Chapter Thirteen: Transmission
Lunch was consumed in silence until empty bento boxes sat on the table and cups of tea cooled in their hands.
As All Might worked up the nerve for…whatever he had actually called her aside for.
She had a growing list of things to ask, herself, though she didn't know where to really start.
"A little less than two hours," he blurted out, almost shocking Itsuka. "That's how long I can maintain my hero form."
"Two hours," Itsuka repeated.
"It could have been substantially worse. Some of your peers were pretty resourceful."
"How much do you think that will impact your ability to teach? Or continue being a Hero?"
"It should be negligible. In all honesty, I was expecting this to happen sooner, but I'm not going to complain about having a little more time to settle things." Her mentor was surprisingly upbeat for such a revelation, but that was likely a front. For who exactly, she couldn't rightly say. "How are you holding up?"
"I was wanting to do some testing with…my Quirk. I wanted to let you know ahead of time. Not that I'm planning on hurting myself, but…"
"Right. Better safe than sorry." All Might scratched his head. "I can talk with Recovery Girl and set up a time to work with you on it." Standing up, he stared out the window. At what, Itsuka couldn't say. "Frankly, I don't have much time left as the Symbol of Peace. And some villainous enterprises are starting to take notice."
It was a scary prospect. Itsuka couldn't remember a time before All Might was the preeminent Hero of the industry. And she talked to enough people also in the business to know that as much as others resented his presence, others were just as nervous thinking about what would happen should he retire.
"I granted you my power because I want you to succeed me. The Sports Festival is something pro heroes, no, the whole country will be watching closely. The fledgling Symbol of Peace, the next All Might." The conviction pouring into All Might's voice straightened Itsuka's spine. "Itsuka Kendo, I want you to tell the world 'I am here'."
Itsuka nodded, jaw set and determined.
"You know how the Sports Festival works, right?"
"Yeah. Throw all classes from each grade into a series of elimination challenges, the finals usually being a one-on-one tournament."
"That's right! In other words, you can sell yourself with everything you've got!"
"But…is it really a good idea to put myself out there like that?" Itsuka asked. "First impressions are important, but as it stands, I'm not sure how well I can stand out. It took several months before I could even use One for All, and even now, just keeping it from running wild is exhausting."
"Those who are always aiming for the top, and those who aren't. That slight difference in attitudes will have a big impact once you go out into society. I understand how you feel, and this is more for me than for you. I won't force you. However, I hope you won't forget how you felt back at the beach."
[IB]
Another bright and early morning of training. Perfectly normal, or so Izuku tried to tell himself. He had been running his training partners almost ragged, and as pleased as he was watching them rise to each challenge, there was far too much ground to cover and too little time to bring them up to snuff. The Sports Festival was only an excuse to push his peers a little further, to think more proactively in order to prepare them for whatever the brewing storm was cooking up.
For example, after the USJ attack, he had brought up a couple theories concerning Ochako's Quirk.
If it was simply cancelling gravity, inertia would have meant he would have slammed into the pavement at full force during the entrance exam. Mei and Hajime had quickly jumped onto bandwagon, coming up with tests and exercises for her to see what her Quirk could actually do and how to bring that potential out without sending her to Recover Girl with a shattered spine. So far, she had managed to reverse the effect, which was what she was practicing with.
Ochako was holding herself upright, balancing herself on a portable scale, fists tightly clenched and face red with exertion, Mei standing by with a stopwatch, positively vibrating as she undoubtedly was theorizing about her potential "babies".
Izuku side-eyed Ochako's arms under the guise of checking her progress. Despite Recovery Girl's efforts, the burns had still scarred, and Ochako was still self-conscious about them and had covered them up with armbands.
Bakugo had not been Izuku's favorite person for a long time, but recent events had edged him onto his shit-list. However, unlike Tomura, Kurogiri, and the old man, killing him wasn't an option. Public humiliation would be more appropriate, but that would make things worse without solving anything. But if he could make sure he didn't make it to the finals, Izuku would be satisfied.
How he would achieve this with adequately plausible deniability would have to wait until he saw what the first events would be.
Turning his focus back to Hitoshi, Izuku cracked his joints and said, "Alright. That's enough for now."
Hitoshi nearly collapsed, but didn't flop bonelessly as he had the first week of training, and he quickly seated himself on the ground.
Izuku circled as he continued talking. "Change of plans today. We've been stretching you physically, but we also need to put your Quirk to work as well."
Hitoshi made a face as if biting into a lemon.
"Hey, enough of that. We've been ignoring it up to this point because your body was the weakest link, but if you're going to hold your own in anything beyond the first phase, you're going to need to hone every tool in your arsenal. Which brings us to stress testing."
Sho pulled out a stopwatch, dangling it out for them to see.
"How long can you hold it?"
Hitoshi appeared apprehensive, but it soon gave way to resolution. "You tell me?" he asked.
Izuku smirked. "Just like-" And just like that, he felt his consciousness fade into background. He was aware of his body, but when he tried to command it, he didn't get so much as twitch from his fingers.
Interesting…
"What's this, Izuku?"
The specter of Inko Midoriya hovered near her son's shoulder.
"It's a Quirk effect," Izuku replied. "Remember Hitoshi? We're trying to see how long it last, but I figured I'd try analyzing it from this side of things."
"Oh. Well, try not to overdo it. You have a big event coming up, and none of you can afford to be injured."
"Thanks, mom. I'll probably be checking in and out as we continue training." A burst of static appeared in the corner of his sight. "Did you see that?"
"It has been here since your fight at the U.S.J.," Edgardo supplied. The old master had been customarily meditating whenever not on call. "If my theory is correct, it occurred during your fight with that Nomu fellow."
Izuku narrowed his eyes and focused on the static, reaching out towards it. He hadn't used All for One like that in years, and he certainly hadn't used it there. That said, All for One was what pulled all of those Quirks together, so it must have imprinted something during the fighting.
