Chapter 44: From One Obstacle to the Next

“Text” – Normal speech

‘Text’ – Thought

“Text” – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world

“Text” - Attack

“Text” – Radio/Communication lines

“Text” – None Japanese speech

(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word

Chapter 44: From One Obstacle to the Next

Having brought themselves valuable time, the Mighty Gods booked it as fast as they could. Those in the hero course set the pace, and it was a brutal one as they sprinted towards the second obstacle. Even Shoda, despite his size and apparent plump physique, proved to be more than capable of keeping pace. Many of their teammates also tried to keep pace, as while not a requirement, having some sort of club or sports achievements was always favorable on university applications.

"Carry them!" Midoriya ordered when he noticed how several members slowed down. All were from the business and support courses. As if they had any club achievements that helped get them into U.A., odds were they were related to the course they studied with little, if any, emphasis on physical fitness.

Several people quickly moved to follow his order, Tsunotori using her horns to carry or aid those she could, Kirishima grabbing and throwing one of the lighter-looking guys over his shoulder, Tokoyami using Dark Shadow to carry 3 of the support students, and Bondo carrying the two smallest girls, both blushing at being in his arms. It wasn't just them; Midoriya led by example by carrying someone on his back, but several of the stronger general studies students followed suit. Agoyamato once again carried the smaller Furasu.

“Why would you look at that? That's some good teamwork.” Uraraka’s team heard Inversal’s comment, and that only made them work harder, especially without Bakugo present to help.

“Well, those being carried better pull their weight later, and with the coming obstacle, that’s gonna be literal!” Todoroki only grunted at Supercharge's comment, as they would reach it soon. From there, it would be child's play to bridge the gap.

“And they won't be the only ones, as the other teams will get past that little hiccup that the Golds left for them!” Yaoyorozu’s team kept up their push, as now that they knew what awaited them after this, they only had more time to plot how to handle it and make up for lost time.

"You heard people huff it!" Kirishima yelled.

"We're already going as fast as we can. If we go any faster, we'll burn out before we can even see the finish line." Shoda called back, though they were still moving slower than before as those carrying others were weighed down.

"Just focus on keeping pace; we'll make it through!" Midoriya called out, as they could worry about the other teams when they had time; they now had their own problems. They kept running for a few minutes, Midoriya knowing that it was only through the make-up of the event that Bakugo hadn't already put too much distance between them. A fact proven when they managed to arrive at the second point and found him glaring at them.

“All right, this is a tug of all, so we'll put our strongest people to the front; they'll be the primary horses. The weakest will be those closest to the 3-pointer. The middle group will be out grippers, you keep us from sliding!" Kirishima ordered, to which the rest stopped to look at him.

“What? Is that…wrong?” Kirishima asked, feeling a little nervous about the sudden attention.

"How would I know? I never did tug-of-wars. You seem to know what you're doing," Kaminari answered, the rest nodding. Even if their schools had such a game, they hadn't used such tactics with it and just pulled as hard as they could.

Kirishima chuckled a little bit. "Thanks, my high school had them."

"Well, you heard the man; get into position, people! We got a long rope, and we need more," Sero directed his attention to his elbows. “We got more right here.”

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With that handled, they quickly organized into their assignments, with Midoriya taking to the center, having transformed once more, having used a Roar to weaken the 3-pointer and a Betterment on those at the front to give them greater pulling power. Sero had even used his tape to better secure them and the middle group, which took time, but they hoped it would pay for itself as they could hear the others coming, and they didn't need to think hard about how this would be a cakewalk for Uraraka.

“Everyone ready?” At the lead of the pack, Kirishima gave the other when everyone called back. “Then pull!” Hardening himself, he started to walk, having tied the rope around his waist like a belt. He could feel it tightening, but thanks to his quirk, he suffered so much damage.

That didn't mean he wasn't surprised by just how much resistance he was getting from it, as even so many people, he could hear the motors of the 3-pointers whining as they fought against them. Its large wheels spun against the dirt-covered track as it tried to take them back towards the jungle.

