Chapter 16 - Round Two!

"In first place…" the pro hero, Death Arms, thought aloud, "They're both those kids from that Sludge Villain incident!"

All across the world, people were raving about the first round of U.A.'s Sports Festival, as none other than Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo had ended up taking first place, the pair both gaining acclaim from the crowds due to their flashy quirks and their effective usage of them.

"Who the hell said you could share my spotlight, Deku?!" Bakugo yelled at the green-haired boy, as with a drop of sweat falling from his face, Izuku responded,

"I-it's only the first round though, right?"

"Huh?! Are you saying you're gonna surpass me, damn nerd?!"

Meanwhile, Shoto Todoroki, who both believed he would be able to proclaim victory over the competition, lamented over his lower placement. Even though he proved himself to be among the strongest at U.A., it wasn't enough... he had to prove that he could be the strongest, stronger than even All Might!

"Really?!" the shocked Kirisihima shouted at the crying Chopper, "You didn't even make it past the first round?! But you're the strongest out of all of us!"

"That purple haired guy… he got me with his quirk!" Chopper cried, "I'm so embarrassed!"

"At the very least," Tokoyami chimed in, "It seems you've found a darkness within yourself that you can now learn from."

Chopper's tears ended up fading away slowly from this, as he then tearfully stated, "Oh… I guess you're right."

For a moment, Chopper reflected upon himself. Ever since he had come to U.A... he was shown time and time again foes that he wasn't able to defeat. From Todoroki, who didn't use his flames against him, to the Nomu, who possessed a level of brute strength he could never hope to contend with, to even Shinso, whose quirk he fell for without so much as a second thought. He was weak... and couldn't do much of anything without help. There was no way he would return to his captain like this.

"Luffy!" Chopper thought, "I won't be this weak when I return!"

"The Top 40 from this round will be moving on!" Midnight stated, "But for those who placed lower, don't worry! You'll still have another chance to show your stuff later! But for now… here's where the main event really begins!"

Now that the real competition was about to begin, and all those who were competing stood nervously, unsure of what they were to face next.

"Dying in suspense?! Next up is…" Midnight shouted, as suddenly, the monitor containing the selection for the next game flashed up on screen, "This!"

And on the screen appeared a bit of text, which said, 'Maze'.

"A maze?!" Kaminari read, "Aw man, that doesn't seem nearly as cool as last round…"

"Oh don't you worry, you'll find this plenty cool indeed!" Midnight confidently stated, "The rules are simple: get to the end of the maze as fast as possible! Fundamentally, it's the same as a race, but with a mildly different course! The only, and I repeat, ONLY rule is that you can't stray from the course, meaning that alternate strategies such as attacking other teams are allowed, so long as it's kept within limits and doesn't break school rules!"

"Sounds easy enough…" Tsuyu noted.

"But that's not all!" Midnight noted, "This round is also meant to test your teamwork capabilities, therefore, you'll be teaming up with three other competitors! Everyone has to reach the goal to qualify! However…"

Midnight then flashed a smirk, "The higher your total placement… the further back you'll begin, with harder obstacles to boot!"

"Just how much longer will points make the course?!" Tenya Ida questioned.

"I'm getting to that!" Midnight shouted, before continuing her speech, "Every ten points, you'll be pushed back about a minute into the course, with an average singular student being your reference point… but some of you should be able to complete such a gap within just 10 seconds!"

"Ten seconds?" Bakugo smirked, "I'll make it two."

"Your individual points will go up by five every placement you gained in the previous round! For example, fortieth would be worth five, thirty-ninth worth ten, and so on! But…" Midnight stated, "Our first place participants, on the other hand, will be worth one thousand points!"

"One- one thousand?!" Izuku stuttered, as even Bakugo wouldn't come up with a snappy retort. Izuku then calculated, "For an average person, that'd place us about 3 hours back!"

"Also, your time will be doubled from your total points for every member your team is missing, so be sure to grab 4 people! Whatever your team is though, this race is your chance for a comeback!" Midnight smirked, "It's anyone's game! Now, you have fifteen minutes to make your teams!"

"In my case… points don't matter that much…" Izuku thought, "Nonetheless, if everyone has to make it to the end… then…"

"Hey, Bakugo!" Kirishima shouted.

"Oh… it's you, weird hair." Bakugo noted, not presently bursting with options on who to team with due to his high placement.

"The name's Kirishima! Remember it!" Kirishima exclaimed, "Let's team up! Any traps that come your way… just throw me right through them, and I'll keep up just fine."

"Oh?" Bakugo scoffed, smirking in the process, "I like the sound of that!"

