Drums, rhythmic stomping from the stadium's stands, and hearts alike are all pounding. After Spider-Man's speech, followed by another set of fireworks coupled in with confetti cannons at the crowds, the hype is at an all time high. Midnight isn't the only one shuddering from the anticipation. But she is the only one left up on the stage now, and thus she takes back the mic to speak over everybody's cheering.
"Now without any delay, let's get the first event started!" She moves with the momentum of everybody's excitement to not let it diminish. With a snap and a crack of her whip, a giant holographic screen appears for all to see. "The first event this year is…", the woman presents what appears on the floating display, "An obstacle course race!"
Behind the race's participants, a section of the stadium wall parts to give way to a checkered starting line. It leads into an otherwise narrow hallway where a three light system is currently set to the color red. Spider-Man turns around with the other racers to get a look at what they're about to run headfirst into. It's tough to see anything beyond the hall, but they can tell it's going to be a challenge.
"Racers to your positions!", Midnight calls for them to get themselves ready. And the light indicator switches from red to yellow, already matching her pace in the countdown. Already, the race participants are moving forward to try and get a closer headstart. "On your mark! Get set!", Midnight raises her whip so that it's held over her head; then she swings it down and shouts, "GO!"
The lights above the checkered line turn green. Everybody bolts forward, rushing straight into the hallway ahead of them. Almost immediately, it gets way too crowded and cramped. People push and shove as they try to get ahead of one another. But ultimately, they wind up getting themselves stuck.
"Heh", Spider-Man jumps over the heads of his opponents so that he himself doesn't get stuck in the midst of their struggles. Instead, he sticks himself to the ceiling above. There, he's able to crawl freely through the hallway and advance much faster than they are.
As he does, he notices a girl with a tone of green hair much like his own also begin to crawl on the ceiling. It's not the first time that he's had his shtick stolen but he certainly hopes that it's the last cause it's getting kinda old. Spider-Man moves out through the corridor and into an opening. It's there that he sees what the rest of the obstacle course is going to be like.
Much like the stadium grounds, it's a large open space equivalent to that of a field. Except, these grounds are lacking any grass and are instead layered with sand. Spider-Man hops down to start sprinting through it. The sand is no doubt meant to slow runners down but it looks like Itsuka has pushed past the crowded hallway and has no trouble running through the sand either; it must be because of all that training she did on the beach.
Spider-Man nearly stops his sprint when his Spider-Sense goes off. But when he's covered by a mass of shade, he realizes what it is that triggered his danger sense. It's only apart of the obstacle course but the shadow of a giant robot is still pretty crazy. The last time he dealt with one of these, it took a full web cartridge to just slow its treads. Considering there are multiple excavating machines this time around, he doesn't think the same trick will work twice without him losing his supply of webbing.
He'll just have to find another way to put a stop to their movement. He hadn't been aware of his own strength until his fight with the Nomu at the USJ. And while he certainly intends on maintaining his control to a certain limit, he knows what he's capable of now. Spider-Man clenches his hand into a fist and reels it back. Before sending his fist straight down into the ground. The slam shakes the field and causes a minor quake. The giant robots stall and so do his fellow race runners.
It might not put a stop to those surrounding him permanently, but it does give him enough time to get ahead. By repeating an old trick that he once used when trying to stop Screwball's bomber scheme. Two web lines snag the heads of two opposing U.A robots. Spider-Man pulls back on them, leaning himself away with all of his weight. And then he slingshots ahead straight down the middle, passing them both by and leaving all of the others behind.
It's a move he starts to think that he should have preserved when he nears the next obstacle in U.A's race. A massive canyon splits the field and creates a gap in where it is that he's able to run anymore. Spider-Man lands just short of the pit, peering over to see how deep it runs. He's no stranger to clearing distances in single bounds, used to leaping from rooftop to rooftop. But this is a bit different. He instead fires a new web line to stretch over the canyon and creates for himself a tightrope. Crossing that threshold being a matter of balance is no issue at all.
