Most of the students surged forward as soon as they heard the starting signal. A few, though, more from the Business Course classes, chose to step to the side, not even bothering to participate in the race.
"Okay, here's the play-by-play! Are you ready to do the commentary, Sho?" Present Mic asked Aizawa.
"How did you rope me into this?" Aizawa wondered.
"Come on! Do it for me, best buddy?"
Aizawa sighed but relented. "Fair enough. Right now I couldn't give any sort of rational answer off the top of my head. Even students from General Ed can find new uses for their Quirks that they didn't think of during the Entrance Exam. It was designed to be as impartial as possible, but sometimes a promising student slips through the cracks because they don't fully understand how the exam works. It'll be interesting to see if any of them can prove they have more potential than a student from the Hero Course."
"Alright! Perfect insight!" Present Mic crowed. "Now what's the first exciting thing we should see!"
"This part right now."
True to Aizawa's words, the most interesting part was the fact that the entry gate was getting crowded due to the large number of students trying to push through.
"Stop shoving, dammit!"
"Hey! You're in my way!"
"Get your ass out of my face!"
"Get your face out of my ass!"
"As you can see, the doorway is often cited as the first unofficial obstacle." Aizawa dryly commented.
Despite this surprise, many students in Class 1-A and even Class 1-B were finding their way through. Minoru used his hairballs to bounce off the walls, Hilda showed her nimble grace despite her bulk by jumping over the crowd and running across one of the walls, Penny activated her jet boots and was surprised to see Rebecca following her, jets protruding from her back.
"Amazing! How are you able to do that?" Penny asked in intrigue.
"It's my Quirk, [Bio-Arsenal]!" Rebecca grinned. "It turns my body into a high-tech foundation of weapons and gadgets! I'm basically a human robot!"
Penny beamed. "Well, let's see if you can keep up!"
"You're on, Freckles!"
Suddenly, a torrent of ice blasted through the tunnel and out came Shoto. However, many of the others manage to break through his trap. Katsuki blasted through with his explosions, Momo propelled herself with an extending pole from her wrist, Eijirou had Shouji throw him like a fastball, Fumikage had Dark Shadow plow through, and Yuuga flew across with his laser.
Kirby took a big gulp of a chunk of ice she pulled and transformed, donning winter clothes while her skin and hair became an icy blue. She also wore a crown of ice crystals on her head as she skated on the ice gracefully.
"Oh yeah! Ice Kirby, baby!"
"Hahahaha!" Nimona laughed, turning into a pink-furred polar bear to run across the ice with her Quirk, [Changeling]. She was followed closely by Mipha, who glided across a torrent of water she seemed to be producing from around her.
Hilda used great leaps to stomp on the ice, cracking it to make it easier to navigate, using her blubber to cushion the impact.
"GUM-GUM ROCKET!" Izuku cried, stretching his arms to catapult himself across at high speeds with the [Gum-Gum Fruit].
"You Class 1-A bastards always have to make yourselves the centers of attention..." Monoma scowled as he hung back, asking a few students about their Quirks.
"Gotta say, they live up to the hype," Hitoshi noted as he was carried by a few students who seemed to be out of it.
Minoru continued to use his hairballs as trampolines, bouncing along the ice and even showing off by doing tricks in mid-air. Soon, he caught sight of Shoto and grinned evilly.
"AH-HA! You've left yourself wide open, Todoroki! Now take my secret technique! GRAPE RU-!"
Unfortunately, the dwarfish boy was punched by a giant metal fist, sending him rolling along the ground like a pinball.
"MINETA-KUN!" Izuku cried out in terror.
"Targets found... lots!"
"Oh boy...looks like we hit the first obstacle..." Ben realized.
Everyone looked up to see several of the Zero-Pointers from the Entrance Exam glaring down at them.
"Holy shit!" Denki called out. "I think those are the Zero-Pointers!"
"YOU DON'T SAY!" Rebecca sarcastically snapped out.
"Looks like our contestants have met their first obstacle! May I introduce to you the first barrier... ROBO INFERNO!" Present Mic announced.
"Seriously, the Hero Course had to fight these?!" A General Ed student exclaimed.
"This is what they meant by obstacles?!"
