Monoma that he didn't seem to register that Kirishima was taking him away at all. "Okay, okay, bros! I think we all need to take a chill pill and be chill, huh?"
"Chill pill?! I need no chill pill!" Bakugo hissed.
"Neither of you are being manly right now, yah?"
"Oh by the way, Class 1-A, some of the general education students want to get in the hero course," Monoma continued, as though he was the mouthpiece of a grand movement. "Through performing in a most excellent manner in the sports festival, they may… take your spo-"
Slam!
The door was shut, and Dark Shadow had closed it. The muffled sounds of disgruntled students filtered through, though the loudest voice was Monoma, who was loudly telling them to "gaze upon 1-A's arrogance, that they won't even deign to speak with us" before promptly being hit by what sounded like an enormous fist and dragged away on the floor.
"What the hell, Birdbrain?!" Bakugo angrily complained. "I was going to-"
Fumikage, instead of answering, pointed to the window where Ochaco had just lowered a shivering Ashido (who knew she was scared of heights?). Then a blue tentacle wrapped around her and began pulling her to the ground. Kaminari and Koda were already lined up.
"Get in line," Fumikage simply said as he too proceeded to the window. Bakugo growled, but Kirishima would drag him along anyway. The only people who were still on their seats were Todoroki, who seemed to be looking at the whole with a mix of disbelief and awe, and Iida, who was conflicted between scolding his classmates for not proceeding out of the door in an orderly fashion and congratulating Izuku and Ochaco for their unorthodox method of avoiding any more engagement with the students outside while getting out of the classroom.
Before long, Class 1-A had landed on the ground and were on their way to Lunch Rush's cafeteria. Izuku didn't seem to care that Bakugo somehow safely landed on the ground without either using explosions to propel himself or accepting a Blau Kraken tentacle. Maybe it was pure spite and will.
When was the last time they'd spoken to each other, anyway?
"You'll be watching the Sports Festival, right Frieren?"
Izuku and Frieren were on the same forest clearing that they had used to practice magic for… what, a year? Izuku, for the last two hours, had been casting progressively stronger Zoltraaks as quickly as he could while Frieren, sitting with her back leaning on a tree, watched with her phone in her hand (for someone so old, she had adapted well to technology… but again, that technology was just so filled with knowledge to look for). Izuku had given the different levels of Zoltraak differing names, helping himself better visualize and remember them.
Now, though, he was beginning something new. A new, revolutionary spell.
"Maybe," Frieren dully replied as Izuku fell with his back on the ground in front of her. "Gladiatorial matches are not something I particularly enjoy seeing."
Izuku got up from the ground, bits of grass and soil stuck on the back of his shirt, which was labeled 'pants'. "But you'll see me compete! And that will be a competition that everyone will be watching. All the pro heroes will be watching us! It's like the Olympic Games but way, way better and more exciting!"
"Right…"
"And mom will probably force you to, anyway."
"That… is true."
Frieren looked up from her phone, where she had a pirated PDF of a book named 'A Comprehensive History of Fantasy Tropes' open. "I don't see the appeal of revealing one's own capabilities to everyone else. It is foolish if you ask me. No one knew about me, the second most powerful mage in the world, until Himmel made me join his party and we blazed our way through all the demons. Demons didn't know what to do when they fought me. And I've been deceiving them all of my life, constantly suppressing my mana to do so. They call it dirty tricks, but I call it strategy. But… if partaking in this festival makes you happy, then you do as you wish." The part where she says that she'll still watch it with Inko no matter how much or little it appeals to her went unsaid. If Inko asks then she'll do it. Just because.
It's like how Fern dragged Frieren from bed to watch that sunrise. The ancient elf still didn't see the appeal with that particular sunrise, but seeing Fern be mesmerized by it was sufficient to make waking up early worth it.
"Oh pleaseeee-" Izuku's voice trailed off as he fell, feet-first, into a portal of his own making, which appeared close to the depiction of portals in a certain pre-quirk movie franchise. Or rather it was a nigh-perfect replication of it.
It's just that when Izuku created his portal spell, it always appeared under him and sent him flying downward. On his back. Luckily, that wouldn't be an issue from a great height as he had Flight. But it was still annoying. And a bit impractical.
"You're finding it difficult to visualize yourself simply walking through a portal?" Frieren asked.