Behind him, the giant robots that he left behind are gradually being dealt with. One appears to be completely frozen over and another is struck by canon balls. The racers are catching up. While Spider-Man is in the lead, he doesn't stick around for that to change. He hurries across the canyon and reaches the other side.
Once there, his Spider-Sense warns him yet again of danger. Spider-Man stops before he can take another step, hesitant to set his foot down. Trusting that he shouldn't advance without checking the ground first, he stoops low to swipe sand aside. Buried beneath him is a landmine. His Spider-Sense sweeps the surrounding site and he knows that this entire next stretch has just as many boobytraps laid.
He glances back to see the other racers have now reached the canyon. There's not much time for him to waste side stepping landmines with his Spider-Sense. At such a rate, others might pass him up. He begins brainstorming alternative solutions to maintain his lead in the race. And at the grace of God, a solution comes falling from the sky.
A chunk of scrap metal crashes beside him and sinks into the sand. It must have blown all the way over from where some people are still trying to get past U.A's robots. It appears sturdy enough to withstand explosions and if it carried that far then… Spider-Man lifts the sheet of metal from out of the ground and carries it over to the minefield.
His Spider-Sense helps him find a few more landmines. Though he doesn't choose to avoid them like the first that he discovered. Rather, Spider-Man groups the explosives together into a small pile. He then covers himself with the sheet of metal and belly flops onto it. Like a surfer hitting a wave with their board, he's carried forward by a powerful force.
A massive explosion rocks the obstacle course. Launched by that blast, is none other than Spider-Man. He uses the scrap metal that he took as a shield and doubles it as a surfboard. When he's through sailing over the field of additional explosives, he flips with the metal plate to land safely atop of it.
Witnessing Spider-Man get such a boost in the race, many of the other contestants begin busting out their own tricks to try and get ahead. All caution goes to wind in their haste. Shoto Todoroki coats the ground in front of him with ice, creating a path across the minefield. While some racers try to follow that same path, others take their chances and attempt crossing the grounds on their own. Explosions erupt all around.
Among those explosions are Katsuki Bakugo's. Bakugo propels himself forward with miniature bursts from his hands, soaring over the mines. "Eat my shit you peppermint looking bitch!", he matches the speed at which Todoroki terrains the obstacle course within seconds.
"So manly!", Kirishima quickly becomes inspired to also give it his all. He hardens his skin with his quirk and charges through the minefield haphazardly. Explosions detonate against his body but he takes the brunt of it all as a tank steamrolling ahead.
Mina Ashido tails behind Todoroki, mimicking his move by using her acid as a spray sheet in front of herself. The slickened path coats over the mines and allows her to slide smoothly. "Don't count me out either, boys!" The pinkette races Kirishima who has now come along beside her, neither side quitting.
Spider-Man sees the group of inspired racers catching up to him already and makes a dash for the last part of the obstacle course. It's another narrow hallway. So he does what he did the last time. A strong leap carries him to the ceiling of the corridor, where he catches himself with two hands before flipping his feet up to join them.
Setsuna Tokage steps on a mine in her haste to catch up. Her body parts go in various directions upon the bomb detonating. If not for the lack of blood and guts being sprayed, people would have panicked. But they all realize that her quirk is what caused the separation of limbs when they reconjoin rather than staying detached.
And so all focus shifts from her or the other racers there to the finish line. Spider-Man bounds from the hallway and crosses it first. He's soon followed by Todoroki and Bakugo wrestling against one another.
Midnight snaps her whip at each re-entry, calling off the numbers as they come. Pretty soon, the limit to how many contestants will be able to proceed to the next challenge is met. But Katsuki Bakugo pays no mind to any of the rankings other than first place. He glowers at Spider-Man, angry to have not claimed top spot himself.
"And that does it for the first event!", Midnight signals for the horns to announce the end of the race. The last of the racers lay out on the grass, breathing heavily. "Catch your breath before the next event because we're about to announce the standings!"
"To have not come in the top ten in a race of all things.. With my quirk no less…", Tenya Iida squats down to hold his calves where the turbines that protrude from them smoke from exhaustion.
"Way to go, Spider-Man, but I guess we shouldn't have expected anything less from you" Itsuka places her hands on her hips as she also makes an effort to catch her breath.
