Chapter 22: 'Twas the Night Before The Sports Festival, and All Through the Realms…
It's unfortunate that the biggest clue to Phantom's identity is plopped into Shouta's lap right before the biggest event of the year—the Sports Festival—but he's able to at least meet with Tsukauchi the night before to discuss the new development.
"Quirkless?" Tsukauchi repeats.
"Don't make me say it again." Shouta replies. He hasn't gotten a lot of sleep over the last few days—from his patrols starting back up again, to dealing with Phantom, and his own students (who would probably adore the vigilante if they ever met him), and grading homework and helping get ready for the Sports Festival, and, wow, maybe he should consider using some of that PTO he's built up over the last few years sooner rather than later.
…Nah, he'll relax when he's dead.
"That explains… So much, and nothing at all."
I know. It explains how they haven't been able to find anyone with a Quirk similar to Phantom's. Why they haven't been able to get any leads on Phantom since the vigilante appeared. Why the small bits of facial detail Shouta could remember, from those moments where Phantom took off the face mask, brought up nothing in any system.
"We'll need to focus the search on Quirkless teens who died within the last… Year, or maybe two years." Shouta adds.
"Died, but why…?" Tsukauchi stops, and then his face pales, a bit. "Oh, god."
"Quirks are strange. I wouldn't be surprised if a Quirk were to activate after the user's… death…" Shouta ignores the way his voice catches, ever so slightly, in his throat. He continues. "Phantom told me it was an accident, but by the way it sounded, it wasn't by the hand of someone else. We might need to focus on those ruled suicides--"
"--Yes, of course. But, uh, Aizawa, do you--"
"What?" Shouta bites back, a little curtly. Damn, he needs more coffee. The two cups in the last few hours haven't been enough. "Sorry, haven't gotten a lot of sleep. What's wrong with that?"
"Do you… know how many of those there will be?" Tsukauchi asks, crossing his arms. He looks tired, too; probably tired because Shouta let himself into Tsukauchi's, unannounced, right after a patrol ended, and promptly woke him up. He's barely wrapped in a bathrobe, and his five o'clock shadow is growing back strong. "Aizawa. There's a reason that there's such a high mortality rate for Quirkless people. Looking for Phantom's identity might be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Precincts all around Japan get calls on a weekly basis about young Quirkless people who harm or kill themselves."
High mortality rate.
"I never gave in, until… I met my biggest hero, and he told me the same thing. That it's unrealistic."
"Ah. Right." Shouta slows down. He hadn't even considered that to be a factor—another major roadblock. Of course, he had been bullied mercilessly by his own peers for his Quirk when he was younger—he could not imagine what a Quirkless person would go through, especially if they wanted to be a hero as much as the next person. How many times would they be pushed, goaded, taunted into giving up on their dreams, because of the way they were born?
At least Shouta had a Quirk. A chance.
And now, well—Phantom did, too.
It was an accident.
If only he hadn't had to die in order to get the chance.
✨👻✨
Hidenka is meticulous. Hidenka is timely. Hidenka is up late at night, waiting for someone to visit her.
It's not uncommon for Hidenka to stay up late, especially during times as these. Nothing was amiss in Tokyo or the greater Japan area, of course; she's up late at night getting everything finalized for U.A.'s Sports Festival the following day. Last-moment adjustments and changes—ever so annoying, but the HPSC relies on the help of U.A. as much as U.A. relies on them.
It's a mutually beneficial agreement.
One that the little rat Nedzu is messing with.
Hidenka isn't racist, of course. She respects every Quirked person she comes in contact with, but if she was given the chance to punt the rat into the sun she would take it, no questions asked.
When he'd been promoted to be U.A.'s new principal following a long tenure as a Heroics instructor, Hidenka had hoped that he would be just as easy to get along with as his predecessor.
But it seems that Nedzu has bigger plans for U.A., some of which don't include the support of the HPSC. He's been able to divest away most of the funds that they give to the best hero school in the country, sourcing it from other, more local needs. What the HPSC does provide covers the large, expensive, showy occasions. Sports Festivals every year, the temporary hero support staff during entrance exams and final exams, the whole nine yards. But even there, Nedzu has slowly been requesting less, and less, and U.A. is slowly slipping from Hidenka's grip.
… From the hands of the HPSC, of course.
Their last proposal to all but cancel the Sports Festival because a few students got too close to some villains was, in Hidenka's eyes, ridiculous. They're Hero students, they're going to be dealing with villains at some point in the future. An early encounter with villains such as the "League of Villains"—a pity of a dumb name, to begin with—only gives them an advantage over their peers. More experience in dealing with actual situations, not the silly training exercises the school puts on for them. Canceling the Sports Festival to protect the students of Class 1-A, the class that had been attacked, robs the other students of the opportunity to show themselves off to the rest of the world, to the professionals who will offer internships, to the villains to show that the world will not bend to the darkness. It's ridiculous, and Hidenka told Nedzu so.
"Well, I suppose we may differ there. What sort of compromise can we come to, Sayaka-san?"
Oh, and always with those honorifics, too. She'd never been called Madame President in the entire time that she's known Nedzu, even in their brief encounters before he ascended to the throne of principal of U.A. High. Hidenka might not have been a hero by training or by blood, but she earned the title of—
"--Ah, Madame President?" Her assistant, Mera clears his throat as he steps into her office. A smaller shadow is following right behind him. "Hawks has arrived."
Ah, Hawks. Hidenka can't stop the small smile that forms on her face. Hawks is the latest—and the best—graduate of the PHI program. Rescued from poverty and suffering at such a young age, he'd grown into a strappingly handsome and incredible hero, already at the number-three spot in only four short years of graduating.
Hidenka remembers the day that she had first seen Takami Keigo. He was so small when they had first met—only three, or maybe nearly four—with large, golden eyes. He was a rather quiet child, and shyly hid behind his caseworker as she introduced him to Hidenka.
When the Quirk had first popped up in Quirk Registry—Wings—it hadn't stuck out as much. But, oh, Hidenka knows a good Quirk when she sees it. Wings might not have been much when it first formed, but the way that Keigo had not only managed to develop his Quirk to manipulate his feathers, and use them as successful weapons? Well, they had a hero on their hands there.
"Thank you, Mera." Hidenka nods, subtly motioning for him to leave the room. Mera nods back, and turns on his heel, being sure to carefully close the door behind him.
Hawks doesn't look too confused. It's not an uncommon thing—for Hidenka to invite him at such a late time, for something such as this. There are a few small bags under his eyes, but he's dressed in his official hero costume, only a little disheveled. Probably just off a nighttime patrol when Hidenka had requested him.
"Madame President." Hawks says. He's definitely a little tired—Hidenka will be sure to offer him his room at the HPSC for the night.
"Hawks. How have you been, darling?" It isn't a lie that Hidenka has felt a little—well, motherly—over him since the day they'd first met. Of course, Hidenka never planned to be a mother, or birth any children, but when a child's basic hygiene and bodily needs are taken care of for her, it's much more fun to pretend to be a mother. Not to mention, Keigo's mother never, ever, cared to contact him again once she had been paid the full stipend.
To be fair, she had died a few years after Keigo was accepted to the PHI program. Not that Keigo knew about it. It isn't necessary information.
"I'm good. Just a little tired, long patrol tonight." He stretches out his wings—shrunken down and small now, to better fit within the building—and yawns as he speaks. "You said you wanted to talk to me, boss?"
"No need for the 'boss', Keigo." Hidenka chuckles. "I have known you since you were little. Sayaka-san is fine." She doesn't let many call her Sayaka-san, but for Keigo, for any of her PHI program graduates, she can make an exception.
He ignores her request. He's always been the most rebellious of her students—other than the one who shall not be named, of course—but in a playful way. "So? What's goin' on? New mission, or something?"
"Ah, yes, I do have a mission for you." Hidenka replies, turning back to her desk. "I do wish one day we could meet up on unofficial business, just like we used to, but such is adult life, I suppose. Allow me to grab the files." They're right out on her desk. She had been glancing through them before working on finalizing last-minute changes for the Sports Festival.
