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What Are Friends For?

"I know we can count on you, young Midoriya!"

Izuku was pretty sure he wasn't breathing.

There was a loud beep, and All Might carefully took a phone from his pocket, holding it gingerly between two enormous fingers. "Ah, a hero's work is never done! I hope to speak with you again soon, young Midoriya!"

Returning the phone to his pocket, All Might dashed away, leaving an errant breeze behind him and several girls holding their skirts down out of habit, though the wind didn't seem that strong.

Izuku's world was spinning.

Then his vision started narrowing and it occurred to him that his lungs were burning.

Oh. Yeah. He'd definitely stopped breathing. That was. Something he should probably fix.

He gasped, and staggered over to a nearby bench.

He just talked to All Might.

All Might just talked to him.

All Might wanted to talk to him again soon.

All Might knew his name.

kokiri boi - 'UA? More like Yuu-eyyyyy!'

‹kokiri boi› hshshshs

‹kokiri boi› asdagfdlksfaks

‹kokiri boi› fiadpaivnbuyfbBIOUB

‹durararaka!› um,

‹kokiri boi› SUNGFDSFLKSDJJHYTVRRTCE

‹durararaka!› is Deku okay?

‹kokiri boi› SDUKUGNUfdsgaethhhshshs

‹who ya gonna call› Oh mannn… Where's Shinsou-kun when you need him? ┴┬┴┤︵･`)ง

‹Desolation Row› He got into an altercation with Bakugou. Kirishima-kun was attempting to separate them, but Aizawa-sensei and All Might intervened.

‹kokiri boi› irutXVNJCLSIDF

‹durararaka!› that did not help to calm him down…

‹who ya gonna call› What happened? (๑•﹏•)

‹Desolation Row› Bakugou was grumbling about how he wanted to be left alone so he could be the very best like no one ever was, or some such.

‹durararaka!› omg

‹who ya gonna call› Toko-kun pls I'm dying ｡ﾟ(*≧ヮ≦)ﾟ｡

‹Desolation Row› I believe Bakugou then noticed Shinsou-kun rolling his eyes at the former's dramatics, or else there was some interaction I missed.

‹Desolation Row› Bakugou slammed his hands onto Shinsou-kun's desk, scorching it with explosions and asking quite insistently 'what in the hell some ugly damn extra with eggplant hair and a face like Minna no Tabo' found so funny.

‹durararaka!› OMG I'M WHEEZING

‹durararaka!› Bakugou knows Sanrio characters?

‹Desolation Row› Shinsou-kun studied him dispassionately for a moment. Then, seeming to come to a conclusion, he calmly replied, "Drop dead," and put his head down on the desk.

‹Desolation Row› Bakugou took this… poorly.

‹Desolation Row› Kirishima-kun grabbed Bakugou in a full nelson, but even so I thought I might have to intervene before the explosions suddenly stopped. Aizawa-sensei had erased his quirk, and a moment later wrapped him up in his capture weapon.

‹Desolation Row› He fiddled with his phone, and a moment later All Might appeared. Aizawa-sensei texted him something else and passed Bakugou into All Might's custody. He informed Kirishima-kun to report to Yamada-sensei for detention. Then Aizawa-sensei dragged Shinsou-kun away by the ear.

‹who ya gonna call› Ouch! ヽ(illﾟдﾟ)ﾉ

‹Desolation Row› All that I heard him say as they left was 'You should have known how he would react to that'. Which… He's not wrong. Shinsou-kun absolutely knew how Bakugou would react.

‹durararaka!› so you think Shinsou-kun goaded Bakugou on purpose?

‹who ya gonna call› I mean… Shin-kun is kind of too smart not to know better. He's almost as smart as Mido. (・ω・｀)

‹durararaka!› yeah?

‹who ya gonna call› Yeah, Urara-kun! Our boys are as sharp as knives! （*＾ワ ＾*）

‹Desolation Row› Albeit with a death wish for taunting Bakugou…

‹mindfreak› i lived bitch

‹mindfreak› + tokoyami is also like a knife

‹mindfreak› edgy

‹Desolation Row› I came here to revel in the dark, and I am honestly feeling so at home right now.

‹mindfreak› whatre friends for

‹who ya gonna call› Σ(゜゜) Shin-kun! Scroll up, we need you to translate Mido's keyboard smashes!

‹mindfreak› k sec

‹mindfreak› wow okay

‹who ya gonna call› What does it meannnn? (=o=;)

‹mindfreak› izuku machine Broke

‹durararaka!› i don't understand the B meme and at this point i'm too afraid to ask

‹mindfreak› thats valid

‹mindfreak› ok how bout this

‹mindfreak› izuku dot exe has stopped responding

‹durararaka!› so we still don't know what happened?

‹mindfreak› not til he recovers enough to tell us

‹kokiri boi› ALLMIGHTKNOWSMYNAME

‹mindfreak› yeah thatd do it

‹kokiri boi› A

‹mindfreak› god what a tangible fuckin mood

‹who ya gonna call› Same worm! (｀・ω・´)

‹Desolation Row› Oh, hat?

