"INCREDIBLE! At a record-shattering four minutes and thirty seconds, the winner of the Obstacle Course Race is… Genki Gokiburi of the General Course!" Present Mic screamed into the microphone, the audience exploding into cheers as the previous record of eleven minutes and eight seconds was completely annihilated.
"What? No way!" Izuku cried, his stomach sinking, as first place was snatched away from him.
"So fast!" Tenya gaped.
"DAMMIT!" Bakugou cried as he tore through the air after the nowsecond-place Todoroki.
The news that First Place had been taken swept through the competitors like a dread wave. Many who had just passed Robo Inferno or were still being held up at it gave up altogether. Despite the fact that the most any of them could aspire to now was "first loser", the many hopefuls that refused to give up redoubled their efforts, The Fall coming up for many.
"Looks like it's my turn to make a splash," Tsuyu Asui hummed as she dropped down to her haunches before leaping into the air, speedily creeping across the tightrope with her Mutant-borne agility and dexterity.
"So fast!" Mina Ashido gaped, Ochako Uraraka right beside her. Their musings were then cut off by a frenzied chuckling.
"Heh heh heh heh heh… Time for my support items to get the spotlight!" Mei Hatsume of the Support Course chuckled. "I may've lost out to someone from the General Course, but that's okay. As long as my babies get the recognition they deserve, it's still my win!"
"Wait, she's allowed to have those things?!" Mina complained witnessing he plethora of gadgets on the pink-haired girl's person.
"Don't complain. You Hero Course kids have all sorts of practical combat training, so it's only fair that the Support Course gets to bring in their own work," Mei argued. "Provided of course that they're items and costumes we developed ourselves," she hummed in satisfaction at leaving her own peers in 1-F in the dust. No-one from the Support Course would call her class the Bronze Medal after today.
Of course, even amidst the banter and creative Quirk use, Shoto Todoroki was even now well-ahead of his peers, using his [Subzero] to glide across the now-frozen tightropes with the help of his specialized soles. Even though first place was now beyond his grasp, he had no intention of giving up second place without a fight.
The first thing that Shoto noticed when he reached The Minefield was that there was already a line of mines that had been detonated by the now-known Genki. However, the line didn't cut through all of the mines in a neat line. Based on the speed displayed previously, it only made sense that his strides were far longer than his own, so even if he took the exact same route, he'd still need to be wary of the mines Genki hadn't detonated in his attempt to outrun them.
'So… The minefield's designed in such a way that those in the lead would be forced to slow their pace,' Shoto noted to himself as he carefully toed around the mines. There wasn't any way of knowing how-much concussive force each one had, but given Genki had been able to clear the previous record and completely "annihilate" it, it only made sense that one would need substantial speed to outrun the mines.
While he could make a carpet of ice and walk across it that way, that would only create a free ride for his peers to catch up to and possibly overwhelm him.
"HA! AS IF CRAP LIKE THIS CAN SLOW ME DOWN!" Katsuki Bakugou raged as he flew through the air with his explosive Quirk, quickly surpassing Todoroki with minimum effort. "Hey! Your declaration of war… was to the WRONG PERSON!"
As Shoto and Katsuki began their super-powered brawl amidst the minefield, competitors from The Fall began to file in, each taking their own route around the minefield in an attempt to circumvent it. Those that were truly desperate weren't mindful-enough of their footing and were sent flying completely out of bounds, revealing that the non-lethal mines still weren't a joke. Students with sensory abilities could afford to pick up the pace a bit, but still had to be mindful, especially with how the costs of a single mistake had been shown by those knocked out-of-bounds. Tenya even attempted to match the feat of the Obstacle Course Race's own record-breaker, only for his then-current speed to be insufficient after more than two mines.
With Katsuki Bakugou and Shoto Todoroki juggling second and third place like a hot potato, a second dark horse revealed itself in the form of Izuku Midoriya, who by combining a Zero-Pointer's armor plate from Robo Inferno with the abundance of mines available to him, was able to compound them together into a single massive explosion that sent him hurling across The Minefield.
"Whatever the case, Class 1-A's Izuku Midoriya is in hot pursuit of second place!"
Shoto and Bakugou falling even further away from first place, the two abandoned their super-powered grapple with one another in an attempt to overtake he whom had overtaken them. Izuku however, even with the knowledge that the most he could aspire to was second place, had not given up. Planting his feet firmly on their own shoulders as the last of his momentum died out, the green-haired teen swung his armored plate down onto the mines between them, knocking the two sideling while flinging himself out of the minefield and into the home stretch.
