grabbed Todoroki from underneath Sorahiko, and continued to rocket her way to safety, the lightning created by One For All blazing behind her. She launched herself while Bakugou attacked! Did they coordinate this?!

Sorahiko ignored the cheers of the other brats, as the gravity girl put down Todoroki, and then proceeded to use her original Quirk on some stray rocks. They proceeded to float around her, but then she pointed them towards him, and… "Heavy Gravity… METEOR SHOWER!"

Uh-oh.

The rocks instantly launched themselves towards Sorahiko, and now he was pretty much forced to dodge an improvised bullet hell. Not a problem, he could work with this. Using his Quirk to rapidly dodge the rocks, things were going well. "Ha! Is this the best you can do?!"

"DIIIE!"

Godammit, spoke too soon.

The very second the improvised meteor shower ended, that Bakugou brat showed up behind the last of the rocks and proceeded to launch one hell of an explosion. The only thing that Sorahiko could think as he was launched into the air was that this couldn't have been planned.

What is it with those two, are they psychically linked?!

SLAM!

"Ugh…" Sorahiko groaned, as he felt his tongue taste concrete.

"Need a hand, old timer?"

"Huh?" the old man looked up, to see a purple-haired boy in a mask, and –

"Do not move."

For some reason, Sorahiko could feel his mind fall into a haze. Did the kid have some sort of mind controlling Quirk? Whatever it was, the old man knew one thing for sure:

Sorahiko Torino was successfully caught by a group of whippersnappers.


""""GRAN TORINO?!""""

"That's right," Yagi said. "This is Gran Torino, my homeroom teacher when I was attending UA. We decided to call him over and pretend to be a Villain to surprise you kids. I wanted to make sure that you would be prepared for… um… why are you all staring at me like that?"

"Uncool, Yagi-sensei." Yui-chan glared at him. "Super uncool."

"You won't overboard with the old man, ya moron!" Sero shouted.

"IcyHot!" Bakugou shouted. "Were you an accomplice in this shit?!"

The half-and-half boy looked down and whispered, "Sorry."

"Don't ever do it again!" Ashido shouted.

"Don't worry, kids. The next time you see Gran Torino, it'll be in class, as the rat has decided to pull him out of retirement," Aizawa-sensei said. "Anyway, that concludes today's training. All your remaining Hero classes until the Sports Festival are open for training. Don't waste them. Get back to class, put away your costumes, and we'll see you all tomorrow."

Ochako breathed a sigh of relief as the day was finally over. Now she could –

"Hold up a second there, whippersnapper."

The brown-haired girl looked back to see Gran Torino wanted to still talk to her. "So, you're the girl Toshinori chose as One For All's newest wielder. Cut my work cut out for me…"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'm saying that you need to master One For All! I saw the files, too much power and your bones shatter. But you also have the problem of not using the damn Quirk until the last second, like you did today. And with All For One back, you're gonna need all the help you can get!"

"So… you're saying that you'll train me?"

"You bet I am! Every day of the week until the Sports Festival, I'll be beating every lesson into you, until using One For All comes to you as naturally as breathing!" the crotchety old man shouted, waving his cane around. "So, you think you're up to the challenge?"

Ochako stared back at the old man with determination. "Bring it on."

Little did Ochako know what world of pain she just entered herself into.


Yui stepped off the metro as the doors closed behind her.

It had been a few days since All Might gave Class 1-A the full story about his shared Quirk with Occhan, and while there wasn't as much fanfare as expected, things still had to be done. Especially now that Gran Torino had joined the UA Faculty after his rampage at the USJ.

Mainly, the Sports Festival.

The event was a week and a half from now, and Aizawa-sensei had given the class time to train their bodies and Quirks, but Yui wasn't worried. Her training over the summer may have been hell, but it was worth it. She'd do as well as she was required to.

So for now, she spent her free time heading west via the bullet train, even farther than Osaka. She didn't worry about how long she was out, she'd be home soon enough.

But for now, she kept walking towards her destination: Shiketsu High.

On the surface, a UA student like her shouldn't want anything to do with them, but she knew better. They were on par with her school, both in terms of students, and in powerful Quirks.

Reaching her destination, she looked up to see the building. Overall, meh.

"Yui-chan!"

Turning around, the black-haired girl found who she was looking for. Blonde hair, blue eyes behind her glasses, and wearing the Shiketsu uniform, hat and everything.

"Melissa-chan."