Grateful that his mask covers up his blush, the incognito teen awkwardly waves away her compliment. "A- Ah, it's nothing! Just a lucky head start!", he downplays his achievement as to not attract anymore attention.
But it's too late as others start surrounding him. "Are you kidding?! That was awesome the way you blew yourself up!", a boy that looks like he could be related to Kirishima turns himself into steel and slams his fists together to show how pumped up he is.
"How is it even fair to let a guy like that compete with the rest of us? We're totally outmatched", others aren't as enthused to have witnessed Spider-Man's stunning display of power though.
Before the commotion can continue among the contestants, Midnight calls for them to all pay attention. "The top forty two from the qualifying round will now move on!", she twirls her whip to wrap around her waist and tightens it to flaunt how thin that waistline exactly is, "Move onto what? Well that would be none other than the second event that is– !"
The holographic announcement screen from before returns to display the title of the second event, "A cavalry battle!", alongside Midnight's verbal announcement of it.
"So we'll be teaming up with others this round, eh?" Setsuna gives a pointy toothed grin when directing her gaze in Spider-Man's direction – or rather, the direction of the boy's butt.
Midnight catches the girl's gaze and grins. "But if I were them then I'd hold off on deciding who I'd like for my teammates to be just yet!", she gestures towards the holographic screen again when new numbers appear beside the ranked contestants, "Since the previous event's ordering of racers is what decides how many points each person is going to have moving into the second round!"
When first place receives a grand total of ten million points, all eyes turn towards Spider-Man. The short statured superhero shrinks under their stares. His own eyes are about the same size as the expanded lenses covering them. When Midnight elaborates further on what those points mean, the tense atmosphere only intensifies. She explains the rules of the Cavalry Battle as such, "This event is a matter of how many points you can take from other groups. The overall point value of each team will depend on its members regardless, but in the form of each member's point evaluated headband that can be stolen by other teams."
Bakugo's snarl swaps positions, shifting into a broad devilish grin. "So the high rankers are who everyone is gonna be gunning for", he himself is within that range of points that he believes this round is his chance to make a comeback and prove himself.
"It's anyone's game!", Midnight motions for the audience in the stands to cheer. The promise of an intense round gets them hyped enough to whoop and holler. "You have fifteen minutes to form your teams!"
Almost immediately, the crowd of people that had been surrounding Spider-Man branches off in different directions. He's left without anyone wanting to be on his team. He can't say he blames them since he's a big bright red (and slightly blue) target. Even so, it puts him in a tough spot.
Offered a saving grace seemingly out of nowhere, someone latches onto one of his arms. He jumps when he feels something squish into his side. When confirming his suspicions of what that squishy feeling was, that it came from a girl, he jumps again. At least she's someone he recognizes. Not somebody he was expecting though. "Mei Hatsume, future inventor extraordinaire! Nice to meetcha Mister Ten Million!" If not identifiable by the amount of support equipment she's got on, he'd know her as the same girl that nearly blew him and Shinso up outside of U.A's development studio.
"Uh.. H- Hi..", the masked boy awkwardly tries snaking his arm out of the girl's hold on him. She somehow only tightens her grip further, making it an impossible feat.
"All eyes are gonna be on you now and that means a chance for my babies to gain some spotlight screen time! So you're gonna make me apart of your team!", Hatsume gets closer and closer to Spider-Man no matter how far back away from her he tries to lean.
"I don't have much of a choice.. do I.. ?", Izuku sweatdrops under his mask. Regardless of making that decision himself, he doubts there will be any other volunteers coming forward.
But he thought wrong. Somebody clears their throat behind him. And for some reason, his Spider-Sense begins to tingle. That makes the boy whirl around immediately. When he sees Kyoka Jirou waiting with her arms crossed, he gets a second sensation warning him to get away from Hatsume or else that danger detection is going to rise. "Have room for one more girl on your team or would I be cramping your style?", she asks.
"N- No!", Spider-Man jumps just enough this time to come loose from Hatsume's hold on him, "I- I mean no that you won't cramp my style – not that I don't want you on my team – cause I do!" The eyes on the boy's mask squint as narrow as they'll go as he winces.
