Yaoyarozu was lucky enough to whip up some grappling gear before she ran in, suspecting Todoroki to freeze the gap like he did with the Battle Trial, and the Nomu. Uraraka jumped ahead using her own quirk on herself while Iida sprinted ahead using his engines at full force when the event started.
Mineta managed to create some balls to jump on like Lilly pads, and ironically Asui was jumping from wall to wall inside of the tunnel, followed by Sero and herself. The likes of Aoyama, Tokoyami, and Ojiro used their quirks to jump over everyone while Bakugo simply flew over creating simultaneous explosions over and over. Everyone was taken by surprise during the USJ, nothing was going to catch them off guard again, not even one of their own.
"Look at that Eraser, your class is taking the lead without anyone else managing to keep close! Your thoughts?"
"It's the most rational thing they could've done. Everyone is doing everything in their power to stay ahead, even if the methods seem unorthodox."
She blinked at the comment, looking and seeing Iruma was in fact taking one this challenge strangely, propelling himself forward on all fours, like an animal. A closer look showed her that he was using his nails to dig into the ice to use the traction. "Just like winter wolves." He muttered. She felt compelled to give him a pair of ice skates.
"Damn it!" The shout from Mineta came from the air, turning forward everyone saw …
"Looks like they met their first obstacle, the Zero Pointer from the entrance exam!" They had to fight that!? What kind of exam took place?
"SURVIVE!" Iruma shouted, charging ahead once the robot caught notice of them. The monster looked like it was going to pound the poor boy into paste as it raised it's arm above him.
"Iruma-kun look out!" Hagakure's shout came too late, even Todoroki hesitated to outright freeze it, likely in fear of hitting Iruma in the process. Then the hand came down. "NOOOO!" Oh god … was he ..
"I'm alright! I dodged it!" Iruma shouted, now right on top of the arm and running across it. "It's just a race, so we don't need to fight it! We just need to be first!"
"And Suzuki proves that rationality does in fact, still has a place in this generation." Their teacher idly commented.
The Zero Pointer looked confused. "Get off you pest, in the name of the robot overlord, Skynet the Supreme!" It tried to squash him, but Iruma once again came out unscathed. "In the name of the great HAL, I won't let you live!" It sent another arm to Iruma right he scaldown it's back, making itself topple backwards. It wasn't long before the machine was down and dysfunctional "Oh Johnny 5, my great ancestor, forgive me!"
"You know it's gonna be harder for the rat to spin this one right?" Obviously referring to the copyright infringement as the classes stared in awe at the destroyed monstrosity.
"You know Nedzu loves his chaos...how is the little guy still going!?" Iruma was unharmed once more, running ahead of everyone else, not having slowed down in the slightest.
==
Hatsumei mourned the loss of robots that were made by Power Loader himself, but relented, as their intention was to be destroyed to begin with. She would make it up to him later! She'd help make the babies bigger and stronger than ever before! Right now, she needed to make sure her own babies were still healthy enough to help her stand out enough.
"Coming up is the next challenge, the fall of infinite darkness! All who trip into the chasm never see the light of day again!"
"They do, we have mats."
"Sure, ruin the illusion."
"That's what I live for. And Suzuki actually seems to be stuck on this challenge, he hasn't moved on the rope he's pulling on." True, number one-for-the-moment was hanging across the rope upside down that students were supposed to run across to make it to the other side.
"Hey, you know it's a stunt wire right?" She called out to the boy. "You run over it." She didn't want to help too much, but she would point out stupid.
"I know, but I'm trying to go beyond and stand out, and I've worked with ropes before. What's better than running on a rope?"
"Grappling hooks with jets." She showed off her own gear with a grin.
"THAT SOUNDS AWESOME!" Of course it did. Her babies were amazing. "I could've used something like that when my parents made me live on that mountain for two months. So many avalanches and rockslides. Or when I lived in the Amazon for that one summer."
"Are you kidding. That's stupid." She deadpanned. "The trees alone would ruin the freedom you'd have in the air to maneuver a jet pack." Practicality took presidency when dealing with using her Babies.
"Trees...air….trees...air….rope….monkeys…."Okay, this guy was probably crazy. "I have an idea!" He tugged on the end of the rope that was keeping it attached to the ravine and pulled it out. "This was the only choice I could've made!" It wasn't, but she saw the point he was trying to make
"What the heck Aizawa, does this kid have a death wish!?"
"He actually has the exact opposite. That's how he's able to do reckless stunts like this and survive." The kid was swinging from rope to rope, pulling them out of the bedrock as he landed on each one.
She stared stupefied even as others like explosion and froggy passed her. She gave a mad grin. Survive anything Eh …sounds like someone who needed a LOT of support equipment. Luckily for him, Hatsumei Mei was willing to provide! Now she absolutely NEEDS to get into the second round. Business deals like this don't come to you on a silver platter everyday!
