Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

36. Enter the Arena

'If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight!' Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little more about fighting than you do, pal, because he invented it, and then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor.

-RED Soldier, Meet the Soldier

"Ten…" The announcer's voice echoed through the arena as Izuku took off, heading towards the swamp.

He looked around as he jetted through the air, his radar in active mode as it scanned the area. He was nearly over the large morass ahead of them, which was full of waterways choked by reeds, decaying logs, and stunted trees on small islands.

"Izuku, I can see two large groups of students headed your way! There's at least forty of them!" Mei said over the radio.

There was the sound of smacking lips, and the announcer said "Yawn...Oh, sorry, seven."

"Hagakure, you move ahead and secure those points for us!" Izuku ordered. "Tsu, get into the water quickly! Your mobility there is going to give us a big advantage."

"You got it, ribbit," Tsu replied, leaping into the nearest stream and vanishing beneath the surface with nary a ripple.

"I've got water breathing gear for us made!" Yaoyorozu called, tossing fins, goggles, and snorkels to Ashido. "Do you need some Hagakure?"

"Nope! They'd just give me away!" the invisible girl answered. "I'm on the points!"

"...That's enough, just get started already," the announcer called.

Immediately Izuku turned in the air, activating one of his missile pods. He let fly with a stream of eight missiles, a mixture of capture foam and smoke bombs, then detached the module and let it drop. It had a built-in transceiver that would flag it for pick up later. The large group of other testees let out a cry of alarm as the missiles raced towards them. Some of them let loose with quirks of their own, flying spines, razor sharp leaves, and flying tendril like hair. That just made the missiles detonate early, and the momentum still let the foam bind them as the smoke blinded them all. Izuku's hover boots deactivated, and he dropped down into the water, diving in with Ashido and Yaoyorozu.

"Tsu, how are we doing?" Izuku called as he sank down into the muck.

"That group you fired on is lost and confused, they won't be bothering us for a while," Tsu answered. "But the other one is still headed right for us, one of them is way out in front. He looks like he's got a speed quirk of some kind."

"Can you snag him with your tongue?" Izuku asked.

In reply, Izuku faintly heard a scream, then a loud splash nearby.

"She got him!" Ashido said eagerly. There was a short scuffle, then Ashido called, "He's down! Sprayed him with some mild acid in his eyes, he'll be blinded for a few hours at least!"

"Ok, just toss him onto the bank," Izuku said. "Get down into the water before they see you."

"Got it," the two girls called, and Izuku watched them on his radar, diving down and retreating into the swamp.

"Izuku, the rest of that group is keeping their distance! They look worried," Mei informed him. "But they're forming up to rush you."

"We won't even be here," Izuku said with a grin. "Come on, let's catch up to Hagakure and make sure she gets those points."

"I've already got five!" Hagakure said over the radio. "Mei's guiding me towards the ten, I-"

"Stop, look out!" Mei cried frantically. "I can see something in the water, it's not one of you and it's big!"

Izuku moved towards Hagakure, using the air jets from the hoverboots to propel himself through the water at high speeds. His suit was naturally waterproof and designed to be able to be used in aquatic environments, as you never knew when hero work could take you to the oddest of locals. He hadn't gone far though when his radar picked up a rapidly moving target, speeding through the water even faster than him, and heading right towards Hagakure, who was hiding on a small island.

"Look out!" Izuku warned.

"They can't see me, I'm-" Hagakure began, but let out a gasp of surprise as a dark grey form erupted out of the water, barreling towards her.

At the last moment, Hagakure was grabbed by Tsu's long tongue, yanking her to safety. The grey shape slammed into the island, letting out a sharp hiss of annoyance.

"It's a snake!" Ashido called. "Or, I guess someone who just looks like one?"

The snake-like man stood, his eyes yellow slits. His body was a mottled grey and brown, perfect for blending in with the dark swampy water. He still had hands, but his neck was long and ended in a pointed snout that had two long fangs that protruded when he opened his mouth. Izuku could see two lorenz pits; heat sensing organs that would see right through any invisibility or camouflage. His entire body was long and sinewy, ending in a long tail. With a hiss, he dove back into the water from where he'd come, circling away.

"Thanks Tsu," Hagakure said with a sigh. "He almost got me!"

"He had two point bands on him," Yaoyorozu reported. "It looked like he'd gotten at least eight points already, a two and a six."

"We'll just have to keep moving and get more points ourselves," Izuku said. "Hagakure, you good?"

"Yeah, let me get back on dry land though. Ugh, I'll be semi visible as I move though, I'm all covered in mud now."

Indeed, it did look like a few wet patches of mud climbed out of the water, though it was hard to notice unless you were looking for it.

"Keep moving, we've got to get at least 100 points ourselves," Izuku urged as he swam through the murky water.

"I found some," Froppy croaked. "There was a box down in the muck. It was only three though."