“What the hell?” Tsunotori cried as she pulled with all her might. Yet, it felt like they were moving at a snail's pace, and this was a weakened bot thanks to Midoriya. Just how much horsepower did U give these things? They were slow as balls during the entrance exam!

"These things were real easy to break, but they're a lot tougher than they look!” Awase ground as he wondered if he should weld his hands to the stupid rope, but with how much of a struggle this was, he could risk pulling off a lot more than just a couple layers of skin should he trip.

“You hero course students are insane…!” One of the support students complained that as this felt like an impossible task, the U.A. might as well have them trying to pull fully loaded trucks for what good it'll do.

“Less talking, more pulling!” Midoriya called back, trying to keep them focused on the task at hand, which was something he was trying to do. They kept at it, the packed dirt of the track trembling under their robotic foe's weight and their team's slow, heavy footfalls. Putting as much into it as they could, Tokoyami wasn't in the group's typical formation; instead, he was using some latches Sero provided and Dark Shadow to pull, but even with a literal shadow beast, it seemed that U.A. either programmed the 3-pointers to be weaker for the exams or had these ones upgraded and loaded with extra weight.

Each hand straining, those in the power team especially as their knuckles were left white against the coarse fibers of the rope, which was as rigid as it could be, but as the teachers promised, it didn't give, as would have surely happened with anything bought from a supple store.

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"Come on, Izuku. You can do this…" Inko thought aloud, her hands clenched on her lap as she watched her son's team slow down, pulling along their opponent like the laborers who pulled along the massive blocks that made up the pyramids.

"They're not making much progress," Saiko commented as she watched her boyfriend's team struggle against the mechanical beast. Its tires spun as they dug themselves deeper into the track, making it harder for the students to force it to yield to them.

"Can you blame them? That thing looks like it weighs at least 3 tons, and it's not exactly standing still." Motoi noted that other teams finally made it through the jungle and were now racing towards them. The one tailing the other happened to be the one with the girl with what looked to be a levitation-type quirk, something that could be critical at this point.

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Those at the front were Yaoyorozu's team, who ignored how Supercharge called out their completion of the first obstacle. "So these 3-pointers were the heaviest of the robots you faced?" Yaoyorozu, a recommendation student, asked.

"Yeah, I avoided them most of the time, but they could be beaten if you tried hard enough," Tetsutetsu replied.

“Let’s avoid that, as damaging them now only works against us.” Shoji, the man picked to be the power for this coming obstacle, reminded them.

"What if they break on their own, like if it tries so hard to resist, something kinda breaks. They can't punish us for that…right?" Hagakure asked, worried they might need to be extra gentle with this.

"No way, they probably have fail-safes that'll stop it from going that far," Kendo replied, as she wanted to believe that U.A. wouldn't go that far.

"I'm not sure how much help we can be with this. This seems like a contest of strength or just manpower, and we don't have much of either." Kaibara told them that while they had left a path for their teammates to follow, unlike Tsunotori's team, they had only picked up 10 others. And while they were some strong members, they just wouldn't cut it. Maybe Yaoyorozu could make something, but it'll need to be tough.

"(Kero) We'll just have to figure that out as we go. Besides, it's not Kodai and the others we need to worry about." Asui, hopping on all fours, replied.

"Believe me, I think we all know that," Ojiro replied as he looked back, seeing Uraraka about to make it out of the jungle and after that? They would be fighting a real uphill battle.

Line Break

Back with Midoriya's team, sweat was now dripping down their brows, everyone, regardless of course, working to pull along their burden. "Come one, keep pulling! Pull with all you got!" Kirishima called out, to which the team answered with groans and a unified heave. Their muscles quivered as they shifted their weight backward, Kirishima clawing at the dirt as he crawled forward.

