Shattered Fate

by CaedesPlerique

A world so focused on heroes has lost its way. As the beginning steps of the critical events to the future of their world start to occur, they get some unexpected help. Can these new arrivals save their world from themselves? (MHA/Spider-man/Naruto/Ranma)

14. Chapter 14 - The UA Sports Festival

Chapter 14 - The U.A. Sports Festival

Izuku concentrated on lacing his shoes, his nerves making such a simple task more complicated than it usually would. Taking a moment to take a deep breath, he finished his task and then checked his bag for everything he would need for the day. He confirmed his notebooks were present, planning to use them for reference material when he had the time.

"Are you ready, Izuku? Do you have everything you need?"

Izuku looked up to see his mother standing nearby. She was a mature woman with green eyes, straight green hair in a spiky ponytail, and just a few centimeters shorter than him. She had been slim when Izuku was much younger but had gained weight in the following years.

His mother, Inko, had waited for him to finish his preparations. Her smile showed she was delighted he was achieving his dream, which both of them had thought was hopeless for so many years. He smiled back at her, his love for his mother sweeping his nerves away.

"Yes. Thanks, Mom," Izuku replied.

"I'll watch the festival on the television, and I'll be rooting for you," Inko said.

"Alright," Izuku said, nodding at her plans before he opened the front door. "I'll see you tonight!"

"Good luck, Izuku!" Inko cried out as Izuku hurried off. He waved back for a moment before losing sight of their home's entrance.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"This is taking foreeever…," moaned the young woman with a brown ponytail and wearing a blue business suit. An armband marked her as part of the media. She looked on at the massive swarm of rival reporters and camera-men congregating outside the entrance to U.A. The line had barely moved in the last half hour, wearing thin her patience. She looked at her camera-man with tired eyes, willing him to make the situation more bearable.

The man sighed. "They were just attacked by villains, so it is understandable they are being extra rigorous. I've heard a lot of people are voicing concerns about them even hosting it this year in light of the events. It's not every year that a class gets targeted by a mass Villain attack."

The woman, one Tomoe Chihiro, was now suitably distracted, and her enthusiasm returned as her eyes lit up. "Awesome! Controversy equals ratings! And this year, all eyes will be on the class that survived that Villain attack! Class 1-A!"

Her camera-man, Daigo Etsurou, reached up, rubbing his head through his ball cap as he looked at the imposing main building of the school. Shaking his head, Etsurou thought of some of the other rumors surrounding that event. "Still, it was odd how little information they put out regarding the attack. Usually, they release more detailed information, but they've been oddly quiet. Especially after the leaders escaped en route to prison."

Chihiro scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "They are just trying to hide the truth. Probably had several students almost die or something. They have Recovery Girl on staff, so who knows how injured they could have been."

"That is true," Etsurou said. "I guess we might be able to learn the truth by watching the festival."

"Yeah," Chihiro said as she rubbed her hands in glee, "I can't wait!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Wheeeerrre are you, my little takoyaki?" Takeyama Yu, the Pro-Hero better known as Mt. Lady, walked past various stalls that littered U.A.'s school grounds. Her hero costume was a tan, skintight bodysuit, with her torso, gloves, and thigh-high boots being purple accentuated by orange edges. Her face had a thin, purple domino-like mask showing more skin and eyes than most domino masks would. She sported two large purple horns sticking out above her ears that curved upwards, the base of which was covered by her long blonde hair.

Yu was hunting for her favorite festival food, takoyaki. There were many scrumptious foods, but she had her heart set on takoyaki today. "Come to Mama Yu!"

She was being followed by a few of her fellow Pro-Heroes from the Musutafu region, a couple of tag-a-longs who were nearly spoiling her hunt! They tried to point to other stands that were serving takoyaki, but those stands were useless for her goal! The only reason she had yet to send them packing was that they were at least doing the job they were supposed to do, which was additional security for the festival.

After they finally got the hint to stop making suggestions, they had instead conversed about the oddities they had noticed. Yu only listened with half an ear, absorbing enough knowledge to get the gist.

"This year's festival is so unusual. That attack has really gotten the attention of the public on those kids. It doesn't seem healthy for them," Kamui Woods said. He wore a dark blue bodysuit with wooden gloves, a belt, knee pads, and boots. On his head was a full wooden helmet that hid everything but his eyes, which were barely visible without sufficient light to shine on them.

"People are too rash in their decisions," her second tag-along said as he looked at the long line of pedestrians approaching the First Year's Stadium. "They would be better served observing the experienced students at the Third Year Stadium or even the Second Year Stadium."

Death Arms was normally the tallest of them and built like a massive weightlifter. He wore blue exercise pants with a gray stripe down the middle and brown steel-toed shoes. A cyan cardigan was cut diagonally for his upper body to show off his impressive abs. It was attached to his chest by some metal nuts. On his wrists were two bulky wrist guards with a yellow and black diagonal stripe pattern commonly used to indicate caution. That same pattern was also present on his belt and the large headband he wore.

Yu stopped paying attention to them as she finally locked onto an ideal target! A reasonably empty Takoyaki stand was being run by a man in his twenties or early thirties. The only other occupant was a young girl. She sauntered up to the stand, smelling the wonderful balls of takoyaki being cooked. They smelled delicious, and the man's gaze immediately turned to her with wide eyes, letting her know she had finally hit paydirt!

"One order of takoyaki, please," Yu said, putting a single finger on her cheek, drool leaking out of the other side of her mouth as she eyed the food.

"Oh, Mt. Lady!" the vendor said, excited to serve the beautiful Pro-Hero woman. Her current pose sent his heart racing even faster.

Yu's eyes left the food, turning to look softly at the vendor as her finger left her cheek, though it still pointed upwards. "No green seaweed."

"One, right? That'll be five hundred yen," the vendor said, trying and failing to keep his attention on his food.

"Huh?" Yu said, caught off guard. Her eyes turned away from the vendor, looking sad as she rocked her leg and massaged her shoulder, causing her chest and hips to move in exciting ways for the young vendor. "Um… I don't have that much on me right now…"

The man's eyes were glued to those parts of her body. His heart accelerated to unhealthy levels, and the increased blood flow to other parts of his body overwrote his brain's logic circuits as he held up her food box for her. "That's hot! I mean- It's free!"

"Thank you!" Yu cried out, her body straightening as she accepted the food box. She ignored her co-workers' comment about having no pride and focused on the box of takoyaki she now held.

"And here's one for you, miss! That will be five hundred yen," the vendor told the young girl.

Yu almost didn't pay any attention to it, but something about the girl's behavior sparked her interest, especially as she noticed she was checking her pockets and beginning to panic. She stood back, watching how the young redheaded girl handled it.

"Oh, no! I left my money pouch at home!" The girl cried out, patting down everywhere she could, which just so happened to emphasize her hips and her impressive bust for being so young and how short she was, only coming up to Yu's chin. She then held a hand to her stomach as she turned back to the food with sorrow. "And it smelled sooo good…"

Yu took in the rest of her image. She wore a red, sleeveless Chinese tunic with clasps down the middle, black silk pants, and some slip-on shoes. Her bangs covered much of her forehead but ended with her most notable feature, a pigtail. She looked adorable! But her figure and mannerisms were good enough to overwrite some men's hesitancy to not target girls who were supposed to be too young for them.

Yu tried to conceal her smile as the girl pulled a slightly altered version of her own scam on the poor vendor as he looked at the 'heartbroken' girl. "Oh, it's alright, miss! It's free!" The vendor said.

The girl's reaction held on longer than Yu's. She looked at the man as if he were her salvation and couldn't believe her ears. She then gave a wonderful smile, her eyes closing, and the curl of her lips spread and moved upwards, not even bothering to show any teeth. Yu had to hand it to the girl; while she considered herself an expert, the girl had outdone her! The overall package was perfectly delivered as she walked away with the free food.

Yu followed her, interested in learning more about her, while she ate her takoyaki. She watched as the girl consumed the treat quickly before moving to another stall and getting more free food. She did this several times, much to the irritation of her companions. She had even blocked them from trying to interfere several times, hissing at Death Arms to keep him away from the girl.

Yu could pull off the sexy look very well, using her popularity, figure, and looks to get her desired outcomes. But the girl was supposed to be too young to pull that off just yet. Well, at least for any vendor over the age of twenty. One poor boy, who looked to still be in high school, got the complete package as he handed over a triple-scoop ice cream cone. Yu was taking mental notes as she watched the young girl work her targets, though she was also fascinated by how much she could put away.

When the girl rounded a corner, still licking her ice cream cone after reducing it to a single scoop, Yu was surprised to find the girl had disappeared when she turned the corner. She panicked a little, scanning everywhere to see if she could find her. She was disheartened to realize she might have been noticed and wouldn't learn anything more about her.

"So, why were you following me?"

Yu jumped at hearing the voice just behind her. After a moment, she turned around and looked down but found nothing but Death Arms standing a meter behind her. Then her brain caught on to another important detail about her voice - it was above her. Yu looked up, finding the young girl sitting with her legs crossed on top of Death Arm's head. The Pro-Hero who was acting as a glorified seat was only now realizing she was there.

Yu blinked a few times; all three of the Pro-Heroes were lost for words as the girl continued to lick her ice cream. When she finally recovered, Yu had to smirk at her brazen behavior as she continued to watch them with her head tilted.

"I was curious where you learned your techniques," Yu replied. She stomped on Kamui's toes before he could call it scamming.

The girl smirked, standing on the Pro's head without using her arms, before jumping off to land behind Yu. "Oh, here and there."

Yu ignored Death Arm's comments about not having felt her as he patted his head in confusion. "So, are you just here for the food?" Yu asked.

"I'm just getting something to eat before the fight," the girl answered with the same toothless smile.

"Oh? Here to watch the matches?" Yu asked, wondering who she was with and which stadium she would be watching in.

"Watch? No, I'm going to win!"

Yu blinked as she looked down at her, surprised by her confidence. "Oh, you're a student? What class?"

The girl opened her mouth to answer before being interrupted by a beeping noise from one of her pockets. Reaching in, she pulled out a cell phone, and her eyes widened. "Oh, no! Sorry, got to go!"

"Wait!" Yu called out, but the girl had already turned around and sprinted through the crowd, easily avoiding all of the other pedestrians. Yu sighed, depressed that she left before she could answer at least that last question.

"Hmmm, she seemed to be heading towards the First Year's stadium," Kamui said, apparently also intrigued by the girl. Even if she had… improperly... gotten food for free.

Yu's eyes lit up, knowing which stadium she would be watching first. Even if she had to twist some arms to get assigned to it. "Let's go!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Ah, I wanted to wear my costume," Mina complained as she tugged at her gym uniform, ensuring everything was where it should be. "I look so good in it! We'd turn way more heads that way, too."

"It would be useful to have some of our gear," Kyoka said from the seat beside her. "But it would be unfair to the rest of the classes, as they don't have a costume or support gear to go with it." She would have liked to have the speakers built into her costume, giving her Quirk more options.

"Yes, these gym uniforms can be rather constricting to using our Quirks," Momo said. They were all sitting at several tables in the waiting room for Class A. Most of them were present, save two. Correction, one.

"Is everyone ready?" Sakura asked as she entered the room and started doing a headcount. "I've gotten confirmation that we'll need to head out in a few minutes."

"Umm, Haruno-san? Saotome-san isn't back yet," Toru said.

Sakura had also noticed his absence, wondering where the pigtailed boy was. "Where did he go? The bathroom?"

Toru fidgeted, knowing their Class Representative would not like the answer. "Ummm… he, err, she said she was getting something to eat from the food stalls."

"He what?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow at that? "Why did he leave now?"

"Saotome-san said he was hungry, and he thought he could get a bite to eat before it started," Ochako said as she walked next to Toru.

"But she forgot her wallet!" Toru held up the object in question. "I couldn't put it in her locker, so I was holding onto it for her."

"She?"

"When we asked him– I mean her, why, she just said something about wanting to get ice cream," Ochako said, her fingers poking together as she tried to somehow defend her friend.

"But she left without her wallet?" Sakura asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the two nervous girls.

"Yes?" Toru answered with uncertainty.

Sakura slammed a hand into her face as the complications just piled up. They had less than five minutes before they had to head out. They would only be able to find Ranma and return in time if they put on serious speed. She growled as she realized that was one problem she did not want to deal–

"I'm back!"

Sakura whirled around at the voice, finding Ranma entering the room in his gym uniform. He looked pleased, but she noticed his clothes and hair were still partially damp.

"Enjoy your snack, Saotome?" Sakura asked, her eyes boring into his.

"Yeah! It was great! Really hit the spot," Ranma said while rubbing his tummy lightly.

"So why were you stealing food as a girl?" Sakura asked, glaring at the pigtailed boy. That comment got most of the room's attention, and they turned to see what was happening.

Ranma froze for a moment, caught off guard. However, there was one part of that question he didn't like, so he leaned into it. "I did not steal food!" Ranma blurted out, pointing a finger at his accuser.

"Oh?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow. "Then how did you pay for the food? Especially with your wallet having been left behind?"

Ranma sweated. He had honestly forgotten his wallet when he had left, but instead of trekking it all the way back, he had gone with his backup plan for times like this. He just wasn't expecting to have to explain it.

"Someone… gave me the food?" Ranma answered, looking away and trying to be innocent, hoping that would end the grilling.