"It's good to see you again," the American girl said, smiling. "Don't worry, I'm free at the moment, so we can head over to a nearby park bench and chat things out."

Yui nodded, as the two of them walked over and sat down at said bench.

"How is Shiketsu treating you?" Yui asked.

"Same as it has been for the last two years," Melissa answered honestly. "I have to admit, getting out of I-Island was a good call, especially for what's to come."

Yui silently nodded in agreement on that part.

"Anything else of note?"

"One of the first-years is extremely powerful," Melissa said, earning Yui's attention. "Inasa Yoarashi. His Quirk allows him to manipulate the air itself, and he was good enough with it to earn him a recommendation spot to UA, but he turned it down, apparently."

"I might have a few ideas as to why," the black-haired girl said.

"Is that so…? Well, anyways, he's a very loud and energetic person, and while he may have talent, his social skills could use some work. He's so loud, it's almost obnoxious."

"Understood. And the others?"

"The three second-years from before are still my best recommendations," Melissa said. "But enough about me, how are things going over on your side of the country?"

"Everything has gone according to plan," Yui said. "Nejire-chan says hi, by the way. The Sports Festival will occur in less than two weeks, so you better get ready. I heard Aizawa-sensei say that they'll amp up security, which means there's a good chance that it will be Heroes."

"Heroes that they'll need to call in from elsewhere…"

Yui nodded, as Melissa understood what she meant. "Exactly."

"Well then…" Melissa stood up. "I guess I better head back inside. The Support Department will be wondering where their star student is, and I still have repairs to make."

"Mm," Yui hummed, getting up. "I'll leave you to it."


Hitoshi finally found the door he was looking for, and opened it.

"Yo, Aizawa-sensei, I'm here for my extra training –"

During his first after-school meet-up with his teacher, he expected a lot of things when opening that door: A normal greeting, a surprise attack, some sort of observation lesson…

"Ah, Shinso, come in."

…but not his teacher playing "tea party" with his daughter. In a dress.

"Umm… did I come in at a bad time?" Hitoshi asked.

"No," Aizawa-sensei said, as he "refilled" his daughter's cup. "It's just that Emi has a bit more work to do before she can take Eri home, so I have to keep her busy."

"You! I know you!" Eri pointed at Hitoshi. "You're Papa's… um… love child!"

The purple-haired boy could audibly hear his teacher choking on imaginary tea. Despite that, he managed to retain a somewhat calm face. "Eri… where did you learn that?"

"Uncle Hizashi! He said that the two of you looked alike!" Eri answered, innocently.

"We share lifestyle choices, not genes!" Hitoshi interjected.

The purple-haired boy could hear his mentor cursing under his breath, and something about "murdering Mic," but nothing his easily-impressionable daughter could hear. "Alright, my wife should be here to get Eri soon, and then we'll be able to start with your extra training."

"Okaaay… so… what do I do while we wait?" Hitoshi asked.

"Grab yourself a seat, and pour yourself a cup," Aizawa-sensei answered with a grin.


For the next two weeks, everyone trained for the UA Sports Festival. Their teacher emphasized how important this was going to be, so they were all giving it their all.

Ochako mostly spent her time at UA, exercising her muscles so that they could take in more of One For All's power, while also avoiding Gran Torino's boots of death.

Iida also spent his early mornings at UA, running around the fields with his engines.

Asui, meanwhile, spent her time at the local swimming pool.

Shoji and Hagakure worked on muscle training at the gym, while Ojiro and Sero practiced with their Quirks in one of UA's mock cities, with Ashido and Aoyama going back to the USJ to also level up their powers. Actually, UA was a pretty good place to train.

Koda and Sato trained their animal speech and sweets intake, respectively.

Kirishima hardened himself further by jumping off buildings.

Kaminari let loose with his electricity in the middle of an empty field.

Tokoyami trained Dark Shadow to tolerate brighter lights.

Jiro, Yaoyorozu, Todoriki, they all also showed up at one point or another at UA to further train as well, whether it was Quirks, brainpower, or their muscles.

Interestingly enough, the only person who never showed up was Kodai.

But before everyone knew it, it was the morning of the Festival…


As Katsuki tied his shoes at the front door, his folks were saying their good-byes.

"Katsuki, please be careful, and don't get hurt," his old man asked.

"I won't…" the ash-blond teen groaned.

"We'll record the whole thing in HD!" the old hag added.

"Yeah, thanks," he said, as he got up and made his way to the front door.