"Seems that everyone is avoiding my eye…" Izuku thought, "3 hours… it's not an inconsequential amount of time to be sent back."

"Deku!" Uraraka shouted from behind the boy, as Izuku turned around.

"Perfect!"

"Let's team up!" Uraraka cheerfully offered.

"You sure?" Izuku questioned, as he was concerned for Uraraka, "You'll be placed a long while back if you team up with me."

"Yup! It's better to team up with people you're closer with… that's how I feel, anyways."

"Then let's do it! Your quirk'll end up being really handy!" Izuku smirked, "Let's get Ida as well! Ideally, our fourth would be Chopper but…"

"I refuse." Ida stated plainly once Izuku asked him to join.

"Wha- but how come?!" Izuku asked, shocked.

"Ever since the Entrance Exam… I've always been losing to you." Ida lamented, "Bakugo and Todoroki aren't the only ones who see you as a rival… I additionally believe that in order to develop myself, I must contest you. My apologies, Midoriya."

"Ida…" Uraraka whispered, as the boy turned his back on Izuku and Uraraka. Izuku merely smirked at Ida's declaration, however.

"Then I'll see you in the tournament!" Izuku grinned, as Ida turned around, and smiled right back.

"Likewise." Ida stated, as once Ida turned back to join Todoroki's team, Izuku's smile slowly faded and he sighed.

"Crap… I was really hoping we could use Ida's speed… who else is there?!" The now nervous Izuku questioned, as he looked around, "We might just have to settle for the two of us… wait a second!"

"Huh? You got an idea, Deku?" Uraraka questioned.

"Yeah… those two!" Izuku said, pointing at a pair of people, "They're becoming a duo… and they're just the perfect people to match with!"

"Your fifteen minutes are up! It's time to get started!" Midnight announced, as everyone made their way to their respective entry points in the maze.

"Everyone!" Izuku announced, looking back at his team, who was following directly behind him, "You all know the plan?"

"Yep!" Uraraka chimed in.

"I must admit," Shoji began, "I wasn't planning on teaming up with you due to your high points, but with the strategy you suggested, we might just be able to overcome such an obstacle."

"The only present variable," Momo commented, "is the other teams, and if they come up with a strategy we never even foresaw."

"Still," Izuku stated with vigor, "We can't let fear stop us! Let's get ready."

As everyone had taken their place in the preparation area for the maze, Ryuko stretched, together with a few other teams who she had the same amount of points as. Like the others, she would be talking to her teammates... if she had been able to find any. Todoroki completely avoided her eye when she asked, all of Class 1-A had already moved on to other teammates, and nobody else was interested in having someone quirkless on their team.

"No teammates… that's fine!" Ryuko thought, as she smirked, "Cause if the only rule is that you can't stray from the course… that leaves a way to make the maze a lot less difficult!"

Combined with this, Ryuko also yet again possessed her trademark Scissor Blade, which she had asked to use after Hatsume was able to use a large mechanical device in the first round. She was allowed to use it purely on the grounds that she was quirkless.

"NOW STUDENTS, ARE YOU READY?!" Midnight shouted, as Ryuko prepared herself, "THREE… TWO… ONE… GO!"

Suddenly, all the students in Ryuko's block rushed off almost exclusively to the maze lane at the right, leaving only a cloud of dust in their wake. Ryuko coughed, having stayed within the massive dust cloud and caught some in her lungs.

"Dusty ass…" she muttered, before trying to pay attention once more to those who were leaving last, "Most of the students are going over to the right… they've probably used their quirks to surmise where the exit is… I've gotta follow 'em!"

Ryuko then dashed after the students, catching up to them quickly due to how much physically stronger she was than most of them. While quite a few teams were following the same path, only one of them actually had a quirk which allowed them to find the exit. The person this team owed their reconnaissance capabilities to was none other than Koji Koda, who possessed a quirk which allowed him to talk to animals and find the exit with ease.

All this isn't to say that Koda's team was letting everyone follow them however, as most of the teams had already been caught by their countermeasures.

"Woah!" Ryuko shouted, as she quickly jumped into the air, dodging a purple ball which was launched at her, "Who the hell-"

"Nice going, Mineta!" the yellow-haired Kaminari stated, carrying the dwarf on his back.

"Whatever it takes to be popular enough to get with the ladies!" the boy named Mineta said with a smile, as he and Kaminari both turned around a corner.

"If that's the way they're going... then they must be going over there!" Ryuko thought, having been analyzing just where Koda's group was running, "Let's back up first!"

Ryuko quickly then did so, as she ran backwards to an earlier, deserted area within the maze. Standing in front of a wall she chose at random, Ryuko breathed in.