"In a stunning move, Izuku Midoriya bursts past his classmates in 1-A! Just what the heck are you teaching these kids, Eraserhead?" Present Mic announced, spurring those in The Minefield on into even greater feats of daring as the single-digit ranks began to slip away.
Though most of the fanfare had died down in the five minutes following Genki Gokiburi's out-from-behind victory, Izuku was still met with a wall of applause as he burst into the light, mere-moments before Shoto and Katsuki trailed in after him in third and fourth place respectively.
As the potential remaining slots began to dwindle, those in The Minefield redoubled their efforts, would-be competitors for the next stage of the Sports Festival pouring in one after the other.
"Deku… That was awesome!" Ochako congratulated, covered in sweat and out-of-breath as she came in at 17thplace.
"To lose a race of all things with my Quirk… It's clear I still have much more progress to make…!" Tenya stated to himself, coming in at 7thplace. "And to think that someone with such phenomenal speed was hiding under our very noses," the bespectacled teen said as he beheld the record-breaking General Course student, whom was left standing awkwardly in the middle of the field all by himself. "I guess it's true what they say… There's always someone better."
"Yeah… There is…" Izuku hummed. While second place was nothing to scoff at, like so many of his peers in 1-A, he felt just a little bit robbed, losing out first place to someone who wasn't even in the Hero Course to begin with. "Hmmm… The antennae and chitinous plates on his back are definitely traits of a Mutant-Type Quirk, but I'm still lacking sufficient evidence to postulate just what kind of insect-like Quirk Genki is in possession of…"
As Izuku went on into another fit of muttering, one such student who felt robbed by the outcome of the first event made his opinion on the matter known in a very vocal fashion.
"HEY YOU!" Bakugou shouted as he stomped violently towards the first-place winner, the oily-haired teen leaping in his skin as the explosive teen bore down on him. "JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STEALING AWAY FIRST PLACE FROM ME?!
"H-Hey, chill out, man. You're going to cause a scene," Genki said as he raised his hands and gave off a disarming smile, slowly backpedaling from the volatile teen. Of course, the suddenly movement served to only-further infuriate the explosive teen.
"STAND STILL SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS-AAAAUGH!"
Before he could finish his threat however, Katsuki suddenly flew head over heels, letting out an extremely undignified yelp as he completely lost his balance, landing on the ground in a heap, swearing up a storm as Genki continued to back away from the aggressive teen.
"K-Kacchan!" Izuku yelped in shock of what transpired, his mind whirling a mile a minute as he caught sight of a glistening residue on Bakugou's shoes, his eyes then following towards the General Course student that had been backing away. "His shoes… They have perforated soles just like Ashido's…!" the teen realized getting a better look at his footware. "Could he have [Acid] too? No, no, that wouldn't explain the speed he displayed, even with a lubricant under his feet. What kind of insect has that power…?"
As more and more of the leading slots for the Obstacle Course Race were taken up, it was soon made abundantly clear just how-alone Genki was. Apart from one other General Course student and one Support Course student, literally everyone else was from the Hero Course.
"Alright then! That's the last of them!" Midnight announced as Yuuga Aoyama ambled into the arena, clenching at his stomach. "The top 42 from this qualifying round will move on to the second event-"
"Comment cela pourrait-il être?" Yuuga asked, slipping into his native tongue, after realizing he was 43rd.
"But for those of you who placed lower, don't worry, we've got other events where you can show your stuff!" she said to console the losers. "But now, the main selection can really begin! The press are going to be jumping out of their seats, so be sure to give it everything you've got in the second event!"
And like this, the tension began to mount once more. Out of the hundreds that attempted the Obstacle Course Race, only 42 remained. Just how-much-further would they be culled until the final event, the annual Battle Tournament?
"Dying in suspense are you? Well don't worry, I know how to be merciful~" Midnight cooed as the same roulette from before began to spin. "Following that stunning first round, the second event of the Yuuei Sports Festival is… THIS!"
CAVALRY
BATTLE
"Participants will, on their own, form teams of two to four members each and get into a horse-and-rider formation!" Midnight explained as visuals consisting of Thirteen, Present Mic, and All Might himself appeared on the screen behind her. "The rules are the same as those cavalry battles from middle school! Snag your opponents' headbands while guarding your own. The one exception… Each of you has been assigned a point value based on your ranking in the last event!"