Somewhere in the 3-pointer's body, gears continued to click and whir, resisting their pull, but slowly, yet surely, they managed to fight it. Their slow progress started to speed up as the machine lost itself in this battle of determination. "Don't let up; we have another 80 meters to go! Let's show this piece of junk what being a U.A. student means!" Kirishima rallied them, and this time, they replied with some version of 'yeah' or 'let's do this.'

When they arrived, this was the sight that met Yaoyorozu and the rest, as the track had paths for all of them and markers that seemed to be every 5 meters. Even if they couldn't have seen their opponents, they could see from how the dirt where the 3-pointer had been had been turned up, almost like the unit was tilling the land for crops.

"Tetsutetsu, Shoji, before we start, I need your assistance," Yaoyorozu called out to both once they had picked out which lane they'd use, a 3-pointer approaching and setting the rope down for them to use.

"What do you need, Yaomomo?" Tetsutetsu asked as Yaoyorozu turned away from them and the cameras and undid her top. With Kendo's assistance and a flash of pink light, she created two large contraptions, both looking heavy and needing Kendo to grab them to prevent them from crashing into the field.

Having closed her top, she and Kendo handed a unit a piece to the two. “Take these and set them at the 50-meter mark.”

“Are those electric winches?” Ojiro asked, as he had seen similar stuff on the backs of tow trucks several times, but they weren't this…small.

"Apologises, they don't have too much pulling power, but I don't wish to spend too much lipids on this." Yaoyorozu frowned, as while distasteful, if she had to, she would have removed her top entirely to have the surface area for something larger, or at least the pieces of one which she could then assemble.

"Understood, I'll place it to the left." Shoji didn't judge her for it, trusting in her judgment as he took off.

"That leaves the right side for me." Tetsutetsu did the same as the two raced towards the 50-meter mark. Once there, they set the units down. The units were turned one shot long, and steel poles were turned into the ground, Shoji suspecting it was to hunker them down. Confirming that both units had done so, they grabbed the hooks. They ran back, pulling the cords along. On their arrival, they saw Yaomomo had already reinforced the end of the line and created a large, thick steel ring to attach the hooks.

Taking their place at the front, Tetsutetsu volunteered to be their frontman in case the hook or something else snapped. With his quirk, the worst that could happen is that he gets a dent. "We're waiting on you, Yaomomo," Asui called out.

"Okay, on 3…1…2..3!" Yaoyorozu pressed the button on the remote she had created, which told the two winches to reel in. At the same time, they started pulling the 3-pointer. Unlike the first team, which had the benefit of increased numbers and Midoriya's debuffs and buffs on their side, they only had their own strength and Yaoyorozu's two winches, which whined as their motors worked to pull the resistant load towards them, their lines already stiff as their drums slowly rolled back.

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“Not a bad effort from them, a good use of their resources.” Inversal praised them for their idea, though they wouldn’t catch up with the Golds at this pace.

“Such a critical mindset for anyone to have, but especially for those who want to work as heroes, support engineers, or even bankers. Sometimes, things don't work as they should, and you must improvise. My accountant is a master of that, and I've never had issues with the gov or my bank for it.” Present Mic both commented and joked at the same time.

“Maybe if you didn’t wait till the last week to handle all that, you wouldn’t need a magician as an accountant to bail you out.” Supercharge dug into him, to which the voice hero choked a little, much to the amusement of his fellow commentators.

Aizawa felt it was a waste of time, as they should have focused more on the events themselves than on personal anecdotes.

"They're not wrong; it's a reasonable strategy," Snipe noted.

“However, one that comes with risks, not necessarily to them, but to the others should those lines snap.” Thirteen noted. She had seen such things happen more than once out in the field during recovery and rescue operations, and that was the reason why when such devices were used, they cleared the area, something that couldn't be done now.

"Yes, that was why we went through so much testing to get a line that could hold up. Hero course students already sign away some rights against legal action for bodily harm. Still, it's not as if we're reckless about it. Everyone else, on the other hand...” Power Loader stated, leaving what could happen to those from the other courses up in the air.