‹kokiri boi› HE WANTS ME TO GIVE A SPEECH WHAT DO I HECKING DO

‹mindfreak› what speech

‹kokiri boi› THE COMMENCEMENT SPEECH AT THE SPORTS FESTIVAL

‹kokiri boi› AND THE ATHLETE'S OATH

‹who ya gonna call› ! Mido that's so cool tho! （≧∇≦）ъ

‹mindfreak› i dont think a non heroics student has given that oath since

‹mindfreak› ever

‹kokiri boi› WHYYYYY THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT MEEEEE

‹mindfreak› oi

‹mindfreak› thats my best friend ur talking shit about

‹mindfreak› u take tht back or else meet me in the fuckin pit

‹durararaka!› is that what you told Bakugou? ヽ༼ ͠° ͟ل͜ ͠° ༽ﾉ

‹kokiri boi› wait Hicchan did you intentionally pick a fight with Kacchan?

‹mindfreak› gotta blast

‹kokiri boi› wAIT GET BACK HERE

‹mindfreak› ~ ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ

Since he didn't know where Hitoshi was and was well aware he stood no chance of catching him with a head start, Izuku didn't bother looking for him. He could squeeze the story out of one of the others later, or see if there were hints in the chat that he'd missed on account of hyperventilating. In the meantime, he was on his way to the Support workshop, where Hatsume had texted him cryptically to meet her for 'final adjustments'.

He paused outside the door, unsure if he should just enter. What if he interrupted building something? He decided to knock instead. After a moment, the door swung inward to reveal a claw that belonged on construction equipment.

"Ah, Power Loade-! I mean, Majima-sensei!"

The man huffed a laugh. "'Power Loader-sensei' is fine, kid. Didja need something?"

"Ah, um, I was supposed to meet Hatsume-san here-"

"There ya are!" He was cut off by Hatsume's abrupt appearance as she ducked under Power Loader's outstretched arm. She was wearing a simple tank top and cargo shorts, with a pair of goggles pushed up on her forehead. "I've toldja not ta be all formal with me, yeah?" She grabbed Izuku's hand and dragged him inside, leaving a chuckling Power Loader to shut the door behind them.

Hatsume pulled Izuku halfway through the workshop and over to a corner. "Hatsume-kun, I can walk!" he protested, but she didn't let go until she stood him where she wanted him.

Whereupon she immediately put her hands on his shoulders and started feeling his arms, biceps, pectorals, and abs.

Izuku froze. "H-HATSUME-KUN!?"

"Ehh? Wow, it's hard ta see through yer uniform, but yer pretty built!" she said offhandedly, patting down his hips.

Power Loader caught her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her off of Izuku, who was beginning to resemble a tomato. "Hatsume-kun, that's not appropriate."

She wriggled in his grip. "But senseiiii I'm jus' tryin' ta get his measurements fer his costume!"

Power Loader set her down gently. "He's not in Heroics, Hatsume-kun. I know all my students and this one's in the General Studies class with you."

Izuku ducked his head in embarrassment, mostly at being recognized by someone he looked up to as a pro hero, though a part of him was still reeling from being felt up by a cute girl. "I'm, uh, planning to test into Heroics at the Sports Festival," he mumbled.

Power Loader paused. "Ahhh," he said. "Like Eraser did, back in the day? Well, good luck to you, kid, but regardless-" he turned his attention back to Mei, who had already dashed away and was bent over a bench. "-He can't have a hero costume made without approval from a design agency, and he can't get the request form to requisition one without being in Heroics. It won't get approved."

"But!" Mei cried, whipping around and gesturing at the teacher with the boot in her hand. "Non-Heroics students c'n submit papers ta use support equipment!"

"They can request to use support equipment," Power Loader stressed, "If they can demonstrate a need and the ability to handle it safely." He snatched the boot from Mei and held it up to his eyes. "I've seen your blueprints for boots; the specs you estimated would rip his legs off no matter how strong he is."

Mei kicked the leg of the table, looking mutinous. "I didn' have time ta calibrate th' pneumatics fer th' Iron Soles." Then she glared at her teacher, pouting. "Those're jus' regular steel-shanked boots. An' these-" she brandished a pair of bracers attached to fingerless gloves, "-don' have any knuckledusters like I'm gonna put on th' finished versions. They're jus' fer support an' protection!"

Power Loader lowered the boot slowly, looking at Mei's reddened, puffed-out cheeks. He glanced at Izuku, who was flabbergasted. Hatsume had made boots and bracers for him, for the Sports Festival?

"And I suppose the fact that they both have your logo is just a happy coincidence?" Power Loader drawled, tapping a golden sun cross on the toe of the boots that Izuku also noticed on the backs of the bracers. It looked a lot like Mei's eyes, he thought.

Hatsume flushed a little. "Any inventor would put her mark on somethin' she made!" she insisted. "I've got way more babies ta show off at th' Festival too, ya know, but-" the blush deepened and she glanced away from Izuku. "I kep' those simple so's no one could say ya relied on equipment ta carry ya when ya won."

Power Loader opened his mouth, but Izuku finally spoke up. "You… Think I'm going to win, Hatsume-kun?"

Mei blinked but met his gaze. "Don' ya?"