"We'll earn points like in the entrance exam? Sounds simple," Rikido Sato hummed.
"So the point value of each team depends on its members!" Mina smiled.
"I was just about to explain that, so shut up already!" the R-Rated Hero raged at being interrupted. "As I was saying… Forty-second place has a point value of five! Forty-first has a point value of ten, fortieth has a point value of fifteen, and so-on. However…" she said pausing for dramatic effect. "For our first-place dark horse competitor, Genki Gokiburi…"
"I don't like the way she's looking at me…" the oily-haired teen shivered as Midnight's stare caused the others' eyes to gravitate towards him.
"Our record-breaker will be receiving a special point value of… TEN MILLION POINTS!"
"Te… Ten… million?" Genki gulped audibly, suddenly feeling very, very small as forty-one pairs of eyes descended upon him, a terrifying hunger in their eyes as the General Course student found himself swiftly ostracized, even moreso than he was before. Even his peer Hitoshi Shinso leered at him hungrily, a confident smirk on his face.
"The higher-ranked students are the ones to aim for, so this survival game is a chance for a big comeback. It's anyone's game!" Midnight said as she continued to feed the fire. "Good luck, Gen-kun! You're going to need it~" the femme fatale said with a wink that might've set the teen's heart aflutter, if not for the fact he was fearing for his life.
"I'm going to die. I'm going to fucking die," Genki shivered, feeling very much like his namesake as the gauntlet was thrown.
*MHA*
As Midnight went on to explain, the Cavalry Battle would last for 15 minutes. To a spectator, it might not be much time at all, but for those in the thick of it, it may as well've been an eternity for all the adrenaline that was bound to be pumping.
The Rider would be wearing a headband displaying the sum points of their team, the main stipulation being that they had to be around the neck or higher. The more of them there were, the harder they'd be to manage, and even if one was taken, even if the horse was knocked down, until that timer hit zero, you still had a fighting chance. Midnight went on to explain that unlike the middle school sports festivals, Quirks were allowed and even encouraged. However, maliciously attacking another team with the intent of knocking them over would result in a red card and immediate disqualification from the Cavalry Battle and subsequent Battle Tournament.
Of course, no matter whom Genki managed to ring into joining him, their point-value would still be set in the octuple digits, meaning he'd have a giant bulls-eye on his forehead -or neck- no matter who he chose.
It also didn't help matters that on top of knowing no-one around him, he only had fifteen minutes to convince… anyone to join his team.
Of course, saying he knew no-one wasn't necessarily true. He knew Shinso, but like everyone else, he too had his eyes on that ten-million-point bullseye, and knowing how that guy's mind worked, he was probably going to keep the deeper mechanics of his Quirk hidden until the very last moment, possibly aiming for "dark horse" status himself.
So yeah, even though he'd managed to break the old record and make a name for himself on that alone, if he didn't get the most out of those fifteen minutes before the Cavalry Battle, he could consider his second chance over.
"Alright, Genki, think. What would your father say to you at a time like this…?" the almost-lone General Course student thought to himself, racking his brain as the Hero Course students began to form their own cliques, planning the oily-haired teen's demise and ruination.
" . . . "
"Well that's no help," he thought as he imagined his father's extremely minimal vocal response to such a scenario. "Okay… What would your mother say?" he asked himself, hoping a maternal source of wisdom would yield better results.
"Remember, Gen-chan, the key to getting people's attention as a Pro Hero is sex appeal! Sex sells, so don't be afraid to show a little skin. Women have needs tooyou know!"
"Aaand like that, my last hope dies…" Genki whimpered. " . . . No!" he said clapping his hands loudly on his face. "No, I've come too far to give up now! I'm all alone down here, so I'll have to think of something!" he told himself.
Antennae flicking atop his head, setae picking up every minute change in air pressure around him, his eyes darted around until he spotted a student in as desperate straits as he.
Unwilling to let his potential source of salvation slip away, the oily-haired teen was off in a shot, kicking up dust much to the consternation of his peers as he scooped 19th place up into his arms and whisked him away to the far corner of the field like an American football.
"AAUUUUUUGH!"
"Quit screaming!" Genki shouted at the grape-headed Hero Course student. "Name! What is it?"
