Chapter 43: Through the Jungle

“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

Line Break

(Previously)

“This is genius, a portable shield generator.” Midoriya praised as the small device activated as soon as they reached their target, though it was incredibly loud as its projection system’s cooking fans worked overtime to maintain it, which was something Midoriya was helping with this part again, using Icy Wind to blow cool air around them, it made things chilly, but it helped keep the projector cool enough that it didn't burn out as Kaminari acted as the power source.

“Please mind it, it’s still delicate!” Furasu reminded them.

“No worries, I haven’t blown my phone charging it since I was 14.” Kamianri gave a proud thumbs up.

"This isn't like a phone; its wiring is much more complex. It was never meant to be in direct combat because of that!" She shot back as Shoda reminded them to keep moving. Sero fired off another line. Kodai made it large enough, and they took off.

“No worries, we’ll be sure to make sure it’s not touched.” Awase, one of the carriers, told her before he heard a commotion to their rears. “What’s happening?” He couldn’t turn around without rocking their only shield.

"Keep back; this is our path!" Tsunotori yelled as she fired off horns at pieces of Tokage. At the same time, Dark Shadow protected them from Rin's scales and even a cannon blast from Yaoyorozu.

Clearly, that one wasn't messing around.

“Bondo, we're across," Agoyamato called, to which Bondo nodded. They didn't release their path, but Bondo did cover it with his quirk. At the same time, Tsunotori directed her harms to shoot through it, creating a bunch of cuts and holes that would make it dangerous for anyone else.

“What would you look at that? Looks like we got a full squad of the Mighty Golds in first place, and it's a lead that's only increasing!” Present's Mic commentary might have been uplifted, but Midoriya saw that they weren't anywhere done with this obstacle or this race

Line Break

They hadn't even gotten halfway through them, and they heard someone screaming in their ears. “Deku!” Bakugo, without his teammates, had been using his quirk to fly over the maze and evade the dozens of paintball turrets, and now he turned his attention to one of them.

“Incoming!” Shouda called out as Tsunotori fired her horns at Bakugo.

“Stay away from us, Blasty," Tsunotori yelled at him. Bakugo evaded her attack, but if he thought that was it, he was in for a rude awakening as they came back around, forcing him to now watch his back and front as Dark Shadow came barrelling towards him.

“What she said!” Dark Shadow roared as the quirk made a swipe for Bakugo, which he met with an explosion.

“Like I’ll let this stop me!” Bakugo shot back, his palm striking Dark Shadow's right as he set off the blast. The force of Dark Shadow's blow sent him reeling, but it so to was Dark Shadow pushed back as the force and light of the blast hurt the quirk, weakening it as Tokoyami called it back, not wanting to risk their main offensive weapon being neutralised this early.

Bakugo, on the other hand, picked up on Dark Shadow's apparent weakness to light and recovered quickly, blasting himself towards them like a human comet. “Kodai!” Midoriya called out to Kodai.

She didn't respond, not with words, as instead she tapped the wall of a building they passed up. A moment later, the entire wall grew sevenfold, smashing through its holdings as it rose higher into the air, only to then tumble onto the path. Bakugo was able to avoid it, but by going over it, he left himself open to Tsunotori’s horns, which hooked into his shirt, throwing him off as they tore and altered his trajectory.

He recovered once more, but not before he was tagged a couple of times. Looking back, he saw that his prey entered a pathway that Midoriya quickly sealed with ice. Looking around, he saw that the stupid thing wasn't a single straight path where he could wait at the other side but had twists and turns in it, connecting with other paths, which made it impossible for him to figure out when and where they'd get out.

“Dammit,” Bakugo blasted off, giving up the hunt for now to focus on getting through.

Line Break

“And it looks like our front runners have decided on a gamble and gone through the silly caves!” Present Mic yelled as they watched Midoriya's unit vanish down the depths of the labyrinth. It was safe from the turrets, but it had its own dangers.

“Well, they can get out; they have signs in there…if you slow down and look for them.” Supercharge joked as the signs inside were painted with the lowest grade glow-in-the-dark paint and not placed in obvious spots. If they wanted to rush, you'd miss most and get turned around as the paths were purposely designed to mess with one's sense of direction.

Of course, there were low-light cameras inside them as well, so the audience could see them just fine, but they'll refrain from commenting on that; otherwise, they'll give those passing through an idea of their position and ruin the entire thing.

