I continue training; meditating, anger control, and multitasking. I even get a few tips from Dad as how to manage so many minions at once. Finally, before I know it, two weeks hurry by, bringing me to the day we've all trained for. The Sports Festival has come at last.

When I arrive, the place looks as much as a big deal as it is. The walkway up to the stadium is crowded with stands of many kinds, including food and games. The entrances are lined with people desperate to watch. A few well-known pros of the city are even roaming the outsides of the stadium as well. Despite so many distractions, my classmates and I go straight to the stadium locker room. We all change into our UA tracksuits and wait for Present Mic to call us out.

I stay seated and go over all the mental notes I made myself to prepare. I haven't yet mastered being able to control three minions, so I advise myself to avoid using three for the time being. That of course doesn't mean my sixth flame is useless. I can still perform Inner Demon with it and lift more objects. I just need to know when the perfect time to use either techniques should be.

"Hey, Seshin?" Kirishima wakes me from my thoughts and I look up at him. "Sorry, um, have you seen Tojuta? He said something about another outfit and left but hasn't returned. That was like fifteen minutes ago."

"I'll go find him. He probably just got lost or something." I stand and head to the door. Once I exit the room I scan the hallways. Remembering my trick back in the battle training, I pull out two minions and link them to a vision flame. Before I can send them out, I hear something down the hall.

"Last chance, Quills! Back out now and I guarantee you won't be miserably beaten!"

Really?! We're seriously doing this now?!?

I start to run down the hall, praying Sicuto doesn't hurt Tojuta. I then slow down as I hear Tojuta's quivering voice reply.

"I'm not letting my training go to waste. You're just being a selfish bully, lazily trying to open you a spot, my spot, in the hero course!"

I stop and listen carefully. This is my usually scared, porcupine friend, right? I carefully walk to the corner and peek around. Sure enough, Sicuto is looming over Tojuta, who is backed against a wall. The two stare at each other in anger and confidence. Tojuta's wearing a different looking tracksuit. It must've been specially made for him, because all his quills are laid down covering the open back side of the suit. I stay back, curious how this will turn out.

"You better watch your mouth, you little rodent. You can't beat me, and you know it!"

"But I can try! I'm not saying I will beat you, but at least I have friends who believe in me!"

"I said watch your mouth!!" Sicuto raises a hand to strike Tojuta. Before I can step out and stop him, Tojuta quickly turns to shield him himself and flashes his quills. Sicuto swings an open palm at the porcupine, only to have his hand get pricked by the unforeseen defense. Sicuto exclaims in pain and quickly pulls his hand back. I can see a couple pins sticking up from his hand.

Tojuta looks over his shoulder in surprise. "I.. uh.. meant to do that." He turns back around and shoots back, "Listen here, Riyaki! I'm not your punching bag anymore! Unless you think it's a good idea to battle a prickly bag.. anyway! I am going to participate in the Sports Festival, and I will guarantee you that bullies like you never win! If you're so scared of losing, you can leave yourself! Good day and good luck!" With that, Tojuta sharply turns and marches down the hall in my direction.

Wait... my direction! I don't want him to see that I'm spying on them!

I quickly phase myself and duck into the corner of the hall, ending up in a janitor's closet. Thank goodness. I hear Tojuta walk past and wait a bit. I finally step out and watch the door to the locker room close.

Wow... I'm astounded. Before, Tojuta was just barely refusing to give into Sicuto's demands. Now look at him! He's standing up for himself and telling his childhood bully off. I'm incredibly impressed.

I look down the hallway one last time to check for Sicuto. When I see him missing, I head into the locker room to join my friends.

"Hey, Seshin," Tojuta greets.

"Oh, hey."

"Kirishima said you went look for me."

"Yeah. Um... where were you?"

"Getting my new outfit. Mr. Aizawa had it specially made from the rest. Makes my quills stand out now without me having to tear my suit. Cool, huh?"

"Yes, very. You... didn't happen to run into any trouble, did ya?"

"Eh. Not.. really. I.. uh.. just got lost for a bit."

