1,328AN: So hello all, here I am back again with another chapter! And once again the update speed was faster, one could almost say I was on a role.
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( - )
(Last Time)
"And yes, the leaders have arrived back in the colosseum! In first place, we have Juzo Honenuki from Class 1B! With Izuku Midoriya from Class 1A finishing seconds later in second place, and Shoto Todoroki finishing soon after him in third! What a race, who could have seen that coming!?"
Sitting back in her seat as she heard the roar of the crowd, Yu watched as Izuku Midoriya jogged to a stop, his hands resting on the back of his head, and his face still and sweaty as he continued walking for a few moments, ignoring the celebrating Honenuki and scowling Todoroki as he instead took a few final deep breaths of air, before he then turned pumped his fist into the air in celebration.
Bringing her hands together, Yu started to clap.
( - )
Chapter 17
( - )
(With Izuku)
He took a deep breath, he held it in for a few seconds, and then he released it.
His heart was still racing.
But even as he stood there regulating his breathing, he could feel it settling.
He took a breath, held it, and released.
All around him, he could hear the thunderous roar of the crowds as the tens of thousands of spectators, shouted, cheered, screamed, jeered, clapped, and catcalled.
Some of them, he knew, were cheering for his classmates as they continued to filter into the stadium in dribs and drabs.
Others, in the mass of onlookers, were still shouting encouragement for those that were still racing.
By this point nearly all the Hero Course Students had finished the race, which meant it was only the General Education Course, Business Course and Support Course stragglers that were left.
Still others, were, focussing in on those that had already finished as they meandered around the arena waiting for the race to end, and for the second event to be announced.
Standing to his full height, Izuku put his hands behind his head and continued to walk, still regulating his breathing as he tried to calm his heart rate.
He was uncomfortably sweaty at the moment, so much so that he could feel the fabric of his P.E. kit sticking to his flesh.
His hair was liberally drenched, and his face was likely still flushed.
His current condition was in a small part due to his exertions in the race. But mainly it was due to the attention he could now feel directed on him. With much of it being either negative or considering.
Beneath the cheers and shouting of the crowd, he could almost hear a low buzz of discontent from the spectators as they eyed him cautiously.
He had revealed himself, and officially made his debut as a hero in training.
Like Aizawa had told him previously, his presence at U.A. had at this point been an open secret. Only now he had so publicly announced his presence, it was not even that. There was no pretence now as he stood in the middle of the arena before the eyes of the world.
The people now knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Titan of Musutafu, a modern day calamity, and the cautionary tale of what could happen when a Quirk awakening went wrong, was trying to become a hero.
The watching crowd, and all the millions of people across Japan, and even further afield, that had tuned in to watch the U.A. Sports Festival, had seen him take on his titan form.
He had announced himself in spectacular fashion, and all he could do now was wait and see what the reaction would be.
Taking a deep breath, he held it in for a few seconds, and then released it.
His every move was now being watched and judged.
He could feel thousands of eyes on him, even as he restlessly paced back and forth.
It made his skin crawl, the blood rush to his face, and his head pound.
The skin around his face felt so tight, it almost felt like he was wearing a mask.
He didn't like being the centre of attention.
He never had.
Not only that, but he was an introvert be nature.
Or at least he had become one during his time at Asphodel.
"Midoriya!" A familiar voice suddenly piped up, the sound of it making him flinch, even as it knocked him out of his spiralling thoughts.
Turning, Izuku watched as both Mina and Hagakure skipped over to him.
The pink haired girl was flushed, and also looked sweaty. But unlike him, she was smiling widely as she turned and waved to the crowd, basking in the attention and adulation.
Hagakure, meanwhile, was invisible, so he couldn't tell what condition she was in. That said, from what he could see, though, she was waving her arms up and down and turning to the crowd, as she too enjoyed the celebratory atmosphere.
