A/N: Does it follow the laws of physics? Not really. But it was good enough for me.

They, for understandable reasons, were given a limited amount of time before they next had to attend school. A few days off to assure everyone that the danger had passed and that the children would have the time they needed to process everything that happened.

There was a decent amount to process; some kids spent the next few days jumping at every loud noise, fearing a sudden villain attack, while others were just confused by the strange ways their Pocket Monsters were acting.

Mineta's Wurmple and Kaminari's Pichu, in particular, had suddenly become very antsy, as if they were preparing for something. An expert could have told them that both of their creatures were on the verge of evolution, but neither had the presence of mind to consult an expert, so here they were.

--

With the students given a few days of reprieve, the teachers were called on to discuss the events, and how they'd been allowed to happen.

"Teleportation, even with an incredibly powerful Psychic-type, requires knowledge of the location one is teleporting to," Nedzu pointed out to all of them, "so where did these villains get this knowledge?"

"The one with the Alakazam was wearing a black hood the whole time," 13 noted. "He could have been a former student, or someone who's been here before."

"I would assume so, if the Weasel Atavist hadn't also specifically noted that All-Might was supposed to be there," Nedzu answered. "That indicates that they had access to our staff's schedule. A breach in security almost as embarrassing as their ability to teleport in. Since Aizawa is still recovering in the hospital, I will have to ask All-Might and 13 for their insights on the villains, since you two fought them the most out of everyone here."

"Almost all of the villains were garden-variety thugs. In fact, our students were able to take down quite a few effortlessly, from what I understand," 13 noted, "with the exception of the Weasel Atavist and the Alakazam trainer. The former was very powerful in Black Magic, seeming to have what counted for training in that poorly understood art, while the latter not only had a powerful Pocket Monster but knew how to use it, quickly reacting to the scenario and acting exactly how I would have expected a graduate of our institution to act. It's why I suspected that the might have been here before; the man seemed to have some sort of Hero training."

"The Necromancer was giving orders," All-Might added, "but his mentality was…strange for a leader. He didn't really care about his subordinates at all, which I guess might be expected of a villain, but his talents were out of proportion to his…I guess, 'maturity' is the word I'm looking for. There was something childish about the way he spoke and reacted to things."

"When they talked to each other, the Alakazam trainer seemed like he was trying to guide the Atavist," 13 noted. "I would almost call it parental, but the Weasel clearly held authority. I guess if I had to compare it to something, I'd compare it to a nanny or butler. It seemed like the trainer was a subservient caregiver to the Weasel."

"A dynamic that really only makes sense if neither of them is the top dog," Hound-Dog noted. "Someone else is pulling this Necromancer's strings."

"My thoughts, and fears, exactly," Nedzu answered.

--

While U.A.'s staff discussed Shigaraki, the Atavist in question was thinking over his failure at the USJ. 'Thinking over,' here, meant 'running through everything that went wrong as he threw several tantrums.'

"All-Might was supposed to be there from the start. And even though Eraserhead wasn't really expected, he shouldn't have been a problem, the guy's more of a single-target takedown type instead of a crowd-control guy. And really, not a single kid died? What did I pay those idiots for? Sure, I wasn't really expecting anyone to be able to take on All-Might besides the gorilla bolstered by myself, but everyone got their asses kicked? By 15-yeear olds?"

He threw an empty glass at the wall in frustration. Both his master and his master's annoying doctor, watching from television screens, did little to calm him down. The latter was making things worse. "Look on the bright side, kid. At least you did it under that stupid 'League of Villains' name. Now this embarrassment can be traced back to something silly like that instead of our much more serious operations."

Trying to ignore the man and his dismissal of Shigaraki's excellent naming taste, he instead pointed to his silent master. "I thought that All-Might was a weakling at this point. He was supposed to be someone I could take down! You said, you said, you said!" He didn't have the self-awareness to realize that he sounded like a small child at the moment, and would have merely attacked anyone who tried to point it out.