"Huh. I see." Guess he doesn't want to bring up his argument with Sicuto.

Iida marches into the room. "Everyone get your game faces on! We're entering the arena soon!

Already? Right, let's do this.

"Midoriya," Todoroki's cold voice says among us.

Midoriya turns to face him. "H-hey, Todoroki. What's up?"

Todoroki takes a second to choose his words. "From an objective standpoint, I think it's fairly clear that I'm stronger than you."

Midoriya looks a bit shocked but then tolerates with the obvious opinion. "Yeah."

Tojuta steps back from my side toward the door. He glances at me. "I.. We shouldn't get in on their business." He lays a hand on my shoulder as to tell me to leave with him.

"Hang on." I swipe his hand off my shoulder. "I wanna see where this goes."

Todoroki continues his somewhat threatening speech to the quivering kid. "However, you've got All Might in your corner helping you out. I'm not here to pry you about what's going on between you two, but know that I will beat you."

"What's with all these declarations of war lately?" Kaminari asks from his seat.

"Yeah, Chief Chilly," Auxi inserts. "Where's this coming from?"

"What's the big deal?" Kirishima adds, putting a hand on Todoroki's shoulder. "Why're you picking a fight all of a sudden? And right before we get started?"

Todoroki shrugs the walking rock's arm off. "We're not here to be each other's friends. Don't forget this isn't a team effort." With his unfriendly reminder concluded, he turns and calmly walks to the door.

"Wait a sec, Todoroki," Midoriya stops him. Todoroki looks back over. Midoriya keeps his head down, showing his meek side. Despite his nervous pose, he replies, "I don't know what's going on through your head or why you think you need to tell me that you'll beat me. And yeah, of you're better than me. In fact, you probably have way more potential than anyone in the hero course. That's why you got in so easily."

"Midoriya, maybe you're being a little hard on yourself. And us," Kirishima interupts.

"No! He's right, you guys!" Midoriya shoots out. "All the other courses. They're coming for us with everything they've got. We're all going to have to fight to stand out." Midoriya confidently looks up straight into Todoroki's cold eyes. "And I'll be aiming for the top, too."

We're all impressed, taking in every word of the boy's inspiring words. I know it was supposed to be a response to just Todoroki, but the speech about standing out to fight spoke to me and, I'm sure, everyone else.

After a few seconds of silence, Todroki finally says back, "Fine." He turns back to the door and continues on. Ready ourselves, we follow him. I walk alongside my classmates, staring straight ahead down the tunnel to the grand field.

Never alone. Family spirits, help me be strong.

I squint at the sudden sunlight as I hear Present Mic commentate our arrival over the crowd of roaring fans. "HERE THEY ARE!! THE HERO COURSE STUDENTS OF 1-A!!!" I stare straight at the stand ahead, keeping my game face on. "COMING UP BEHIND THEM, PLEASE WELCOME HERO COURSE 1-B!!!" The new class to me strides in, some waving and others trying to duck behind their friends to hide themselves. "NEXT UP, GENERAL STUDIES CLASSES C, D, AND E!!!" At the coming support students, I immediately spy Sicuto among the group walking a bit behind Shinso. Beside him, Lax, as chill as ever, waves at the crowd. "SUPPORT CLASSES F, G, AND H!!! AND FINALLY BUSINESS CLASSES I, J, AND K!!!" Fans cheer loudly as the new students come into the field. "GIVE IT UP FOR ALL OF UA'S FIRST YEAR CONTESTANTS!!!"

We all stand in front of a large stage where the first year student's referee, Ms. Midnight, stands and flips her hair, welcoming everyone to the games.

Kirishima whispers to his peers. "Someone should talk to Ms. Midnight about what she's wearing." Kaminiari nods in response while Mineta just gives a thumbs up and growls in approval.

He's got a point. Her hero outfit seems a bit overexposing. She looks more like she's selling a product than being a hero. Midnight welcomes everyone, waving her baton for attention. "We'll start the games by hearing a word from one of our contestants in 1-A!"

Wait, what? I was not informed of this. Just please don't pick me.

