Well, my internet is finally good enough to load anything.

Well, I hate cheaters more than I did before, as because of them, I couldn't have nearly as much free time as I usually would have, nor would I work on any stories, which really screwed with my schedules.

Chapter 26: Hot on the Heels

(Previously)

Midoriya wasn't about to let him just pull that stunt and get away with it as he quickly escaped the ice thanks to his high body temperature and rushed ahead, jumping over the heads of the pack. He wasn't the only one that had either quickly escaped or dodged the ice entirely as Kamakiri, Kendo, Monoma, Shiozaki, Tokage, Shishida, and Tetsutetsu, through their own methods, were hot on their would-be freezer's tails. Along with them were 3 others from class A.

"Like I'll let you freeze me and get away with it!" Midoriya yelled towards the bi-coloured-haired boy, who looked surprised that so many hadn't fallen for his little trick.

"That was a foolish move to think we could catch all of us!" Shishida called out, entirely shifting to beast mode in the blink of an eye. They weren't the only ones, as many others from class B showed their hands and were hot on their tails. The ice trick was nothing more than a pause, not a stop to their movements. Midoriya tensed his muscles upon landing on the now ice-covered track, breathing out a jet of hot steam before he raced ahead, struggling to keep traction with his shoes before recalling how Koharu moved and using that as inspiration.

Instead of running, he skated, shifting weight from foot to foot and using his balance and weight to steer and guide him forward, twirling mid-strike to blast out steam as a sort of propulsion. He kept in well within running for the top three spots as he gained on 2nd place Tokage, who was flying overhead having dissembled herself into 8 pieces.

The race was on.

"Should have expected that more from class B would avoid that." Todoroki said to himself, keeping an eye both on where he was going, as well as on the flying assembly of limbs and skating flame user; at least, he thought he was with how he was making use of steam as a propellant. Strange, those eyes of his were so different from the coward he saw giving their athlete's pledge; was it merely a rouse to lower their guards?

It didn't matter why; he only cared about maintaining first place, turning back from them to focus on keeping his distance.

While he had to deal with so many of class B gaining on him, others hadn't been so lucky, none more so than his own class, where just 4 of them had managed to avoid his delaying action, those being Bakugo who was already in the air when the ice spread, and Ojiro and Yaoyorozu, both having witnessed how Todoroki carried himself in training and correcting assuming he would take that mindset into the festival. Ashido was the final one, but where Midoriya could keep his balance, her solution required using her quirk to melt the ice, which left her stumbling and taking the rear of the 4.

Others, while in the rear, weren't having nearly as little problems as one sleep-deprived-looking student who, rather than walk, was being carried by four other students like he was theirs and above touching the earth like everyone else. It seemed to be the strangest thing, with only those close being able to see that the so-called palanquin carriers all had blank faces as if their bodies were moving while their minds were fast asleep. "They have pretty strong quirks." The rider smiled.

Back in the front, Midoriya saw a small boy coming fast, throwing balls that sprouted from his head like Tsunotori's horns into the ice and using them as bounce pads. It was a pretty imaginative play. Then he started to speak, and Midoriya's opinion of him fell considerably as he took the chance to brag that he wasn't caught in the ice and that Todoroki, who happened to be the front-runner, was pathetic for it. Midoriya focused on that as he hadn't known what Endeavour's son looked like, but he didn't expect this guy. Where were the flames?

His attention shifted to the side as his eyes widened. Quickly adjusting his direction, he raced towards the purple-balled student. He grabbed him by the back of his shirt, shutting him when the collar dug into his neck, but he saved him from getting punched by a 2-pointer. "Are you all right?" He asked as he gently put the much shorter boy down.

Reaching for his neck, he took some gasps of air as he looked and saw what nearly hit him before turning to his savior. "Y-yeah. Thanks for that, whoever you are."

"Midoriya." He introduced himself, which seemed familiar to the purple-haired boy, though he was sure they'd never met. But his and everyone's attention was directed towards the problem that awaited them as it wasn't just the one 2-pointer that stood in their way; it was more along the lines of dozens of them, with just as many, if not more so 1 and 3-pointers as well. And to make a challenging situation tougher, at least 3 0-pointers loomed over them.

"Targets found: Lots of them." The 2-pointer in front of him and the short boy called out. It's one red eye focused on them, and while the other boy was scared, Midoriya felt a familiar rush coursing through him.