"You got second place, that's awesome!" Mina continued with a genuine smile, her gaze now on him as she danced forwards and threw her arms around him. Pulling him into a joyful hug, her messy pink hair tickling his nose, even as her developing breasts pressed against him.
It was uncomfortably comfortable.
Shifting awkwardly, Izuku didn't instinctively push her away like he wanted too, and instead allowed the contact for a few moments, even as Hagakure, the bundle of positive energy that she was, crashed into him seconds later too.
"You did so well! You kicked and ass and took names!" Hakakure shouted excitedly, her arms wrapping around him too, effectively sandwiching him between the Mina and herself.
"You also messed up destroyed the minefield, which made it easier for us!" Mina grinned, releasing him now, as she stepped back and turned back to the crowd, her arms waving in the air. "We didn't even need to slow down. All we had to do was follow your path of destruction, it was awesome!"
"Yep," Hagakure nodded, still clinging to his arm.
He couldn't see her face, but if he could, he suspected there would be a very wide grin on it at the moment.
"What places did you get?" Izuku asked awkwardly, as he looked between the two girls.
"Thirteenth, unlucky for some, but lucky for me!" Mina grinned, flashing him a peace sign as she twirled around to face him again.
"Twenty-third," Hagakure shrugged, her arms tightening around his arm. "I'm faster than I look. Plus, I'm stealthy too!"
"Congratulations," Izuku nodded, his gaze panning around the arena now.
His other classmates were closing in on his position, which, from what he could tell, had quickly become the epicentre of where Class 1A would be gathering to wait for the next event to be announced.
Looking at his classmates. No, his friends. Izuku watched as Yui, Sero, Kaminari, Kirishima, Jiro, and Shiozaki, all wandered over.
"Twelfth," Kirishima grinned, pumping a fist.
"Eighth," Sero smirked.
Both of them looked happy with the result.
"Twenty-sixth," Kaminari smiled, as he started to pose and show off to the crowds.
"Twenty-fifth, could've been better, but whatever." Jiro shrugged, a frown on her face as she looked around. "Have any of you seen Yaomomo?"
"She was ahead of me, but I've not seen her since." Shiozaki replied calmly, her expression serene as she ignored the roaring crowd, and instead smiled at Izuku. "Congratulations Midoriya, your performance was truly a glorious site to behold."
"Thanks," Izuku smiled uncomfortably, returning the favour as he quickly congratulated his classmates as they all began to gather around him, more of them joining as Class 1A assembled.
Carefully easing his arm out of Hagakure's grip, Izuku smiled at her, before once again looking around at the stands.
There was still a lot of attention on their group, and not all of it was good.
Many of those watching were muttering to each other, some of them scowling, or shaking their heads as they talked, or pointed down in their, or rather, in his direction.
He could almost taste the apprehension and dissatisfaction in the air.
Although most of his classmates and teachers had accepted him, it seemed the greater public was not that willing, or at least, not yet.
Gritting his teeth, he clenched his hands into fists.
He was still being rejected for what happened when he was only five years old.
He wasn't prepared to accept it, not any more.
If they were going to dismiss him out of hand and not give him a chance to repent for what happened all those years ago, by becoming a hero and saving people.
Then fuck them.
He would do it in spite of them.
He was going to be a hero.
He was going to stay at U.A. with his friends, and work towards his chosen goal.
Scowling at the crowd, Izuku could see some of them, those closest to him, flinch backwards at his expression.
"You look angry." A soft voiced stated from beside him.
"Yui," Izuku said, his expression softening as he glanced sideways at the quiet girl.
"Are you alright?" She asked, a very small smile on her face as she turned and met his gaze. Blue eyes meeting green, even as she reached out and gently gripped the sleeve of his jacket.
"Fine, just frustrated." Izuku shrugged, the scowl on his face giving way to a smile as he turned to his friend. "How did you do?"
"Okay," Yui replied softly. "I came in twentieth."
"That's good," Izuku smiled, and it was. She was in the upper half of the forty available slots for the next event, which considering her Quirk wasn't suited to racing like many of the hero course students, was pretty impressive.