"From what I saw of that fight, he is getting weaker. Probably extending his power without the Outsider's permission, acting on his own. Tell me about this great blue dragon Pocket Monster. It sounds familiar, like something from the Dawn, and the boy who commands it intrigues me."

Shigaraki had no idea why his master cared about the annoying little brat. He hadn't seemed that much more dangerous than any of the other snot-nosed kids, besides being stupid and reckless enough to attack someone like him…even if the Pocket Monster was kind of cool. It looked like a less girly version of Milotic, now that he thought about it. Was this kid similar to All-Might in any way? A relative, perhaps? Or just another version of the same Monster?

It had happened, Pocket Monsters appearing that were so similar to another, just having a few different abilities but primarily being the same. Those spiky rabbit things, Nidoran or whatever, were famous for it, as were Dragonite and Salamence. That might be why his master was so intrigued.

Grinning at his own genius for having figured it out, Shigaraki recounted everything he could remember about their fight.

"Gyarados?" Master noted. "A…familiar name, though one I haven't heard in a long time. I'll have to check some records. Get ready for your next plot, Shigaraki. I look forward to seeing what you come up with."

--

It was only so long before they had to return to school again; tragedy or no, time kept passing, and people had to progress alongside it. Izuku, for one, was glad. Getting back into a normal routine, being the one place that accepted him and helped him grow, would help him more than any 'break' could hope to.

So it was, for once, without trepidation that he entered the classroom, sitting down around the chattering students and wondering, just like many of them, who would be teaching them while Aizawa-sensei was in the hospital. When the doors finally opened, everyone was glad that no one put a bet on it; the last person anyone would have guessed would be 'Aizawa-sensei.' He was in a wheelchair, and both of his arms were in casts. It was fortunate that Hypno had hands, for his Pocket Monster was pushing him forward and angling him so that he faced the class. "Alright, everyone, I'm going to need someone to write on the board for me."

Iida, of course, was the first to volunteer. Once he was in position, their battered instructor took on an ominous tone.

"Something incredibly important is coming up. Something that will affect all of us, and you need to be ready."

After the events they had just seen, this announcement horrified them; what was going on? Was there news of another upcoming villain attack?

"I am, of course, referring to the Sports Festival."

The sense of relief that enveloped the class delayed the subsequent feeling of overwhelming excitement.

"UA's Sports Festival is one of the biggest events of the year! We'll be showing off our unnatural abilities to everyone! We'll be on TV!" Mina shouted.

"We're still in class," Aizawa glared at her. When she sheepishly quieted down, he continued, "UA's Festival is a massive event watched by thousands, both in the stadium and on television, as miss Ashido was so kind to tell us."

Mina Ashido slumped down in her seat in embarrassment.

"Besides being an excellent opportunity to show what you can do to the general public, it also gives you a great opportunity to catch the attention of currently operating Pros. You might gain internship offers and potential mentors from how you perform, so now is not the time to slack off. Got it?"

After that, it was the usual announcements of their class schedule and school gatherings, though it was difficult for anyone to pay attention. Even as they went about their normal classes, and the more studious tried to keep up with their mathematics and English and history, thoughts of the Sports Festival was on their minds.

--

For their first Heroics class back, where All-Might decided on a much simpler lesson of one-on-one spars (using their performance in the last exercise to choose whom would be facing whom), he had to remind them of how useful this would serve as practice for the Sports Festival to properly motivate them.

Izuku, who had just lost for the third time in a row to Iida (largely because bringing out Gyarados was not something he could reasonably do in a 'controlled' scenario, whereas Ponyta and Tenya both were bringing their all), was just muttering under his breath about how he could try to do better when All-Might asked him to speak to him in a nearby corner.

"Young Midoriya, I wanted to let you know that Outsider's Growth is weakening for me. I can only do it for a third of the time I could before."