"Are these the obstacles?" He asked, eager to cut loose like he had done during the exams.

"What do we have here, folks? The first challenge on this obstacle course, that's what it is! If they wish to proceed, our competitors must take on the gauntlet that is Robo-Inferno!" Present Mic called out as even more robots came into view, including another 7 0-pointers.

"What the heck? They got the 0-pointers from the exam too? I thought they were so strong we had to avoid them!" Tetsutetsu asked as he arrived, the bulk of the students following with those in general, business, and support, stunned that these were the kinds of enemies the hero course took on just to get in. Many asked as if they were even meant to get through.

Midoriya heard someone asking where U.A. got the cash for stuff like this, but he didn't bother turning to see who said that; instead, his smile only grew, his pearly whites showing, including his snake-like fang-canines. His body temperature rose as he felt his body gain strength, from his bones to his beating heart, sending his ever-boiling blood through his veins. His smile grew feral, scaring the shorter boy at his side as a 0-pointer approached, pulling a first back to strike at them.

"If they went through the effort of getting these things, they should have got a lot more of them." Todoroki stated, unimpressed with the army of steel that stood before them. The temperature around him rapidly dropped again as the mist formed around him. Kneeling, he felt the ice forming around him react to his control, pulsating as more of it formed before. He unleashed all of it with a strong upward swipe towards the approaching targets.

The result, other than Midoriya getting another wave of pain through his body from the frigid air striking him, was that every small robot in front of the 0-pointer was nearly as evil as a thick layer of frost covering the entire front of the massive robot. The frost no doubt pierced deep into it and froze, if not downright destroyed, most of its internal components, wiring, and servos, the overall damage rendering the colossal machine still and silent.

Midoriya's glowing eyes looked toward the source of this latest sting of pain as he heated himself back up after being rudely chilled. He saw that Todoroki was nonchalant about this. Still, then again, he was the son of the number 2 hero, and while he didn't like it, that ice of his was potent, and he had exceptional control over it. When you have all that, these robots wouldn't be much of a challenge.

Seeing that the slight obstacle was handled, Todoroki continued ahead, with the lingering mist cloud obscuring him from the view of most but not all the students to call out. "Quirk, he froze them. We can rush through its legs!"

Running, Todoroki turned his head back towards them. "I wouldn't do that if I were you! I froze them while it was off-balanced!" His warning came right as the 0-pointer, already leaning forward, fell over with a giant thud, its frozen body breaking on impact as joints and armor, already near frozen, failed from the effects.

"Todoroki from class A defeats a 0-pointer, is on hit, and maintains his lead like it's nothing! And as a bonus, he blocks the path for the rest!" Present Mic announced that the screens had changed to show Todoroki's icon, which was his school ID photo getting ahead. At the same time, the rest remained at the bottleneck opening to the field of robots.

"It sounds harsh, but this is a race, so buying himself time to increase the distance between himself and the rest is a solid plan." Vlad stated, just to ensure that no one in the audience got any unfair assessments of the situation, as this wasn't a regular race.

"As expected of someone that got in through recommendations, this is what crème of the crop looks like, people! This is the first time he's seen these foes, and they can't even slow him down, and he's still a first-year! I can't wait to see what he's capable of when he's 2nd year!" Present Mic took it from there, hyping the crowd up. Back on the field, Midoriya made the assessment that Todoroki was worth that praise, but that only made him want to beat him even more, to prove that no ice, no matter how cold, could match the glory and beauty of the flames.

From the core of his being to his very faith in the flame god, there wasn't a side to or of him that contested that decision, but instead, they encouraged it. Because of that, he only half heard that someone was standing where the frozen 0-pointer had been, but he also recalled who that was and didn't worry; instead, he crouched down, a smile on his face before he launched himself, leaving the short boy who cried in shock how high Midoriya managed to get with a single leap.

Now, with a clear view of things, he saw that the bulk of the smaller bots were between him and the rest of the 0-pointers. He figured out the means to do 3 things at once: Lessen the load for those that would otherwise struggle, unlike Todoroki; clear his own path to catch up with that ice-user, and finally, have some fun. With ease born from months of practice, he created a flame in his gut before feeding it oxygen and heat, increasing it till he felt his insides burning away.