"Who are you?" he asked
Upon making contact, one became four, all distorted and twisted together, and all too scrambled to make anything clear. It lasted for a couple of seconds, then burned out. Leaving him with his mother and Edgardo, both watching him with differing degrees of concern.
"Izuku, are you okay?" the former asked.
"Yeah," he answered quietly. Black receded and Izuku found himself back on the field. Hitoshi was massaging his temple, taking a gulp of water.
"Six minutes and thirteen seconds," Sho said.
"How's your head?" asked Izuku, filing the revelation for later perusal.
"I can keep going," Hitoshi gritted out.
"You know better than I would. Let us know if that changes. Sho, you have the list?"
"Yup!"
"What?"
"We know it needs a response, but today we're going to find out what exactly constitutes as such."
"You're not always going to get a response from someone. There may be instances where they can't respond. Covering your activation conditions will help you as a Hero, as will figuring out what exactly triggers your Quirk. Does it have to be a word, or just a verbalized sound, like a laugh or sigh? Can it be a handshake, a slap or connecting fist?"
"That makes my Quirk sound even more sinister than before."
"What if someone doesn't hear you? Or can't? What if they have no way to verbally respond? Or they just have no capacity to rise to your provocations?"
"…You're thinking of that mutant at the U.S.J., aren't you?"
"That, and those who are too crazy to pay attention to the outside world. You never know."
Hitoshi looked pensive, but nodded along. "Do you think of everything I'm going to encounter?"
"No. Just the most likely scenarios. Now, hit me. If you can."
[IB]
Class 1-B assembled outside next to one of the buses. Off to the side, Vlad King was talking with a redheaded man in a janitor's coveralls.
"Sensei, who is this?" asked Shishida.
Vlad King gestured to the other man, "This is Ferron, a groundskeeper here at U.A. and underground hero."
Ferron gave a quick wave. "Yo!"
"He will be helping us with today's lesson, since Thirteen and All Might are still recovering, and as the USJ is still being swept by the police, we're going to be using one of the other training grounds for today."
A few sighs and groans of disappointment rippled through Class 1-B. Not that they were really all that surprised, but after hearing come down the grapevine about using the USJ and then not being able to, it was still quite the letdown.
"Nonetheless," Vlad King continued, "we will still be conducting rescue exercises."
"Just expect it to be a little more low-tech," Ferron added as the bus came to a stop. "Ah. Here we are."
Stepping off of the bus, Class 1-B took in the scene, a series of buildings arranged into a rectangle, all looking out into a park plaza that stretched across the training ground, ponds dotting the expanse and trees covering what parts the water didn't. Another row of buildings completed the block and were backed up against the field's boundaries.
"Training Ground Epsilon," Vlad King announced, then turned to face the students. "Your mission is to rescue the subject from the building, check them for injuries, and then safely bring them to the safety zone without aggravating their injuries. You'll be chosen in groups of four, and you may choose to divvy up the tasks as you see fit."
"Will we have any antagonists to engage?" asked Shishida.
"There will be a faux-villain bot be in the area of operations, though if they will show up depends on your own performance."
Setsuna raised her hand next, and once called upon, asked, "What will Mr. Ferron be doing?"
"Relocating the dummy after each exercise, along with updating the 'injuries' between exercises," Ferron replied. "Can't make it too easy for you, after all." A metal plate materialized beneath Ferron taking him skyward then settling on the adjacent rooftop before disappearing from view.
"Who wants to go first?" Kendo raised her hand, along with about half the class. "Kendo, Kodai, Rin, and Awase. Now, if the rest of you would follow me to the observation room, the exercise begins in five minutes."
[IB]
Class 1-I gathered in the small theater that Ms. Obsidian had arranged for today's class. All of them were going to be watching the Class 1-B's exercise. While not the exclusive prize it had been intended, it was an opportunity to observe their contemporaries of the Heroics course in action. Their classmates had come together to make it more relaxed. Kobayashi and Kohaku were working on a popcorn machine the staff had allowed them to use.
Izuku looked over to Suzume, nestled into her seat between him and Haru. The squid-headed boy seemed awkward about the whole ordeal, but was fielding their friend's current mood with remarkable aplomb. Thankfully, most of the attention from the USJ was focused on the Heroics students, rather than them, so that was one less stressor to deal with.
[IB]
Itsuka pondered their options. She could punch and throw things, Yui could grow things, Hiryu had scales, and Yosetsu fused things together It wasn't an explicit combat exercise, so destructive applications were more limited. Especially if they were involved in search and rescue.
"You've ever done first aid?" she asked her partners.
Yui held out her hand, shaking it side to side.
"Very little," Yosetsu answered. "You?"
"Some patching up at the dojo and splinting sprains and a couple of breaks. This is going to be first responder type stuff, and some of those type of injuries are best left undisturbed. Kind of crazy to expect us to work on this before
"Mmhm."
"I'm in a similar situation as the president," Hiryu added, then bit the inside of his lip. "Well, maybe that's one of the purposes of today's exercise."
Any further discussion was preempted by an explosion that shook the ground, a trail of smoke drawing their attention to the northern end of the field.
"What the hell?!" Itsuka coughed. "Don't tell me we have to deal with a villain attack, too!"
Vlad King's voice came over the loudspeaker, "That signals the beginning of the exercise, courtesy of Ferron. Ahem. Heroes, an incident has been reported. Villains have attacked the local shopping district, causing significant property damage. Other heroes have already engaged and tied up the bulk of their forces, but there may be others in the area. Proceed with caution. Your job is to rescue the wounded and evacuate them to the safe zone."
"I suppose that's our cue," said Hiryu.
"We have a plan?" asked Yosetsu, looking to Itsuka.