Yui hummed in acknowledgement, shifting a little closer to him, so their shoulders were now touching, even as she turned and glanced around at the rest of their class, all of whom, save for Todoroki, had converged on their position.
From what he could see, the other classes had done the same. With all of them grouping up in an almost tribal manner as they stood around waiting for the last few students to finish the race, and for the patiently waiting Midnight to announce what they would be doing next.
Following her gaze, Izuku watched his classmates from the side-lines as they talked, celebrated and comforted one another. With some of the more gregarious of their number like Kaminari, Kirishima, Mina and Hagakure, waving excitedly to the crowd, celebrating their success. While others, like Momo, Jiro, Shoji and Shiozaki comforted those that failed to make the cut.
The majority of them had managed to finish the race.
Unfortunately, not all of them had succeeded.
Looking up at one of the massive screens overhead, Izuku quickly saw that six of their number had been knocked out of the race.
Turning back to the group, he could see that those six were currently being comforted and supported, even as they put on brave smiles.
The smiles were fake though, he could see that much, and he could understand why, after all getting knocked out of the first round of the Sports Festival was not a good start to their heroic careers.
Nor did it look good on their class as a whole.
Of the twenty of them that took part, six had failed to make the cut.
Tsuyu Asui, Yuga Aoyama, Ochaco Uraraka, Mashirao Ojiro, Rikido Sato and Fumikage Tokoyami, had all been knocked off the track, and subsequently disqualified from the race.
It was suspicious.
They were all talented, and had been training, and working hard to become heroes. They were the cream of the crop, some of the best hero prospects their generation had to offer, and yet six of them had failed at the first hurdle, with several Support Course students and General Education Course students, including the two obnoxious purple haired kids from the General Education Course, taking their places.
He narrowed his eyes at that thought.
From what little he was able to hear from the muttered conversations going on around him, they had been knocked out of bounds by members of Class 1B.
Or rather, they had been deliberately targeted by members of Class 1B and forced out of bounds.
Frowning, Izuku glanced over at Class 1B, his expression hardening as he saw them all cheering and celebrating their success. Nearly all of their class had managed to rank within the top forty, and so would be going on to the next event. Only one of them had failed to make it to the next round.
"They planned this," Izuku muttered angrily.
Yui nodded. "Several of them hung back and attacked our classmates as they ran. I counted at least eight of them doing it."
Gritting his teeth, and clenching his hands into fists, he watched as Bakugo turned around and met his gaze.
There was a sneer on the ashen haired blonde's face, even as his angry red eyes bore into his green ones.
"Tell me their names, or point them out to me." Izuku said simply, his eyes narrowing as both he and Bakugo continued their impromptu staring contest.
( - )
(Sometime Later)
Approximately ten minutes after the last runner stumbled into the arena, Midnight was already standing on the podium, her riding crop in hand, as she prepared to announce the next event.
"It's now time to announce the second event!" Her voice rang out, silencing the waiting students.
Of the two hundred students who had started the obstacle course, only eighty-five had finished.
Ninety-two of those that failed, had walked, or in some cases, leapt out of bounds, and had thus been disqualified.
Twenty-three who been forced out-of-bounds by other students.
Those that had failed to pass muster were now sat in their class's assigned spectator boxes supporting their classmates that had succeeded, even as they waited for the consolation event they would be able to take part in at the halfway point to take place. It would be the last chance some of them would have to show off their Quirks and abilities to the watching Pro Heroes.
Or at least most of them were.
The Business Course students, however, were instead walking through the crowds either sharpening their business acumen by analysing the winners and making judgements on their prospects. That, or they were making betting pools, or engaging in other money making side hustles.
This left forty students still in the competition, all of whom still had the opportunity to advance to the final round, the traditionally a tournament event.
Turning away from his ongoing conversation with Yui, Hagakure and Kirishima, Izuku immediately tuned into Midnight's speech as she continued to expand upon what the next event would be.
