Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
"Is everyone ready?" Momo asks as she steps into the 2A changing room. "The crowd is excited and they've started bringing out the other classes, we need to go."
"I don't think I'll ever be ready for this much attention," Jiro mutters as they all get up.
Glancing around the room Momo sees Kirishima and Sero chatting about something, Sero is in his full Hero Costume while Kirishima is in his PE Uniform.
She sees Nejire talking to Uraraka and Asui, and a bit farther away Izuku is saying goodbye to Eri and Kota whom Ryuko accompanies as they came to wish him luck.
"LETS DO THIS!" Kirishima screams. "This year I'm gonna be even more manly and bring home a medal!"
"Are you also aiming for the gold medal?" Tokoyami casually asks as they all exit the room and make their way through the stadium hallways.
"Tch," Bakugo scoffs. "If anyone is beating Glass Face and taking that gold medal this year, it's me."
"You aren't the only one that's gotten a lot stronger Kacchan," Deku says. "I've got a lot of tricks that I held back when we were training together."
Shoto breaks his silence, "Nothing compared to the progress I've made training with my father, this yeah I have enough power to win a tournament match against even Horizon."
"That's pretty brave considering how it went last time," Mina says. "But I bet they have a bunch of rules to prevent him from ripping out hearts again."
"Well they don't allow him to use his sword," Toru says. She was wearing a bodysuit made of her DNA below her PE Uniform, allowing her to go completely invisible. "That new sword is intense," she mutters.
"I'm just hoping to get to the 1-on-1 stage this time," Ojiro says.
"Me too," Shoji says as Jiro nods along as well.
As they're walking to the entrance into the main event area, Uraraka notices Midoriya's face is intense and thoughtful, and falls into step beside him.
"Hey, Deku, are you ok? You look like you need to use the bathroom," she says quietly.
"Huh, oh, sorry it's just, Horizon said some things earlier that I can't stop thinking about."
"Oh," she says in a smaller voice, clearly sad.
'Be decisive, be bold, be brave, take the first step...' Horizon's words echo in Deku's mind.
Taking a deep breath and ignoring the intense blush on his face he leans down slightly to whisper in her ear, "I'll explain later, we can have dinner together to celebrate my win, just you and me..."
Uraraka stops dead in her tracks, face completely red.
She sees everyone walking ahead, and Mina who was standing directly beside her just looks back and gives her a thumbs-up, which makes her blush even more.
She takes a moment to compose herself before jogging to catch up, just as everyone else is stepping onto the field she comes out last.
"Hey! What makes you so sure that I won't be the one to wi---!" her words fall away as the spectacle of the stadium stuns her.
The crowd was roaring so loudly she couldn't hear herself think.
Even after competing last year, she couldn't grasp the magnitude of what she was seeing. This year the stadium was at least 4 times as large, with tens of thousands of people here cheering them on.
High above fireworks were going off like thunder, but Ms. Midnight's voice cuts through it all.
"And there you have it folks, the Hero Course students take to the field!" she says proudly, causing the crowd to get even louder.
Most of the other 2nd-year students were on the field wearing the PE Uniforms, with the Hero Equipment students equipped with all kinds of gadgets.
"Hatsume isn't here, that's odd," Deku says as he scans the crowd.
"She's probably up there," Jiro points to the highest level of the stadium. There they could see a floor that didn't have balconies like the other seating areas but was separated by one-way glass.
The private booths are for wealthy sponsors of the tournament or simply important people from around the world.
One of which had the Detnerate logo on the front of it.
"Oh, that's a pretty big company to make a deal with," Momo says. "I hope it goes well for her."
"I'm more concerned about why the hell that's up there," Bakugo says as he nods toward one of the private booths in the middle section of the stadium, with Horizon's logo on the front of it.
"Welcome to the UA Sports Festival, 2nd Year arena!" Midnight announces as the crowd quiets down. "Now I know you're all very excited for what we've got in store for you, and we know the 2nd-year students will be the main attraction this year.
So we've taken a lot more precautions for safety, and changed things up a bit for entertainment. We've done away with the traditional method of spinning a wheel to randomly decide the game, and this time we've got a Game Master controlling things from behind the scenes."
