Written by Aduubo, Buckichamp, and PikachuSpartan.
I OWN NOTHING. KILL LA KILL IS OWNED BY STUDIO TRIGGER AND KAZUKI NAKASHIMA. MHA IS OWNED BY TOHO ANIMATION AND KOHEI HORIKOSHI.
Buckichamp A/N: Gotta give a full disclosure here. We didn't plan to upload today at all. This was a last minute decision to give us a mini break. BUT we all loved this chapter to death so much that we wanted to release it early. Also factoring in Easter is this weekend (for those who celebrate it) and it was a perfect storm of events. This does mean you won't get another back-to-back surprise drop for a long while though.
Anyway, Enjoy the chaos and we'll see you back here On Thurs, April 28, 2022 for Chapter 22. Things are going to get good!
—
Many of the students nearly piled on top of each other while waiting at the tall, red gate that kept them at bay. The only thing that would signal their start were three bright-green lights at the top. Izuku braced himself for the chaos that was going to unfold as he and Ryuko were practically right smack dab in the middle of the crowd.
"This is going to be fun," Ryuko's excitement seethed through her teeth.
'I have a better understanding of One For All than I ever did before. But I need to be smart with it. Just bulldozing through the obstacles won't be enough.'
-BEEP-
One green light dimmed out of the three, which initiated the countdown.
'It's time to show everyone what I can do.'
-BEEP-
The muscles in Izuku's body had firmed up; his eyebrows narrowing down, and getting into a running stance. His body surged with an unmatched fervor that would drive him to victory.
'All Might, I hope you're watching!"
-BEEP-
"BEGIN!" Midnight's voice echoed through the speakers.
Within a second, all of the students began barreling towards the tunnel that would determine who would get a head start on the obstacle course.
"WHOAAA! Looks like things are revving up real quick! How exciting! Wonder what will be the key thing to keep our eyes on during this beginning stage of the race?!" Present Mic commentated over the event.
"The doorway," Aizawa answered blankly.
"Huh? Why the doorway?"
Aizawa gestured downward, catching Present Mic's attention on what his co-host meant.
"Oh, that's what you meant."
As expected, the corridors of the tunnel were being blocked up by the students who battled one another to take even an inch along the walls. Ryuko was struggling to budge through the sea of bodies, despite her strength.
Izuku wasn't faring much better. At this rate, he was going to be completely behind by the time he managed to get out. He tried to think of something! Anything! Finally, a memory came back to him: his shot.
"And one more thing, there are no rules in a fight. So don't be afraid to fight dirty."
Ryuko's words echoed through his head as he began to process what that meant, until he came to one conclusion.
'That's it! Ms. Midnight said that as long as we don't leave the course, we could do whatever is necessary to win!'
Izuku looked at the students around him, seeing a number of them had an average or a small build. All of this meant that this next act would guarantee his chance for a head start. The best part was that the person in front of him was significantly taller than him.
Activating 3% of One For All so that he didn't cause any injury, Izuku pressed his hand against a student's chest and pushed. Thanks to the students not having much coordination, a good chunk of them stumbled and fell on top of each other.
"Hey!"
"What the hell, dick?!"
Izuku quickly climbed onto the other one's back as leverage. He then placed his feet on both shoulders to keep his balance, standing and scoping out the path ahead. It was a clear shot across. Now he just had to move.
'Alright! Hope my aim's as good as it was during the USJ!'
Izuku readied himself in crouch before he began bunny hopping from student to student. He kept light on his feet as they were colliding with either their heads, shoulders, and worst case scenario, their faces.
"OW!"
"Sorry!" Izuku shouted out.
"WHAT THE?!"
"Sorry!"
"OW!"
"I'M REALLY SORRY!"
"Ah~ harder, daddy!"
"So-Wait, what?!"
Ignoring that weirdo, Izuku made sure to keep 5% of One for All flowing through his whole body, its increased speed giving him the chance to cover a lot more heads.
"Following my advice already?!" Ryuko gasped, staring upward as she watched Izuku zipping over the crowd.