"Katsuki…"

The red-eyed teen turned around to see Auntie Inko. She looked a lot healthier than she did a year ago. She was able to walk again now, and she had been eating enough that she now wasn't completely skin and bones. But her eyes… they still looked so tired…

"Do your best," she said, giving him a weak smile.

Katsuki nodded, saying, "Okay."

And with that, he was off.


Ochako wondered if her body stopped feeling sore just to let her mind torment her for a change.

For the last week and a half, she had felt so many imprints of Gran Torino's boots all over her body that she now understood why All Might flinched at the mention of the old man's name. Still, the last day she felt sore was yesterday… and now, her body felt more powerful. It might have been the fact that she jumped up to ten percent on One For All's power.

Gran Torino might have been a monster, but he did produce results.

Inside the waiting rooms, everyone in Class 1-A was… anxious, to say the least.

"Aww, man… I was totally hoping to wear my costume," Ashido wined.

"At least everyone will be in uniform," Ojiro said. "That'll keep things fair, right?"

"I wonder what they have in store for us…" Sato wondered.

"Whatever they've prepared, we must persevere," Tokoyami said.

"Right," Shoji agreed.

Iida slammed open the door and shouted, "EVERYONE! GET YOUR GAME FACES ON! WERE ENTERING THE ARENA SOON!" Everyone was calming themselves for the big moment now.

"Uraraka."

The brown-haired girl turned to look at Todoroki, who called her out.

"Hey… what's up?"

"From an objective standpoint, I'd say that we're somewhat equal in strength."

Ochako didn't like where this was going. "Yeah…?"

"However, even if we are equal at the moment, you've got All Might's Quirk, which will only make you grow faster. Know this, Uraraka: Today, I will beat you."

"What's the big deal?" Kirishima asked. "Why are ya picking a fight all of a sudden?"

"We're not here to be each other's friends," Todoroki hissed, before walking away. Ochako, meanwhile, decided that if she was gonna say anything, now was her chance.

"Wait a sec, Todoroki. I don't know what's going through your head, or why you think you need to tell me that. But it's true that all the other classes are coming for us, too. So all of us are gonna have to fight to stand out. And I'll be aiming for the top, too."

Todoroki remained silent for a moment, before nodding. "Fine."


Toshinori looked out over the cheering stadium, snapping out of his thoughts the second his old mentor whacked with his cane. "Stop frowning! This is supposed to be a Festival!"

"Sorry, it's just… I hope I'm not putting too much pressure on young Uraraka."

"Well, you can't do anything about it now!" Gran Torino huffed, as the other faculty members made their way to their seats. "All you can do now is cheer her on."

"Yeah, you're right…"


"Can you see good from here, Eri?"

"Mm-hm! I can!" the horned girl said, smiling at her mother.

Emi smiled at that. Even if Shouta couldn't be here with them physically due to his prior duties announcing the events alongside Yamada, this was her daughter's first Sports Festival. She would make sure that it was a fun one… while also keeping her safe.

After all, what Villain would be dumb enough to attack a stadium full of Heroes?


"Hey! Make some noise, all you rabid sports fans! Get those cameras prepped, media hordes! This year, we're bringing you some of the hottest performances in Sports Festival history, guaranteed! I've only got one question before we start: ARE YOU READY?!"

Even while still in the tunnel, Ochako could hear Present Mic's voice loud and clear.

"Let me hear you scream as our students make their way to the base stage!"

"This first class are no strangers to the spotlight, you know them for withstanding the Villain attack, the dazzling students lining-up your TVs with solid-gold skills! THE HERO COURSE STUDENTS OF CLASS 1-A! They haven't been getting nearly as much screen-time, but this next group is chock-full of talent! WELCOME HERO COURSE OF CLASS 1-B!"

Ochako took a quick glance towards their sister class, who looked somewhat annoyed that the cheering from the crowd was significantly less than for 1-A. She could understand that feeling, but she also knew that she herself was getting a bit of stage fright.

"Next up, General Classes C, D, and E! Support Classes F, G, and H! And finally, Business Classes I, J, and K! GIVE IT UP FOR ALL OF UA'S FIRST YEAR CONTESTANTS!"

With all of the students assembled, the chief umpire for the year, Midnight, shouted, "NOW, THE INTRODUCTORY SPEECH! For the student pledge, we have… KATSUKI BAKUGOU!"

"He's the first-year rep?" Shinso asked.

"I guess…" Sero answered back.