"Well, I suppose reliving what I experienced is taking precedence over what I'm trying to imagine myself doing," Izuku shook his head. "I can't really get over what Kurogiri did to me back in the USJ. To all of us, really. We all fell on our asses." Izuku shuddered as he remembered that Fumikage had broken his ankle and Denki fell into deep water whilst not knowing how to swim.
Huh, he's calling him Denki now? Well, it just sounded right.
"I'm sure you'll get it eventually," Frieren quietly replied.
"Are you sure you don't want to assist me directly?"
"Eh, I can do it later."
"By later, you mean…?"
Frieren didn't answer. She simply gave him a wry smile and looked back at what she was reading. Oh, my, 'later' wouldn't mean 'a few years', right? RIGHT?
As Izuku kept honing his portal spell, Frieren would return to her reading… only to be interrupted when a rather familiar presence that she knew was already approaching for the last two minutes made itself known to her. "Ms. Frieren," Fumikage greeted.
"Fumikage," Frieren lazily replied as she threw her head back to look up at him. "What brings you here?"
"I was going to return this notebook to Izuku," Fumikage said as he sat on the floor beside Frieren. She didn't seem to mind at all, simply looking at him with mild interest as the two of them were now watching Izuku practicing his new portal magic. "But he appears to be busy. This is embarrassing to admit, but I am terrible at keeping notes."
"Hmm?"
"I usually end up drawing doodles on my notebook instead of taking notes," the birdheaded boy answered. "I have, err, grown accustomed to Dark Shadow simply reciting things to me. He somehow remembers almost everything that we ever see and hear. Almost. For some reason he stops thinking when it's…" Fumikage shivered in fright. "Math."
Izuku fell out of a portal in front of them, just to be taken in by a portal that opened under him. A part of Fumikage feared that it was about to become an infinite loop of falling. "Hi, Fumi! What's up-"
"I was going to return your- oh, he's gone. He keeps falling… why?"
Frieren looked up as Izuku fell out of a portal again… with Zoltraak at the ready. A small part of the forest clearing exploded, kicking up dust and soil. Frieren shielded herself and Fumikage with a basic defensive spell, barely sparing the explosion a glance.
"He can only visualize himself falling when it comes to portals," Frieren replied. Fumikage was visibly uncomfortable with the mention of falling, and portals. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Well, if you were watching the news lately…"
"I saw."
"Right. When we got scattered, we all fell through portals. Most of us landed close to the ground, but a few fell from a rather substantial height. As for me… I broke my ankle. And then a villain snuck up behind me and tried to cut me open. It was dark in there, so…"
"Your quirk went into a rage," Frieren was already familiar with how Dark Shadow worked, as it was something that went up in conversation during the ten months Izuku had first begun learning magic. "I taught you a simple orb of light spell, but you were not able to use it."
"Things happened… very fast. By the time I could think clearly, I was covered by Dark Shadow. It felt like an overwhelming darkness was consuming me from the inside. It had… never happened before. I could not imagine myself getting out of that situation by myself."
"But you had help," Frieren glanced over to where Izuku was practicing combining portals and Zoltraak to enact a sort of bombing run, though she could tell that it consumed a significant amount of mana. She then turned her attention back to Fumikage, who still wasn't done talking. Had he even talked this much before?
"The villain attempting to end my life was cut in two. It is just… how do I get over it? How can I? It was something that I have been afraid that I'd eventually end up doing one day." Fumikage shivered. "I was just lucky that it was 'just' a criminal that I ended up killing, not an innocent bystander. But what if one my classmates had fallen in with me? What if I ended up hurting them too?"
"Quirks are so inconvenient," Fieren created another shield to block yet another shockwave of dust.. "When they're strong they're hard to control… when they're weak, they're easy to use… meanwhile, magic is fun to do." Well, except for Aura's Scales of Obedience. That spell can go straight to hell along with the bitch that made it. Most demon spells, really. They have their whole lives to make spells and they make… what, mind control? Disgusting. Copying other people's moves? How unoriginal. Blood magic? Unsanitary.
"...you're not great at comforting people, are you?"
"No."
Fumikage simply shrugged. When you're talking with a thousand-year-old elf that spent the majority of her life alone, that was to be expected. "Well, I suppose I must learn to wield Dark Shadow more than ever, even in the dark. If I am to be a hero… then we must become one in purpose. Especially now that the Sports Festival is coming…"
"Ah, the gladiatorial match? I don't see what's so great about it."
"It's not…" Fumikage sighed. He decided to change the subject as Izuku fell on his ass, again. "He is very persistent, isn't he?"
"He is a good mage, but he is simply beginning," Frieren replied.
