Arthur POV
I stood there, watching as more students rushed past me, their faces etched with determination. Each one had their own way of dealing with the robotic obstacles ahead. It was fascinating, really, seeing how different quirks approached the same problem.
Kirishima hardened his entire body and simply barreled through the smaller robots, his fists creating satisfying crunches of metal with each impact. "Nothing can stop my hardening!" he yelled enthusiastically, though I noticed he was careful to avoid the larger zero-pointers entirely.
Kaminari discharged electricity in controlled bursts, short-circuiting the one and two-pointers that got too close. I kind of wanted to see him overloading, Yaoyorozu said it made him quite funny.
"Everyone is doing well," I muttered. Sure a part of me wanted to help them, to deal with all the robots, but I wasn't supposed to do that, and as I could see them face the robots fully, I realized something I should have realized long ago.
Probably in the villain attack. Everyone here wanted to be heroes. They were doing their best and me coddling wasn't helping them and so I watched.
Yaoyorozu created a cannon from her fat, firing at the zero pointers ahead of most of the runners, their faces got caved in, exploding in a mess of steel and circuits.
"That's some serious power," I muttered at her side.
She looked at me.
"How come you aren't going forward."
"Taking in the sights."
"You really should stop worrying about everyone else, with your speed you'd have finished already."
"I'm not worrying, just wanted to see what you all could do."
"Whatever you say president," Yaoyorozu replied as under her feet skates materialized and she began to run forward.
"Whatever you say vice-president."
I began walking forward at a normal pace, keeping my eyes on everyone. If someone truly needed help, I'd be there in an instant, but for now...
Iida shot past me like a blue comet, his engines roaring. He weaved past the robots, it didn't matter if they were online or destroyed, he didn't bother about them, simply outmaneuvering everything in his path.
Present Mic's voice boomed overhead. "AND IIDA TENYA FROM CLASS 1A ROCKETS THROUGH THE ROBO INFERNO! BUT WAIT, WHAT'S THIS? TODOROKI IS STILL IN THE LEAD!"
I could see it from here. Todoroki had created an ice path that elevated him above most of the obstacles, sliding forward with remarkable speed. Behind him, Bakugo was keeping pace with continuous explosions, the sound like rolling thunder.
As I walked through the wreckage of robots that others had destroyed, I heard a familiar voice.
"Dark Shadow!"
Tokoyami's sentient quirk erupted from his body, grabbing onto taller pieces of debris and swinging him forward like some gothic version of a certain spider-themed hero from my mom's old comic books.
More and more students passed me. I didn't mind. In fact, I found myself smiling slightly. They were all doing amazingly well without any help.
The crowd must have been confused. Why was the vigilante who'd been so fast, who'd saved so many, just walking? I could hear some of their murmurs with my enhanced hearing.
"What's he doing?"
"Is he injured?"
"Maybe he's conserving energy?"
No, I just wanted to see them succeed on their own. Was that so hard to understand?
Finally, the last of the robots in this section had been dealt with or bypassed. I picked up my pace slightly, jogging now rather than walking. As I did, I saw Mineta ahead, using his sticky balls to bounce from debris to debris. He'd recovered well from his earlier scare.
"The first barrier's a piece of cake if you've fought the real thing before!" someone yelled triumphantly.
But then I heard it. The gasps, the sudden stops. I looked ahead and saw what had caused the reaction.
The second obstacle.
The students who had rushed ahead came to an abrupt halt at the edge of a massive canyon. The chasm stretched out before them, seemingly bottomless, with only thin tightropes connecting their side to the other. The ropes swayed ominously in the wind.
"The Fall!" Present Mic announced dramatically. "Students must cross by walking on these tightropes! But be careful, one wrong step and you're out!"
"Eliminated?" several students exclaimed in horror.
Todoroki didn't hesitate. He encased the rope in ice and began sliding across, his balance perfect despite the narrow surface. Bakugo simply flew over, explosions propelling him forward.
"Those two don't even need the ropes!" someone complained.
But not everyone had such convenient quirks. Many students approached the tightropes with visible trepidation.
I reached the edge of The Fall and stopped. This was interesting. How would those without mobility quirks handle this?