Keigo watches her, carefully. His golden eyes always remind her of a hawk; which, she supposes, fits him the best, as his wings closely resemble a red-tailed hawk. She makes sure the papers are securely in their folder before passing it off to Keigo.
"I'm not sure if you have heard of the new vigilante working out of Musutafu. Phantom, he calls himself." Hidenka explains, watching as her little bird opens the folder up curiously, and reads through the first page. The collection is all the police reports that she could legally get her hands on, and a few pages provided by a police officer friend she knew that weren't public information. "There's no official name for his Quirk, but it's very, very strong. Flight, intangibility, invisibility…"
"So, he's a ghost?"
"He claims to be one." Hidenka adds.
Keigo's brows furrow. "And, what do you want me to do with him? I can't kill—"
"No, no, Keigo! I do not want you to harm him. No, I want—we want—to help him." Hidenka clasps her hands together. "Remember the program you were a part of, many years ago, that brought you here?"
Keigo pauses, and then nods.
"Our little vigilante Phantom here is a perfect candidate for the next… class, so to speak. A powerful Quirk and a drive to be a hero, all traits you and your predecessors showed me so many years ago. I want you to reach out to him, and convince him to join our program, and we will be able to offer him the life he wants without him breaking the law anymore." Hidenka explains.
"And what if he doesn't want to join?" Keigo asks.
"Of course he'll want to join."
"But what if—"
"Keigo." Hidenka snaps. The already quiet room falls silent, and Hawks' eyes grow wide.
Such a strange expression to see on his face. The face of a bird of prey—terrified, scared, prey himself.
She takes a second, clearing her throat. "If—by chance—Phantom does not wish to come willingly, then we will have to get him off of the streets some other way. He's not immortal, Keigo. He's a child. He will have a weakness."
Keigo nods. The terrified expression fades a bit, but it's still there.
"Oh, Keigo, darling, I'm so sorry for snapping at you. But you get caught up in your head sometimes about these what-ifs and who's-its, and it'll distract you from your mission at hand." Hidenka rests her arms on Keigo's shoulders, keeping her voice soft and low. "Phantom is a vigilante, but he is also a child, and inexperienced. You just need to do what you do best. Make him your friend, and I'm sure he'll see reason."
"R-Right. Of course." Keigo says.
"Perfect. Now, darling, I know it's a long flight back to your apartment. Why not spend the night in your room here? It will give you some time to go over your new mission properly."
He doesn't say anything. He nods, mutely, bowing to her a bit.
"Goodnight, Sayaka-san."
"Goodnight, Keigo. Sleep well, little bird." She watches as Keigo leaves her office, files in hand, before she turns back to look at the night sky. From her view at the top of the HPSC tower in the middle of Tokyo, she can see a storm brewing in the distance.
✨👻✨
I
It's been a long time since she's been to the world of the living.
Or, well; in this specific timeline, at least.
Eleanor "Ellie" Myling goes through a lot of different timelines. When Clockwork had approached her, many eons ago, offering stability in her life, well; she had been hesitant to take it. She had only just found some semblance of an identity all on her own—no longer Dani-with-an-I Phantom, she had taken on new names. New names that were hers, nobody else.
Eleanor—it was a name that belonged to her DNA donor's mother. Madeline Eleanor Fenton was her full name, but the name Madeline and Maddie had been so terribly tainted by one man. But Eleanor was nice. Eleanor—and Elle, too—fit right. She heard the name and she knew that it was not just her name, but her Name. Just as Danny had become Phantom and then Equinox, i became her Name.
Now, she didn't need a last name, herself. She was, after all, a ghost, and a Neverborn at that, so she didn't need more or less than just Elle. But Ellie was different than other Neverborn, she was sentient and had thoughts and feelings and knew how to express them more than just with vibrations of her core, and while Phantom no longer fit nor belonged to her, it felt like there was an empty space in her core that needed filled, so she went on a journey to fill it.
And what a journey it was! Traveling across Europe for the—fourth, maybe fifth time?—right as the Alpha timeline started developing their own superpowers. It was rough, she won't deny it. The way that those with powers—those with Quirks, as they would later be called—were hunted, hurt, killed by the people who didn't have them, just because they were different? It was horrible. Even more so when she realized that those people killed couldn't form ghosts of their own and seek revenge.
She was train-hopping in Scandinavia when another wanderer like herself—a young mom and her teenage son—introduced her to a small group of these Quirked individuals after seeing her shoplift in a small town by phasing items into her body. An old trick she learned from Danny. They sat around a small compound in the wilderness, told stories about the creatures that roamed the night, and one story stood out to her.
The myling. Ghosts of children, murdered by their parents when they were deemed unwanted, forced to wander the earth until they were able to be buried and put to rest properly. The story stood out to Ellie because, well—obviously there was a kinship to it, other than the fact that the myling of old were probably a little more murderous than she could ever be.
After destabilizing so many times, the sight of blood—both red and green—would make Ellie nauseous.
But the story of the myling stood out to her. She was one of those myling herself, was she not? Created by someone only to be sentenced to death, forced to wander the Earth until she could find someone to help put her to rest. Of course, Ellie never wanted to move on to the Beyond—she doubted she could, given how she was made—but in every journey she took, her core longed for a purpose. She was built to destroy Danny, all those years ago, but she rebelled, and now what?
What is her purpose?
Clockwork had offered her a purpose. To be their apprentice, their assistant. They oversaw all timelines, all different threats of the great woven blanket of time, but even they had their own limits. They could not fix the holes that broken in the blanket of time, and it was slowly getting ratty. They needed another ghost to help stitch the holes in time up, and that became Elle's job.
She was hesitant at first. She had never known stability in her life. But Clockwork never leads anyone wrong, and now here she is, time's own apprentice.
It left her pretty busy, especially as the Alpha timeline threatened to destabilize, but it had recently stabilized, finding a new Champion of Balance.
And oh, is Ellie excited to meet him.
She takes out her compass. Enchanted, just as the Infini-Map had been; to always lead her to where she needed to go, a gift from Clockwork after she had gotten lost on a few of her first missions. Holding it up to the green atmosphere of the Ghost Zone, she channels the Infinite Realms' power into her words as she says, "Take me to the new champion!"
The needle of the compass spins rapidly, as it aways does, charging with the ambient ectoplasm in the air. She should make sure to keep it charged, so she can find a natural portal that would take her home when she's done. She isn't sure how much ambient ectoplasm is in the Alpha timeline's air anymore, but she puts those thoughts aside as the needle of the compass fixes itself in the direction she needs to go.
She's not like her brother, Equinox. She doesn't like to think about her actions too much; she follows the whims of her artificially beating heart and core. She wants to meet the new Champion of Balance, and so, she will.
Midoriya Izuku, I'm coming for you!
Chapter 23: Let The Games Begin!
The Sports Festival.
By far, U.A.'s largest event. Even their other events, such as the Entrance Exam or the Culture Festival, pale in comparison to the Sport's Festival. The Sports Festival is the thing to see—Japan's modern Olympics. Every single student across every single grade will get a chance to show not just all of Japan, but the whole world what they are made of. An opportunity for students to show off their Quirks, to begin the endless process of proving themselves to be worthy of the title of hero, to catch the attention of professionals and agencies who might scout them one day.
It's the event, for both the students, and all the audience members.
Though, Izuku can't help but feel a little jealousy take over as he walks through the crowds at the Sports Festival. Most of the students are crowded away in their respective arenas, the crowds being made of a mixture of family and friends, and pro-heroes, of course. The opening ceremony for the first-year class, the one that Izuku specifically has a ticket to, starts in about thirty minutes, so he has time to wander around the crowds.
Due to the way the Sports Festival is being held, most of the attendees are professional heroes, or family members of the students. There are a few kids closer to Izuku's age, too; mostly younger siblings or friends of students participating, but it's not like Izuku can just walk up to anybody and say, hey, how are you, I'm Izuku. No, that's awkward, and Izuku is notoriously bad at making friends.
Being around the heroes is more nerve-wracking than he thought it'd be. After meeting up with Hitoshi's dad (since they both got the tickets from Hitoshi, their seats are next to each other, and it is a little awkward to be sitting next to his best friend's dad but whatever Izuku is at the Sports Festival so who cares), Izuku wanted to take a second to look around. Typical Sports Festivals would have U.A. merch, featuring some of the more marketable upperclassmen who might have already made early brand deals, and many, many different food tents, but due to their limitations this year, there's no merch.