“We’ll need to rely on Yaoyorozu having factored that in when she created those lines.” All Might noted, his eyes on those very same lines

“Still, feels…risky.” Lumiose frowned, looking back at the race, seeing that Bakugo was still waiting for the rest of his team as the Golds managed to clear the 40-meter mark while Sunsets had only gotten to the 10 meters.

"I agree, but we didn't set any rules against it, a misstep. Acting now could be seen as targeting a student to hurt their chances of victory." Saffron added.

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“This is…a lot harder than it looks!” Kurorio grunted as they struggled against the weight and power of the 3-pointer, even with their 2 lines helping them.

“(Kero)!” Asui croaked as they desperately tried to make progress, and make it fast as at this rate, they wouldn’t make it to the other end any time soon.

“Just focus on getting this dumb thing to the other side!” Kendo, with her hands enlarged, yelled back at them. She and Shoji were their strongest members for this, with Tetsutetsu taking a firm second place to them, but even so, they weren't exactly steamrolling this.

“We have incoming!” Togeike grunted as the others had arrived at roughly the same time.

"Don't suppose that counts as what the average person weighs," Ashido asked Yanagi as they looked at their 3-pointer.

"What sort of people have you known?" Yanagi didn't take any amusement in that, as out of the group, they had one major powerhouse in Shishida, and even he would struggle with this.

"We could raise it and slide it along ice," Tsuburaba suggested. Still, Shinso shook his head, the boy already huffing from how much they'd worked already but refusing to take a break.

“That wouldn’t work, the damn things are fighting back, it’ll probably wreck the ice track.” He told them, pointing to the mess that the first two had left in their wake, two teams who had gotten further along than they would have liked.

“What about freezing it and thawing it out at the end?” Mineta proposed, can't fight back when you're a steel ice cream scoop.

"That could count as damage," Monoma replied, though they could try it now. It's not like they have anything to lose when they've made no progress.

"I can turn the ground beneath it to mud, deep enough that it'll lose traction, and it'll be easier to pull alone." Honenuki volunteered. Though it would be something of a struggle to lug it through the mud, it would be a hell of a lot easier than fighting it on solid ground.

Todoroki agreed with him but also had a means to further limit its ability to resist. "Shiozaki, you and Mineta will immobilize it. Do whatever you can to ensure it can't move." Both jolted at his instructions but concurred and set about doing just that, the unit not fighting back as they technically hadn't started the tug-of-war.

As they did, and Honenuki studied the path to figure out how deep and far they'd need to create the initial mudslide, Todoroki turned his attention to their acid user. "Ashido, can you create a slippery acid that can work with Honenuki's mud?"

Ashido frowned. Although she had learned how to make acid weak enough to slide on, she had never wondered about mixing it with others. "I'm not sure, but there's no harm in trying. The worst thing that happens is that we break now and get a new one."

"If you show me how you do it when you learn it, I can help." Monoma tapped her shoulder; Ashido rolled her eyes at him, copying her quirk and turning pink for it, much to his surprise.

“Then let’s get moving, shrooms! We’re falling behind!” Komori called out.

Line Break

Bakugo felt his patience wearing thin as he waited for the rest of his team of extras to arrive. As he did so, he saw others make it and immediately move to aid their teammates. That meant that Half and Half's team got a badly needed boost in manpower and quirks, but Deku's retained their lead built up as the rest came, with Deku using that quirk of his to buff anyone who added to the chain.

Before long, what seemed to have been a near-impossible challenge looked mundane as they easily pulled their dead weight. Deku's team had already crossed the halfway line while Ponytail and Half and Half were close behind them. At this rate, they could be left in the dust, which was then that his teammates arrived.

"There you are; what the hell took your extras?" Bakugo yelled at them.

However, Kamakiri wasn't about to think he wasn't out of trouble as he matched his aggression. “If you, I don’t know, stayed and helped the damn group, we could have got here faster, moron!”

“What did you call me?” Bakugo growled, getting into Kamakiri’s face, the bow growling right back at him.