Ochako was somewhat surprised by that as well. She really wasn't sure what to make of Bakugou's attitude, much less him giving a speech. Sometimes, he was quiet, but other times, he was just plain rude. Hopefully, he wouldn't say anything nasty in front of all these cameras.

Bakugou made his way to the stage, leaned into the mic, and spoke.

"I want you all to picture a world where All Might is gone."

Immediately, the entire stadium was silenced.

"If he retired, died of old age, or was killed fighting a Villain, doesn't matter. I want you to picture a world where he's no longer the Symbol of Peace. I know that some of you can't imagine a world without him, but I can. And what do I see? I see rampaging Villains with no one able to stop them, I see disasters waiting to happen, and I see Heroes who can't save anyone."

"Sounds pretty scary, right? Well, we're not gonna let that happen."

"Someone within the Hero Course has what it takes to pick up the mantle that All Might will leave behind. We in Class 1-A managed to survive an attack against the League of Villains, and I know for a fact that if Class 1-B was there, they would have done even better than us. We are the Heroes of tomorrow, and we'll need to pick up the slack when All Might is gone."

"But we don't have to do it alone. The Support Course will be there to make sure we can be the best Heroes we can be, and the Business Course will be there to make sure we actually keep our agencies afloat. And the General Course are our future doctors, politicians, teachers, and so much more, who are needed for a functional society way more than just Heroes."

"Each and every single student here is needed to make sure that, when All Might is gone, his message will remain, and that his Era of Peace will continue to prosper. So, as a UA Hero Course student, I pledge to do my very best in this Sports Festival, and I expect the rest of you to do the same. Thank you for listening to me, and now… Go Beyond, Plus Ultra."

As Bakugou walked down the stage, the crowd cheered. Ochako herself was impressed with what he said. "That was… actually a pretty good speech, Bakugou-kun…"

"Whatever," he grumbled to himself.

"Without further ado, it's time for us to get started!" Midnight announced. "This is where you begin to feel the pain, the first fateful game of the Festival! What could it be?"

The screen behind her kept sliding around like it was a display case at a casino, until it eventually stopped at an image of the words "OBSTACLE COURSE."

"All eleven classes will participate in this treacherous contest! The track is four kilometers outside the stadium! I don't want to restrain anyone, at least in this game, so! As long as you don't leave the course, you're free to do whatever your heart desires!"

"NOW THEN, TAKE YOUR PLACES, CONTESTANTS!"

Ochako gritted her teeth. It was time to tell the world that she was here.


Tokyo. The capital of Japan. It also happened to be the home to Might Tower, All Might's very own Hero Agency, and also home to the main building of the Hero Public Safety Commission.

The two of them just so happened to be on opposite sides of Minato City, Tokyo.

Officially, that was simply deemed a coincidence. However, the truth was more… sour. Basically, the HPSC didn't like the idea of someone so powerful not being under their thumb, so when the organization was established, they set up shop right across Might Tower.

In fact, it was rumored that if someone had super eyesight and went to the window of one of the two buildings, they would be able to see the other in a straight line ahead of them.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that All Might was busy attending the Sports Festival this fine day meant that no Top Hero would be around to keep an eye on the Commission building. Which meant no one saw the dark portal opened up on one of the nearby rooftops.

The dark portal, which out of it, came none other than Tomura Shigaraki and Carmilla.

"All right," Shigaraki said. "The target should be here… now."

Looking down, the two Villains saw a fat man with a balding hairline walking down the street beneath them. One of the higher-ranking HPSC goons. In fact, the third-highest one. And right around their neck was a security card, doubling as both an ID and clearance.

"Welp, you know what to do, Carmilla," the hand-wearing Villain said. "Play dress up, enter the building, grab the MacGuffin, take out the trash, and get out, without getting caught."

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. Wish me luck, Tomura!" With that said, she then leapt down to the streets, making sure no one spotted her, and got to work.

Meanwhile, Tomura turned back to the black portal. "Kurogiri, bring in the others."


Author's Note: The Sports Festival has finally arrived! I hope it's interesting for all of you, because it took me a good long time to finish writing it. But now it's time…

Only one comment? Seriously? Fine, I've still got a job to do.

Knightmare Lord: Originally, I was planning on having the reveal of Izuku being the new All For One to happen in Kamino, but I decided to do it earlier. Hope ya still like it.

Anyways, that's sadly all for this week. Hope it's better next time…

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules!

That's all for today, thanks for reading, and we'll see you next time!

- Ernalore