"The exit… it should be somewhere in this direction." Ryuko thought, as she clocked her fist back, "Let's hope this works!"

Suddenly, Ryuko shot her arm forwards, and the wall in front of her broke incredibly easily. For an instant, Ryuko then listened for some sort of announcement… something telling her that she was in trouble for that... but she heard nothing, and she smirked. She had found a way to complete the maze without participating in it.

"Those sly bastards…" Ryuko smirked, as she then pulled out her Scissor Blade, and sliced the wall directly in front of her, making a hole large enough for her to go through. "Glad my brain ended up thinking of that!"

Continuing to slash wall after wall, Ryuko continued her way through the maze at a breakneck pace, but suddenly, all her calculations would go awry in a single moment, as when she broke into a room, three one-pointer robots awaited her.

The three quickly rushed towards Ryuko, as on instinct, Ryuko swiftly jumped up into the air, doing a handstand on top of the robot closest to her, and then she did a flip, using her Scissor Blade to cut the first mech in half while she did so. Ryuko then turned her attention to the other two robots, who she dispatched with little effort and a single slash when they both came towards her.

"The same robots from that Entrance Exam…" Ryuko noted, as her signature smirk returned, "If this is all they're throwing at us, this'll be easier than I thought!"

"WHICH WAY?!" Bakugo, who was at the end of a long and narrow hallway shouted back towards his team.

"Just straight ahead, then take the second right! Be careful, it's got traps!" Jiro shouted ahead to Bakugo, as almost in an instant, Bakugo obliterated the wall that previously lay ahead of him. Jiro sighed due to being unable to keep up with the boy.

"Don't worry!" the pink-haired inventor, Mei Hatsume, stated from behind Jiro, "You both just position those jetpacks forwards, and you'll go shooting off and ahead!"

"N-not sure that's a good idea!" Jiro stated, referring to Kirishima's earlier test of the jetpack's potency, which caused injury to the boy, even in his hardened state.

"I'll keep up with 'em then!" Kirishima shouted, as he faced forwards, and quickly flew forwards with his jetpack at insane speeds, allowing him to effortlessly reach the hallway Bakugo ran down. Kirishima, after stopping the jetpack's power, jammed his feet into the floor, stopping just in front of the hallway Bakugo had run down.

"Oi, red-hair!" Bakugo shouted, as a tired Kirishima quickly ran towards Bakugo, as he looked into the room which Bakugo was in front of, "This room's got just one trap. Go check it out."

"How can you tell?"

"Don't question me! Just go in."

Kirishima then groaned, as he slowly entered the room ahead.

"FASTER!" Bakugo shouted, angered by his pace, "WE WANNA WIN, DON'T WE?!"

"Got it!" Kirishima stated, as he picked up his pace. Suddenly, tons of mace-shaped objects popped up out of the walls, sure to knock out anyone with an ill-suited quirk for the job, but such was not Kirishima, who was merely lightly damaged by the maces. After hitting Kirishima, the maces broke off of the position they were shot from, and began to roll around on the floor; it seemed Kirishima was actually too tough for them.

"So they're trying to pity the ones who are further back, huh?!" Bakugo questioned, smirking, as he quickly propelled himself to the other side of the room, breaking the wall ahead of him in an instant. As he did, Jiro and Hatsume were able to catch up, but they didn't get a single second of rest.

"WHICH WAY?!" Bakugo shouted back once more.

Meanwhile, a few minutes beforehand…

"NOW STUDENTS, ARE YOU READY?!" Midnight shouted, as Izuku's team prepared themselves, "THREE… TWO… ONE… GO!"

All alone, Izuku bursted forward, for he knew that the rest of his team was too slow to keep up with him. That didn't mean he simply abandoned them, however, as on his back, he carried Shoji. On top of a platform constructed by Shoji's arms, a weak voice questioned,

"I-is Shoji fine to carry… Deku?"

"He's perfect, Uraraka!" Izuku shouted backwards, "Just focus on keeping all of us light, and we should be fine!"

"G-got it…" Uraraka murmured.

"Momo, is the tracker working?" Shoji questioned, referring to the tracker that Momo had placed by the entrance, or rather, the exit to the maze earlier.

"Yes." Momo stated, "It's still perfectly fine! We just have to keep going forwards and to the right for now!"

"Shoji!" Izuku began, but Shoji himself interjected.

"Take a left here, then take two rights and a left! It'll loop us back around!"

"Got it! Hold on tight!" Izuku ordered, as the boy quickly utilized the Shave technique, allowing him to move through the maze at impressively fast speeds.