==
Bakugo accepted he wasn't wasn't the strongest guy in the world, no matter how much it killed him on the inside to acknowledge it. He accepted that he probably, PROBABLY, wasn't the strongest guy at U.A, as inconceivable as that might've been to know. After all, UA was the best Hero School in Japan, arguably the world. As such, extras promoted to Supporters and Side Characters fairly easily.
Then why, why oh WHY IN HELL WAS THIS COPYCAT EXTRA TAKING HIS PLACE!? Dek-Dodger was just some clone of a speck! A piece of dust compared to the pebble that once kept getting in his way! Yet here he was keeping up with the occasional explosion from Bakugou and the ice of Peppermint. "JUST DIE ALREADY!" He sent an explosion to Dodger's head, and just like the battle trials, he dodged it effortlessly.
"I don't want to die!" Dodger argued back as he dodged a spike of ice sent by Peppermint.
"You're a bigger nuisance than any quirkless kid should be."
"I'm not quirkless!" Right, Dodger wasn't Deku. Dodger couldn't have been quirkless. Dodger wasn't Deku. Dodger could've only beaten him with a quirk. Dodger wasn't Deku. Deku didn't have a chance to be a hero, Deku couldn't beat him, Deku could never win, DEKUCOULDN'TWINDEKUCOULDN'T WINDEKU COULDN'T WIN!
"And the three front runners of 1-A are now at the final obstacle!" They looked ahead. "A minefield!" Finally, an obstacle that made sense. "They won't kill you, but the kick is big, so tread carefully."
" It's a give or take position, Slow down and lose the lead, or sprint ahead and risk it all."
They had a point. The rest were all far enough that some time could be afforded. They really did have a big kick he couldn't afford to hit, and his arms wouldn't be able to take too much stress.
"AvoidAvoid avoid avoid avoid!" Dodger ran into the mine field as fast as humanly possible, as far as he knew at least, and didn't set off a single bomb, somehow avoiding EVERYTHING as he ran!
"Alright Shota, what the fuck are you teaching this class!?"
"Hey now, we're televised, language." The teacher snarked.
He turned back to Peppermint, who actually showed emotion through a snarl. Impressive. The boy waved his hand and froze over the mines, now skating his way forward like the first event. Looks like he decided to completely forgo his chances to limit the others from catching up since the path would still be behind him as he ran.
That was fine, none of them were close enough, what mattered now was catching up to the gap! The gap that Deku...that Deku...that DODGER created between them! He wouldn't fall behind again!
==
Chisaki typed on his computer, analyzing data. So far the bullets could only temporarily destroy quirks, before they naturally regenerated. They needed a chemical with more stomping power.
They would have had a good shipment… if not for the boy , but that was neither here nor there. A loss was a loss, and Chisaki was nothing if not determined. "Chronos, how is it moral?" He asked his top lieutenant.
"Pretty high, although you won't like the reason." The man gestured to a group surrounding a television. "They're watching the UA sports festival…"
"Heroes." The man resisted the urge to groan. The sickness that infected their society, The shift in power that relegated the Yakuzu to nothing more but a shadow group that didn't rule anything. If it wasn't for him taking over, they would've died out completely in a year or two.
"Yep, although in full honesty I doubt Rapp is in it for the heroes themselves."
"Beat that kid the fuck up explosion boy!" Ah yes, fanatical violence. Perfect if aimed in the right direction. "To think somebody quirkless could get so ahead!"
"Quirkless?" That was a name he didn't hear all too often. He wanted to get one to join in the attempt to help show them how bad society was with heroes, but never found one. "Is that so?" He walked over to the screen to get a closer look.
"Yeah, well, they haven't said anything about his quirk, but he's been acing the entire competition on normal feats alone!" Rappa got out of the way and he saw…
"That boy.." The blue hair, the stupid cowlick, those innocent eyes….the face he could never forget no matter how much time passed.
"Boss, some guy is asking about an offer to assist in murdering … that brat …" Mimic noticed that no one looked at him. "What did I miss?"
"Iruma Suzuki has made it to first place!" The annoying face displayed. That bright smile..one so sickly...heroic.
"Delay the assist for now." Chisaskai removed his gloves and touched the screen. "Let us take a moment. Learn everything there is to know about this Iruma Suzuki." He activated his quirk, and turned the t.v into atomized metal and plastic.
"… Boss?" One of the garbage trio spoke up. "No offense but … you just destroyed the TV we need to learn about him."
"Steal another one, I don't care. I don't want to look at his face for a second longer. And get back to work! Break's over." The brat would pay for what was widely considered in the underworld as 'the biggest screw up known to humankind'.
==
Iruma crossed the finish line first! That was amazing! He was so determined to stand out and quit his crappy jobs that he barely noticed how fow ahead he was. Was that the power of having a goal? That felt amazing!
"And in second and third place, Katsuki Bakugou and Shoto Todoroki respectively!" Midnight yelled out, waving that whip towards them.
"Second place …" Bakugo was shaking with joy. He got so far! It was awesome to see someone move that fast with explosives. Todoroki didn't look too happy, probably wanted to win really badly, but it wasn't like the competition was over.