That reaction seems to be enough to placate Jirou's mood, a small smile ghosting across her mouth as she stifles a laugh. "Mhm", she uncrosses her arms and draws nearer, "I see."
"I hope that doesn't make me the odd one out then", the recently developed trio turn towards an approaching potential fourth member. Another girl that Izuku knows. Her ginger ponytail sways behind her with each step closer.
"Kendo?!", Jirou is as shocked as Izuku to see the familiar girl wanting to join their team. She fortunately beat him to the punch as he was about to exclaim 'MJ' and no doubt out his secret identity in doing so, to which he's grateful for her to take the lead with his same line of questioning. "Why would you wanna be on this team?"
Kendo backpedals, appearing bashful. When she sneaks a glance towards the stands and then back, she regathers her composure. "Midoriya takes photos of Spider-Man", she looks away from Jirou and into the eye lens of Spider-Man's mask, "That means he'll have his eyes on you."
Jirou visibly relaxes at that answer. Thinking that the attention is drawn away from one boy and focused on another, the girl gains a small smirk. "Somebody's crushing hard, huh?" She takes the opportunity to tease her friend a little.
Kendo's cheeks change to a color tone similar to her hair. But she otherwise maintains her level headedness this time. "You're one to talk", her retort shuts Jirou up; the earjacked girl doesn't dare brave a look in Spider-Man's direction. Seeing that she regained the upper hand, Kendo adds, "And neither of you better speak a word of it to Midoriya!"
Spider-Man squeaks out, "Not a word!", sounding much younger than he usually does as his voice cracks. Which makes the girls all look at him funny.
"Anyways..", Hatsume chimes back in when she sees that she has an opportunity to interject; not that she had any idea what was going on or nor would she have a problem interrupting anyway, "We should probably come up with our game plan."
"R- Right!", Spider-Man is quick to agree with her. He's grateful for the distraction.
And so, they develop their strategy. Hatsume's inventions plus the team's quirks eventually results in their group placement. Per Midnight's explanation of the Cavalry Battle, the team has to carry a 'rider' in a specified manner. If the rider touches the ground, the whole team is disqualified. The group agrees that it's best for the guy with spider-like agility and reflexes to be the rider, and not just for the sake of him wearing the ten million headband neither.
Seeing that Spider-Man's team of girls get to carry him above their heads, Setsuna Tokage can't help but feel a pang of jealousy. Not only do they get to ogle his posterior the whole event, but they have the perfect opportunity to grope it 'accidentally'. She second guesses her decision to prioritize trying to win the Sports Festival.
But she doesn't get to dwell on it for long, because if she's to claim victory, then she'll need to get her head in the game; the Calvary Battle starts when Midnight suddenly shouts, "BEGIN!"
As anticipated, everybody goes for the team with ten million points. "Hatsume!", Spider-Man orders his teammate in the rear to compensate for the attack. In this moment of fight or flight, they choose flight. Quite literally. Hatsume activates a jetpack that she built in order to launch the team into the air.
Soaring over the arena garners gasps and exclamations. It did the trick though. It helped them escape an immediate fate of failure. Spider-Man surveys the sky while they remain airborne. It's not made to last. Hatsume warned them of stallout times, meaning that they'll need to land eventually. But until then…
"YOU DAMNED INSECT!", he can also anticipate relentless pursuits regardless – especially from the most expected of them all; Katsuki Bakugo launches himself off from his team of carriers with explosions to chase Spider-Man's group.
The rules don't dictate that the rider can't leave their carriers. Just that they don't touch the ground. Spider-Man kicks off from his own team to meet Bakugo's assault. The thing is, even without his Spider-Sense, Izuku Midoriya recalls that the bully always leads with a right hook and is able to counter the attack. As though that weren't enough of an advantage, when it comes to aerial battles – "I've dealt with the likes of The Vulture", Spider-Man's experience fighting Hawks trumps a novice, "You're out of your league."