"Hiryu, you're on point. Once we close, we'll slow down. Yosetsu, you and Yui will be on search and rescue. Hiryu and I will keep watch and support as able."
A round of affirmatives, and the four of them jogged to the disaster.
Three faux villains, one each of the 1-, 2-, and 3-pointers, were posted outside of the crisis zone. The remains of a beaten up car sat in the middle of them, and judging by the faint scorch marks and shrapnel, they had been right next to the explosion.
"We're not supposed to engage unless they spot us. We'll skirt around to the back."
[IB]
Interesting… Izuku thought as he saw the four-man team maneuver around the simulated combat with the robots.
"Search and rescue, huh?" Suzuki mused from her place in the theater. "This is probably a better litmus of their abilities to act under pressure than just straight combat."
"Kendo is showing herself to have a cool head under the current levels of stress," the class representative noted. "And she evidently has the respect of her peers."
"But this team is hardly fashioned for search and rescue," Kohaku retorted.
"True. And as Suzuki stated, this is a fantastic opportunity for demonstrating multiple facets of their talents. The more versatile, the easier the sell to sponsors once they are graduated." Pencils scribbled notes out at a furious pace. "There's still plenty of time between now and that point, though. Let us see how they proceed, shall we?"
[IB]
Entry was quick and quiet, but that was hardly grounds to lower their guard. According to Vlad King, they had to be wary of extra figures lying in wait.
"Hello?" Yosetsu called out. "We're heroes on search and rescue."
"Wouldn't that alert the villains as well?" asked Hiryu.
"Our job's to make sure the bystanders are okay," Itsuka interjected. "Letting them know we're here might coax them out of hiding, or at least call out."
"It might also distract the villains from their search. Either way, it looks like nobody's here. Moving to the next floor."
The stairs offered no surprises, but the first they searched, Yui waved to catch their attention. The four of them fanned into the room, Itsuka waiting at the door as Hiryu searched for hostiles and Yui got to work on the dummy civilian with Yosetsu.
"Hello, citizen," the latter said with a cheery voice. "We're here to help!" He snatched the sticky note attached to the dummy. "According to this, they have a broken arm and some abrasions. They've been hiding since the initial attack."
Itsuka sized the situation up from her position in the room. "Anyone got something to use as a sling?"
"I- Look out!" Hiryu shouted before something hit him. Scales absorbed some of the impact, but the result was Hiryu being sent through the wall.
"Was that a sword?!" Yosetsu yelped.
Itsuka rounded to where the shot had come from, the window outside. "Yui, Yosetsu! Keep the patient safe!"
Yui threw a sheet of metal, then touched her fingers together, letting it grow to full-size, intercepting the next missile, botching the trajectory. And sure enough, it was a broadsword. Which reversed its flight pattern back to the waiting hand of a figure armored up in heavy plate.
The figure gave the weapon a quick flourish, and surged towards the dummy and those carrying it.
Itsuka threw herself in the way, and the knight responded by bringing the sword down. Hands enlarged, Itsuka blocked. Unexpectedly, the blade bounced off – blunt-edged, she noted – and she launched herself forward, throwing the knight back.
A spray of scales showered the target, to little effect as the opponent's armor absorbed the impact, Hiyru stepping back into the fray, and then began to flank. By now, Yosetsu was hauling the dummy out of the room with Yui preparing to throw more shrunken objects if the attack persisted.
The knight stoop up straight and held up a hand. "Good work, kids." The helmet slid apart, revealing Ferron underneath. "I think that's a good place to call the exercise. As it is, I think I nearly overdid it. You good there, Rin?"
Still scaled up, Hiryu gave a thumbs up.
Yosetsu stopped in the hallway. "Wait, that's it?"
"You responded appropriately to both the civilian, their injuries, and my intervention. And since you also made the smart play to avoid the 'battle' raging outside in favor of rescue, I think that covers the main tenets of the exercise. I'll leave the details for your homeroom teacher."
"What about the other rescue subjects? I don't think we've cleared the building."
"That kind of stress training is for next semester at the earliest," said Ferron, smirking. "And I seriously doubt you're up for a prolonged evacuation under fire. Now, move along. I need to reset the field for the next group."
The four Hero trainees filed out of the building and made their way to the observation room, passing Tetsutetsu, Reiko, Yoarashi, and Monoma along the way.
[IB]
"Midoriya, do you have a minute?"
Sweeping up bits of popcorn, Izuku looked up at Tengen, class 1-I's representative. The bespectacled teen had approached him after homeroom. Having had no reason to talk to the boy outside of class until now,
"How can I help you?" asked Izuku.
"Forgive me for lateness of the request, but I was wondering if you would be amenable to assisting our class during the Sports Festival."
"In what regard?"
"I believe I speak for most of the class, but you have been most proactive in pursuits within the curriculum and outside of it."
"Osaki and Nakayama helped, too."
"Be that as it may, your initiative has not gone unnoticed. And considering recent events, I figured it would be best not to press them harder than necessary. I was wondering if I could trouble you for some assistance in preparing for the Sports Festival."
"You want to get some preliminary analysis on the Hero course students, correct?"
"If that isn't too much trouble."
Izuku pinched his lower lip. "I can assemble some packets, if you'd like. Not sure how much help I'll be able to provide during the actual event." Tengen tilted his head slightly to the right, inquisitive, to which Izuku added, "I actually plan on participating."
Across the room, a pencil lead snapped. Izuku's eyes flicked in that direction and saw Suzuki hunched over her chair, rigidly still over her notebook. Either Tengen didn't notice, or was ignoring it.
"Are you considering switching courses like Suzuki?" asked Tengen.
"I've considered the possibility, but for now, I'm just wanting a closer analysis of their Quirks and fighting techniques."
Tengen brought a hand to his chin. "An unorthodox methodology, but…hm. Yes, that might prove useful in the grander scheme of things."