There's still a lot of food tents, and Izuku passes by a few that sell non-Japanese food, like hotdogs and popcorn.
Popcorn! The last time Izuku had popcorn was—well, a long time ago. He digs into his pockets, searching for his wallet, when someone bumps into him from behind.
"Oh, excuse me, young man."
"O-Oh, no, you're fine!" Izuku immediately stutters over his words, turning to apologize to the person who hit ran into him instead (knowing himself, he's probably standing right in the middle of the flow of the crowd), but his voice gives out when he sees the man behind him.
Be realistic.
--You can't be a hero--
Izuku isn't quite sure that All Might recognizes him—though, Izuku could barely recognize All Might in this shrunken form of his.
He'd almost forgotten about learning the greatest hero's most ashamed secret, his own identity. An injury from many years before Izuku was even a thought in his mother's mind, crippling the number one hero further and further. It wasn't the main detail that stuck in Izuku's mind after meeting him, though. It was the other things that All Might said—
You can't be a hero.
Wonder if that injury hit his brain somehow, a snarky part of Izuku thinks, though, mostly he stays quiet, because there's something different about All Might now, in his shrunken form.
The shrunken man nervously clears his throat, bringing Izuku's attention back from the depths of his mind. "A-Are you alright?"
Izuku is a little surprised by the strange, deadpan respond he hears come out of his own mouth. "I'm fine. Sorry. Have a good day." And he turns to look back at the popcorn, trying to put the thoughts out of his head, but his core is buzzing with too many emotions. Anger, resentment, sadness, pain, triumph, you can't be a hero you can't be a hero—
All Might awkwardly shuffles away, and Izuku took a moment to take a deep breath. He'd told Hitoshi nearly everything about the day he had died, but some things are still staying a secret. Of course, All Might's words did not drive him to his Accident—emphasis on the accident part—but they're a part of what drives him. Plus, if Izuku admitted to Hitoshi that All Might is not as good of a hero as he actually is (see: leaving Izuku on his own after being attacked by a villain and then shortly leaving him on a rooftop)—he doesn't want to ruin All Might's reputation, as much as he'd like to knock the man down a peg.
After staring at the popcorn sign for a few minutes, he finally feels the buzzing in his chest easing. The poor minimum wage employee of the popcorn stand is staring at Izuku like he'd just crawled out of his grave, and now Izuku feels even worse, so he orders a small bag of plain, non-buttery popcorn and heads back to the bleachers by Hitoshi's dad.
✨👻✨
"CAN I GET A HEYYYY?! IT'S TIME FOR THE FIRST-YEAR EVENTS TO BEGIN!"
✨👻✨
Hitoshi isn't quite sure what to expect with the first event. Of course, he'd watched Sports Festivals before—and Izuku made sure they went over the highlights of the last few years to "study" before today—but they were always different and varied. Last year, the first-years had to deal with an obstacle course, followed by a cavalry battle; the year before, it was a triathlon followed by a game of cricket. The events would follow similar structures, some sort of large, race-like game followed by a team game to weed out the top 16 before the tournament matches.
There was a pattern, simply put. And with Hitoshi's best guess, it would be the same this year, too. Though, it would be just his rotten luck if things suddenly changed.
Iida all runs through the door to alert everybody that they've been called out to the opening ceremony.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I'm so nervous!" Uraraka squeals next to him as Iida attempts to organize everybody into a single line. He takes his elected job of class vice president rather well; Yayorozu looks exasperated at his attempts, but she doesn't do much to stop him. "How are you keeping so cool, Shinsou?"
"I'm not cool." Hitoshi deadpans. Because the truth is, he isn't—Hitoshi is absolutely dying inside. "I'm freaking out, too."
"Wow, Shinsou-kun." Tsuyu comments from in front of him (her efforts to get him to call her by her first name finally won over Hitoshi's stubbornness to not). At least a few people are trying to organize together following Iida's orders, even if it isn't a perfect single file line. "You're hiding it really well."
Hitoshi doesn't feel like he's hiding it really well, and all he can offer to her is a shrug in return as they step out into the middle of the arena.
"The first ones out on the field are none other than Class 1-A! These students may not look like much, but they already have the experience of handling low-rate villains."
It's not as packed as he would have expected. It looks like most seats are filled, and he might be able to spot Izuku's nest of green hair somewhere in the crowds if he looks close enough. But the seats aren't all completely filled, with rows at the top completely empty, and a few sections at the front of the stadium sectioned off (probably for the students who lose).
"Don't let it fool ya—Class 1-B isn't one to scoff at either! All these students fought tooth and nail to get into U.A. to begin with, after all!"
The following announcements for the other classes fade into background noise as Hitoshi takes a nervous glance around.
A small stage has been set up in the center of the arena, and Midnight stands in the center of it, holding a microphone. Two large stereos sit on both ends of it, and she smiles as not only Class 1-A emerges from the sides, but so do the other first year classes. Both hero classes, all three general education classes, and three support classes converge in the middle together.
The business class students are notably absent, but Hitoshi figures they have better things to do, like mooching around with heroes in the stands, than participate in an active event.
"There you have it, folks! All first-year classes are accounted for! And now, our umpire Midnight will introduce the top student for the opening statement!"
Top student? Hitoshi narrows his eyes. Who would the top student be? Obviously not him, because Hitoshi isn't top anything. He barely made it into Class 1-A as it was; he's in the middle of the class grades wise, and he isn't spectacular. Iida, maybe, or Yayorozu? Or maybe even Todoroki, though the son of the number two hero hasn't really talked much—
"Alright, kids!" Midnight's voice could carry on its own, no speakers necessary, but Hitoshi wasn't expecting how loud it would be. "Representing the first-year students is the top score on the entrance exam this year—Bakugou Katsuki!"
Oh. Oh, oh no. Hitoshi doesn't like the sound of it. He hears a few of his fellow Class 1-A students gasp, as Bakugou steps forward and up onto the stage, slouching the whole way.
This isn't going to be good.
Midnight holds the mic out to him, and after a brief second of hesitation, Bakugou takes it. He looks out into the crowd, and for a moment, it seems—maybe he'll actually say something nice?
"I'm going to beat you all." He says.
Gasps echo out through the rest of the classes, and a few yell out. Hitoshi doesn't know why he actually had hope for something nice coming out of Bakugou's mouth.
"Hey, what the heck!?"
"Stop messing around!"
"Why so rude, dude?"
"You sludge bastard!"
"I knew Class 1-A was full of themselves!"
Ah, so Hitoshi wasn't just imagining things, either; the other classes were all looking at them funny. He'd gotten used to the sensation because of his Quirk, but it made more sense that the ire was directed at everybody in his class. With the glorious introduction they received from Present Mic when they entered to Bakugou's stupid-ass speech, Hitoshi knows that he's going to be in for a fun time.
He doesn't even take a second to say anything else. Bakugou drops the mic on the ground, resulting in instant feedback, and jumps off the side of the stage as Midnight quickly grabs the mic. It's an effective heel turn, and Hitoshi kinda admires Bakugou for having the guts to even do it, but the way it's painting a target on the back of every single member of Class 1-A isn't fun.
"Well! What great…. Words!" Midnight recovers it quickly, at least. "With that out of the way, let's get started with the first event! This what some may call the qualifying round—only the first eighty of you will be getting through!"
Only the first eighty? There had to be way more students than that around them. Hitoshi couldn't count them all, of course, but if each class had twenty students, it could be almost two-hundred students. To cull that many that quickly? It makes him a little more nervous, especially given his lack of a particularly strong Quirk.
You have a great Quirk, Hitoshi! Izuku's voice echoes in his head. Hitoshi glances up to the crowds, trying to spot the nest of green hair, among them. You can do this! I believe in you!
Well, having one of the best vigilantes out there rooting for him does boost his spirits a bit, pun not intended.
"Now! Here is the fateful first game!" A holographic screen pops up behind Midnight. Kanji blurs for a second, before it lands on the first event.