Having avoided most of the special rooms up to this point, Ryuko continued linearly smashing her way through wall after wall, seeking to reach the edge of the maze… and eventually, she did, as one of her slashes rebounded off of the wall in front of her.

"Seems this is the end of the road…" Ryuko stated aloud, "Which means that the exit's probably nearby!"

Ryuko then quickly turned to her left, and quickly slashed through another wall, starting to run towards the direction that she believed the exit was in. Suddenly, however, she heard a faint, "Squish" right beneath her feet… and when she tried to move her foot, she couldn't.

"Thanks for the idea, Ryuko!" the sly voice of a yellow haired boy rang, as Ryuko quickly turned to see the team of Kaminari, Mineta, Koda, and Sero, the second of which had used his quirk in order to stick Ryuko to the ground, "We saw a broken wall in the course leading straight to the exit… and we decided to follow it."

"Damn!" Ryuko thought, "They snuck up on me, and now, they're gonna use all my hard work against me..."

"You bastards!" Ryuko shouted out at them.

"Don't take it personally, I'm still free to take you out for dinner after this!" Kaminari joked, only serving to infuriate Ryuko even more. Kaminari then muttered, "Only one more wall to go..."

"Don't think this is over just yet!" Ryuko shouted, as she began to act. Bringing her Scissor Blade right in between Mineta's ball and her foot, she was able to slice the two of them apart from one another. Miraculously, Ryuko's Scissor Blade was also able to survive the endeavor, seemingly being immune to the stickiness of Mineta's balls.

"What?!" Mineta yelled, "How the hell did her sword break past my balls so easily?! They're meant to be stickier than anything!"

Sero quickly attempted to right Mineta's wrong, as he shot a roll of tape at Ryuko, but she easily countered by grabbing Sero's attack, then cutting it; she was used to attacks like that from her training with Aizawa.

"I'll tell ya something!" Ryuko shouted, as she rushed towards the group. Mineta attempted to throw a ball at Ryuko, but she already knew that her Scissor Blade could break past the ball's stickiness, and therefore, she simply cut it in half, "You guys might have your strengths individually and work well as a group, but in combat, there's only one of you who even stand a chance against me!"

In an instant, Ryuko had reached the group. Kaminari tried to activate his quirk to shock Ryuko, but swiftly, Ryuko used the blunt edge of her Scissor Blade to hit Kaminari in the face, knocking him out.

"With Kaminari outta the picture…" Ryuko stated, as a barrage of tape and sticky balls came her way, which Ryuko both dodged and cut with ease, "You guys can't do squat to me!"

Mineta, a drop of sweat falling down his face, realized this wasn't working. Improvising, Mineta placed a special type of ball underneath himself. He then jumped on it, launching into the air.

"Sero!" Mineta shouted, as Sero understood what Mineta wanted to do.

Mineta then unleashed a flurry of balls at Ryuko, hoping that one would land on the girl when he was at a closer range. In order to combat this assault, Ryuko jumped backwards into the wall behind her, and with her feet against the wall, she shot herself up into the air, aiming a slash (with the blunt edge, sorry) at Mineta. Before Ryuko could land her hit however, Sero quickly used his tape quirk to grab Mineta, and drag him back down to the ground, preventing him from taking damage.

"Don't think your cheap ass tricks can beat me! I'll take you guys down no matter what!" Ryuko shouted.

Suddenly, a loud 'CRASH' was heard behind Ryuko. Looking over to see just who it was, it seemed to have been Koda, who had broken down the last wall which would be able to lead his team to the exit.

"Eep!" Koda let out, as Ryuko stared at Koda with an intensity.

Ryuko was currently in an advantaged state, and if she wanted, she could have made a tactical retreat and went for the exit… after all, Kaminari was knocked out, and that alone meant that the team she was facing was unlikely to qualify… but, after her continued unnecessary retreats in the first round of the Sports Festival, she felt that she couldn't run here.

"Let's finish this!" Ryuko yelled, as she raced towards Koda. Preventing her attack once more, and wanting to regroup to either think of a plan or get to the exit without a fight, Sero grabbed Koda with his tape, but unfortunately, this is what Ryuko wanted all along.

Ryuko continued dashing forwards, as she reached the wall Koda was hiding at before. She leapt onto it, and then off of it with a superhuman strength.

"Scissor Blade! Decapitation Mode!" she shouted, and then the moment once she landed on the ground, her attack was ready.

Ryuko slammed one of her feet on the ground and propelled herself forwards with it, causing her to be launched at a speed that could yet again only be noted as superhuman, allowing her to move faster than her targets could even process… And in an instant, Ryuko's targets of Mineta, Sero, and Koda were all knocked out.

"Finishing Move: Sen'i Sōshitsu!" Ryuko yelled out, as her battle was won.