"Our class thinks he's the strongest out of all of them." Well, except for Bakugo. And who knows what Todoroki is thinking? No one does.
Frieren lazily moved up her hand and summoned a shield to block yet another dust wave. Fumiakge didn't even look at the incoming shockwave. "It is easy to be perceived as the strongest when no one can counter you. When your foe does not knows what you're doing until it's too late." It applied both to herself and Izuku, really. Demons cannot even comprehend the concept of deception by suppressing mana (ironic that they make remake their appearances to be close to humans as an act of deception). This world does not know that magic is real. Both are not ready.
"It's not like people will know that Izuku is using actual magic, though?" Fumikage tilted his head.
"They'll probably know enough, but as you humans might say, life is too short to hide. I would not recommend such a brazen lifestyle, but I understand where it's coming from."
"Huh… by the way, what if I use a spell to…"
"You have very little mana. It will have to be the most basic of all basics."
"Yes, yes, I know. It's just that…"
Later that night, Izuku plopped down on his bed, exhausted. Most of his mana was already gone by them, spiraling into the drain as he practiced his new portal spell.
Either way, just as he was about to go to sleep, Izuku decided to check the group chat with him, Ochaco, Iida, and Fumikage (plus Dark Shadow), just to see that there was already a conversation going on. That and Kaminari was already in it.
When did he add—oh, wait, it wasn't him. It was Fumikage who added the electric user… and changed his nickname to Pikachu.
Kaminari had been sending memes. A lot of memes. He had also reposted the picture where Izuku was carrying a weightless Iida like a cat while he compelled the crowd of students to remain calm. Good to know that he's still being his funny self.
That, and he'd changed Iida's nickname too. SonicTheClassRep.
Sagittarius A*: So, guys, how has your preparation for the sports festival gone?
SonicTheClassRep: I have been working on increasing my speed and my ability to make tight turns. I… crashed on a wall earlier.
Pikachu: That must have hurt lol
SonicTheClassRep: My pain is not funny!
ThePrinceOfShadows: I will not divulge any information
Pikachu: Well, as for me, I've been practicing a lot. FYI
Sagittarius A*: Oh! Do tell!
Pikachu: Well, I'm… putting myself through jumpscares… constantly. I try my best not to let out too much of my wattage when that happens.
Izuku squinted. Well, that was a little heavy when you think of it. But that event was better off unsaid.
SonicTheClassRep: I see, Kaminari! I wish you luck in your endeavors!
Pikachu: <3
Before he could say anything, though, Izuku had fallen asleep.
Two weeks had passed, and the Sports Festival had come at last.
Class 1-A gathered in one of the many locker rooms within UA's grand colliseum. Outside, a perimeter made out of heroes accompanied by military personnel and police surrounded the festival grounds. There were probably hundreds of robots patrolling outside of that perimeter as well, making any infiltration and attack by villains a suicide mission at best. That wasn't even mentioning the foreign delegation, and General Winter and Star and Stripes. Star and Stripes wasn't a surprise at all; after all, she was perhaps the most famous fan of All Might in all the world, and and she finally had a chance to attend an event with her mentor in it.. As for General Winter… no one knows why the world's most powerful cryomancer was present, but he did fight alongside All Might once .
"I'm so excited!" Ashido pumped her first upward, followed by some of the other members of Class 1-A. "None of ya better hold back, huh?!"
"YES! I WON'T!" Uraraka looked utterly terrifying as her eyes seemed to glow (or were they actually glowing?!) with barely disguised primal instinct. "Let's do our best!"
As Izuku simply began counting down the minutes and seconds until they would be called out into the open, Todoroki out of all people approached him. Wait, what? What does he want? Why is he approaching?
"Midoriya." Todoroki began. His eyes had a dangerous glint in them. "You are very powerful. Perhaps the strongest of our class." Bakugo snorted somewhere in the background, but barely anyone, bar maybe Kirishima, paid that any notice. "Therefore, I must defeat you."
"How manly!" Kirishima remarked. "A declaration of war!"
With his piece said and done, Todoroki stared at Izuku eye to eye. The entire class waited with bated breath for a response. Perhaps there would be some epic speech. Perhaps that declaration would be returned. Perhaps-
"Alright then," Izuku replied. He didn't sound… much of anything.
That was slightly disappointing… but nothing new.
Either way, the Sports Festival is here.
"Do I really have to be here?"
"Of course, Frieren! Our kid's competing and I am not going to miss it! Neither are you!"