With smoke flowing from his nostrils like an ancient dragon, he let loose his flames. "Serpent's Fire Scales!" From his out billowed out a massive emerald fireball, easily large enough to engulf a car. It was aimed directly at the robots below him. Still, instead of crashing into them and causing just one explosion, the fireball exploded out like a shrapnel grenade, raining down 13 smaller basketball-sized fireballs that crashed into 13 different target's bodies, limbs, or heads, each setting off an explosion that damaged nearby robots.

Shifting mid-air, he twisted into a ball, with his foot crashing through the head of a 2-pointer when he landed, before he struck at a 1-pointer, unfortunately, close enough to him that his hands, fingers out like claws, quickly cut through its neck, severing its head. Taking a deep breath and letting out steam and smoke, Midoriya now stood surrounded by the remains of 19 robots. But he didn't bask long, even as others wondered what he just did. He was already on the move, for his flames demanded it.

"Look at him go; Midoriya of class B is showing off that Todoroki isn't the only one with talent; he's got an entire grade full of golden eggs to handle!" Present Mic called out as Midoriya burned ahead, moving like smoke through the swarm of bots. Midoriya made full use of his speed, snake-like reflexes, and raw power to tear through any and everything in his way. A 1-pointer, a claw-like swipe, strips it of a head. A couple of 2-pointers, a knee to the face of one, and a kick to the face of the other. 4 1-pointers trying to overwhelm him, a leap followed by a hand-stand spinning kick rendered all scarp. 3-pointers, straight fireballs, leaving headless bodies.

"Tetsutetsu from class 1-B was underneath! That's crazy!" Present Mic called out again, proving Midoriya right that Tetsutetsu was fine. However, he was going to be super angry about this. "Kirishima from class 1-A was underneath! That's crazy!" Strange, Present Mic just repeated himself. Typically, he tried his best to keep his comments tailored for students; at least, that was his approach in class.

Midoriya didn't pay that much mind, as that was behind him. Instead, he focused on the 0-pointer that he was coming up on. Much like the first, it pulled back a fist to punch him, seemingly not caring that it could easily thin out its own numbers with that attack. It worked just fine for Midoriya as his steam production increased, as his leg muscles bulged from the increased heat and blood flow to them, carrying him even faster.

When the punch came down, he evaded it, rushing through the dust cloud it kicked up as he aimed to pass underneath the 0-pointer. Still, his plan wasn't just to escape but to take it out like he had already done with the small fry, like how Todoroki handled the first one. Again, flames built up in his gut, burning away at his innards that hadn't even finished regenerating from his earlier attacks. The flames grew stronger and hotter as he added a generous amount of power to this because he wanted to awe the crowd, for this would be a repeat of his entrance exam, but now with more time to perfect it.

"Boa Flame!" Again, he let loose an inferno, but this time it took a familiar shape, more potent than the one he used during the entrance exam as the snake construct flew like a spiral towards the groin of the 0-pointer and, upon contract, burned its way through the 4 inches of steel, before ravaging its internal components, anything that wasn't burnt was smashed to pieces by the flames given form, flames that even while inside the colossal machine, kept on spiraling before exploding out its head in a dazzling show of smoke, debris and emerald flames.

Seeing this, even as his jaw remained slack thanks to him burning away the muscles that held it in place, Midoriya laughed in joy, the flames of his soul screaming that this was paradise, that this was his chance to demonstrate their beauty. With that in mind, his glowing green eyes and burning furnaces locked onto the rest. He might have already taken care of at least five dozen bots, including the 0-pointer, but there was still more to fight, more to burn.

Still laughing, even as his lungs expelled smoke and burnt pieces of his innards and his jaw rapidly healed, he crouched like a cat with its eye on a juicy little mouse and pounced.

"I've never seen a student embody the phrase 'A hot knife through butter' quite like Midoriya, folk! With ease, he's handling every bot that comes his way, including deciding to cook one of the 0-pointers like it was an oversized kettle!" The teachers watched the events from their booth as Present Mic kept up the commentary with Vlad at his side, the calm one offering data to Mic's hype machine.

Snipe whistled when he saw Midoriya take down a 0-pointer as quickly as he had done during the exam. "I expected that the lad would act up. Boy's as crazy about his fire as I am about keeping the old girl in perfect working order." He pats the custom revolver at his side.

"It's not just him. Most of those taking the lead are from class B." Thirteen added as a glance proved that while not lacking, class A was starting to fall behind, with few names still in the race for first.