"Nice one, Tsu! That makes eight for us so far," Ashido encouraged, smiling despite the mud smeared over her face as she wiggled through the swamp.

"Mei, do you have a direction for us?" Izuku asked.

"I can see a ten point box up in a tree towards the center of the swampy area! Head 356 degrees for 78 meters. I'm keeping an eye on you, Izuku. I modified Hari's goggles real quick and she's spying for Bakugo and Todoroki. Whoops, gotta check in with Iida, keep going!"

"Ten points is a lot, let's snag it, but keep your eye out for more," Izuku said, and his team began to swim through the water once more as Hagakure lept from island to island, occasionally splashing through the water. Izuku kept his eyes open for the snake-like man who'd tried to ambush them earlier, but it was hard with the foliage and worse, his radar was near useless in the water. He'd have to see about installing a sonar module for when they conducted underwater missions.

"Izuku, multiple groups are headed right towards the same ten point box you are!" Mei warned them. "They're not moving quite as fast as you, but they'll be there not long after you are."

"Is it worth it to fight them over only ten points?" Yaoyorozu wondered.

"We have to start somewhere, and besides, maybe they got some points we can take from them!" Ashido encouraged.

"We grab the points and get out," Izuku stated. "I can pop a smoke grenade to cover our retreat. Tsu, Hagakure, move off deeper into the swamp to see if you can find more points."

"On it!" Hagakure agreed, and she and Tsu veered off slightly to head into the middle of the swampy area.

"Yaoyorozu, Ashido, cover me, I'm going in," Izuku said as they neared the tree with the point cache.

Leaping up out of the muck with a hover boost, Izuku immediately spied the points, which were ten feet up in a tree. The point box glowed with shifting colors, and the number ten was clearly painted on all six of its sides.

"There he is!"

"Don't let him get it!"

The cries behind Izuku made him wince and want to turn, but he trusted his companions. As fast as he could, he shot over to the tree, snagging the point box and then falling back towards the swamp. Behind him he heard cries of anger and pain, and looked back. Ashido had popped up out of the water to spray down some of the others rushing towards her, while Yaoyarozu had managed to make a large net that had tangled up another group. Both of them quickly submerged back into the water, and Izuku returned his focus to where he was landing. Something about the water was wrong though; he could see what looked like a large log floating on the surface, but the water about it was frothing slightly as if it had just been disturbed.

Izuku activated his boots again to jump away, and the log suddenly shot upward, revealing itself to be the snake quirk foe from before. It hissed in rage, its tail lashing out towards Izuku. He fired a brief pulse from his laser in response, causing the other boy to hiss in pain and anger. The snake splashed back down into the water, and Izuku landed on solid ground by the tree. He had to duck as spinning blades, a jet of steam, and pulses of star like energy shot at him. He felt something latch onto him and nearly jerked away, but upon seeing that it was a long pink tongue he relaxed.

He landed in the water with a splash by Tsu, who gave him a thumbs up.

"Thorry, can't really talk with mah tongue out," she said as it retracted.

"It's OK, find anything?" Izuku asked as they paddled away, using rushes and bushes to quickly lose their pursuers in the murk.

"We got three more points, Hagakure's trying to sneak towards a six point box we found but some people are fighting over it," Tsu told him.

"That's our next objective then," Izuku agreed. Twenty one down, and more to go.

Sure enough, as Izuku headed towards Hagakure's location, he spotted two groups fighting it out near two boxes worth a total of nine points. They were both larger than Izuku's group, consisting of 6-8 students each. The main conflict was between two mutant type quirk users, one of which looked like a large turtle with an armored shell, and the other seemed to be made of bright red bricks. Both were well over 2 meters tall and were pounding away at one another, kicking up mud and water. Beside them struggled several enhance quirk users, while behind them emitter types were launching projectiles into the fray.

"What a mess," Hakagure said in disgust. "No subtlety at all!"

"Can you get in and snag the points?" Izuku asked her.

Hagakure sighed. "No, with all the mud being sprayed around I'd be spotted in a second."

"Hmm. Yaoyorozu, can you make another net? A large one?" Izuku asked.

"I should have enough fat left, but my stores are running dry, even though I pigged out at lunch," Yaoyorozu said regretfully. "I can only store so many lipids for my quirk."

"It'll be worth it. They look like they've already collected a few points," Izuku said. "Ashido, you subdue them once we tangle them in the net, Tsu, Hagakure, you run in and grab the points as fast as you can."

A moment later, Yaoyorozu had made a net out of thick cable that was about 12 meters on each side. Take the net up in both arms, Izuku launched into the air, firing both his hoverboots and jetpack at maximum lift. He soared over the battlefield, causing the combatants to look up at him in shock. They had just started to react when Izuku dropped the net, causing it to envelop them. Yaoyarozu had made it of the same material as Shinso's capture weapon, which meant that when it fell over the fighters it started to stiffen. The more they struggled, the stiffer it became, and soon they were tangled up in the fibers. The turtle mutant looked as though it were going to break free, until Ashido started hosing it down with acid. She squealed in pain, withdrawing into her shell, and the other trapped testees wailed in distress.

