Chapter Twenty-Seven

Suiting up in the locker room, I couldn't help but feel nervous. In some ways, it was like before the Villain Attack at the USJ. Once more, I'd be tested to see if I'd prepared enough to pass. I'd come within a hair's-breath of failing that test, and, if I was being honest, it'd shaken me up a bit, though it'd been days afterwards when I'd let it hit me. In the moment, I'd been too focused on Mina and the others to think about what'd almost happened to me.

Now I was at another test, but this one, if I failed, would not result in the death of me or those I cared for, merely a slight loss of social standing. Other than the summer camp, I didn't know of any other time where our lives would actually be at risk again, though, given its status as a Shonen world, there would probably be more coming down the line. By then, however, I'd have an out, and, if worst came to worst, and if things went really bad, I could leave, bringing everyone I could to safety, like an interdimensional Noah, minus the 'two-each' requirement, and with the Ark already built.

Which was good, as I didn't even know what a Cubit was.

But now, now it was time to do or die, except not really. Slipping on my uniform, I reached inside my locker, and grabbed the rest of my gear. My gauntlets had been rejected, as I'd pulled too much from my costume for it to be considered 'my invention', even though I had reworked the Taser system. I'd only had time to make a slightly different pair of gloves, one that I could theoretically pull some magnetic tricks off with, and those had been approved. That being said, they were approved yesterday, so I hadn't had time to really practice with them.

With them slipped on and secured, I ran a bit of current through them, feeling as they were pushed slightly away from the metal of the lockers, and, reversing the current, pulled towards them. It was faint, very faint, but I might be able to do something if the opportunity arose.

The fact they worked as a combination of cut-proof gloves and brass knuckles, however, was really what I was after.

Reaching in and grabbing my harness, Tenya's angry call of "Kaminari!" was somewhat expected.

Buckling it on, making sure it fit right over my uniform, I turned to look at the legacy student blandly. "Yes, Iida?"

" What do you think you're wearing? We are all supposed to be in uniform so as to provide equal footing! As a hero you should be above such cheating!" the anal-retentive ass yelled in my face.

Quirking an eyebrow, I pointed over towards Aoyama, who was putting on his bellybutton laser focusing belt, and who, seeing us looking at him, struck a seductive pose.

" That's different!" Iida stated with great force. " He needs that in order to effectively use his power! You have no such requirement!"

Sighing, I grabbed my phone, ignoring his continued recriminations, opening up the rules for the sports festival, and scrolling down to the relevant section. I passed it to him as I reached back inside, grabbing my belt, and the one-off devices Mei and I had spitballed one afternoon, splitting them up between us for the event.

Iida, frowning, looked over the rules intently, before looking back at me suspiciously. "And you are claiming to have created all of these things yourself?" he asked incredulously, but in a more normal tone of voice.

"Had to have Power Loader sign off on all of them," I replied, taking it back. "I'm friends with someone in the Support Course, and I make some stuff of my own, since I have lab access. Nezu's the one that suggested I do it, actually."

Suddenly, a shirtless Izuku was at my other side, eyes bright with excitement. "You mean we can make our own support items! I mean, I guess we could, since others do, like the Equipped Hero: Yoroi Musha, or the Cartridge Hero: Clipper, but they're super hard to make, but maybe I could mutter mutter mutter mutter."

"Getting help from a student in the Support Course still seems unfair," Iida frowned. "But, I suppose if the teachers have approved this, it is not my place to disagree."

"You mean any of us coulda done that?" Kirishima asked, and I nodded. "Dude, I wished I'd known. I coulda gone in with a manly banner that showed off my fighting spirit!"

Bakugo made an angry sound by his locker, "Tch, like I need fancy toys to kick all your asses."

"Are there hot girls in the Support Course? Wrench Wenches are the best!" Minetta proclaimed, already with a small nosebleed.

I almost said yes, but, knowing Mei, if I introduced the two there was a not- insignificant chance there'd be an 'accident' and the hero-in-training would be seriously injured if he tried to harass her. Not because she was offended, but because he'd be bothering her when she could be inventing! "It's almost entirely dudes," I shrugged, which wasn't actually an answer, but the class pervert took as one.

I'd also had to leave my sword behind, and we'd been told that only one of us could use the goo-gun in the first event, so it was part of Mei's kit. However, with the gloves, and my ability to turn my body into lightning, I wasn't exactly hurting when it came to offense.