'This is the first obstacle,' Todoroki thought to himself as he began to dial in. He knew exactly what he would do in order to get the lead on everyone. But before he could initiate his attack, Todoroki's world had completely slowed down once he caught a glimpse of Midoriya leaping over everyone.
"What?!" He gasped.
Thanks to this unexpected turn of events, Shoto's ice attack was delayed for a few seconds. Those valuable seconds were a few too many, as Izuku leaped from the tunnel with grace and sprinted his way out and into the lead.
"Huh?! DEKU?!" Katsuki's eyes widened as he watched his rival get the upper hand out of nowhere.
'Those are my moves!'
'Sorry everyone! But there are no rules in a fight! And this is one that I fully intend to win!' Izuku grinned from the adrenaline rush.
He was winning! And it was on his own!
"WHOAAAA! LOOKS LIKE WE'VE GOT A WILD GREEN MONKEY THAT'S MAKING A FOOL OUT OF THE STUDENTS! MIDORIYA'S HOPPING OVER THE COMPETITION!" Present Mic's enthusiasm shot out of the microphone as he delivered the play-by-play.
"Heh, if he's going to play it like that, then so am I! Let's go Senketsu!" Ryuko was barely able to grab onto the Sekki Tekko, grasping the pin and yanking it out.
"Right!"
"LIFE FIBER SYNCHRONIZE! KAMUI SENKETSU!"
Now that she was in full sync mode, Matoi could finally cut loose and give it her all. A few moments ago, she was hesitant on syncing up at all due to the worry in the back of her mind that she'd hurt these guys.
'The guys at Honnōji have enough backbone to take my hits. Let's see if these guys can do the same!'
With her Kamui's wings already doing most of the work, Ryuko reared her arms and body back, preparing to give one big shove.
Before Todoroki could regain his bearings and counter, he was suddenly plowed over by the immense pile of students barreling down like a line of dominos. With the path now cleared, Ryuko took one long jump, clear over the students before she too made it outside.
"WHOA WHOA WHOA! LOOKS LIKE CLASS 1-A'S GOT THEIR OWN GENERATION OF MIDNIGHT!" Present Mic shouted.
The onlookers stared at the scantily clad teenager on the video board with… let's just go with mixed reactions.
"What the hell is she wearing?!"
"Man, they did warn us about Midnight teaching in UA."
"Hot damn, she's lookin' FIIINE~!" A teen yelled at the top of his lungs. A TEEN!
"Bro, the fuck?!" Another audience member shouted back.
"Sorry! Winning here!" Ryuko cackled in a smug tone as she mainly hoped that Bakugo would hear that out of everyone else.
"GRAAAH! GET OFF ME!" The blonde's scream echoed throughout the tunnel, showing that he did.
"Damn it!" Todoroki grimaced as he was finally able to get back into focus and stood back up. No more messing around. He planted his foot down and froze the ground beneath him. Soon, only the sound of ice forming could be heard by the two main leads of the race as frost had completely shot out of the end of the tunnel.
Izuku looked back upon hearing the commotion.
'Looks like Todoroki finally got started. Better keep moving.'
He also noticed that Ryuko figured out the first obstacle and made it past. A smile beamed on his face now that he was directly competing with his friend. This just became a whole lot more interesting.
The half n' half student was the third to emerge from the tunnels, ice forming behind him that covered the entire path.
Due to the wreckage that both Midoriya and Matoi caused, many of the students were lying on the ground, mostly iced over. This resulted in them being further encased into the frost, rendering their chances of winning to absolute zero. It seemed that Todoroki's plan worked, and he had the floor to catch up with the two students in the lead.
Suddenly a loud explosion was heard as a certain bombastic blonde finally made his exit, followed up with the appearances of other Class 1A students behind him.
"DON'T THINK THAT THIS BULLSHIT WILL GUARANTEE THAT YOU'LL BEAT ME! YOU HEAR ME, DEKU?!" Bakugo shouted out, which actually fell on deaf ears since Izuku was too far ahead to hear him.
"Damn! Couldn't get all of them!"
..~~~HLK~~~..
Back in the stands, All Might was astonished. He didn't know that Midoriya was able to control his power like that! Come to think of it, Toshinori was so focused on getting his body ready to handle One For All, he forgot to go over basic combat training with his protege.