"Don't worry." Izuku gave the class rep. a pat on the back. "I'll make sure you all have a good show to take notes on."
"Mr. Midoriya?" Obsidian called out.
Izuku turned to the door. "Mm?
"If you have a moment, the Principal wanted to talk to you concerning the Sports Festival."
Midnight stood at the door with their homeroom teacher, looking directly at him. That paranoid voice in the back of his mind fretted the possibility of being discovered, but reason pointed to something more benign. If they knew who he was, then they wouldn't be so calm or polite. If they knew what he was, they wouldn't be risking a confrontation with so many bystanders nearby. If against all odds, they were actually reaching out to him for information, he'd lay all of his cards on the table and let the school decide what to do with him.
Until then… Aloud, Izuku said, "Very well. Lead on."
Sliding out from his desk, he followed Midnight out into the hall, keeping his eyes at a respectable level. "What's this about? You said something about a speech. Is it the student pledge?"
"Yes, but I'll let the Principal give you the details. I think he was also wanting to discuss what happened at the U.S.J."
"Ah. I see."
Arriving at Nedzu's office, Midnight knocked on the door.
"Come in," the Principal answered.
Standing at the open door, Izuku noted the scent of tea and some floral shampoo. Coming from the Principal. Sitting behind the executive's desk, with a wall screens dominating the right wall, he looked positively dwarfed by his own surroundings. Nonetheless, he turned away from his monitor and beckoned Izuku into the office.
"Ah, Mr. Midoriya, how nice for you to join us. Would you care for some tea?"
"Please."
Bandaged like a mummy on the sofa to the left, was Aizawa, identifiable by the black suit he wore while on duty, and the mess of black hair. Izuku raised an eyebrow, slightly jerking his head in underground hero's direction.
"I'm perfectly capable of seeing to my duties in the classroom," Aizawa drawled, not even looking up from the stack of papers he was apparently sorting through.
"Yes, sir," Izuku answered.
"Besides, it's not like either of us are content to be confined to bed rest."
Izuku pit the inside of his mouth. "Point taken."
By the tension of the room, this wasn't an inquisition. Izuku took a second to digest this information and relaxed infinitesimally, taking a seat across from Aizawa. Grabbing a cracker to nibble on, he waited for one of the adults to start talking.
"How are you holding up after the incident?" asked Nedzu.
"Sorry?"
"Appreciated, but not necessary." Tenting his paws in front of him, the Principal fixed Izuku with an apologetic look. "Midoriya, you and your peers underwent a harrowing ordeal. One that would have been difficult, even as an exercise for some of the older Heroics students, much less a live experience. While physically, you might have recovered, I am also concerned about your mental health and emotional state."
"Right. Um…I'm angry? Frustrated that I screwed up so many times. I'm more worried about the others, though."
Aizawa eyed him, dubiously.
"This isn't my first brush with death." Seeing the concern from the two teachers, he bit the inside of his mouth. "My Quirk was quite destructive when it came in. Not something that's easy to forget. Makes it easier for me to process."
That seemed to appease – on the surface, at least – and it wasn't even a lie, but the principal was less satisfied by the answer.
"Be that as it may, you're not even in the Heroics course. And from what Ashido and Ojirou said, you saved more than a few lives. Don't sell yourself short."
"That doesn't mean I didn't make mistakes."
"We all made mistakes," said Aizawa. "And thanks to the quick thinking of you and your peers, those mistakes didn't cost any lives, most of all your own."
Nedzu nodded and added, "We were open to the possibility of an attack on school as soon as All Might's addition to the faculty was announced, as his prestigious career has left behind a long list of enemies. However, we were not fully prepared from where and when they would attack, or what their exact objective would be. All teachers were on standby in the event something came up." The principal poured some more tea. "Unless you had prior knowledge of the villains themselves and withheld them out of any malicious intent, then there is nothing that you can cast on your shoulders that we as your teachers would otherwise be responsible for. And there's little reason or evidence to think so poorly of you. Not when your life own life was left in the balance."
You have no idea, Izuku thought. The words are there, waiting to be strung together, but he couldn't bring himself to say them out loud. So, instead, he said, "Thank you, sir."
"If you ever have need to speak about this, or any other subjects, my door is open. In the meantime, here are some samples from previous years. While you have five minutes allocated, I'd advise not making it too abbreviated. Though you'd be hard-pressed to be any more abbreviated than Enji Todoroki's address during his first sports festival."
Izuku allowed a smirk. "I see. Well then that's definitely an easy bar to clear."
Letting the familiar rhythm of business talks carry him forward, Izuku judiciously quashed the voice in the back of his head calling him a coward for not bringing up his connections to the League of Villains.
[IB]
Itsuka meditated as her classmates meandered around their designated locker room, drawing on One for All in as gentle pulls as possible, letting it suffuse her form. Even after holding onto it for over a month, the effects were still reminiscent of inhaling fumes of the strongest, most caffeinated coffee in the world. Everything buzzed, colors seemed a little more vivid, and sort of awareness stretched outward.
The initial round of testing had been All Might hitting her with a series of one percent punches. Apart from shoving her around, as long as she kept the power circulating, the worst she got out of the ordeal were some minor bruises. The only downside was that she couldn't charge it up very fast. She could either put everything into defense, or she had to carefully modulate her output to avoid burning herself out prematurely. Or breaking herself.
However, with All Might's limited time in hero form and his schedule as a teacher meant he wasn't able to constantly oversee her efforts as he had leading up to the entrance exam. So, Itsuka had called on some of her peers, which had turned into an unofficial tutoring session. It was something she had been planning on anyway. The USJ and the Sports Festival looming over them had just accelerated her plans somewhat.