Bakugo's eyes broaden when they catch the glint in Spider-Man's skewered stare. But even with his eyes wide open, Bakugo is unable to see the kick to his face coming. He's knocked back down, with a broken nose to take with him as a souvenir. Undoubtedly, he'd have hit the ground if not for his team rushing to catch him.
The crowd goes wild over the instant exchange of action to kickstart the next round. Spider-Man grapples himself back to his team with a web line so that he doesn't fall with Bakugo, earning another cheer. It feels good to be encouraged for hitting his childhood bully back but he doesn't openly admit it.
Instead, he focuses on his team's next course of action. The jetpack that's been keeping them suspended over the arena is starting to stall. Which means that they're landing soon. They may as well be dropping right into a lion's den.
"Jirou! You're up!", Spider-Man calls out to his teammate in the front. She'll be the first to touchdown. Just as planned. When she lands, she plants her ear jacks into the ground. A heartbeat pulse is primed and ready.
And good thing too, because headed their way is an ice wave sent by Shoto Todoroki. Instead of freezing them in place, it's shattered by a retaliating sound wave. A spray of condensation covers them in a cloud of misty residue.
Spider-Man sees shadows surrounding them from within the fogged area. His Spider-Sense alerts him to one in particular though. "Kendo! Brace us!", he shouts for the team's last line of defense. And though it may be desperate to already be using every counter measure this quickly, it's for what he trusts to be a good reason.
"Recipro Burst!", he hears somebody yelling over the roar of an engine. And then, Todoroki's team is blasted forward like an overturned rocket. Tenya Iida, the brother of Ingenium, pushes the group along at an unprecedented speed.
Kendo barely has enough time to react. But she does. What looks like sparks of lightning erupt from her hands as they shoot up to block the forceful approach. Her hands inflate and serve as a shielding barrier to prevent Iida or anyone else from snatching Spidey's headband.
Iida's calf muscles pulsate as the engines protruding from them flare with residual fumes. He grits his teeth while pressing against the stronger opposition that is Kendo's giant hands. "I'm sorry! That was all I had in me! We're sitting ducks now!", Iida lets his team know that he's done all that he can do.
But as Hatsume tinkers with her jetpack to get it running again, the team combating Iida's side are in a similar position. "We're sitting ducks as well!", she lets the others know that she needs more time to get them airborne again.
Seeing that Todoroki is prepared to launch another ice attack – and that he isn't alone as other teams begin to advance – Spider-Man shifts himself to not be a literal SITTING duck (or, in his case, spider). "Kendo, I need to be alley ooped for a bit!" He does the unexpected and goes towards the hands that are intersected with the oppositional team.
"Got it!", Kendo flips her hands to have her palms facing upward when Spider-Man does a hop into them, "Alley oop!" And then she throws the boy up into the air like he just bounced off of a trampoline.
Once again airborne, even if by himself, Spider-Man is able to evade the people gunning for his headband. Or so he believes. He needs to twist his body to dodge a spray of acid; Mina Ashido tried shooting him out of the sky. And she isn't the only one who has a high reaching range of attack. Another girl with vines for hair tries snatching the headband with those very same vines.
"At least nobody has tried swatting me down with a newspaper yet", he makes an off handed comment whilst dodging the vines.
Which he probably shouldn't have, since he sorta jinxed himself. Manga Fukidashi rolls up a comic page with Spider-Man's picture on it and swings. The paper whistles through the air as it breezes by.
Spider-Man goes on the offensive after that. He fires a web line at them. It reaches in between equally reaching vines. And then he snags the rider's headband like a fishing line that's just been hooked.
Spider-Man drops back down to rejoin his team, now with an extra headband. "Nice going!", Kendo and Jirou are elated that he managed to score them additional points.
But that happiness is short-lived. Kirishima and his metallic counterpart rush the team head on. Kendo just barely prevents the group from being tackled by blowing up her hands and blocking the brunt of the blow. She grunts against the combined strength and effort of the two hardened boys.
"You're a lot tougher than you let on!", the steel covered opposition relishes in the challenge of fighting over dominance.
Knowing him from Class 1-B's section of the Hero Course, Kendo grants the boy a little respect. "You're not too bad yourself, Tetsutetsu!" But her borrowed power from All Might slowly starts to outshine and overpower him.