Breathing in a sigh of relief, Ryuko then muttered, "Alright! Now let's make it to the exit."

Making her way to the hole in the wall that Koda made, she walked through it, and to the right, she saw the exit. Quickly rushing towards it, Ryuko heard the cheers of spectators, and the voice of Present Mic.

"Oh, and would you look at that! It seems all four teams have made their way to the exit!" Present Mic shouted.

"Yes!" Ryuko thought, "I made it!"

Ryuko breathed in heavily, as she was quite exhausted after running her way through that 'maze'... but a second later, she turned herself to look at the scoreboard, where she saw the words:

'Team Matoi - 5th Place'

A boy with blonde hair and blank eyes rocketed forwards throughout the maze that was before them, utilizing explosions to propel himself forwards. Seemingly, the boy had no teammates, but in reality, this wasn't the case, as on top of the boy were his three teammates: Yui Kodai, Yuga Aoyama, and the groups ringleader, Hitoshi Shinso.

"Dang…" Shinso thought, "I knew it'd be bad… but not having anyone with a reconnaissance quirk is a pain in the…"

Breaking his train of thought, Shinso saw something that shocked him.

"Go through that hole over there!" Shinso yelled out, as Monoma responded in an instant, rocketing through the holes left behind by an unknown person, "This means someone else likely made their way through here… make sure to stop when you see someone!"

Thanks to the copied explosion quirk which belonged to Monoma, the group quickly made their way to the end of the pathway, as they heard a voice.

"Don't think your cheap ass tricks can beat me! I'll take you guys down no matter what!" a girl shouted.

"Someone's there…" Shinso noted, "Monoma! Try to blitz past them with your explosions!"

Monoma remained motionless.

"Well… it seems you're all empty." Shinso commented nonchalantly, "Kodai. Disable your quirk. Aoyama, get ready to break through some walls."

Suddenly, a loud 'CRASH' could be heard within the room the battle ahead was taking place in.

"Aoyama. Break the wall to the left of us, then, dead ahead." Shinso ordered, as Aoyama swiftly followed, breaking both walls consecutively. Shinso smirked.

"Now everyone, make your way to the exit."

"You…" Monoma commented, as Shinso looked behind him, only to see that Monoma was no longer brainwashed, "You used your quirk to beat me… didn't you?! How DARE you brainwash me like that?!"

Shinso, taking caution due to the 'Copy' quirk of his teammate, then responded with a question of his own, and a smirk, "How'd it feel to be brainwashed?"

"You bastard! You think that I felt…"

In an instant, Monoma was once more under the control of Shinso. Shinso scoffed and smirked, as he then ordered once more,

"Make your way to the exit."

Team Shinso ended up taking fourth place.

Despite their severe initial disadvantage, Team Midoriya's strategy enabled them to easily make up for time lost by their penalty… but, that's not to say that doing so was easy.

A sudden pain hit Izuku's head like a lightning bolt, as he felt the presence of danger northwest of his position… and accompanying it was the subtle scent of paint and metal.

"Keep going forwards, then take a left, the second right, and then left again!" Shoji ordered, "That'll take you into a trap room… but be careful, something seems off about it."

"Got it!" Izuku stated, as in the blink of an eye, Izuku made his way to the entrance of the room… and when he tried to blitz across it, another sensation hit his head, as he quickly dodged backwards.

"What's wrong?" Shoji questioned, as one of the devices near Momo suddenly went off.

"There's metal up ahead… but this much of it?!" Momo questioned.

Following this, a large and metallic structure which was painted black rose up from out of the sandy ground below, as the trio of Shoji, Momo, and Uraraka were all shocked.

"A…" Uraraka muttered, clearly straining since she wasn't used to utilizing her quirk for such a long time, "zero-pointer…?"

"Not only that…" Momo muttered, "It's fortified beyond the regular capabilities of a Zero-Pointer... it'll be tough to take down quickly, so we should work together!"

Despite the trio's shock, Izuku remained calm and silent, as he placed down Shoji.

"Midoriya?" Shoji questioned.

"The fact that a zero-pointer showed up just means that we're no longer in the very back." Izuku reasoned, "We were able to make it here fast… we can still win this."

"Yeah… but we have to get through that thing first!" Shoji exclaimed.

"USJ…" Izuku began, powering up all the way to 20% of his power. The next instant, utilizing the Shave technique, Izuku disappeared, and smashed through the central part of the zero pointer's body which held its legs together, "SMASH!"