"I mean, I want to!" Izuku stammered. "I'm going to try my best, but… I've met most of Class A at this point, since my best friend is in there and that's where I'm aiming for, and a lot of them are really strong. Even with equipment carrying me, I'm not sure I'll even make it to the final round." He scratched his head awkwardly. "But…" he shut his eyes, and when he opened them he gave her a fierce smile. "I do promise to give it my all! I'm going to do the best I can, and if it's allowed I'll do it with the equipment you made me!"

Hatsume's eyes sparkled, and her own characteristic maniacal grin returned. "Heck yeah ya are! Now here, I didn' put anythin' special in either of 'em like I said, but they should be tough enough that ya don't have ta worry about strikin' or blockin'! Here!" She darted forward and shoved the bracers into his hands. "Try 'em on so I c'n see if I need ta adjust 'em, an' then we'll go find th' papers ya need. Sensei, he'll need tha' boot back!"

As she dashed away again, presumably to find the other boot, Power Loader stepped over to offer Izuku the one in his hand. "She's spent almost every waking moment here outside of school hours," he told Izuku softly.

Izuku glanced up curiously.

"I thought she was just making things for the festival in the limited time she had, and I'm sure that was most of it, but… It's nice to see she made something for a friend." He passed Izuku the boot, and spoke louder. "Honestly, I half-expected her to demand a sponsorship deal in exchange for what she made you." This was clearly intended for Mei to overhear, because she scoffed at his teasing tone.

"Sensei! I wouldn' do tha' ta a frien'!" she cried, whipping around and waving the other boot angrily.

"But to a stranger?" Power Loader asked pointedly.

Mei didn't reply, instead pushing Izuku into a chair and yanking off his school shoes so she could force the boot onto his foot. "Yessss! Shoe size was righ' on target! Jus' lucky for me I c'n widen the top ta fit yer calves…" She trailed off into mutters, prodding at his gastrocnemius muscle.

The bracers, likewise, fit fairly well and strapped into place, with what he thought was hardened leather and some sort of boning that was probably a type of plastic, given that it resisted impact but still curved easily around his arm. It sat where there would one day be metal given his and Hatsume's sketches, but he thought this was probably a better choice for now, given that the Sports Festival was supposed to be a friendly competition. It was one thing to consider gearing himself up with knuckledusters to fight villains, but quite another to use such a thing on schoolmates. Especially since he wanted to join their class; he had a feeling that giving them concussions and broken bones was probably not a good way to endear himself to them once he got into the class. And while the boots were a little heavier than he was used to thanks to the steel shank, the soles themselves were still rubber, so he could still kick without feeling guilty, and step on potentially hazardous terrain (or opponents) without having to worry about getting stabbed in the foot. The golden-crosshair brand mark was more than fine, considering he didn't have any real branding himself. He wasn't even a hero yet, so he didn't mind doing a bit of advertising for a friend, and-

"Oh, help us, there's two of you," said Power Loader, and Izuku realized he'd been muttering again. He ducked his head, but the teacher just patted him on the shoulder. "Don't let it bother you, this one's just as bad if you let her get going about something she's working on."

"Tha's how we met!" Mei exclaimed, bouncing up from where she had tied Izuku's boots. "It was after yer firs' class, even, Sensei!"

"Hatsume-kun, I'm glad you've made a friend, but you've been in here from the last bell to sundown every day for two weeks. Go help Midoriya-kun get the papers he'll need to bring that equipment into the sports festival, and then go home." Mei let out a long, dramatic groan, but Power Loader was unmoved. "The Sports Festival is right after the weekend. Don't let me catch you back in here until it's over."

"Fiiiiiiiiiiine!" she grumbled, snatching up her backpack from beside the workbench and stuffing her journals into it. "But ya can' stop progress fer-ever, Sensei!"

Power Loader just smirked and waved them out of the Development Studio.

As they walked toward the office, Izuku holding his school shoes in one hand and the bracers in the other as he broke in his new boots, he said, "I really didn't expect you to make me anything, Hatsume-kun, but thank you. These guards seem like just the thing to keep me safe and give me that extra boost to win the Festival."

"A capable designer is one who can live up to the client's hopes in one go!" Mei pronounced, grinning and polishing her bicep. Her accent seemed to have retreated as they left the studio for the regular school hallways. Izuku was curious, but thought it might be rude to ask about, so he let it go, casting about for a new subject instead.

"All Might asked me to give the Commencement Speech on Monday," he said, ducking his head again. "I know the Athlete's Oath by heart, but I have no idea what else to say."

They had reached the office by now, and Mei was digging through the top drawer of a filing cabinet labeled Support Requests. "Eh, just scribble something down over the weekend. Look at it this way, if you win, nobody will be thinking about your speech, and if you don't, nobody will be thinking about your speech!"

Izuku frowned. "That… Shouldn't be comforting but it actually kind of is," he said. Thanks, Hatsume-kun."

She turned around, grinning, and held out the forms he would need to request his new gauntlets and boots be permitted in the Sports Festival. "What are friends for, right?"

The day of the Sports Festival dawned too damn early, in Hitoshi's opinion. Granted, he'd have said that if it started at six in the evening, but hell if it was going to stop him from griping. As he'd told his friends on plenty of occasions, there was nothing at all he couldn't gripe about, given half a chance.