Tsuyu shot her tongue out, wrapping it around one of the support posts on the other side and swinging across like it was nothing. "Ribbit," she said simply as she landed.
Uraraka had made herself weightless and was carefully pulling herself along one of the ropes, hand over hand.
One of the students who was constantly yelling "My babie." Was shooting herself forward with hover boots and grapplers.
But then I saw something that made my chest tighten. One of the general course students - a girl with green hair - was halfway across when her foot slipped.
"No!" she screamed as she fell.
I was already moving, when I saw it. Metal cables shot out from the canyon walls, wrapping around her safely and beginning to pull her to the side. Of course. Nezu wouldn't actually let them fall to their deaths. The elimination was probably just being pulled to a safe zone where they couldn't continue the race.
I relaxed.
"Thank god," I whispered, though I noticed my hands were shaking slightly. Even knowing they were safe, watching someone fall still affected me.
I walked onto another rope at normal speed. Well, normal for someone with enhanced balance and spatial awareness. The rope barely swayed under my feet as I crossed.
More students were finding creative solutions. Mina sadly was one of the few who could do nothing as her acid would have burnt through the ropes, wait why didn't she burn the ropes after she crossed? That way less people would be able to get through, meh. I guess it doesn't matter.
I watched as more students fell and were caught by the safety cables. Each time, my instinct was to move, to save them, but I forced myself to remain still. They were safe.
Ten minutes passed. Fifteen. The majority of students had either crossed or been eliminated. The leaders were probably already at the third obstacle by now.
I finally made it past the Fall as well.
"AND EVERYONE HAS FINALLY MADE IT THROUGH THE FALL OR HAS BEEN ELIMIATED!" Present Mic's voice boomed.
I could hear explosions in the distance. The third obstacle must be intense if it was causing that much noise.
I jogged forward, passing a few students who were catching their breath after the crossing. They looked at me with mixtures of confusion and frustration.
"Why aren't you trying to win?" one of them asked.
I paused, turning to look at him. He was from the general course, covered in sweat and dirt from the obstacles.
"Who says I'm not?" I replied, then continued jogging.
As I rounded a corner, the third obstacle came into view, and I had to stop for a moment to take it in.
A massive field stretched out before me, and even from here, I could see the slight bumps in the dirt that indicated mines. Dozens of students were carefully picking their way through, some triggering explosions that sent them flying backward with bright pink smoke.
"THE MINEFIELD!" Present Mic was absolutely loving this. "A CARPET OF MINES! THEY'RE NOT LETHAL BUT GETTING BLOWN BY ONE WILL DEFINITELY PUSH YOU BACK!"
I watched as Todoroki and Bakugo fought at the front of the pack, their conflict actually slowing them both down. Every time one would pull ahead, the other would attack, forcing them to defend or dodge.
Then I saw something that made me lean forward with interest.
Midoriya had grabbed a piece of robot armor from the first obstacle, one of the plates from the zero-pointers that had been destroyed. He was doing something with it, digging at a spot where multiple mines were clustered together.
"What are you planning?" I murmured, genuinely curious.
Then he jumped on it.
The explosion was massive, pink smoke billowing up as Midoriya was launched into the air, using the metal plate like some kind of shield-surfboard. He soared over Todoroki and Bakugo, who both looked up in shock.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Bakugo's voice carried even from this distance.
Midoriya flew through the air, and for a moment, I thought he'd miscalculated. He was coming down too steep, too fast. But then, just as Todoroki and Bakugo rushed to catch up, he slammed the plate down again, triggering another cluster of mines that both stopped his rivals and propelled him forward one more time.
I couldn't help it. I laughed. Actually laughed out loud.
As Midoriya crossed into the stadium, followed closely by Todoroki and Bakugo, I decided I'd waited long enough. Most of the mines had blown already and either way they wouldn't have caused any problem to the remaining students.
I took a breath, feeling my heart begin to beat faster, I grinned. God I loved to run.
"Alright then," I said, rolling my shoulders.
I burst forward.
The world slowed to a crawl around me. Students picking their way through the minefield seemed frozen in place. The explosions from triggered mines hung in the air like pink clouds, their expansion barely visible.