"There's way too many for any one of us to slip through!"
"I must say, I wasn't expecting this..." Mipha noted in surprise. "I took the Recommendation Exam, so I didn't exactly see these."
"Well, now we can smash 'em!" Nia grinned as she ran on all fours, like a cat.
Izuku just grinned, already having smashed the Zero-Pointer in his own Entrance Exam. But this time, with a much more open space, he decided to try something different.
"REPEL!"
With the power of the [Magnet-Magnet Fruit], Izuku sent all the robots flying back with magnetic repulsion force, sending them crashing into each other and even making a makeshift platform to jump around on.
"Holy cow! Izuku Midoriya of Class 1-A just sent a bunch of the Zero-Pointers down with a single move!" Present Mic exclaimed.
"My guess is he used repulsion force via magnetic manipulation," Aizawa noted. "After all, his power isn't like a conventional Quirk."
"Save some for the rest of us, Deku!" Katsuki snapped as he slammed a Zero-Pointer with a massive explosion.
"Tch, can't let him show me up," Shoto growled to himself as frost began to emit from his right hand and leg, "Though I wish they prepared something tougher since my shitty old man is watching."
Shoto swiped his right arm up to launch another icy blast, freezing several of the other Zero-Pointers who were trying to get back up from Izuku's attack. After doing so, he ran forward to chase after Izuku, who had started running as soon as he landed.
"He stopped them!"
"Between the legs! We can get through now!"
"I wouldn't if I were you." Shoto warned with an off-handed tone as the frozen robots began to shake, "I froze them while they were at precarious positions... So they'll crash down."
The frozen robots indeed fell down, creating various shockwaves as they hit the ground.
"Oy! What the hell is that shite?!" Nia barked as she pounced high into the air, scaling one of the frozen robots and jumping across with the grace of a cat.
"At least I got some heavy ammo!" Said the big chubby girl from the Support Course, who held her hands out as parts of the Zero-Pointers began pulling off and then converting into various different guns, including a giant shotgun, a rocket launcher, and a laser rifle.
"And it seems Fio Germi of Support Course Class 1-H is showing her Quirk, [Tech Guru], in action!" Present Mic examined. "This big chubby cutie pie can take anything machine-based and put them together to create all kinds of crazy weapons and gadgets! She also has a magic touch to repair broken machinery and technology!"
"Fio?" Izuku wondered as he turned to the chubby girl in question, noticing her blasting apart some of the remaining Zero-Pointers. "I didn't know she got into UA too!"
Inko and Mitsuki were both in the stands cheering on their sons as they raced to the head of the pack. Garp was laughing with pride at how Izuku was easily dominating the race while Shanks and Masaru watched with silent pride.
"Man, our baby cousin never ceases to surprise us, huh?" Tatsumaki chuckled as Fubuki nodded.
"Yes, he's certainly improved since Rayleigh-Sensei trained him."
"That's my baby boy," Inko beamed. "Keep it going, Izuku!"
"Don't slow down now, Katsuki!" Mitsuki called out.
Eijirou had been trapped under one of the robots but was able to smash his way through using [Hardening] and break free.
"Damn you, Todoroki! Anyone but me would have been killed if this fell on them!"
"I know! What a jerk!" Another voice said in agreement as Eijirou turned to see a boy whose whole body was covered in pure metal. This was Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu of Class 1-B whose Quirk was [Steel], which was pretty self-explanatory. "Oy, I know he's your classmate but you don't mind if I smash him if I get my hands on him, right?!"
"You gotta be kidding me! Our Quirks are basically the same!" Eijirou complained. "How am I supposed to stand out with someone like you around?!"
"You two shouldn't bicker!" Momo chided, driving through on an electric motorcycle she created with Ochako riding behind her, using her own Quirk to lighten the motorcycle while Kirby sat in the sidecar, firing ice bullets from her hands at any robots in their path.
Sero flew over the robots using his tape to pull himself over while Fumikage had Dark Shadow drag him across. Mipha swam up the robot alongside them surrounded by a torrent of water and Rebecca's palms emitted magnetic pulses as she clung to the robot and scaled up it rapidly like Spider-Man.