LABYRINTH.
…Labyrinth?
"Ah! The labyrinth! Or, more simply put, a maze!"
A maze. The first round of the Sports Festival is going to be a maze?
There's more to this, I know it. How else are they going to literally cull more than half the students standing?
"This game is inspired by the Greek myth of legend, except, there's a twist! Instead of starting at the outside of the maze, you all will be starting at the center and finding your way out!"
As Midnight finishes her sentence, the ground begins to rumble a bit. Hitoshi feels something in his chest sink. It's under us. The maze is under us. And sure enough, only a few seconds later, large maze walls rise from the ground beneath them, at least ten to fifteen feet tall. Smooth stone as well, making it harder to climb.
"As for the specific rules, anything goes! Do whatever you can to get out of the maze! Oh, and just a fair warning—watch out for the bulls!" The ground rumbles again, the distant sound of machinery whirring in the distance.
"A labyrinth? This is so scary!"
"They didn't bring in actual bulls, did they?"
"I don't think they would. I'm sure it's just robots again."
Robots. Hitoshi sighs. Here we go again.
Chapter 24: Off To An A-Maze-Ing Start!
"THE LABYRINTH IS DESIGNED BY NONE OTHER THAN OUT AMAZING PRINCIPAL HIMSELF, NEDZU! WITH A NETTING OVER THE TOP TO PREVENT ANY STUDENTS FROM FLINGING THEMSELVES OUT OF THERE AND REINFORCED WALLS TO PREVENT COMPLETE DESTRUCTION, IT SEEMS LIKE THE ONLY WAY FOR OUR BRAVE STUDENTS TO GET OUT OF THERE IS THROUGH IT!"
"Do you even need me here?"
"WHY YES, MY BELOVED COHOST, YOUR PRESENCE IS NECESSARY. ANYWAY, WHERE WAS I? OH, YES! TALKING ABOUT THE FIRST YEAR STUDENT QUALIFYING ROUND! WITH MIDNIGHT OUT OF THERE, THE QUESTION IS—WHICH STUDENT IS GOING TO GO FIRST?"
✨👻✨
Katsuki doesn't have a lot to regret in his life. He doesn't live his life by the things he regrets not doing. He lives it filled with anger, of the mistakes he made in the past, of the anger that builds so hot in his chest sometimes that it has to explode out of him.
But maybe the first thing he'll ever come to regret is not moving first when the horn went off.
He wasn't the only student who hesitated. A large maze had just formed around them, after all, with two different entrances to the maze surrounding them. He could probably blow his way through the walls to the other side—but if it was indeed designed by their rat of a principal, there's no way in hell these walls aren't fortified against that sort of damage. That means that the only way he's going to get through is by blowing through his competition. Literally.
But that IcyHot prick is faster with his plan and doesn't hesitate to start running off to the left exit, the ground freezing underneath him to slow the other students down. That bastard.
"LOOKS LIKE TODOROKI SHOUTO HAS TAKEN OFF FIRST! THE SON OF THE PRO HERO ENDEAVOR AND ONE OF THE FOUR RECCOMENDATION STUDENTS ADMITTED EVERY YEAR, TODOROKI'S QUIRK HALF-HOT, HALF-COLD ALLOWS HIM TO GENERATE ICE FROM HIS RIGHT SIDE AND FIRE FROM HIS LEFT SIDE! FREEZING THE GROUND PREVENTS OTHER STUDENTS FROM FOLLOWING HIM—BUT WHAT IF THAT WAY ENDS IN JUST A DEAD-END?!"
"Hey! What the hell, man?!" One of the nobodies around him yells out to IcyHot as he freezes the ground, but there's no response. IcyHot is focused, and Katsuki should be, too. He lets his palms warm up before firing off explosions to send him flying off to the right entrance, which leads to a long corridor that leads both left and right.
The distant grating of machinery to his right turns Katsuki to the left, and deep into the maze. No more hesitation. He's going to show them—he's going to show them all—he's the strongest and the best that U.A. has to offer.
Mazes aren't the hardest thing to get through. As soon as Bakugou gets to the end of the corridor, the ground starts to fall away beneath him, giving way to a pitfall trap.
"LOOKS LIKE THE EXPLOSIVE BAKUGOU KATSUKI OF 1-A HAS FOUND ONE OF THE MANHY SECRETS OF THE LABYRINTH! A TRAP! OF COURSE, THIS CAN'T JUST BE A NORMAL MAZE WITH NO SECRET TRICKS, NEDZU MADE IT, AFTER ALL!"
"Do you ever not yell at one of these?"
"THE PEOPLE NEED TO HEAR ME, ERASERHEAD!"
"I would appreciate being able to retain my hearing after this."
Of course. Not only fucking robots, but traps, too? That rat is insane! He snarls, backing up before setting off a larger explosion to bridge the gap between himself and the other side. A few other students had already caught up to him, including the frog girl from his class.
"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! ASUI TSUYU FROM CLASS 1-A IS SCALING THE WALLS! HOW IS SHE DOING THAT? WELL, WITH HER QUIRK, OF COURSE! ASUI'S QUIRK FROG ALLOWS HER TO, SIMPLY PUT, DO ANYTHING A FROG DOES! IT SEEMS THAT THE SMOOTH TEXTURE IS NO MATCH FOR HER STICKY QUIRK!"
Oh, fuck, Katsuki is going to have to listen to Present Mic's commentary the whole round, isn't he?
✨👻✨
"Hey, you!"
"Huh—" The effect is almost instant—the general education student's face falls, their eyes glossing over as Hitoshi's Quirk took control.
"Tell me your name and Quirk." Keeping commands simple helps Hitoshi maintain more control over his—well, his victims, but he doesn't like to think about them as victims. Izuku suggested he calls the people he brainwashes his "friends", but that feels like it's stepping into actual villain territory there.
He already has another under control-- Tsuburaba Kosei from class 1-B, Quirk; Solid Air.
Her voice drops to a monotone as she responds. "Togeike Chikuchi. My Quirk is called Forecast, and it lets me predict the weather for the next day. There will be light rain tomorrow."
Forecast. Well. At least Hitoshi knows that he'll need to bring his rain jacket to school tomorrow. He sighs. The Quirk isn't ideal, but what does Izuku always say? Think outside the box. Tsuburaba's Quirk allows him to solidify air, so he can make platforms over the ice that Todoroki made, meaning that Hitoshi can get through the right side.
He can't keep more than two people brainwashed at once now, though. "Tsuburaba, make a solid air platform over the ice." He turns back to Togeike. "Forget this happened." Hitoshi adds, and releases the control. Togeike blinks, unaware of what just happened.
He'd never tried a memory wipe, but Togeike doesn't look like she all-out hates him, or is really aware of her surroundings. By the time she'll collect herself, Hitoshi will be long gone. Tsuburaba's solid platforms allow the two of them to jump over the frozen grown Todoroki made, and he makes it to the other side quickly.
There's a lot of ice over the ground in the distance. As he and Tsuburaba approach, it looks like a pitfall trap had been frozen over. The ice is too thick to see the bottom, but Hitoshi doesn't want to take a chance. He tells Tsuburaba to make more solid air platforms, and the two of them make their way through the maze.
Present Mic's voice blaring through the speakers nearly sends Hitoshi panicking.
"IT LOOKS LIKE A FEW UNLIKELY ALLIANCES HAVE BEEN MADE! ON ONE SIDE, WE HAVE SHINSOU HITOSHI FROM 1-A AND TSUBURABA KOSEI FROM 1-B MAKING THEIR WAY OVER TODOROKI'S ICE TOGETHER. ON THE OTHER END, WE HAVE 1-A'S URARAKA OCHAKO AND AOYAMA YUGA FIGHTING A ROBOT BULL, AND—OH, NO, AOYAMA IS PINNED, BUT URARAKA ISN'T GOING TO LEAVE HIM BEHIND!"
Hitoshi is sure that Present Mic's interruptions are meant to be distracting, as Tsuburaba sets off another trap accidentally. Hitoshi doesn't hesitate and pulls him out of the way as arrows begin to shoot out of small holes in the walls. After they stop, Hitoshi picks one up off the ground. The arrowhead is rounded, meaning it wouldn't pierce the skin, but knowing how crazy they are at U.A., he wouldn't be surprised.