Between classes and training with her classmates, time buzzed by until the day of the Sports Festival. There was no substitute for experience, but she was determined to give them as much of a grounding as she could. Luckily, she had faced no objections and few complaints, with even the most reticent diving head-first as the competitive fever caught on.
"I was thinking-" Monoma spoke up.
"This bodes poorly," Kaibara muttered.
"-since Class 1-A already has the benefit of experience, we should analyze them during the first round."
"How do you plan on doing that?"
"Conserving our strength, lying in the back and observing their moves, strategies, and possibly their mindsets."
Itsuka listened to the muttering and whispered exchanges when Yoarashi snorted derisively.
"That is foolish," he boomed. "Heroes are supposed to be passionate, proactive! We should put our all into the competition, and secure victory on our merits, no matter the outcome. If you are seriously considering this, you can count me out."
"Wouldn't it also be a bit suspicious if all of us run along with that idea?" Setsuna added, diplomatically. "And there's a finite number of slots, usually with no word of how many they'll cut off in the first round of the competition. Even if they allow for forty slots for the Heroics courses, all it takes is some speedy kid from another course to shove one of us out of the running."
Itsuka pondered the idea around. "It's a good idea," she admitted. In fact, it was a surprisingly thought-out idea from normally the most belligerent of their class, "but we won't force anyone to go with it if they don't want to."
All Might was right. She had accepted the duties and burdens associated with One for All, and the sooner she stepped into her role, the sooner she could get the support she needed to be the hero she wanted to be.
"Monoma, Tokage. Make sure everyone reaches the finish line." The signal buzzed from the speakers, and Itsuka stood up. "Alright, everyone. Look sharp!"
Class B filed out of the room, marching out onto the pitch to Present Mic's voice screaming from the speakers, loud and clear over the raucous cheers coming from the audience.
"First in, the miraculous new stars who overcame enemy attacks with hearts of steel! Hero course, Class 1-A!"
If it were possible, the crowds went wilder at the introduction. Itsuka pitied the other Heroics class. Not only would this set the bar obscenely high for the rest of their time at U.A., they were going to be under the microscope for the Sports Festival. She had spent enough time quietly convincing the rest of her class to lay off of them, trying to direct Class B into something of a friendly rivalry, and had largely succeeded.
"Coming up behind them, their contemporaries, Hero course Class 1-B. They might not have gotten as much airtime yet, but there's a load of talent waiting to be unleashed!"
"Class 1-A got a cooler intro than we did," Monoma grumbled.
With some exceptions, Itsuka amended, then said "We've been here for less than a month, Monoma. Usually people haven't done anything to earn any sort of acclaim this early in the school year."
"Next up, General studies class, C, D, and E."
"At least you get more buildup than General Education," said Awase, playfully ribbing Monoma.
"That's a lot of people," Kinoko mumbled, hunching down on herself.
"Part of being a Pro-Hero is managing your public image," Shishida answered. "This is the most watched event in Japan."
"He means 'get used to it'," Kaibara added.
Itsuka leaned in from the other side, "just focus on what you've been training."
"The engineers and inventors of the Support course, Classes F, G, and H are here, too!"
Class 1-B found their position in front of the stand, waiting as the rest of the classes find their places.
"And bringing up the rear, your media masterminds of the Business courses, I, J, and K!" Present Mic finished. "Give it up for the U.A. first years. Let me hear you say 'yeah~'!"
While assembling in front of the stage on the field, a mixture of embarrassed groans and dreamy sighs filled the stadium as the umpire emerged.
"The R-Rated Hero, Midnight!" someone cheered. "She's the umpire for this year?"
"Why did anyone think it was a good idea to have her as the umpire?" another asked.
"She's a teacher and is almost as good at hyping everyone as Present Mic?" someone else suggested.
Midnight cracked her whip. "Quiet, everyone! Representing the students is Izuku Midoriya from Class 1-I, with the student pledge!"
Itsuka's head whipped over to the Management students. Midoriya emerged from the Management classes' ranks, and was met by murmurs from the students and stands alike.
Kaibara crossed his arms. "Wait, if this guy scored first in the entrance exam, why is he not in the Heroics course?"
"I backed out of the recommendation exams," Yoarashi answered, giving a shrug. "He must have similarly refrained from joining the Heroics program despite his performance in the general admissions exam."
"Yeah. I guess that would make sense," Awase conceded.
Some feedback hit the microphone as Midoriya cleared his throat.
"This, I pledge:" he began. "Every drop of sweat, blood, and tears shed today, may it pave our way forward. No matter our course or track, no matter if we're standing on the podium at the end or watching from the stands, or even in the recovery room. To this, I charge every student here today: lay your hearts on the line. For those who have helped us get to this point, make them proud. Above all, make yourselves proud. Stand tall. Stand strong." He thrust his fists into the air and shouted. "Go beyond!"
"PLUS ULTRA!" they all shouted together.
[IB]
Mirai Sasaki – better known as Sir Nighteye – stepped into his office, ready for another day tackling the unending stream of paperwork. On one side of the office was a TV set to display the U.A. Sports Festival (which always was emphasized by the capitalization).
Two of his sidekicks had been delegated to attend the Sports Festival for the first and second years. While some things were better seen in person, and as a general rule, Nighteye preferred a personal touch when it came to his work, circumstances were not exactly permissive of such things at all times.
As the security concerns surrounding the U.S.J. incident spanned further than the campus' property. Any and all agencies in the surrounding area were stepping up their patrols while the U.A. Sports Festival was underway, and most of the country was on standby in the event of another such incident. Even as the League of Villains was laying low for the moment, others were testing the waters to see what they could get away with, keeping everyone on their toes.
Nighteye would still watch the proceedings as long as things kept running smoothly, and he most certainly planned on attending the Third-Year events in support of Togata.