This causes a small murmur in the crowds.
"I, the luscious and beautiful Ms. Midnight will be acting as the referee for the games in this arena," she points to the announcer's booth high above. "Present Mic, Vlad King, and Eraser Head will act as the announcers and provide more specific commentary as things unfold."
She looks around the crowd, seeing many people holding manners with Horizon's symbol or dressed in his merch, waiting for his appearance.
"And now for a bit of good, and bad news," Midnight says. "It has come to our attention that Horizon would be an unfair entity to pit against the other students, so he won't be competing this year..."
A look of relief washes over the students as disgruntled noise begins building in the crowd.
"Oh but that doesn't mean he isn't involved," Ms. Midnight cuts them off. "He's been tasked with not only security this year, but with the prestigious honor of being this arena's Game Master!"
Classes 2A and 2B look at each other, visibly concerned at the implication of that, while the crowd erupts into cheers and the other students look simply confused.
"He's been tasked with making an entertaining and challenging first round for this arena, but before he can come down here and explain the first game, we've got Katsuki Bakugo, the runner-up from last year's Sports Festival coming to the stage to say a few words of encouragement."
Bakugo takes his time and walks onto the small raised stage as the entire arena goes silent, the look on his face is a mix of disappointment and rage as he tries to contain his anger.
"Alr---"
He snatches the mic out of Ms. Midnight's hand and turns his back to the students, looking directly at Horizon's booth high above.
"What's the point of all of this if I'm not up against the best!" Bakugo yells. "Glass Face! Get down here so I can have a real challenge already!"
"Hm, looks like you were right Eraser," Vlad King says through his mic. "You know your students quite well."
"Yes," Eraser Head replies in a groggy voice. "Which means any second now Horizon is going to---"
SHAMBLES!
Horizon suddenly appears standing in front of Bakugo, wearing a much more casual outfit of white pants and a matching t-shirt with his logo on them, he looks down at the shorter boy.
Bakugo isn't surprised when Horizon appears, and doesn't even take a step back, just glares up at him.
For a few seconds, the tension builds, and then Horizon sighs.
"If you want to challenge me, the least you could do is win the gold medal first."
Bakugo gives a vicious smile at that, "First I kick their butts, then yours!"
Horizon chuckles, "It's good to dream big, but that's just delusional," Bakugo suddenly warps back to his spot among his classmates, but the mic hovers in place beside Horizon.
"And now Game Master Horizon will explain the rules of his game!" Ms. Midnight announces. "These feisty students sure don't like wasting time!"
"The first game, reflects life," Horizon says. "Which means it will test every aspect of you. Power, speed, intellect, adversity, social skills, leadership, and your ability to function under pressure.
It is an obstacle course like you've never imagined before, that is all the information I'll be giving any of you about it."
The students and spectators look a bit confused at that.
"You're allowed to make teams as large or small as you'd like, so long as you hit every checkpoint along the course you'll be fine, but this year there are only two rounds of the tournament for our arena.
But I promise you, this will be more exciting than both the obstacle course and calvary game from last year put together, but this also means, that regardless of how large your teams are, only the first 16 people to touch the flag will move forward..."
Some murmurs break out around the arena and even Ms. Midnight looks confused, but she trusts Principal Nezu to have signed off on all of this.
Kirishima raises a hand.
"Yes Kirishima, what is it?"
"If we make teams but only 16 people who touch the flag advance, what's stopping us from betraying each other during the game?"
"Nothing, that's part of life, picking your allies carefully," Horizon says. "But just like life, most people cannot make it alone..."
Monoma raises a hand and then immediately begins talking, "How do we know you aren't going to cheat for your classmates, huh?!"
"Do you really think I value them winning this game more than my reputation?" Horizon asks, as if he were talking to a confused child.
"Good point," Monoma lowers his hand.
Shoji then raises his hand.
"No more questions, life doesn't come with a manual," Horizon says. "You've got 15 minutes to create your strategies and teams, but remember, to win at life you must either be stronger, smarter, adapt better, or simply be first, and most of the time the person who takes the first bold step is rewarded, good luck..."
