The giant screen hanging high in the stadium changed, now reading: first game.
"Without further ado, it's time for us to get started!" Midnight announced. "The first game is not what you could call a small one. This is where you begin feeling the pain! The first fateful game of the festival!" She raised her hand, pointing her whip up at the screen, which now showed a sort of slot machine, blurring around at an intense speed with building music playing. "What could it be?"
The music came to a head, cutting off as the slot settled on the chosen game.
Hitomi beamed.
Obstacle race. Perfect.
"Ta-da! All eleven classes will participate in this treacherous contest. The track is four kilometers around the outside of the stadium. I don't wanna restrain anyone, at least in this game." Midnight licked her lips with a giggle. "As long as you don't leave the course, you're free to do whatever your heart desires! Now then, take your places, contestants!"
A doorway much larger than the ones the classes had all filed through lit up three bulbs at the arch, and everyone quickly headed over to it.
Hitomi excitedly turned to Momo. "Hey, how about we execute Plan Horsey?"
Momo's brows furrowed. "Hitomi, we never agreed on it being called that."
The first bulb went out with a loud buzz.
"What's wrong with calling it 'Plan Horsey'?"
The second light went out.
Momo squeezed her shoulder. "Later."
The last light went out.
"Begin!"
The classes bursted into chaos. Everyone charged forward without much thought, causing the massive doorway to become clogged despite its size. And Hitomi was reminded of the incident on their second day, when the media tripped the alarms.
This time she didn't make the same mistake of covering her ears, keeping her right hand clasped tightly with Momo's to avoid separation. With how close everyone was being pressed up against each other, she would have to wait until they reached the other side of the doorway to initiate the plan.
"This— ah, t-this is the first obstacle!" Momo grunted, getting pushed around roughly.
Oh, that made sense.
Suddenly Hitomi's ears went back, and her canines bared.
Momo knew that look well enough. So when the pinkette wordlessly jumped, tucking her legs close, Momo copied her. Good thing too, as the floor was instantaneously overtaken with ice not a second later, leaving almost half of the contestants frozen in place.
"Come on!" Hitomi surged forward, dragging her friend through the stationary students, now with reckless abandon.
When they ran through to the other side, they were met with even more stuck students, with the ground now a smooth sheet of slick ice.
Hitomi was glad she bothered to wear shoes.
Bakugou and Aoyama used their Quirks to launch themselves over the last cluster of the crowd, and Momo followed suit. She gripped Hitomi's hand like a vice, and produced a steel pole out of the palm of her free hand, vaulting them over. Though Hitomi's added weight made the move clumsier, and they both stumbled upon landing.
"I won't let you get away so easily! You icy-hot bastard!" Bakugou roared, propelling himself through the air with well-timed explosions.
"Mo, we—" Hitomi came to a full stop, halting her friend as well.
"Hitomi, come on!" Momo urged, pulling on her hand.
Hitomi's mouth fell open, her eyes wide and fearful, while her ears twitched and followed the approaching sound of—
Gargantuan tactical robots, with their sights locked on everyone. One of them surreptitiously swatted Mineta out of the air like a fly, foiling his attack on Todoroki.
"Targets acquired. Terminate them."
"Eh?" Hitomi stared wide-eyed up at the giant green robots, letting herself then be jerked back by Momo all while she kept on gawking at them.
"Oh! Enemies have shown up out of nowhere!" Present Mic's voice broadcasted over them. "I bet we're in for a treat here! A test of strength and cunning, it's a robo inferno!"
"Are these the zero-point Villains from the practical test?!" Kaminari sputtered somewhere to their left.
The what?!
Hitomi was suddenly very much glad she had been recommended.
"Where'd the school even get the funding for these things?" Momo hissed incredulously.
Todoroki, the one furthest ahead, leaned down, touching the ground with his right hand. Ice sprang up around him, and he threw his right arm upward as if tossing something. The ice shot out, hitting and freezing the robot before it could get any closer.
The whole thing was covered in his ice. And he carried on as if he hadn't just shown the incredible power he possessed.
"Look, between the legs! We can get through!" A student in the back of the crowd pointed out.
Hitomi tried to charge forward, but Momo held her back with surprising force.
But before she could ask what was wrong, she barely caught what Todoroki said to them over his shoulder.
"Careful now, I froze them while they were off balance."