"IRUMA-KUN, YOU'RE ALIVE AND IN FIRST!" Toru hugged him from behind and shook him widely. She was surprisingly strong. All of his friends were so amazing.
"Yep, I survived!" She shouted with joy, laughing at the situation. This was awesome!
"Wait, Toru, how did you get in fourth? I lost track of you during the first obstacle." Ochako came out, arriving in fifth.
"Oh after Iruma-kun almost got squashed by the zero-pointer, I basically stuck right by him the entire time. I spent the week before training to catch up with him, and it paid off!" Toru explained happily.
"Oh, it was you constantly watching over me. I thought it felt familiar." Iruma chuckled, glad that his friend was safe the entire time.
"You-you could tell it was me!?" Huh, that made her weirdly excited. It sounded like she was moaning too.
"Suzuki! I'm glad to see you made it far!" Iida shouted, coming in closer. "Congratulations on first place, your tactics were risky but paid off well!"
"Thanks, I had to do something similar when I lived in the amazon. Swinging off vines, running across sand traps, avoiding snake burrows, all the usual stuff."
"You lived in the Amazon?" Momo came up to them.
"Yeah, My parents put me on a cargo boat and said not to come back until I brought home some ancient gold treasure or something. I think it's hanging on the wall in the house." They got really scared at what he said for some reason. "Oh hey Minoru! Momo gave you a piggyback ride?"
"What the..MINETA!" Minoru was hanging off of Momo's back with his sticky balls. "When the hell did you get there!?
"Since the last half of the race. Two birds with one stone." Minuro smiled weirdly before Toru kicked him off Momo's back. "Still worth it!"
"You're the worst, you know that!" All the girls yelled at his short friend. Guess he didn't ask permission for that piggyback ride.
"May I have your attention once more!" Midnight yelled from the stage she was on. "Only these forty two will advance to the next round!
"Haha!" They turned to a blond guy. "Would you look at that, the entirety of Class 1-B has arrived, and you all thought yourselves special." The oranged haired behind him looked like she was about to chop something in the air.
"Wow, your whole class made it!? That's amazing! You must be super strong and powerful!"
The boy blinked, and the oranged haired girl behind him paused her actions. "…Yes, super strong, we're going to win!"
"Good luck, I hope you get far!" He bowed, moving away from the silent blond before seeing his other classmates. "Oh, you guys made it too!"
"It was close." Aoyama kept shaking in place. It was nice, he wanted to sparkle so he came up with them for the second event.
"Rivalry in the dark." Tokoyami said again. Was that his catchphrase or something?
"You certainly never slow down, Iruma." Tsu came up to the group. "All without using a quirk too. That's amazing."
"Amazing? It's super manly!" Kirishima yelled out. "We may actually see the first quirkless pro in hero history!"
"I have a quirk-did you say the first?" He titled his head in confusion. "That can't be possible right?"
"Well, there's been the occasional vigilante or two that have attempted it, but no, there's never been a quirkless hero since the beginning of Pro Heroism." Iida explained in his robotic manner.
"Because nobody in their right mind would allow someone Quirkless to be a hero." Bakugo came in. "No academy in the world would allow somebody so useless to ever be a pro."
"Hey, last time I checked, Iruma did more to fight off the Nomu than you did." Jiro defended him, once again everyone assuming he was quirkless. "And he just beat you in the race too."
"That was a fluke! Deku could never…!" Who was this Deku he kept bringing up? "You better not be lying about having a quirk. You're going to end up dead at the rate you're going."
"But I've lived this long without one. Having one and not having one isn't that different." Bakugo looked like he was going to yell, but Midnight interrupted him.
"Now for the next event!" She shouted, the letters spinning just like last time. "And the answer is … The Cavalry Battle!" Cavalry battle?
"I see, so we're going to be knights." Iruma nodded, getting the situation down pat.
"I don't know whether to coo at the innocence or cry at the naivety." Tsu slapped her face for some reason. "So we're in a team event? Wonder how that's going to work out.
"The remainder of you all will form teams made up between two through four people, with one being the rider." Oh, so the people were the horses. "Each player has been assigned a point value headband determined by where you placed in the race."
"So each team will be at different points depending on who they have." Sato clarified.
"And the top scorers are the ones who will have the most points on their teams from the start." Sero added in.
"So it can be anyone's game." Uraraka said with a fist pump to the sky.
"For the exception of First Place." Wait, was his score going to be different? Oh no, it was going to be zero, wasn't it? "They'll have one million points."
"That's awesome!" One million, he'll keep piling on the points for sure with a band like that.
"So what she's saying…" The sleepy guy that declared war said out loud. "Whoever beats Suzuki is the winner." … Eh?
"The biggest target on the field." Eh!?
"He's ripe for the picking." ...Suddenly he felt like he was in the middle of a jungle surrounded by hungry animals. Only this time, there were no trees to swing away with.