Izuku started to panic. "Is it my fault? It's my fault, isn't it?"

All-Might sighed. "It was my fault for engaging in unnecessary heroics when I knew that I would need Milotic later, even if I didn't know why I would need her. Besides, it was weakening before. It's just…weakening faster now. I guess that I need to know, have you made any progress with controlling Gyarados?"

Izuku gulped. "Well, during the battle, when I attacked the Atavist directly, it was like Gyarados was obeying me. He often obeys orders to attack, but that's because I've only ever seriously used him before when I wanted him to attack in general. This time, he was going for the specific target I asked of him, and following the moves I commanded. He was…able to hold back, I think. I can't really say why."

All-Might pondered this. "What were you feeling at the time?"

"Well, I saw that Milotic was steaming, the way she does before transforming back, and I was afraid that you were going to stuck with Feebass while surrounded by all of those villains. I…thought about nothing but protecting others and taking him down." Izuku scrunched his face in thought. "You know, it's funny, but I don't think I was thinking about Gyarados himself at all, at least not about being so careful. I wasn't afraid of him, for the first time."

"Ponder that, young Midoriya. The answer to using Gyarados without cause for concern will come to you yet."

--

That was the last event to get Midoriya's focus for the next several weeks leading up to the Sports Festival. In spite of All-Might's assurances, he couldn't just figure out how to use Gyarados. Not be afraid of him? But Gyarados was terrifying! There was too much that could go wrong, and that meant that people could get hurt, and that he would be the reason they got hurt…Izuku, barely calming himself, instead turned to working out his body and plotting what he could do with his mind.

That did make him unique among his peers; all of those who had Pocket Monsters were doing everything in their power to strengthen the little creatures. Mineta, much to his own shock, saw Wurmple start shooting string at itself and form a cocoon. He started panicking, until he was informed by someone that this was normal. Bakugo and Kaminari were taking turns at a charging station, letting their Pocket Monsters release as much electricity as possible before they passed out. Others did whatever they could to make their fires hotter, their muscles stronger, and their Moves more precise.

The Atavists and Meta-Humans were hardly slacking; when Momo wasn't tinkering with her drones to make them more robust, she was running through every drill she could think of to make them more in sync with her thoughts. Shoji was lifting weights in the physical world, then doing the equivalent in the Astral Plane for as long as he could stomach it. Each of the Atavists was working out, far beyond what a human body could handle, and then going farther. No one wanted to do anything less than 'Plus Ultra' for this Sports Festival. They were going to make themselves proud.

Shoto Todoroiki was working just as hard as the rest of them; his old man would hardly let him do anything less. He would have kept at it anyways, as Todoroki fully intended to win this thing, albeit for different reasons than Endeavor wanted of him. The fact that he was going to do so without using a single Dark-type move meant that he had to be even stronger than his opponents, on further levels than he already was. He drove Sableye and himself to the limit, rested for a reasonable amount of time, and then went all out once more. It was the only way to achieve his own goals. He would beat all of them his way, including that one kid with the Pocket Monster remarkably similar to All-Might's…

--

The day of the Sports Festival came, and with it news reporters, fans, and Pro-Heroes looking for future investments flocked to the massive stadium built for UA's benefit. It was a truly remarkable affair; UA must have had quite the budget.

Izuku wasn't thinking about his school's finances as he got changed, but about how her could turn the pressure form the watching crowds into motivation rather than letting it crush him. It wasn't as easy it sounded. That was part of the reason he was so blindsided when Todoroki walked up to him, causing him to jump a little bit.

"Midoriya, out of everyone here, I have decided to use you as a benchmark. I am going to defeat you today. Be ready."

As the boy walked away, a confused Izuku decided that this would be the focus he used to calm him. "Todoroki," he called out, "everyone here will do their best. If you think you're going to defeat me, then don't expect me to make it easy for you."