Sakura had already figured out what Ranma had done, but some of the others listening in on the conversation were just now realizing the implications. Some of the girls were giving disappointing looks at Ranma. Eventually, Sakura just sighed, deciding to drop it for now. "Fine, so you decided to scam a vendor for a simple snack. We'll deal with that later. The opening ceremony is about to begin."

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief that the subject was dropped and approached an embarrassed Toru, who held his wallet out for him. "Thanks," Ranma said as he accepted it before heading to his locker to store it.

Toru followed him, her curiosity piquing. "So, what did you get?"

Ranma smiled as he thought of his light snack before listing it off. "I got some yakitori, takoyaki, some okonomiyaki– though it wasn't as good as Ucchan's, some dango, and then a three-scoop ice cream cone." Ranma proceeded to rub his belly, satisfied with how much he had gotten.

Toru blinked as she quickly realized the problem with Ranma's admission. She voiced that concern loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Wait, how many vendors did you scam?"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Come on, Old Man!"

Katashi smiled as he followed his charge through the crowd as they made their way to their seats. "Try not to get too far ahead of me, Kota-chan."

"But we're going so slow!" Kota whined, causing Katashi to chuckle. Ranma had told them his ki training had given him far too much energy when he was a kid, and it seemed Kota was following in his footsteps. More energy than a rambunctious six-year-old normally would, anyway. The mixed blessing meant he could keep going long after most children his age would collapse in exhaustion. It didn't matter if it was doing chores, his schoolwork, or training; he had enough energy to do all of it! The downside was that it was difficult for him to slow down or sit still.

"Remember, Kota-chan, treat it as a meditation exercise. Slowness is the point. It will make it easier to handle," Katashi added. "We still have a few minutes before the ceremony begins."

Kota caught on; another example of 'everything is training' that Ranma had instilled in him as his sensei. Kota stopped, took a deep breath, and slowed down, purposely keeping his pace with the rest of the crowd.

A few nearby observers smiled at how the man had calmed the child. They seriously considered asking the older, one-armed man how he had accomplished such a task.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Junko-chan, how's the fort holding up?" Kenji asked as he stood at the front of her nurses' station as the woman continued reviewing documents and charts.

"We had a few walk-ins and an emergency about an hour ago, a puncture wound on the foot, Shuzenji-san," Junko responded, not looking up at the older doctor. "Shuzenji-sensei is in the middle of the Post-Op, and the man's family arrived about twenty minutes ago, so it should be ten to thirty minutes."

Kenji grinned. Junko was always one of the friendliest nurses. She had a knack for chatting with patients and visitors but remaining stoic and always focused on her work. He enjoyed talking with her and all of his wife's nurses, but he tried to get her to break her pattern and earn a smile from her. He sometimes got close, but she considered it a challenge not to break her image. The few times she had shown signs of cracking were when he had put Ai off-balance.

"Shuzenji-san!"

Kenji turned his head to see Keiko smiling. "Hello, Keiko-chan. Are you looking forward to watching what you can of the Sports Festival?"

"Oh, yes!" Keiko responded, sitting down at her desk and making sure all of her reports were up-to-date so she could finish her rounds right before the start of the Sports Festival. She smiled at one of the technicians setting up a bigger flatscreen for the staff and other visitors to watch the awaited event. "Even some of the patients that aren't required to rest have been looking forward to it after they heard about Haruno-san participating. They are also looking forward to Iida-san's participation."

Kenji smiled at that. Since her arrival, Sakura has become a local celebrity within the hospital and even in the Hosu area. Word had gotten out of what she had done, and she was even studying to become a Pro-Hero at U.A. Frequent hospital visits only added to her popularity, as few children her age would be so well-versed in medicine. Especially a child who was almost always right when she gave a glancing diagnosis and treatment plans.

However, Sakura and Tenya's popularity in Hosu had much to do with Tensei's Hero Agency and their growing popularity among the community. Tenya, being Tensei's little brother, was also studying at U.A. this year. And Sakura was rumored to have been one of the leading reasons why Tensei's Agency was becoming so well regarded. Kenji suspected that that link came from Tensei, trying to subtly hint that she deserved the attention.

Kenji then looked at the time on the wall clock and his wristwatch to be sure, but it looked like he would have enough time to make one more stop before things started. "I'm going to grab some snacks and drinks. Does anyone want anything?"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Come on, Dad! It's about to start!" Melissa yelled out as she sat down on their family couch.

"I'm coming, Mel!" David yelled back. He got the last few things from the fridge and headed for the couch, popcorn and drinks in hand. He handed Melissa her drink, receiving an appreciative thanks as an award before he sat down next to her. "Tony is handling things for now, right?"

"Yes, Dad, Tony has everything in hand," Melissa replied, rolling her eyes at her father's insistent need to ensure everything was handled. She smiled at him warmly, knowing he was just a comprehensive person. "He'll inform us if anything requires our attention."

David chuckled at that. "Ah, I am beginning to forget what the world was like before Tony. It was a dark and tortuous existence."

"Shush, you!" Melissa barked, hitting her father on the arm lightly so he didn't spill much of the popcorn. A few still dropped, but that was the nature of popcorn anyway. "Besides, it's starting!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Toshinori made his way down the steps to the section reserved for U.A.'s teachers. Unlike most of the stadium, there were a good number of empty seats. But that was to be expected, as there were normally enough seats for all of the teachers currently working at U.A., but a large number of teachers were working or attending the other stadiums. However, there was still a good number of his colleagues that were present.

"Yo!" Toshinori said, his frail hand raised in greeting as he stepped down to the lowest aisle.

"Yagi-san, good of you to join us!" Thirteen said while wearing her ever-present hero costume and helmet.

"Thank you, Thirteen," Toshinori said as he sat beside her.

"Looking forward to today's events, Yagi-san?" Ectoplasm asked from the row above. He had only turned briefly in Toshinori's direction before his gaze shifted back to the arena as the audience found their seats.

"Very much so, Ectoplasm!" Toshinori grinned back at him.

"It should be interesting," Vlad Blood said on the other side of Thirteen. "We've seen the footage and examples of what they are capable of, but I am interested in seeing what those three can do firsthand."

Toshinori nodded at that. Unlike most of the teachers, he had been able to observe Ranma quite a bit over the last several weeks. Though his curiosity had only grown as he got to know him. He wondered just how much the boy withheld.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Calm yourself, Tomura," a cultured voice said from behind the young man, his voice slightly distorted from the iron mask he wore. "This will be a valuable opportunity to learn about your new opposition."

Tomura growled as he limped forward towards one of the side rooms."You keep saying that, Sensei."

"Unexpected outcomes happen all the time, Tomura," his sensei said. The gangly young man glanced back at the man in a dark suit with his hands in his pant pockets, casually guiding him to their destination. "But when your opposition is willing to offer you more information on a silver platter, it would be rude not to accept it. If it angers you so, simply use that emotion to fuel you for your next attempt."

Tomura glared at him momentarily, which infuriatingly amused his sensei whenever he did it, but he followed along with the plan anyway. While he would have preferred sleeping or playing one of his games, he could acknowledge that his sensei had a point.

When they entered the room, he found a simple desk, chair, and six monitors: three sitting on the desk and three hanging above it. It wasn't his regular desk, where he kept most of his clippings, which he hung on the walls, his books, or even some of the figurines he had collected at times. Most notably, none of his own trophies were present.

To Tomura, all of it signified one thing. It made his blood boil, but he understood his sensei's rationale. If his sensei expected the next couple of hours to turn out like Tomura predicted, it was better that everything within reach was disposable.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Torino Sorahiko grumbled as he made his way to his seat, his wooden cane, apparent age, and small stature sometimes working against him as he tried to squeeze by the audience members. He had carefully considered what attire he would wear today, finally settling on his civilian clothes. His American cowboy outfit was far less attention-grabbing than his hero outfit, but being incognito was more important to him for now.

He had been able to get a seat on the second tier of stands overlooking the arena and the first row, so he had more flexibility in looking down. While it wasn't as thrilling as front-row seats, it fit his needs and allowed him to gauge the contestants more accurately.

It also allowed his mind to drift, though not because of his age these days but rather because of the disturbing events he was dealing with now. He was not looking forward to the meeting planned for later in the day, but it was necessary.

For now, though, he would check on Toshinori's successor and how his training was progressing. What he learned about some of the kid's classmates also interested him.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Hey!" Present Mic called out as he addressed the crowd from his announcer's seat. He smiled as the crowd started cheering, excited that things were finally getting started. Present Mic looked into the camera as it displayed it on the humongous screens that overlooked the stadium. It was designed to allow viewers to see details more readily than their seats usually prevented them from seeing.

"Pay attention, audience! Swarm, mass media! This year's high school rodeo of adolescence that you all love, the U.A. Sports Festival, is about to begin!" he said, using his arms and hands to emphasize his words. He then leaned in close to the camera, giving it his biggest smile while using both hands to point at it. "Everybody, are you ready?"

The crowd's cheering got even louder, letting him know that they were indeed ready.

"It's time for the first-year students to enter the stage!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Izuku gulped as they waited for the signal to go forward, to step through that bright entrance at the end of the tunnel and onto the stadium field. He did not feel he was ready for this. How could he? He had only recently gotten a Quirk and had barely started his training. Now, he would step out in front of a massive crowd of thousands and be on national television.

"You good, Izuku?" Ranma asked from behind him. Izuku turned around and saw Ranma grin with encouragement. His arms were behind his head, and he looked totally relaxed.

"Ummm, I– I don't know," Izuku said. "This isn't exactly the same kind of problem as the exam…"

"Yes, it is. In fact, it is almost the exact same problem," Ranma said, his face and demeanor getting a little more serious as he looked him in the eyes. "You're worried about how well you'll perform. The only difference is that you'll be performing in front of a crowd. You're worried about screwing up and failing."

Ranma then lowered his arms from behind his head and crossed them in front of his chest. "I gave you tips on how to deal with not knowing what to do. But you need to stop worrying about what they will think. Only worry about how well you do and do your best. If your best wasn't enough, figure out why and do it again."

Katsuki grunted from nearby, catching the attention of those listening. "Much as Pigtail is a Bastard," Katsuki said as he gave Ranma an evil smirk before staring at the entrance. "He's not wrong. Stop giving a shit what they'll think and fucking own it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sparkler!" Ranma chirped.

"Sparkler?" Katsuki asked softly. It was more like he was mouthing the words to himself than making an actual question. Before his body even had a chance to start twitching, his hands lighting off micro explosions, or his head becoming an impressive impression of an erupting volcano, the rest of his classmates who had been standing near him quickly moved away—except for Eijiro and Peter, both of whom chuckled at the byplay.

Katsuki then snapped his eyes to the offending boy, seeing the playful smirk on his face. "I'm going to fucking murder you out there, you Bastard!"

"Ah, there it is!" Ranma purred, though he would deny it ever sounded like a feline. "Without proper death threats, it wouldn't be a real challenge!"

Half the class chuckled at the two's antics. There was a decent mix of legitimate and nervous mirth there. The amusement didn't get to continue as one of the event coordinators stepped closer to them. "Class 1-A, you're up in sixty seconds!"

Izuku stiffened. It was time.

"Alright, everyone! Listen up," Sakura yelled, getting their attention momentarily as she stepped forward.

She waited a moment as they all turned their eyes to her, waiting for her to speak up. "Some of you have heard the rumors and whispers from some of the other classes. That won't be all that is spoken about us, not just by our classmates, but by those in the audience. While many of them may be out there to cheer us on, there will also be those looking to tear us down."

Sakura saw some looks of anger and some of concern. "We'll be looked down on by those thinking you didn't deserve your spot, that you're too arrogant, or that you are merely 'lucky.' But you're not. They may say things that sound reasonable on the surface, but the vast majority are angry because you accomplished what they could not!"

"Twenty seconds!" The coordinator said, listening in with one ear and a grin.

"You've all worked hard to get where you are today, and you plan to work even harder! It's time to prove to them that you persevered to get here and that you won't stop climbing. You're all reaching for higher!"

Sakura grinned, receiving many in return. "The school's motto is there for a reason! So say it with me!"

"Plus Ultra!" Class A shouted as everyone raised a fist.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"The U.A. Sports Festival, the huge battle where fledgling heroes sharpen their swords once a year!" Present Mic called out, making sure to build the audience's anticipation. "And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, the miraculous new stars who overcame enemy attacks with their hearts of steel! Hero course, Class 1-A, right?"

Present Mic watched as 1-A stepped onto the field, entering just a few seconds before the other classes from their own entrances. Present Mic could hear a notable increase in volume that made his grin even broader. He knew they were in for the ride of a lifetime from today's events.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Inko rocked her knees back and forth while she leaned towards the television, her body hunched over as she sat on her living room couch. She was an excellent representation of anxious anticipation. Her eyes were glued to the medium-sized flatscreen as the music neared its crescendo. It showed the entrance that her son was supposed to come from, driving her emotions as she waited for her little boy to soon be on national television!

When the students began walking out, her eyes widened as she hunted for his familiar mop of green hair. She didn't have to wait long, spotting him quickly.

"Izuku!" Inko cried out.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Ah! Old man, there's Sensei!" Kota cried out, pointing towards his personal hero. "Goooo Neesan!"

Katashi grinned, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he watched the classes walk onto the field. But he kept an eye on his charge. Now that he could see Ranma, Kota would likely try to slip away the first chance he could get.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"It's Sakura!"