"To pledge, we have Katsuki Bakugo!"

Oh crap! Why?! He already gave us a first impression, and might I say, that did not go well at all!

With his hands in his pockets, Bakugo pushes past us to take the stage. He trudges up to the mic. We all wait in horrified silence, wondering what sort of trash Bakugo has to say.

Samae leans over to me. "Watch this, he's gonna cuss everyone off now." Knowing it's greatly possible, I nod.

Finally, Bakugo breathes into the mic. "I just wanna say... I'm gonna win."

I'm keeping a calm expression as if I didn't care about his statement, but in my mind: Nooooooo!!!

The whole crowd of students boos and yells at the stuck up blonde. Using a part to whole, they yell at us, too. I happen to look over to see Sicuto violently trying to push up to the stage, only to be held back by Lax, who is desperately trying to use his quirk to calm him down to no avail. He looks like he can go to sleep any minute now though.

"WHY WOULD YOU BE SO DISRESPECTFUL!!" Iida yells at Bakugo, swinging another ax hand in anger. "YOU'RE REPRESENTING US ALL!!"

Bakugo simply gives a thumbs down to Iida. "It's not my fault you're all just stepping stones to my victory."

"It kinda is, Baki-boi!" Auxi argues among us. "How would we be stepping stones unless you use us as ones?!"

The silver-haired kid clutches an angry fist. "I CAN'T WAIT TO KNOCK HIM DOWN TO SIZE!!"

"BACK OFF, IRON MAN; I ALREADY CALLED DIBS!!" Sicuto yells at the equally furious student.

Midnight takes it as if she expected those words herself and dismisses Bakugo. Bakugo steps down and shoves past everyone back to his spot.

Once the crowd calms down, Midnight waves her baton and points at the enormous screen behind her near the top of the stadium. "The first fateful game of the festival! What could it be??" The screen spins a larger picture in the center like a crank roulette game. Finally the spinning stops short on a large picture that reads 'Obstacle Race.' "Ta-dah!!" The crowd cheers as Midnight announces the starting event.

A race, huh? Piece of cake.

"This race can be run any way possible, so there are no limitations to your quirks!" She points to the main tunnel leading directly outside the stadium. Above the arched exit, a stop light signals the start of the race. "So without further ado, everyone to your marks!"

We all walk to our starting positions. As we do, I glance at the competition surrounding me. I continue scanning over everyone until stopping on Todoroki. His focused expression makes me replay his words before we came in. 'We're not here to be each other's friends.' The way he said it reminds me to keep a clear distance from him. If he's this aggressive, I'm sure he'll have no guilt in breaking a few students. In fact, I'm sure there are more students who will behave similarly: Bakugo, Sicuto, Shinso, that silver kid, and probably many others who have been provoked by Bakugo. And I should probably be careful about Iida. His quirk is literally super speed, so he can tear through here like there's no tomorrow, unless he's slowed down by the obstacles.

I finally come to a stop behind a dozen rows of students. Through a small window I can see through everyone, it looks like once the three lights above turn off, we'll all be diving straight into that narrow tunnel. Oh no, this is gonna be like that time with the countless shoving students through the hallway all over again. Wait. I have a method against that!

I ignite a couple flames in my hands and watch the green lights turn off one by one. As soon as the third one fades, Midnight brings her baton downward like a starting flag and yells "GO!!!"

I immediately activate my flames in my phasing technique and rush forward. Just as I had hoped, I'm running through people who are yelling at each other to move out of the way. There seems to be a good push of people to the sides as I just barely hear Tojuta flash his quills and yell, "Back off!" More people surround me, pushing past or into others.

I'm nearing the other end! Just gotta push through a bit more! Suddenly, I feel a freezing breeze fill the tunnel. Todoroki! He's probably planning to freeze us! Gotta think fast!

I quickly switch my flames to levitation and and add my others to the couple. I push off the ground up to the top edge of the tunnel. At the very next second, icebergs explode out the tunnel, freezing people to the floor and the floor freezing its self. I push myself off the ceiling and spin to get back right side up. I have my flames balance me, only to have the sheer cold wind from the tunnel blow them out as I soar to the ground and roll to avoid injury. It's a rougher landing than I intended. Probably because I wasn't expecting the little stinker to cover the ground in a sheet of ice too.

