Izuku was beat. He had spent the past few days mostly reading. His room, whilst it had some hero memorabilia, was mostly filled with books, fiction, non-fiction and notebooks all equal. If you were to walk in, you'd think it'd be a library.
He had also spent a lot of time doing what was effectively meditating. It was... needless to say basically a polar opposite to what his brother was doing. Kacchan has spent the time training, and somehow getting into more arguments than usual with their mother. Somehow they were having more conflict than normal, and quite frankly Izuku did not want to get involved.
Eventually Friday came around, and the day of the sports festival was here. He had been told that morning that, because he came first in the Entrance Exams, he'd have to give a brief speech of some sorts. Great.
Whilst stressing over that, he had gone through the morning on autopilot, their mother wishing them luck and that she'd be, quote, watching them kick those other kids' asses.
On the way to school Bakugo was pretending to pay attention to his brother's ramblings of... something. There was a mix between speech writing, some kind of physics, strategy, and a general vibe of 'Ah Fuck', even if Izuku wouldn't say those exact words.
As amusing as it was, by the time they got to school Bakugo made a small explosion in front of Izuku's face as they entered the classroom. It was sufficient, as his brother apologized and greeted Four Eyes and Round Face, before making his to his seat, Bakugo close behind.
The class clamored onto the bus, everyone ecstatic for the events of the sports festival. None of them had any idea what to expect from this year's, as most had watched the years' prior festivals. Much to Iida's dismay, the way in which everyone got on was disorganized and chaotic, and despite his attempts to control the class, the bus was filled with the chaos of excited teenagers.
Once they arrived, Aizawa-sensei directed them to a waiting room where they would stay until their class was called out to the centre, and speeches would be made before the first event would be announced.
Izuku was stressing out and kind of detached from reality, until he watched Todoroki approach his brother. With an glare that was pointed at Kacchan but not really directed to him, Todoroki got dangerously close to the explosive boy. "Looking at it objectively, I'm stronger than you." Todoroki stated, the silence in the room deafening as everyone watched for the irritable blond's reaction.
"Alright, first, that's a fucking lie, and second, what the fuck do you want then you half and half bastard?!" Kacchan replied.
"This is a declaration of war. I am going to beat you with my ice, and my ice alone. I will prove I don't my old man's quirk, and you will be my tool to do so." Todoroki replied
Kacchan was visibly twitching. Izuku watched in horror as Kacchan opened his mouth to speak, a dangerous fire in his eyes. He was ever so thankful when Present Mic announced that Class 1A would be coming out onto the field, and despite the tense air, they all still soaked in the atmosphere of the cheering crowd.
Izuku look around, doing his best to steel his nerves as the other classes were introduced, before the inevitable announcement was made. "Annnnnnnnnd here to make an opening speech for the first years is Izuku!"
Taking a breath, he walked up to the microphone and began talking, "I-" only to be cut off by feedback. Quickly suppressing his quirk and hoping no-one saw too much of it, he continued, "I look forward to competing, not just a chance to have fun, but as a chance to compare myself to others," he continued, looking back at his class, "but most of all as a chance to learn and improve. I am grateful to be at such a prestigious school, " great, looked like Iida was rubbing off on him, "and look forward to doing my best against all of your bests. Plus Ultra!" He finished, looking at the crowd to gauge a response. It soon erupted into cheers from Pro Heroes and the other years and students not participating alike. He smiled a blindingly, a mix of happiness and relief, and stepped down.
Izuku listened as Present Mic directed everyone's attention to the R-rated hero: Midnight. "All right kiddos, here is the first event..." she called out, directing everyone's attention to the giant spinning wheel on the screen, "An obstacle course race, with quirks free of course! On your marks!"
As she started the countdown, a large concrete door rolled down to reveal a tunnel. "Get set!" Izuku heard Midnight scream, thinking fast. He didn't want to use his quirk yet as to save energy and his head, ideally he could get by with minimal usage of his quirk. "GO!"
With the last yell, Izuku used a small amount of his green lightning to boost his legs, and so he bounded up, over the top of the packed in students. Just before he landed Todoroki froze everyone and the ground ahead, causing him to tumble as he landed.
He watched students who could fly soar over the ice, as others stumbled. As he tried to regain his balance to continue onwards, he watches Mineta bouncing across his hair orbs, screaming something about becoming popular, before getting hit by one of the robots from the entrance exam.