Keiko's outcry caught Ai's attention while trying to finish a medical report. The doctor gave herself a few moments as she peeked her head out of her office to see the screen zoomed in on Class 1-A, the tagline at the bottom labeling them. And amongst them, she could see Sakura walking.

Ai smiled at seeing her ward doing so well but returned to her work. The opening ceremony wasn't as meaningful as the actual events, so she returned to her work to complete it before the first event started. She didn't want to miss it.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Ah, there's our wonder boy!" Melissa said, her words slightly slurred as she hadn't finished chewing her popcorn. She didn't care about the mess she made on the couch at this time, her eyes glued to the large television. She was looking forward to it, not just because Peter and All Might would be there, but she hoped to soon count some of them as her classmates.

David just smiled, enjoying the moment and his daughter's excitement. The fact that she was sloppily shoving the popcorn into her mouth was a fun departure from her ordinarily graceful behavior.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Control yourself, Tomura."

Tomura's growl deepened, his hands desperately wanting to close on something to destroy, his mind and Quirk demanding satisfaction. Even with the throbbing pain of his reattached hand, he so wanted to grab something and feel it decay away in his grip.

But he trusted his sensei, so he controlled himself. Barely.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"-getting as much airtime, but this class is also full of talent! Hero course, Class 1-B!"

Present Mic watched as the other hero class entered the stadium, giving the audience a few moments to cheer them on.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Are you alright, Vlad?" Thirteen asked her co-worker, noticing his lousy mood after his class was introduced.

Vlad sighed but didn't take his eyes away from the field below. "I understand why Class A is getting the favoritism and spotlight, but it doesn't make it any less distasteful. Though, I am glad my students didn't have to pay the cost to achieve it."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"-and business course, Classes I, J, and K!"

The applause dwindled from its earlier peak as the other nine classes stepped onto the field. But it was still loud as the fans continued to cheer, most standing and throwing their hands up in excitement.

"All of U.A.'s first years are here now!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Time for the player's pledge!" Midnight said from her stage in the middle of the stadium, her arm holding up the flogger whip she sported with her costume while her other arm rested suggestively on her hip.

Ranma started staring as she stepped onto the stage but rolled his eyes after she started speaking. She reminded him far too much of someone he'd rather not remember. At least most of the time. He really hoped they didn't share the same laugh.

While Ranma wasn't the only boy or girl not staring and blushing, he was in a small minority. Unfortunately for the boys that weren't in that minority, Midnight's costume would distract many of them for the rest of the day.

After all, Pro-Heroes did not generally wear something that looked like it belonged to a dominatrix, with her breastless, black leather leotard sitting over a skintight and far too thin white bodysuit. Her leotard corset connected with a thin strip of leather that went between her breasts to a leather color at the base of her neck. She also wore purple garter stockings attached to a brown belt at her waist, black-knee height boots, and a set of disconnected handcuffs over her wrists. To finish the look, she wore a small domino-like mask.

"What is Ms. Midnight wearing?" Eijiro asked, one of the many boys trying and failing not to blush, averting his full gaze from her even though his eyes wouldn't leave her alone. He was not comfortable thinking dirty thoughts of their sensei!

Denki, who was also blushing, didn't bother to avert his gaze, instead trying to absorb all that was on display. "That's an R-rated Hero for you."

Fumikage, one of the few not impacted by her looks, asked a question many of them thought of but didn't dare to voice. "Is it okay for her to be at a high school even though she's R-rated?"

Sakura was one of the few girls not bothered in the least. Instead, she was smiling at the show, knowing that her old friend and senpai would have already fallen to the ground laughing.

"Quiet, everyone!" Midnight commanded, sweeping her flogger to hold their attention. "Representing the students is Parker Peter, from Class 1-A!"

The sounds of surprise from many of the students helped Eijiro finally avert his gaze and look at his friend. Grinning, he saw Peter trying to look anywhere but the platform, his face as red as theirs. After a few seconds of silence, as more people began to stare, Peter sighed and then turned to walk to the stage.

"Oh? Why was Parker-san picked?" Izuku inquired.

"Well, he does have one of the highest exam scores, doesn't he?" Eijiro added helpfully.

The sigh of annoyance to their side was rather loud, catching their attention as a girl from the general course spoke, her posture matching her voice perfectly as she snapped at him. "Yeah, for the Hero course, maybe!"

More than a few students turned to look at the girl; some were preparing to respond to that insult but were beaten to the punch by an unexpected source.

"No," a boy on the other side of the general course responded firmly. They all looked at him, noting he was in the support course. "Parker-san has the highest academic score! The Principal said he only came in third for the Hero exam! We decided to dig in and found out that he was only seven points behind whoever got first! With a score of a hundred and thirty-nine!"

The girl and the other general students had been ready to fight back, but the boy's words surprised them, especially as they came from a direction they had not anticipated. That pause also made them realize that every student in the support course glared at them with unmistakable hostility.

"Do not disparage Parker-san," the boy said, "we will not take kindly to your unfounded insults!"

"Wha— what the hell?" The girl and many of her general studies classmates were heavily confused. Why the hell would the entire support course seem to hate their guts all of a sudden?

The bark of evil laughter caught them off-guard, turning back towards the Hero course and staring at Katsuki as he finished laughing, but he was now giving them a wicked grin. "Try learning a thing or two about someone before you insult them, Extra!"

Izuku wasn't the only one sweating at that line; everyone was thinking of a pot meeting a kettle, but their attention was pulled to the stage as Peter stood in front of the microphone.

Peter waited as the cheering died to give the expected pledge. He had never followed sports often, so he needed to become more familiar with the practice. Most pledges tended to be simple affairs of do's and don'ts. He had also learned that U.A. students, much like their teachers, tended to inject more than the standard rules into their pledges, so Peter had decided to do the same thing.

"We, the First Year class of U.A., pledge our commitment to the U.A. Sports Festival. In the true spirit of fair play and sportsmanship, we will strive for excellence, to stay healthy in mind, body, and spirit, and to have fun!" Peter said excitedly, getting a cheer for his last line.

"But I also have a request from the students and to everyone else," Peter said, catching everyone off-guard, having thought he was finished. Peter looked over the gathered students and then a cursory glance at those in the stadium. "I request that you be responsible."

His audience remained silent, unsure of what he was talking about.

"Whether it is with your Quirks, positions of power and authority you may wield, or fame and fortune. Please, be responsible with what power you wield. We all have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to help each other when the need arises. That is what we, who attend U.A., are here to learn!"

Peter waited for a moment, seeing a dawning of understanding across many of the faces before him. "Thank you, and good luck!"

The students and the audience clapped, most smiling, while a few were a little more excited than the rest of their peers. Peter stepped away and back to the rest of his classmates.

"Now, let's get started right away," Midnight said as she took center stage, taking her free hand to point it at one of the giant screens high above them. The screen had recently changed to say 'First Game.' "The first game is what you'd call a qualifier. Every year, it causes many to shed tears! Now, here is the fateful first game!"

With a sweep of her arm that held her whip, a gigantic holographic screen popped up behind her, displaying a single reel, much like one in a slot machine. She held her pose for several seconds, giving it time to build the tension.

"This year, it's… an Obstacle Race!" Midnight called out.

"An obstacle race," Izuku said, dreading what it would involve.

"Oh? An obstacle race? Could be interesting," Ranma said, grinning widely as he thought of the many different races he'd participated in. Well, so long as they had martial arts in the name.

His students looked at him with apprehension as they had gotten to know Ranma better over the last few weeks. Ranma was putting out the same kind of energy he tended to have when they used a new training method or technique that was… controversial, like the lunch battles.

Midnight looked at the students and gave them a mischievous, seductive, and borderline sadistic smile that put a bit of a damper on Ranma's mood. Student competitors properly cowed; she continued with her presentation by turning to face the screen behind the stage as it updated with visual presentations.

"All eleven classes will participate in this race," she said as the screen represented all of the different courses and their classes before updating with a graphic of the race course, displaying how they would exit the building and then go around the stadium once before re-entering. "The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium, about four kilometers."

Midnight then held her whip up, turning only her head to side-eye the students. "Our school's selling point is freedom!"

Midnight licked her lips, not taking her eyes off the students. Many of their blushes deepened, but she noted that the pigtailed boy shivered instead before getting more control of his body. She had already noted that he was a fun one, and if she was to guess based on his responses to her behavior, he had encountered someone like her in the past. She got a gleam in her eye, knowing that he would be delicious.

"As long as you stay on the course, what you do doesn't matter!" Midnight said as she finished her presentation, turning around to look at them. She then pointed towards a gate with a red edge. "Now, take your places, everyone!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Prepare yourselves, audience! Mass media, keep those cameras focused! You all are about to witness something you will not want to miss!" Present Mic yelled into his microphone, grinning at the little nugget he had given them.

"Hey," Aizawa said from next to his long-time friend, giving him a stony expression. "No spoiling the field."

Present Mic could only smile at his more serious friend, especially since he had turned up the microphone on the dour man so the audience could hear his warning.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Where is she?" Mt. Lady asked, looking closely at the T.V. image in the break room, trying to spot that fascinating redhead. She spotted a few redheads amongst the students, but they didn't match. Pigtails were not a typical hairstyle; the only one she had spotted with a pigtail so far was some dark-haired boy.

"Sit down, Mt. Lady," Kumai said in irritation, his voice louder than the previous five times he had requested it. He was glad she finally listened to him, alleviating his blood pressure.

"I'm curious what that bit was about from Mic," Death Arms said before siping his large drink. "Maybe he's indicating one of the students from 1-A might be more interesting than normal? After the attack, the absence of injury reports among the students and staff was unusual."

"Possibly. He also might just be trying to drum up viewership," Kamui said.

Mt. Lady was also interested, but it was plummeting since she still couldn't find that cute redhead.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"What was that all about?" A Pro-Hero in the stands asked.

"It was nothing," a second Pro dismissed with a wave of his hand. "They're first years; they might be powerful or even somewhat skilled, but that won't change what they are."

The first hero nodded his head, understanding the other man's point.

"I– I don't think so," another Hero nearby said. While he didn't sound sure, it didn't seem it was due to a lack of confidence but skepticism. "The rumors about the School's recent attack can't be really trusted, but the kind of chatter I've heard tells me something happened there. It seems obvious that he knows."

The other heroes who had been talking and listening in on that conversation mulled over that point, finding it accurate enough.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Something's going to happen?" An audience member asked of no one, voicing the same thoughts most of them had to some degree.

"Well, Endeavor's son is in 1-A, so it's probably him," another voice added.

"Maybe All Might has a secret-love child or something, and they are participating?"

Most people who heard that suggestion turned to the young woman who voiced it, making her blush a little. "I mean, All Might did start teaching this year, right?"

Unfortunately, that only caused a terrible rumor to spread faster for a certain Pro-Hero.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"We don't want to miss it?" Chihiro, the young woman reporter in the blue business dress, asked, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the announcer's booth, wishing her Quirk had given her vision of Present Mic. Thinking hard about it for a moment, her eyes gleamed as she turned to her accomplice. "Don't stop following them! Look for anything that stands out! The mystery of the U.A. Mass Villain attack may reveal itself at any moment!"

Etsurou, her trusty camera-man, had to hand it to her. While she could be annoying when she hunted after any little controversy, no matter how damaging it was to the parties involved, the one thing she was good at was sniffing out when a story would be authentic.

He moved his camera, adjusting it so he was prepared for almost any significant change they could find from here. And he wasn't alone. Every other reporter and camera-man in that stadium section set aside their previous plans and focused exclusively on the students.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Again? Why the hell is Class A getting such preferential treatment? All they did was be present while All Might saved them!" The girl from the general ed course growled in irritation. She wasn't alone, as many more students nearby were also of the same mind.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"See?" A short-haired blonde boy spoke to his classmates, waving a hand around to indicate the frustrated students. "They get the spotlight again! Let them have it for now. It will leave them vulnerable during the next event!"

"Leave it alone, Monoma-kun," Itsuka said plainly, focusing on the gate, the timer, and everyone around them. She wanted to avoid getting in her classmate's way, already seeing some of the first problems that were likely to arise. "We told you before, if you don't give it your all, you will never touch them."

"Saotome?" Monoma Neito scoffed, glaring at their Class Representative. "Or Parker? They're overrated!"

"We told you what we learned about the attack from Parker, Monoma-kun," Juzo said, his voice and tone just as serious as Itsuka's. Most of Class B had learned from that discussion, either from having been there to hear it or watching Ranma at one point solidifying what was likely true in their minds. "This will not be an easy fight at any stage."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Peter breathed deeply, glancing at Ranma and Sakura standing nearby. He already knew they would be his primary competition out of all the students present. He had seen enough of how they fought and their abilities to take them seriously.

Karen had analyzed the recordings of their fights, both from their Pro-Hero training and the U.S.J. attack. Using what little was in her personal data bank before they arrived, her research put their fighting capabilities at or above most of the Avengers. According to her estimates, they were also above most Pro-Heroes, but her data set was still too low for both groups.

Just another of the many downsides to keeping a low profile.

Seeing that the first game was likely to start very shortly, Peter reached into his gym pants to pull out what he was allowed to bring with him for this day; his web-shooters. He only got to use them because he had made them himself. They were very similar to the ones he used during the practical exam, only better.