He sat near the door, with his back against the wall, head tipped back and eyes closed, trying to muster the motivation to even go and get a coffee before the games started. Just as he was ready to roll his neck forward and get to his feet, he was interrupted.

"Shinsou."

The room's muttering had fallen silent when Todoroki uncharacteristically spoke up, and it was clear their focus was on the confrontation that was apparently taking place. Cracking his eyes, Hitoshi found Todoroki's mismatched gaze fixed cooly on him. He raised an eyebrow to show he was listening.

"Objectively speaking, I think I'm stronger than you," Todoroki told him bluntly, and Hitoshi's other eyebrow shot up as well. "I'm more capable. I've trained longer and harder. But Aizawa-sensei has his eyes on you, doesn't he?"

Hitoshi didn't move or react, though he knew his eyebrows were still near his hairline.

"I have no intention of prying into the reasons for that," Todoroki went on. "But I wanted to let you know, I will beat you today."

"Ooooh, is that a declaration of war?" Kaminari asked, throwing himself into the seat next to Hitoshi to look up at Todoroki as well.

"Idiot!" Bakugou growled, stomping up on Todoroki's other side. "Who cares if Aizawa likes him — why are you looking at that extra?!" He clenched a fist around an explosion like a small firecracker. "Your declaration of war was to the wrong person!"

Before the rant could continue though, Hitoshi cracked and started laughing. Everyone's attention swiveled to him, but he kept his gaze locked with Todoroki's. "Bakugou's right. Your declaration of war was to the wrong person. I'm going out there to do my best, just like everyone here, but I'm not the one you should be trying to measure up to." He smirked. "Just watch, I can promise you now, the highest I'm likely to reach is third place."

Bakugou sneered. "I thought you at least had the guts to aim for the top, Eyebags."

"Your words can't hurt me, these eyebags are Gucci," Hitoshi shot back, and Kaminari choked on his laughter. "And clearly you're missing my point. I'm not putting myself down. I'm telling you there's another competitor you should be focusing on if you want to go up against the best. Someone that far more people than just Aizawa-sensei have their eyes on. That's who my money is on to take first place."

"And who would that be?" Todoroki asked. His tone was still cool, but his words seemed more polite now, at least. "I consider you one of the more impressive in this class. Who is it that you hold in such high regard?"

Hitoshi let his smile crawl wider across his face, and knew from the whispers between Sero and Ashido that he looked at least a little like Aizawa. "You'll see him soon enough. I think he's got something to say to all of us."

"Pipe down!" called their referee, the 18+ Only Hero, Midnight. "Your freshman student representative is going to give this Sports Festival's commencement speech and the athlete's oath! From Class 1-C, Midoriya Izuku!"

There was a great deal of muttering, not just from the assembled students but from the crowd, at hearing that the student representative was not from the hero course. As Hitoshi had pointed out, this was almost always the case, and no one could remember any instance of an exception before now.

As Izuku made his way up to the stage, he was well aware that he didn't look all that impressive. He was wearing Mei's equipment, but the long sleeves of his PE uniform mostly hid the bracers and boots. The wooden platform clunked under the weight of his boots, and the negligible few centimeters they added to his height actually helped a lot as he squared his shoulders and accepted his place at the microphone.

He wasn't sure what to do with his hands as he looked out over the assembled students, trying not to flinch at Bakugou's incredulous glare, or the cold assessing stare of the red-and-white haired boy a little ways away. Instead, he looked at his friends — at Uraraka, who was grinning and bouncing on the spot happily; at Hagakure, who gave him a V For Victory; at Kirishima, who bared his sharklike teeth and punched a fist into his hand in challenge; at Tokoyami, who met his gaze and inclined his head solemnly; at Hitoshi, who gave a lopsided smirk and mouthed 'give 'em hell'.

He raised his head and looked at the commentator's box, where Present Mic and Eraserhead were playing caster and commentator respectively.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned in slightly to speak into the microphone.

"In the name of all we competitors, I promise that we shall take part in this UA Sports Festival, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, committing ourselves to a fair challenge, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of our classes and the honor of our school," Izuku recited.

"That's the oath we take here today as competing student-athletes. But all of us here have higher ambitions than that, too. Whether that's to be heroes, or inventors, or salarypeople, we're stepping out of the shadows of previous generation and aiming for the top."

He raised a hand to point at the teachers' private box, just below the commentators. "You've shown us the path to walk, but…" he gestured widely to encompass all the students. "We're next."

And despite what Mei had reassured him, that nobody would remember his speech, it was still met with applause and cheers, and it was still recorded and broadcast on live television.

In the face of all that attention, no matter how much Izuku wanted to hunch his shoulders and duck his head and hide behind his fringe, there was only one thing he could really do in the moment.

He looked at the nearest camera he could find.

And he smiled.

"Great Scott," Hitoshi muttered, still smirking up at his best friend as he wrapped the whole crowd around his little finger. "And he still thinks he's nothing special. Help us all, if that smile isn't the second coming of All Might." He didn't see Todoroki's eyes narrow, just behind him.

Hagakure, nearby, giggled and shushed Hitoshi as Midnight stepped forward once more.