"Thirteen, despite the power and intrinsic danger of her Quirk, was best known, not for fighting, but instead for rescuing. She was well respected and highly acknowledged for her dedication and success rate when it came to being a rescue hero, and was foremost among all the heroes that specialise in that field of heroics. As such, in order to pay homage to Thirteen, and her legacy as one of Japan's premier rescue heroes, it has been decided by the U.A. administration and the board of governors, that the second event in this year's Sports Festival will be a timed, and carefully controlled, rescue operation!" Midnight announced loudly, much to the delight of the crowd of the crowd, as they began cheering.
Izuku, meanwhile, was less thrilled.
He had a lot of respect for Thirteen as both a hero and a person, especially considering she had given her life protecting his classmates.
But at the same time, his abilities were not geared towards being a rescue hero.
Instead, his Quirk had an affinity for combat, and destruction.
Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
This wasn't his forte.
"It'll be alright," Yui said, her attention shifting to him. "We can work together."
"She's right," Iida suddenly piped up, his brow furrowed as he came to stand beside Izuku. "If we join together and create finally balanced teams, then we make up for one another's deficiencies in certain areas, and maximise our chances of all making it through to the next round."
Behind him, he could see the others had also come to join him and Yui.
All except Todoroki. Who he could see was still standing off to the side with a scowl on his face.
"Hey wait, what?" Kaminari chimed in loudly. "Isn't this still, like, a competition?"
"It is, but that does not mean that we can't still work together. Considering that the main point of this event is to cull the numbers down to something more manageable for the tournament in the third round, it is true that only a certain number of us will be able to proceed. But that doesn't necessarily rule us working together. If we follow Iida's suggestion and work together, and support one another, we will be able to maximise our chances of all us moving on to the next event" Momo said, cutting in before Iida could answer the electric user's question, as she took on her elected role of Class Rep. "We probably won't be the only ones doing so either. Class 1B has already started working together as a unit. It's how they managed to force the others out of the contest. From what I can tell, they've already started working together to ensure that only the members of their class will advance."
"Those sneaky fuckers," Sero scowled. "So while we were playing fair, they were ganging up on Uraraka, Asui and the others!"
"That's not manly." Kirishima muttered, his brow furrowing.
"But it is tactical." Jiro cut in, playing the devil's advocate.
"Quite, they came to the festival with a plan in mind, and unfair or not, it's working. They now dominate the remaining forty. There are nineteen of them, to thirteen of us. We're at a disadvantage. Especially if they continue to work together, and target Class 1A. Which they will almost certainly do, if you consider the fact that we are their greatest competition. If we want to stand a chance, we'll need to work together to succeed." Momo continued.
Looking around, Izuku could see all the others nodding in agreement.
It looked like he hadn't been the only one to clock onto just what Class 1B was up to.
Smiling, he felt his mood pick up.
From what he could see, it seemed they would all be working together as a team to pass the event, which in turn meant, as Iida said, that they would be covering for one another's weaknesses, and maximising the chances of all of them getting into the third event.
It was a solid plan.
"Count me out."
Or at least most of them would be.
Turning, he saw Todoroki scowling at them.
"This is a competition, it's not a chance to make friends and play nice. No offence to any of you, but you would just hold me back." Todoroki pressed on, his voice cold, and his arms folded. "You can all team up and treat this like a game. But I am in this to win, and that's just what I'll do."
In response to the ice user's blunt statement, Izuku felt anger flaring up within him.
He had known Todoroki was arrogant, and determined.
But he hadn't expected him to be so cold and dismissive to his classmates.
"What a dick," Jiro muttered, echoing his thoughts as she rolled her eyes and turned away from the Todoroki, even as the ice user started to walk away from the rest of the class.
"Leave him," Momo said uncertainly. "Midnight is about to finish explaining what the next event will involve, and we'll need to listen in on just what the next event entails if we're to create the best teams."