Not to mention, he should have helped Midoriya learn how to better control the power after getting into UA, but the No. 1 hero kept himself busy prepping to be a teacher while still working as the Symbol of Peace… mostly the latter.
'Where'd he learn to do all of that? Wait… Could it have been Young Matoi? Based on what Nezu told me, she's got a history out there. But that much improvement in just over two weeks?' All Might stole a glance at the principal, who appeared at ease for the moment.
..~~~HLK~~~..
Meanwhile, Midoriya still had a sizable lead over the majority of the remaining students. But the gap would soon close.
"I have to keep moving," Midoriya mumbled. Others from the class and the other first year courses managed to avoid Todoroki's ice. From what he could tell, he and Ryuko were the two front runners, but others would certainly catch up soon.
Still, this felt too easy. He wanted to win badly, and looking back would only slow him down. What would UA throw at the students who made it past the opening gate?
-THOOM-
The loud sound caused the greenette to jump back a few paces and look around for the source of the noise. The others behind him took notice and looked up.
"You gotta be kidding me?! What the hell are those?!" Matoi stared in disbelief as she and the others came to a stop.
"The zero-pointers from the entrance exam. I should have figured something like this would happen," Izuku noted, trying to stay calm.
'Still, how does the school have the budget to afford these things?'
"Where does the school even get the funding for these things?" Momo questioned, as everyone else came to a grinding halt. Most were grouped up, with some space between them and Matoi. But everyone got closer than Izuku thought.
"And here we go! The giant robots have taken the stage and ready to wreck some havoc on our contestants! Can anyone get past these behemoths?" Present Mic's voice boomed out to the crowd.
"What the hell?! Is Principal Nezu trying to murder us?!" Matoi wondered aloud.
"They obviously went through a lot of trouble to set all of this up," Todoroki's voice carried as he moved past Matoi and closer to Midoriya.
The dual-Quirk wielder came to a stop just behind Izuku, who still had Full Cowling flowing, crouching down towards the ground with his right hand outstretched.
"IZUKU! JUMP BACK NOW OR YOU'LL BE CAKED IN ICE!" Ryuko called out, seeing what their classmate was about to do.
The greenette moved out of Shoto's range, with only the robots in front of him now.
One of the zero-pointers made a move, launching forward at the front runners with it's large hand opened up to flatten anyone nearby into a pancake.
'I wish Matoi hadn't said anything. It would have bought me a few more seconds if I'd frozen him, too,' Todoroki thought as his right arm became shrouded by a misty white cold as a circle of ice erupted around him as his hand moved closer to the ground.
"Though I hoped they would've made this a bit more difficult since my dear old dad is watching right now," he stated with an air of annoyance.
With a fierce swing of his right arm, the half-and-half student launched a huge barrage of ice, freezing the gigantic mech over within mere seconds.
The other students gawked at the power Shoto displayed. Even Bakugo had to give him a little credit with such a large-scale freeze over. Only a little.
'They're off balance! Damn, he may be an asshole, but he's smart,' Ryuko thought as she started moving forward as soon as Todoroki began to stand up.
"C'MON!"
Suddenly, Izuku felt someone grab his arm and he was being dragged along until he got his feet moving; Ryuko was dashing forward with him in tow.
"What're you-"
"Shut up and keep running. We only have a few seconds," she warned as Todoroki began to run through the legs of the mech, with both friends moving fast enough to follow the path he took.
"That's interesting," a student with wild indigo hair noted, seeing the Kamui wielder grab the plain looking boy who was the first out of the gate and getting them both through.
"We can get through now! Let's go!" Some of the other first year students called out.
"Careful now! I froze them while they were off balance… On purpose," Todoroki called out, not looking back as the mech that had lunged forward fell to the ground, causing an enormous wave of dust and dirt to kick up from the impact against the earth.
"I knew you were still an asshole!" a voice called out to Shoto.
"What?"
Todoroki's head turned to see Matoi and Midoriya running side-by-side just a bit behind him, while the others remained back near the army of robots.