"Thank you, Midoriya Izuku!" the teacher called. "Now, without further ado, your first event for this year's UA Sports Festival will be… an obstacle race!"

The jumbotron screen behind her lit up outlining the course.

"This is a 5 kilometer course around the outside of the stadium, a race between all eleven classes! I'm sure you passed by at least some of the obstacles on your way in here, but don't worry, we'll be bringing you live coverage of the whole thing! Racers, you know our school preaches freedom in all things, so as long as you stay on the course and hit every checkpoint along the way…" Midnight paused to lick her lips sensually, playing her image to the hilt, "Go wild!"

The gate behind them opened and a horn blasted, signalling the race was starting immediately.

"Jeez, this school," Hitoshi grumbled, moving with the crowd so as not to get trampled. "They call this 'Plus Ultra'? I say they're just being extra…"

"YEAHHHHHH, AND THEY'RE OFF!" Present Mic's voice echoed so loudly it was impossible to tell if he was using a speaker system or just his quirk. "I'm here with Class A's homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta, to provide some color commentary while I do the casting! Our Obstacle Race is a little expanded compared to the last time we saw this event, and I can promise it's MORE TREACHEROUS THAN EVER! Let's see how it goes!"

Hitoshi managed to squeeze through ahead of most of the pack. He saw Izuku just ahead of him, and set a steady cross-country pace to keep the same distance behind his friend, deciding to see how Izuku tackled the obstacles in their way. Glancing back, he saw Todoroki preceding most of the rest of 1-A out the gate.

The two-toned boy met his eyes, glanced past him at Izuku, then looked back at Hitoshi.

Hitoshi smirked.

Nodding in understanding, Todoroki stamped his right foot, and ice erupted behind him, spreading rapidly and freezing most of their competitors to the ground.

The ice spread more the further away it got, so most of Class A was able to jump away from the worst of it.

"Cheap shot, Todoroki-san!" yelled Jirou, using her the vibrations from her Earphone Jacks to shatter the ice that had started creeping around her ankles.

"Not again!" Tokage cried, and Hitoshi remembered she'd been frozen to the ground by Todoroki during their first combat class.

Sero shot tape to the ceiling and used the leverage to pull himself free; Ashido melted the ice (and her own shoes) with judicious application of her acid; Kirishima and Bakugou blasted through with brute strength and explosions; and soon the Heroics course had left most of the other competitors behind. None of them knew how many slots would be available for the second round, after all, and general expectation was for the Heroics students to take up 40 of them.

Looking forward again, Hitoshi met Izuku's eyes, and a silent understanding passed between them. They both ducked their heads and continued running steadily as Todoroki gained on them, making no effort to specifically keep the lead this early. Just behind him, the faster students from Class A (Iida, Bakugou, Ashido, and Tsunotori) were jockeying for position with several people he vaguely recognized from Class B, like a guy with a large tail and the tall, beastly boy Hitoshi had considered Brainwashing back in the Entrance Exam before settling on Kaminari.

Hitoshi was maintaining his spot about five meters behind Izuku, and Todoroki less than two meters behind Hitoshi, when the ground suddenly trembled and they encountered the second obstacle.

Larger versions of the villain-robots from the Entrance Exam.

"UH OH!" came the commentary. "Our racers had better keep on their toes, this is an OBSTACLE race, after all! Those of you who took the Hero Course Entrance Exam might recognize these bad boys, but there's no points to be had in defeating them this time! They're solely here to slow you down, so how will each of our contestants handle the challenge!?"

"Ah, man, not these things again!" Izuku cried, though he didn't break stride. Hitoshi was close behind him, as was that kid with the ice quirk. The latter didn't seem to have any hesitation with throwing around power, so Izuku would have to be careful not to get frozen himself. Especially since he could feel the surrounding temperature dropping, and he had a feeling he knew what was coming.

Izuku dug in his heels and flung himself to the side at the last moment, sensing more than hearing Hitoshi doing the same in the opposite direction, just as a tremendous wall of ice claimed the enormous zero-pointer in front. Tumbling and rolling to keep his momentum, Izuku came back to his feet and kept running, having lost only a few meters distance when he glanced back. He glanced sideways just before reaching the robot and found the two-toned boy eyeing him back. He nodded, and then they passed to either side of the robot's leg, breaking their staring contest.

Resisting the urge to speed up, Izuku kept his pace steady. As he passed out from under the zero-pointer, he heard it beginning to tip, and mentally wished the other racers behind him the best of luck.

The red-and-white haired boy had pulled ahead by now, and was continuing to freeze any of the robots that came near him, leaving them to crash to the ground and block the path forward. Izuku threw himself into a baseball slide, exactly as he'd done during the Entrance Exam, and passed under a two-pointer just before it toppled. Bounding back to his feet, he jumped and planted a hand to vault the already-collapsed one-pointer behind it, exercising his well-practiced parkour skills to avoid losing speed as he continued.

On the last one, he decided to take a chance, since the surface was iced. He leapt up and twisted in midair to land on the frozen surface on his back, where his momentum carried him along while he took stock of the situation behind him.