All Might decided to add to the conversation. "Class A and the other courses aren't bad, but there is a difference. Class B has taken their attack and used that experience to better themselves." He smiled, as during a terrible incident, it warmed his heart to see his students learn from it, better themselves, and take another step towards the heroes he knew they could be.

"While Todoroki might be in the lead, just about every person gunning for him has experience which he lacks, and experience is worth far more than anything you could ever learn in a class regarding real-world practical application." Vlad noted, a hint of pride in his words as he watched his students clearing through the field of robots.

Back on the field, All Might could see how his point was proven time and time again as Kamakiri leaped from robot to robot, his arm blades tearing and slicing through them with ease, at times he would even swing around one, his blade cutting deeper into it before jumping towards the next, a grin as eager as his vice-rep on his face. Following that, Shiozaki restrained, crushed, or otherwise tore robots apart as she ran through, her vines handling any that got close, and much like Midoriya before her, she left a path that others followed.

Kendo and Monoma were close together, the blonde having copied her quirk, and the two were smashing the smaller 1 and 2-pointers like children would their action figures. Tetsutetsu was a human wrecking ball as he charged straight ahead, his body impervious to any harm the robots could ever hope to inflict, but the same was far from the truth the other way around as his punches tore through their armor.

Then there were those like Shishida and Tokage, who took the path of least resistance as the former was hardly fighting them and merely rushing through, getting further ahead of someone like Tetsutetsu while the latter merely floated above it all, her many pieces battling for second place along with Midoriya who left scarp metal and emerald flames in his wake. Behind them, robots were still being dealt with in mass.

"Boom, Bang, Pow-Pow, Crash!" Fukidashi cried out, his quirk creating giant onomatopoeia, which flew into the robots, even damaging a 0-pointer. That damaged 0-pointer, along with 2 others, was taken out by a girl from class A, her gym shirt opened with a cannon placed at her side. Many did not even know when or how she pulled it out as she nodded at her work. "A piece of cake!" She stated as she ran ahead that the path was considerably clearer than it had been 40 seconds before.

"It looks like class A is picking up the slack. Yaoyorozu pulled out the good ole American Hello while Bakugo rockets ahead for that top spot!" Present Mic announced that Bakugo had cleared most of the obstacles, opting to ignore them like Tokage. Because of his explosive propulsion, he was gaining on the girl and, by proxy, Midoriya, who remained in the group, having cleared the robots and now raced towards Todoroki in the lead.

With Todoroki, he had just reached the second obstacle, viewing it with a frown as, of course, the school wouldn't make this easy. "And our front-runner has reached the second barrier; he's reached the Fall!" Present Mic announced as Todoroki and the audience viewed the section of earth that had been extensively dug out, leaving only spires of earth, all connected by thick, tightrope wires. Looking down, Todoroki couldn't even see the bottom of it. "Good luck getting through this, students, but remember, if you fall, you're out!"

Vlad moved in to add something. "If you do, don't worry as the bottom has been prepared to ensure that no-one is hurt by it. Still, I highly recommend caution; this isn't an obstacle you can rush without thinking."

"So far so good. This here race is nothing more than a means to get rid of the fat. We told them during the exam that those 0-pointers were big, scary, and pointless to fight, so they should avoid them." Snipe thought aloud, watching as the bulk of the students made it through the horde of robots, one that was a fraction of what it had been at the start, with the rest being scarp.

"But when they see them as obstacles, they see that they're little more than giant targets. It also serves as a great means for the hero course to showcase their growth since they enrolled, though I still think it would have been better if we showcased this during the second semester." Thirteen replied, getting nods from the rest.

"Hey, sister, you're not alone in that opinion, but you know the line." Snipe didn't argue with it, for as fun as this was, it was more for the ignorant spectators than the students or even the pros watching. While students benefitted from this, it was unfair to tell them that less than a semester's education was enough to let the world see what they could do.

"Yeah, the education board and the HPSC insist this happen during golden week for morale reasons." Thirteen repeated it as if they had heard the same excuse repeatedly, which they had as they had tried to partition for the sports festival's date to be changed. However, even this latest incident with the USJ and the ongoing police investigation wasn't enough to get the stone woman of a commission president to change their stance.