The robot's arms broke off, the cold making the metal more brittle. It careened— sure enough —right over them.
"Plan Horsey!"
"Wha—" Momo yelped as Hitomi dove and stuck her head out between her legs from behind, standing and lifting the ravenette onto her shoulders.
Undaunted as it threatened to fall on and crush them, Hitomi aimed for the open space the random student called attention to, kicking off her shoes and running unhindered even with the girl riding her.
The robot slammed into the ground with a boom, pushing up a huge plume of dust
When the girls emerged from the dust on the other side, Momo was riding Hitomi— now in her Akita form. Hitomi barreled forward, absently hearing Present Mic yelling about Todoroki's skill, but not listening.
All that was on her dulled mind was getting herself and Momo through the finish line.
(And that the stupid gym uniform felt uncomfortable and restricting.)
Momo, well used to being in this position, knotted her hands in the thick fur of Hitomi's neck, tugging in the direction she wanted them to go, much like pulling reins on a horse.
A barrage of crackling explosions sounded from above, Bakugou flying past them overhead.
With Hitomi's enhanced speed, they began to gain on Todoroki, something that Momo considered the merits of.
"Slow down." Momo pulled two fistfuls of fur. "If we overtake him, we'll become a target."
Hitomi followed the order without hesitation, slowing to a trot, a few of their classmates catching up to them. But Momo didn't seem worried.
Sprinting through the empty portion of course between obstacles, Momo made a handful of smoke bombs, tossing them back to obstruct the sight of the other contestants behind them.
They turned left, and found themselves at the second obstacle.
Momo paled.
A canyon. Somehow, UA set up an actual miniature canyon as part of the race. There were scattered pillars, with thin taut wires connecting them together, making it clear what they were expected to do.
"Alright, we need to—" Momo started, yelping when Hitomi began to back up a fair distance from the drop off. At first she thought Hitomi was just scared, and wanted to get away, but then Momo felt how her muscles tensed in preparation. She only had a second to hold on tighter before Hitomi launched forward, and leapt from the edge onto the closest pillar, barely managing to land on it.
Momo panted, her stomach somewhere lower than normal, and panicked when she felt Hitomi gear up for another jump.
She wrenched Hitomi's fur back. "Heel!"
Hitomi froze, and sat obediently. Momo slid off of her back, trying to catch her breath.
"Okay… we're doing things my way this time." The ravenette stated with no room for argument.
Releasing her Quirk, Hitomi shrunk down and changed back, standing from her spot on the ground. She scratched the back of her neck sheepishly, flinching at the sting of the abused skin.
"What now?"
Momo pursed her lips, glancing back at the students who reached the canyon after them. An idea came to mind, but she was a bit hesitant to suggest it.
However, they were already far behind Todoroki and Bakugou, and would be overtaken soon if they didn't act fast.
With a sigh, Momo held her hands out in front of her stomach, producing a sturdy rope, a zip-line hook, and two harnesses.
The pinkette's eyes lit up at the items, catching on to her friend's plan.
The rope was tied around Hitomi's waist, then the zip-line hook. Both harnesses were fixed tightly on them and attached to the obstacle wire. Then Momo would hold onto the hook, and Hitomi would be in front of her, crawling the wire connecting the pillars, and pulling her along. Momo wouldn't even have thought of bringing up the idea if it wasn't for Hitomi's habit of crawling the monkey-bars upside down when they were kids.
Carefully keeping from glancing at the monstrous drop, Hitomi crawled onto the wire, bending her knees and using them to catch the wire when she let herself fall to the side, swinging down to hang under it.
As she began the tedious process of slinking along, bringing her knees close to her chest, then stretching to reach with her hands as far as she could, and repeating the maneuver, Hitomi wished she had focused on some core muscle exercises during their two weeks.
…
"Hito! Doggy Hito!"
Ayami patiently bounced Hana in her lap, quietly shushing her. On the large screens high up in the stadium, the audience watched the race taking place outside. The camera had just cut to footage of Hitomi in her Akita form running with Momo riding on her back.
"She's faster."
Ayami looked to her right at Nori, brows raised at his comment.
He didn't elaborate, sitting with his arms crossed with an air of nonchalance. But the way he was intently watching the screen gave him away.
It seemed like those ridiculous weights were good for something after all, if her speed was anything to go by.