"What, all those blasts make you deaf? I called you a moron, you moron! This is a team event, and yet you flew up like an idiot!" Kamakiri barked back, only for Sato to separate them before they got into a fight on national television.

Tokage agreed with Sato’s quick actions, clapping her hands. "Okay, you two can settle this later; we're already behind." Bakugo looked ready to argue with them but ticked and turned away from them. Kamakiri muttered something, probably an insult towards Bakugo, but she couldn't hear, and frankly, as long as they weren't fighting, she'd take it.

"Not for long, sorry, Hatsume, but this isn't something we'll need most of your…babies for." Uraraka apologized to Hatsume, but the pink-haired inventor hardly seemed bothered by the new

"Oh, that's cool. I spent a lot of time in the sun during that last event! I just have a few others who can wait." Hatsume giggled as her mind raced with all the opportunities she had landed herself. This went even better than she had planned, as she assumed she would need to wait till the finals to properly demonstrate all her babies and bow out.

But no! This team stuff was a boon for her as she could give her allies her tech. It was made even better as those who took it all got stuff that would help them and their quirks, which would only make her gear all the more complimentary for others. If big support companies saw what she could do, then she was golden!

Leaving that… alone, Tokage focused on two of their number who would make this a cakewalk. “The plan here is real simple. Uraraka, you do your thing, and Iida, you’ll pull it to the other end. We’ll meet you there.”

“Okay!” Uraraka confirmed.

“Understood!” Iida was quick to get into position. Uraraka touched the 3-pointer, which started floating, but it wouldn't go anywhere with Iida holding onto its line.

“See you all at the end!” Iida waved them off before he turned and bolted, easily passing the others who cursed, including the Golds, who had only to get past the 80-meter mark.

“Wha-look at that! Despite starting this leg of the race last, the Sapphires are blowing everyone else out of the water!” Present Mic called it as many in the audience were left stunned by how quickly the last-place team had retaken the lead, with Iida reaching without issue.

“Seems like they got the easy route as they got what looks to be a balloon of a 3-pointer, but the real thing.” Inversal shrugged as Iida waved toward his team, who all took off after him.

“With quirks, it might as well be a balloon, as Iida's already made it to the end, putting the Sapphires into the lead," Supercharge stated, watching as the Sapphires regrouped and Uraraka returned the 3-pointer's sense of gravity; the unit falling behind the finish line, so while it complained, it didn't try and fight. It just turned and left, and its job was done.

“I’ll-!” Before Bakugo could take off again, Uraraka grabbed his wrist; when he turned a piercing glare towards her, she didn't budge.

“No, you’re not.” She challenged him, Bakugo ripping his wrist from her hold. You blasted off ahead, and it got us nothing. Unless there's a point to it, you'll stay with us."

“Think you can make me?” Bakugo narrowed his eyes at her, his hands cracking with tiny explosions.

"Dude, are you really going to fight now? Do you like people seeing you as an unruly animal?” Tokage asked, pointing to the several cameras broadcasting how the 'lead' time couldn't even stay functional longer than 5 minutes. This will just make them all look bad.

That seemed to be enough for Bakugo to reign in his ego. It wouldn't matter if he won if these extras made him look bad, and he would lose out on offers and opportunities to people like Half and Half and Deku. “Don’t slow me down.” He took off but didn't use his explosions so they would have a chance to catch up.

The group looked a little…unnerved by this but followed along anyway, with Hatsume being the first to break the silence. “He seems terrible.”

“Honey, you don’t know the half of it." Aoyama sighed as he hoped that they didn't suffer more than they already did.

Line Break

Having taken the lead, it wasn't one that they could enjoy as much as Todoroki and Midoriya's team had used theirs, as it wasn't long after they finished things that the Mightily Golds got over the line, dropping the cord and taking off after them, the Swifts and Sunsets not far behind as they would finish the second obstacle soon enough.