Cementoss frowned, as while he saw many students having little to no issues, many more were struggling just to keep up with many problems, a common one being that many weren't in the best shape. "One could easily call it cruel to everyone, as while the support students have the right to use any equipment they designed, they don't even get a full month to do so, while the other courses have even fewer chances to succeed."

Thirteen agreed with that, as she handled a general studies homeroom. While they were concerned after she was hospitalized, even making a little muffin/flower basket as a get-well-soon gift, when she learned that her temp had informed them that the sports festival was still on, they were far from pleased, one reason being that her wounds hadn't even fully healed. The school was trying to move on like nothing happened. "Don't I know it. My students complain about this every year. If this wasn't mandatory, I wouldn't be surprised if 3 out of 5 general studies students decided to opt out."

"Well, there are still the recreational games for them to look forward to unless those have been overhauled as well?" All Might asked as he recalled that those were a highlight for the non-hero students when he was a student.

And it seemed like that hadn't changed as Ectoplasm shook his head. "No, it's pretty much the same kind of stuff."

With Midoriya, he was rapidly approaching this fall. He didn't know what it looked like exactly. Still, the sounds of explosions to his back and Tokage yelling at Bakugo to stop trying to blow her into more bits meant he didn't have time to study the layout. To that end, as he saw the edge approaching, he also saw the first of the many spires that occupied the space, which gave him an idea as he sped up, his body leaking off more steam as he moved like a leaking steam engine.

"I don't see Todoroki; that means he's probably already in the middle of it, so it is still a race, which means speed and momentum are the name of the game!" He declared as he reached the edge, but instead of tumbling over, the muscles in his legs tensed like compressed springs before launching him off like a human rocket. The crowd was awed by this audacious stunt, but it seemed like it was naught as they could see he wouldn't reach his target.

As they were about to write him off, Midoriya's cheeks puffed up before he let loose a large stream of flames, using the kick-back to slow his descent, giving him more airtime and allowing him to cover the distance. Once he clamped his jaw shut, now only partially burnt, he landed in a roll on the first spire. Still, like he had since the start, he didn't waste time. Instead, his roll turned into another sprint for the edge, where he made the same move, greater this time, as now he landed 2 spires ahead.

"Oh, Midoriya has found a little cheat code in the system. I've seen students fly and jump, but who flies by blasting stuff out of their mouths?" Present Mic called out as Bakugo and Tokage entered the second area, still locked in a battle to get past the other. The rest of the front runners were hot on their tails, with a raven-headed boy with a shadow quirk keeping pace with Shiozaki leading them.

"I wouldn't say he's flying, as you can tell his quirk doesn't have the power to sustain flight like someone like Hawk or even Endeavour's. What seems to be the case is that he's using Newton's Third Law to decrease his rate of descent, which, along with clever angle choice, is giving him his means through." Vlad explained.

"Sounds like a lot of math; let's hope he pays attention in class! But it seems to be paying off as he's gaining on Todoroki, who's just styling on the rest with his choice to slide right on through!" Present Mic drew attention away from Midoriya and instead to Todoroki, the boy balancing mainly on the right foot as he used his ice to skid over the lines between spires. Stopping on a spire, he saw that he had finished around 2 thirds of it before he felt an unwelcome rise in temperature behind him.

Looking back, he saw Midoriya was fast approaching, the flame user proving to be a persistent one creative as well, and the gap he created between him and the rest was much smaller now with him on his tail. The two locked eyes, and even from a distance, Todoroki could tell that in those glowing emerald eyes was a flame that burned bright, nothing like the timid mess he was earlier. But much like how Midoriya seems to take personal offense to an ice user like him in the lead, Todoroki took just as great an offense with a fire user closing the gap and threatening to prove stronger than his mother's quirk.

"I don't intend to lose." He said, primarily to himself before he continued, moving even faster than before but still feeling the heat on his back. At the beginning of the second obstacle, Uraraka, along with her pink-skinned classmate, arrived. Looking both down into the black depths that awaited any that fell and ahead to where she saw the leads, she wondered just what class B was like as that girl was in pieces, but not dead, was flying with Bakugo, trying to knock him back. Further ahead, Tsu's friend was blasting him across with his flames.

"Great, class B got someone way too strong, too, like Todoroki. How come he was such a scaredy cat earlier?" The pink-skinned one whined, seeing the guy she had written off as being like Koda, shy and not likely to stand out. He had done everything but remained silent and invisible. Now, it seemed like he and Todoroki were trying to prove which had the strongest busted element!