'I didn't expect anyone else to dash through like that. I've underestimated them both since the beginning,' his eyes narrowed in on the boy in particular.
'Especially him. He seems to actually be using his power now in a way that's not breaking anything like before. Midoriya's more dangerous than I thought.'
"That goes for you too, blondie!" she shouted back to the larger group of students, hearing a roar from the intended target.
"You know you've put a bigger target on your back now, right?!" Izuku grimaced.
"Tch. Fuck him," she fired back matter of factly.
"By the way, that's the only time I'm doing you a favor for everything that happened the last two weeks. I want to win, but after I saw you take my advice, I thought the least I could do was get us both through."
Izuku looked to his right to see Ryuko's wild grin. She was determined and wasn't going to let anyone else stop her. She wanted to beat the brakes off of Katsuki and Todoroki so she could try to face Izuku in the finals.
'Thanks,' he internalized with a slight smile. He continued his push forward while the other students cleared the robot wreckage. No time for small talk now.
"DEKU!"
A chunk of metallic green robot landed off to the side in front of Todoroki and the other two competitors. Izuku knew who that voice belonged to. There was no need to turn around and see who launched that.
Not thinking twice, he picked up the large scrap thanks to the strength from 5% of One For All and carried it with him. Who knew if it could come in handy.
"I'm gonna beat you and Shank! Ya hear me- GRHKH!"
Bakugo's mouth was slammed shut as he tumbled backward towards the mass of students charging forward, coming to a stop to see Deku and Todoroki holding down the first two places. And then he saw a certain someone laughing maniacally right in front of him that began running again.
"HIT AND RUN, BITCH! THAT'S 2-0!"
"OH MAN, IT'S WAR BETWEEN BLONDES AND BRUNETTES!"
"That sounded a lot weirder than it should, Mic."
Ryuko fired up the thrusters on her back to help make up the ground she lost to the other boys. Still, she thoroughly enjoyed causing Katsuki some misery.
'Totally worth it!' she sneered
"GRAHHHHH! This isn't over, ya hear me Red Light District?!" Katsuki boomed as he stood back up after getting knocked down, still feeling some pain under his jaw.
"This will turn out well," Izuku muttered in a cold sweat.
But that would have to wait for now. There was a clear path that led straight to the finish line with his name on it, and with competing students nearby that would attempt to claim that.
"I HOPE YOU ALL DIDN'T THINK THAT FIRST OBSTACLE WAS A LIGHT BREEZE! BECAUSE THE SECOND ONE IS GOING TO BE A REAL DOOZY!" Mic's voice blasted throughout the runway.
"Whoa. I'm getting some deja vu here," Matoi commented as she glanced over the next course. All that she saw were rocky platforms with thin threads of rope connecting all of them together.
Many students who'd finally caught up felt their spines shudder from the path ahead of them, either out of fear of heights, or just paranoia. Some even questioned how crossing over to the other side was even possible.
The silence was then broken when Tsuyu Asui was the first to take the leap of faith and balanced herself on the ropes before strutting forward. Todoroki soon followed suit as he iced over the rope, gliding to the other side and maintaining his lead.
"Whoa! That's so cool!" Ryuko watched in awe at her classmate's quick thinking.
"If you think that's cool, then you're going to love this."
The red streaked girl turned her head over to meet a pair of bug-eyed looking goggles donned by a manic smile underneath, and bundled noodle-like pink hair on top.
The shouting gal was strapped up to her teeth with so much tech that everyone stressed about how fast she would plummet to the ground from the weight. This was none other than Mei Hatsume, a student from the support course.
"EVERYONE! You're about to witness the brilliance of my babies!"
"Babies?"
"What?"
"Oh god, teenage pregnancy?!"
"I thought teen pregnancy was an American problem?"
Students were quick to speculate and sketched up a new rumor to spread around UA. Both Izuku and Ryuko could only raise their eyebrows as they shared the same confusion with their fellow classmates.
"Watch as my gadgets breeze through this obstacle with wire arrows and hover soles!"
Before the students could add more fuel to the fire with the gossip, the brace that was wrapped around the Hatsume's abdomen shot a harpoon that impaled the concrete platform across from her. Followed with a manic laugh, the techgirl's soles lifted her off of the ground as the compressed air was released, and then launched her off of where she stood.