The announcer— who was a Hero Nori remembered being on the UA roster —introduced the second obstacle as the kids came to it.
"Oh you've got to be joking." Nori growled.
Because that wasn't an obstacle. That was a fucking safety hazard. The robots were bad enough, but now these children had to traverse an honest-to-God canyon?
"We should have enrolled her in Shiketsu."
"Well, it's too late now." Ayami weakly replied, holding Hana tight as she watched her pseudo-daughter reach the dangerous cliff.
Nori sighed irritably, waiting to see his sister change back, and follow whatever plan of action Momo cooked up— and oh Jesus Christ she actually just jumped.
"Are you fucking serious?!" He barked, shooting to his feet, staring in undeniable concern as her massive body just somehow managed to land on the first pillar, completely bypassing the wire that was meant for them to use.
"You absolute—"
"Nori! Language!" Ayami admonished before he could get a chance to finish.
Nori gestured to the screen with a look of outrage, a choked retort clinging to his throat.
"She's going to get herself killed!"
Ayami grabbed the hem of his jacket, pulling back down to his seat. "No, she won't. See, Momo's talking to her.
Nori huffed, slumping as he watched Momo say something to Hitomi— now human, then produce some gear he couldn't quite recognize due to the distance the camera was filming. With any luck, Momo had already concocted a plan to get them both safely across.
But then he was left staring at his sister dangling herself upside down over the killer drop.
I fu— freaking hate UA.
…
Hitomi's palms and crooks of her knees burned with a raw sting, the skin made red and irritated by the strenuous trek to the other side of the canyon. In the time it took her and Momo to finish getting through the obstacle, several others made their way through without losing any speed, overtaking them and putting an even larger distance between them and first place.
As soon as she had her feet planted back on the ground, Hitomi ripped the harness off, and startled Momo by shooting under her again, wasting no time reactivating her Quirk and barreling after the others with a vengeance.
She distantly heard Momo try to tell her something, but Hitomi ignored her, much to the ravenette's displeasure. Though, in her defense, it wasn't entirely her fault, driven by instinct rather than logic.
But it would have been nice if she had listened, as maybe if she did, she wouldn't have launched herself headfirst into the last obstacle.
Hitomi's right front paw came down, and a burst of pink exploded from the ground. She stumbled back, coughing and hacking as some of the colored smoke entered her lungs. Her paw stung worse than before, tingling with the signs of a minor burn.
"Hitomi, stop! It's a minefield!" Momo pulled her fur, urging her to back up even further, covering the bottom of her face in her elbow to keep from inhaling any smoke either.
The words didn't fully register, and Hitomi made the mistake of trying again, stepping forward— albeit slower this time —and triggered another mine.
A growl bumbled up from deep within her chest, scaring a few other contestants that were close by.
Momo leaned forward, looking down so Hitomi would see her face. "Hitomi," she started slowly, "it's a minefield. Bombs in the dirt, understand? Don't step on them, or they'll blow up. Take careful steps, and no more boom, okay?"
Hitomi slowly nodded, lightly jostling Momo leaning on her head.
When the Akita-girl went again, it was notably slower, her large paws finding the gaps big enough to put her weight down on without setting off any more landmines. She sniffed around the ground, finding the small traces of gunpowder in each explosive, and avoided them.
While she focused on not stepping on any more mines, Momo looked around, frowning at the amount of other students who had surpassed them. At the rate they were going, it was very possible that neither of them would continue on to the next game. So, with a weary sigh and silent apology to her friend, Momo made a snap decision.
"Hitomi."
The pinkette paused, lifting her head up to try to see her friend, but was unable to at the angle.
Momo's stomach glowed, and she winced at the dizzy spell that hit her from the effort of making something large. In her hands she now held a huge muzzle of sorts, that resembled something more like a gasmask.
"After I put this on you, I need you to run."
Hitomi whined confusedly, and Momo patted her head softly before fastening the muzzle on her.
Burying her face in her elbow once more, Momo lightly kicked Hitomi's sides, signaling for her to go.
Not able to question her friend, or having any forethought to even try, Hitomi took off, taking on the breakneck speed she was going before they reached the canyon. Of course, with the reckless abandon, the mines she landed on went off one after the other. The muzzle did its job, keeping the pink smoke out of Hitomi's heaving lungs, but nothing shielded the pads of her paws. Fortunately, a convenient side effect of her racing forward so fast, was that some of the mines didn't activate in time, minimizing the blow to them.