His attention momentarily diverted to the T.V., thoughts turning to Itsuka Kendo. Nighteye had his reservations about the girl who had received One for All, but maybe he could puzzle things out, if only to assuage his own agitation for being dismissed so easily.
It is not as if he should have expected his former partner to accept Mirio as a successor out of hand, but after so many years of silence and to still be rebuffed without the opportunity to at least showcase what he had accomplished, well…it stung. Pure and simple. Maybe watching the Sports Festival would give him the chance to apply logic to the matter than smoldering over his wounded pride
His coffee finally cooling to a drinkable temperature, he settled into his chair to handle some paperwork while periodically checking on the latest batch of aspirant heroes.
At least, that had been the plan.
Lead pooled into the pit of his stomach when he saw the student walk onto the podium for the student pledge. He was grateful he had already set his coffee down and was sequestered in the privacy of his office, but that didn't exactly make him feel better at that particular moment.
The green hair and eyes would throw off a casual observer, but Nighteye knew better.
After combing over every possible thread of information, every article from before the Collapse, every chanced photograph, and one too many close encounters, Nighteye was all too familiar with what All for One looked like. The freckles, that smirk, the cruel eyes…the origins of this Izuku Midoriya were all too readily apparent.
After all they had put on the line, all that Toshinori had sacrificed to end the threat of All for One, and in the end, it wasn't enough. Something of that monster had survived. And that was if this wasn't the effect of a Quirk All for One had taken.
Wrestling his emotions back under control, he began planning. First, however, he needed to warn Toshinori. Despite the heap of dismissals and salted wounds, Mirai would not let Toshinori die without a fight.
As All for One's spawn stepped off the stage, Midnight took the microphone once more.
"Now, let's get started right away. The first game is what you'd call a qualifier! Every year, many drink their tears here! Now, here is the fateful first game!"
[IB]
Itsuka braced as the first-year students gathered at the starting line, her peers jockeying for optimal position. Ahead of them was a narrow corridor leading to the outside of the stadium. Unless you had a way of circumventing the inevitable traffic jam, the best bet would be to situate yourself at the front of the pack.
She couldn't regulate One for All that well, and trying was still exhausting, so she didn't want to exhaust herself too early into the competition. She would be working off of her base abilities for this stretch.
Four kilometers. An easy run that she was perfectly capable of even before All Might had started training her. The main catch was that all of the classes were pitted against one another for a chance in the second phase of the Festival. And according to Midnight, anything and everything was on the table, so long as it was within the boundaries of the course. Granted, it probably excluded anything actually criminal, and anything that was deliberately intended to cause physical and emotional harm was likely to be penalized, but that was a sizeable span of legality.
A steadying breath, and she coiled for the last light to fade out.
"Start!" Midnight shouted, and the stampede began.
Already, things had crammed up, not helped by all the pushing, shoving, and some dastardly ingenious methods to clear the pathway. Some of the participants had circumvented the crowds entirely. Yoarashi, had flown out at the first opportunity, wind whipping up dust in his wake. One of the Class A girls was skipping along like a stone across the water, and one guy had taken to bodily picking up people and setting them aside in his bid for freedom.
"First out of the tunnel is Inasa Yoarashi of Class 1-B."
The tinge of cold hit before the wave of ice surged over the ground, giving Itsuka just enough warning to leap into the air. Others were not so fortunate, having their shoes stuck against the ground.
Impressive thinking, she was forced to admit, but frustrating. Few from her class had reacted in time, and fewer still of those trapped had the means to break out without some help, Yui being the closest.
"Go," Yui answered, waving her off. "I'm fine." Breaking out of confinement with a little bit of effort.
Right. Now wasn't the time to be the hero. If any of her class was still stuck along the way, she would break them out, but she wasn't going to slow down more than that.
Recalling One for All, Itsuka started leaping over the crowds, rebounding from wall to wall. Yaoyorozu had the same idea, landing in a crouch with a pole she had fabricated. Others from Class A vaulted over or otherwise circumvented the logjam, making for the clearing ahead.
Having freed herself from the bottleneck, Itsuka raced onward when Present Mic's commentary roared over the speakers.
"Uh oh. Looks like our lead man has hit the first hurdle of the race, Robo Inferno!"
Itsuka amended her earlier assessment as several robots from the entrance exam rolled into view. And beyond that were several of the zero pointers forming a wall, bringing everyone to a dead stop at the appearance such a formidable obstacle.
They were going to have to break through, and if they were half as aggressive as the ones from the exam, they didn't have much time before they attacked.
"Target acquired."
Cursing in the safety of her own mind, Itsuka ran forward, approaching Todoroki just as another surge of ice spread out, up, and over the zero-pointers, literally freezing them in place. Todoroki didn't stand still for long, taking only a quick breath before running through.
"Look! Between their legs!" someone called out.
"We can get through!"
The bots began to tip over, before a forceful gale flung one of them over, Yoarashi's handiwork as he blasted his way through, crashing against its neighbor and out of the boundaries of the course. Itsuka wasn't fast enough to catch all of them, the third falling right on top of Tetsutetsu and his counterpart from class A.
This is insane! Itsuka screamed inside her head.
"And like that, Todoroki takes the lead!"
Kirishima burst through the robot's hull, screaming, "Damn it, Torodoki. If it hadn't been me, someone would've died!"
Tetsutetsu similarly burst out and shouted, "Damnit, Todoroki. If it hadn't been me, someone would've died!"
Meanwhile, the rest of the robo legion moved into reinforce their fellows. A motion that ended when a barrage of ferrous slugs slammed into them, dropping the largest ones and blocking the advance for the smaller models.
"Did someone pack a cannon into the ring?" she wondered, just as Yaoyorozu was darting past, hauling an artillery piece slung across her back.
Shaking off the distraction, Itsuka grabbed a chunk of armor that had been blasted off, using it to shear through the next bot she encountered. It was extra weight, but it gave her another weapon and a buffer between her palms and the robots she smashed apart.