Not having a moment to react due to Izuku's speed, the Zero Pointer Robot could do nothing to prevent its destruction. Due to Izuku's aforementioned blow, the top and bottom half of the Zero-Pointer were broken off from one another. Due to that, unfortunately, the top half of the robot began falling down on Shoji, Uraraka, and Momo. Izuku was in front of the group in an instant however, and began to mutter,

"Sabaody…" Izuku brought both of his fists to his waist, and then, fired a barrage of blows onto the Zero Pointer Robot, "GATLING!"

The gauntlet of blows each had 20% of Izuku's power put into them, enough to let off small air pressure waves, though they weren't nearly as intimidating as All Might's, nor were they enough to puncture the fortified Zero Pointer's metal exterior. Nonetheless, the final blow of Izuku's attack sent the robot flying, as due to the noticeable impact it took, the robot's body quickly became stuck in the top left corner of the maze's giant room.

"That was… efficient." Momo stated, awestruck by Izuku's strength that he displayed.

"All clear." Izuku plainly stated, his hand still outstretched from his last punch, which he swiftly brought back to his side, "Let's get into position to move again."

"RED HAIR!" The blonde and spiky haired Bakugo shouted behind himself.

"Yeah, yeah… I know!" Kirishima retorted, having just made his way to the outside of an extremely large room which Bakugo stood within.

Kirishima activated his hardening quirk, and walked into the room filled with sand. He made his way to the middle of it, and nothing.

"Okay… the coast is clear!" Kirishima stated.

"No way in hell that's right!" Bakugo noted, as he paused for a moment, before noticing something, "Look below you, dumbass!"

The sand below Kirishima was pulsating. Kirishima ran backwards, as out of the sand where he previously stood, a large and metallic structure which was painted black rose.

"Hah… they're really pulling out all the stops for this festival, aren't they?" Bakugo commented, smirking, as he identified that what was in front of him was a zero-pointer robot.

Behind him, Jiro and Hatsume both finally made their way to the room which Bakugo and Kirishima lay within, and their reactions were varied.

"Woah!" Hatsume exclaimed, "That babies huge! I wonder just what it can do!"

"A Zero-Pointer from the Entrance Exam?" Jiro nervously questioned.

"Yeah…" Kirishima agreed, "Only this one seems even tougher than the one back then!"

"Tougher?!" Jiro questioned, "Bakugo, we should…"

Before Jiro could even attempt to convince the boy, she saw a maniacal grin begin to form on his face.

"What were ya gonna say? That we should run?" Bakugo interjected, "Nah. Running's for losers. I'm gonna kick this thing's ass!"

As Bakugo finished his sentence, he cupped his left hand in front of his right, and breathed in, contrasting his usually loud demeanor with a sudden burst of focus.

"This move ain't good for human targets…" Bakugo began, readying up an explosion, "But for trash like you… this attack should kill you in a single blow! AP… MACHINE GUN!"

In an instant, the previously empty room was filled with thousands of miniature explosions, condensed into a single point in order to massively increase its power compared to a typical explosion.

All of Bakugo's blasts focused in on the middle point of the Zero Pointer where it held its 'legs' together, and when that part of the Zero Pointer was broken, the top and bottom half of the Zero Pointer were separated from one another. Due to this, unfortunately, the top half fell down on Bakugo and the rest of his team, but contrasting his team's expression of surprise, Bakugo only smirked.

"HOWITZER…" Bakugo shouted, rushing up into the air to counter the falling piece of debris, "IMPACT!"

A massive explosion filled the entire room due to the raw power of Bakugo's explosion, as a small air pressure wave formed due to the raw power of his technique. Jiro, Hatsume, and Kirishima all held their hands in front of their face to avoid getting swept away. The explosion slowly faded away, as only Bakugo was left standing, with the body of the Zero-Pointer stuffed away in the top right corner of the maze's giant room.

"Phew! I should get him to test out some of my new babies sometime... he's quite something!" Hatsume commented in an overly jovial manner, while both Kirishima and Jiro were too stunned to speak.

"Hm… should have probably tried to conserve more stamina there, no need to go all out on a robot…" Bakugo commented to himself, as he then directed his next sentence at his team, yelling out, "WHICH WAY?!"

"Ugh… thanks again Tsuyu!" Mina shouted, with the subject of her thanks having stretched out their tongue around the pink-haired girl in order to allow her to catch up to their team.

"It's no problem, kero." Tsuyu stated plainly, "But call me Tsu."

"Try and keep up." Todoroki plainly ordered, "We're only a few minutes away from the exit."

Team Todoroki was currently the front runner in the maze. Utilizing an ultra-optimized team composition of himself, Tenya Ida, Tsuyu Asui, and Mina Ashido. The group was designed exclusively for speed… but, that wouldn't place them well in a confrontation, like the kind they found themselves in when they turned around the corner.