As soon as he finishes speaking Horizon disappears once more and Cementoss begins moving the stage to the side, clearing the field.
The students also scatter to form their teams, with most people rushing toward Momo, Shoto, Bakugo, Izuku, and Tokoyami.
Much to their surprise Izuku refused to be part of any team, stating 'I want to show the world that I'm capable without always needing people to pick me up, Pro Heroes don't always have backup after all...'
He goes off to the side and gets the same thoughtful look on his face, muttering to himself.
"Horizon's said that twice now, once to everyone here but twice to me. What does he mean by the people who move first are rewarded, it has to be a hint at the game...he said it was life advice but he also said the game reflects life when I spoke to him earlier, but it is Horizon.
This could just be come trick to make me look stupid, but then again he's been...less horrible to me lately so maybe he wants to be friends.
Or at least he doesn't want me to trip and break my neck anymore..."
"Uraraka I think your boyfriend is broken again," Mina says as she points out Izuku muttering to himself across the field.
"I'm sure he's just---" Uraraka stops herself. "He's not my boyfriend yet!"
"Yet?" Asui asks.
"Mmmm," Uraraka hides her blushing face in her hands.
"Anyway we should just focus on ourselves for now," Mina says. "Shoto and Bakugo are playing solo, and pretty much everyone else that is self-sufficient doesn't want to form a team with others."
"Even Momo doesn't want to team up," Asui says. "And Tokoyami just said 'the darkness demands he works alone,' whatever that means."
"It means Horizon told him not to form a team," Setsuna says as she walks over. "Don't suppose you girls want to form a little alliance with my team, how about it?"
"Who's on your team?" Uraraka asks.
"Manga, Shoda, Bondo, and me."
"What does the alliance mean? And why'd Horizon tell Tokoyami not to form a team?" Asui asks.
"Just means our teams don't attack each other unless we're both right in front of the flag and there aren't enough spots left for all of us, and as for Tokoyami," Tokage begins whispering, "he got offered a spot on Team Horizon and this Sports Festival is his little test."
"Wow, how'd you even find out about that?" Mina asks. "That team doesn't spill, like ever."
"Oh, Horizon asked me about considering joining too but his teaching style just wasn't for me, he's kind of...very intense."
"I never thought he'd let girls into team Horizon," Uraraka says.
"Oh no, he was considering forming a second team with just ladies and wanted me to lead it, but I turned him down...don't tell Momo that please, he said she was too nice to be a leader during a crisis."
"That makes sense," Mina says.
---10 Minutes later...
The entire field was cleared off the stage and other props to reveal simple and low lawn grass.
Ms. Midnight was on a raised platform attached to the spectators' area above, looking down closely at all the students gathered along the far side of the arena.
All the students gather and jostle each other to get their feet directly only the starting line, staring out at the tunnel leading out of the arena which acts as the first of many checkpoints.
"Alright, now that everyone is in position, it is time for the game master to explain the rules of this game...Skyward!"
The crowd erupts in cheers as the students look at each other, even more confused.
SHAMBLES!
Horizon appears in the middle of the arena only a few hundred feet ahead of everyone, holding a flag in his hand with the UA symbol on it, and stakes it into the ground.
A few moments later the arena goes silent again for him to speak, "The rules are simple, stick to the route and pass through all the checkpoints, then be one of the first 16 to touch the flag to move onto the next round.
But we won't be announcing when someone makes it to the next round, so if your entire team gets there, well, I'm sure you'll figure out which of you gets to touch the flag first..."
Many of the students look at their teammates, eyeing them warily and already thinking of how a fight between them would go.
"And as for the obstacle, you only really have one to deal with," Horizon puts his hands in his pockets and takes a few steps forward, positioning himself between the flag and the students. "Me..."
END CHAPTER---
updates about future delays such as this one are posted in my discord, sorry about today's delay
Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
"So, who's up first?" Horizon asks, staring down all the 2nd Year Students in this completely silent arena.
The crowd seems to hold a collective breath as the students share concerned glances.
The Hero Course students immediately have all eyes on them, and among them, 2A naturally gets the most attention.
"You're smart," Kendo says to Momo. "You must have thought of a plan to fight him, right?"