Hicchan was taking a longer route to avoid the fallen robots, but he hadn't fallen back more than a few places. Most of the other Heroics students he could see, though, were taking more direct routes. Tokoyami-kun and the guy with the tape quirk had launched themselves over the first fallen zero-pointer with enough momentum to pass most of the others, and Bakugou was still in the air, blasting his way clear over the obstacles with his eyes on the back of the two-toned boy now in first.

He also saw Asui clambering around the side of one of the fallen robots, Uraraka floating some out of her way only to drop it behind her in the path of those trying to slip past her, and Hatsume blasting along on hover boots and a replica of the Buster Hero, Air Jet's jetpack.

Grinning, flipped over and slapped his hands down on the edge of the robot he'd slid over, getting his feet back under him to try to minimize the distance between himself and Ice Quirk before the next obstacle.

"Here they come, folks!" Present Mic's voice blared through the speakers and reverberated as Izuku slowly closed on first place. "Our race leaders have made it two kilometers along the way, but the middle of this race might must be the trickiest! The whole third klick of this obstacle course… HAS NO FLOOR!"

Izuku skidded to a halt just beside Ice Quirk, who had paused at the next obstacle. Joining him, Izuku could see why. The ground dropped off a good twenty meters, and the signage on the course made it clear that going down into the Pit would mean disqualification.

Instead, there were a number of paths that one could take, including tightropes between safe pillars, rotating platforms like something out of a video game, or a narrow space between two horizontal walls that would require some crazy strength to spider-climb or wall-kick along. The paths seemed to converge again, about half a kilometer through, but Izuku supposed he'd have to get there first.

He closed his eyes to brace himself and took a quick breath, then opened them to find that Ice Quirk was already skating along one of the tightropes. "Ah!"

Knowing Kacchan was likely to blast across the tightropes as well, Izuku instead opted for the moving platforms.

Each was moving in a different pattern, making it difficult for even Izuku's analytical mind to find an immediate path across. Some of them turned like records, while others flipped over slowly, trying to dump off anyone who landed on them. Yet others spun permanently at an angle, so he would have to jump and catch it while it was facing him, then wait until it turned toward the next spot to jump away.

Given the timing challenge, it seemed to be a slightly shorter route than the tightropes, but even so, Izuku caught glimpses of some of the other racers as he paused here and there in his wild leapfrogging.

Asui, ironically, was using the tightropes, since she was able to balance easily on her hands and feet. Hatsume continued to jet along with her support equipment, though she was mostly skidding along the ropes rather than flying clear over, so she must be worried about running out of power. Bakugou, predictably, was rocket-jumping from pillar to pillar in the tightrope section.

Hitoshi was about a hundred meters behind Izuku on the platforms, since he was also unable to rely on his quirk for this and had to complete the challenges physically. There were a few others behind him, but most seemed to have opted for the longer path along tightropes since it was easier to catch yourself if you fell.

The shortest path of all, of course, was right down the middle between the narrow walls, and a handful of students were taking a crack at that. The guy with tape arms was darting along by sticking to each wall in turn, while Uraraka was floating herself down the hallway, looking green in the face as she fought the nausea that came from using her quirk on herself.

"Halfway done with the Pit means halfway done with the race!" the announcer's voice roared, before Aizawa's calmer commentary took over.

"Midoriya from Class C has dropped back to third place, overtaken by Bakugou from Class A, who is now hot on Todoroki's heels. But Bakugou's advantage might be nullified for this section, because there's no flying allowed. This is a test of strength and endurance."

Present Mic yelled over him, revving the crowd up. "That's right, you have to pick one of the three paths and dangle precariously over the Pit — one slip and it's allllllll over!"

With one final leap, Izuku landed on the halfway platform, and saw that for the second half of the Pit, there were no platforms at all. Instead, there were again multiple paths, this time with only hanging challenges — there were monkey bars along the long path, while the middle path would involve hanging from logs and upside-down tables. The shortest path this time involved the rotating platforms. This time they spun on wheels in different directions, so it would be necessary to time swings from one to the next, and missing the swing would mean waiting another full rotation to try again.

In a glance, he saw Ice Quirk was halfway across the monkey bars, with Kacchan only a dozen meters behind him, skipping bars furiously but unable to blast his way across because the rules required using at least one of the paths. He also couldn't go as fast as he wanted, Izuku bet, because of the way his quirk functioned — he sweat profusely out his hands to use Explosion, but that might also make him slip if he rushed too much on the monkey bars.

Still, if he was going to keep up, Izuku would have to take the shortest route this time, on the rotating handles. Taking a jump, he caught the first one and thanked Mei's gloves for keeping his wrists from getting wrenched too badly. As he came around, he swing and snatched the second one, conveniently spinning the opposite direction. The third, though, was turning the same way, which meant his momentum was going to switch when he jumped.

Squeezing tightly, he swung his legs up too, and hooked them through the ring to give himself the extra leverage as he took his time before the leap to the fourth.

The moment's rest again showed him the others' creativity with their quirks in surpassing the obstacles. Tape Arms was sticking his way along the middle path, swinging across the logs and hanging platforms as easily as a rope set in gym class. A girl with an upward ponytail had somehow acquired a pulley-wheel with a handle she could hold on to, hanging it from one of the support bars and sliding down the monkey bar path without needing the actual bars.