Mjölnir, as a joint project, was also something that'd been a no-go, but the induction boots were approved. Whether they actually worked was a whole different kettle of fish, but we'd gotten them so that they no longer exploded, which was a plus. Just like the gloves, even if I couldn't use the tech contained within, they were still a pair of armored boots that I could use to, say, kick Todoroki's ice without breaking my foot, like I would if I was wearing the provided sneakers. Both my boots and gloves were treated to look like bronze, the same alloy that Mei used for her gear, and something I'd gotten used to working with the last couple weeks.

Sadly, my last project, the railgun sleeve, had gotten a hard no from Power Loader. Not because it didn't work, it did, kind of, but because it'd reduced the ballistics dummy to the consistency of chunky salsa, and I'd been point blank informed that there would be no point during the festival where I'd need that kind of firepower, especially with the possibility for accidentally hitting someone else.

I still was wearing my ammo-necklace, but they did have a point, so it wasn't coming out unless things got USJ levels of fucked up. I didn't think it would, as it hadn't originally, but, well, Canon had already been derailed.

Running the leads up through my sleeves and pant legs, I connected all my items together, as they was designed to function, and stretched back and forth, making sure nothing caught, pulled, or otherwise restricted my movement. It all worked, and there were no hanging wires or bits of material to get things caught on, just like I wanted.

Pushing a tiny sliver of electricity into the rig, it lit up, basic boot sequences running. Mei favored mechanical devices, but she knew how to make electronics work, and had taught me enough help to get it running. It was no AI, but it'd handle the pairing function of the harnesses, latches on my back cycling around nothing as it got ready.

Nudging Deku, who was still off in his own world, he snapped out of it, and looked to me. "We need to get ready, Midoriya," I reminded him gently.

"Ah, right," he said, a little embarrassed, and ran back to his locker, grabbing his top and shrugging it on.

We left, and walked to the waiting room, where some of our female counterparts were already suited up, the others trickling in from their own locker room. Mina was showing off her glove to Hagakure and Uraraka, giving the same explanation I had, and sent a cheery wave my way, saying something to them as she pointed to my gear.

Walking over, I asked them, "Ready?"

" Heck Yeah!" Uraraka cheered with surprising force. "But, did you make all of that?"

I nodded as Mina replied, "See! I told you so! He's not just good in a fight!"

Smiling at the praise, I still waved it away with one hand, "I'm decent. My friend in the Support Course is waaay better. Hopefully this will be enough." From the incredulous looks the three girls gave me, and the fact that the only items they had was Mina's glove, I was probably being silly. "I'm gonna take a seat."

Mina smiled, patting me on the head patronizingly as I did so, before turning back to her conversation, and I just rolled my eyes. Midoriya showed up a few minutes later, smiling nervously at Ochaco, taking a seat next to me as he quietly tried to not freak out.

"So, you were thinking about possible future support items?" I prompted him. He blinked, nodded, and started to rattle off possible ideas in a nearly indecipherable stream, but I managed to get the basics, doing my best to offer advice on why something that increased the power of his hits wouldn't help, his Quirk above what would normally let such things function. I explained, having already heard about this from Mei when I floated the idea, how something that activated on impact would work with his abilities , and tried to offer other insights where I could.

Yaoyorozu sat down on my other side, listening in quietly, and all three of us jumped a little when the door slammed open, and Iida, standing in the entrance, proclaimed, "Everyone, get your game faces on! We're entering the arena soon!"

Glancing at the clock, we still had another few minutes, so that was a bit premature, but a being bit premature seemed to be one of Iida's base characteristics. I got up anyways, though, the distraction of brainstorming with Midoriya gone, and started to stretch, but noted that Todoroki was walking our way.

He came to a halt before us, standing there, staring at the two of us expectantly, gaze slipping over to Kirishima the next table over. It was an obvious power ploy, expecting us to talk first, which is exactly what Midoriya did. "H-hey Todoroki, what's up?"

The two-toned boy's stare, which I might even call. . . icy, was cast down at the smaller boy, before flickering over to me, and once more to Kirishima. "From an objective standpoint, I think it's clear that I'm stronger than all three of you, even you," he added, at my derisive snort.

"In terms of AoE's, sure," I gave, "But I think you're oversimplifying things, and underestimating us."

"Because you all have All Might in your corner?" Todoroki stated more than questioned, as if this were somehow a revelation. I waited for him to say something worthwhile, but Midoriya barely held back a shocked gasp. "I don't know why that is," Endeavor's son stated, "but know that I will beat you. All of you."