"Configuration: Hardening!" Penny said as her body was surrounded in green crystalline rock-like material, which she used to bulldoze through a Zero-Pointer, Ben flying after her while gliding on a surfboard made of metal parts he magnetically put together.
"Man, those kids are really learning not to hesitate," Blast noted in the Hero VIP Stands. "Class 1-A sure knows not to take any prisoners. And the students of Class 1-B are quick to adapt."
"Indeed, I am proud of my class for managing to do everything they can to keep up." Vlad King said with a nod before frowning as he looked at Monoma. "But I'm rather disappointed with Monoma. He honestly thinks he's clever by hanging back and observing the other students. He forgets this isn't about the competition, it's about standing out from the crowd. Even in the early matches, going hard and doing well, even if you don't make it to the next round, can get you noticed."
"Heard he caused a bit of a scuffle in school a few days or so ago." Said Zombieman, who was smoking a cigarette. "Not very heroic antagonizing the kids who had to deal with actual villains when they weren't prepared for it."
"I know, I tried telling him off about it." Vlad King sighed. "But I fear he may have taken the wrong lesson from it. He seems to believe that the whole incident was staged to make 1-A look better."
"Oyoy, was the first obstacle too easy? Then what about the second one!?" Present Mic announced. "If you fall, you're out! If you don't want to fall, then you have to crawl! It's THE FALL!"
"Pretty on the nose name, huh?" Hilda noted as she and Izuku stopped at the start of the second obstacle in question, which was a deep pit with numerous columns inside connected by tightropes.
"When did they have time to build something like this?" Ochako wondered.
"Well, lucky for some of us, we can either climb like snakes..." Ben began as he jumped over the edge of the pit before suddenly flying on a gust of wind. "Or we can just fly across!"
Izuku giggled before using the [Bird-Bird Fruit: Model Phoenix] to turn his arms into flaming teal green phoenix wings, flying across the pit without issue.
"This is where I get to shine-Kero," Tsuyu said as she made a great leap and effortlessly landed on one of the tightropes, clinging to it with ease.
"Well, nobody lives forever!" Hilda grinned as she took a few steps back before running forward and catapulting herself across with OFA powering her up. "GERANIMO!"
Fio quickly took some of the spare robot parts she took from the Zero-Pointers and constructed them into a large board, which she jumped on before using it to skate across the wires connecting the platforms, showing surprising balance despite her wideness.
The girl with pink dreadlocks chuckled as she fired off grapple lines attached to her waist, and flew across the pit using a set of hover soles.
"My super cute babies are sure to make a splash! I hope all those companies out there are watching!"
"Why do you have to call them that, Mei?" Fio asked in embarrassment.
Nia nimbly crawled across the ropes like a cat with Nimona turning into a bird and simply flying across. Rebecca fired a grappling hook from the back of her hand and used it to pull herself across while Mipha made graceful leaps across the platforms with water geysers boosting her jumps.
Momo created a pole to balance herself while crossing the wires and Itsuka swung down, enlarging her hands as she did so with her Quirk, [Big Fist], and grabbed the wire with her bare hands before swinging herself across like she was playing on the monkey bars.
Tenya awkwardly balanced himself on the wires while using his engines to propel himself on them while Ochako lightened her clothes and weight as much as possible before trying to crawl across, clinging onto the wire tightly with her hand and legs.
"I can't let Ben leave me behind!" Penny smiled as she used her jet boots to fly across, also taking the time to help carry Kouji across, much to the shy rock-headed boy's appreciation.
Kirby used her Ice Form's powers to skate across the wires connecting the platforms, Shoto having the same idea, gliding down the rail while balancing on his right foot.
"Man, there are so many kids showing off their versatile powers, it's stupid! In a good way, of course." A Pro Hero said. Many others had similar thoughts
"They not only have strong Quirks, but natural athletic ability."
"I heard the kid with the green hair was trained by the former #2 Pro Hero, Dark Knight Rayleigh."
"Gotta say, those two girls may be...well, BIG, but they make it work for them."
"I heard one of them was trained by All-Might himself!"
"The kid with half-red hair is the son of Endeavor, isn't he?"
"I think I saw that pink-haired girl eat a whole chunk of ice and now she has ice powers!"
"That green-haired girl is a living robot arsenal! Are you sure she's a human and not a machine?"