Coming around again, he saw Hicchan and Hagakure's gloves coming along the rotating rings behind him. He grinned, unhooked his legs, and swung on.

This time, at the end, there was no level platform to land on. Instead, there was a slope with a sign at the top reading Land past here and slide!

"At the end of the Pit is a long slide, Aizawa explained for the crowd's benefit. "It's a hundred meters long, descending to the same twenty-meter depth as the Pit, and narrows as it goes to a mere one-point-five meters across. The slide is nearly frictionless, so the racers are unlikely to keep their feet, but there are bumps and poles to slow them down as they aim for that funnel."

"Just like pachinko!" Present Mic cackled. "After that, it's a simple enough footrace, but in these narrow confines, passing will be a challenge in itself! That'll have to do for drama until they reach the Final Obstacle, listeners!"

Izuku's feet slipped out from under him as soon as he landed, but he had fairly good momentum, so he thought he still stood a chance. Internally thanking Mei once again, he used his bracers to rudder himself as best he could by slowing on one side or the other to steer around the obstacles on the slide.

Kacchan was using his explosions to maneuver, while Ice Quirk was keeping his lead by using his ice to reduce his friction even more, and making small ice walls to slalom around the poles in his way. Being far to Izuku's left, he couldn't make use of most of them, but he did edge that way to take advantage of the outside of one of the ice slopes, slipping onto Ice Quirk's path since the ice didn't end at the narrow opening to the canyon path. He had kept making ice as long as he was sliding, so Izuku let his momentum carry him the same way. If he'd tried to stop at the bottom of the slide, he'd now be trying to run on an iced-over path.

Leaning back, he saw the girl with the ponytail had encountered exactly that problem, though she was strapping on ice skates she'd pulled from somewhere, so apparently she had a handle on things. Hatsume was a little way up the slide, slowing her descent with her jetpack and clicking her boots together to extend crampons from the bottom. Hitoshi was sliding down side-by-side with Tokoyami, and even as he watched, Tokoyami's quirk wrapped around both of them to slip around an obstacle. A temporary truce, then. Well, what else were friends for?

Feeling his mouth stretch in a grin even without conscious decision, Izuku snapped his head to look forward once more and saw the ice path was ending. Curling his feet over his head even as he slid, he kipped up and landed on the concrete already sprinting. They were nearing the home stretch now, and he needed to catch up to Kacchan and Ice Quirk now if at all possible.

(He also really needed to get the names of everybody in Class A. He wanted to join that class, after all, and he wasn't Kacchan who considered learning other people's names beneath his effort.)

The canyon track wound and switched back, and twice Izuku had to jump and kick off the walls to avoid losing too much speed when a corner was too sharp. He honestly counted himself grateful he was out near the front and not caught in a pack, because the narrow confines would make this a nightmare. Unfortunately, he also couldn't see the racers ahead of him, though he could hear Kacchan's explosions.

Finally, he rounded one last corner and saw their final challenge.

"There you have it, folks, the final obstacle: The Wall! It may look like an ordinary rock-climbing wall, but don't be fooled! Different sections of it have different grips, different angles, and different hazards! Will your handhold spin on you or break away? Will you trigger a rockslide, or a volcano eruption? Can you make it to the top and sprint the last hundred meters? LET'S FIND OUT!"

Kacchan had finally taken the lead. Izuku guessed he had blast-jumped over Ice Quirk's head and landed on the wall as high as he could, because he was already about a third of the way up. Ice Quirk was maybe five meters below him, and making the path he'd taken unfollowable thanks to the frost riming half the handholds he'd taken. Thankfully, the path narrowed to allow the climbing wall to be a good five meters wide, so Izuku darted for a different section and started scrambling up as fast as he could.

His parkour practice wasn't quite suited for bouldering, but he definitely thought he was having an easier time than the other two. His chosen path was mostly vertical, with one or two slight overhangs that Kacchan and Ice Quirk had avoided. Of course, there were also the other dangers that Present Mic had mentioned…

No sooner had he thought it than Ice Quirk, only a meter above Izuku now, put his left hand on a peg to lift himself higher, and the peg fell right out of the wall under his hand. However, he froze his right hand to the grip it was on, even as his feet slipped with the sudden shifting of his balance, and left him dangling only by the frozen hand.

"Are you all right?" Izuku called, traversing along the wall sideways and bracing himself to put a hand against Ice Quirk's back.

Using the leverage, Ice Quirk quickly reset his feet, and turned surprised eyes on Izuku. "Why did you help?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused.

Izuku shrugged as best he could, transitioning to an upward climbing motion again. "We're competing here, but we still both want to be heroes, right? Besides," he grunted and lunged for a handhold that was just out of his reach, pulling himself a full meter ahead of Ice Quirk now. "You're still frozen in place!"

Despite the showiness of that dynamic movement, Izuku contented himself with mostly static climbing, keeping at least three points of contact with the wall and checking each handhold before committing his weight to it. Kacchan was already only a few meters from the top, while Izuku was barely halfway, and he'd rather place high than fall back to the bottom.