"Just like that, a new student take the lead!" Present Mic crowed over the loudspeaker, drawing attention to the two boys almost at the end of the mine-obstacle. "The media here is going crazy! There's nothing they love more than an upset! Hey, hey, hey! The rest of the competitors are catching up too!"
Momo glanced back over her shoulder, biting back an uncouth swear at the horde of students filling into the minefield. There was a fair chance they could fall behind any number of them.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, an exponentially larger explosion rocked the ground, with a blinding cloud of pink smoke bursting obscenely high into the sky.
"What's with that huge explosion in the back!? That was way more powerful than it should be!"
Hitomi came to a stumbling halt, her ears tucking back with a pained whine at the deafening blast. Momo urgently tried to get her to continue on, thankful that the unexpected explosion distracted everyone enough for them not to be passed.
Then, to stun everyone even further, they all watched what was very clearly a student sail through the air, launched by the force.
"What. Just. Happened!? Whatever the case, Class 1-A's Izuku Midoriya is suddenly in hot pursuit of first place!"
How could he tell who it wa—
"Scratch that! The lead is his!"
"Damnit," Momo spat, deciding it was a waste of precious time to baby Hitomi, not with everything at stake, "Hitomi, fetch!"
The Akita-girl's head snapped up, locking her sight on the still flying Midoriya, and charged. Momo held on tight, hunkering down and practically wrapping herself around her friend like a koala to keep from getting knocked off. With her sole focus on chasing Midoriya, Hitomi bounced around to haphazardly avoid other contestants, and outrun the mines, her eyes never leaving the slowly descending boy.
Bakugou shifted his focus onto Midoriya, predictably, leaving Todoroki to rush after them. He prioritized speed, making an ice path for himself to run on, despite it giving other contestants the ability to use it after him. Something that Momo wasted no time in steering Hitomi to do.
"Look at that plot-twist! Those two aren't fighting anymore! They're chasing Midoriya! That's what having a common enemy will do in this competition! This fight is still far from over, though!"
But the boisterous commentary may have been too soon, as Midoriya lost his momentum, and came falling down over the other two boys. But as if to prove that his earlier stunt wasn't shocking enough, he flipped midair, holding onto the cord attached to the robot's panel he had picked up, and swung it down between on the ground the two under him.
A boom, and blast of pink smoke knocked aside Bakugou and Todoroki, while also giving Midoriya one last boost forward. Though his landing (finally) was less than graceful, he hit the ground running, sprinting ahead without giving himself a moment to breathe.
"In a stunning move, Midoriya has blasted past his classmates from 1-A! I don't believe it— he cleared that minefield in an instant! Eraser Head, your students are amazing! What the heck are you teaching them!?"
"This has nothing to do with me. Each of them is powered by their own drive to succeed."
"There you have it, Eraser Head is a terrible teacher!"
"I'm what?"
"Come on Hitomi, fetch. Fetch!" Momo cried, kicking Hitomi's sides, desperately egging her on.
Hitomi panted through the mask, lowering her body closer to the ice covered ground to add just a bit more speed.
Up ahead, Midoriya, Bakugou, and Todoroki all entered the tunnel back into the stadium, ensuring their places in the top three.
"Who would've imagined at the beginning of this race that the climax would be a non-stop mega-mix of surprises!? The first to make it back into the stadium, and is the first-place winner… is our champion, Izuku Midoriya!"
The closer they got to the looming entrance, the harder Momo's heart raced. And by the thundering she could feel in the taut muscles beneath her, it was safe to say that Hitomi was feeling the same way.
"The contestants are pouring in, one after the other!"
Come on…! Almost…!
Hitomi jumped forward, and was shrouded in the shade of the tunnel. Their heavy breathing suddenly sounded deafening, echoing off of the concrete walls on either side, somehow adding more unneeded pressure. But then, with one last push, they made it through to the other side.
Hitomi came to an unsteady stop, ducking her head at the bright light, and cacophony of cheers coming from the audience. The sight, the sound, even the smell, it all became so overwhelming so quickly.
Momo recognized the signs of sensory overload, hurriedly sliding off of her friend's back, and undoing the mask.