Nodding, they turned back to Midnight, even as the R-rated heroine silenced the noisy crowd with a crack of her riding crop. Once again, bringing all attention back to her, as she started to give more details on the second event.
"This event," Midnight pressed on, a smirk spreading across her face as Cementoss, a large, blocky man made entirely out of cement, walked onto the field and began constructing a large, brutalist tower of blocks using his quirk. "Is a team event."
Izuku furrowed his brow.
Behind him, he could hear his classmates muttering.
"The goal will be to avoid natural obstacles, and both safely and efficiently rescue as many civilians as possible, in the quickest time possible." Midnight pressed on, her blue eyes shining with delight as she saw the discontent her words caused. "It will be a race against the clock, and the four teams that complete the event the quickest, and the most effectively, will be the ones that move on to the final round!"
As Midnight spoke, he could see Cementoss continue his work. The tower blocks in the middle of the arena continued to take shape, with large glassless windows and empty doorways now appearing, even as bridges and walkways erupted out of walls connecting several of the blocks.
It was a very impressive spectacle, which was likely the point, as from around him, he could hear the crowd "oohing" and "aahing".
Looking up at the towering buildings, he couldn't help but be reminded of the tower block they used in their first lesson with All Might, back when they had been grouped up in pairs, and acted out the roles of heroes and villains. That building had been of a similar design, and looking at Cementoss work, had probably been created in a similar way.
"To save you all the trouble of choosing your own teams, and to make things a little… shall we say harder… the teams shall be randomised." Midnight continued, a smirk now present on her face as she looked around at the watching students.
From around him, he could hear the mutters of discontent getting louder.
Glancing over at Class 1B, he saw that they were similarly unenthused.
It appeared Momo had been correct in her assumption that Class 1B had been planning on working together again.
Looking back at the now finishing buildings, he once again thought back to the training session with All Might. The conditions for the team for formations were the similar to the ones they'd had in their first lesson, and just like then, they made sense.
A hero wouldn't always be able to handpick their team in an emergency situation.
Instead, they would have to work with whoever was available and adapt.
Smiling slightly, despite in spite of himself, he couldn't help but admire how forward-thinking U.A. was when it came to training their hero students.
"Now, to determine your teams!" Midnight continued, a sultry grin on her face now as she once again whipped her riding crop.
On the large screens all around the stadium, ten team boxes with four empty slots in each box appeared.
So ten teams of four, Izuku thought, a frown on his face.
That meant only sixteen of them would be moving on to the final event.
While scanning the screens, he watched as names, each of which had a picture beside them, began to appear in each empty slot as the randomiser sorted the remaining forty students into ten teams of four.
Turning around, he found the screen with his name and picture on it.
Team 3:
Izuku Midoriya
Itsuka Kendo
Pony Tsunotori
Mezo Shoji
He was on a team with two members of Class 1B, and Shoji, who, although perfectly pleasant, he didn't really know very well.
It wasn't ideal.
Looking around at the other teams formed, he immediately noticed that Mina and Momo had been grouped together with some Class 1B students. One of them had midnight black skin and shaggy white hair, Shihai Kuroiro. The other was a gaunt, pale girl with white hair, Reiko Yanagi.
Yui meanwhile had been grouped with Iida, who was a decent guy, and unfortunately also both Bakugo, and the gaunt looking, purple haired kid from the General Education Course, Shinso Hitoshi.
Hagakure and Kirishima had been put on a team with the Class 1B student that could turn his body into steel, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, and with Bakugo's unpleasant blonde sidekick, Monoma Neito.
Kaminari and Shiozaki had been put on a team with a Class 1B student with green hair and sharp teeth, Setsuna Tokage, and with a crazy looking, pink haired Support Course student, Mei Hatsume.
Todoroki was on a team with Jiro, Juzo Honenuki, and Minoru Mineta.
The rest of the teams were similarly made up with all of them being a mix of different classes, merging together the remaining members of Class 1A and Class 1B, with the Support and General Education Course students that had scrapped through the first round.
