"Do you know tug-of-war?" the middle-aged guy said in front of students from different schools.
"Yeah."
"Good, play then. Eight people per school."
T-that's it? Short and sweet?
After that, schools were lined up alphabetically: my school was A, Xavier's was E.
Me and seven others got ready since our school was first to challenge.
"Come on, Peter! We're definitely gonna win!" Harry said excitedly.
"Uh, well..." I glanced over at Xavier's team.
Colossus wasn't participating—lucky for us, probably 'cause he's not young to allow to join.
But the young mutants our age were all huge and ripped, and that was not lucky at all.
A few of them looked my way and whispered—probably don't like me much since I beat Pietro at his best event.
"Who are we up against?" another kid from my school asked Harry.
"Good question!"
What's so good about it?
Harry pointed at a school.
"That one—aka Team C!"
...The school of fat guys. They were still munching on fried chicken and chugging soda.
"Po from Kung Fu Panda! We're winning this!" One guy grabbed Po's hand; Po grinned and grabbed back.
Except this Po wasn't even a panda—he'd just painted himself and smeared black around his eyes. Bold move.
Most importantly, they were super confident.
"I'm kinda scared of that Po guy—he gives off vibes like he's watched all three Kung Fu Panda movies," Harry said, sweating.
"Uh... what about Part 4?"
"Huh? There's a Part 4?"
"Are you kidding? The movie was so bad you just denied its existence?"
"And... he might've mastered *that* ultimate technique... Eating 30 dumplings in 30 seconds!"
"What are you even trying to say? That's not even a technique?? He's not even that strong!!"
"Be careful, Peter! Use your full power to crush him!"
"I said he's not that strong!!"
"Captain! Look!!" One of our teammates pointed at another group.
That was the American school—Team B.
The guy looked familiar...
"Elon Mucks? Bakana?!" Harry stumbled back in panic.
"The heck is 'Bakana'? Japanese? And who's Elon Mucks??"
"Kuhh... This is bad. Didn't expect the other team to have someone that strong... We're probably gonna lose..."
WE HAVEN'T EVEN DONE ANYTHING!!
"HURRY UP, TEAM A! TUG-OF-WAR OR WHAT??" the middle-aged guy yelled, making us scramble over.
"Alright, Team A vs. Team C—this battle will be legendary!"
I looked at my team.
They were pretty big and muscular, but not as much as Harry.
The other side was all fat guys, so we should win easy.
...Hopefully. If some weird crap happens and they flip the script, we're screwed.
"Get ready!!"
We grabbed the rope. They did too.
Everyone was dead serious—especially that Po guy.
"...Wait, what?"
Po was radiating this intense aura, like he was about to unleash his true power.
No way... Is he actually strong??
Nah, couldn't be. But that aura was giving me insane pressure.
"..." I sweated, gripping the rope tighter.
If that's the case, no choice—full power it is!
This battle will be legendary!
"START!!!"
Ding ding!
"OUHHHHHH!!!" I yanked with everything I had.
Instantly, all eight from Team C flew sky-high.
"..." We watched them slowly plummet, splat on the ground, and pass out cold.
Po took it worst—his head buried straight into the dirt; everyone tried pulling him out.
F-for real?? I thought... I thought they were tough!
"Yay! We won!!" Harry threw his hands up, and the rest of us cheered too.
They really don't care that we just yeeted them into the air?
"Peter wins again—no surprise!" Gwen commentated from the judge's seat, hyping me nonstop.
[Congrats.]
"Tch, thought I'd get to see that kid lose for once," Tony muttered nearby, watching me.
"He's definitely a mutant—no doubt," Scott said with a smile.
"Team A wins. Now scram so the next teams can go."
So Team B vs. Team D: American school vs. rainbow flag school.
...No need to say the result—Donald Zump and Elon Mucks won. They had guns, after all.
Next: Team F vs. Team G.
...Eight Tetos vs. eight glasses-wearing weebs.
"Holy sheet! It's Kasane Teto!!! Uhoh uhoh!!" Team G screamed like monkeys, ignoring the stares.
And... yeah, the eight Tetos with chimera power sent Team G flying everywhere.
Now only four teams left: A, F, B, and E.
Team E hadn't competed yet 'cause... unfair, but now they were allowed.
They'd face Team F.
"Peter... Zump and Mucks are dangerous. One slip and we lose—especially Zump. He gives off insane aura-farming vibes!"
You're definitely joking...
We and they grabbed the rope, glaring daggers.
"GO!!!"
Right at the start, I held back so we wouldn't win instantly.
Wanted to see what they could do.
"67"
"...?"
"67!!" One guy from their team kept yelling like a maniac.
...Brainrot?
"67—AGHHHH!!!"
They all flew into the sky after I yanked hard.
Team B lost just 'cause I didn't wanna hear their nonsense anymore.
"We won, Peter!!!" Harry slung an arm around me, grinning wide.
Over there, the eight Tetos had lost... leaving the mutant team as our final opponents.
"Eh, this'll be easy, Peter! We'll crush them—no sweat!" Harry said cheerfully.
"..." I stared straight at Harry's face.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Over with the mutant team:
"So that's Peter."
"He's a mutant like us. Was skeptical at first, but after seeing his physique—no mistake."
"Facing another mutant while our school's supposed to protect mutants... Weird."
"Don't worry. We'll beat him and drag him to our school."
So they were dead set on "saving" Peter from here.