"I didn't," was the boy's only response, leaving Midoriya surprisingly fired up and Bakugo enraged.

--

Exploud, without the support of microphones, was still able to make a booming noise that reverberated over the cheering of the crowds. Present Mic still needed the aid of audio devices, but he was just as eager as his companion to get started. Aizawa, still covered in bits and bobs to aide his recovery (partially by obstructing his movement, unfortunately) was significantly less enthused.

"Okay, listeners, it's the first day of UA's Sports Festival, where we're gonna be seeing the best that our first-year students can pull off! Class 1-A has already dealt with villains, as I'm sure everyone who watches the news can tell. Will this experience bring them ahead of the competition, or will 1-B be ready to show that they've got what it takes?"

A lot of 1-A was confused by this announcement. Why would anyone want to be attacked by villains? But then they looked toward 1-B, where many students were, in fact, staring at them with anger and, perhaps, envy. One of them, a blonde boy, started laughing out of nowhere. "Oh, don't worry, you arrogant bastards from 1-A, we will show you what we can do today. Yes, by the end of it, all of the attention you've so undeservedly garnered will go back to where it belongs!"

"Monoma, please shut up," a girl with orange hair interrupted his rant. Her expression was friendly by comparison, but it still had a competitive edge to it. "May the best class win," she said, nodding toward them.

No one responded to either of them, because it was time for a student to deliver a speech. Bakugo, having gotten the highest score in the entrance exams, was chosen to do the honor, as much as that concerned everyone else.

Tenya Iida, thinking back on how the boy behaved, wasn't entirely certain about how seriously he would take his responsibility to inform everyone that they should do their best, fight with honor, and remember to represent their school well. Oh, would he be certain to get every one of those points down…

"My name is Katsuki Bakugo. I'm going to win this thing. The rest of you extras better make me work for it."

That was the entirety of his speech. Iida was flabbergasted; his wildest nightmares weren't that bad. Even the students in 1-B who hadn't been staring at them furiously were doing so now. Monoma had opened up into another rant about 1-A's apparent inferiority, this time with the orange-haired girl doing nothing to stop it.

"Okay, that was certainly one of the shorter speeches that we've heard on this podium. Let's see if he can back up those bold words, and the only way to do that is through action! Let's go, to the starting line everyone! Plus Ultra!" Present Mic quickly did what he could to salvage the situation.

Several students tried to challenge Bakugo on his 'speech' as they walked toward the starting area, every one of which he ignored. At least until Kirishima spoke up. "Dude, that was so manly! You just called everyone out and put all the pressure on yourself! What a cool way to risk it all!"

That got a grunt, at least. The Voltorb trainer said nothing else as they went to into a tunnel that looked like it was the start to a race.

--

Present Mic's simultaneous speech to the crowd and gathered students confirmed that it was just that; they had to race to the site of the next event, facing all sorts of obstacle including one another. It was straightforward, but also a challenge worthy of future Pro-Heroes. Several of the General Studies and Support Class students in the crowd groaned, but they had little to worry about. Their reputations weren't really on the line here.

Unlike the Entrance Exam, they got a countdown here, and everyone summoned their Monsters if applicable and kneeled into a running position, ready in 5…4…3…2…

They should have all been off, but the first thing Todoroki did when the buzzer released was to order Sableye to use Night Shade on all the lights above. The tunnel plunged into pitch-black darkness, and General Studies students everywhere started to panic and bump into one another. While the Hero students, both of 1-A and 1-B, theoretically had the presence of mind to just run forward through the blackness, they found themselves surrounded by panicking morons, the most dangerous obstacle of them all.

Some of them jumped when they could, and others were forced to take whatever non-lethal measures necessary to push the opposition out of the way. It was an effective tactic on Todoroki's part; being the most prepared to navigate the chaos, he quickly took the lead. He did note, to no small amount of frustration, that several others were leaving the tunnel not far behind him, but he was in front and had no intention of giving up that advantage.