Peter stood away from the front of the crowd, making sure there was at least a meter of space between him in all directions. He wasn't the only one to do so, but he suspected most of them were just worried about the press of the crowd rather than the particular problem he would face. Others, including his top two rivals, looked ready to do the same.

Peter didn't have to look at his wrists as he attached the shooters. He was intimately aware of their design and had plenty of practice putting them on. He waited until he heard the click and felt the very light hum, indicating they had properly attached and were now powered up. He then tapped on the top of the brace portion of his web-shooter in a specific spot with his full fingerprint to cause the back casing to split in half and slide to either side, displaying a few useful items.

He slipped small earbuds into each of his ears. While Karen could speak to him with these, she would only do so if it was an emergency. But they gave him some audio input that gave him minor status updates on anything he had built with this model since he didn't have any visors. They also acted as ear protection since sonic Quirks, such as Kyoka's Quirk, were present.

He put the crowd's roaring to the back of his mind as he listened to the checklist his web-shooters gave to indicate everything was operational.

And it looked like he had timed it just right, as one of the lights above the doorway turned off. Peter bent low, ready to spring, the second light turning off. The crowd and his fellow students became quieter as the race was about to begin.

He was ready.

The last light turned off.

"Start!" Midnight called out.

The mass of students swarmed towards the gate, quickly creating the first hurdle of the game—pressing the students into cramped quarters. They tried to move through the mass, jabbing each other with elbows and knees, with the weaker students being crushed and stuck in their positions. They didn't think anyone could avoid that initial crush of students.

They were wrong.

Before Midnight had even finished her shout, Peter had leaped above the mass of students. He landed on one of the hallway walls, his hand helping to adhere him to the surface since his shoes were too thick. Peter held out his other hand and shot a web line further down the hallway. As soon as it connected, he timed his leap and the pull of his arms expertly, getting the strength from all of his limbs to shoot down the hallway at a pace that quickly left the other students behind. He exited the long halfway in mere seconds, giving him a massive lead over most of the other students as he exited the hallway to the outdoors.

But he wasn't the only one. Ranma and Sakura were almost neck and neck with him, both utilizing the walls to bounce or run out of the stadium exit. All three of them had exited within a second of each other.

The path from the stadium continued for about two dozen meters before the first turn. Peter had a slight lead over the other two as they exited the building, but he started to fall behind as Ranma and Sakura sped up, and Peter had less opportunity for his webbing. At least until he tagged a webline on the stadium and used that to bank the curve at an increased speed, catching up with the other two for a moment.

But it was while he was in the air that he saw the first obstacle of their race swarming towards their position. A large mass of the robots from the practical exam had appeared and were trying to make themselves a pest. But the real danger was the twenty zero-pointers acting as a blockade. Peter sighed before smirking and tapping his bracers to activate a specific feature.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Oh, my god! You had better tell me you recorded that, or I will strangle you to death!" Chihiro demanded. She had expected something impressive, but this was beyond her expectations. She had thought there would be something from Endeavor's kid or maybe some unknown person would display an amazing Quirk that would give them a healthy lead.

But this was beyond that! Three students had just shot to the front of the pack so quickly that she wondered if any other student had any hope of catching up.

"I– I got it! Barely, but I got it!" Etsurou said, his voice stuttering a little in his surprise.

He wasn't the only one glued to the screens as they tracked the trio, now moving towards the army of robots. Most of the audience, civilian and Pro-Hero alike, gasped in shock after they realized the massive lead the three students had created. Those who had missed it soon joined them as they erupted into a deafening cheer.

The three contestants didn't even slow down as they passed the swarm of robots the size of people or vehicles before the trio neared the far more imposing giants. The audience wondered how they would handle such a threat. They weren't prepared for what the three First Years did.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Ah, these things again?" Ranma shouted in annoyance at their appearance. "I am not risking being left behind. No repeats!"

Sakura and Peter had heard about the events from the practical exam; their own sources, and Ranma's own admission on orientation day to what had happened. That had painted a picture that resonated with both of them.

"Hah! Agreed! I think it's time to take out the trash!" Sakura yelled.

"Ditto!" Peter said, making it a unanimous consensus.

Sakura grinned as she put extra energy into her sprint, speeding up just a hair as she concentrated her chakra into her legs and leaped forward, quickly outpacing the other two. She jumped straight towards the chest of the zero-pointer in the middle, rapidly closing the gap with it while pulling her fist back. With perfect control and timing she threw a single haymaker.

"Shannaro!" Sakura screamed.

The zero-pointer's chest caved in at the point of impact—not a dent but more akin to an impact crater the size of the entire thing's torso, completely obliterating that first robot as the shockwave tore its body apart. Its head flew upwards, its arms shot off to its sides, and its legs cracked the ground beneath them.

The destroyed parts that went flying to the sides, as well as part of the shockwave, hit the other zero-pointers standing next to it side to side, damaging them to various degrees but not enough to debilitate them. The zero-pointers that had been behind that first one, however, were not so lucky.

The crushed metal torso flew at them, crashing into the second Zero-pointer. It didn't crater like the first; it was the equivalent of a tin can being crushed under a determined foot. The combined momentum and mass of the two zero-pointers then crashed into two more zero-pointers that were standing side-to-side behind them. Here, the metal tore apart as the compressed metal cleaved through them, catching their sides. The momentum still threw them back and away from the path. The crushed metal crashed into the ground fifty meters behind them, skidding to a stop in the middle of the obstacle race. It left behind a massive groove and a pile of dirt on the other side.

Sakura grinned, watching the results of her handiwork as she fell to the ground. She was surprised, however, when she noticed one of Peter's weblines had shot past her to tag the compressed metal torso just as it was hitting the second robot. She turned her head to find Peter flying through the air, using the momentum to generate additional speed, much to her annoyance.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Peter had marveled at the power of that punch, but he had fought alongside literal gods, so it wasn't too distracting. And seeing the speed of that giant mass of metal she had created, he grinned at the chance to utilize it. He shot a web out, closing the distance and catching it in time to be of use.

His old web-shooters were fast for most people, shooting his webbing at forty-four meters a second. But that was too slow for him, especially after he arrived in this new world. He improved that at various points, with his latest model achieving sixty meters a second. He had plans to improve it even further, but it was much further down his list of priorities.

He jumped as the webbing hit, then pulled himself towards the flying torso, allowing himself to generate additional speed since the object had so much energy imparted into it. He soared through the air towards the swarm of zero-pointers, planning to use the new gap in their ranks to make his way through. But the large machines had other plans as they had responded surprisingly quickly. Their arms and hands sought to intercept him, moving like a swarm of massive train cars flying through the air.

Peter felt them coming, so he twisted backward to avoid the bottom of the first hand before gripping his webline to halt his rotation and pulling himself forward even faster than before the second hand could touch him. As he passed them, he released his webline, his hands shot to the sides, pointed them at the heads of a few of the zero pointers on the outer edges, and clicked a button on each web-shooter, launching tiny objects that were practically invisible. The objects flew through the air and attached themselves to the zero-pointers. After coming to a complete stop, the little objects started moving, looking for the designated gaps in the machine's schematics.

With his own part done, Peter grinned and shot down the course, giving him a significant lead over the other two. He did turn around when his spider-sense tingled, though not as a direct danger to himself. Because of that, he witnessed Ranma's contribution to the destruction of the zero-pointers.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ranma was pleased to see there would be some actual challenges for this event! Even if it was rather disturbing to see how strong Sakura was. It looked like she was more powerful than he remembered Lime had been. Best to not let her hit him when they actually did get a chance to fight.

Peter's maneuver had been impressive, giving himself a massive lead, but he didn't appear to take down any of the zero-pointers. At least, not yet. He did get a very brief glance of something shooting out of those devices on his wrists, but they were too small for him to track well. Considering how smart he was, it probably was something tech-related.

He grinned as he made his own leap, jumping up to the height of the zero-pointers' heads, most of them having been distracted by Sakura and Peter's actions. Ranma shoved his open palms to both sides of him, pointing at some of the giant robots' heads, and unleashed the technique he had considered using months ago but had stopped to let Izuku try his own hand at it.

"Moko Takabisha, double!"

Two large balls of yellow energy formed in both hands, growing to two meters in diameter in less than a second before they launched themselves. The two orbs flew as fast as Peter's webbing before smashing into their heads, tearing them apart, and crunching the metal and everything inside with an explosive shockwave. The robots fell over as a result.

He repeated the action a second later, calling out his technique again and destroying two more giant heads. His speed was marginally slowed, putting him just ahead of Sakura, and he needed to play catchup with Peter.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

The sound of a microphone hitting concrete was ignored by everyone who might have heard it after it slipped out of Chihiro's hands. Some of the media's cameras would have likely met a similar fate if they hadn't been stabilized by their tripods. Other hand-held objects, however, did meet a similar fate all around the arena, increasing the number of messes the janitorial staff would have to clean up, but their owners didn't care.

The eyes of the media and the audience had become glued to the screens as they saw a trio of students move past the first objective, effortlessly demolishing nearly half of the giant robots.

But if anyone had bothered to listen, they would have heard a light snickering coming from the speakers.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Fuck!" Katsuki screamed as he banked the corner after exiting the tunnel, too late to see the action.

Too slow, too low, and too much foliage was in the way to see what had happened. He could only glimpse the flying head of a zero-pointer and some flashes of lights. But he could certainly feel the shockwaves from here.

He didn't know what happened, but the destruction was evident as he watched the head crushing several smaller robots as it finally landed. He knew Forehead or Pigtail was responsible, maybe both of them, but he was unsure.

He knew Peter would have done something as well since he had seen those robot schematics pop up in the M.P.S. a few times in the last few weeks, layered with all their internals, programming, statistics such as tonnage or lift capacity, and more. His act was probably delayed since Peter preferred to act smarter instead of faster or harder.

Katsuki was pissed, though, to see just how far ahead they were. And they had cleared most of the objectives that might get you name recognition if you could take them down! Peter had been right about that. Having participated in taking down one of them during the practical exam had garnered him adulation from others who had learned of it. Taking down so many of them as quickly as they had would net those three as much or more attention than winning the race!

At least some of them still seemed to be up, so he still had a chance to show his stuff if he could. But then he debated if he should since he was so far behind them. No, he had to take down at least one of them, or he would be dismissed by everyone!

"Wow!" Deku said from nearby, speeding along at least as fast as he was while green lightning seemed to spark all along his body. They followed the trio's example and made for higher ground to bypass the masses. They weren't the only ones but had been the first to clear the exit.

With a better objective in mind, Katsuki focused his Quirk, shifting the position of his arms and hands to maximize his speed. He shot off and approached the first objective while planning which new attack he had developed to take one of them down.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"What happened?" Mina cried out as most of Class A and a few members of B were running towards the first bend in the course, ahead of the masses of other students still stuck in the tunnel. They were just a little behind Izuku and Katsuki, but those two were speeding up! Before they had exited, they had heard several large explosions, one right after another. They had even felt some of the shockwaves from them, being as strong as they were!

"I think it was Saotome-kun!" Ochako cried out, breathing a little harder. Hardly surprising considering how much energy she put into her sprint. While she didn't see a giant leap in her physical abilities, Ranma's training had only begun two weeks ago; she still noticed an improvement in her speed and endurance. However, her balance surprised her the most in helping her run like this. Coupled together, they complimented each other for getting ahead of the stampede of students.

"We must hurry," Tenya yelled, remaining with the group for now, "while we are unlikely to catch those three, Bakugo-san and Midoriya-san are getting ahead of us."

"Agr–" Fumikage's response was halted as the whole group felt the area's sudden temperature shift, becoming far colder than it had been moments before. They also saw a sheen of ice covering the ground before them as it became far more slippery. While only a few of them had fallen due to the unexpected change, it slowed them down as they had to adjust to the change of environment.

A cry of outrage was heard from behind, attracting their attention. They saw the ground covered in ice leading back to the tunnel exit, which was itself encased in ice, halting most of the other students. A few of their Classmates and some of Class B's were literally caught up in it, along with everyone else. It also let them watch as the perpetrator of the ice continued to run, passing them in moments.

"That was dirty, Todoroki! So unmanly!" Eijiro cried out, shaking his fist at the other boy. But he was still grinning as the race was getting exciting! He raced onwards and was pleasantly surprised by how well he kept his balance. He had tried skating in the past and usually ended up in a humiliating position when he fell. Now, while he still struggled with it, he could move decently!

"Ah! Momo, someone's attached to your back!" Kyoka called out, finally taking the time to check her friends over. She had been surprised to find a small boy on her friend's back. He was gripping what looked like several small purple balls that were stuck to the back of her gym shirt. There were more of the balls on top of his head as well.

"I know," Momo said, her voice slightly breaking due to the uncomfortable situation. She had felt them when she moved to bypass most of the crowd. While she didn't like his position very much, she didn't want to be cruel to the boy. "Please, get off of me."

"I– I– I can't!" The boy said, his voice cracking a little bit. "My shirt accidentally caught on one of my balls when you moved around!"

"Then remove the balls!" Mina said, having stopped her run on overhearing the complication. She ignored how everyone but Sakura's training group ran onward. She slid towards them, more at ease with moving on slick surfaces than most of them. She knew they didn't have long before the crowd of other students would quickly catch up with them. Some of the other Hero course students had already started to pass them as they got used to the ice.

But they had learned Sakura's lesson well. You took care of your friends first.