"...fine."
Inko had basically dragged Frieren out of the house just before the Sports Festival began in earnest. Oh no, she wasn't going to let Frieren just sit around and read while her apprentice and Inko's son was in here, competing along with the best of the best hero students this whole country has to offer! They were going, both of them!
That, and Inko had essentially threatened to not make food for Frieren should she refuse. How could she not acquiesce to that ?
Frieren lazily looked around. The only contestants she was really interested in were Izuku and Fumikage, and the first round hadn't even started yet, as all the classes were still moving into position in one of the arena's entrances. In her endless surfing of the internet, however, there were still some personalities she could recognize amongst the great crowds.
Tokoyami Raito was nearby, surprisingly, alongside his wife. He was cheering and screaming very loudly, maniacally waving a banner with the words "GO FUMI!" written on it in kanji. His wife was doing the same, but she was even louder than him. The little red dragon named Wushu was sleeping on top of her black hair, curled up like a cat. It went without saying that the Tokoyamis were wearing black. ALL black.
What were they, a family of goths?
Towering over all the people around her was America's Number Two Pro Hero, Star and Stripes or Cathleen Bates. She was an absurdly huge woman, with enormous muscles. She had a height that was maybe seven or so feet, and her costume just screamed AMERICA . Her cape was a stylized American flag, her shoulders adorned with pauldrons that took the form of golden eagle heads. Her luscious blonde hair had eight tufts that stiffly stood upward, indicating her admiration for All Might. She was being her usual self, accepting one autograph request after another with a gleeful smile. There was even an entire family posing for a picture along with her.
By contrast, General Winter, otherwise known as Artem Suchkov, sat beside Star and Stripes with a neutral expression and arms crossed over his chest. He ooked a little more dour than the American beside him. He was shorter. Much shorter. He was maybe about 5'7", with chestnut colored hair hidden underneath a ushanka save for some braided locks that dangled on the back of his head. His ushanka had the symbol of the New Novgorod Republic, a stylized creature that looked like it had the head of a unicorn and the body of a lion. Unlike many other heroes, he had no cape, instead wearing a set of scaled armor with fur trimmings that emulated the look of an elite soldier of the ancient Rus Principalities. He looked stern and almost intimidating despite his shorter and smaller frame, though that strict visage would break whenever Star turned around and started talking to him. He looked up to her with a pleasant glint in his eyes, like he was happy to be in conversation with the American pro hero. Occasionally, though, a brave fan of his would come forward and ask for an autograph or even a picture. He at least entertained those, but only a few approached him. He never smiled unless it was Star that was talking to him.
In an exclusive but still visible area of the stands, Miao Ying, envoy of the Empire of the Northern Han, sat with an inscrutable expression. The tall, white haired, white eyed woman wore a formal suit and tie, the only thing that indicated that she might be related to the Loong Dynasty that ruled the Empire being the fact that her right arm was covered in glimmering silver scales. She was surrounded by her bodyguards; suited agents with shades. It was par for the course as far as diplomatic guards went.
There was also Endeavor, the Flame Hero. Unlike literally every other member of the audience, he was standing in the back, looking down at the arena with a stern look. No one even got near him. Even General Winter got the occasional fan who asked for autographs or pictures with him; though he did not smile in those photos, he at least still allowed it to happen. Endeavor, though… he was scary.
Not to Frieren, though. Endeavor barely even interested her. What caught her interest was one of the third-year UA students in the audience. The blonde, blue eyed student had an enormous, muscular body, a testament to consistent training over the years, but that wasn't the reason Frieren found him ever so slightly interesting. Rather, it was the fact that he had nine souls in him, and the flickers of a tenth just beginning to coalesce.
She had never seen a creature with multiple souls like this. They were like stars, arranged in an orderly pattern. They were distinctly separate, unlike the Nomu creature that Izuku had described when the villains attacked the USJ, where the souls were constantly churning and mixing together like ingredients in a witch's cauldron. But these souls were also connected by some strange connection like they were part of a greater whole that acted in concert.
What a mystery! Someone with nine and a half souls would surely be an interesting subject to study. She needs to know how it happened!
"Hey, Frieren! It's starting!"
Right. There was that. "Okay."
Of course, Midnight was the host.