Iida could have raced ahead, but after the last two walls that U.A. put in their way, they couldn't trust that whatever waited for them was something that would be helped by an early arrival. They weren't getting points on who got where first, but who finished this, so for now, they'll do as the turtle did when it raced the hare.

They did retain their lead, if only slightly, as thanks to Uraraka, they could float their slowest members and just pull them along like human balloons. At the same time, the Golds had to carry those who couldn't keep the pace, slowed down as it was by this point. As they slowed into a jog, as this interim felt like the longest so far of the obstacle course, the rest managed to join them, first the Sunsets and quickly followed by the Swifts, putting dozens back into the race of sorts as they continued down the track.

"Just how long is this going to be?" Agoyamato asked, as they were having an easier time than they could, thanks to Uraraka, but this felt much longer than the last two sprinting sections.

"Getting tired?" Kaminari joked, though the taller, bulkier student didn't have it.

“You want to try carrying someone before talking?” Agoyamato asked. He still carried the blushing Furasu bridal style, though he wondered if he should swap it as his arms were getting tired.

"Ignore him; he can be an idiot sometimes." Sero stepped in before Kaminari to put more of his foot into his mouth.

"Hey! I get enough of that from Jiro; you don't need to join in." Kaminari shot at him.

"It's been maybe 200 meters, give or take," Furasu commented, as she was used to getting rough estimates and then confirming them via some form of exact measurement.

"We aren't far from the end, I can see something coming up! Hopefully, I can show off more of my babies!" Hatsume, who was in the leading group, yelled back towards them.

“Hatsume, why’d you tell them that?” Fukidashi asked.

“What? Was that secret?” She answered with a question that nearly tripped him up.

"I mean, no, but…nevermind." He sighed as they continued for a while longer, finally reaching the obstacle section, one marked by a visible sign, though…

“We’re here…what the hell?” Kamakiri asked, huffing a little from all the physical exercise they were getting. His confusion wasn’t isolated as the rest of his team looked around and couldn’t see...anything, just 4 paths marked on the ground like a typical sports track. No robots, no traps, no…nothing.

“Oh my, where is the obstacle?” Aoyama looked around as if perhaps there was some hidden meaning; maybe the ground fell away and transformed like the first, but when Tokage sent several pieces up ahead and tried to trigger something similar to the jungle, nothing happened.

“This can’t be so simple…can it?” Iida noted that, surely, the U.A. had something planned for them, especially when they were still so far out from the stadium and the finish line.

“Oh, oh, Oh! I can already tell some of your viewers at home have got to be confused about this. Well, allow me to explain!” Present Mic laughed as he could see how the students looked around, well aware of how U.A. did things, keeping them from just rushing ahead.

“This is the second final obstacle of the first event, and what better way to handle such obstacles than to have a relay race?"

“A what?” Midoriya asked.

Line Break

Just the one assignment this week and no Thursday submission, so once again, and I can't believe I need to pray for this shit, I'm hoping there's no power outage. The local government hasn't announced anything like a planned one, as at least those can be accounted for, and last around 2 hours, so really, I only lose maybe an hour of writing time depending on when it happens. So, with that said, I started this Sunday evening and should have it done by Monday afternoon.

As for the chapter, if the 2 chapters didn't make it clear, this entire thing is focused on cooperation and teamwork. It might be a little ham-fisted, but considering how I've planned for the festival, it suits things nicely. Besides, Nezu and the staff just learned that to put it simply, ghosts exist, and some can really fuck up your day, so yeah-they'll course correct as while hero work is ideally about individuals being exceptional, that doesn't mean much when just 3 people in U.A. at present can fight this new threat.

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Course length: 4km/2.48 mi – Complete

Opening: 400m/ 437 yards – Complete

The Jungle: 200m/ 218 yards – Complete

Interim: 200m/ 218 yards – Complete

Tug of War: 100m/ 109 yards – Complete

Interim: 500m/ 546 yards – In progress

Relay: 4-Man relay – 1,600m/ 0.99 mi

Final stretch: 1,000/ 1093 yards