With the push of a button, the harpoon reeled her towards the pillar with the soles cushioning her impact. Now she scaled up the platform with ease and would continue to do so on the remaining posts.
"So she's got some fancy gadgets to get ahead, huh? Senketsu, you thinking what I'm thinking?" A devilish grin grew on Ryuko's face as she was fired up. However, this sense of pride was in a different place than what she usually felt.
"I might be," Senketsu replied.
"Let's show her what you're made of."
The thrusters of Matoi's Kamui began to ignite with a magenta-like flame that matched the burning intensity in the girl's heart. After a moment to heat up, Ryuko leaped forward with the explosive power of Senketsu's vents rocketing her across the rope. In one large bound, she was able to make it onto the next platform.
"YES! Now let's show this grease-gal who's boss!" Excitement took hold in Ryuko's voice as she continued jumping to catch up to the techgirl.
The other competitors expressed shock at how quickly the girls were able to adapt and come to a solution to the problem they faced. Izuku was nearly in a daze from seeing the succession of Matoi's abilities coming into play.
Before the pink haired girl would prepare for her next jump, a flash of red appeared next to her as Ryuko took a moment to stare her down with a smirk.
"Hmph."
The Kamui's thrusters ignited once more before the girl had completely breezed through Mei and engulfed the ground in a beautiful display of crimson flames and sparkles that blew dust in her face.
Thanks to the goggles she wore, Hatsume showed no reaction to the crumbs of dust on her until a small crazed smile came out, followed up with her arms being tucked in a bundle of joy.
"Whoaaaa! Her baby is amazing! Looks like I've got competition!"
"Not exactly what I would call him. But yeah, believe it," Ryuko chuckled as she marched forward.
She took a deep breath and exhaled in full satisfaction over the winning lead she had just pulled. This wasn't something she did for herself, but it was actually for Senketsu. Mei coming into the fray and boasting about her 'babies' only fueled Matoi's want to show her up with the Kamui's abilities. She didn't even think about trying to catch up to Todoroki. All that mattered in the moment was to show how much Senketsu kicked ass!
'Ryuko and Senketsu are really amazing!' Izuku fawned over her expert usage of the Kamui.
"Man, that hero course chick is freaking nuts!"
"Yeah! Hey, let's try to cross this thing."
"But how? Using the rope is too slow and the gaps between the pillars are too wide for jumping!"
*CRACK*
*BANG*
Out of nowhere, the students' thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the ground cracking and streaks of green lightning surrounding one of the hero course students.
'One For All…'
Emerald eyes stared at the red inferno that was Ryuko Matoi as Izuku mapped out the area before him. With his strategy in mind, he prepared himself for the challenge ahead.
"5% FULL COWLING!" Izuku shouted, unleashing the new output of his Quirk for the whole world to see.
In the stands, All Might watched in sheer awe as his protege continued to use the Quirk he gave to him without injuring himself since his enrollment in U.A.
To say proud would be an understatement.
"YYYYYYES! YES YES YES YES! HAHAHAHA! Thadda boy, Young Midoriya!" All Might cheered from the balcony, absolutely ecstatic on the current development.
The other staff at the balcony, as well as the announcer's with their earpieces on, could only look at the disheveled hero and think one thing.
'Woah. He's like a proud dad.'
Izuku leapt to the platform in front of him, then one to his left and another on his right hand side. But what made this intense, was the fact that each pillar varied greatly in size and potential integrity. With some being sturdy enough to hold an entire group of 10 people to barely holding one person's foot. What was this kid thinking?
The onlookers were at the edge of their seats as the green haired madman jumped from pillar to pillar with the grace of a cat and all while holding a huge piece of metal on his back.
"Whoa, check it out! Is that Midoriya?!" Kirishima nudged Sero as he happened to be right beside him.
"No way… That is him! When did he learn to jump like that?" The tape quirk wielder remarked.
"How did he learn to use his quirk without hurting himself?" Jirou added before a slight smirk appeared.
"Matoi. Why do I feel like you had a hand in that?" she chuckled.