"Alrighty, then," Present Mic screamed. "If the first barrier's a piece of cake, then what about the second? If you fall in, you're out! If you don't wanna fall, then crawl!"
The ground ahead of them fell away into a sharp drop into an artificial ravine, pillars reaching out of the dark to form platforms dotting the expanse between both ledges. Cables connected to multiple
"It's 'The Fall'!"
Naturally, Yoarashi cleared it in a single bound, landing on the other side. A pair of Support students leapt in after him, one practically teleporting from platform to platform while the other swung around via grappling hooks with some boots to throw her further across the gap.
Noting the absence of other immediate hazards, Itsuka looped the cables of her metal around herself and began to monkey-climb across the rope, when another staccato of ballistic reports rang out.
"Oooh, it looks like Yoarashi ran into one of the obstacles overlooking the final stretch. Hit a certain altitude above the track and some paint guns are going to give you a bad time. The rounds inflate, so they'll cushion your fall, but breaking out can be a pain. Anything you want to add, mummy man?"
"While clearing the minefield through the air is smart, it leaves you exposed to more avenues of attack," said Aizawa. "In an urban environment, you can anticipate villains to try the same."
"A valid point! And this brings us to the last part of the obstacle race. The last hurdle! It's a minefield."
Itsuka nearly let go of the rope at this pronouncement. "It couldn't be too easy," she muttered to herself. Yoarashi had been hit, and had crashed into the middle of a friggin' minefield.
"These mines are just for games, but they still pack a punch and are guaranteed to give you the shock of a lifetime if you're not careful!"
Clambering up and towards the next part of the race, Itsuka took stock of what was happening.
Anyone still in the lead had seen their progress brought to a standstill before inching across the minefield, with others gingerly tracing their paths. Simply vaulting the field wasn't going to work either, as Yoarashi's efforts had proven, and judging by the way some had been knocked around, merely following wasn't a guarantee.
She had no confidence on finishing first at this point, but she at least wanted to clear in the top ten, and that was only going to happen by taking a risk.
The risk in question just happened to be taking the hunk of metal she had dragged along with her to act as a shovel while digging up the mines. It was delicate work, but on the plus side, no one was all that interested in interfering and gave her plenty of room. The fresh mounds of freshly buried mines made it easy to find them, too.
"Bakugo and Todoroki are in the lead!"
Looking ahead, Itsuka grimaced and flipped the chunk of metal in her hands. "Whelp," she muttered to herself. "Fortune favors the bold and the foolish." Securing her grip on her shield, she dropped into a crouch. "Let's see which one I am. Turbo explosion BOOST!"
She jumped onto her pile of explosives. There was momentary pause before the detonation, and then she was launched into the air, high above the track and all of her competition.
As expected, the paint guns tracked her, the paintballs hitting the metal instead. Halfway through her arc, she realized she had underestimated the power those explosives had, and she cleared over the heads of the competition
"What's this?!" Present Mic shouted. "Class B's Kendo is in hot pursuit with that blast! And has taken the lead!"
Heart pumping from the launch, Itsuka smiled until she felt herself begin to decelerate as she completed her arc.
And I forgot about landing. Crap baskets!
Running through her options. No matter the angle, she wasn't going to clear the walls of the stadium. Hell, she wouldn't even clear the minefield entirely, the impacts from the paint guns making sure of that. She could punch the ground before she landed. It might hurt, possibly even break her arm, and the timing would have to be precise, but that was no guarantee would be moving after landing.
Explosions roared as Bakugo stopped fighting Todoroki to give chase, freezing the ground ahead of him. Even if she landed ahead of the duo, the time it would take to recover would set her back, and she could already see people converging on the strip of ice in pursuit.
In the last second before impact, Itsuka planted her feet onto the backs of the two front-runners and swung the sheet of metal into the ground, setting of the mines underneath them, throwing Bakugo and Todoroki off balance while it launched her forward.
"And Kendo swiftly blocks those behind her!"
She rolled back to her feet and let the hum of adrenaline and allowed a trickle of One for All flow into her veins, racing towards the finish line. The tunnel opened back into the stadium, and like that, she had won.
Greeted by the roar of applause from the audience, Itsuka sought out the teacher's booth. Meeting All Might's gaze, she returned his smile, and he threw in a discrete thumbs-up.
Todoroki and Bakugo thundered in behind her, taking second and third, respectively, with Yoarashi flying into fourth place (still covered in whatever gunk he had been hit with), followed by one of the support students, who smiled and waved at someone behind Itsuka.
"Hey, Izuku," the support student said. "I thought you were scouting. How did you get here so fast?"
Midoriya emerged from his metallic cocoon in a cacophony from pieces taken from the faux villain bots, each piece having absorbed several of the paint rounds. "I jumped," he answered.
"You jumped," Itsuka parroted.
"Really hard."
The remaining competitors streamed in through the vomitorium, with the Heroics class making up the bulk of the initial crowds and some of the other courses filtering in among them. By the time they reached the forties, Itsuka figured that anyone not through would be left out of the next phase of the tournament.
"Really cutting it close there, Kamikiri," she said, counting him off as number 40.
Kamikiri rolled his eyes. "I had a hitchhiker," he said, jerking his thumb at the boy with purple balls for hair. Number 41, evidently.
"I live…" the hitchhiker groaned. His hair wasn't the only thing purple, as he had suffered considerably bruising around his face, most notably a black eye.
"Sorry," said Setsuna, laughing awkwardly. "He was trying to grab onto me when I kicked him."
Itsuka raised an eyebrow and pried him off, nearly tripping number 42, a blond who proceeded to run off and puke to the side. "Looking at him, you probably weren't the only one." As Mineta scampered/hobbled off in a daze, Itsuka glanced around. "Wait, where's Fukidashi?"