"M-M-M-Minoru Mineta!" the grape-headed teen quivered in the wake of his borderline abduction.
"Team up with me!" Genki shouted, going straight for the jugular. "With your body-type and my speed, we can't possibly lose!"
" . . . That's right! I'm small, so you can carry me all by yourself!" Mineta said, eyes lighting up as he realized his "character design" actually had a pro to it, rather than just cons. While his preferred choice was to team up with a girl, getting a free ride to the final round was good too.
Plus, after what he did to Momo in the Obstacle Course Race, his female peers had made their opinions of him abundantly known.
"While I don't completely agree with how you literally piggy-backed off that one girl to make it past the first round, it's what put the idea into my head. You aren't too heavy, so I won't be bogged down all that much," Genki said holding Mineta up by the armpits. "Of course, that isn't the only reason I asked you to join."
"You want me to give you the down-low on my classmates' Quirks, right?" Mineta asked as he glanced at his peers, quickly catching on.
"As many details as you can remember. I was able to hide the bulk of my Quirk during the last round, but with the way that green-headed kid's been staring at me, I think it's safe to assume my Quirk won't be secret from the Hero Course for much longer," he said as said green-haired kid glanced at him once more, a myriad of theories glinting behind intelligent green eyes.
"Yeah, the guy does seem a bit obsessed," Mineta said watching Izuku get his team together.
"Hey there Mr. First Place!" a manically-enthused voice suddenly spoke up.
"AAAAUGH!" Mineta screamed in shock.
"Oh, hello, you're from the Support Course, correct?" Genki asked, feeling her approach the moment she stepped in his general direction.
"That's right! Hatsume Mei's the name, and Support Items are my game!" the girl said enthusiastically as she lugged a large white crate behind her before walking right up to him, snatching his hand and enthusiastically shaking it up and down.
'As is not knowing the meaning of personal boundaries, apparently,' Genki thought as the girl got right up in his face, her nose practically brushing against his.
"I have no clue who you are, but I could definitely be useful to someone in your position. Plus, teaming up with you means me and my babies will be smack-dab in the spotlight! All the industry big shots will have no choice but to notice my super-cute babies!"
"Babies?" Genki and Mineta asked, albeit with differing inflections.
"In the Support Course, we develop equipment to make Heroes' Quirks easier to use! I've got plenty of my babies here, and I'm sure you'll find one or two that suit you!" Mei said throwing the lid of her trunk open, before swiftly kicking it over and allowing the contents to spill out across the ground in full display of their splendor.
The fact that her stockpile of wares now-resembled the contents of a yard sale however… made it a little less impressive to behold.
"Don't you think you should treat your stuff a bit more gently?" Mineta asked as he turned some of the gear over. He had no clue what most of it even did, but even he knew not to toss your stuff onto the ground so-callously.
"My babies are tough! Just like their grandpa!" Mei said chipperly as she picked up a gun-shaped implement, roughly clapping the dust off of it like she were beating an old TV. "Besides, what good's a Support Item if it can't take a beating?" she asked with a strange manic glee.
"That's an excellent point," Genki hummed as he began looking some of the gear over. Not all heroes could be speedy like Edgeshot and dodge everything thrown their way, some had to tank hits, so any Support Items they wielded had to be "Tonka Tough" as the Americans put it. "Wait, is this a jetpack?"
"Yep! It's modeled after a certain hero's backpack. With a few additions of my own, of course~" Mei said chipperly.
"Okay, we might be able to work with some of this," Genki hummed looking the gear over. "Mei, tell me what all this stuff does. Mineta, tell me everything you know about 1-A's Quirks. If we go out there without a plan this ten-million-point headband's as good as gone, so let's brainstorm!"
*MHA*
Yet even more clues as to the nature of his Quirk have been sprinkled about, assuming some of you still have yet to figure it out. Mei Hatsume gravitated towards Izuku because he was in 1st Place, and literally no other reason, so there isn't any reason to think that would change even if who was in 1st Place did. That Mineta has joined them will definitely mix things up, so at the minimum it won't be a word-for-word repeat of what happens in the canon.
I hope to hear from you Readers in the audience! If any of you make good suggestions for Support Equipment, they might even make it into the story, so don't be afraid to get those keyboard -or touchscreen—fingers typing!
GO BEYOND!
EXCELSIOR!