UA had made it clear that this would not be a simple race, and the first bit of evidence showed itself when several Sylphs manifested in front of him, swirling their cloud-like bodies together to create a wall of wind. Todoroki could feel it pushing back against him; a human of ordinary strength would be knocked back. He was forced to thank Endeavor for the ungodly amount of time he had spent of his childhood in various private gyms as he found himself pushing forward with only a little difficulty. Enough to let that annoying Bakugo kid catch up to him, unfortunately.

"What the hell were you thinking, challenging Magikarp as your rival? You should have challenged me!" Shouting this did not distract the barking chihuahua from sending his little sphere to electrocute the Sylphs and open up a gap in the wind barrier.

Dammit, Todoorki might actually fall behind. Ignoring the kid's continued questioning on the subject, he tossed Sableye at one of the Sylphs, not really damaging it but distracting it for long enough to make it through his own newly created gap…which was promptly blocked by a Gnome jutting up from the ground and creating a short wall of stone in front of him.

"Sableye, Rock Smash!" Todoroki shouted without hesitation, somewhat pleased when it tore through the barrier faster than the 'sonic boom' created by his opponent.

Momo briefly wondered how much Drain was being created to sustain all of these spirits as one of her drones carried her past the Sylphs' winds. Thinking about that kept her from focusing on the irritation clinging to her back; some type of silky cocoon, covered in dull spikes and gluing itself to her back. While she was certain that she could remove both it and the diminutive boy on top of it were she to focus, at this point she really didn't want to lose progress and silk from String Shot could be really strong.

Kirishima shouted in excitement when he ran into a stone wall and had Metapod break it apart. This was what he had come to UA to do! So excited was he, he barely noticed the other boy right next to him doing the same thing with a yellowish cocoon.

"Destroy it with your manly strength, Metapod!"

"Pulverize it with your incredible stamina, Kakuna!" Each noticing the other one for the first time, they stared at each other, noticed their Pocket Monsters and how similar they looked, then caught each others' eyes again. They glared.

Slamming their hardened Pocket Monsters against the stone wall with even greater strength and speed, both of them shouted about how they were going to prove themselves stronger than 'that cheap knockoff next to them!"

Izuku Midoriya was struggling. He had managed to get out of the blackness Todoroki had created by keeping his head, but now he only had his strength and wits to get past those Spirits ahead. Running at full speed, he found his progress impeded by the howling gales, struggling as he was lightly pushed backwards with each step. He tried to rely on sheer strength to get ahead, but it wasn't working, he was going way too slowly.

He couldn't catch up to the others…he was going to fail…a bit of stone from one of the Gnomes' walls, cracked off by someone ahead of him, rolled his way, and he was struck with inspiration. Izuku leapt behind it, getting a brief reprise from the winds, then saw another, which he jumped to. Looking ahead, he saw that several competitors had already left a trail of solid stone that he could follow to protect himself from the Sylphs, and there were more than enough holes in the walls to get past the Gnomes without issues. While it meant that he was stuck behind, Izuku could get past this first part. He would just have to do really well on the next one.

As Todoroki and Bakugo came to the second obstacle, a large pit with only thin ropes to aid in crossing, the former was briefly stumped while the latter grinned maniacally before picking up his Pocket Monster and ordering it to use 'Sonic Boom' directly beneath them. The Move apparently created enough force to send him flying upwards, leading Todoroki to grit his teeth and recall Sableye before simply relying on his own physical talents to get across. While it put him behind that barking dog for now, he was far from incompetent without his Monster and already significantly ahead of everyone else.

Iida, who had taken a frustratingly long time to get past the chaotic mob that his classmate had created, found little problem having Ponyta run straight past whatever obstacles the Spirits set while he astride her back. He was fairly certain that he'd be in first place without that rude start, but whining about alternatives wouldn't help him. He had to make do with what he had. Luckily, the next task after the Spirits proved equally simple for him; his Pocket Monster reared back, prepared itself, and rushed forward into the longest jump it had ever managed.