That absolute butt! Just you wait, Todoroki!

I finally use my flames to surround me again and begin to hover along the path to avoid slipping. Glancing around me, the crowd has definitely gotten smaller. Only a few dozen other students escaped Todoroki's trap and are coming at him at rapid speed.

As I keep hovering over the slippery ice, I suddenly see a line of purple orbs fly past me and stick to the ground. Mineta comes in right behind them, bouncing along his dotted path to attempt to jump Todoroki. Before he can make contact however, a large robotic arm swings in and whacks the midget across the head to face plant him into the ground. I stop abruptly behind Todoroki, not wanting to get hit as well. Many others show up as well and follow our gaze aimed at the same army of massive, green robots from the entrance exam blocking our way. It looks like there are more zero pointers than any of the other types.

Oh, squat! I was really hoping not to run into any of these things ever! Not to mention that there are at least a dozen zero-pointers!

The front most bot steps forward to attack. I have my flames dance around me to prepare myself for a quick fight. Before I can do anything however, Todoroki swipes a pale cold hand down near the ground. Another barrage of icebergs erupt from the ground, growing along the zero-pointer and freezing it in place.

As I watch the ice branch across the mechanical monstrosity, I look back below it to see Todoroki making a getaway underneath it. Before I can follow, the icy robot begins to break down and come crashing to the ground. Another planned out trick! Not wasting a second, I continue to hover myself under it as well. I hear a giant crash above me and look up just in time to see more frozen parts raining down. To avoid being crushed, I swap the roles of my levitation flames to phasing and dive forward, sliding on dirt instead of ice. I get up and take a second to catch my breath. Incredibly risky, I know, but I'm not letting this OP little stinker get the best of me. I look over my shoulder to see that the split-haired student left a massive mess behind him. Everyone is stopped in front of the large mound of ice. Kirishima emerges out of the remains like a zombie from the ground, tough as ever.

I look ahead to see Todoroki left us more of a challenge. Instead of freezing the rest of the robots in front of us, he left them standing and ready to finish us off. I jump up and ready my flames. I've started just in time, because Bakugo comes soaring in, propelling himself with his invisible bombs like a sputtering rocket.

I run in and combine a couple sets of my flames to summon two minions to back my fight. I position my minions to soar ahead of me and circle an upcoming one-pointer. They grab its arms as I come in myself and leap on top of its head and jump up again. I bring in all six of my flames around me again and fly to a massive zero-pointer. It swings an arm to attack me. I let myself fall and phase to dodge the giant fist. I catch myself by levitating again to slow my descend. Suddenly something rams into my backside, putting out my flames as I roll over the flying object. I desperately swing my arms, trying to save myself from crashing. I grab onto a scaly tail of some kind that seems to belong to the something, or someone that ran me over.

I look up at a girl with black and white wings and tail, who starts to swerve unexpectedly. A dragon quirk? She glares back at me. "Ahh! What the-?! Hey! Watch it, buster! You tryna knock me unconscious?!"

"Watch yourself, crashy! Woah!" She spins to get me off her tail. Literally. We zoom past more robots like a canyon pilot game, nearly missing the deadly machines. I try not to force phase myself, otherwise I'd slip right through this dragon girl.

"Let go! You're toasting my flight pattern!"

"I wouldn't be on here if you weren't a trashy flier!"

"You what?!?" Sparks of fire start to leak out of the girl's gritting teeth. "I said. Let. GO!" She blasts a stream of fire in front of her and spins through. Yep! A dragon quirk! I squint at the smoke and burning flames blowing in my face. I don't even notice myself release her tail as I fall once again to the ground. I shake my head to regain focus and summon my orbiting flames around me to sharply slow my fall. I let myself go and roll once on the ground. I immediately get up and keep running.