"Yes, live in a different hemisphere and send robots to deal with him," Momo says quietly. "Shoto, Bakugo, and Deku will likely move first, just wait until they get his attention and make a break for the flag, that's my plan."
Kendo eyes the flag standing behind Horizon, "mhm..."
"This tension is insane!" Present Mic says. "To think Horizon himself would be the first obstacle, looks like he found a loophole to participate in the games after all!"
"I can't imagine a more difficult obstacle than this," Vlad King says. "He's effectively forcing everyone to work together without fully trusting each other at the same time, all the team planning they did minutes earlier was torn apart in one move, done directly after they likely shared some of their unique skills with their presumed allies."
"Attacking the bonds between comrades! How devious!" Present Mic says. "What do you think Eraser, who'd you bet on?!"
"Horizon," Eraser Head says. "It's more than 100 versus 1, but, this is as far from fair as those students will ever face in their lives. Luckily the goal isn't to defeat him, but to get to the flag."
"I see some movement from the competitors!"
As the announcements went off, as if a silent agreement had been made, the students waited for Midoriya, Bukugo, or Shoto to make the first move.
Shoto and Bakugo had the same thought, wait for the others to charge forward, and in the moment Horizon responds to crush them, rush toward the flag.
They knew this was still likely impossible, but it was a better shot than a direct confrontation.
While they were somewhat confident in facing Horizon during the 1-on-1 section of the Sports Festival, at this stage there were no ring-out rules for them to use against him, so it was best to secure a spot in the next stage instead.
However, Izuku Midoriya had an entirely different thought.
With one brave step, he's the first person to cross the starting line.
The people watching unconsciously lean forward, excited to see what's about to happen.
"Izuku Midoriya from class 2A is the first to enter the course!" Present Mic announces. "This student made it to the final even last year before losing to Shoto Todoroki in an incredible clash of power. Now one year later everyone is excited to see how that explosive power provided by his Quirk, Super Power, has developed!"
Midoriya takes a deep breath, looking directly at Horizon, still standing there with his hands in his pockets.
'One For All: Full Cowling 45%!' Electricity begins dancing around Midoriya's body as his hair seems to move on its own as if it were in the wind.
His muscles feel tingly and his bones are almost creaking with each step, walking diagonally to Horizon so there isn't anything between himself and the flag.
Eventually, Midoriya stops and faces the flag, then crouches down into a sprinter's stance, yet Horizon hasn't done so much as turn his head toward the boy.
Bakugo's hands begin sweating, flexing his fingers to relax his joints and prepare for an onslaught of explosions.
Frost begins gathering on Shoto's right side, cooling his body in preparation for the flames he's about to unleash as a booster.
BOOM!
The air shatters as Midoriya launches at the flag in a green sparking blur.
The ground around him shattered just as the sonic boom broke the air, many people covered their ears and were startled at the sudden burst of power.
It all happened so fast that Bakugo and Shoto didn't even have time to take more than a single step over the starting line, before they came to a stop once more.
They were all amazed even and the crowd erupted into cheers, as "IZUKU MIDORIYA ADVANCES TO THE NEXT STAGE!" was announced.
Because there at the other side of the arena, Midoriya was sweating profusely, his entire body shaking uncontrollably, and the flag pole was in his hand.
The UA logo on the flag changes for a moment to show '1' before changing back.
He stakes the flag back into the ground before taking a few steps away, still shaking and sweating uncontrollably.
'That was too much,' he thinks to himself, tuning out the crowd. 'I can maintain 45% for a while, but pushing myself to 60% can only be done for one burst, but it was enough,' he sighs in relief.
Back with the students, Bakugo is furious while Shoto is completely confused, if anyone they'd expect Horizon to use the games as an excuse to beat up Midoriya, but yet, he didn't even more while the flag was captured.
He was still standing there, like a statue.
Midoriya, while still panting heavily, walks back over to Horizon.
"I doubt I was too fast for you, so I was right, about the puzzle," he says.
Hearing that everyone is confused, but Horizon just chuckles and turns to face Midoriya, leaving his back to the other students as they all begin rushing to the flag, "the first to move is often who life rewards the most, honestly you could have just walked over here while they were all frozen in place..."