"Midoriya?" Todoroki questioned, seeing the entire team coming around the opposite corner they were in, but before Todoroki could respond, Izuku utilized the Shave technique, blitzing past Todoroki.

Todoroki, responding to this alleged challenge, blitzed forwards with his ice quirk, allowing him to catch up to Izuku, who was racing towards the exit.

"Todoroki?" Izuku questioned, as Todoroki launched a glacier at Izuku. From Izuku's back, however, a cannon suddenly shot at Todoroki, as his glacier was stopped by Momo Yaoyorozu.

"Thanks for lowering the weight, Uraraka." Momo stated.

Uraraka was holding her hands in front of her mouth at this point, and Momo understood… Uraraka could no longer talk, lest she wanted to vomit and lose control of her quirk.

Attempting to lighten Uraraka's load, Momo then pushed the cannon off of Shoji, which got in the way of Todoroki and caused him to quickly swerve out of the way to dodge.

"Todoroki! Wait up!" Ida yelled out, as Todoroki looked behind himself, finding Ida, Mina, and Tsuyu behind him, "Mina and Tsuyu aren't as fast as you and I! You can't go ahead on your own like that!"

"Sorry…" Todoroki sheepishly commented, but as he did, an explosion blew up the wall right behind their team. The four of them turned around to see Bakugo, looking backwards through the hole in the wall.

"WHICH WAY?!" Bakugo yelled from behind himself, as instructions were barked at him from afar, and he rocketed ahead.

Todoroki was intent to follow him, but Ida placed a hand on Todoroki's shoulder.

"Todoroki…" Ida stated, "I understand you want to follow him, but remember, you can't win this race unless we all finish it together."

"You all can catch up." Todoroki noted.

"No!" Ida shouted ahead at Todoroki, "Do that, and we'll just end up losing! I've got a plan… trust in me, just for this one moment!"

"Ha! Who would've guessed that you'd be up here at the front, Deku?!" Bakugo yelled, aiming an explosion at Izuku, who quickly dodged.

"Izuku…" Uraraka muttered, still holding a hand over her mouth.

"Uraraka can't use her quirk much longer!" Momo shouted ahead to Izuku, "Let us run by ourselves! The exit'll be just up ahead once you're finished with Bakugo!"

"Got it!" Izuku stated, setting down Shoji, who quickly began running away.

"Finally… the extras are gone." Bakugo smirked, as the trio rounded the corner, explosions firing up in his hands out of anticipation, "Let's go all out, Deku!"

Izuku quickly utilized Shave, aiming a blow straight in Bakugo's gut, but somehow, Bakugo reacted, launching himself into the air with an Explosion to dodge.

"That speed of yours is no joke!" Bakugo shouted.

Bakugo then quickfired an AP Shot at Izuku, but just within Bakugo's expectations, Izuku was able to dodge backwards.

"But you've gotta telegraph it in advance due to how that technique works. Once you know that, seeing through it is no problem!"

Izuku then attempted to make a quick retreat, but Bakugo quickly fired an AP Shot in the path Izuku would have taken if he proceeded... was Bakugo seriously letting a grudge in the middle of his victory?!

"Why are you doing this?! Neither of us can win if you stall here forever!" Izuku yelled out, before realizing just what Bakugo was doing, as his team arrived alongside him.

"Head to the exit!" Bakugo shouted back at them.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Jiro shouted right back to the boy.

Before Izuku could react, Bakugo launched himself at Izuku, who was forced to jump back and into the air in order to dodge, seeing as there was a wall behind him.

"And your speed…" Bakugo began, as he used two explosions to propel himself upwards, aiming and launching his fist at Izuku afterwards, which just barely missed his face, "You can't increase it while you don't have any ground to stand on!"

Suddenly, a whoosh could be heard right behind the pair, as if something just swept past them, as both Izuku and Bakugo instantly realized what it was… Tenya Ida.

"Crap… that icy-hot bastard-" Bakugo commented, as taking advantage of this moment, Izuku slammed into the wall behind him, destroying it and momentarily fleeing Bakugo.

"Tch! Damn nerd!" Bakugo shouted ahead at the fleeing Deku, "But… I've gotta make it to the exit first!"

Bakugo propelled himself forwards with explosive power, as by following the trail of broken walls left behind by Kirishima, he quickly made his way to the exit… securing himself second… right behind Team Todoroki, and right ahead of Team Midoriya... and that's how the Top 4 secured their advancement to the next round.

AUTHORS NOTE:

You can probably tell, but in the middle of this chapter, I took a massive break from this story, so it might feel a little incoherent at that point.