Glancing down as he reached a low-angle section near the top of the wall, Izuku found most of the rest of the race bunched up in the first few meters, either jockeying for space or waiting their turn. Hitoshi was about halfway up, narrowly behind Tape Arms, who was alternating his tape lines to hoist himself up like climbing ropes instead of using the grips. Both of them had to traverse rapidly to the side as Tape Arms triggered another trap — rather than just a peg falling out, a whole section of wall collapsed, and Tape Arms had to quickly throw out another line. Out from the fallen segment oozed a viscous liquid, colored red and according to Present Mic supposedly 'lava', though it was clearly just some sort of ooze meant to present a hazard.

Uraraka was just behind Hitoshi, resting on a low-angle section like Izuku and clearly fighting down nausea, while Asui clambered easily over a nearly-horizontal overhang that Izuku had skipped. A very large hand gripped the whole overhang just after Asui passed it, and another girl with bright orange hair dragged herself up, before hurriedly having to look for another route before the 'lava' could sweep her away.

Izuku couldn't spare any longer to look, though, because Ice Quirk was closing in on him again, and with one last explosive leap, Izuku managed to hook his fingertips over the top of the wall. Mantling upward, he staggered for a moment before breaking back into a jog.

"I did it," he whispered to himself as he ran through the tunnel and across the finish line back into the stadium. "I… I am here." It wasn't loud enough for anyone but himself to hear, but there was always next time. Either way, he'd managed to make a good showing.

"That's Midoriya Izuku from Class C in second place, less than ten seconds behind Bakugou Katsuki! And only three seconds later, here's Class A's Todoroki Shouto in third!"

Izuku looked around. Ah, it was Ice Quirk. He finally had a name to go with the handsome face and two-toned hair. Although, that name sounded familiar…

"And here come a bunch more from Class A! Fourth, it's Sero Hanta! Fifth, Asui Tsuyu! Sixth, Kendou Itsuka! Seventh, Class B's Shouji Mezou! Eighth, Class A's Shinsou Hitoshi! Ninth, Class H's Hatsume Mei! And rounding out the top ten, it's Class A's Yaoyorozu Momo!"

He shared a grin and a fistbump with Hitoshi, and his smile only widened at Bakugou's incredulous glare that Izuku had gotten in ahead of Todoroki, the one Bakugou had been competing with all along. Todoroki was watching him, too, though without anger. Rather he was looking at Izuku like a puzzle he couldn't figure out.

He was trying to decide if he should say something when Hitoshi slung an arm around his shoulders and dragged him over to greet the rest of their friends, and Izuku decided to let it go. He could talk to Todoroki whenever; right now he needed to celebrate their whole chat group making it in the top twenty!

Because if not for celebrating together, what were friends for?

"I hope everybody's looking forward to our nnnnnext event!" Present Mic called over the crowd's cheers. "Just as soon as our competitors get themselves some water, it's time to plaaaaaaay… DOOODGEBALLLLL!"

A/N: So I reread Burn Your Wings between the last chapter and this one, and I'm pretty sure that influenced the commencement speech that I otherwise pulled out of my ass, but I can't pretend I'm sorry about it. The USJ Attack hasn't happened in this continuity, so there's no commentary from Aizawa and Yamada about how amazing Class A is — these kids are all on more or less an even playing field right now.

Don't worry. Their baptism by fire is coming.

Somewhat of a retcon; I don't know if it's brought up in canon at all but Mei is from Kyoto, so I've given her an approximation of a Kansai-ben accent when she's in the workshop and not focused on her pronunciation for school. Since this is written in English (and I'm not Japanese) I'm sure I'm missing some subtleties (like how Mei's personality would probably fit Osaka stereotypes better than Kyoto), but Mei is brash and rowdy enough that I think she would in general talk faster and less precisely in her own workshop.

I was expecting to knock out the whole Sports Festival, but here we are at well over 7k words with only one event down. Ah well, wouldn't want the story to feel too rushed just because I'm excited about ideas to come. You'll also notice I extended the obstacle course a little bit, to hopefully avoid this station of the canon getting too stale too quickly. The 'rotating platforms' over the Pit could be something out of Tick Tock Clock in Super Mario 64, while the ones in the hanging section are more or less the 'Spin Cycle' from Ninja Warrior. (I just wasn't sure how else to describe them.) I even managed to end it on a Percy Jackson climbing wall, complete with 'lava', so that was fun.

I know I'm nerfing Bakugou's quirk a little bit, but in canon he can basically fly with no apparent limit? Come the hell on; I've studied physics and that's not how impulse works. So, in this fic, what Bakugou does is basically rocket-jumping. He can blast off well, and maneuver a little in midair depending on his inertia, but he can't sweat fast enough to clear the sixty-foot climbing wall in one go. That's dumb.

Maybe one day TVTropes-senpai will notice me. Or I'll come up with some actually iconic scenes that might inspire some fanart, that would be dope. In all actual seriousness, thank you all for joining me on this ride so far; if you like it, feel free to pop into Discord and let me know!

Chat Names Cheat Sheet
Izuku = small might, kokiri boi
Shinsou = catnap, mindfreak
Uraraka = durararaka!
Kirishima = Hardly Noticeable, Riot in Red
Hagakure = SueStormStan, who ya gonna call?
Tokoyami = G-note, Bury Me In Black, Edgar Allan Hoe, Desolation Row