"But– but I can't remove them! They remain stuck to whatever they touch for hours!" The boy said, his face shifting between different emotions. The simplest emotion to notice was fear, but the one that bothered her the most seemed to be of wonder or, she feared, lust when he looked at any of the girls.

"Then we should rip the fabric off," Fumikage suggested, watching everyone else around them. He wasn't the only one watching their backs while they tried to solve the problem. And it was good that they were, as other students started using their Quirks in ways that hindered or attacked their fellows. Only the intimidating glares and the fact the group remained still prevented them from being targeted.

"No! I'll be shirtless!" The boy cried out. He was happy with his position initially, getting the best of both worlds, an easy way to stay in the lead and attached to such a pretty girl! Now, it was turning on its head at the angry glares he was receiving as they talked about separating them.

Kyoka crossed her arms in front of her and glared at the boy. "Too ba–"

"Leave him," Momo said, interrupting Kyoka. The rest of them were surprised by her choice. "We are wasting too much time, and he isn't that much of a burden for now. We had a good placement before this distraction. We need to concentrate on catching back up."

Most of them nodded at that, seeing her point.

Mina watched the various fights developing all around them, knowing that wasting more time would mean they would more likely be caught up in something that could slow them down even further. Her eyebrows raised as one particular black-haired boy who seemed to have tape coming out of his elbows had come up with a ingenious way to increase his speed, attaching the tape to objects further ahead and then reeling in the tape while using the slick surface.

Mina grinned as the boy's actions inspired her, but they needed to resolve this problem fast. "Your balls are your Quirk, correct? The ones on your head? How does it work?"

"Ye– yes! My Quirk is Pop Off, I can take the balls off, and they regrow almost instantly. They can attach to almost everything except for me!" The boy cried, happy that they appeared willing to let him remain. If it required him to be useful, he would do it for this chance!

"Then your job is to throw your balls behind us to slow down anyone chasing after us, got it? Try to get them stuck to the ground or other objects. We'll let you know if there is something we want you to concentrate on," Mina said with a smile. The boy's head nodded rapidly in agreement, stopping when he saw her expression turn into a glare. "But do not target any of us in this group, or we will take the time to remove you and leave you there, whatever the cost."

"Ye– yes! I understand!" He yelled, intimidated by her.

"Next, what is your name?" Mina asked.

"Mineta Minoru," the boy said.

"Alright, Mineta-san. Do as we instructed. Everyone else, I have an idea," Mina said, quickly laying out what they would do.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ranma chased after Peter.

He was closing the gap, but it was slower than he would have preferred. And Sakura was keeping up with them. She was closing the gap on Peter slower than he was, but she was still gaining.

He was willing to leave things as they were, seeing as he should be able to pass Peter easily enough. That was, until the next obstacle came into view, and Ranma internally cursed. While it wasn't much of a challenge, he did know Peter's web-slinging would benefit him.

The next obstacle was an enormous pit in the ground that formed a canyon with giant pillars spread out at various heights, with tight ropes connecting the pillars. Ranma had no worries about falling, but it would slow him down if that happened.

'Whelp, it wouldn't feel like a proper Martial Arts Obstacle Race without some fighting between the participants, would it?' Ranma thought.

Ranma did a cursory glance but couldn't find any conveniently loose objects close enough to be of use, so he focused his ki into his foot, kicking into the ground rather than just running on top of it, causing the earth to crack and a chunk of ground to be sheared away. His foot flicked the chunk of earth into his waiting hand and then flung it towards Peter's side. But he had included some serious spin that arched it towards the back of Peter's head.

Ranma saw the slight stiffening of Peter's neck before his head moved, narrowly dodging the spinning rock. That… was impressive, Ranma had to admit. He wasn't sure how Peter knew just yet, but a spin like that would be hard to track and adequately dodge for most people, let alone from behind.

Seeing as he only had one more real shot to try to slow him down, Ranma repeated his previous action but created three objects this time. He threw the first one at Peter's back, watching as the American dodged to the side before releasing his second projectile faster than the first. Peter had barely touched the ground before he flew upwards, the second missile missing him by mere centimeters. Ranma then released his last one, targeting Peter's center of gravity, the point few people could move without something to balance them.

Ranma's eyebrows raised in interest as he saw Peter do it anyway. He had twisted his body in the air, so his center of gravity shifted, using unusual motions of his limbs to contort himself away from the attack. He had only ever seen someone who knew the Saotome-ryu or a few other powerful martial artists that could pull something like that off. Ranma's grin widened.

"Missed me, Saotome!" Peter yelled, his voice full of merriment, as he pointed an arm toward the other boy and let loose a web ball.

Ranma flickered to the side, easily sidestepping the attack, before he yelled back. "So did you!"

"Yeah, well, I still have three more shots to miss before we're even," Peter said as he landed on the ground before jumping backward and into the open air of the canyon, all the while giving a three-fingered salute.

"Oh, it's on!" Ranma shouted. Now, at the canyon's edge, he smashed the edge with a fist, breaking off a basketball sized part of the rock and grabbing it. He then leaped into the air, covering half the distance to the first pillar before he grabbed hold of the rope and swung himself the rest of the way towards the first pillar, leaving him in a high arc.

Ranma tracked Peter's movements. He had started swinging through the canyon, so Ranma crushed the large rock in his hand into smaller pieces and then flickered his hand at hypersonic speeds.

Ranma smiled when he heard Peter yelp at the swarm of objects, trying to dodge them in midair. The other boy was too distracted from the mass attack to protect his web-line, allowing one of Ranma's improvised projectiles to slice through. That sent Peter tumbling, a hasty new web-line sending him in the wrong direction.

"Hah, got you that time, Parker!" Ranma shouted, his objective achieved and happy to take the lead– "Oh, shit!"

Sakura was grinning up at him near his planned landing spot, her fist raised. She smashed the entire pillar with that fist before Ranma landed. He watched as the impact utterly destroyed the pillar's structure, collapsing from top to bottom into the maw below like a landslide.

Sakura escaped by jumping to the closest rope connected to the pillar she had destroyed. It swung towards the pillar it was still attached to as Sakura ran up its length while it fell, not bothered by its odd movements.

Ranma was in a far worse predicament, landing on top of the collapsing pillar, the loose ground barely acting as a stepping stone. He pushed off what stones he could as he maneuvered to catch one of the other ropes, using his strength to quickly climb it to get back on track, though it would put him behind.

He called out when he noticed her reach the top of her pillar. "That was dirty, Haruno!"

Sakura laughed, then gave him a response he couldn't fault her for. "That's what you get for ignoring me!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Katsuki decided to just pass most of the smaller robots, only destroying a few that were especially pesky. He ensured he was precise in his strikes, cupping his hands to control his blasts better than before. It still could have been better since creating something truly useful would require at least both of his hands or some specific support gear. Katsuki had begun to get some ideas for some improvements he wanted. For now, however, that wasn't an option.

Instead of purely flat or splayed-out palms, he cupped his hands as much as possible, reducing the spread of the escaping air. It was harder on his hands, and the explosions caused more wear and tear than his usual method. He had experimented with such methods years ago, but that damage was why he had moved away from them. Now, he was just more careful with how much and where he used it, making it less destructive to his body.

The effect on his targets, however, was more pronounced.

While he passed the trash, he spotted some debris that had been scattered previously from Forehead and the Pigtailed Bastard's actions. Some of the destroyed parts might be useful for his new technique, but they were far from ideal, and he considered trying something else. That was until he spotted something that made him grin madly. He sidetracked to pick it up, destroying a few more trash robots that tried to capitalize on his action.

Due to his little side trip, Deku managed to get a bit of distance from him and was almost at the first zero-pointer corpse. Only eight of them had gone down, but a relatively clear middle path made it manageable. Though those zero-pointers still standing continued to get in their way.

One had almost succeeded in getting in Deku's way, the bus-sized hand smashing into the ground with punishing force, displacing dirt and air as it hit. It likely would have crushed him if it had connected. Deku had slowed at the last moment and leaped into the air, grabbing part of the hand and jumping over it before it had finished disturbing the earth.

Katsuki was only seconds behind Deku, so the hand tried to sweep and tag him instead. Katsuki blasted himself skyward with his available hand, avoiding the colossal hand entirely as it passed beneath him. Deku's dodge was, Katsuki had to admit, more economical than his own, but Deku didn't have any other plans beyond bypassing them. Katsuki also had a second zero-pointer rearing its arm back to try to crush him, so he decided to target it.

As Katsuki shot off towards its head, he grasped the metal ball he had picked up. He held the golf-ball-sized piece of steel with both hands and fully extended the fingers. While it wasn't a perfect seal, it was close enough for his purposes. He grinned maliciously at the robot before unleashing his technique.

The carefully calculated series of explosions caused the ball to shoot out of his hand at a tremendous speed, so fast that Katsuki could barely see its trail.

The effect, however, was obvious when the metal face fractured on impact, and the mass of metal barely slowed down the projectile. The resulting explosions from damaged components on the inside signified that Katsuki had succeeded. The giant robot jerked, its limbs flailing around as electrical signals sent conflicting information before they dropped and the robot tilted away.

Katsuki was jubilant—his cannonball shot had been a roaring success! A motion out of the corner of his eye drew his attention back to the other robots. Another arm was about to swat him out of the air. Katsuki flung a hand up and one below, setting off some quick explosions to drive himself toward the ground and a subsequent series of explosions to slow his fall.

When he touched down, he saw one more making a move for him before it jerked to a stop, confusing Katsuki for a moment. But it wasn't the only one; three others also had a similar reaction, leaving only three zero-pointers unimpeded to continue assaulting the arriving runners.

Katsuki was about to defend himself as he realized he had overstayed his welcome and was wasting too much time when the ones that had halted suddenly grabbed the unaffected robots. Katsuki blinked, caught off guard by their sudden betrayal, the arms crushing the heads and physically dragging the corpses away from the center of the field.

He was far faster on the uptake than the majority of people watching, grinning like a madman and laughing his ass off.

Parker!

This was his contribution, and it was likely to make a few eggheads uncomfortable. Either way, he needed to stop wasting time now. He had given Deku too much of a lead—cold!

Katsuki shivered as he felt the air temperature drop significantly; ice formed around his feet, shooting up his body and covering everything but his head too quickly for him to react. He cursed, turning with what strength he could, and found Half-half Bastard sliding along the ground. Moving past him and barely paying attention to him!

He cursed and swore, losing precious seconds as he tried to force his way out! He had to watch as others from his class passed him by, giving him a wide berth and some of them throwing out cheerful greetings. Due to the cold, his Quirk refused to ignite! But after straining himself, his arm finally snapped some of the ice. Freeing a hand he then smashed it into other parts of his body, breaking the impromptu glove. Freed from the ice, he willed his Quirk to activate, creating only a whimper of his usually explosive power. It was enough to help, quickly using that hand to create larger explosions, generating enough heat and vibrations to escape.

Once freed, he bent over panting. That had taken more out of him than he would have liked. He turned his head to see who else was coming behind him, not wanting to leave himself open to being hit from behind once more. He saw the mass of students had finally started dealing with the robots, but his class and Class B had bypassed most of them.

His eyebrow raised as he caught sight of Forehead's extras moving as a line and gaining a lot of speed, using Half-half Bastard's own ice as a road and a combination of their Quirks to increase their speed, control, and stability.

Deciding he had rested enough, he turned and exploded down the track, intent to make up for lost time and to make sure he punished a particular bastard. While he wasn't the only one on his list, he had moved to the top!

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Peter grunted as he maximized the speed from his downward swing. It launched him high in the air and past the second obstacle. He spotted Ranma's new position after Sakura's maneuver had thrown him off course, putting her in the lead. Peter had a lead over the other boy.

But it still left Sakura comfortably ahead by a few dozen meters. He was flying through the air faster than she was running, but her speed was sufficient to tell him he wouldn't overtake her before he landed. This meant she would likely get to the next objective before he could. Ranma had the right idea; it was time to try to slow her down.

After reaching the height of his arc, Peter pointed an arm at her, calculating her speed and distance before his arm could come to full extension. He shot a string of webbing, intent on tagging her legs and immobilizing her. Typically, a shot from this distance and at her speed would have been nearly impossible since his webbing only traveled so quickly. But when his own speed was added to the calculation, it made it possible.

His webbing landed, spreading across her back and legs, his webbing forming the chemical adhesion to stick to her clothing and also stick to itself, making it very difficult to remove and trapping her limbs.

She fell, her arms and legs both entwined, her face smacking the ground as her body slid forward. That had been more effective than he had expected. Sakura seemed to be stuck, slightly wiggling as she appeared to be trying to get some leverage to get out.

"Sorry, Haruno-san," Peter called out as he passed her, "but Saotome had the right idea—whoa!"

Peter's spider-sense went into overdrive, and he bent over backward in midair. He felt… something had been there a moment before, but he couldn't see or hear anything! He landed a moment later, his spider-sense going off again as he continued to dodge and maneuver around something that didn't appear to be there. After a few seconds, Peter closed his eyes and trusted his senses, avoiding the next series of attacks.

He was so preoccupied that he was startled when he heard Ranma's voice. "Having fun, you two?"