"Sorry!" Izuku said as he landed. "But we need your points."

Some of them tried to resist feebly as Izuku ripped the point bands from them, but they were too tangled to put up much of a fight.

"Look out!" Hagakure called, and Izuku spun to see the snake mutant jump out of the muck. He prepared to fight, but the snake didn't go after him. Instead, it sprinted at the turtle, diving into her shell. She roared and popped back out, but it was too late. The snake had snagged several point bands she'd hidden inside, then ran back into the muck, diving in again.

"Not this time!" Tsu cried, and her tongue darted out. The snake hissed in shock as it was dragged back onto the land, and struck out towards Tsu as she reeled him in.

However, an invisible fist connected with his temples causing him to let out a groan, then slump to the ground.

"How many points does he have?" Izuku asked, tallying up what he and the others had collected. They'd gotten the nine points, plus another 16 from the other combatants.

"He had 11!" Tsu said happily, holding them up.

"Then we have 57," Yaoyorozu said. She quickly wrapped some netting around the snake mutant and shook it, so that it hardened around him. "That should hold him."

"Izuku! You've got to get moving again, your fight attracted a lot of attention!" Mei said in his ear. "Iida's up to 45 points, but they're about to get another 10 pointer."

"Got it," Izuku said, running for the water and diving back in, his points strapped to his arm. "How are Bakugo and Todoroki doing?"

"They've kept anyone from passing so far, but it's a hard fight. More and more testees are starting to turn back, and a lot of them seem to think they'll be able to just take points from those who went out and got them. Hari's still helping them though so they're doing OK."

"Right, where should we head next?" Izuku asked as they made their way away from the still trapped students as more approached.

"There's a seven point box hidden in some reeds about 30 meters away, but there's a group of three heading for it as well, they're close," Mei warned. "One of them is huge, he's nearly 3 meters tall, has some sort of quirk that turns him into a giant purple monster."

Sure enough, there was a huge purple man-thing splashing through the swamp, a long green tongue lolling from his head and a small tree trunk gripped in one hand like a club. On his back were perched a girl with an icey bow and arrow, and a man with a giant scroll on his back.

"Should we fight them?" Yaoyorozu asked hesitantly.

"They've got a bunch of points already!" Ashido said. "We can do it!"

"We have to hurry, let's take them!" Izuku agreed. Behind him, he heard new sounds of fighting as the groups that had been converging on them met and engaged one another.

"How do we take on the big guy?" Tsu asked as they hurried forward.

"We can't out muscle him, but we can bog him down," Izuku said. "Can you trip him up Tsu?"

As a reply, her tongue shot out from behind a veil of reeds, wrapping around the purple monsters leg. He let out a wail of surprise, and his companions tumbled off his back with a series of splashes.

"Ashido, hose him down!" Izuku ordered. The pink skinned hero jumped out of the water and threw a globule of acid at the other mutant, who wailed in pain as it hit his eyes. Izuku rushed onto land, slamming his fist into his opponent's face. The purple man splashed back into the mud, twitching and spluttering.

However, his companions had recovered. An ice arrow clanged against the Power Suit, frost rimming its surface as the mud and water on Izuku froze.

"Rune prison!" the man with the scroll shouted, and a glowing cage of light formed around Izuku as the scroll on the man's back glowed. He grinned in triumph, until Yaoyorozu crept up behind him from the water slamming a long quarterstaff she'd made into his knee. He groaned in agony, then fell into a puddle when Yaoyorozu hit him again on the backswing.

The frost archer tried to get off another shot, but Ashido flung acid balls at her. She gasped in surprise as her bow started to melt, but then flung a hand out towards Ashido, causing her next globule of acid to freeze in mid throw. Unperturbed, Ashido charged forward, fists swinging as she grinned at the thrill of the fight. The frost archer fought back for a moment, but then Tsu hopped at her from behind, kicking her in the back. The archer fell, and Ashido quickly stripped her of her points.

The light prison around Izuku vanished, and he hurried over to the point box. He flipped it open, revealing the seven point armband. He took it out, and was about to put it on when he heard a chuckle behind him.

"Hey there."

Izuku spun, but a foot slammed into him. A purple skinned girl with wicked pointed teeth and magenta hair laughed as she kicked again, knocking Izuku down. He tried to lash out, but the girl suddenly faded away.