"AND HERE IS THE FIRST OBSTACLE! ROBOTS FROM THE ENTRANCE EXAAAAAAAAAAM!" Present Mic screamed. Izuku watched as Mineta curled over by the barrier, and turned his attention back to the robots. Continuing to bide his strength, he only slightly charged his arm as he punched one of the robots, with a small discharge on impact. He took a chunk of the debris with him, hoping to find a use for it later.
Running further down, and thankfully off of all the ice, there was a line of the Zero Pointers. Todoroki had frozen one, causing it to collapse. Utilizing slightly additional lightning in his legs, he sped up and ran between the 'legs' of the robot before it collapsed. Not unscathed, thankfully the debris earlier picked up absorbed most of the damage, but that'd still leave a mark.
Hopefully with the way he's been using his quirk, people will think it's an enhancement type, as there is always a fighting tournament at the end of the sports festival. Focusing on running ahead, he was part of the top 10, and came across the next obstacle. A canyon with pillars, connected by cables.
Izuku quickly got to crawling across. His quirk wouldn't be able to improve his center of balance. Maybe there was a way. Probably not a good time to find out.
Shimmying his way across, he found himself far behind, maybe top 50 at the best, and in front of a minefield (introduced far earlier by Present Mic when the frontrunners arrived). 'How can I get to the front... I need a sudden burst of power... but I can't safely do that... wait... the landmines...'
Izuku quickly got to gathering landmines carefully together, using the debris from earlier. Ignoring the looks he was getting from other students, he gathered a last few mines, and jumped using the debris as a sled.
Nejire was currently a ball of energy, and it was beginning to drive Mirio insane. Of course, it made sense. Her curiosity was undeniably going to be at it's peak because of the sports festival, whilst theirs would happen later in the day, currently it was the first year's festival, and there was a plethora of new quirks for her to question.
Mirio glanced over at the girl who never stopped talking since the race had begun. She had been asking questions left, right and centre about literally every student, about their quirk, and what the limitations were.
This didn't mean he didn't miss the brief flash of recognition in her eyes whilst Izuku was giving the opening speech. It quickly disappeared however. Mirio thought he recognized the boy as well, but it was hard to tell. His face was plain, and generally uninteresting.
What DID interest Mirio however, was seemingly how the boy didn't use his quirk. I mean, he was part of the hero course so he definitely had one. It seemed this interested Nejire too, because whenever the cameras had the boy even remotely in shot, she had her attention focused on him.
It could be a thought based quirk, or something that can't be seen. The former was seeming more likely as they watched the boy react to situations on the fly. But the way he jumped over everyone at the start made the latter more likely.
Mirio shook his head, trying to focus on the race. Sir was probably watching as well, almost definitely being interested by the boy. Whilst one camera was focused on the front runners, there was another camera focusing on anything interesting happening. This happened to be a particular green-haired boy.
Mirio and his friends watched in confusion, with more questions coming from Nejire's mouth, as the green-haired boy was seen digging up mines using a piece of metal debris he had gotten earlier. Their confusion was quickly replaced by understanding and worry as the boy proceeded to launch himself onto the pile of mines, flying over the majority of the competitors to line up with the two front-runners.
Izuku did not think this part through. 'HOW AM I MEANT TO LAND?!' were all he thought as he soared over the rest of the landmines and the majority of the competitors, and he was on a collision course with Todoroki and Kacchan. Wait... maybe that was the answer.
Thinking quickly, he repositioned himself so that when would inevitably have to land, he would be able to continue to propel himself over the remainder of the mines, and hopefully end up knocking over the other boys in the process.
He waited until he was marginally in front of the boys, and the moment he was he yelled at his brother, "Hey Kacchan! Catch!" and with that he threw the metal plate down. The result, it hit three landmines, and due to his position Izuku was blown forward further, just past the edge of the minefield and the other boys were sent reeling back, doing their best not to end up in a chain reaction of the landmine explosions.
Mirio, Nejire, and Tamaki were all in awe of what just happened. They, along with the rest of the crowd and teachers, were in shock after witnessing the events that unfolded in a matter of seconds. Someone who was back around mid 40s in terms of placement, had just used the landmines to propel themselves forward and send the two front-runners reeling back.
"Coming in first is Izuku of class 1A! Closely followed by Bakugo in second and Todoroki in third!" Midnight announced, snapping her whip as she talked. Bakugo, the blonde haired boy, was walking up to Izuku as the two began talking as though the latter definitely didn't just casually overtake and sabotage the other.