"AND JUST LIKE THAT, IZUKU MIDORIYA IS BREEZING PAST THE ENTIRE COURSE WITH EASE! WHAT DID YA TEACH THAT KID, ERASER?!"
"You're acting like I had something to do with that, huh Mic?" Aizawa replied, with a sneaky grin on his face behind the bandages.
Present Mic cut his microphone off briefly to look at his long-time friend.
"I'm serious dude, how else did he know about "you know what"?" Mic said with a somewhat serious tone.
"He may be my student, but I wouldn't go out of my way to give them secrets on how to win the various courses. You know that's not me, Yamada," Aizawa said in his usually tired tone.
"Yeah, but come on man. It's the same thing you pulled in our 3rd Sports Festival. You gotta admit, that resemblance is kinda uncanny."
Aizawa stared down at the screen showing the contestants, putting more focus on the student in question. His face now sporting his tired crazed grin.
"All this just goes to show one thing."
"Yeah? And what's that?"
"This kid…oh, this kid is a fucking maniac!"
..~~~HLK~~~..
(Back at the Obstacle Course)
Izuku jumped on another seemingly fragile pillar, only for him to leap off of it with no trouble whatsoever.
'I was right. UA would never make a straight forward course like this without any tricks. The smaller pillars, as well as the weaker ones, may look unstable but they're just as stable as the larger pillars.'
Midoriya shot through another batch of pillars, coming ever so close to clearing the obstacle.
'It's like a secret level in a video game. Going through the game straight through has its points, but those who comb through every detail will always find better things most players wouldn't. If UA wanted those with non-enhancement based Quirks to succeed, then why make a course that was designed to go against their limitations?'
Izuku took one last leap, landing firmly on the other side of the course.
He made it through THE PIT.
'The answer: They wanted to see who's got what it takes… TO TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH!'
-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!-
Speaking of leap of faith, one student was definitely taking that to heart as he was soaring through the air with mini explosions guiding his trajectory. The loud crackles of combustions echoed through the air. Izuku's ears immediately perked up from that familiar sound.
"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY FROM ME THAT EASILY!" Bakugo shouted loud enough to know Izuku was in danger.
'Not good! He's catching up! I better keep going!' Izuku charged at the full speed of what 5% could provide him with.
Using the advantage of the rest of the path being just a straight run, Midoriya was able to close the distance between himself and Matoi as he ran beside her.
"Whoa! Looks like the training really paid off!" Ryuko shouted.
"I know! I didn't expect to get as far as I have! I'm getting really excited!"
"Now here's the real question, Izuku. Are you hungry?"
"Hungry?"
"Cuz you're about to eat my dust!"
With that, Ryuko went into a full sprint with Izuku soon chasing after her. They weren't too far off from Todoroki, who managed a small lead ahead of them. But that wouldn't last long. It was one man against two raging bulls.
Shoto suddenly stopped as he approached the next obstacle that was evident from the giant billboards on both sides of the track. Izuku and Ryuko soon stopped behind him.
"Oi, why did you stop?" Ryuko asked before noticing the "DANGER! MINES!" sign.
"Oh."
"OUR THREE LEADS NOW APPROACH THE FINAL HURDLE OF THIS RACE! EVERYONE BETTER BE PREPARED FOR AN EXPLOSIVE SHOW! WHY? 'CAUSE YOU'RE STEPPING INTO A MINEFIELD! I'M SURE I DON'T NEED TO EXPLAIN WHAT THE MOST SENSIBLE STRATEGY WOULD BE HERE!"
"Aw c'mon! I was just having fun here!" Ryuko cried out. She felt such a rush from the fierce running starts of the first two obstacles, only for it all to come to a ball-busting cliffhanger once she now had to tiptoe around this next objective.
The half and half student was quick to begin taking careful steps to maintain his lead in front of the duo behind him.
'Shoot! He's already gotten started! Given that we'd all be going at the same pace as he is, I'll never be able to catch up to him,' Midoriya felt troubled over what the next course of action would be. But that would be the least of his problems.
Blowing past him was an ash blonde that sported the fiercest look he'd seen in a long time. Bakugo shot forward, gliding through the air in his crusade to catch up to Todoroki.