I weaved between the students, careful not to create a sonic boom that would send them flying. My feet found the safe spots between mines instinctively.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
I crossed the finish line and immediately slowed to a normal jog, then a walk, breathing normally despite the speed I'd just maintained. The crowd's roar was deafening, though I could pick out the confusion in it. Why had I waited so long just to take fourth place?
"AND ARTHUR CROSSES IN FOURTH!" Present Mic announced. "AFTER SPENDING MOST OF THE RACE WALKING, HE CROSSES THE ENTIRE MINEFIELD IN UNDER FOUR SECONDS!"
I looked up at the leaderboard. First: Midoriya. Second: Todoroki. Third: Bakugo.
Perfect. They deserved those top spots. They'd fought for them, schemed for them, earned them.
I heard footsteps behind me as more students began crossing the finish line. Each one looking exhausted but triumphant.
Kaminari stumbled across the line and immediately collapsed next to me. "Dude," he panted, "what was that about? You could have won easily!"
I shrugged, watching as more and more students finished. "Maybe. But where's the fun in that?"
He stared at me like I'd grown a second head. "The fun? It's a competition!"
Was he...mad?
I decided to ask.
"Are you mad?"
Before he could respond, Midnight's voice rang out across the stadium. "The first forty-two to finish will advance to the next round!"
I looked at the board again. Forty-two. I'd made it, despite my deliberate delay. That was all that mattered.
"I'm not mad," Kaminari finally said. "Just... I don't know, it feels bad."
I didn't know what to say at that. Was what I had done really that bad? Did this competition really matter this much?
As we gathered in the center of the stadium for the announcement of the second event, I caught Midoriya looking at me with a puzzled expression. He opened his mouth as if to ask something, then seemed to think better of it.
Bakugo, on the other hand, had no such restraint. He stomped over to me, his face twisted in anger.
"What the fuck was that about, Arthur?!" he demanded. "You think you're too good to compete properly?!"
I met his gaze calmly. "I competed. I finished fourth."
"You walked most of the fucking race!"
"And I still beat thirty-eight other people," I pointed out, trying to defuse the situation. "Besides, you got third place. Aren't you happy about that?"
His head snapped to Todoroki and Midoriya, then back at me. "I'll fucking beat you! Next time don't hold back!"
He glared at me for a long moment, then clicked his tongue and stalked away.
Maybe I should have just rushed to finish the race, because Kaminari first and Bakugo now, I couldn't help but think if what I had done was really that bad? Did it invalidate their efforts? It wasn't like they didn't push themselves to get their spots right?
Nezu's voice brought me back to the present. He was on the platform again with Midnight, that eerily cheerful smile on his face.
"Well then, contestants! I hope you're ready for the second event! We know what it is! But you don't!"
The holographic screen appeared again, the slot machine beginning to spin. Round and round it went, until finally...
"CAVALRY BATTLE!"
The crowd erupted in cheers. I looked at the screen, reading the rules as Midnight explained them. Teams of two to four people. Point values based on placement in the obstacle race. The person in first place...
"Ten million points?!" Midoriya's strangled cry echoed across the stadium.
I looked at my own point value. Fourth place: 195 points. Not bad.
As students began eyeing each other, already forming alliances and teams, I found myself oddly calm.
Who would want to team up with me? And more importantly, who did I want to team up with?
The fifteen-minute preparation period began, and immediately I was surrounded by students wanting to recruit me for their teams. But through the crowd, I caught sight of a familiar invisible form, or rather, a pair of floating gloves and boots, well that was what everyone else could see.
"Hey, Arthur!" Toru called out, waving enthusiastically. "Want to team up?!"
I smiled, remembering our villain roleplay. "Sure, why not? Who else?"
"I was thinking we could ask-"
"Can I join your team," we turned to who had asked the question, Shinsho.
I replied before Toru.
"Sure why not."
A/N: Sup ladies and gents. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. A reader fucking figured it out last chapter, but Arthur's unnecessary help is kind of straining his relationships with some of class 1A, I mean Arthur doesn't understand why, but to more than a few it feels like he's belittling them.
This isn't the last we've see of this conflict with his classmates, Arthur will have to grow up sooner or later, god, I can't wait for you guys and gals to see what Arthur has turned into by the end of the story.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. See you all tomorrow. Send those stones. Thx for reading. Author out.