Peter's spider-sense stopped tingling as he opened his eyes to see Ranma sprint past them. He turned back and saw that Sakura was only a meter or two away and had halted her attack. They shared a quick look and a nod before sprinting after a laughing Ranma.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

The audience had recovered by now, their previous cheers dwarfed by their current excitement. Everyone was on the edge of their seats as they watched the three fight it out for the lead. They couldn't see everything as clearly as they usually would, as the contestants' speed was challenging on the automated camera systems, but it didn't matter.

They roared with approval when they watched the girl destroy one of the pillars with a single punch, quickly changing the battlefield. Most of them were amazed that none of them had been hit by the others' attacks; they had only slowed down due to circumstances. When two of them focused on each other, the third capitalized on it, causing a cessation of their fighting as they focused on catching the new leader.

The only thing to distract some of them was witnessing the other groups as they arrived at where the giant robots were. A few whistled with apprehension at their speed and ability to destroy the massive robots, but most were puzzled when the robots turned on each other, unsure of what to make of the turn of events or how it had happened. Those familiar with the young hero-in-training who was integral to Stark Industries suspected he had a hand in those events.

When they saw the students arrive at the final objective, which the monitor listed as a minefield, they wondered how they would handle this new challenge.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Sakura really wished she could have brought her weapons and tools with her. Just a few kunai or shuriken would have opened up her options significantly, not to mention some explosive or smoke tags added to the mix. When they came upon the final obstacle, that desire increased significantly.

Sakura concentrated on running, chasing after Ranma and his current lead. She left the offense to Peter and his webbing, which was a better tool for the situation. He had tried a few different variations of his attacks, but Ranma sensed them coming, most likely from that sensor ability he had. Even the netting shots couldn't capture him.

Ranma had far too healthy of a lead on them, one that was slowly increasing as they ran. The minefield would be a blip on the map for the distance traveled, but it was their best shot at slowing him down. It was now or never. She kept her emotions in check, staying calm, knowing the pigtailed boy could read them. It was good that she had already started shaping chakra for this maneuver.

Just before Ranma entered the field, she finished molding her chakra and slammed into the ground, briefly stopping her run as her hand pressed into it, making her will manifest. Her sudden stop got both boys' attention, but they quickly refocused to the front as the ground in front of them exploded upwards. It rose to fifteen meters in height before rolling towards them like a giant wave!

The startled exclamations from both boys made her smile. A moment later, dozens of explosions started going off, driving Ranma back. She had already started running again since, at this point, the technique was on auto-pilot.

Peter had snagged a webline to the top of the wave and pulled himself toward it, increasing the speed of his leap. He touched the top of the wave and avoided being pulled into the technique as he hopped off it and into the air a meter before touching down on the back of the wave and leaping forward, clearing the rest of the field. She was impressed he hadn't set off a single mine.

Sakura sprinted at the wave of earth as it parted at the correct time, leaving a clear and unimpeded path forward for herself. Her smile turned wicked when she heard Ranma's exclamations from behind her as the path closed before he could get through it.

Peter still had a lead, but she could still close the gap.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Izuku gaped as he looked down into the chasm at the remains of the destroyed pillar. He had arrived at the start of the obstacle unimpeded but had been confused when the rope line for the closest pillar was dangling below. He wondered what was happening until he finally put the puzzle together.

Unfortunately, his careful nature and curiosity were counterproductive in this case. He had wasted too much time solving the riddle when he heard Kacchan's explosions were getting closer than he would have liked. But it was his voice that warned him of another danger.

"Get back here, you Half-half Bastard! I'm going to grind you into paste for that stunt!"

Izuku looked back towards the path behind, spotting Kacchan as he was visible and closing quickly. He also saw Shoto running and sliding, sometimes using a block of ice to push him along and gain speed.

Izuku had no more time to worry, so he activated his Quirk and sprinted for the rope he had identified as his best option. He didn't have time to take it slow, and he didn't think his balance was good enough yet to walk on top of it. So he got as close as he could and leaped for the rope, getting as close to the end as possible. He flew over the chasm, a large part of himself terrified of how high up he was, but his determination paid off as he successfully grabbed the rope with both hands to secure himself. After he stopped swinging, he hand-walked the rest of the way to the first pillar and pulled himself upwards.

He looked back and found that Shoto had just reached the chasm and had also noticed the destroyed pillar. He only spent a few seconds identifying his own path before he made his way to another rope.

Izuku could see some of his training partners and other contestants trailing behind an accelerating Kacchan as they neared the objective. Knowing he had no more time to lose, he pushed on and repeated his feat as he crossed the second obstacle as fast as he could.

As he climbed off the last rope onto the clear path to the race's trail, he noticed Shoto was also getting off the last rope. The other boy was breathing hard, and his breath chilled; Izuku could see the moisture his breath left behind. They weren't the only ones completing the second obstacle, as Kacchan was blasting off and rapidly closing in on both of them with the promise of pain easily visible even at this distance.

Izuku sprinted forward and reactivated his Quirk. His new technique, which he called Full Cowl, was not limited to localized limbs, but he could now spread it across his entire body by cycling the energy. Ranma's advice and guidance had allowed him to achieve it, letting him use five percent over his whole body.

After using it the first time, Ranma, along with All Might, had noted the interesting lines that had formed, crossing his body, as well as some visible static electricity that his Quirk created when he did this. The pigtailed trainer had said it functioned differently than Ki when filling your body with it but had supposed that it was similar enough that some Ki techniques might carry over.

Izuku had only taken a few long strides when he felt his spine chill. But instead of hesitating, Izuku's next step pushed him to the side, dodging the line of ice that covered his previous position. Izuku sighed at that and was very thankful for Ranma's 'awareness and reaction' training, as the pigtailed boy liked to call it. That had been a little too close!

He glanced over his shoulder and realized Shoto wouldn't let him try to stay in the lead. The glare he received when he looked into his eyes told him as much. Izuku gulped at the effective intimidation, worried about how he would proceed. But then Izuku saw and heard the arrival of the more explosive competition.

"DIE, YOU HALF-HALF BASTARD!" Katsuki yelled, barely audible from the much larger explosion he had just used to rocket in their direction.

Shoto turned at that and ducked in time to dodge Katsuki's open palm exploding above him, barely missing. When his right hand touched the ground, another ice pillar shot upwards to hit Katsuki from below.

The blonde used his other hand to blast downward, destroying the block of ice before it could reach him but also causing him to fly a little higher. Some additional micro-explosions helped him to stabilize his fall as he twisted in the air like a professional gymnast before making contact with the ground. Skidding backward with one leg in front of the other as he absorbed the landing and growled at Shoto.

"I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass!" Katsuki shouted, his massive grin paired perfectly with the blend of excitable and vicious eyes that promised an untold amount of pain.

Shoto stared back, unmoved by Katsuki's threats, leaving the two to stare at each other for a few seconds before Shoto's eyes drifted to the side. He moved his right leg and stomped on the ground, sending another wave of ice rocketing down the path. Not towards Katsuki, but towards the running form of Izuku, who had taken advantage of the distraction to leave the two of them behind.

"Ah!" Izuku cried out as he leaped to the side and again avoided the ice. "Argh!" Izuku then cried out as he was pushed back by an explosion that happened a couple of meters ahead of him.

"Get back here, Deku! I'm not letting you run off while I beat on this Bastard!" Katsuki yelled, glaring at the mossy-haired boy.

But Izuku didn't follow his instructions, even after briefly looking Katsuki in the eyes before pushing forward again.

"Oh, you've asked for it now!" Katsuki screamed as he and Shoto chased after him.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ranma cursed at being put so far behind the other two. That maneuver of Sakura's had surprised him, but the addition of the mines still present in the dirt made it a challenge, their positions shifting too quickly due to the wave and not clearly marked like they had been before.

He had backed up far enough to leap over the wave, though he still landed in the minefield, setting off some mines. He was still too fast, moving past them before the explosions went off.

Once he had cleared the field, he put additional effort into his run. He was closing the gap, but they were just a short distance from the entrance to the stadium and the finish line now. He was behind them by several seconds as they concentrated on running and not fighting each other. They both knew it would have eaten up too much time and allowed him to retake the lead. He had to grunt in acknowledgment of them making the correct play. It was a smarter move than his old rivals would have made.

They made the last turn, Sakura in the lead and Peter not far behind her. He used his weblines on the stadium to close the gap, shooting ahead for a moment before the tunnel made that effort a little more challenging.

Ranma had no more time. He had no hope of catching them at their current pace, so he decided to stop holding back. After all, finishing the race like this was just icing on the cake.

With a force of will, Ranma ignited his Ki, forcing and enhancing it to higher levels, and a yellow aura appeared around him for a moment before he Moved. Much like during the apprehension test, his speed tripled, causing the gap between them to cease to exist as he passed the finish line fractions of a second before Sakura and Peter.

His aura cut out as his feet created grooves in the ground. Ranma breathed deeply for a moment before turning back to his two rivals as they also came to a stop. They shared a look for a moment, but neither of their eye-rolls put a dent in Ranma's shit-eating grin.

The roaring audience helped, though it was hardly necessary.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Yeah! He did it! Sensei won!" Kota whooped in joy, raising both hands as he joined the rest of the audience. Kota then turned to his current chaperone, who was standing with him. "I told you he could do it!"

Katashi chuckled, smiling down at Kota. "Indeed. But those other two gave him far more of a challenge than I had expected. That just makes his win all the sweeter, Kota-kun."

Kota's smile disappeared as he adopted a far-off look, trying to remember something. After a few seconds, his smile returned as he remembered something his Sensei told him once. "Think they're his rivals?"

"I think you might be right, Kota-kun," Katashi said before turning back to the arena.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Tomura glared at the monitors after the trio of competitors finished their race. He so dearly wanted to unleash his Quirk on everything around him, to destroy the monitors showing the first three to cross the race's finish line as the media channel clamored in excitement about what they had just witnessed.

He knew. He now knew those two had looked down upon his league from beginning to end. The redhead, someone whose Quirk allowed them to shift between the boy on the screen and the redhead he had encountered, had toyed with the Nomu and could have attacked him at any turn. But she had held back, delaying things until All Might had arrived. And the pink-haired girl could have easily destroyed them. Possibly even damaged Nomu further than the redhead had. They had never stood a chance with what they had on hand. Not against both of them.

If there was one thing he hated to the deepest parts of his soul beyond anything else, it was to be looked down on.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Go, go, goooo!" Mina yelled excitedly as they swung off the last pillar, finally crossing the second objective. They had begun to pass some of their other classmates who had previously had such a significant lead.

Using Tsuyu's tongue and Dark Shadow's extended arms, the small groups stabilized their final swing from another of Momo's grapples. They worked in pairs or small teams when needed but stuck together as a larger group and had more quickly passed the pitfall than most of them could have done alone.

Once they were passed, they found Shoto's icy trail, still not far enough behind him that it would melt to the point of not being useful for their skating strategy. It also helped that Mina's acid acted as a good substitute when needed, though it wasn't ideal for long periods of time, as it would dehydrate her.

They stood and reformed their formation without being told, Mina in front since she was needed to create a backup trail. Behind her was Tsuyu, whose tongue would help grab anything in front of them they needed, such as the wall posts, to allow for easier banking. Following them were Denki, Momo, and Kyoka. Denki and Kyoka worked on their communications to ensure everyone was aware of important information while also helping Momo transfer anything she created forward or backward.

Kyoka had taken the position behind Momo, primarily to keep an eye on and manage their stowaway. With a quick covering from Momo, Kyoka used her earlobes to deliver Minoru's purple balls to strategic locations. The odd glare kept him from getting too comfortable.,

Fumikage and Tenya took up the rear. Fumikage would have Dark Shadow act as their back support to stabilize the group as they moved, his arms growing and extending as needed. He also assisted Tenya in providing speed when the other boy needed a break from his Quirk being active most of the time. Once their mass was moving and the ground was adequately slick enough from ice or acid, they could move nearly as fast as Tenya could have run it alone.

Coming around another turn in the trail, Mina could see the backs of Shoto and Katsuki chasing after who she thought was Izuku, though they soon moved out of sight. It made her smile, knowing they were catching up to one trio at least, but first, they had to deal with the last obstacle between their two groups.

At first glance from this distance, it looked like a mostly empty field, slightly wider than the normal trail. As they looked around, they saw more of their classmates and other students standing in front of the new field while a few were moving across it, albeit very slowly. Mina was confused for a moment about why that was. Then she read the sign.

"Landmines!" Mina shouted backward, waiting a moment for her words to sink in before yelling again. "Full stop!"

Dark Shadow's arms acted as their breaks, digging into the dirt and slowing them down considerably. They arrived close to the edge of the new field and were surprised by the terrain.

"Ribbit, I think this was Sakura-chan," Tsuyu said after looking it over.

"I think you're right, Tsu-chan," Mina said as she looked at their next obstacle.

Unlike the path they had been using, the field's ground was wildly uneven in parts. The terrain rose and fell somewhat, but not by huge margins. What was more obvious were clumps of dirt shoved together, but that part was hardly concerning.

The sign was correct in saying that landmines were present. But what was in front of them looked different from what they thought a field of landmines would generally look like. Instead of hidden mines spread evenly and carefully around to make people cautious of their footsteps, they found dozens of metal disks sticking out of the ground and clumped together. They could tell that some of them were destroyed, their metal casings crushed, but far too many looked like they might still be active.

Past that mess, it was a little more sparse, but it was obvious that landmines were still present, as they stuck out occasionally. However, the most distressing thing was that their placement had shifted from where they had once been clearly marked. This was proven when one of the students they didn't know stepped on a mine in a spot that hadn't been properly marked.