"And that guy with the glasses, he was manipulating magnetics but now he's flying on air! Just what the heck is his Quirk?!"
Izuku was in the lead with Hilda, Ben, Katsuki, Shoto, Penny, Kirby, Mipha, Rebecca, Nia, and Nimona all close behind. Nimona had currently taken the form of a rhinoceros and was galloping ahead past Nia, who yelped and quickly jumped onto her back while clinging for dear life.
Suddenly, Izuku noticed a sign as they were getting closer to the end and his eyes widened in shock.
"HEADS UP! A MINEFIELD!"
"And it looks like they've arrived at the final obstacle!" Present Mic announced. "Careful where you step folks, for its danger everywhere! Welcome to THE MINEFIELD, straight out of the old Rambo movies! Originally, we were going to set it up for the players to be able to tell where the land mines are, but we thought it would be more fun if you couldn't tell! Test your luck and instincts!
"Fortunately, the landmines are non-lethal, but they can still pack a punch when you least expect it," Aizawa added.
Ben simply smirked before he suddenly jumped into the air and then slammed his palms into the ground, releasing pressurized pulses of dark purple energy. Everyone was confused by what he was doing but soon got their answer when every single mine detonated at once, creating a massive explosion of purple smoke.
"AND IT LOOKS LIKE BENIO TOREKUROSHI OF CLASS 1-A HAS JUST DECIMATED THE MINEFIELD! WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!"
"The drawbridge is down, people!" Ben smirked before dashing forward, lightning emitting from his feet.
"Well, that's sporting of him!" Nimona grinned as she ran ahead, still in rhino form with Nia clinging to her back.
"Oy! Watch how fast you're going, Nimona!"
"Hehehe! Sorry, Nia!"
Penny and Mipha ended up being neck-in-neck with each other, Penny flying with her jet boots while Mipha swam across the water torrent she was somehow able to generate around herself.
"You're very talented, Penny!"
"I can say the same for you, Mipha!"
"Man, all these kids are just amazing, Sho!" Present Mic exclaimed. "Just what the hell are you teaching 'em?!"
"This has nothing to do with me. Each of them is powered by their own drive."
Everyone watched with bated breath at who would arrive at the finish line first. Soon, after what felt like several agonizing seconds, Izuku, Hilda, and Ben all crossed the finish line at the same time.
"IT'S A THREE-WAY TIE BETWEEN IZUKU MIDORIYA, HILDA YASAKANI, AND BENIO TOREKUROSHI!" Present Mic cheered. "AND FOLLOWING CLOSE BEHIND...IS A TWO-WAY TIE BETWEEN KATSUKI BAKUGOU AND KIRBY SAKURAI!"
"Whooo! Couples finish together!" Kirby cheered as she hugged Katsuki, who rolled his eyes as he patted her on the back.
"FOLLOWING IN THIRD IS A TIE BETWEEN PENNY POLENDINA AND MIPHA HASHIMOTO!"
The crowd went wild, Inko nearly dehydrating herself from tears of joy as she and Mitsuki hugged each other.
"YEAH! SHOW 'EM, IZUKU!" Tatsumaki cheered along with Fubuki.
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT'S MY BOY!" Garp bellowed heartily as Shanks smiled proudly.
Tomura watched as Izuku, Hilda, and Ben finished at the same time, scratching at his neck contemplatively as the Dark Knights also saw the finish.
"I honestly would have been disappointed if he couldn't clear the obstacle race," Tomura admitted. "Anyone who can practically beat me on the first go yet lose to a bunch of worthless NPCs can't be worth my time."
"I honestly can't with that video game lingo of yours." Grim Knight dryly said.
"Oh hush up and enjoy the show." Batman Who Laughs snarked back. "It's a free ticket."
Already the students of the Business Course were talking about how Izuku would be easy to market since they had no interest in truly participating in the events, nor had any desire to be actual Pro Heroes, instead performing market simulations on the other participants and ran vendors around the festival grounds.
Katsuki scoffed as he dusted himself off. "I may not have come in first, but at least Deku, Stay Puft, and Elemento showed up Two-Face."