What flying drones Momo had were strong enough to pull her along over the ground, keeping her from being knocked back by winds or stuck in mud, but they really weren't something she could trust to keep her suspended far above the ground. It was beyond fortunate that she had experimented with rigging one of her other drones with a zip-line. She didn't even have to use its rope. Hooking it up to the rope they were supposed to be using to cross, she pushed herself away from the cliffside and let it roll her to the other side. It was honestly pretty fun. While Mineta didn't seem to agree, judging by his screams, she would be perfectly fine with him leaving her and thus that was only a bonus.

While Izuku thought that his tactic of exploiting larger loose rocks to avoid the worst of the wind let him move faster than if he had simply been running for it, he was still seeing Class 1-A student after Class 1-A student, and a lesser but notable amount from the other classes, surpassing him. When he finally reached the pit, he felt a bit of dismay when he realized that this was another challenge that he would have to rely on his own talents for while the others used their Unnatural talents to their greatest benefit, as evidenced by Ururaka holding onto Baltoy to keep herself steady as she ran across and some pink-haired dwarf from the Support Course messing around with a cyber-deck until one of the camera-drones the school had watching over them floated down and gave her the same aid.

Not everyone had an immediately useful ability at their beck-and-call, as evidenced when Mina recalled Slugma and simply danced across gracefully, but Izuku thought he was going to get stuck behind unless he found a way to float or jump or zip-line…that was it!

Ripping a bit of his shirt, Izuku tried to turn it into a make-shift zip to slide down the rope. It got him pretty far, about half-way, until he came to the lowest point of its slack and he was forced to concede that gravity couldn't bring him any further.

Swinging his feet upward, Izuku grabbed onto the rope with his ankles and did his best to crawl across. It wasn't the fastest method, but with his trick with the shirt getting him halfway across quickly, it wasn't the worst time. Far from it.

He was still ahead of a lot of Class 1-B, in fact. There was something odd about that; they were Hero students as well, receiving the same training that his own class did. Why wouldn't they be on par? Their one unfortunate dust-up with villains couldn't have been that beneficial to their growth, could it?

Bakugo was the first across the pit, and thus the first to reach the third task. It looked like an empty field, though he wasn't stupid enough to fall for appearances. Knowing that this was their last test for the first event, he supposed that it wouldn't be too much of a problem to risk Voltorb fainting, even if it wasn't the best tactic on an emotional level. Even someone like Katsuki Bakugo couldn't stand to see their Monster get hurt unnecessarily, but there was some kind of trap here and only one of them could go through without suffering a permanent injury. At this point, he didn't trust UA to keep its students from one.

So, the perpetually angry sphere rolled across the ground, only stopping when a swirling circle that Bakugo vaguely recognized as Furry Magic suddenly appeared beneath it and the ground surrounding Voltorb for the next two meters subsequently vanished. He recalled said Monster to get it out of there before realizing exactly what was going on; the field had been enchanted to make problems appear as the students walked over it. It was actually advantageous to come later, as it meant you could take advantage of what everyone else had already found out. Some kind of forced loser fairness.

Oh well, he was going to be the best anyways. Summoning Voltorb again, he tried to use a Sonic Boom to get himself flying, only to see a similar magic sigil appear in the sky before the air vanished and he found himself panicking and falling to the ground as he gasped for breath. It was an embarrassing mistake. It only destroyed the air for a few meters; he could have held his breath and kept going. Preparing Voltorb to do the same trick again, that was his plan until that bastard Todoroki, having caught up to him and figured out the challenge, had his creepy little goblin thing looking through the gemstones it had for eyes and apparently seeing everything as it plotted a course for its master..

