The U.A Festival
-Narrator POV-
One day remains until the Festival, that means it's the last day of training for the trio. Kaminari is looking exhausted, particulary his mouth had slight burn marks, he's facing the dummy, it's has minor burn marks.
"I... Can't believe I did it." His demeanor is full of surprise, Jirou as well, Yaoyorozu is standing besides her smirking proudly.
"Your progress is remarkable, Kaminari-san!" She exclaims happily.
"I'm impressed, in just one week he managed to improve the gaps and more. How did you know, Yaoyorozu?" Jirou can't believe how much of a difference Yaoyorozu made.
"Well, as you said, he wants to become independent of the collar, but we can't just rush it carelessly, he first needs to be better efficient. He was not aware that his power, although suppressed, is still overpowered." Yaoyorozu's reasoning is clear, Jirou nods as she looks over to Kaminari, who rushes over to them.
"With that, we conclude our preparations for the Festival. I suggest we finish it for now so we have a good rest for tomorrow."
Jirou and Kaminari agree, they make their way back to the town. On their way back, Kaminari buys beverages as a way to thank them for the enormous help.
...
Kaminari regrets wishing against training with her classmates, in the end, he improved way more than he would all by himself. Sitting at the bedside, with Ana's portrait at his hands, he ponders about what may happen tomorrow.
"I promisse you, little sister, I will not forfeit this opportunity."
As he lays the portrait, he goes to bed earlier than usual, he knows he won't be able to do it at a later time. Turning off the anxious thoughts is proving quite difficult, but the white noise device he bought, thanks to Jirou, helped considerably.
...
...
-Kaminari's POV-
I'm so nervous I woke as the sun was barely starting to rise. Today, no running at the beach, no diving in the ocean... Today is the day I've been training for: The U.A Festival. Changing into my school uniform and waiving Ana goodbye, I once again have this tingling feeling, of a presence, a one I felt it before. I will for the time being ignore it.
As I'm just crossing the street corner, I bump into Kirishima and... urgh, Bakugou. Oddly enough he's showing signs of tolerating humans near his presence. He gives me his default death stare, Kirishima is just so excited for it he can't contain it. We walk together...ish, as Bakugou keeps his distance, for U.A.
...
We went straight to the lockeroom, the class reunited, most of them are just focusing in silent, while others are wondering what will the Festival prepare for us. And then there's Todoroki Shoto who straigh up got up in Midoriya's face out of nothing. It strikes me as odd that all the sudden he has beef with Midoriya of all people, and this clearly affects him as he completely changed his friendly behavior and got all serious.
...
Present Mic is opening the event, we're all waiting to enter, I can't muster a word for how nervous I am.
"It's time to welcome the first year students!" This is it, time to face perhaps our biggest challenge yet. The tunnel is dark but soon we're welcomed by the warmth of the sun as we move to the center of the stadium. We are the first to enter, followed by class B, as the words of Present Mic echoes around, I remember I haven't spoke a word to either Jirou nor Yaoyorozu today, but as I look over I see that they're just as nervous as I am. We do single files in front of the podium, separated by classes and courses.
"Time for the participants' Oath!" And with that, we've met the First years' referee, Midnight, a Pro Hero that dresses as if she will be at a morally questionable movie shooting. Her skintight bodysuit holds nothing back.
"What's Ms. Midnight wearing?" Kirishima asks, ashamed to even look.
"She's a R-rated, alright." Might as well break the ice.
...
"Silence! Representing the students, Bakugou Katsuki, Class 1-A!" Wait, what? Why?
I take a moment to remember that he got first place at the admission test, which is confirmed by other student. Had I destroyed more robots or saved another student, it could've been me.
There's a feeling of dread between Class 1-A, even I'm sharing it, hopefully he doesn't screw this up.
"I swear... That I'll be the number one." My hopes are crushed. Obviously, an uphoar emerged from other students outside our class, except for Ilda who's berating Bakugou for such a statement.
"How could you say such an outrageous thing?!" Ilda overarticulates.
"At least become a worthy step for me to walk over." Christ this dude is a lost cause, he got all us up against the wall now.
...
As the first game is being selected, once again I'm feeling the presence, this time is not alone.
"OBSTACLE RACE!" Midnight shouts, bringing me back to reality.
She starts to explain how the race will work, I let out a huge sight of relief as I won't be needing to actively use my powers against students, for now.
...
"On your marks!" We are all at the ready, just waiting for the green light. The tunnel leading to the outside is dark, and I'm guessing narrow as well, if I'm not fast enough this will become Thermopylae on a second. I will conserve my energy for now, so I will trust my pure physical prowess until the time is right.
"START!" The U.A Festival officially BEGINS! The mob of students rush the tunnel!
I manage to get in front most of the mass, but the narrow walls soon blocks the free passage and I become entangled between students. As I struggle to make space, my intrusive thoughts come into full display as I wonder what disciplinary action would ensue if I decided to electrify right now amongst all of them.
The intrusive thoughts have to wait, for the tingling is back, but this time, it comes from Todoroki. By pure instinct, I decide to jump as high as I can, barelly evading the ice sheet he covered the tunnel with, trapping the majority of the students. I shall call this tingling "electric sense" for now. I wasn't the only one though, Bakugou and Kirishima managed to avoid it as well, so did Yaoyorozu and Aoyama. Soon as we clear the tunnel, more and more students that evaded the attack are appearing.
I will not use my speed yet, I rush past some, I can see Todoroki is way ahead until I catch Mineta getting closer. As he was, what I can assume, about to attack Todoroki, he was blindsided by a robot.