"BASTARD! NEXT TIME YOU DECLARE A WAR, DECLARE IT ON THE RIGHT PERSON!"
The blonde then followed up with an explosive left jab towards Shoto, who narrowly dodged the attack. It was a fight for first place between the two, as Bakugo unleashed attacks left and right while Todoroki was forced to retaliate and fight back.
"LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A FIGHT GOING ON BETWEEN THE TWO LEADING COMPETITORS FOR FIRST PLACE! THIS IS A VERY INTENSE CHALLENGE FOLKS! FOUR MAIN LEADS FROM CLASS 1A AND ONE LAST OBSTACLE TO CROSS! WITH THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THEM BEING SO CLOSE, THERE'S NO TELLING WHO WILL ACTUALLY TAKE THE LEAD!"
"SCISSOR BLADE: DECAPITATION MODE!"
Upon hearing those words, Izuku's head immediately darted towards the one person he knew would say that. Ryuko's blade had shifted its gears and grew to about twice its original length, the handle also extending into a two-handed weapon.
"TIME TO KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE BIG STONE!"
Matoi took a huge swing towards the path of mines in front of her, the force of her power cutting straight through the air and slicing through the ground. Once the attack made contact with the mines, a barrage of explosions began to erupt as the slash barrelled through a multitude of them.
Without a second thought, Ryuko dashed forward towards the explosions as they began to dissipate and followed the path that she had carved out of the minefield. It wouldn't be long before the igniting trail would catch up to both Todoroki and Katsuki, who were soon engulfed and thrown off balance.
"I'll be taking the win now!" Matoi shouted as she passed the two collapsed boys.
"What the?! When the hell was she allowed to carry that?!" Bakugo's eyes widened from the passing girl.
"Since it got approved!" She barked back and pressed forward, running through the path she made for herself.
Seeing his friend advance through the course, Izuku worked faster on his only, and EXTREMELY dangerous plan.
'Either this is gonna help me get ahead, or the school is gonna have to explain to my mom why I'm in a body cast,' Izuku reasoned, putting the final touches on his crazy plan.
The plan in question?
A giant pile of explosives he gathered from the surrounding area when he first got there. Looking forward to his goal, Izuku held the piece of metal in front of his body.
"Thanks for the idea, Kacchan!" Midoriya exclaimed, running toward the pile of explosives and jumping on top of them.
'AND GET READY TO EAT THOSE WORDS, RYUKO!'
*KABOOOOOOM!*
The explosion was heard all around the minefield as students looked to see the origin of the mighty blast. Todoroki, Matoi, and Bakugo themselves stopped their fighting to look. The three directed their gaze to the sky above at what initially appeared to be debris flying through the air.
Upon closer inspection, the trio now saw that what they thought to be random debris was really Izuku Midoriya getting ahead of them.
'NO FUCKING WAY!'
'Midoriya…'
'HOLY CRAP, IZUKU! THAT'S A BIT MUCH!'
"WHAT A SURPRISE TWIST! IT LOOKS LIKE IZUKU MIDORIYA IS SAILING THROUGH THE ENTIRE COURSE AIRBORNE. AND BY THE LOOK ON HIS FACE, HE'S GOT HIS SIGHTS SET ON FIRST PLACE!" Present Mic cheered, bringing even more energy out of the crowd as the first event neared its inevitable conclusion.
Snapping out of the shock, the three warring teens ran toward the end. Bakugo used his explosions to propel himself. Todoroki created an ice path toward the end even though it would give the other students an advantage. And Ryuko…well-
"IF YOU BOTH THINK YOU'RE GETTING OUT OF MY SIGHT, YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING!"
Yeah, that.
Ryuko rushed between the two students, with both of her arms tucked to her chest.
"Don't you fucking dare, you bi-!" Before he could finish his sentence, both Bakugo and Todoroki were chopped straight in the chest by Ryuko. The strike caused both of them to fall off their feet, giving Matoi the edge she needed to run ahead of the two.
"AND THAT'S 3-0, BIMBO!" The Kamui wearer shouted, leaving her opponents in the dust.