His cold gaze, had I actually been my age, might have unsettled me. However, even as Izuku took a step back, I just folded my arms, thoroughly unimpressed. I could hear a chair pushed out from behind, as Kirishima stood and walked up next to me. "Dude, what the hell? Why are you tryin' to pick fights all of a sudden?"

"We're not here to be each other's friends," the angsty teen said, and I did my best not to laugh at the clichéd line. I knew he had some actual issues, but. . . come on. The cryokinetic turned away, heading for the door, informing us, "Don't forget, this isn't a team effort."

I held my tongue, not wanting to get in the middle of their moment, but I was absolutely reminding him of this proclamation when we got to the second stage. The one that was literally a team effort.

"Wait a sec, Todoroki," Izuka said, quietly, but carryingly, causing the other boy to turn around. "I'm not sure what you're thinking, or why you think you need to beat us. And yeah, you're probably better than me, though the others might surprise you. But yeah, you probably have more potential than me, or anyone else in this class."

"Bullshit," I coughed, even as Kirishima turned to Midoriya, "I think you're bein' a bit harsh on yourself, and ya know, us."

"No," insisted the inheritor of All Might's power, "The other courses, everyone else in the first year, they're going to come at us with everything they've got." From his distant stare, he wasn't really seeing us anymore, as he continued, "We're all going to have to fight to stand out."

Deku's gaze sharpened, and he pinned Todoroki with a stare, "And I'll be aiming for the top too. So if you think you can just get there on the strength of your Quirk alone, you've got another thing coming."

Turning to grin at Icy-Hot, I shot him a toothy grin, leaning on Midoriya's shoulder. "I'm gonna look forward to seeing if you can back that confidence up in the finals."

Kirishima mirrored me, adding, "Yeah, I'm gonna look forward to kicking your butt, so don't get so confident you choke out before then!"

Todorki's gaze narrowed as he took in the three of us. "Fine," he stated coldly, before turning and walking out the door.

There was a moment of silence before Asui added, "He does know we have to enter the arena as a class, ribbit?"

Todoroki was, indeed, waiting by the entrance to the field, prompting chuckles from the rest of us, much to his consternation. We waited until Present Mic announced us, making our way out, as the teacher continued to hype us up.

There were people, a lot of people, the stands absolutely packed as they cheered for us. It was. . . a little intimidating, to be honest. I felt something brush against one of my Defenses, and made sure to keep my steps even, as I wondered what just happened. I couldn't distinguish which Defense it was, or even what it did, only that something had swept over me.

Looking to Mina, I saw she was looking back to me, smiling fakely, but just as unnerved as I was. I gave her a shrug, not knowing what else to do. It probably wasn't Body Defense, which meant it was Mind, or possibly Soul. Some kind of scanning Quirk, maybe? I didn't remember anything happening originally, not that that really meant anything anymore, but suddenly the crowds of people all around us, seven tenths of them, likely more, with their own superpowers, didn't seem nearly as benign.

Shaking my head, I focused on the main field, the other classes starting to emerge after ours, giving us top-billing, as it were. Every class in the grade assembled, and I spotted Mei with the others in her class, most of which I noticed only had a single piece of gear past basic looking body-armor as opposed to her tech-studded self. Meeting my gaze, she abandoned them completely, and power walked over, large metal backpack swinging back and forth behind her. "Hey Denki!" she smiled, cross-shaped goggles in place.

"Mei," I smiled back, several in my class shooting us unsure looks. "You're looking prepared today."

"Power-Loader wouldn't let me take my Concussion MIRV, but most of my Babies got approved!" she grinned.

I laughed, shaking my head, "It's not a MIRV until it survives re-entry, Mei, until then it's a multi-component warhead, but I'm sure it got nixed for the same reason my sleeve did."

" Dude!" Minetta complained, staring at Mei's chest, which her harness accidentally drew focus to. "You said the Support Course was all dudes!"

"I said they were mostly men, and they are," I said waving over to said classes, many of whom were sending sour looks our way.

The tiny pervert narrowed his eyes, before crossing his arms and turning his back on us. "I see how it is, you want all the hot Support Course chicks to yourself!"

Mei shot me a measuring look. "Have you been working with other inventors?" she asked suspiciously.

"Only you," I replied instantly.

The pinkette paused, then nodded, grinning. "Good."

Before anyone else could say anything Midnight standing atop a platform in front of us, dressed in a spandex costume so tight it looked painted on, whipped her leather flog, and announced into a microphone, " Now for this year's introductory speech!"