True to Katsuki's word, Shoto was fuming as he had ended up placing 10th, having been upturned by Nimona, Rebecca, Nia, Tenya, and even Ochako.
"You guys were amazing!" Nimona grinned as she came over. "A three-way tie for first place! Never thought I'd see anything like it!"
"When did you become such a Swiss Army Knife, bucko?" Nia asked, a hand on her hip.
Izuku smiled bashfully as Hilda stood behind him and wrapped her thick but firm arms around him while playfully nuzzling her face in his curly green locks.
"Hey, don't ignore me, girls."
"Good job making it to first, Ben!" Penny beamed as she pulled Ben into a surprise hug, making him freeze and blush as Mipha giggled playfully at them.
"Oh yeah! We managed to make it!" Mei cheered, slapping Fio's belly, making her yelp and blush in embarrassment before seeing Izuku and waddling over.
"Izuku!"
The straw-hatted boy noticed the bespectacled chubster and beamed as he came over to her. Fio was another old friend of his and the last time he saw her, she was thin as a rake but had ballooned up quite nicely. Hilda pouting as she analyzed Fio's bulk and how it perfectly matched her own.
"Fio! I'm surprised to see you made it into UA!"
Fio giggled. "Hey, I was more inclined to the Support Course! But I wanted to show my all in the race!"
"Well, you've got quite the gut, girly." Hilda noted as she came over. "How about after this festival is over, we see who can pack it in more?"
Fio giggled and blushed as Hilda bumped bellies with her. "Hehehe...Sure!"
"The obstacle race is officially settled!" Midnight called out. "Let's take a look at the final standings."
All of Class 1-A and Class 1-B had passed along with Mei, Fio, and Hitoshi.
"To all those who didn't make the cut, don't worry!" Midnight announced. "We've prepared other opportunities for you to shine. But right now is where the real fun begins. This next round will provide you with the chance to really thrust yourself into the limelight."
"MOM! STOP EMBARRASSING ME!" Ben cried, burying his face in his hands.
"No wonder she's the 18+ Heroine..." Nia drly muttered.
"Now then, onto today's heart-pounding event! I already know what it is, but the suspense is so exciting! Now, what could it be? What should it be? And here... it... is!"
With the final statement, the slot landed on...
"CAVALRY BATTLE!"
"Aww crap, I suck at those!" Denki cursed.
"It's not an individual event, so I wonder how that'll work," Tsuyu wondered.
"Looks like we're gonna find out." Kirby noted.
"Let me explain! Participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish. It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, but the one thing that's different is... based on the results of the last game, each person has been assigned a point value."
"A point-based system like the Entrance Exam? That's simple enough to understand," Rikidou mused.
"In other words, each team is worth a different amount of points depending on who's on the team!" Penny hypothesized.
"Anyways, before you all get carried away, the points are assigned based on your placement in the Obstacle Course Race, in increments of 5. So the one in the last passing place will be 5 points, the one ahead will be 10 points, and so on. You can look up the board to see your own value." Midnight said before grinning. "However, first place is different, as they will be worth a whopping ten million points!"
"Oh, that can't be good..." Izuku gulped.
"That's right," Midnight smirked. "It's the survival of the fittest, with a chance of those at the bottom to overthrow the top!"
"MOM! WHY DO YOU DO THIS?!" Ben cried out in frustration as the 18+ Heroine looked away from her son, a sly playful grin on her face.
"Great, now everyone is gonna be gunning for us..." Hilda groaned, noticing everyone's eyes on her, Izuku, and Ben.
"This is the cost of being Number One, my boy..." Toshinori grimly thought in the stands as he worried for Izuku's safety. "But I have faith you will have those to stand by you in these troubling times."
That was a fun chapter! Things are gonna heat up in the next one as we prepare for the Cavalry Battle...which I admit to not really liking all that much, to be honest.
Also, in regards to Rebecca's Quirk, she can basically transform her body into machine parts based on the weapons and gadgets from Advanced Warfare and Black Ops III plus her home series Cyberpunk 2077 and a bit of other Cyborg Games like the Deus Ex series.
And yes, that is Fio Germi from Metal Slug in the Support Course with Mei Hatsume. She'll have a prominent supporting role in the story going forward.
Also, you guys should watch Nimona, it's a good movie.