Robo Inferno is back.
Multiple 0 point robots are blocking the path, alongside minor ones. What I shame, I thought I wouldn't need to use my powers so soon.
...
And I don't, as Todoroki shows to the world a great feat of power as he one shots the 0 point villains with one sweep of his arm, freezing all of them and collapsing to the ground, one on top of Kirishima and a metal guy from class B, or what I like to call, Discount Kirishima.
I rush past the big robots, but smaller ones remain, perhaps a little charge is called for.
My speed greatly increases as energize, soon the world is moving in slow motion, the robots are perfectly lined up for one swift attack, one that I developed alongside Jirou and Yaomomo.
*zzzzzTHUNG*
Punching metal doesn't hurt as much as it did before, the momentum allowed for an easier bending of the metal plates. Bolts and wiring fly by as I rush from one robot to the next in a zig-zag lightning like pattern, managing to destroy each one of them with one punch each.
"Electro Drift" - has a nice sound to it, courtesy of Jirou.
"Woah! Class 1-A's Foreign student, Kaminari Raio, just teared through those robots with ease! What a surprise!" Present Mic shouts, surprising me as this feat is nothing compared to Yaoyorozu's destroying all 0 point robots effortlessly, man has to work on his sexism.
...
With the robots scrapped, our next challege is The Fall, a bottomless pit with only ropes, easy. Energizing my legs to built up enough momentum to jump high distances is something I've done ever since I discovered I can't fly using my powers... Yet.
Since this is a piece of cake, I'm now one of the lead students of the race. Can't say this is good though, if I'm correct, the first place is not going to enjoy the next game.
...
The minefield is the last one, I should just power up and speed past all of them, but then again, my suspicion is too high, gotta be careful. I save my powers up until I'm clear of the mines.
...
Damn it, Midoriya is something else, he managed to get the lead without using his quirk at all, amazing. Although, he could be a little considerate about his colleagues as he jumped on a bunch of mines with me right next to him! Had to power up on the spot to steer clear of the blast radius so I wouldn't become toast. Oh well, might as well use it to get a nice position on the scoreboard.
The rush of power is so high I can step on the mine and be far enough to not be concerned about the upcoming detonation, I guess these weeks of training with the girls did me wonders. By the time I get to the finish line, I placed fourth overall. Kinda shameful, isn't it? Well it will be if I am wrong about the next game.
I stop to catch my breath and I look over to some students, Bakugou and Todoroki are livid, Mineta, who I've though he died, was hanging on poor Yaoyorozu's back like a purple tick. Jirou placed 21st, not bad at all. Aoyama barely got last place, the poor sod, I guess his quirk is more powerful than it looks, but his body can't keep up.
...
Lined up once again, Cavalry battle is the next game to play, a team-based game, much to my dismay as I'm terrible at those. My guess was correct though, 10 million points to the first place, Midoriya, man is about to freak out from all those stares. Midnight gave us 15 minutes to form teams, I'm aiming at my friends at first: Kirishima, Ojiro, Jirou, Yaoyorozu and Mina. Unfortunately, two of them went for Bakugou. As I go to Jirou's direction, someone calls my name.
"Kaminari."
It's Todoroki of all people. I don't think we have had exchanged a word ever since I'm arrived at U.A.
"I want you on my team, your physical prowess and versatile quirk will be helpful." He doesn't change his tone, not even once.
"Just like that, eh? So are you on those terms, but why should I team up with the second place? Placing your points with mine would make us a target." Seriously, I get we both could be a dangerous duo, but there's no sinergy.
"We can compensate this with the other two members." Todoroki looks at them, inviting me to do the same. Yaoyorozu being here isn't a surprise to me since the two are known to interact, but Ilda? I was 100% sure he was going to team up with Midoriya, I guess I was wrong.
Seeing them both changes everything, me and Todoroki would be already a terrific matchup but also the most versatile quirk of our class and another speedster? It's game, I can't pass this.
"What a team you have assembled. Alright, I'm in." Yaoyorozu was relieved, Ilda nods in approval as Todoroki proceeds to explain the strategy.
"Since Kaminari agreed to join us, this is how we will be divided : [...] Kaminari, you will be on the left side, you shall repel the enemy with your electricity. [...]" Normally I wouldn't even consider using my powers to actively hurt the other students, nevermind the fact that electrocuting others also meant harming my own team, but factoring Yaoyorozu makes this easier to digest, she can make a lightning rod that will conduct the electricity into the ground, keeping them from harm's way. Finally, Ilda will provide defence and speed maneuvers so I won't have to pull double duty.
His strategy is sound, I will give him that, he's more than his quirk and this already makes him a formidable promissing student. I look over to Jirou, I really wished we teamed up, I see she has settled for another team, she notices me but looks away.
...
The cavalry battle will begin shortly, the teams are already in position. I have never played such game before, the coordination required and the teamwork shall prove difficult.
"BEGIN!" Immediately the teams rush Midoriya's team, his quick thinking and the aid of Hatsume's "babies" enable his team to fly over before being surrounded, all of the Class 1-A team seemed to rush into Midoriya's, meanwhile, class B teams are mainly picking off other teams.
The support gadgets alongside Uraraka's quirk makes the team very good at evading, added with Tokoyami's quirk to up their defense while also covering their lack of offensive capabilities. This combination will soon be tested as we are right in front of them.
Todoroki's offensive capabilities backed by my own, supported by Yaoyorozu and defended by Ilda. The spectators and faculty members await to see which team shall triumph.
...