Midoriya's shoulders relax, "I guess my usual overthinking came in handy this time."
While they spoke the other students already began rushing toward the flag, eventually parting like water around an immovable object when they got to Horizon and Midoriya, harmlessly moving around them.
"Strategy and problem-solving is part of life," Horizon says. "And this game reflects all aspects of life...or at least the ones I could fit within it. If you aren't the first to move, things usually get exponentially harder."
As he said this and it was announced through the speakers and broadcasting systems, Bakugo had already made it to the flag, with Shoto flying via flames a few meters behind him.
But when his fingers were millimeters from touching the flagpole.
The entire thing simply disappeared.
Bakugo skids to a stop as everyone else begins looking around the arena, then not finding the flag they look to Horizon.
"Didn't you hear me?" He asks. "Things get exponentially harder if you aren't the first to move, remember to stick to the course, you've got 1 Hour to get to the flag."
"So it's at the end of the course?" one of the General Studies students asks.
"Something like that, but I'll give you a hint, the name of this game," Horizon takes a hand out of his pocket and points to the sky. "Is 'Skyward', so..."
TAKT!
The entire arena along with all of UA begins shaking as massive chunks of earth are ripped from the ground just outside the arena.
The surrounding fields of UA are excavated, forming massive looping paths curling like a spring above the arena and toward the sky.
Over 10km of track, uphill, on what seems like a massive floating spring made of earth and trees.
As if he stretched out a small mountain and simply hung it in the air, the shadow cast was both awe-inspiring and terrifying, and a moment later massive rings appeared around certain sections to act as checkpoints.
Each of the massive paths was at least 150ft -50m- wide and they intertwined and crossed over each other, and the small bits and pieces of earth that fell from them simply hung in place as if they were stuck in the orbit of the track.
"And one last touch," Horizon mutters as part of the earth directly outside of the stadium lifts to connect to the floating track, acting as a ramp so everyone can simply run to the track.
As soon as this happened Shoto wasted no time and began skating on ice through the tunnel and past the first checkpoint.
BOOM!
Bakugo's explosions seem to snap everyone out of their trance and get them focused back on the event, "don't think you're beating my icy-hot!" he screams while trying to catch up.
Both Horizon and Midoriya are warped away as the crowd stampedes through the tunnel, ready to truly begin the first event Skyward.
"Oh, right, I'm the only student here until someone else touches the flag," Midoriya says as he appears in the almost empty seating area of 2A, above the civilian seats, high above the arena.
"Well done Midoriya!" Yagi says, waving his one arm for Midoriya to join him at the front row.
"All Might, what're you doing here?" he asks while taking a seat beside his mentor.
"Well, I knew this is where he'd send you after you passed, so of course this is where I'd be..."
"What an insane course!" Present Mic says as the students take off. "Eraser Head, how confident are you in this not going terrible for us, considering where we are?!" he says while looking up at the massive track floating above their arena.
"I don't doubt that Horizon can hold up a mountain with his brain, we'll be fine," Eraser Head says.
"I'm more worried about the other students," Vlad King says. "If this is the course, I can't imagine what traps he has laid out on it for them..."
Meanwhile, in Horizon's viewing area, he has his feet up while scrolling on his phone, seeing the social media response to his latest spectacle.
All the members of Team Horizon were fully suited up in their Hero Costumes, minus their masks, sitting on couches and seats nearby watching the games.
"Where'd you even come up with this idea, seems insane, and unsafe," Sero asks.
"Oh, I was looking up ideas for interesting race tracks and found one that everyone hated from this super old game, the thing came out over 300 years ago," Horizon says.
"Was it called 'Rainbow Road' or something like that?" Juzo asks.
"Oh, you've heard of it?" Horizon asks. "That's surprising."
"I like looking into old stuff," Juzo says.
"What's more surprising is you letting Deku advance that easily," Shinso says.
"Well he solved the little riddle part of it, and if I'm going to be so critical of him, the least I can do is be fair," Horizon says. "Besides, I'm excited to see what else he's capable of..."
END CHAPTER---
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