"Good morning all of you naughty people! This is the moment that you have all been waiting for for an entire year! Our Sports Festival will be starting in five minutes! Now, sit back, and relax, and enjoy the glorious spectacle that you all lay witness to in this day!" Midnight whipped her whip around as she spoke, but unlike when Present Mic tried to rile up the crowd during the general assembly in the day of the exams, the people actually responded to Midnight and cheered. Izuku couldn't tell whether it was because she was genuinely good at being an emcee or because a large enough subset of the population was finding her dominatrix-themed outfit… what is it, good to look at? Izuku just realized this, but she has… handcuffs on her wrists!
Is this what the world has come to? An adult-themed emcee in an event that's filled with 15 to 16 year olds?
"Is her outfit even appropriate for an event like this?" What Fumikage just said echoed Izuku's thoughts.
"Shush, you!" Midnight retorted. Oh well. "Now, before we get into the main event, we will be listening to an opening speech by the first placer of our entrance exams, Midoriya Izuku!"
Three Days Ago
"Do I really have to do this, Mr. Aizawa?" Izuku asked.
"No one else is going to do it, Midoriya."
"...fine."
The Present
"Ehem," Izuku cleared his throat as he leaned on the mic. "Is this thing on… oh, right, alright. Good morning, everyone. As you all know, I'm Midoriya Izuku, of Class 1-A. I have been granted the privilege of giving the opening speech of today's event."
Izuku visibly fumbled the piece of paper he was holding. He could hear the sighs from the crowd… but he didn't care at all. Part of him just wanted to get this speech over with. Another part wanted to say something that could be seen as inspiring. But should he disclose that he was quirkless for most of his life? That would be a little… complicated, wouldn't it? Well, brevity is the wit. He doesn't need to say too much, right?
"I have only one thing to say, everyone. Let us do our best in everything we do. Above and beyond. Plus Ultra."
At first, there was silence. Izuku wondered whether keeping it that short had a negative impact. Then one person started to clap. It was, of course, his mother. Then there was, ah! There was Frieren, who took one look at Inko and started clapping as well. And then Tokoyami Raito started clapping too, even going far as shouting "that's my kid's friend!". Soon, the clapping spread like wildfire, turning the stadium into a deafening cacophony.
This is fine.
"Alright, now we will be entering our first round… an obstacle race!"
Midnight posed dramatically, pointing her whip at the absolutely enormous four-screened jumbotron that floated in the middle of the arena. "All the students will be running a four-kilometer-long track around the arena, but beware! There will be many obstacles along the way, the details of which… will be revealed as we go! Also, only 32 of our contestants will be entering the second round, so you all better go… say it with me…"
The crowd began to roar and cheer even louder. It was absolutely deafening!
"PLUS… ULTRA!"
"Ready… set… go!"
As the flare went off, two things happened at once. First, the entrance to the stadium was immediately filled by a glacier, trapping at least half of the students before they could even begin to move. And second, a barrier made of blue hexagons appeared, blocking more students from starting at least for a little. Some slammed into it; shattering the barrier where they impacted it, but it delayed them nonetheless.
Present Mic screamed into the arena as the race began. "And the race is off to an interesting start! Todoroki and Midoriya have frozen and blocked off many of the other students, preventing them from starting to run! We got Todoroki at the lead, followed closely by Midoriya, Bakugo, and Tokoyami, all from Class 1-A! I can only wonder what kind of devilish plans these four have! What say you, Aizawa? Those are your kids after all!"
"Why am I even here," Aizawa could be heard grumbling.
"Because you're the most qualified to commentate here, other than me, of course!"
"Please end my suffering."
"HEHE! Anyway, looks like most of the other hero course students have either avoided or broken through the ice! HERE COMES YAOYOROZU WITH A SCOOTER! And Iida is racing in, too! Man, I wish she'd made a cool motorcycle instead!"
"It would waste too much time and energy to make one," Aizawa dourly pointed out.
"Yeah, I get that, but wouldn't it be cooler ?!"
"..."
As Izuku ran just a little distance behind Todoroki, thanks to the Skeldus he cast and the fact that he was able to react quickly when Todoroki froze the ground, he began to hear a familiar voice calling out a familiar nickname.
"DEKUUUUUUU!"
"Hello, Bakugo," Izuku lazily said, pointing a hand at the incoming blonde, thinking of a spell to use should he try to attack him and throw him out of the track. After all… that was definitely in the cards. He and Todoroki did destroy quite a few people's dreams with what they did. Why did he even do that, anyway?
Hm.
"You get back here, Deku!" Bakugo yelled. "How dare you be ahead of me!"