"Ugh."
They all looked to Fukidashi's speech bubble visage.
"Looks like you're the end of the choo-choo, buddy," said Setsuna, patting their classmate on the back." Looking to Itsuka, she added, "after your little stunt, everyone got spurred forward. It became something of a mad rush."
Fukidashi shrugged. "I was actually further ahead when *BOOM*. Just bad luck, I guess."
The rest of the student body slowly trickled as Midnight retook the stage. "The first game of the first-year state is finally over," she declared. "Now, take a look at the results!"
Itsuka Kendo (1-B)
Shoto Todoroki (1-A)
Katsuki Bakugo (1-A)
Inasa Yoarashi (1-B)
Sho Hajime (1-H)
Izuku Midoriyha (1-I)
Ibara Shiozaki (1-A)
Tenya Iida (1-A)
Juzo Honenuki (1-B)
Ochako Uraraka (1-A)
Momo Yaoyorozu (1-A)
Hanta Sero (1-A)
Tokoyami Fumikage (1-A)
Tsuyu Asui (1-A)
Hitoshi Shinso (1-C)
Shouji Mezo (1-A)
Yosetsu Awase (1-B)
Mashirao Ojirou (1-A)
Eijirou Kirishima (1-A)
Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (1-B)
Teruko Suzuki (1-I)
Mina Ashido (1-A)
Rikodou Sato (1-A)
Kosei Tsuburaba (1-B)
Denki Kaminari (1-A)
Sen Kaibara (1-B)
Kyoko Jirou (1-A)
Kojiro Bondo (1-B)
Nirengeki Shoda (1-B)
Mei Hatsume (1-H)
Yui Kodai (1-B)
Jurota Shishida (1-B)
Shihai Kuroiro (1-B)
Kinoko Komori (1-B)
Hiryu Rin (1-B)
Neito Monoma (1-B)
Pony Tsunotori (1-B)
Reiko Yanagai (1-B)
Setsuna Tokage (1-B)
Togaru Kamakiri (1-B)
Minoru Mineta (1-A)
Yuga Aoyama (1-A)
"The top forty-two made it through to the next round," Midnight continued. "Unfortunate, but don't worry! Even if you didn't make it, we've prepared other chances for you to shine." A statement which would have been more reassuring if not for Midnight suggestively licking her lips.
Itsuka counted five non-Heroics students that arrived before the cutoff. Three of the Heroics students would not be participating in the next part of the Sports Festival, including Fukidashi.
Undisturbed by this, Midnight continued. "The real competition begins next! The press cavalry will be all over it! Give it your all!" The flogger cracked, drawing attention to the display behind her, which whirred as it cycled through options, all faster than the eye could see, if anything was truly visible at all. "Now then, here is the second game. I already know what it is, but what could it be? I just said it, and now here it is…"
The display settled and popped up, in large letters, "Cavalry Battle".
"A cavalry battle," someone nearby said. "I'm really bad at those…"
Another voice piped up. "It's not an individual event, so I wonder how it'll work."
"Let me explain," Midnight said, whether in response to the inquiry or as part of the script she was running on. "The participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish. It's basically the same a as a regular cavalry battle, but there's one thing that's different."
"Here we go," Setsuna muttered under her breath.
"Each participant will be assigned a point value based on the results of the obstacle rac, and those at the top will suffer more. The points assigned go up by five starting from the bottom. So 42nd place gets five points, 41st gets ten points, and so on!"
Eyes turned to the redhead, and it was all she could do not to wilt on the spot.
"That's right. It's survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top! Itsuka Kendo, who placed first in the qualifier, is worth ten million points!"
In the sanctity of her own mind, all she could think was, Shit!
[IB]
Yosetsu Awase, Quirk: Weld (allows him to fuse objects, organic and inorganic, on the atomic level)
Hiyru Rin, Quirk: Scales (allows him to sprout strong, durable scales from his skin)
A/N: Ugh. Alright. First phase of the Sports Festival completed. Getting to this point was a pain in the butt to clear, and with a little more filler than I usually like, and not even particularly well done filler, but I've hit rage-writing mode again, so up it goes. Fingers crossed, the rest of the Sports Festival is less troubled in writing.
Onto other matters, Ferron is this universe's equivalent of Shirou Emiya, albeit with a greatly altered origin story. As far as my notes tell me, he doesn't have much of a role in this story, but he shows up in a couple of other MHA fics I'm planning out at the moment. It'll be pretty obvious when he shows up.
Next up, the cavalry battle! I'll save the heavier tinkering for another MHA fic (whenever that might be). Most of the fights for the third phase are already decided, though I welcome you to speculate away the outcome of the cavalry battle.
Some changes:
- I had the Sports Festival broken into separate days to accommodate the different class years. First-years in the morning, second-years in the afternoon/evening, third-years the following morning/afternoon. Aside from any broadcast wanting to make a few extra bucks, it makes it easier on recruiters scouting out talent. There's also only one stadium that I could see, and no subdivisions to separate the years into different areas.
- I swapped one of the teams in Chapter 8, making Uraraka and Shiozaki the team that went against Bakugo and Iida, resulting in Uraraka being sent Recovery Girl. One of those things I had originally thought of, set aside, and then forgot about, only to remember it after publication. I'll probably add the relevant scene later, but that will have to wait, as it would require some serious overhaul of a couple of chapters, and I haven't even finished story.
- Since there are several characters who could more or less fly over the entire track, I threw in some extra obstacles to prevent an easy victory. Similarly, those of lower physical ability, or just weren't playing aggressive enough, didn't pass, even from the Heroics course. Namely, Manga Fukidashi, Koji Kouda, and Toru Hagakure.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Obvious errors I missed after a bajillion revisions? Let me know with a PM or review. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.
Winterman, out.