A few more students start making their way after Hitoshi and his Class 1-B jockey, so he pushes Tsuburaba forward and makes sure to toss the arrow back onto the pressure plate to activate the trap behind him again.
Hitoshi knows the odds aren't in his favor for winning. He has a mental Quirk; he can only brainwash people. He's not super strong, he can't control fire, he can't make things float. All he can do is make people do the heavy work for him. While his fighting skills and general strength have increased, from both training with Aizawa-sensei and in general heroics classes, he's still behind his peers. He's not strong enough.
Yet.
He still has to try. He still has to try and prove it. Mostly for himself—prove that even he can make it, a nobody with a mental Quirk. But maybe, there's a small part of him that wants to prove it to anybody who has stood against him and said, no, you can't be a hero with a Quirk like that, and say, yes, I can, look at me, yes I can.
He felt the control slipping through his fingers as he got lost in thought jogging down the corridors next to Tsuburaba, but he quickly fixed that, grabbing the mental reigns and pulling again.
✨👻✨
"IT LOOKS LIKE A FEW STUDENTS FROM CLASS 1-H ARE GETTING TURNED AROUND THERE! DEAD END AFTER DEAD END—WILL THE MADNESS OF THE LABYRINTH EVER END?"
"You do realize we're not on live TV right now. You can talk like a normal person. You don't need to be dramatic."
"AH, BUT AU CONTRAIRE MY FRIEND, WHY BE BORING WHEN YOU CAN BE EXTRAORDINARY?"
"Right. I completely forgot who I was talking to here."
"OH! WHAT IS THIS! IT LOOKS LIKE BULLS HAVE BEEN RELEASED FROM THE CENTER. RUN, STUDENTS, RUN!"
✨👻✨
Todoroki Shouto is many things.
He's Endeavor's son. He's the heir to the fame and fortune of being the number-two hero's son. He's powerful. His Quirk was genetically designed to be that way. He's rich. He's a recommendation student.
He's also very, very tired.
The chill that seeps into his bones is back. It never seems to leave him; he's always a little cold, shivering in the AC of classrooms and even in the sunlight outside. He was tempted to wear the long-sleeve gym uniform today, but that would just show a weakness.
And of all the things Todoroki shouldn't be, it's that. Weak. He can't show weakness. Weakness means pain. Weakness means hiding bruises and cuts and more training, more training, more training.
His body almost instinctively wants to warm up. There's a feeling of warm embers in his chest, but he buries it. Smothers it. Allows the cold to take over and grow, because fire is bad. Just like his father. Fire is bad and ice is good, and he can't use his fire, no matter how badly his body wants to use it, because Todoroki Shouto is many things but another thing he is not is his father.
The last person he wants to be is his father.
Shouto makes another turn around a corner, ignoring the chill in his fingertips as he swings an arm out, summoning the ice from within. It hits the bull robot dead-on, a large icicle spearing straight through the beast's heart. Or where the heart would be, if it were a living thing like Shouto.
"EVEN THOUGH THEY BOTH WENT IN SEPARATE DIRECTIONS, IT LOOKS LIKE BOTH TODOROKI SHOUTO AND BAKUGOU KATSUKI ARE TIED IN DISTANCES TO THE EXIT! THE QUESTION WILL BE—WHO WILL GET THERE FIRST?"
Right. Shouto has to keep going. He has a lot to prove today, mostly to his father. The chill seeps into his bones again, a prickling sensation in the tips of his fingers. Neither are a good sign. He is not immune to frostbite or to burns like his siblings.
The Todoroki family genetics are odd. Fire and ice don't tend to mix, but Shouto's father was determined to get it right. His oldest brother, Touya, who he only remembers in small, faint memories, was not immune to the hot fire his own body produced, unusual in cases of fire Quirks. His brother Natsuo has no Quirk, though they claim that it's a very weak version of their mother's for the sake of publicity; the fire and ice cancelled out in his body, leaving him with nothing but an inclination to cooler weather. Fuyumi, his older sister, doesn't burn, nor can she get frostbite. But she cannot produce any of her own ice or fire.
Shouto is the perfect mixture. Half of his body runs hot like wildfire, the other is cold as ice. They're balanced, a perfect heir for his father. But Shouto does not want to be his father's heir.
He doesn't even know if he wants to be a hero.
Todoroki Shouto is many things— but he is not in control of his own destiny. He does not have a choice in the matter. With a strong, powerful Quirk like his, he is meant to be a hero, whether or not he wants to be one.
He picks up the pace and breaks out into a faster jog. With more movement, his body can warm up naturally, not with his Quirk, and it fights off the pinpricks in his fingers and the chill in his bones. It doesn't stave it off completely, but it gives him more chances to attack with his ice. The light around him seems to be getting brighter, but of course, there's more obstacles in his way.
"IT LOOKS LIKE TODOROKI SHOUTO HAS FOUND THE LAST BOSS OF THE LABYRINTH, THE MINOTAUR!"
U.A.'s style of robots is pretty common. Boxy and rectangular, with exposed wires and loose limbs to destroy easier. One of their first hero classes, after the battle trials, was team-up attack drills against robot dummies. He'd been paired with that purple boy—Mineta, eugh—who didn't do anything except stare at the girls the entire time, which was annoying.
The robots in the maze had been a little different. Quadrupedal, with a vaguely bovine-esque structure. The heads were still loose like the boxy ones and there wasn't much to distinguish them from each other color-wise, but they had the shape of a bull, sharp horns and all. They were easy to take down. Child's play, compared to the stuff Endeavor would throw at Shouto.
But this one is unique. It's twice Shouto's height, nearly to the limit of the walls above them. The bottom half of the robot is detailed and eerily human-like, almost similar to the construction of that monster they had seen during the USJ attack. The head shines silver instead of their usual army green, and is built like the bulls before, but very clearly higher quality.
He grunts and ignores the growing threat of the ice in his bones and summons the largest glacier that he can. It's not as impressive as he would have liked it, and the walls around him are a little limiting, but the Minotaur is surrounded by ice completely before it can attack. The head sticks out oddly, before the ice slowly melts through the cracks and it pops off, rolling down the incline and past Shouto's feet.
Child's play.
"AND WE HAVE OUR FIRST ESCAPEE! TODOROKI SHOUTO FROM CLASS 1-A!"
✨👻✨
TODOROKI SHOUTO
CLASS: 1-A
QUIRK: HALF-HOT, HALF-COLD
According to Present Mic, Todoroki's Quirk allows him to produce ice from the right side of his body and fire from the left side of his body. That must have taken pretty precise genetics to get it to work that perfectly, and it's very strong as well, as Todoroki is able to summon large glaciers of ice without breaking a sweat!
Though he hasn't used his fire at all. Maybe it isn't as strong? Maybe it just acts as a thermoregulator, but Todoroki was looking cold on those screens. Maybe it's a mental thing—is he immune to frostbite? He has a large burn scar covering his face, so he isn't immune to that. And how did that happen, anywayyyyy--
"You, uh, sure like to take notes down, Midoriya."
"A-Ah!" Izuku yelps a bit, and the last word he had been scribbling awkwardly fizzled out as he jumps. Hitoshi's dad is looking over his shoulder. "U-Um, yeah, I—I really do enjoy learning about Quirks, Shinsou-san."
"It's good to have an inquisitive mind, Midoriya." Hitoshi's dad says. "You know, that's how I got started in journalism. I had so many questions, and I wanted the answers to all of them. Sometimes I'd get doors slammed in my faces, but other times, I'd get them opened and a warm welcome in."
"T-That's, um, cool."
"Hey, if you ever are curious about being a journalist, too, let me know! I can give you a few pointers!"
"A-Ah, thank you, Shinsou-san, but I'm just interested in Quirks, that's all." It's still so awkward talking to Hitoshi's dad like this. Like, he's the guy who gave me the name Phantom, but he's none the wiser! This is so awkward! Izuku makes an awkward point towards the arena. "Oh, look, more people are getting out of the maze! Maybe Hitoshi's among them!"