"There is only one thing I can tell you, Bakugo," Izuku replied as he used a short burst of flight magic to send himself blasting forward. "Get good."
"RAAAAAAAH!"
"Oh, dear, look at them go," Yaoyorozu watched the exchange as she rode on her scooter, only to be immediately overtaken by Iida. "They should be focusing on the race instead of each other…"
That would be when the ground began to burst… with robots. Mineta was immediately taken out as a robot swated him off the track, followed by several general education students.
"Oh, right! We said that there would be obstacles!" Midnight called out and laughed. "Well, this is your first obstacle: robot gauntlet!"
As robots began to emerge both from the ground and the nearby trees, Izuku immediately blasted several in quick succession with Zoltraak. A hefty ten pointer got sent flying as Todoroki summoned a glacier underneath the thinking machine… only for it to land on Kirishima and a silver-haired student from 1-B.
The two of them burst of out the robot's corpse; Kirsihima was in his hardened state. The other student, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, was now made of metal. "I'm alive!" They announced at the same time. "Oh! You're just like me!" Again, they spoke the same words at the same time. "YOU ARE SO MANLY! NO, YOU ARE!"
"Kirishima and Tetsutetsu have burst out of a robot's chest like an alien from Predator!" Present Mic howled. He then quieted down as he whispered to Aizawa, though he could still be heard through the stadium. "Are we sure that they're not brothers, Shota?"
"They're not related."
"You can't convince me otherwise!"
"You are free to remain in your delusions."
"Hah! Anyway, well, well, look at that! That's our second obstacle.. the abyssal depths! Fall off and you are banished to the void!" The crowd quieted a bit at that. "Just kidding, of course! Should anyone fall down, nets have been placed to catch them! Now, students, let's see how good are you at not falling- oh, look! Midoriya and Bakugo… just flew over! Power to them, I guess. Look at that, Todoroki made his OWN BRIDGES! And Tokoyami is using his quirk to grapple across the pillars! Truely, our students are so talented!"
As he tuned out Bakugo's screaming, Izuku heard something… scarier.
The laughter of a deranged inventor.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Gaze upon my babies, all of you!" A pink-haired student cackled as she went flying over the obstacle with what looked like hoverboots and grappling hooks. "Let's gooooooo!"
"Well, folks, that crazy girl is Mei Hatsume of the Support Course. She's the only student of the support course that's participating in the Sports Festival, and as we can see, she's very capable-"
Mei fell to the ground just after the "abyssal depths" as one of her boots exploded. She… didn't seem to care that she fell, only that her hoverboot literally blew up. "Well, that's one prototype down. This calls for notes for improvement…"
"Is she taking notes in the middle of the race? Ah, well- oof!" Present Mic was interrupted as Power Loader's voice would then be heard across the stadium.
"MEI! GET MOVING! YOU'RE IN A RACE!"
"Oh, right, sir! I'm going!"
"What was that for?!" Present Mic complained. Aizawa nearly chuckled.
Power Loader didn't answer. Present Mic wouldn't have the opportunity to say anything, either, as Bakugo began to overtake Midoriya just as they reached the third and final obstacle of the race.
"Who puts a minefield in a running track?!" Iida yelped as he was sent flying backward by a pink explosion. The other students began to tread carefully, trying not to get themselves blasted into oblivion.
"Ah yes! The minefield is completely nonlethal! It produces a lot of noise and sends you flying, but that's it! Now tread carefully, contestants! Aaaand Bakugo and Midoriya are ignoring the mines completely. Hey, is this allowed?"
"It is!" Midnight replied with maybe too much enthusiasm. "They can use their quirks however they wish in order to win the race!"
Todoroki glanced upward as Bakugo finally overtook Midoriya. "Hah! Take that, Deku!" Bakugo gloated. "I will be first place, just as I've always been and should always be!"
"Yeah, uh, whatever, I guess."
"'Whatever?!'"
"Yeah. Zoltraak!"
Two beams of light careened toward Bakugo faster than he could react. They slammed into him, making him stagger just enough for Izuku to reach the finish line before he did.
"AND WE GOT OUR FIRST PLACE, EVERYONE, MIDORIYA IZUKU! EVERYONE GIVE HIM A ROUND OF APPLAUSE! Now, a short intermission before the second round!"
Izuku and Fumikage approached the stands together… and were immediately accosted by their parents.
And Frieren was there, too, but she just watched as their respective parents congratulated them.