As she struck a pose, I glanced over to Mina, who I noticed was looking at me intently, and rolled my eyes, even as the boys in our class openly commented on the teacher's appearance.

"Silence, everyone!" The pro announced, in a way that almost sounded like, 'Silence, worms!' Whipping her flog again, she announced, "And for our student pledge, we have, Denki Kaminari!"

I blinked, not having been warned, but. . . that did make sense, as I had outperformed Bakugo in the entrance exam, even if he'd beaten me in sheer robo-kill count. Shrugging, I made my way forward, once again feeling something bounce off my Defenses, and not go away, a faint but constant prodding that found no purchase against my protections.

Walking up, I tried to think of what to say. I was sure the lack of warning was 'just like being a real hero' or it was meant to have what I say 'come from the heart' or whatever, but some warning would've been nice. Thankfully, while I hadn't had that much teaching experience before I'd ended up here, my parents were both Actors when I was little, and before we moved out of Los Angeles, I'd picked up some tricks.

Don't think about this as a test, don't think of it as yourself speaking, think of it as a mask, a part you're just playing, I told myself . Who do you want to be seen as, and what would that person say? I wanted to be heroic, I wanted to be a little nervous, but humble, and I wanted this to be a fun sports event, especially considering what'd happened to us only a couple of weeks ago. I got to the microphone, fully focused, facing the crowd, and said "Hello," only I did so in English, catching myself having dropped too fully on my previous experiences. I code-switched, flicking that mental dial, and continued in Japanese, "and hello to everyone here, both in the stadium, and watching at home. We're just first years, barely a month in, so please be kind."

Having hit the 'yes, I'm Japanese' quota of 'humility', I grinned, "However, I think you'll be surprised to see just what we're all capable of, and not just the Hero Course students." Grabbing the mic, I stepped around it to face my fellow classmates, most of whom were looking at me in confusion, the Hero students for being included with the rest, and the rest for likely the same reason. "No matter where you are, you'll always have a chance to shine if you can reach out and grab it! So everyone, let's all do our best, have fun, and put on one hell of a show! All right everybody! Go Beyond! Plus!" I yelled, raising a fist, the students, as well as most of the damn coliseum shouting "ULTRA!"

Over the screams from the crowds, Midnight, holding her microphone away from herself, quietly commented, "Not bad, Kaminari. Short and sweet, though ladies like it if you show a bit more stamina."

I grinned, flicking the switch on my microphone off, and replied almost reflexively, "I think you'll see I can go all the way."

"I'll be watching, now get your tight butt back down with the others," the R-Rated hero directed, and, as I headed for the stars, whacked me in the ass with the leather flog. I shot her a 'really' look, and she smiled unapologetically. Shaking my head, I walked the rest of the way to my fellow students, the cheers starting to die down, though there'd been a resurgence for some reason.

"All right, that's enough, time for the real show to start!" Midnight called out, the crowd getting a hold of themselves.

Mina looked at me skeptically. "What was that?" she asked, glancing up towards our teacher.

"Banter," I shrugged. "You still doing this solo?" She hesitated, and nodded, and I nodded back. "See you in round two then," I said simply, getting a relieved sigh and a smile from my girlfriend.

I let out a bit of a breath of my own, glad I'd not made too much of a mistake here, that short speech all I'd been able to throw together, only finishing it as well as I had because our school's catchphrase seemed tailor-made to end any speech with.

"This is where you begin feeling the pain," our teacher announced lustfully. "The first fateful game of the festival!"

Behind her, seemingly from nowhere, a colorful window opened, a spinning display giving the sense that it was up to chance. Glancing around, I thought I could make out the hologram emitters high above us, along the top edge of the structure. They were so bulky that it was hard to scale them down to personal use, but they were excellent for this sort of thing.

"What could it be?" Midnight asked, furthering the con, only for it to stop on Obstacle Race, which, given the setup such a thing required, showed right away it wasn't random at all.

"So it's gonna be an obstacle course," Midoriya announced, completely unnecessarily.

Facing the display, our teacher explained, "All eleven classes will participate in this treacherous contest. The track is four kilometers around the outside of the stadium. I don't want to restrain anyone, at least in this game," Midnight purred, with an exaggerated licking of her lips, "As long as you don't leave the course, you're free to do whatever your heart desires!" she announced, arm extended outwards to us, looking oddly earnest for a moment that made my brain try to settle with her 'I'm not a dominatrix, honest' persona of a moment ago. "Now then, take your places, contestants!"