If she were to really amp it up and use her full strength, there would be no struggle. But Spider-Man spares her having to reveal that extent of her power just yet, kicking Kirishima and Tetsutetsu each to knock them away.
But all of that effort and focus then leaves them vulnerable to being third partied. Spidey's danger sense warns him a little too late. The ground beneath them has started dragging them down. It's a mud pit with the same functionality as quicksand. Jirou can't do anything to the liquid with her ear jacks. And it seems the more that they struggle the faster that they sink.
It's the quirk of some boy with a skull for a face. His team is somehow able to move through the mud without suffering the same effects that Spidey's team is. Which leaves Spider-Man and his squad with only one remaining option. "Hatsume?!", the lead of the group only hopes that it actually is still an option.
"Got it!", the inventor extraordinaire pulls through in their moment of crisis and gets the jetpack functioning again. Just as things seem bleak for them, the jetpack pulls them free from the mud hole and flies them out of grabbing distance.
"Not this time!", Bakugo blasts off as well to pursue them in the skies for a second time.
But instead of Spider-Man stopping him short, it's instead Kendo who counters the approaching firecracker. She connects her thumb with her index finger and primes it as though about to pull the trigger on something huge. She may as well, for all it takes is the flick of a finger to create an air cannon.
Instead of intercepting the flying squad, Bakugo is blown out of the sky. Seeing that it barely took more than a girl lifting her finger in his direction, he furiously swears on his way down. There's nobody below to brace his fall this time either. He has to keep himself from becoming disqualified by emitting another round of explosions in order to remain airborne.
But this is no longer a fight for dominance in the sky. "Land there!", Spider-Man relies on the instinct of his Spider-Sense to know where to go. Where the least amount of danger is detected is by Iida. He figures that it's safe for the sake of the boy's engines still having some sort of cooldown effect.
"If you're sure", Jirou trusts his decision and the team descends back into the battle below.
Just as they make it down, Spider-Man is quick to web up another team. Fumikage Tokoyami and Tokage are bound so that they can no longer carry their rider. The avian headed boy tears free with the help of his sentient quirk burrowing out of his stomach, but the shadowy being recedes just as quickly when exposed to sunlight.
"Spider-Sense!", Spider-Man swivels around just in time to narrowly avoid getting his headbands snatched by an elongated tongue.
"Dang", a familiar froggy greenette uncamouflages herself when her tongue retracts back into her mouth, "Thought I had him."
Seeing that she turned herself invisible, Spider-Man can't help but feel a little jealous. Since spiders like frogs alike are also able to cloak and blend into their environments, he feels slightly robbed of an ability.
But because of his musing, he isn't able to fully appreciate the abilities he does have – like his Spider-Sense – that warns him of another incoming danger. A net ensnares Spidey and his team. He and the others turn to see that it was fired out from a cannon by Momo Yaoyorozu.
"Yaomomo?!", Jirou feels slightly betrayed when she recognizes her friend as the one gunning for her team's headband.
"Sorry, Jirou!" But Yaoyorozu doesn't back down. The ponytailed girl accomplishes her task and steals one of the headbands from Spider-Man.
"That friend of yours needs to learn not to take what isn't hers!", Spider-Man reaches through one of the holes in the net to extend an arm and fire a web line. But when he makes an attempt with his signature hand sign, only residual webbing fizzles out of the shooter. It's on empty!
"We can't let her get away!", Kendo uses a combination of both her given and gifted quirk to rip a hole wide enough in the net to help her team escape. To which they are grateful enough to instantly get moving once loose.
Hatsume tries reactivating the jetpack but it's again too overused. It needs another moment. A moment too long that they don't have as Midnight calls for the last remaining minute of the match. Spider-Man nervously glances at the countdown that's now being displayed as a holographic screen. He too isn't sure he has enough time to do what he must as he hurriedly tries to restock his web shooters.
Spider-Man finishes popping in a fresh cartridge and takes aim. But just as he's about to press on the trigger, the timer reaches zero and Midnight signals the end of the match.