This is mostly because the preamble to the tournament part of the Sports Festival has generally not been that interesting to write. There are still things I enjoy about this part of the story, but due to the fact that most characters are the same as their canon counterparts at this point, it's very hard to try to push forward the story I'm trying to tell when the original plot takes priority.

Sorry if this part of the story has seemed more boring than previous chapters ._.

More fun stuff is coming up though! The Sports Festival marks the end of the very 'same-y' chapters from the original plot of My Hero Academia, a fact you'll see once the tournament actually begins.

Also, Chopper is knocked out of the Sports Festival. While I could've written him in, the issue is that Chopper, compared to the rest of Class 1-A, is overpowered... though only now am I beginning to see the potential benefits of bringing Chopper into the story, especially when I accidentally foreshadowed a rivalry between him and Todoroki in the Battle Trial, and Chopper is explicitly weak to fire attacks, so there would be an actual way to lose ._.

Maybe I'll put that in in the future, but either way, Chopper had his naivety exploited through Shinso in Round 1, which is one of his weaknesses he'll have to work past.

Either way, even with Chopper out of the story, we're now moving onto the tournament! This tournament contains one of my favorite battles up to this point (Chapter 20) so I hope that you all will enjoy it!

SHOCKING REVIEW SHOWCASE RETURNS!

We're back with the Shocking Review showcase y'all, where I showcase reviews and answer any questions associated with them.

First off, suliganagongorova52 has some questions regarding The Will of D., first name dropped by All for One in Chapter 14. All I will say for now is that the Will of D. will be revealed later on in the story. The only thing I will say here is a piece of information that was already dropped in official One Piece lore: the Will of D was originally the mark that the First Twenty (as in the first twenty kings that formed the World Government) used to label their enemies during the Void Century.

Through what All for One has said, we can also infer that All for One is at least somewhat knowledgeable of what the Will of D is, to the degree that he is aware of the way that fate bends to those with the 'D', and that he couldn't feasibly steal Katsuki Bakugo's quirk without danger to himself. He also views this as a positive trait, as he's bestowed the 'D' upon Tomura.

Feel free to theorize just what the Will of D is, as I will leave it up to interpretation besides those insights.

Thank you for your continued support Mr. Maximum Rhapsody, and as I mentioned earlier, this arc marks the end of this Fanfic being largely the same as My Hero Academia proper, so look forward to that ;)

Here is a list of the relevant teams who participated:

- Team Midoriya

Members: Izuku Midoriya, Ochaco Uraraka, Momo Yaoyorozu, Mezo Shoji

Point Total: 1,390

Time Penalty: ~139 minutes at 1 minute per 10 points

Strategy: Izuku is the majority mobility of the team. Uraraka uses her quirk in order to make Shoji, herself, and Momo all lighter. Shoji then carries the group with his quirk, while Izuku carries the lightened Shoji on his back. Momo is there for extra utility purposes, allowing for any tools needed to be created on the fly.

- Team Bakugo

Members: Katsuki Bakugo, Eijiro Kirisihima, Mei Hatsume, Kyoka Jiro

Point Total: 1,315

Time Penalty: ~132 minutes at 1 minute per 10 points

Strategy: This team abuses the loophole that it was never said you can't break the arena. Jiro uses her quirk to find other people, therefore leading the group closer and closer to the exit, while both Bakugo and Kirishima break through the walls. Hatsume uses her tech in order to help Kirishima and Jiro keep up with Bakugo.

- Team Todoroki

Members: Shoto Todoroki, Tenya Ida, Tsuyu Asui, Mina Ashido

Point Total: 545

Time Penalty: ~55 minutes at 1 minute per 10 points

Strategy: This team is designed for pure mobility. Ida, the fastest, is meant to scout out areas faster than the rest of the group, and form a quick strategy after assessing the situation. Meanwhile, Todoroki generates ice and Mina acid so that the entire team can move extremely quickly, while Tsuyu helps out anyone who ends up falling behind.

- Team Shinso

Members: Hitoshi Shinso, Yuga Aoyama, Yui Kodai, Neito Monoma

Point Total: 300

Time Penalty: ~30 minutes at 1 minute per 10 points

Strategy: Minimize total points, and be ready for anything. Kodai uses her Size quirk to shrink everyone, while Monoma copies Bakugo's explosion, carrying the team to victory.

- Team Ryuko

Members: Ryuko Matoi

Point Total: 55

Time Penalty: ~22 minutes at 1 minute per 10 points

- Team Kaminari

Members: Kaminari, Mineta, Koda, and Sero

Point Total: 435

~43 minutes at 1 minute per 10 points