✨👻✨
"AND IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE OUR FIRST EIGHTY OUT OF THE LABYRINTH! WHAT DO YOU THINK, ERASERHEAD?"
"I think I need to look for some migraine pills when I get out of here."
"CHILL OUT, SOURPUSS! LET'S LOOK AT THE RESULTS! TODOROKI SHOUTO, FIRST PLACE. BAKUGOU KATSUKI, SECOND PLACE. URARAKA OCHAKO, THIRD PLACE—AND, OH, WE DON'T NEED TO GO THROUGH ALL EIGHTY NOW, do we?"
"We do not need to."
"…ALL OF OUR HERO STUDENTS HAVE MADE IT THROUGH IN BOTH CLASSES, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! THE REST ARE THE GENERAL EDUCATION STUDENTS AND THREE SUPPROT CLASS STUDENTS! THE REST OF YOU STILL STUCK IN THE MAZE, HANG TIGHT, AND WE'LL BE ON THE WAY TO GET YOU SOON! THOSE OF YOU OUT OF THE MAZE, GO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR BREAK BEFORE THE NEXT ROUND!"
Chapter 25: Chariots and Bumper Carts
CAN I GEY A HEYYY! IT'S TIME FOR THE SECOND EVENT!"
"Oh, god, we're not even halfway through?"
"C'MON, ERASER, WORK WITH ME HERE!"
"I'm being forced to be here."
"AAALRIGHT ANYWAY, THE SECOND EVENT IS THE TEAM GAME! I HOPE ALL THE FIRST YEARS WHO MADE IT THROUGH THE QUALIFYING ROUND ARE OUT ON THE FIELD NOW OR YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE GOING MUCH FURTHER!!! ERASER, WHAT IS THE SECOND EVENT GOING TO BE?"
"…No."
"YOU DON'T WANNA EXPLAIN IT? OKAY! I WILL THEN! MORE TIME FOR THE LISTENERS TO HEAR MY DULCET TONES! THE SECOND EVENT IS… A CHARIOT BATTLE!"
✨👻✨
Chariot battle?
Well, Uraraka Ochako thinks, looking around at the field—which no longer contained that terrifying labyrinth, euch, she can still feel all those robot-spiders crawling over her skin—that makes sense. Hand-drawn carts with large wheels are scattered across the sidelines.
She takes a deep breath. She can do this. She was third place in the Labyrinth run, after all. She can do this. She can win the Sports Festival. Just thinking about it sends even more jitters through her body, which she shakes her hands to try and get rid of them.
"WHAT IS A CHARIOT BATTLE, YOU MAY BE ASKING? WELL, WE HAVE MIDNIGHT BACK ON THE FIELD, READY TO EXPLAIN!"
Midnight steps back onto the field, holding a mic in one hand. "The Chariot Battle will be our team game! You can organize yourself into teams of at least three or four! These chariots you see all around us are designed to be drawn by two students, with one student as the driver! Your goal? Knock as many students out of the ring as you possibly can!"
Knock them out of the ring? Ochako nods to herself. That's easy. That's something she can do. She could do it pretty easily herself, though—but it's a team fight! She should look for someone to be on her team!
Oh! I know! She listens intently to the rest of Midnight's explanation as she scans the crowd. I know he got through, where is he?
"Just like with the Labyrinth, anything goes, just avoid any serious harm, maiming, or injury. You will get a red card for that, and I will have paperwork to fill out. Please, do not make me fill out paperwork today."
Ah! There he is!
A counter appears on the screen floating behind Midnight. "You have fifteen minutes to make your teams. Now, go!"
Ochako is off instantly, running to the side of one of her friends. Well, she considers Shinsou a friend. He's kinda awkward in a charming way, which is great because Ochako feels a little awkward sometimes, too, and they both helped each other out at their entrance exams, and they hang out at the lunch table all the time, so they've gotta be friends.
It's a classic extrovert adopting introvert situation. "Shinsou! Shinsou, be on my team!"
"H-Huh?!"
"C'mon! We'll make a great team!" Ochako says. The plan is already forming in her mind. "I can make the chariot a little lighter so it's easier to pull, and you can mind-control people to go out of the circle on their own!"
"Ah, I guess so." Shinsou says. "We'll need at least one more person, though."
True. They can't be a team with just two people. Ochako scans the crowd again, looking for any people who are by themselves or with one other person. Iida is with a group already—darn, he would've been perfect to grab! —Tsu is with Iida's team, and—Oh!
She doesn't need to even walk up to the person she spots, the person walks right up to her. She's not familiar to Ochako—probably general studies, or maybe the support class, with how much gear she has?
"Third place, right? Please, please let me and my babies join your team!"
Ochako nearly yelps. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Shinsou pale a bit. "B-Babies?!"
"Yes! My babies!" The girl holds up the one piece of gear she's holding, some sort of strange box. "Hatsume Mei from the Support Course, at your service!"
Oh. Oh. Ochako lets out a sigh of relief—the babies are just what she's calling her inventions, then. Okay. That makes a lot more sense, actually. "I'm Uraraka Ochako, and this is Shinsou Hitoshi. It's nice to meet you, Hatsume!"
"You too, third place!" Hatsume replies, with a grin. "Not the placement I was looking to team with, but you'll have to do!"
Placement? Huh? Ochako feels like she needs to take a step back.
"Mhm! And you, purple-hair boy! You seem like someone who's going to make it to the finals, too!" She continues, oblivious to the people around her. "Yes, yes! This will be perfect! With the two of you on my team, that'll get plenty of eyes on my babies!"
"Are you sure about this, Uraraka?" Shinsou mumbles under his breath.
"It's not right to judge a book by its cover." Ochako replies with a nervous laugh. Though, maybe sometimes it's right to judge a book but she's trying to be nice and non-judgmental, so she lets Hatsume continue on for the next few minutes, talking about her different "babies" that she brought with her, including items like grappling hooks, rocket launchers, jetpacks, and surprises she promises won't explode.
As Hatsume keeps prattling on, she feels a tap on her shoulder. Ochako turns and finds Koda standing right behind her, shy as ever. She hadn't even heard him walk up behind them. "Oh! Koda! I didn't see you there?"
It's hard to communicate with Koda sometimes; most of Class 1-A has been learning JSL to understand what he says, but it's still off to a bit of a rough start for Ochako. Even though he doesn't speak much, he still manages to convey and communicate his thoughts and ideas.
He nervously taps his fingers together, looking at Ochako.
"Do you wanna team with us, Koda?"
He nods, nervously.
"Alright! That gives us four people then!" Ochako smiles and drags him a bit closer to the group. It's nice, too; even though he doesn't use it, Koda has an impressive strength she has only witnessed the time a squirrel got stuck under a large rock during training, and Koda picked it up, no problem, and the squirrel was able to get back into the trees. She was a little worried that she'd have to try and pull someone on the kart, but with Koda's strength alone, that's no problem.
Hmm… Ochako looks at her mismatched team; of Class 1-A students and a Support Class girl with her many gadgets. They were running out of time to strategize, but thoughts start swirling in her mind. Ideas, of ways Zero Gravity and Anivoice and Brainwashing and—well, whatever Hatsume's Quirk is—how all their Quirks can work together to make a solid plan.
It'll be a little messy, but Uraraka Ochako is the daughter of construction workers.
She's used to getting messy.
✨👻✨
Just as the Chariot Battles are about to start, Izuku gets distracted by a hiccup. Normally, it wouldn't be anything to note, but since his death, hiccups haven't been a thing, unless it means something is nearby. And he covers his mouth, barely muffling the cloud that threatens to claw its way out.
A ghost? Here? Izuku glances around wildly, though it seems like nothing is out of the ordinary. Most of the students below them have already started the Chariot Battles; grabbing ahold of the nearest chariot and starting around the course. It's starting out as a simple race; a few teams got the idea to drive circular around the field to cover their bases, even at the higher risk of being thrown out of the ring, since it gives them more field to attack from. It's anyone's game at this point in Izuku's mind, though he wouldn't doubt it if Ka—Bakugou—or Endeavor's son manage to get their teams to the tournament round.