"You did so good, Izuku!" Inko squeezed her son so tight he feared that he may not be able to breathe. "In my eyes, you will always be my champion, but now, you really are one!" She then turned towards Frieren. "Frieren! Come here and congratulate Izuku for his wondrous achievement!"
"...congrats."
"Ugh! You do you, then!" Inko scoffed and turned to face Izuku again. "You go out there again and beat them all up, okay?!"
"Mom, please don't say it like that."
"Oh, but I thought the third round would be 1v1 fights! You won't get too hurt, right? You got your barriers that Frieren taught you to use-"
"Mom! Not too loud!"
'"Right, haha! Well, I suppose you need to rest and eat. Come, I've got snacks just for you!"
"Oh, gimme!"
Meanwhile…
"My son. You have done the darkness a great service this day."
"Yes, mother."
"You two shouldn't talk like this in public!" Raito protested at his wife and son as he waved his banner around as though it was the flag of the greatest nation on Earth. With that done, he put his hands on Fumikage's shoulders. His son and his sort-of-son (what can Dark Shadow be classified as, anyway?!) looked back at him. "Ehem, anyway, little magpie, your mother and I are proud of you. You have taken fifth place in a race in the greatest hero school in our nation. Win or lose in the upcoming rounds, you will always be the greatest treasure that we have."
Dark Shadow had appeared on Fumikage's shoulder, staring at him impetuously.
"And Dark Shadow too, I guess." The sentient quirk pumped a claw up in triumph.
Fumikage glanced at the banner that his father had been waving around so brazenly. "Father… why do you have this banner? I am… embarrassed…"
"Oh please!" Fumikage's mother laughed. "We're your parents! We're always going to cheer you on!"
"...thank you. And I love you both too."
The second round was here… so fast. After the short break, the 32 students who had not been eliminated in the first round returned to the arena, where Midnight waited for them.
"Alright, you naughty ones! We're going right into the second round of this buffet of strength! We're going to have…" The jumbotron's screens showed three rolling reels that, when stopped, would choose a random game by chance. "And now we have… ah! Looks like we have a cavalry battle! You'll be going into teams of four, and each team will have headbands with different scores! You will be attempting to steal the headbands off other players until the time ends, and the first four teams with the highest scores will go into the next round, so that's 16 contestants in all! The highest starting score goes to the team with the person that won first place in the first round… which is ONE MILLION points!"
Izuku sighed. He has the one million points. He could use his Flight Spell to just… stay aloft and wait everyone else out, but flight magic can't keep someone aloft for more than 15 minutes. He could do it if he were alone, but there were three other people to consider. Unless… three of them were weightless!
"Alright, then! Start forming your teams! You have five minutes!"
In the end, Izuku joined up with Uraraka, Fumikage, and the deranged inventor from the Support Course, Mei Hatsume. Uraraka and Fumikage were easy to convince. As for Mei… no one else seemed to want to approach her, and she was the last person left, but those jetboots seemed great. Izuku initially wanted Iida but Todoroki already stole him away. Damn him for stealing Iida away from me! Izuku had a plan… a great and foolproof plan.
"Ten minutes!" Midnight announced. "Your timer starts… now!"
"Uraraka, Mei, now!"
Uraraka tapped the other members of her group, applying her quirk to them. And then Mei blasted off with her jetboots, laughing maniacally as she did so, whilst Izuku applied flight magic. Soon enough, Izuku's group was up in the sky, out of reach for just about everyone.
"I must admit, this plan of attritional warfare seems to be effective," Fumikage commented. Dark Shadow looked back at him despondently; the sentient quirk clearly wanted to break things.
"We just have to be on guard for any attacks that could reach us up here," Izuku replied as he looked down. Todoroki's and Bakugo's teams were fighting…
"OOOOOH!" Present Mic screamed. "Team Midoriya has gone to the skies and… they're not going back down, are they?"
"I don't see why they should," Aizawa replied. "They have the one million points. No matter how many headbands are stolen amongst the other teams, they will take first place."
Sero tried to fire tape at them… only for the tape to fall short and stick to his face. Uraraka laughed at the sight. Another student from 1-B, Hiryu Rin, fire his spikes only for the same thing to happen. It was… a rather interesting sight as Izuku's team waited out the chaos that happened below them.
"I'm so glad that I teamed up with you guys!" Mei began shaking with excitement. "I'll get to show off my babies to all the support companies later!"
"Oh, right, you're allowed to use whatever support items you want, right?" Izuku remembered how it went with the Support Course in the Sports Festival, though they rarely, if ever, joined it.