"I'm wondering more about when U.A. had time to build this track." Uraraka wondered, for only a moment, if her parents couldn't get work with U.A. as the school seemed to have nearly limitless funds for whatever they wanted. They must have a few construction projects like this they have outside contractors to handle. Maybe a few could go their way. But alas, as great as that would be for them, she was a student, which could easily lead to a conflict of interest. The last thing she wanted was to put the school or her parents in a compromising position.

Asui saw this, the fact that they were a ways behind, but focused less on them and more on what she could do to lessen that jump as she crouched and jumped with a frog's ribbit. Landing on a cord, her large hands gripped it while her legs found it easy to purchase, and she started moving along. "This is a glorified tightrope, so I shouldn't have issues." She stated as she continued, leaving the rest behind to figure out a means across.

Asui wasn't the only one who decided this was their chance to shine as the two girls turned to see a stranger with pink hair styled in dreadlocks and a manic smiling giggling as they prepped their gear-wait gear?

"Are you from the support course?" Uraraka asked.

"How could you get to use support items?" Her classmate asked the other important question, as they had been told they couldn't use support items, hence why they wore the standard U.A. P.E. uniform.

The girl in question finished looking over the two items she brought, the hoover boots and wire arrows she called them. "The support course is a free license to whatever our hearts desire so long as we make it; it's the school way of evening the playing field when you hero students undergo combat and quirk training." She explained, ecstatic in the moment to use them, as she fired off one of the wires, which was blunt and shifting mid-flight into a giant fish-arrow shape as it pierced into the side of one of the spires.

A quick tug and she knew it was deep in there. As she powered up her hoover boots, the fans started to spin fast, and she found herself an inch off the ground. "Now, goodbye for now, mamma has to show off her beautiful babies to all the big-name support companies!" She shot off, the fans she'd installed on an angle on the heels of her boots blasting her forward and right off the cliff's edge. She fell, but like a pendulum, her cord meant she swung forward, and when she felt herself going up, she gave herself a little boost with her hoover boots again, increasing her swing speed.

Just like she planned, she pressed a little button on her harness, pulling the arrow free of its place on the spire as she cleared them, flying overhead with laughter booming from her lips as she landed on one of the further away spires like it was nothing, her single move putting her ahead of Asui. Seeing this, Honenuki chuckled as he shook his head. "That girl has the hustler spirit; I'll give her that." With that noted, he moved ahead as his quirk might have been useless with this part, but he would be damned if he was in the bottom half of the class that made it through.

"And Todoroki has cleared The Fall-oh, so does Midoriya, taking first place!" Present Mic called as Todoroki reached the other hand; no sooner than he did, Midoriya blasted himself past, low enough to the ground that their eyes met, glowing emerald vs. harsh grey and turquoise. Flipping mid-air, Midoriya was on his feet at the foot of the stairs, meters in front of Todoroki before he was off, Todoroki's eyes narrowing as he gave chase, clearing the stairs before sliding forward, boasting his speed with his ice.

Midoriya saw this, and while he could shift into his strongest form, he had a better idea, and it would be karma. "Sorry about this," he breathed, mixing it with the flames within him before quickly turning and spewing out a thick cloud of smoke, catching Todoroki off guard as he had to slow to a halt lest he crash. Coughing as his eyes burnt in the burnt pork-smelling smoke, Midoriya ceased the move and turned to race ahead. "But if you can drop a robot on us, I can blind you!" He yelled back, his voice sounding closer to a decade-long chain smoker as he got some karmic justice for Todoroki dropping a 0-pointer on his friend.

Bakugo, still trying to handle Tokage's many pieces, heard Present Mic's announcement and yelled back, "Like hell, I'm letting that pyromaniac win this!" The lego-bitch could wait. He had a race to win as he blasted himself ahead, leaving Tokage in the dust as the girl moved her mouth of the smoke to cough.

"Asshole, he spends all that time trying to fight me and then just leaves, where's his manners?" She asked before zooming ahead, as without worrying about an aggressively loud blonde clearly compensating for something, she could focus more on speed. As much as she liked Hebimi, she wouldn't let him just win this!

With the spectators, they are the whole thing up, as the 5 leaders were putting in the work to give them a great show. "That guy in first place is something else; he has a crazy strong fire quirk." One of the people noted as Midoriya dashed ahead, his body emitting copious amounts of steam as he went.