Having talked with Mei, we both moved to the side of the mob knowing we couldn't 'start' until the others had left. Waiting, the three lights blinked out one after another, and with Midnight's shout of "Begin!" our classmates all took off running, as fast as they could, for the exit, while the two of us calmly walked further to the side, so we weren't pushed away by the horde.

"All right, let's get this started," I said, only to have the inventrix shake her head.

"Not yet," she countered. "Don't you know anything about Marketing, Denki? People love a come-from-behind victory!"

"If you aren't ready in a minute, I'm picking you up and carrying you," I informed her, opening up the latches on my back so we could do this in a hurry.

Mei shot me a manic grin and a thumbs up. "Deal, Partner!"

The tide of humanity continued to storm by, some hundred and sixty students, as Present Mic announced, "And they're off to a racing start! How 'bout you, Eraserhead, what do you think?"

Ignoring the comedy duo, I was surprised to see Midoriya hadn't used his Quirk yet. No one was using their Quirks actually, running as they- no Mina was pulling ahead with her acid, which was causing some people to slip up behind her, but, packed as they were, everyone stayed on their feet.

There was a momentary quiver in the air, which caused me to grab Mei and jump back, ignoring her cry of, "It's only been twenty seconds!" as frost exploded out from the entrance, but missed us, freezing the ground in a line outwards.

I could hear the distinctive rage-filled yell from Bakugo a moment later, and I think Momo's voice, giving Mei an expectant look. She just grinned, as Present Mic announced, "But it looks like two of our contestants haven't even left yet? Are they getting cold feet, or are they just that sure they're gonna win!"

"Remember Kaminari's speech," Aizawa chided. "I think he has something up his sleeve."

"Ah, you got name-dropped, but I didn't?" Mei pouted. "Well, that's gonna change real soon, now let's get our Babies revving up!"

In seconds, she'd opened up the clips of the front of her harness, and I took a knee, only for her to jump forward instead of carefully positioning herself, landing on my back, to the staccato rattling of a dozen points of contact latching together. To make this work, we had to position her so she was halfway up my back, breasts against the back of my neck, and her legs wrapped around me, because any less and things got. . . dicey.

"Light me up, Denki!" Mei cheered, and, trusting in our inventions, I tapped that inner reservoir of energy, the one that I'd been building daily, and let it flow. Close as she was, my power didn't quite see her as a threat, but ran over her instead, diverting itself into our harnesses as it did so. She would've still been shocked, a little, without it, and it was a work in progress, but even if she'd been facing the brunt of it, her harness should've held out. That said, I still didn't want to test it.

"Good, good," Mei nodded, monitoring the process, her goggles including a Heads-Up Display.

"I'm not sure what it is, but it sure looks flashy!" Present Mic announced. "But, isn't that against the rules?"

Aizawa, however, had our back. "Didn't you hear Midnight? Anything they want so long as they don't leave the track. They haven't."

"Well, back to most of our contestants, and Ooooh, enemies have shown up out of nowhere!" the announcer continued. "I bet we're in for a treat here!"

"Mei," I prodded.

She patted my head. "Almost there."

"Mei," I repeated.

"Aaaaaaaand Done! Yeah, our Baby took the overcharge and didn't explode!" she cheered, momentarily blinding me as she hugged my head, forcing it back a little.

At least the headrest is comfy, part of me noted, even as I said, "I thought you said you fixed that!"

"Did we explode? No? That means I was right!" Mei countered. "Drop the flow back to resting. . . . and good! All right, Momma's ready, so let's get this show on the road!"

I felt her weight shift a little, as her backpack opened up, four metallic tentacled arms extending outwards. It'd been a bitch to get Power Loader to agree to let us use them, as they were a joint project, but we'd promised we'd only use them together.

He'd nodded at that compromise, and had said, "Team event. Alright." I hadn't bothered to correct him.

"A test of strength and cunning," Present Mic continued while they arms booted up, reminding us that the others were still going, "It's a Robo Inferno!"

The fifteen feet long limbs, normally a bit slow and ungainly, now were able to draw from far more than the included battery would normally allow for, and instead slammed down around me, lifting us both up. Closing my eyes for a second, I split my focus, turning my legs from the knees down, and my arms from the elbows up, into solid lighting.

"Do the pose!" my partner commanded, and I winced.