At least it seemed casual initially before there was a sharp glare, and the two boys separated with Izuku pulling a notebook and pen out of seemingly thin air, and Bakugo sporting a scowl.
"You nerd, I'm so beating your shitty ass later on," Bakugo said, shooting a sharp glare at his brother.
"Yeah whatever spiky hair, like you could even touch me," Izuku responded with his own 'glare'. It was, needless to say, fairly soft, but still a glare for Izuku nonetheless. Bakugo watched his brother pull out one of his notebooks and writing about... something in there? It was hard to tell.
He turned his attention back towards Midnight, as did his brother, who was introducing the next event. "What's it gonna land on... it's going to be... a Cavalry battle! The first 42 students in the race will be allowed to compete!" she took a break for a moment to allow the students who placed 43 and below begrudgingly leave. 'Those fucking extras don't deserve to be here anyway, especially the business bitches' Bakugo thought as everyone waited for Midnight to continue.
"So the rules are simple. Every student forms a team of 2-4, with a headband representing your team's collective points!" Midnight continued, an animation assisting her explanation, "your goal is to collect as many of these points as possible! The top 4 teams will be moving on! You may use your quirk and do anything at will so long as your horse rider, the one wearing the headbands, does not touch the ground, and you do not intentionally try and injure other students or break their 'horse' up!" Midnight took a break as students began to discuss.
Snapping her whip again to gain everyone's attention, she continued, "Starting from the bottom, everyone has 5, 10, 15, etc points. The exception is the first place, with 1 million points!" Bakugo, along with all the extras, looked at his brother. 'HA! You're fucked nerd!' "You have 20 minutes to create and plan teams! Good luck~" Midnight finished off.
Bakugo looked around, and quickly formed a team with Soy Face, Shitty Hair and Raccoon Eyes. "So, what's the plan explosive guy?" Shitty Hair asked, "We going for the 1 Mil, or what?"
"No chance Shitty Hair," Bakugo replied.
"Wait what, why Bakubro?"
"'Cause Izuku's gonna be over prepared. That nerd as 20 fucking minutes to plan for every and any thing. They, as far as we're concerned, don't fucking count," Bakugo explained, "We will win by overwhelming every other team."
Izuku had never wanted to melt more. Maybe there was a way to do that, if he heats himself up enough using his quirk. Unlikely though. He went over to Uraraka and Iida to see if they'd be on his team. "I thank you for the request, but I will decline," Iida replied, shocking both Izuku and Uraraka, "I am here to do my best and being on your team will not allow me to showcase that."
"I'll still be on your team!" Uraraka called out once Iida started walking away to Todoroki.
"Thanks Uraraka!"
"Hi! Can I be on your team? My babies will be of great use!" A girl with pink hair and a ridiculous amount of gadgets came up to them.
"Babies..?" Uraraka asked, mildly concerned.
"Gadgets for those who are not top notch inventors."
"Right... and your name is?" Izuku asked, trying to get this... unique interaction back on track.
"I am Mei Hatsume of 1-H! Now, may I be on your team?"
"Yes, definitely! Show me your gadgets in a moment, but first we need one more member... someone defensive..." Izuku responded. Glancing around, he saw a familiar bird-headed boy brooding off to the side. "Tokoyami! Will you join us?"
"Very well, I shall assist in your conquest." Tokoyami replied, heading towards the trio.
"...right," Izuku replied, "Anyway, here's the plan you guys."
Bakugo looked around, his team all set up. Looking around, he saw Izuku on a team with Round Face, Bird Head and some pink haired bitch he didn't recognize who had a lot of gadgets. It looked like they were completely set up, and probably untouchable. Izuku sent his brother a glance that told Bakugo everything he needed to know. 'I know you aren't coming, but even if you were you wouldn't stand a chance' was everything sent with that short glance. Bakugo shot back a smirk, and focused on Midnight as she held her whip up high. "Ready? Go!" and with a yell from Midnight, chaos proceeded to unravel in U.A's sports festival stadium.
Mirio watched in awe as Izuku's team immediately got bombarded by various teams with all sorts of quirks, yet managed to avoid every attack, and after the first minute the attacks seemed to slow down.
Izuku was holding a long metal rod that had the appearance of a lightning rod, presumably courtesy of the pink haired girl who seemed to be from the support course. The end that wasn't in his hand was placed firmly on the ground.