Bakugo, seething, had Voltorb send him flying, then flying again, ignoring the sudden vacuums and righting himself quickly when holes appeared in the ground. Bakugo had faster movement overall, but kept being hindered by the spells. Todoroki was avoiding the spells entirely, but relying on his own movements. They were neck-in-neck. While several others had reached the third obstacle at this point, they were all getting hung up falling into holes as the earth vanished beneath them or gasping for breath when the air did the same. No one was close to catching up to the duo in front.

When Izuku Midoriya came up, much in the same predicament as everyone else, he sat back and observed the spells that were hindering everyone. While he could simply wait for those ahead of him to reveal a safe path (more than one other student there was sitting back and waiting to take that very strategy), he wasn't satisfied doing that. Midoriya wanted to prove himself worthy of All-Might's gift. He wanted to win. But how? Glancing at someone trying to fly over the field and losing altitude when a spell activated that destroyed the air and gave them nothing to provide lift against, he stared at it in confusion. If the air was gone, then shouldn't the surrounding air immediately rush in to fill its place? That was how air worked, after all.

Supposedly the glyph in the middle kept it from doing so, and indeed their continued visibility was doing for the kids who tried to fly over what the holes in the ground were doing for the later kids who attempted to run over; giving them a safe path. But what if someone were to destroy the glyphs? What would happen then? Well, there'd be a vacuum…a Goat Atavist from Class 1-B, weilding a staff that she'd only be allowed to hold if she were a wizard, was trying to study the grounds beside him. Izuku walked up to her, uncomfortable about trying to start a conversation but desperate for a victory. "Hey, I'm Midoriya, and I was wondering if you could confirm something about Atavist Magic for me that might help with the competition."

"You 1-A? Monoma say not to let you know what we can do, but you always know, I see," she said with a foreign accent.

Rather than waste time trying to distract her from potential class rivalries, Izuku explained his thoughts, which caused her eyes to widen.

Pony was as surprised at herself as she was by the idea. Destroy Air glyphs weren't the most complex of magic, but they were hardly simple either, and she doubted that she would have been able to move even the several she did into place were another Wizard actively working on them. Definitely not if Air weren't her speciality.

As it was, she was feeling drained once she had what would have to be enough for the kid's hair-brained scheme to work, and he, in a much better physical state than her at the moment, held her in his arms as he barely leapt to the zone in front of them where she had gathered the things in a line. It was only a split second, and bit of magic that was at her already tested limits, but as they entered the asphyxiation zone she managed to call on the spell of Privilege and erase the glyphs from existence, carefully burning away their fronts first, and was rewarded with the sudden vacuum. A vacuum that, thanks to her moving the glyphs earlier, sent them both flying forward as glyph after glyph was burned away and the newly wind rushed into a violent tunnel.

The journey wasn't conformable, nor controlled. But it was fast. The two burst across the field, falling apart and losing control just as they passed over Bakguo and Todoroki, Izuku only managing to avoid a fall and getting to the finish by jumping off of Bakugo's head. They were pissed; Pony briefly thought that Monoma would be as well, considering that she had just helped out a 1-A student, but it was his idea and she didn't mind sharing the benefits in the least.

Bakugo was furious. As the announcers said it was too close to call whether he or Todoroki had gotten third, he couldn't find it in himself to care in the slightest. He should have been first. He, at least, should have been far ahead of the worthless Magikarp. What was happening? Where was his victorious origin story? None of the cheers or congratulations on his high finish satisfied him. He could barely hear Present Mic yelling something about what Eraserhead and Vlad King were teaching those kids. Gritting his teeth, he insisted to himself that he would dominate the next one.

Izuku barely had time to process his victory. He had…done it? He was number one in the first event? And he hadn't even needed to rely on Outsider's Growth! As he watched the rest of the students make it through, noting with some joy that all of !-A were among the qualifiers, he gave a thumbs up to the 1-B girl before collapsing on the field. This…felt good.