"Did we just… lose?", Kendo deflates with her hands as she looks around the field at everyone else who looks as equally defeated & drained.
But there's still a bit of remaining hope as Spider-Man hops down from being the rider of the group. "When I got that second headband, I thought it might be a good idea to turn them inside out…" He begins pulling the one that they still have off of his head, "Let's make the call.."
Yaoyorozu is appalled when she checks the headband in her hand. It doesn't match the number of ten million points. Because she grabbed the wrong one. Spider-Man and his team still have the one that they originally started with, guaranteeing that they move on to the next round.
"Good going, Webhead!" Hatsume claps Spider-Man on the back.
"You did it!", Jirou hugs him.
And Kendo, in utter disbelief, can only smile. She looks up at the stadium stands and smiles. Somewhere within them, she knows her mentor is smiling back.
Meanwhile, Katsuki Bakugo has the opposite of a smile on his face. He falls to his knees and claws at the ground. He digs up dirt while tearing grass out of the field. He slams his fists down and yells.
"Whoa, calm down, Bakubro.. We still got enough points to move on.." Kirishima tries cheering up what he considers to be his friend. But he has to harden himself with his quirk to keep himself from being blasted to smithereens, so he might want to reconsider that.
"I was too fucking weak to do anything!", the explosive blonde fizzles out when looking around the field and seeing all of his other competitors. The peppermint haired bastard who only uses half his power really pisses Bakugo off. It goes to show that even though some people aren't giving it their all, he himself still isn't enough.
Kaminari meets Bakugo's gaze from across the field. And though they don't say anything to one another, there's something spoken between them. Bakugo ignores it. He balls his sweaty hands into fists that swear to get by on their own power and ignores whatever that bastard has to say about it.
Tensei Iida, a spitting older image of his younger brother minus the glasses, smiles as he stares down at his phone's screen. Having been watching a live feed of the Sports Festival, he already knows the reason why Tenya's contact has popped up to pause the stream, but he answers anyways. "Hello?", he feigns ignorance when accepting the call.
And it's worth pretending to be oblivious, "Tensei! I did it! I made it to the next event!", because his younger brother's elated voice shouting through the speaker system to share exciting news is better to hear directly from the source as to what happened.
"Congratulations! You're one step closer to first place!", Tensei encourages his younger sibling since he knows just how much Tenya looks up to him. Little does Tenya know that he is mutually Tensei's pride and joy.
"I will certainly give it my all to try and do you proud", Tenya's voice mellows out and returns to its usual robotic nature. It makes times like the start of the call all the more appealing to appreciate. Tensei likes getting to bring out that inner child of Tenya's when he gets the chance.
"That's all that I ask", Tensei chuckles regardless of his little brother's antics. But his amusement is short lived. He stops and stalls when spotting something move from within an alley. "I need to return to my patrol now", he proceeds to follow the potential lead since it's his duty as a licensed pro hero, "I'll call back later."
And Tenya, being ever the rule follower, completely understands. "Of course!", the line clicks off and the call ends.
Without as so much as a goodbye or an 'I love you', the two of them believing it goes unsaid, their conversation comes to a close. Perhaps both of them will regret that later. Or maybe, just one.
Concealed by the shadows of the dark alley, The Hero Hunter watches Tensei Iida step deeper into the tight space. Chizome Akaguro, a Stain in hero society, unsheathes the katana attached to his back.
AUTHOR NOTES
Now we can get to the really nitty gritty stuff with the one-on-one battles! But before that, let's do our usual review reads!
Glad that you're noticing some of those future plotlines being set up, Pat9921! That and the mid-mission stuff is pretty inspired by the way Spectacular Spider-Man did things, so you're right on the money!
And welcome back, Guest! I'm glad that you're liking some of the character transformations like Ojiro and Hawks, since I sometimes worry about the balance of pacing and developing while maintaining the constant flow of action! And especially since some of these differentiations from canon like Nezu are pretty risky changes, so I'm glad they're paying off! And also thank you for checking out my other works like Glassy Sky!
That being said, folks, hope to see you all swing by again next chapter!
-Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood author!