Mirio watched in awe as Izuku's arm and the lightning rod lit up with green lightning, and the ground nearby did something similar. The ground had a few streaks of large green lightning going through, splitting it. Literally.
The ground effected by the lightning suddenly burst, the concrete shattering into dozens of pieces, creating an unstable and seemingly unpassable barrier as a result of the rocky and unpredictable ground. The lightning from the rod and Izuku's arm died down as well, presumably the boy deactivating his quirk.
'So the lightning boy did make it in...' Mirio thought as he glanced over at Nejire to see if she recognized him as well. Her eyes had a different light to the usual one, and questions had stopped pouring out of her mouth. 'And she has recognized him too, Tamaki might as well but I doubt it' Mirio thought further, as the trio watched Izuku's team set up their position. It was almost infallible, most teams had given up with attacking them as they were afraid of the incredibly uneven terrain that resulted.
Most teams. There was still one, the Todoroki team he believed, who's assault was unrelenting. He and his team were trying various methods to pass the barrier of rocky ground, from a girl trying to make wooden planks to him trying to use ice to allow them to pass it. Each of these were destroyed almost immediately by a brief flash of green lightning originating from the boy holding the lightning rod.
Bakugo and his crew took a breather. They had gathered several other teams' headbands during the chaos of the first minute and spent the last five minutes fending off the odd retaliator, but overall were doing fairly well.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Izuku's team effortlessly fending off Todoroki's advancements with occasional flashes of green lightning as Izuku destroyed whatever attempted bridge was built. He smirked as he watched the boy with candy cane hair becoming more and more agitated with each unsuccessful attempt.
Bakugo's attention was suddenly snapped back to reality when a smug looking blond student from 1B stole his primary headband.
Reeling in anger, he didn't hear the calls of his teammates as he used his explosions him to propel him skywards, and towards the other blond boy, who had used a quirk to create an air disc in Bakugo's way.
All this did was give Bakugo a platform to land on as he reached for the blond haired boy's collection of headbands around his neck, and yanked them away, ignoring the yelps of protest from the other boy and his team.
He was yanked back by Soy Face, the tape that was connected him to his back jolting Bakugo in the process. Once he was back with his team, they started scolding him. "Bro! Don't just go off like that!" Shitty hair told him.
"Yeah whatever, I'll do whatever the fuck I want!" Bakugo replied, whacking the hard-headed boy on the head.
"Man, can you just chill out?" Soy Face interjected, earning a sharp glare from Bakugo, "Never mind, point taken."
"Guys, don't worry about that!" Raccoon Eyes interrupted, "We're currently second! First if we ignore Izuku's team!"
Bakugo looked up to the board displaying the leaderboard to see his team name underneath Izuku's. He smirked. "Alright extras, new plan," Bakugo informed his team, "We're going off the offensive and are gonna defend until the last minute. Then we return and unleash havoc on all the others."
Izuku was suppressing the urge to yawn. The constant, small but mentally intensive use of his quirk was having an ever so slight impact on him. He sighed as he watched Todoroki try once more to use an ice bridge to cross the debris, only for it to be shattered almost immediately. The ice and fire user had been falling down steadily in the point rankings as a result of his undivided attention on Izuku, and it was surprising to see such a normally level headed person become so irrational and angry at the task at hand.
Out of the corner of his eye, throughout the first few minutes he had noticed his brother taking full advantage of the situation, and Todoroki in his ignorance failed to realize that his team had dropped down into fourth, only five points ahead of the team in fifth.
Getting bored of the constant, mundane assault, Izuku decided to bring Todoroki's attention to this. "Todoroki!" he called out, getting the attention of the fire and ice user, "You're not going to make it to the next stage at this rate!"
"I'll make it in when I take your headband and undeniably grasp first place!" Todoroki responded, much to the dismay of the rest of his team.
"Well, I wouldn't count on it then," Izuku sighed, watching Todoroki's team attempt to convince him otherwise. Eventually they succeeded as they left to pick off some small fry, and Izuku's team began the next stage of their plan.
Using some of Mei's inventions, Uraraka's quirk and Dark Shadow, they placed various traps up high in the sky, each one with green lightning sparking through it. It was a small mental effort and hardly any actual energy used, but would definitely be enough to briefly stun any attackers. And briefly was all they needed.
Once Dark Shadow had gotten the traps to the desired location, he retreated back to Tokoyami. Izuku's team had remained safe, with no other teams trying to pass the unsteady concrete that sealed them off. There were only a few minutes left, and they had a feeling Todoroki would come back sooner or later.