Todoroki is a good few yards away now. Bakugo and Iida are following right behind him. Above me is that Dragon Tales chick. I surround myself once again to pick up the pace. After a few minutes of moving, the three leads slow down and stop at a rocky area. I catch up and look down at a few series of rocky towers in a large canyon. Rails connect these towers like power lines. Not seeing this as an obstacle to me, I continue on, being extra careful to keep myself balanced over this drop of certain death.

I'm a little shocked to see Iida come sliding across the rail right behind me in a weird pose. A few others act fast as well and begin to catch up. I make it to the other side and continue on. The stadium begins to come into view. I watch Todoroki and Bakugo pass me once again to the final stretch.

Suddenly, an explosion goes off under the boys.  They jump back, but don't seem the least bit hurt. I stop short and stare at the ground in confusion. It's decorated with noticeable patches of dirt. A mine field? Great. The two up front are quickly stepping with caution now, trying to keep from activating the mines. As you probably guess, I continue on, keeping a good two feet off the ground to avoid triggering the replicated bombs as well.

I begin to catch up to the waddling boys up front. Bakugo sees me coming and reaches an arm out behind him. Seeing what he's planning, I push myself off the ground to back away into the air as his signature explosion fires from the palm of his hand. I'm high above the ground now, but at least my flames weren't put out. Hovering a few yards off the ground, I keep flying. I hear a flapping sound and look over my shoulder.

The dragon girl from earlier. I'd attack with a minion, but then I couldn't keep myself flying. Maybe I can scare her with my flames. She doesn't know what they do, so it's worth a try. I turn around and swing an arm to throw a flame, missing on purpose so she doesn't get suspicious. As I planned, she sharply swerves right to dodge. I bring back my flame like a boomerang and ready it again and fire once more. She slows down more and swerves again. I bring back my flame and wind up for a third fake shot.

Before I do, a massive explosion goes off near the start of the mine field. I gasp as I'm enveloped in a great gust of rapid wind. I can't keep my grip on my flames! They go out from the wind one by one until I can't keep myself balanced. I flip toward the ground as Midoriya flies past me riding a piece of scrap metal. As I fall to the field in a panic, another sheet of ice slides across the field from Todoroki. This is gonna be rougher landing!! I close my eyes and brace myself for the crash, only to never find it coming.

I open my eyes and look up at the dragon girl holding onto my leg and flying forward. She smirks down at me. "Who's the trashy flier now?" She then releases me and lets me roll on the ice. I take a moment to catch my breath, not caring that a few people are passing me now. I shake my head to regain my focus and keep running. Todoroki froze the ground, so the mines shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Peoples' cheers in the stadium come into ear shot as I near the tunnel to the finish line. Midoriya somehow won the race with Todoroki and Bakugo coming in right behind him. I run through the tunnel, and cross the finish line. Present Mic's voice welcomes me back to the stadium. I lean on my knees to catch my breath again. As I wait, more and more students run in, panting hard like thirsty dogs. Tojuta walks up behind me as tired as everyone else.

"Hey, Kuiru. What's up?"

"I," he pants. "I need ta sit down." He falls backward on his butt, staring at the ground between his spread out legs. I laugh softly then turn my attention back to the gate where more competitors run in.

"The first event for the first years' is now over!" Midnight calls for our attention once the last of the students trudge in. "What a game it was! Now let's take a quick look at the standing, shall we?"

I glance at the scoreboard as placement rows slide onto the screen. I scan the board for my name till I find it in ninth place. Nice. Samae appears in seventeenth place. He must've found quite a few shady areas if he was that fast. Tojuta appears on the board in twenty-second place. Auxi's name slides onto the screen in twenty-eighth place. Names continue to appear on the board. My eyes widen as I recap the placements and see Sicuto's name in twentieth place. I must've missed it first time through.

"The top forty-two students will advance to the next round! But don't feel left out. We still have other opportunities for you to shine. Now the real fun is about to begin! A chance for you to fully show your quirk in a real game!" The game wheel spins again to announce the next event. "The event coming next will be.. I hope you're ready... for this!!" The screen stops on a picture that reads Cavalry Battle.