They weren't the greatest of teams, not only because of the growing hostility between Class 1A and Class 1B. But also because they didn't know each other's Quirks, strengths, weaknesses, or have any real comradery on which to build their tactics and strategies.
Effectively, most of the teams were already split in two, and dysfunctional.
They were a disaster waiting to happen.
"Now the teams have been picked, you should all group up and start talking. I'll give you five minutes to plan and come up with some basic strategies, and then we'll randomly pick the first team to go, and see where we go from there." Midnight said cheerfully.
Glancing over a Shoji, Izuku gave him a nod.
"Let's go then." Izuku muttered.
"Right," Shoji nodded.
"Good luck," Izuku muttered to Yui, initiating contact this time as he patted on the shoulder.
"You too," Yui nodded.
"This is going to be tough," Hagakure groaned.
"Midnight sensei can be such a bitch sometimes," Mina agreed, a forlorn expression on her face. "Why do we have to team up with Class 1B?"
"Yeah, they're all assholes!" Kaminari agreed.
"Language," Iida snapped, "And Mina, you shouldn't be talking about Midnight sensei like that. Instead, you should take the next event as an opportunity to learn and improve."
"Iida's right," Momo added, once again assuming her role of Class Rep. "Try to work with your teams, and do the best you can. This is still a competition, remember, and we all need to focus on that. Do your best, and show the watching Pro Heroes what you can do. Don't let Class 1B drag you down. Remember the true purpose behind the Sports Festival."
They all nodded at that, with several of them giving out half-hearted cheers, even as they started to break up.
"Come on, Midoriya," Shoji said.
Nodding, he followed the larger teen, his gaze already on their teammates. One of them was a smiling, blue-eyed girl, who had her orange hair tied up in a ponytail. The other was a short blonde, with large blue eyes, horns and hooves.
Momo was right when she said they had to make do with the team they'd been assigned.
"We can do this," Izuku muttered, more to himself than to Shoji. Not that that stopped the other teen from nodding in agreement.
If they moved quickly and maximised the use of Shoji's Quirk, then there was a chance they could speed run the entire event.
"Oh and by the way," Midnight's voice rang out one more time, attracting both their attention, and that of the crowd. "There will be several judges watching this task too, and whenever they feel that you haven't acted appropriately or expediently, they will add a time penalty to your final score."
Izuku grimaced.
This task wasn't going to be either easy, or fun.
( - )
AN: So despite wanting to polish off the second event in one go, I decided to split the chapter instead as it was getting a bit long, and the actual event part needs more work. It wasn't reading quite right, and needs a lot of work. As you can see the second event is different to the first, and is a rescue based events, which I thought was fitting as this festival has been done in Thirteen's honour. In regards to the event itself, I was partly inspire by Lildrummerboi's MHA story, where he goes a similar way, and don't worry I asked permission to use his idea.
That said it will be an interesting event, both in regards to the unusual team formations, which will cause friction. The cull of the forty down to sixteen, and the fact that this is a judged rescue event which doesn't necessarily suit the powersets of some of the more powerful characters like Bakugo, Todoroki and Midoriya. I'll be going into some detail on Midoriya's run, as well as going into partial detail on some of the others. What do you think the results will be?
I won't be doing all of them though. I'm hoping to get the second even done by next chapter, and the Sports Festival concluded in three/four more after that. There are several plot points I want to cover first.
Either way I am looking forward to writing more of this. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it, or continue to do so. If not then please tell what you didn't like, or what you thought could have been done better? Please leave a review, comment etc. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to PM me.
Also I am on a discord with a load of other writers, so if you fancy popping over to ask questions or offer suggestions about this story, or any of my other ones, or to find new authors you might not have come across yet, please feel free to use the link in my bio.
Also check out my other MHA story if you fancy, it is a MHA story in which Izuku has a Quirk which incorporates elements from Warhammer and Worm. If it gets enough traction I'll turn it into a full story.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you later.
Greed720.