"Naughty, naughty," a disembodied voice proclaimed. There was the sound of wet footfalls, then she appeared again behind Yaoyoruzu, kicking at her knee. Yaoyorozu grunted in pain and staggered to one knee, unable to defend herself in time. The purple girl raised a hand to deliver a final blow, when she suddenly exhaled and clutched at her stomach. An unseen hand slammed into the top of her head, driving the stealthy fighter into the muck. She twitched, then went limp, her eyes rolled back in her head.

"There's only room for one invisible girl in this test!" Hagakure proclaimed.

"You alright?" Ashido asked as she helped Izuku up.

"Yeah, thanks. What do we have now?" Izuku queried.

"Looks like they had another 18 between them, plus this seven," Hagakure said. "We'd better go though, that purple guy is waking up and he doesn't look happy!"

"We're three quarters of the way there!" Izuku said happily. "Mei, any suggestions?"

"Most of the easy points are already gone," Mei informed. "You should head back now though."

"What, why? Did Iida get a bunch of points?" Ashido demanded.

"Um, he's at 62, but Hari says that Bakugo and Todoroki need your help, stat. I can see them fighting now, and it doesn't look good. Their groups are fighting at least 50 other students, just the ten of them, and they're only in teams of five still. If you don't hurry, they're going to be overwhelmed," Mei informed.

"Crap, let's go!" Hagakure urged. "Tsu, can you carry me? I can't swim as fast as you."

"I'd appreciate a ride too, my leg is hurt," Yaoyorozu said through gritted teeth.

"I got you," Izuku said, taking Yaoyorozu's hand. "Come on!"

They dove back into the water, following Mei's directions on the best route back to the central testing hub. They managed to avoid any more fights, though they did pick up four more points to bring their total to 79.

When they crawled out of the swamp though, a group of six other testees saw them and came running.

"Looks like we've got our own party!" Ashido laughed. "You good Yaoyorozu?"

"I'll be fine," the creation hero said. She dropped down to one knee, pulling out a sling with her quirk. She scooped up a rock from the ground and loaded it, twirling the weapon over her head. "Let's go!"

Tsu snagged one of the leaders with her tongue, a girl with hooves and ears like a horse. She spun about, tossing the enemy off into the swamp, where she landed with a loud splash. Then the others were on them, and Izuku found himself in hand to hand with a boy who glowed with green energy. The energy seemed to cause Izuku's hits to bounce right off the other boy, who grinned and slammed his fist into Izuku. The punch was much harder than it should have been, though it still just clanged off Izuku's armor.

"A shielding quirk!" Izuku guessed. He realized he'd never be able to punch through it quickly, and released his grapple. Ducking low, he wrapped one end around the boy, who's shield made him slippery. Despite his opponent's struggles, Izuku got the grapple wrapped around his chest and arm, tying them together. Then he lifted into the air, launching himself back into the swamp. He landed with a splash, causing the wriggle. The water was repelled by his shield, but he sank into the muck with it, getting trapped.

Izuku let the grapple go and quickly ratcheted it back in, then took off again. The boy grabbed onto him, but to do so he had to deactivate his quirk. Grinning, Izuku simply peeled him off with his superior strength, then flung him down. The boy landed with a loud splash, coughing and sputtering.

When he landed, Izuku saw that the others had already taken care of their other foes. One was down with a large welt from one of Yaoyorozu's stones, while two were groaning and covered with mild acid burns. The other student had been laid out by Hagakure's nearly impossible to dodge fists, and was curled up in a ball to try to shield herself from the unseen blows.

"They only had 8 points!" Ashido grumped. "Guess they were just planning on taking them from other people. Good thing they were bad at it!"

"Let's go help Bakugo and the others," Izuku's aid, pointing to where a large dust cloud had formed. There were loud bangs and flashes of light from within it, and there was clearly a large battle taking place within.

"Right!" Yaoyorozu said, standing with the help of her quarterstaff. "Leave me behind, I'll just slow you down."

Tsu shook her head and stood to help her friend along. "Not a chance! We're class 1A! If one of us fails, we all fail."

"No woman left behind," Ashido agreed. "Come on sister! Let's go rescue Bakugo! Can you imagine the look on his face?"

"He'll be all 'rawr what are you idiots doing I don't need help grr," Hagakure laughed as they hurried forward.

"Mei, how's it looking up there?" Izuku asked.

"They're holding for now, but they need help! Hurry Izuku!" Mei urged.

Izuku checked his suit's levels. He'd drained a lot of power, was out of missiles, and had some slight damage. But as long as he could move, he could fight, and he wasn't going to abandon his friends. He strode forward, keeping an eye out for more attackers. They could do this. Together.

Authors Note:

Hurricane Douglas is set to impact Hawaii starting tomorrow evening, so I'm posting this a couple of days early due to the rather high likelihood that I'll lose power for anywhere from hours to days and thus won't be able to stick to my regularly scheduled plan. Regular updates will resume next week, provided that the lights come back on in time. Thanks for your understanding.