But still; he hates to miss it, but the hiccup sends a shudder down his spine. He stands up, almost too quickly, accidentally knocking his notebook out of his lap. It's not an important notebook (well, all his notebooks are important, but this one is specifically not for anything ghostly) so he almost doesn't mind dropping it, but he still picks it up. "Ah, I need to go to the bathroom! I'll be right back!"
"Oh, okay, uh, Midoriya—" Hitoshi's dad's voice faces off as Izuku nearly high-tails it out of the seating and into the hallways of the stadium behind them.
With the event going on, the back hallways are quiet, save for a few people stepping into the A.C. inside or other people also taking quick bathroom breaks before it truly starts kicking off. Plenty of TV screens are available for those on the inside to see the highlights and hear Present Mic and Eraserhead's commentary still.
"AND THERE GOES KAIBARA'S TEAM, KNOCKED OUT OF THE CIRCLE BY TODOROKI'S TEAM. THE FIRST ELIMINATION OF THE ROUND!"
Aw, man, he's going to miss so much! But, Izuku also rationalizes, if there's a ghost here, that'll need to be dealt with.
"Listen up, greenie. Not all the ghosts you meet are gonna be as chill as me. You gotta be prepared for that moment."
Izuku's world can't even handle him at a fraction of his power—he's seen the way that the police officers he often flies by look at him, the way that Eraserhead's tired eyes constantly keep a vigilant eye on him as he flies through the air—so what would happen if a full ghost were to attack somewhere?
He's the only one who would have a fraction of a chance; and even then, Izuku's never fought another ghost.
The few people who are out in the hallways don't pay him any attention as he glances around for a bathroom sign, but he doesn't even find it before seeing her.
She's not exactly a ghost, but Izuku hiccups again, and muffles the cloud again with his hands, so she's something. She's floating off the ground, slightly, wearing a hero costume that isn't familiar to him at all. Long black hair is pulled up into a tight bun, and her eyes stare into Izuku's soul, a pure white. She's not like Amorpho, who was solid unless they didn't want to be. She was more of an… echo, maybe, of something or someone that once was?
But how?
Before Izuku can approach—which he also considers would be a little weird, to just walk up to empty air and talk to it like something is there—someone comes around the corner again. The echo looks at Izuku, before turning around and vanishing, and All Might's shrunken form comes into view.
Huh? What?
Him again?
All Might notices him, again, though there's a strange look in his eyes that he can't quite place. He takes a few steps forward, and then another few steps, before asking, "Excuse me, young man. Can I ask you a question?"
Izuku's mouth moves before his mind can. "You just did."
"Ah. Well. You know what I mean." All Might says. "You look familiar, but I can't quite place you. Have we met before?"
You look familiar.
Have we met before?
Present Mic's announcements break through the awkward silence. "AND WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! TEAM URARAKA IS SOARING ABOVE THEIR COMPETITION, LITERALLY! IS THIS EVEN ALLOWED?!"
"As long as they stay within the confines of the circle, it's fine."
"No. We haven't." Izuku lies through his teeth, before turning around. There's something even stranger about All Might now, aside from his strange, bizarre circumstances, but Izuku doesn't want to deal with it. If All Might is being haunted, well– that's hisproblem.
✨👻✨
"I have a plan."
Hitoshi learns quickly when Uraraka formulates a plan, it's going to be the most batshit insane thing he'll ever hear. At first, it sounds pretty reasonable; she and Koda would be the "horses" for the chariot, probably the strongest two out of their team. Hitoshi and Hatsume would be the riders, and their aim was simple; defense and escape.
How would they accomplish this, with only one Quirk strong enough for combat purposes?
Well, luckily for them, Hatsume had dragged an entire box full of her "babies"—that is to say, her inventions—along with her, and they got a look at everything in it and outfitted themselves with the gear.
Hitoshi didn't have much; Hatsume passed him a retractable bo staff. "It's not fully operational yet, it's supposed to have a taser at the end but Power Loader-sensei wouldn't let me add it yet!"; but a staff is still a stick he can hit people with and it's long-ranged.
Uraraka grabbed hover boots and metal cufflinks from the pile. The cufflinks were junk that Hatsume had accidentally brought along, but they slid on her wrists perfectly, mimicking the braces she had on her hero costume to help with the nausea pinpoints. Hover boots as well, which would give her the ability to float upwards without the use of her Quirk.
Koda hadn't grabbed anything but had been shoved the jetpack. Luckily, Hatsume was all about accessibility and wearability for people with different body sizes, and the straps of the jetpack were made of a stretchy but firm nylon material that snug to the user's body.
Hatsume had her goggles, of course, to help her Quirk—Zoom, she called it, and from what Hitoshi understood, it was as simple as the name suggested—but she also had a few other things shoved in the pockets of her gym pants.
"This is a smoke grenade, this is a glitter bomb, ooh, I forgot I packed these—"
"What are those?" Hitoshi asks, narrowing his eyes at the small orbs that looked different from the rest.
"Just explosive putty bombs I've been working on! Here, you can have them, you probably have better aim than me, but be careful, if they shake too much, they might explode on you. That won't be fun!"
Ah. Okay. He carefully pockets the explosive putty bombs, feeling like one wrong move could end the whole game, all of a sudden.
With Hatsume and Hitoshi as the riders and Uraraka and Koda as the horses, the game was set to begin. There was no fanfare or excitement built, Midnight-sensei simply stood upon her podium with a flare gun, and shot it off into the air.
Everyone stayed still for a moment, and then it all burst into chaos.
Most teams gunned it immediately for the outer ring, all having a similar idea. The inner ring might have been safer, but there was less movement available. Iida's team—with Kirishima and a boy Hitoshi didn't recognize on it—sped out first, of course. Iida was built like a brick house and had the strength to pull the other two boys on it with ease, of course, and with his speed, it spun up a cloud of dust around the teams.
But other teams weren't far behind. Bakugou's team—surprised he was able to get enough people to be a group of four—barreled right behind Iida and Todoroki's team wasn't far behind.
"Stay out of their way, hopefully other teams will be too busy to try to knock the others out than go after us." Uraraka said. Right, the plan; evade and defend. It's a little hard to defend, but Hitoshi has the putty bombs and a retractable bo staff, and a few birds that Koda had called out to after their first round had begun to gather on the edges of the ring.
It isn't long before the first team goes flying; a group of Class 1-B students goes flying after Todoroki shoots off a glacier at them, destroying their wheel. They land before they get knocked into the walls of the stadium, but still; it doesn't look pleasant.
"AND THERE GOES KAIBARA'S TEAM, KNOCKED OUT OF THE CIRCLE BY TODOROKI'S TEAM. THE FIRST ELIMINATION OF THE ROUND!"
One team down, twenty to go. Somehow, they had ended up with an uneven number, and he'd seen Yayorozu summon a very similarly built Chariot for her own team. Midnight didn't seem to mind, at least, and allowed it. But still, the odds weren't ever in Hitoshi's favor.
"To the right!" Hatsume orders, and Uraraka and Koda start pulling, barely dodging out of a swipe from 1-B students. One of the boys on the chariot charging at them is Tsuburaba, and Hitoshi can't get a word out before a solid air of wall forms right to Koda's right side, and they run into it. He crashes into Hatsume as they hit the wall.
Hitoshi doesn't hesitate, and extends the bo staff, swinging indiscriminately. He's been able to barely keep up with his classmates in physical training, but his body isn't bulking up to a muscular state like his other male classmates. His is more lean and lithe; which sucks, given the fact that he needs to be strong to fight people, especially given that he fights Quirkless. Aizawa-sensei's training before the Entrance Exam helped him a lot more than he was expecting, but he's still lacking.
My Quirk isn't physical. I can't do anything.
The blond boy—Hitoshi's heard him called Monoma before, after he'd all but declared war on Class 1-A a week prior—reaches out and grabs Hitoshi by his sleeve. "Let's see what Class 1-A has on their side, shall we?"
Hitoshi doesn't know what to expect, except he feels something very off in his chest, for just a second. A blip. And then it's gone.
"A mental Quirk, ugh." Monoma scoffs. "That's pretty useless."