"Cavalry Battle?" Kaminari complains. "I'm terrible at those."

"Well it's not an individual event," Asui croaks. "I wonder how this'll work out."

"Each player has been assigned a point value from the race." The screen switches back to the score board, but this time, points are next to the placed student. As Midnight explains the number pattern, I find my name with 170 points to it. "However, the person in first place has a point value of ten million!!"

WHAT?!? That number doesn't even come close to the sum of all the other awarded values combined!! Therefore, just get the ten million, and you've basically got a guaranteed win. That is, if you keep them. I suddenly remember who won the race and glance at Midoriya. Poor guy. Knowing the kid's incredibly meek, he must be feeling all the pressure right now. I guess that's a con of keeping all those points. Once you claim them, the world will seem to turn against you in an instant. You'll be targeted nonstop!

Midnight points her baton at the quivering boy. "Izuku Midoriya placed first in the qualifier. He'll be worth the ten million." Midnight then explains the rules. Teams of two to four people will be made in a horse and rider stance, with one person being carried by the other people on the team. Points will be illustrated with headbands with the point values that'll be given to the proper student. Take the headbands to claim points. There will again be no limits on quirks, but you can't make a team fall.

A timer then appears on the screen. "Now you have fifteen minutes to build your teams!" With the timer started, everyone begins to walk around, looking for the best people their team would need. Quite a few people are gathered around Todoroki and Bakugo, asking to be picked for their teams. I wander around aimlessly, trying to think who I would probably choose for a team. Many people are already picked.

"Hey," a tired voice calls. I look up to see that hero course wannabe who declared war on us. Shinso, I think it was. I glare at him as he nears me with a large smirk on his face. "You know, I watched you back in that race. You were pretty good. I can use a talented soul like yourself on my team. So how about it? Care to help me out?"

I stare at the guy in a bit of skepticism. Strange. One day, he's talking down to us, saying he can crush us instantly; the next he's asking me, one of the students he declared war on, that I help him out. On top of that, I nearly crashed from my hovering several times. If he was watching me, why would he scout me after such clumsy mistakes?

Before I can answer though...

"Hey! Baggy Eyes!" Sicuto steps from the crowd and up to us. "You don't want him. Put me on your team."

Shinso looks like he's considering the demand. He finally smiles grimly. "Well, hey there, Sicuto. How's-?"

"Stop!" Sicuto commands, interrupting him before he can finish his question. "None of that. You gonna put me on your team, or what?"

Shinso blinks and stares at him. "Sure." He looks at me. "Guess the position has been filled. See ya, around." With that, he and Sicuto walk off to find more people.

Okay... guess I should keep looking. I scan the crowd until I spot Tojuta along with Samae and Auxi. I guess they're looking for me, because Auxi catches sight of me and waves. Tojuta and Samae follow her gaze and wave as well. I smile and step toward them.

"Hey. Zombie."

I stop short in my tracks and look over my shoulder toward the rough voice behind me. Bakugo. "What?"

"Quit siding with that freaking cactus and get over here." He points his thumb behind him to Kirishima and Sero. Kirishima clutches a fist to show his readiness while Sero just shoots me peace fingers. I turn myself toward him. He's asking me to be on his team. Er, well, not really asking.

"Do I have a choice?" I test my theory.

"No." Well that was straight forward. "But you wanna win this game, right? So be smart and get over with the winning team. So I guess in way, you do have a choice. What'll it be, Zombie? My team, or the emergency room where you'll be soaking in your defeat?"

I keep my slightly annoyed expression staring at the blonde. I glance back at Tojuta. I can see he slightly nods as if to advise me go with Bakugo. I give a quick nod to him and turn back to Bakugo. In response to his "offer," I summon a couple flames to phase through him and walk to Kirishima and Sero. I look over my shoulder at him. "Fine."

Bakugo says nothing and follows me to the rest of his team.

Author's notes: Meet Luna Nightwind, the dragon girl, and my sister's final addition to the story. She's a transfer student from the US to UA 1-B, so that explains why her name doesn't really sound Japanese. Thanks for reading!