The group of eight watched as the boy sailed through the air in a cry of shock, leaving behind a cloud of pink smoke. The landing had been rough, but what made it worse was that it set off additional landmines.

"Tsu-chan!" Mina cried out.

The frog girl had already responded as her tongue shot out and caught the poor boy before he could be injured further. Properly anchoring herself, she pulled the boy towards them and to the safety of their arms.

After they set him down, Mina reached down to check him over and make sure he was alright. This was also when she finally recognized who the boy was, which made her smile. Saving him here seemed like a just payment for his earlier inspiration.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! That stings!" The boy said as he rolled around on the dirt. At least until he felt a hand grabbing him and stopping him. The boy stopped and stared up at the two girls. "Huh?"

"It's okay. You don't look like you have anything too debilitating, from what I can see," Mina said while she grinned down at him. "But I would suggest getting what rest you can while we deal with the field."

"Yeah," the boy said with a wince as he felt his body. He still sat up to get a better stock of what was going on. "I think I'll do that."

Mina nodded, glad he was okay before she turned her attention back to her friends and the race's final obstacle. "Ideas?" Mina asked before crouching close to one of the mines that appeared loose in the dirt.

Momo narrowed her eyes as she joined Mina in inspecting the devices. She moved some dirt around it, uncovering it and pulling it closer to examine it. It caused a few of them to draw a breath in concern, but they trusted her to know what she was doing. She spent at least ten seconds turning it over and looking at it while avoiding the top part that acted as the trigger.

"An electrical weight system that detects pressure while the mines release a shockwave and smoke. Nothing combustible or generating any heat, so no shrapnel when they are detonated," Momo said, looking up at some of the destroyed mines.

They had attracted a few of their classmates, like Ochako and Toru, as well as some new arrivals who were curious about what they would do. Mina looked at them, giving them a warm smile, before turning back to look at the field.

"I think it's our turn, Mina," Kyoka said as she stepped up to the edge of the field along with Denki.

The others looked at the two, though only her training group nodded in understanding. Mina looked back over the field, making more evaluations. "Right, down the center as far as you can!"

Mina then looked at those currently trying to cross the field, deciding they deserved a proper warning. "Hey, Eijiro! Shoji! … whoever the rest of you are, get away from the center! We're clearing a path!"

They turned back at her voice, curious as to what was going on, when they saw Kyoka kneel a meter away from the edge of the field, both of her jacks jamming into the dirt in front of them. Some words from Eijiro and Mezo got the other three to move aside quickly.

Once Kyoka found it was adequately cleared, she concentrated on her Quirk, feeling how it pulsed and flowed. It was tied to her heartbeat, sending out the regular thumping sound, then focused through her earphone jacks attached to her long earlobes.

Sakura's training had made her adjust her focus on how to work her Quirk, questioning her previously held understanding of it. All that amplifiers did was take a sound and amplify it due to electrical power, so why couldn't she do the same thing? While she couldn't produce the electricity, there were ways to concentrate and focus on the forces involved to create a similar effect.

Kyoka sat there for several seconds as she got a feeling for what she wanted to do as she built up her internal energies. She kind of thought it was like using a swing set, where you slowly built up the strength until you reached the desired power.

Feeling it was ready, she focused on what she wanted it to do before finally releasing it. "Heartbeat Distortion, Minor!"

Her earjacks pulsed as the energy finally released, creating an immediate thumping noise as it entered the ground. Then they heard the sounds of the earth cracking in front of them, followed by a few mines going off, most of them closer to their position but not enough to cause them any distress.

The dirt in a straight line, leading most of the way to the other side of the field, had become disturbed, as the ground beneath it had become as if it had just been plowed, revealing most of the landmines along that path—most notably, the ones that had shifted from their previous positions and were such a danger to them. She stood up and backed away, allowing Denki to do his part.

Denki kneeled in Kyoka's vacated spot to concentrate on his Quirk. He threw both arms forward, side by side, scrunching his shoulders together so that his arms left an even smaller gap between them. After a couple of seconds of concentrating, their classmates quickly backed up as they saw visible electrical arcs passing between both arms. The arcs only grew in power, and they could hear a loud buzzing noise.

"Oh my god!" Toru yelled out, her shocked voice boosting Denki's confidence.

Ready now, Denki concentrated on where he wanted it to go. "Lightning release: Lightning bolt!"

An instant later, a clear bolt of electricity, nearly as bright as the natural phenomenon it was named after, crashed across the field and hit one of the furthest mines. It wasn't the only one that was touched, as the bolt connected with all of the landmines that had been revealed by Kyoka's attack. The attack had only lasted for a fraction of a second. Still, the subsequent explosions from dozens of landmines were clearly felt, causing the collected students to gasp as the collective shockwaves almost knocked them over, and the air was now filled with pink smoke and dirt.

They all held their breath after it had finished, waiting to see what had happened. When the smoke and dirt clouds finally settled down enough to see, they could only gasp in awe. All of the landmines that had been close to the attack were now visibly smoking, their electrical circuits fried.

"All right! Way to go, you two!" Mina cried out, nearly jumping up and down in her enthusiasm. "We still need to make sure there are no more surprises, so I'll go first. Tsuyu can follow me so that she can reel me back in if I step on a mine! At least three to five steps apart! We've given those three too much of a lead now, and we need to double-time it to catch back up!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Izuku was not having an easy time trying to pull ahead of Shoto or Katsuki. Any time he did, especially when it seemed they were distracted by each other, they would both launch attacks on him, forcing him to dodge and fight back. He didn't actively try to fight them, preferring to only use defensive actions if they got too close.

His previous fight with Katsuki had been a learning experience for both of them. Neither allowed the other to capitalize on their weaknesses, even if they were far trickier to exploit now. Even with his increased speed, strength, and reflexes with his Full Cowl, Katsuki didn't allow him to grab him. The few punches he had delivered after appearing to go for another grapple had made Katsuki cautious of allowing him within melee range. The opposite also occurred; his weakness in ranged attacks gave Katsuki more opportunities, but his technique made it far more challenging for him to connect an attack.

And it didn't help that neither of them could spend more than one or two attacks before Shoto would try to incapacitate at least one of them. Katsuki was perfectly willing to attack Shoto in turn, but Izuku tried to keep his mind on the actual objective, so he would always try to break away from the others to run for the goal. It was only a matter of time and patience now, Katsuki and Izuku noticed that this race was taking a heavy toll on Shoto, his body shivering from using his Quirk so much as his continued use was building up.

They had come upon the final turn of the race, the stretch that led to the stadium entrance and the finish line. Izuku tried to slip ahead and had finally succeeded, as neither of his rivals could attack him at the moment, buying him time to gain as much distance as possible.

"Get back here, Deku!" Katsuki roared, exploding around the corner and doing his best to close the gap that had been created. But the distance was too far, considering Izuku's speed, to stop him.

"We have company!" Shoto yelled as he tried to catch up, using an ice block to push him forward in bursts as he slid along as if he were on ice skates. "Sakura's training group is gaining on us fast! They might overtake us!"

Katsuki barely heard his voice over his explosions, but it still annoyed him greatly. They were fighting for fourth place, after all. Fourth!

As much as he wanted to finish his fight with Half-half Bastard, he wouldn't allow Deku to get there first. A look in the other boy's eyes convinced him he wasn't alone in that conviction.

"I can pass Deku; can you pass him as well?" Katsuki shouted, his hands throbbing from the constant explosions he had had to use for this entire race. He used them to keep his speed up, running like he was and allowed Shoto to close the gap between them.

"Not without attacking him," Shoto said while he looked over his shoulder at the approaching group. "But if I attack him, the others will be able to get ahead."

"Slow the group behind us; I'll do what I can to disrupt Deku when I pass him," Katsuki said as they entered the tunnel.

Katsuki cupped his hands before him, holding them near his stomach and center of mass, much like when he destroyed one of the zero-pointers. Its effectiveness wasn't as valuable as what he hoped he might be able to do in the future, but it would have to do for now. He concentrated on his Quirk, ensuring he only ignited the right amount for what he needed to do before leaping upwards and spinning around. His Quirk ignited in a continuous burst of explosions, thrusting him towards his objective.

He grinned at the surprised looks on those following as he sped forward like the rocket he was imitating. Half-half Bastard also used that time to create a wall of ice at the tunnel entrance, expanding it rapidly as it shoved him forward with more speed.

Katsuki had held the thrust for a couple of seconds, giving him the needed speed before cutting it out and shoving his hands to the side. His grin widened when he passed Deku, and then he activated his Quirk again, using a broader and less focused explosion that caught the other boy by surprise and threw him back, barely landing on his feet.

Turned as he was, he witnessed Forehead's group of extras bursting through the ice wall, something splattering and melting it a fraction of a second before they hit. While it didn't stop them, it slowed them down enough to give them their needed edge!

Katsuki was pleased to see he had entered the stadium and passed the finish line, shoving his hands behind him to provide counter thrust and slow him down. Katsuki watched as a recovering Deku was passed by Half-half Bastard, who passed the finish line only a second before Izuku could. Right behind them, Forehead's group also passed the finish line.

But Katsuki didn't care; he had beaten Deku in this race! He didn't dwell on that for long, even as he enjoyed the crowd's cheering before he turned to find the three he was determined to win against standing nearby.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Toshinori winced in sympathy after Bakugo stopped Izuku just before the finish line. He recovered well, but it had cost him.

"My, oh my!" Thirteen exclaimed next to him as she looked down at their students as Mina's group crossed the line. "That was an impressive finish!"

"It was," Vlad said, his elbows resting on his knees while his chin rested on his clasped hands. He watched as some of his students began to cross the line, coupled with more of Aizawa's class. "Unusual, but effective."

"Do those students not understand that they are competing with others?" one of the teachers Toshinori didn't know the name of asked. He really did need to become more familiar with everyone. "I can understand teaming up, like what Bakugo did with Endeavor's son, though that didn't appear to be the case."

Toshinori nodded at that, finding it unusual and different from what he was used to seeing from previous festivals. He was used to the competitive nature of Pro-Heroes, so he found it counterproductive to that end. But the results spoke for themselves, so he was unsure of what to think.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Stop pouting, Mt. Lady," Kumai said with exasperation as the woman acted more like a child than the grown professional she was supposed to be. He understood her interest in the red-headed girl, seeing how she had snuck up on Death Arms head with none of them noticing, even if it had been evident that they had been following her.

"But she said she was going to win!" Mt. Lady moaned as her face rested on the small table where they were seated. She was absently pushing around the small bowl of snacks she had absconded with earlier, the food currently ignored.

If someone had shown a picture or a video recording of this to her at a later time, she would have understood why so many other male heroes who had moved in and out of the room had begun to blush. She would then have attempted to recreate it later to add it to her repertoire of poses to attract attention.

Death Arms sat there, ignoring the other two as he watched the television feed as the students started crossing the finish line. But just like almost everyone else, he was focused on the front runners. "Who were those three? I recognize two of the boys from the slime Villain incident from last year, both of them competing with Endeavor's son, no less, but I haven't heard anything about those other three."

"Unknown," Kumai said, though he did rub his chin in thought as he looked at his fellow hero. "The reports and rumors about what happened at the U.S.J. are beginning to make some sense. If those Villains had to face those three, even an army of Villains of the caliber they were reported to have wouldn't stand much of a chance. And the rest of the students aren't exactly pushovers."

Death Arms nodded his head. "It was fortunate that those Villains ran into this class and not another. Not many Pro-Heroes could withstand that many Villains in one place, let alone First Years. Even one's from U.A."

Kaimai nodded in agreement. "Very."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Way to go, Bakugo!" Melissa shouted in excitement, glad that the other boy had been able to pull ahead. She gobbled up more popcorn and grinned at the screen while her father chuckled next to her in good humor.

They watched more students pass the finish line as the race progressed. Some from Class B also made good time, though they were still behind the majority of Class A.

Bakugo, Todoroki, and Midoriya's own competition had been a highlight, as had the group that Peter had mentioned was taking Haruno's afterschool training. Reporters and commentators had noted how much stronger they were compared to previous First Year's U.A. Sports Festivals. Even some other competitors had been impressive, showing just how strong this year's First Years were.

But the discussions always returned to the trio that instantly caught everyone's attention from the moment they had yelled 'Start.' The various news organizations were suddenly scrambling as they tried to find out who those three were, asking questions and getting input from anyone they could find. Tony was ready to handle the initial inquiries that would inevitably occur, much like they had anticipated would happen before Peter even took the practical exam.

Most of the Pro-Heroes that were being interviewed seemed at a loss on how to explain what they were seeing or were just pulling stuff out of their asses. The fact most of them were not well-known heroes didn't lend them much credence with the reporters. The few that were could only praise how each of them had handled different parts of the race but didn't have enough information to make a proper evaluation, though they were undoubtedly looking forward to seeing more.

Melissa heard a ping on her mobile computer, which she kept on her wrist. She tapped it a few times, bringing up the holographic interface to show what Tony had sent her just now. It was a list of the many news stations that had either been covering the Second or Third Year stage, as well as stations that had opted not to cover the Sports Festival at this time, planning to leave that for the evening news instead. She used her finger to expand the links, displaying all of the live video coverage simultaneously. They were all beginning to show highlight clips of the Obstacle Race or at least inform their audiences of the news, mentioning how their teams were investigating it.