He resists the urge to curse at the boy. Uraraka and Koda pick up again, running forward, away from Monoma and Tsuburaba's team, but they stay right on their heels. The two class 1-B people on their team, more people Hitoshi doesn't know the name orQuirk of, unfortunately, are pretty quick on their feet.
Think, think—Monoma knows that Hitoshi's Quirk is a mental Quirk, but he doesn't seem to know quite what it is. Or how to use it. A copying Quirk, probably. But does it give him the knowledge of how to use Hitoshi's Quirk?
Given that Monoma doesn't attempt any more goading remarks, Hitoshi takes it as a no. So he might have a chance to get him, but how?
Something Izuku told him a while ago pops into his head. "I think humor is definitely a weapon you could use to your advantage in a fight. Maybe even study some comedians, too?"
He hadn't studied any comedians recently, and honestly, Hitoshi's humor is not that funny. He's deadpan and sarcastic and could probably only do dark humor as a stand-up comedian, but he blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. And that is a horrible dad joke his own father had told him right as he hopped out of the car when they got to campus.
"W-What did the pirate get on his report card?"
"What." Monoma blanks, but it's enough of a response for Hitoshi to grab a hold of him, and he does. It's obvious Monoma is the brains of the situation, so Hitoshi goes for a simple answer.
"Lead your team off the ring."
"OH, WHAT'S THIS? MONOMA NEITO FROM 1-B, FIGHTING WITH HIS OWN TEAM MATES? AND OH, NO, THEY'RE OUT OF THE RING!"
"Nice work, purple hair!" Hatsume grins widely. Hitoshi grins back.
They continue this small back-and-forth game for a bit. Of course, the teams start to dwindle, and most of them have at least one Class 1-A student on them, so Hitoshi's plan of attack against other people won't be as affective when they've probably been warned of his Quirk. This is why he needs to go underground, because, sheesh, too many people knowing about his Quirk will make it nearly impossible for him to fight villains. Still, with Hatsume's inventions—namely, her glitter bombs—they're able to keep most of the attention away from them, as Bakugou and Todoroki fight for first place.
We don't need first place, Hitoshi thinks, we just need to not be last. That's more than enough. The glory of first place would be nice, but they just need to survive to get there.
Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen… The numbers start going down, and as less chaos exists on the ring, the more they're getting attention. A few teams center their focus on them, instead; it's less worth it to try and get the chariots on the outside of the ring out when they're so powerful and obviously going after each other, now.
Time for part two, I guess. Uraraka skids to a stop, motioning for Koda to do the same. "Ready, guys?"
Hatsume looks absolutely feral with her smile, and nods excitedly, nearly knocking off her goggles in the process. Hitoshi gulps, but nods as well, queasy with the sudden height they'll get, but it's a good way to get out of everybody's way.
"Let's do this, then!" Uraraka slaps the chariot with one hand, and the zero gravity already starts to take effect. Koda is pretty quick with his jetpack, at least, after Hatsume showed him dozens of times how to get it properly started, and Uraraka clicks her hover boots together like they're ruby slippers, and their team shoots up into the sky.
"AND WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! TEAM URARAKA IS SOARING ABOVE THEIR COMPETITION, LITERALLY! IS THIS EVEN ALLOWED?!" Present Mic's roaring voice booms through the stadium as attendees, some heroes, some families, cheer in racous applause.
"As long as they stay within the confines of the circle, it's fine." Aizawa-sensei says, voice cool and monotone as ever.
While they can't stay up here forever—they're now prime targets for being knocked away with one of Todoroki's growing glaciers—they can at least cause some more damage. Hatsume pulls the tag out of one of her smoke grenades and pitches it down with the strength and energy a baseball player would be jealous of.
Oh! An idea pops in Hitoshi's mind, and he carefully pulls out the putty bombs. They're small, maybe a few inches in diameter, and look more like bouncy balls than anything too lethal, but by some miracle, they'd stayed perfectly safe in Hitoshi's pockets. He starts chucking them down, one, two, three, and can't help but revel in the sound of people getting stuck in the expanding putty below them.
"OH, AND THAT'S FOUR KNOCKOUTS IN THE RING! IF YOUR CHARIOT BREAKS, YOU CAN'T PARTICIPATE ANYMORE. SORRY ABOUT THAT, TEAMS!"
They land, a little haphazardly, a few minutes later, when Uraraka starts looking a little pale. Hitoshi is impressed she held out as long as she could. Koda whistles, and the small flock of birds forming around the stadium leap into action and start swooping at the remaining teams, knocking their horses off course. One knocks into another, and they go sprawling. He feels bad, knocking out his classmates, but to be fair, Mineta and Aoyama wouldn't make it that far in the tournament, anyway, and Mineta was too distracted staring at Yayorozu's cleavage to notice the chariot flying towards them.
Six, five… Five teams left. One more out, and then it'd be over. One more, one more.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU ICY-HOT BASTARD!"
"WHAT IS THIS? BAKUGOU KATSUKI HAS FINALLY HAD ENOUGH OF TODOROKI'S GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE, AND FLUNG HIMSELF OFF OF HIS CHARIOT. ERASER, IS THIS EVEN ALLOWED?"
Midnight's voice cuts in. "As long as he doesn't touch the ground, his team will stay in!"
It's clever; Bakugou is using his explosions to propel himself and fly right at Todoroki, who is, by all counts, looking the most fatigued Hitoshi has ever seen. Frost is crawing up at his sides, and while he's not the only rider—it looks like, for some reason, Hagakure, of all people, is Todoroki's fellow rider, while Kaminari and Sato are his horses. It's a strange, hodgepodge team, but it's been working out for him by some miracle, so Hitoshi isn't going to complain.
Right as he's distracted, something flies by his side, and grabs his bo staff out of his hands. He turns, and sees Tsu on Iida's team, her tongue whizzing back to her, wrapped around his staff. It's not made of the sturdiest material, so he's not surprised she snaps it easily with just her bare hands, but that leaves them open and vulnerable.
"Hatsume, quick, do you have anything else?"
"Hahhh, let me see…" She grabs ahold of the chariot with one hand, and starts digging in her pockets. "This is all I've got left."
She hands him a rock.
A rock.
"Hatsume, this is a rock."
"It was a very nice rock I found during the labyrinth. I was hoping to keep it, but you can have it."
"What, am I supposed to do, with a rock."
"I dunno, chuck it at someone?"
Well. That's one thing. Hitoshi doesn't think that it would work out, but he sees another team start to charge him from behind. Not Tsu and Iida's team, but one of the last teams of fully Class 1-B kids. Without a second thought, Hitoshi chucks the rock at one of the horses.
He misses. The rock hits the ground not too far away.
Well, I tried. Dad, Izuku, I hope you're proud of me for making it at least to the third round. Uraraka, Koda, I'm sorry about this.
But, before the team can get to them, one of the wheels gets stuck on the rock in just the right spot, and right as Uraraka and Koda move them out of the way, the last team goes stumbling with a broken wheel off the ring and into the grass around them.
What the fuck.
A blast goes off from Midnight-sensei's flare again.
✨👻✨
"AND THERE WE HAVE IT FOLKS! THE FOUR TEAMS THAT WILL BE MAKING IT TO THE TOURNAMENT ROUND! TEAM TODOROKI, FEATURING HAGAKURE TORU, SATO AIKIDO, AND KAMINARI DENKI! TEAM BAKUGOU, FEATURING ASHIDO MINA, SERO HANATA, AND KENDO ITSUKA! TEAM URARAKA, FEATURING SHINSOU HITOSHI, KODA KOJI, AND HATSUME MEI FROM THE SUPPORT CLASS! AND FINALLY, TEAM IIDA, FEATURING ASUI TSUYU, KIRISHIMA EJIRO, AND RIN HIRYU! WHAT DO YOU THINK, ERASERHEAD?"
"Hmph."
"WISE WORDS, MY ELOQUENT FRIEND. IT LOOKS LIKE CLASS 1-A HAS WHAT IT TAKES, WITH MORE THAN 80 PERCENT OF THE FINALISTS HAILING FROM THERE! BUT WE CAN'T LET OUTSELVES GET DISTRACTED BY THE EFFORTS OF THE OTHER CLASSES, AND THE FINAL ROUND WILL BE ANYONE'S GAME…"