The mines were actually more explosive than Izuku thought, as he was just going to clear the minefield. Still, he had to take one more risk to make sure he didn't miscalculate the landing.
Moving his knees toward his chest and his hand holding tightly on the binding, he powered up One For All and quickly moved the soles of his feet to the bottom of his makeshift ride and pushed off, landing a couple of feet over the remaining mines as the robot scrap ended up flying high into the air and back into the crowd of students.
'I'm glad I thought of that, otherwise I would've ended up wasted.'
"This win is mine!" Izuku declared as he kept running. All that stood between him and the finish line was getting through the tunnel.
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Ryuko shouted ahead to Izuku.
'I can't look back! Have to keep running!' Izuku thought. He'd lose if he didn't keep looking ahead.
The gap was about 20 meters between the two as both students made their way into the tunnel.
"SENKETSU!"
"ON IT!"
The Kamui's thrusters kicked into high gear, closing the distance even more as the light at the end got brighter and brighter. The two childhood friends were so close!
"C'MON!"
"C'MON!"
"THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME! MATOI AND MIDORIYA ARE NECK AND NECK AND IT'S TOO CLOSE TO CALL! WHO WILL BE OUR GAME'S FIRST CHAMPION?"
The crowd went into a frenzy as the first person made their way out of the tunnel, shortly followed by the second of the pair.
"WOOHOOHOO! TALK ABOUT RAZOR CLOSE! By less than a second, the winner of the first game of the UA First Year Sports Festival…"
"...IS IZUKU MIDORIYA!"
The crowd roared as the boy looked up around him. Izuku rotated in circles as he scaled the entire stadium that cheered. They were rooting for his success!
For him.
His lips had slowly arched into a smile without ceasing. The amount of sweat he was drenched in from the hard training with Ryuko, the ache in his muscles, everything that he had worked towards for the last two weeks. He did it. He really, really did it.
Among the flush of emotions he was feeling, there was something that he finally noticed.
As tired as Midoriya was, he didn't even realize right at the end that he accidentally kicked full cowling up to 6%. He didn't feel any pain from the unintentional boost.
His eyes continued to circle around the stadium, soaking it in until he found All Might. He beamed proudly down to the field, as a few tears formed at the corner of Izuku's eyes.
'Well done, kid! You've really impressed me today. One For All is closer to becoming your own.'
The Symbol of Peace also took stock in the runner-up. Perhaps something was there after all that he could trust her with.
"Yo!" Matoi huffed as she desynced back into the UA gym uniform, catching the greenette's attention.
"What was that speed at the end?" She asked with a silly, exhausted smile. "Seems like ya kicked into a higher gear at the last second to win."
"I… don't know. I think in the last ditch effort to beat you, I unconsciously kicked my power up a notch, Hehe," Midoriya laughed as the other contestants started to roll in.
"But I can't thank you enough, for everything. I still don't know where I'd be without you, Ryuko!"
"Geez, still putting yourself down when you've come this far? You did that all on your own back there," Matoi chuckled.
The pair smiled and bumped fists. This competition wasn't over, they both knew that. But all that training was worth it.
Their day in the spotlight was only just getting started.
To Be Continued…
Buckichamp A/N: If you paid very close attention to this chapter, I think you'll find we had ~A LOT~ of fun writing this up LMAO! Zaniness for the win! The initial draft was completed Dec 20, 2021. Just before we took our Christmas hiatus leading into the New Year.
Pikachu A/N: Oh yeah, it was a blast to write…diiiiiiidn't help the NUMEROUS times I was late. God…I gotta work on that. BUT SEMANTICS, THIS CHAPTER WAS A BLAST!
Aduubo A/N: HYPE
Buckichamp: By the way, we were initially thinking of awarding first place to Ryuko. After a bit of thinking, we then realized in order for a certain plot point or two in our story to happen and move things forward, we had to give Deku the win. We gotta subvert some expectations, ya know?
Aduubo A/N: ALSO! If you guys liked this chapter! Then you will love to know that my gives early access to the chapters before the official release! Also it'll be a great help to funding the comic dubs!
Aduubo