They had set those traps up as a trumpcard of sorts, they would be dropped in the final minute and could be used to effectively make an electrical minefield between them and any team that wanted to try and advance against them.
After successfully warding off various attacks for the past few minutes, Present Mic's voice brought the attention of all teams. "Alright little listeners, IT'S THE LAST MINUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" He screeched, and Izuku's team was swiftly put into action.
Similarly, Todoroki's team started coming to Izuku's team with the intent of snatching the 1 Million Point headband from them. Izuku watched the boy with red and white hair come straight towards his team, trying a different strategy to get over.
Izuku watched as Todoroki prepared his team. It seemed like they had something planned. Tapping Uraraka on the head was the signal for her to release the anti-gravity on the floating traps, and as they landed they each released their small payload of green lightning.
Todoroki and his team were taken aback by the seemingly offensive play, and briefly stalled, their plans halted. Izuku smirked, as he made a connection with the ground through the lightning rod again and sent green lightning through it. He intentionally made the display more flashy than usual, as he wasn't actually planning anything with this in particular, but he hoped it would be enough to ward the other team off.
This didn't stop him from sending it through the ground as well however, in the direction of the offending team. This had the desired effect, causing the other team to briefly move backwards. Just long enough for him to redirect the already sent lightning, back up the lightning rod and back into him, so he could store it for later.
Todoroki's team realized this, and with a look of irritation on their faces they prepared themselves. Izuku had an idea what would happen, and told Tokoyami it was time. The bird-headed boy nodded in response, sending Dark Shadow out as a barrier between them and the other team.
Izuku placed the lightning rod onto the weird connection Dark Shadow and Tokoyami had, not that that was his present concern, and carefully sent lightning into Dark Shadow. Except this wasn't his bright green lightning. This was different, a carefully modified one that was a dark, almost black, green. This was to utilize the best of both him powering up Dark Shadow and the creature's fondness for darkness.
Izuku watched as Todoroki's team had already set in motion, too late to react to the ever expanding creature. He hid a smirk as he watched Iida's face twist in terror as he propelled his team head first into the growing creature.
Todoroki looked like he flinched as he tried to bring an ice ramp up to launch his team upwards, however it was quickly destroyed by a combination of Dark Shadow's swipes and green lightning.
There were less than 30 seconds left now, and Present Mic was hyping up the crowd as everyone watched the showdown between the team that was decisively first and the team that contained Endeavour's son.
There was only time for one more real attempt from Todoroki's team, and both teams knew this. Izuku's team had fought by only doing the bare minimum to hold their position, whereas Todoroki's had gone all out and as such had wasted most of their energy already. In other words, unless Todoroki's team pulled a trump-card out of thin air, they had no chance.
Izuku knew they had one trump-card. He doubted Todoroki would use it, but he was well aware it existed. It would easily deal with Dark Shadow and neither he nor Uraraka could counter it, and although chances are Hatsume had some counter to it, if Todoroki was fast enough, it would be worthless.
Izuku and his team watched in tense anticipation as the timer ticked down, all waiting to see if Todoroki would use his fire. There were less than 10, agonizingly slow seconds on the clock, and Present Mic was decidedly not helping as he was loudly announcing every second.
With only 5 seconds on the clock, Izuku's team watched in awe as Todoroki's left side began to flare up with a dramatic spark spreading from his head to his hand. Unfortunately it was short live, as soon it appeared it became nothing more than a faint trail of smoke.
Izuku was disappointed by whatever grudge Todoroki held that caused the fire to die, and he saw a conflicted look in Todoroki's eyes as Present Mic announced the time was up. "ALRIGHT LITTLE LISTENERS!" He called out, gathering all the students' attention, "In first place, we have, TEAM IZUKU! In second place, TEAM TODOROKI! In third, TEAM BAKUGO!" Izuku noticed his brother was slightly disgruntled by this, but seemed relatively happy enough to be in the final tournament at all, "and in fourth, TEAM SHINSO! All other students can return to their designated seating area, or if needs be to Recovery Girl. There will be a half hour break before the first match of the tournament, Izuku against Shinso! The rest of the match-ups will be shown on the screen, in the meantime, relax little listeners!"
Izuku and his team exchanged congratulations and well wishes, before he was pulled aside by Todoroki. "So tell me Izuku," Todoroki started once they were in one of the tunnels, all other students passed, "What do you know of quirk marriages?"