With it off, Hitomi took in gulps of air through her mouth, slowly shrinking back down to her normal size. Biting back a feeble whine, she crouched down, closing her eyes and covering her ears, curling herself into a tight ball. In that moment she really didn't care how she looked, she just needed everything to soften.
Momo ran a soothing hand over her back, keeping her touch light.
"Let's hear some applause for all our competitors as we prepare the results!"
"The first game for the first-years is finally over, and what a game it was! Now let's take a quick look at the standings, shall we?" Midnight took back the loudspeakers from Present Mic's enthusiastic narration from the commentators' box.
Hitomi, still breathing through her mouth and covering her ears, cracked an eye open.
On the large screens popped up a chart, showcasing the scorings.
(Class 1-A) Midoriya: 1st place.
(Class 1-A) Todoroki: 2nd place.
(Class 1-A) Bakugou: 3rd place.
(Class 1-B) Ibara Shiozaki: 4th place.
(Class 1-B) Juzo Honenuki: 5th place.
(Class 1-A) Tenya Iida: 6th place.
(Class 1-A) Hitomi Saito: 7th place.
(Class 1-A) Momo Yaoyorozu: 8th place.
—The hand left her back.
(Class 1-A) Tokoyami Fumikage: 9th place.
(Class 1-A) Eijirou Kirishima: 10th place.
(Class 1-A) Sero Hanta: 11th place.
(Class 1-B) Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: 12th place.
(Class 1-A) Mashirao Ojirou: 13th place.
(Class 1-B) Yosestu Awase: 14th place.
(Class 1-A) Tsuyu Asui: 15th place.
(Class 1-A) Rikido Sato: 16th place.
(Class 1-A) Mezo Shoji: 17th place.
(Class 1-A) Ochako Uraraka: 18th place.
(Class 1-A) Mina Ashido: 19th place.
(Class 1-A) Koji Koda: 20th place.
(Class 1-A) Kyoka Jirou: 21st place.
(Class 1-B) Sen Kaibara: 22nd place.
(Class 1-B) Kosei Tsuburaba: 23rd place.
(Class 1-A) Denki Kaminari: 24th place.
There were many more names after that, a lot of which Hitomi didn't recognize. It was gratifying to see all of her class up there.
"We made it into the top twenty." She huffed a tired laugh, turning her head to smile up at her friend.
But the heavy expression on Momo's face made her falter.
"Momo?"
The ravenette jumped, blinking and looking down at Hitomi.
"Right… we made it."
Before she could ask about the strained tone in her voice, Midnight continued on.
"Only the top forty-two will advance to the next round. But don't be too let down if you didn't make the cut. We've prepared other opportunities for you to shine, hm." She licked her lips with a low chuckle. "Now the real fun is about to begin. The chance to fully move yourselves into the limelight! Give it your best!" She snapped her whip toward the screen once more. "Let's see what we have in store for you next. Will your wildest fantasies come to life? What could it be? The waiting is torture. Prepare yourselves… for this!"
The slot on the screen stopped, settling on—
"Cavalry battle? I'm terrible at those." Kaminari groaned.
"It's not an individual event. I wonder how they'll split us up." Asui mused.
"Allow me to explain." Midnight gestured to the screen, which now depicted— hilariously enough —All Might riding Thirteen, and Present Mic. "The participants will form teams of two-to-four people as they see fit. In theory, it's basically the same as a regular playground game. But there is one difference. Each player has been assigned a point value based on the results from the obstacle course."
"I get it, a point-based system, like the entrance exam. That seems pretty simple." Sato surmised.
Hitomi stood, approaching where her classmates clustered together.
"So that means each team will have a different point value based on which students are on it." Uraraka said, and Hitomi tried as subtly as she could to motion for her to shush before Aunt Nemuri—
"Maybe you should shut up and let me explain things to you!" The Heroine snapped her whip irately.
Too late.
"Now then, the point assignments go up by increments of five, starting from the bottom. For example, 42nd place is worth five points, and 41st place is worth ten. And the point value assigned to the first place contestant is… ten million!"
Huh, did the crowd smell like bloodlust there for a second?
"That's right," Midnight went on, despite most of the contestants all pinning their focus on the frozen Midoriya, "it's survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top!"
Yeah, it definitely smelled like bloodlust.