"Do I have to do-

"Do The Pose!" she practically shouted, and I shook my head, shooting my feet down, hitting the ground, and my hands up, above us.

All four mechanical arms spread out for a moment, and crackled with electricity, before I leapt forward, putting us parallel to the ground, and she took added her tentacles into the mix, metal limbs flashing forward as we hurtled over the ground, shoving down with all eight of our limbs as soon as Mei said "Jump!" carrying us over the ice and into the tunnel, which was just narrow enough for her to run along without touching the ground, two tentacles per wall.

There was the crack of ice flash forming in the distance, and we flew out the exit of the corridor, a few students only now leaving it, the ground frozen completely. "I got this," I told her, shaping hand and feet into sharp points as we fell, slamming them down and through the ice, giving us traction as we practically flew over the heads of the students, and down the first straightaway.

As soon as we cleared the ice, Present Mic singing Todoroki's praises, and the students even more spread out, Mei announced, "Both!" and her arms started shooting down into open areas between our classmates as well, adding her strength to my own, my reserves only fifteen percent down, and most of that was from the initialization process.

We shot forward even faster, a humongous crash coming from around the corner. Turning it, bringing us in sight of the first obstacle, we could see that almost all the contestants had stopped, several of the enormous zero-pointers from the entrance exam blocking their way, as well as a whole host of the smaller bots.

"Ooooh, those look fun!" my partner cooed in my ear. "But they've got nothing on our Babies! Denki, what do you say we take one out on the way past!?"

"I was thinking the same thing, Mei," I grinned, as we started to make it towards the front of the pack.

A person who looked like they were covered in clown makeup looked up and yelled, "Teaming up? No fair!"

"Rules only said stay on the track!" I called back, as we accelerated beyond the others, Midoriya watching me with a thoughtful look as we passed him.

Someone with reptile arms started to say something about working together, only for Bakugo to blast off, going up and over us, and headed for one of the Zeros, flying above it instead of attacking.

We went for the next one over, easily dodging its fist while pushing off of the enormous metal limb for more speed, as we headed right for the five-foot wide optical lenses. "I punch and push, you rip and rend?" I shouted over the sounds of combat starting up behind us, as we closed in on our target.

" Sounds good!" Mei yelled, and we arrowed straight for the red glass. Shooting my hands forward, pushing my limbs to their limit, I gripped the metal around the sensor. Pulling myself in, I crashed through the lens feet-first, the metal arms around us twisting below my feet to tear through everything in our path. I reached out to the electronics as they sped by us, tapping into the power system and taking in the current even as I shoved us deeper into the robot, until, with a last crash, we punched through the other side, flying into the air.

" POSE!" Mei yelled, and, smiling, I happily did so as we fell, breaking out of it as we neared the ground, all eight limbs working to hit at speed, giving us enough time to absorb the force and turn it into forward momentum, Mei pressed into me as we startled scrambling forward again. Only Bakugo and Todoroki were ahead of us, disappearing around the far corner, and I frowned, vaguely remember there having been more students in the running at this point.

Behind us came a series of explosions, and Iida, Asui stuck to his back in a similar way that as Mei was, came blasting past us, the frog girl's tongue reaching out and grabbing a tree, letting them swing around the corner without losing speed.

Running as fast as I could, I was shocked at how they overtook us, but not as much as I was when I heard a feminine scream, almost dopplering from the speed, come up from behind us, a green streak shooting through the air above our heads. Seeing it as it suddenly descended, slowing momentarily before taking off again, I saw it was Deku, using his Quirk in a way he shouldn't've been able to yet, with Ochaco holding on for dear life. The girl was looking almost as green as his hair, rending them both, if not weightless, then almost as good as in long bursts, as sparks of green lightning played over them both.

"And it looks like the rest of Class 1-A is following Kaminari and Hatsume's lead! Will the others see the value of teamwork, or will they be left in the dust!" Present Mic yelled, as if this was all part of the plan.

"Pfshaw!" Mei scoffed, even as a girl with vine-hair flew past, carrying a blond girl and dragged along by a pair of flying. . . horns? "As if just teaming up will let them match up to our super-cute little Babies! Come on Denki, I think it's time we get Serious!"

We paused for a second, and the feet of the tentacles shifted, revealing the grapnels hidden within one pair, and the engines in the other. Closing my eyes again, I pulled on One for All, further infusing my four limbs with power.

"Oh, I agree fully," I grinned, amping up the electricity flowing through us. "We're just getting started!"

AN: As always, the next 2 chapters are up on my .