"Yes! The world will know my genius! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"...sure."
"Revelry in the dark."
"Tokoyami," Uraraka looked at him with a puzzled look. "What does that even mean?"
"...I don't know either. My mother kept saying it at random and now I am too."
"That is so cute, Tokoyami!"
"I… suppose it is…"
Uraraka would let out a sigh of relief when the timer went off and Present Mic began to speak again. "And there we have it folks, the second round of the Sports Festival! Our winners are Team Midoriya, Team Bakugo, Team Todoroki, and Team Shinso! We'll have a thirty minute break, because the next event is what's everyone's really, really waiting for! The one-on-one battles! Please help yourselves to the food booths for drinks and snacks if you're so inclined! Present Mic, signing off!"
As Izuku's team landed and began to head back to the stadium, he saw Todoroki approaching, again. Great . "What is it, Todoroki?"
"May we speak in private?"
"Uh… sure, but what is it about?"
"I will simply explain some things to you. Come, now."
"...okay."
Once they were out of everyone's sight in one of the hallways inside the stadium, Todoroki and Izuku turned to face each other. "Alright," Izuku said. "What is this about?"
Todoroki was quick to answer. "Have you ever heard of… quirk marriages?"
"O… of course," Izuku's calm expression began to fall as he could sense where Todoroki was going. This guy… "The Loong Dynasty are all just one big quirk marriage of draconic transformers and elemental quirks fused together," he replied, thinking back to Miao Ying being part of the audience of the Sports Festival. Her mother was just one member of the so-called Celestial Dragon Emperor's harem, and her family was given an enormous sum of money in exchange for her 'services'. It's been considered unethical in most places for more than a century now, including Japan. The Empire, meanwhile, only stopped the practice about ten years ago, when the Celestial Dragon Emperor was finally failed by the myriad of genetic treatments and machines to keep him alive, and was replaced by his eldest son, Yuan Bo the Jade Dragon, as Emperor. Only then would Japan again associate with the Empire since their cooperation during the Quirk Wars. "Where are you going with this?"
"Me," Todoroki pointed at himself. "My father, Endeavor, bought out my mother's family so that the two of them could produce a child that combines ice and fire. Such a child would, at least in Endeavour's eyes, be capable of surpassing even All Might." Todoroki's glare was… intense . "He wants me to accomplish what he could not. So he trained me for ten years. That training included beating if he thought I wasn't doing good enough. Which was quite often. He did not allow me to interact with my siblings. My eldest brother, Touya, was driven to kill himself because my father neglected him. My other brother, Natsuo, despises him. My sister, Fuyumi, wants us to go back together, no matter how delusional that may be."
"What about your mom, then?"
Todoroki pointed his finger at his scar. "See this? My mother did that. Endeavor had broken her, and when she saw me, she only saw him . She threw boiling water at my face then. Now, she's in a mental facility."
"Oh, I'm… I don't know what to say…" Izuku was genuinely shocked. Endeavor probably being a problematic dad was no surprise to him, given that Todoroki had openly expressed his disdain of him in class, but… this? An arranged marriage? Something that only despotic emperors and warlords still did? All Might had always been Izuku's favorite hero, so the revelation of Endeavor being a flaming pile of trash, at least as a person, didn't shake his worldview very much.
"There is no need to. You now know why I must gain victory in this Sports Festival. I will use only my mother's ice to defeat everyone. Especially you. Thus I will prove to be a powerful hero, even without my father's abominable fire."
"Well," Izuku looked around, trying to see if there was anyone listening. "In that case, you should ask General Winter to adopt you. Replace your dad with another dad."
"...what?"
Izuku sighed. "It was a joke, Todoroki. But… really, I'm sorry about… everything that happened to you. Still, you won't be a great hero that way."
"Why?"
Izuku motioned all over Todoroki's right side. "You are only using half your power," he emphasized on 'your'.
"As I said, I will not use that man's fire. Never. I will win only with my mother's ice."
"You certainly won't win against me… or Bakugo, for that matter, with that kind of thinking," Izuku answered. "Use all your powers, Todoroki. If we're going to fight, then fight me with everything you've got. Not just your ice. It is… your fire."
"Never."
"Then you will lose, Todoroki Shoto."
"We'll see."
Notes:Oh yes, Izuku cheesed the meta indeed.
But the 1v1s will be a bit harder, that is for sure. And while I didn't diverge too much from canon on this part, the 1v1s is where things will change drastically. Stay tuned till the next one!