Her father leaned over her shoulder as he tried to read some of the smaller text while he hummed in appreciation. After seeing and reading enough of it, he came to an obvious conclusion. "Well, Peter's certainly going to have more eyes on him going forward."

"Yes," Melissa agreed, uneasy about the excessive attention. "Though, I think Peter isn't getting as much attention as the other two. But any extra scrutiny can lead to connections being made and more eyes on Stark Industries."

"It was inevitable," David said as he returned to his usual spot and grabbed more popcorn. Popcorn in hand, he grinned warmly at his daughter. "Which is why I stressed security protocols and plans so far in advance."

Melissa closed the interface before rubbing her eyelids. "Yes, yes, I know! We know! As if you and Karen hadn't repeated that to us for months."

David chuckled, then popped a few more kernels into his mouth and turned his attention back to their T.V.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"She was robbed!" Keiko moaned as she watched the slow-motion replay of the finish line.

Kenji laughed as the young nurse pouted, slumping on the back of her office chair as it rotated back and forth. She glared at the screen as if it had committed a grave sin. Of course, to many of the people currently watching, it had.

Kenji looked over at his wife, who was happy at how well Sakura had done, but he caught the slight hints of sadness of her losing by fractions of a second. Unlike her staff, however, they had learned a little about Saotome Ranma. They had learned of him from Sakura when they had contacted her a few times after school, the attack, and from Kenji's mother.

While she didn't share the details with Sakura for multiple reasons, she shared it with her son and Ai when she visited after the incident at the Practical Exam. She seldom let her guard or her professionalism down around anyone. The one exception for her was him and his wife, and before them, her husband. It was understandable, given she had spent ten minutes helping to dig through the wreckage of that zero-pointer, fearing all they would find was a bloodstain. Especially once she had received details about the missing girl.

While the incident had been horrifying, it had ended well enough, and everyone had gone home safely at the end of the day. But it had left a mark on his mother, even with her many, many years of being a Pro-Hero. She had needed someone to talk to about it, to release the emotions she had bottled up. She had learned how important that necessity had been—learned it before he was born.

It was from seeing those few times as she cried into his father's arms, his mother, who was a stern and strong Pro-Hero who bared her soul in those quiet moments, that Kenji had become fascinated with mental health. His parents were happy when he decided to go down that path instead of becoming a typical doctor, quickly recognizing the need in their lines of work.

While Chiyo was still affected by the incident, it almost became a much greater burden on her overburdened back. Kenji could not feel anger towards the exceptional pigtailed boy for his actions, for what he did for his mother. That didn't even take into account that Sakura was probably happy to have someone she might be able to fight to keep her skills from getting rusty.

"Don't stress about it," Junko said calmly after returning from another round of inspections on their patients. She sat in her chair and started updating the computer and the paperwork. "There are still two more games. The last one is the one that really matters."

"That is true," Ai said, smiling as she looked over the marks on Junko's reports, pleased with what she saw. As long as another emergency didn't pop up, they looked clear to be able to watch the rest of the Sports Festival unimpeded. Tensei's agency had truly done a marvelous job reducing the previous number of villain-related accidents and injuries.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Sorahiko's smile was grim as he watched more students cross the finish line. This year's First Years class was stronger than he remembered any particular class to be. While there had been exceptional students every few years, the number of students that might have fit that criteria tended to be small.

This year, however, most of them performed above average, even among U.A. students. He had honed in on the students of interest that Detective Tsukauchi had told him about and what they had done to fight off the Villains from that attack. A win that had been undermined when their evidence stash and lab had been raided and destroyed, and the leaders escaped due to some previously unknown Quirk. But they had been able to get one tiny piece of evidence out by stupid recklessness and sheer luck, a piece of evidence that had resulted in the Detective arriving at his doorstep with devastating news.

He had caught sight of Toshinori as he sat with the other teachers, unaware that one of his own teachers was watching him occasionally. He knew the news he had would likely break his old student, much like it had nearly broken him. But he had to warn Toshinori about what they had found. While they didn't understand all of the implications involved, they had enough to become very worried. The one bright point he had in the situation was the students.

Endeavor's son, that Bakugo boy, and Toshinori's successor, Midoriya Izuku, all had signs of becoming exceptional heroes. While he appeared to be weaker and slower than Toshinori when he first received his Quirk, Izuku's awareness and fighting skills were better. He would have to see more to get a proper evaluation.

He had been fascinated with that group of students who had actively worked together to quickly complete the race. That kind of teamwork was rare to see, but to see it in a Sports Festival event that wasn't tailored for teamwork had surprised him. If their accomplishment didn't spark an interest in some people, he'd be worried about Pro-Hero society as a whole.

But, inevitably, the three frontrunners had caught his attention out of the gate. He had lived for a long time, most of his life fighting in one capacity or another, and gained more experience in his younger years than most Pro's that reached his current age could dream of. To his experienced senses, however, those three felt like combat veterans. They were not neophytes like most First Years were, but people that had experienced far more than most people their age ever would.

Sorahinko saw that the three had been having fun. They hadn't been treating the race like it was a life-or-death battle or at least one in which the future of their lives hung in the balance. Seeing what they were capable of here and what he learned from the good Detective told him that they were holding back. They hadn't seen what they were truly capable of yet.

While he knew Toshinori's successor had to be his priority, he was still interested in learning just how far these three could go.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ranma grinned as the last of his new students, Toru, crossed the finish line. He had greeted them all as they entered the stadium, whether it was a fist bump, high five, thumbs up, or even a wave. He had been pleased with their results as he watched their progress on the large screens above, even as he consoled Izuku for being beaten out by his childhood rival.

He had told the other boy he had more chances to win out. Well, he most likely had a good chance of that. Ranma, after learning about the Sports Festival, decided to read up on it and watch some of the previous years' festivals to get a better idea of what to expect. It usually cut the number of students down dramatically, about seventy-five percent of the students or more for the first game and a little over half for the last game.

Most of his class had placed in the first twenty students to cross the line, with his students from Class B being most of the first ones from the other class to pass the finish line. The two boys that sat in front of and behind him, Koji and Rikido, had also done decently, just a short distance behind Toru. They had been caught up with that initial wave of students and had more difficulty pulling ahead.

He raised an eyebrow at seeing the boy that had challenged them at the doorway a few weeks ago had passed, beating out some of Class B, but he didn't detect anything different about him. He probably hadn't trained. Well, not Ranma's definition of training, at least. Another kid with dark hair and an odd mutation on his elbows had passed, and he seemed to have trained more heavily recently.

The general education, support, and even some of the managerial departments were trickling in with heavier numbers when he finally noticed the last member of their class walk in. The French boy, Aoyama, was shuffling in while holding his stomach. It wasn't unusual for him, considering his Quirk gave him stomach trouble when it was overused. He didn't know much about him since Ranma avoided him. He acted far too much like another old acquaintance for his sanity.

But what was unusual about his arrival was that he was missing a shoe. He did see a few others missing shoes, but Ranma shrugged and put the matter out of his mind as unimportant.

Now that the last of his classmates had trickled in, Ranma looked around for where the rest were gathering. He didn't spot them at first, so he expanded his senses to try to locate them. He found them, but he noticed two of the girls were quite annoyed. He also detected a third, lecherous aura, that felt awfully close to them and was familiar to him. Ranma's brow twitched in annoyance as he made his way.

When he did see them, the twitching got worse. The midget that had unsettled him several weeks ago was indeed attached to Momo's back, with Kyoka trying to pull him off with no success. Their raised voices only made things worse. Ranma was desperately hoping the boy wasn't related to the Old Freak. Between this and the French boy, if Ranma had to run into possible links to his past, why did he keep encountering some of the worst ones?

"Get off of her!" Kyoka yelled. She was putting her full weight behind her efforts now, trying to pull the boy off. Momo silently cringed as she let Kyoka try to get him off of her.

Ranma opted to help, closing the gap as he nearly stomped over to them in anger and annoyance. The twitching had spread to his eye and was so bad now that it was getting difficult to see. He reached an arm out to grab the boy by the neck or head, whichever one he ended up finding, as he really didn't care at this point.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"I'll get Sakura," Mina said as the four girls tried to get Minoru off Momo. They thought of several ways to separate them, but those methods would leave Momo in a more compromised position at this time. Having more people on hand to assist might make it easier, so Mina and Tsuyu walked away.

"I told you, I just need to take the shirt off and make a new one," Momo said in exasperation, though she grimaced whenever Minoru spoke.

"Noooo!" Minoru cried, "What about me? I don't want to go shirtless!"

He was trapped between paradise and a nightmare. He was surrounded by four beautiful women and was attached shirt to shirt with one of them. There was also the bonus that his body was regularly pushing up against her back.

But the four women were also angry at him and were prepared to leave him in a humiliating position, no matter his opinion. He had no desire to abandon this fabulous shirt that had allowed this incident to occur, especially since he had heard the girls talk about destroying both articles of clothing once they were separated. He just wanted to wait for his Quirk's spheres to naturally release, leaving the clothing in perfect shape to enshrine at home.

"I can just make him a new shirt," Momo said, trying to resolve the situation.

"No," Kyoka said firmly as she glared at the boy to remain silent. She had spent enough time watching him during the race to know that he would do something that would make them regret that decision. They were in a crowded stadium with thousands of people looking on, with cameras pointing in every direction.

She tugged on the perverted boy, trying to pull him off by some miracle or luck, if not raw strength. She made sure her hands, clothes, or any other part of her body didn't come close to touching the actual spheres. She did not want to have to deal with those attaching to some part of herself in addition to getting Momo free of him.

"Get off of her!" Kyoka shouted at him, closing her eyes as she leaned backward to put more weight into it. Normally, she might not be so aggravated by this little pervert, but joint training had sparked extra protective feelings in her for her friends. Admittedly, she was not mentally prepared for this kind of issue.

"Careful," Momo said, feeling the shift in her balance getting more tenuous as Kyoka pulled. While she wasn't terribly worried about her shirt ripping, those actions tended to attract more attention than a quick exchange of shirts. Not to mention, it was improper behavior.

"Get off– ahhh!" Kyoka cried out as she opened her eyes and was startled to see a boy's hand reaching towards them, causing her to trip and fall away from the hand, even as she dragged Momo along with her. Momo didn't fall to the ground as Kyoka did. Instead, she was pulled backward a few steps and to the side. Kyoka's eyes widened significantly as she noticed that the hand, which she realized after a moment had been moving towards the boy attached to her friend's back, was now attached somewhere else on Momo.

Her brain froze at that realization, much like Momo and the boy's. The second felt like it stretched on for minutes, but it was quickly rebooted by the shrieks of outrage from the nearby girls in their class and some others.

Only then did she realize the boy was Ranma, who looked like a deer standing in front of a trucker's headlights.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Sakura growled as she walked toward Momo and Kyoka's position. Mina and Tsuyu had just come up to tell them about a boy attached to Momo's shirt that they were trying to remove. They were having difficulty and needed some help. Sakura had barely heard enough before she started walking in that direction.

Sakura had dealt with more than enough perverts on her world of origin for her sanity. It was something else that she had in common with Tsunade-sensei as they made efforts to stamp them out. The fact that three of the biggest perverts she had to deal with, even if they went about it in very different ways, all revolved around her primary team didn't help.

At least they were balanced out by being the most loveable idiots she knew. Rest in peace, Master Jiraiya.

Getting her mind back on track, Sakura was prepared to forcibly drag the pervert out of sight and make sure they made efforts to rethink their behavior for the future. That was at the forefront of her mind. The fact that she could heal any wounds she inflicted, and in ways that ensured the reminder of said encounter remained for a few weeks, was just an extra perk.

She started hearing Kyoka's shouts, reaching them as the entirety of Class A's girls and a few from Class B who had overheard the story marched towards their position. She heard a startled yell from Kyoka, and then they were visible. As well as who the molester ended up being.

"Raaaannnmmmaaaaa!" Sakura roared, her chakra igniting just enough to generate an aura as she saw said boy's hand on Momo's chest. She then started cracking her knuckles in anticipation of the beating she would be delivering.

Ranma's hand retracted from its previous position before both hands shot upwards into a surrendering position. He rapidly backed away from Momo and then turned to back away from the rest of his female classmates, who all looked particularly angry at said boy. His face turning ashen pleased them, as he knew he was doomed.

"You said it was an accident last time!" Toru shouted, her shirt's sleeve pointing in his direction. She had almost been over that incident entirely, with Ranma's behavior having begun to settle in her mind as someone she believed was not a pervert. All that effort had been thrown out the window when she saw him doing the same thing to Momo. "Are you going to claim it was an accident this time, too?"

"How could you!" Ochako yelled, more disappointed than anything else. She had begun to look up to him and enjoyed being around him, along with Toru and Izuku.

The girls were oblivious to the attention they were getting from the rest of the students still left in the stadium, many of them their classmates as they looked on, wondering what had happened. However, when some of those students started to point upward at the giant screens around the stadium, others began to piece together what had happened as they all watched a replay of said incident.

Ranma looked up as well, seeing the halted image of him groping Momo. His shoulders sagged, and his knees nearly collapsed from under him as he realized the world had seen it. He didn't have a better choice of words to express his opinion.

"Fucking dammit..."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Chapter 14 - End

AN - Another big shoutout to my beta readers Boldish42, Iron454, and Purple Fox.