"No kidding, I would have thought he was Endeavour's son! Makes it even weirder that he was so shy in the beginning." Another laughed as they had all written off the guy in the start, but now? He was a favorite to win.

"Still, Todoroki's not out of it. He's also got an amazing quirk, but his natural athletic ability and judgment is a cut above the rest." A minor hero sitting by argued that while he no longer held first place, he was contesting it. At the same time, the explosive blond took up 3rd, and finally, the girl that could split herself and levitate those pieces was a close behind at 4th.

"Still, he might end up like his dad and take second place, as Midoriya's holding onto that first place." Someone else replied that while Todoroki was far from slow, Midoriya was just as quick, if not quicker, as the ice user wasn't closing the distance nearly as much as he needed to if he wanted to reclaim first place.

"I can already tell they'll fight over who gets them as sidekicks." Another hero sighed. He would still send in an offer, but he wasn't even in the top 500. There was no way students like them would take him up on it when they'd undoubtedly get better ones from more renowned heroes.

"The leads are a step ahead, with the rest clumped together! Come on, people! This is a race; speed is king, and it's your time to shine!" Present Mic's announcement didn't make Inko feel any better, as she had decided to attend to watch the event in person rather than at home. She wasn't the only parent present as it seemed like all around her, she saw the parents of other students cheering for their kids as well.

She felt a little nervous, being one of the few single parents present. Still, she could handle it, especially when she had Koharu with her, the serpent having been delivered to her sometime before the start of the events. "Come on, Izuku, you can do it." The snake's slit eyes lazily tracked her human on screen as she lay on her other human's lap. She might have wanted to bite him for lacking a spine earlier, but he was more than making up for it. Inko even suspected that Koharu was enjoying Midoriya winning more because he was ahead of that Todoroki boy. Inko knew neither Snake nor her son liked ice or the cold.

Her eyes and Koharu's shot wide when they saw what awaited Izuku. "And now, we've reached the final barrier. It's not as amazing as an army of robots or the world's most extreme tightrope session, but you can never go wrong with mines, tons and tons of mines!"

"What the heck…why?!" Midoriya groaned into his hands as the entire track before was mined!

"Students now have to get through a literal minefield, but we've made it as manageable and safe as possible. The spots where the mines lay are easily identifiable, while the mines themselves aren't dangerous. They pack enough force to send you flying, but the worst you'll get is a bruised body and damaged ego." Vlad's commentary didn't mean much to the audience than the students, as he felt Todoroki approaching, his ice chilling the area.

'Great way to slow down the ones in the lead, but how does she affect people that can fly?' Midoriya walked in, keeping his eyes on the mines as he carefully moved his feet, as he wasn't sure how much pressure it would take, but seeing how U.A. had students as small as that purple-balled student, he wouldn't be surprised if the weight of a Shiba stepping on one could trigger it. 'Tokage and Bakugo are already closing in!'

Speeding up as much as he dared, he kept his eyes on the ground as he moved. 'I can always blast a path through-no, that could backfire on me. Someone faster could use my path to win or knock me into the uncleared paths. Trying to take out all of them means that more people could get through and past me!' Maybe he could launch himself, but he didn't have the best control over that, as Hado had only started helping with it the other week.

Even if he did, there was still the fact the mines had enough force to send someone flying, a fact he would hear happening behind him as students stepped on one. Such force would no doubt mess with his launches, and he couldn't factor in how much. No, he would need to remain grounded.

Hearing a blast behind him, he would have ignored it, but it didn't sound like the rest-rather it was familiar, an uncomfortable familiar. Turning, he saw Bakugo shooting towards him like a pissed-off human rocket, his body well above the mines.

"This doesn't affect me, I'm coming for you, pyromaniac!" Bakugo yelled as he swung for him.

And scene! I know, that's a cliffhanger and a half, but the rest of what I had planned for this chapter was so much that it felt wrong to try and condense it to still meet the word limit. There was the urge to just break it, but I resisted it. But it was a fun time writing this, a return to a regular thing for me, and I hope you also enjoyed it.

Also, I'm thinking of writing omakes for this and Path of Storms, little snippets of canonical events and situations that are more comedy and hard to fit into chapters as they stand. Do you have any thoughts on that? But as for this, the next chapter should be out on July 2nd.

Special thanks to my Patrons(s):

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