“They could also smash through the walls and ceiling, but that’ll only alert the rest to their location," Inversal added, as it was clear they only took that route over what he assumed was their plan because they were fleeing Bakugo. Speaking of, he wasn't doing half bad. He seemed to think he was the exception to this being a team-orientated event.

Well, it’ll bite him in the ass later.

The other teams hadn't been idle either. While many groups from each had slowly entered the course and were now being pinned by the dozens of turrets, others were making solid progress through some combination of luck, teamwork, quirk use, and support items.

One such group had their scout pop out of the shadows. “I'm back. I've left a path we can use with minimal turrets," Kuroiro reported, seeing that his teammates hadn't been idle during his time away.

“That's good news; we're falling behind as is," Asui pointed out, gesturing towards Todoroki's team, which was using a similar strategy to Midoriya's, creating paths out of ice and ice shields to cut through the obstacles.

"Ready," Yaoyorozu called out, having created shields for each of them to use. Handing them out, Kendo took point, Jiro directly behind her, and Shoji making up the rear. Heading in, they used the path that Kuroiro laid out for them, which meant fewer guns pointing at them, but as they got deeper, those turrets' A.I. re-assessed and started pelting them. Hiding behind his shield, Ojiro frowned at the wet smacks striking it.

"I thought you said you handled them." He asked Kuroiro, who was in front of him, holding up a shield of his own. He didn't need it, as he could just hide in the shadows they cast, but their formation required that each had someone protecting their backs as they moved.

“I did,” The shadow quipped back.

“It’s not that. I’m seeing guns from other paths targeting us.” Kaibara called out, peeking over his shield, only to duck in time to avoid a shot getting him in the face.

As he cursed that U.A.'s A.I. wasn't avoiding their faces, Yaoyorozu took a moment to wonder why that was the case. "It has to be their programming; they're seeing we're making the most progress in this part of the course, and they are trying to slow us down."

To the front, Kendo saw that an obstacle was approaching, one that would force them either down a rope bridge, which would break their formation and risk one or more getting shot, or into one of the tunnels where she saw Shoda and his team go down.

“We have a wall incoming, should we…?” she asked, to which Jiro called a pause, giving her time to plug her earphones into the wall and floor. Listening in, she quickly retracted them.

“It’s clear.” She nodded, the team moving back to give Kendo some breathing room.

“Then buckle up everyone!” Kendo called out, her firsts enlarging before she smashed them into the wall, easily crumbling it as the others gave her cover. Clearing away the worst of it, she called out for them to continue, which they did.

Watching them vanish into the building through an…unconventional route made Supercharge laugh. “Look at that. We have an armored caterpillar making its way through the course, but don’t they normally climb over stuff, not burrow?”

“If it works, it works. If they keep that up, they'll compensate for much-lost ground.” Present Mic chuckled with her; meanwhile, Kendo smashed the wall on the other side, allowing them to continue.

“Shoji?” Yaoyorozu called out to their largest member, who was using his quirk to keep an eye and ear out for others.

"Some are following us, but they're wearing our colors," Shoji replied, even sending a thumbs-up to those teammates further back who nodded and yelled thanks.

"Good, we'll create a path for them. I'm unsure why we have such large teams for this year's games, but there must be a reason. So the more we can help to make it to the end, the better it'll suit us," Kendo theorized. Unlike Midoriya and Todoroki's teams, which left no real path for others to follow, they decided to try and create one. Yes, it could help the competition, but it also boosted their odds after this.

Line Break

"Does anyone know how far we are?" Mineta asked, as his height made it hard to see over the rest.

They had managed to create those ice shields, thin as they were, but they were within Yanagi's weight range, allowing her to handle most of their defense and the rest to focus on offense and pathing. Ashido and Mineta were on the former, Monoma and Shiozaki were on the latter, and Todoroki switched between them as the need changed.

“We seem to be making good progress,” Honenuki replied. While it was Shiozaki's job to create vine bridges, which Monoma or Todoroki froze over, creating a stable, if a little slippery, surface for them to use, it was Honenuki and Monoma's primary role to wreck those paths when they made it across.

"We would be making better progress if Todoroki went all out," Komori called out, which only irritated Todoroki as he had reluctantly allowed Monoma to copy his abilities. The blonde immediately took to his ice, as crude as it was, but found a higher affinity for his flames. These flames proved a great counter for the paintballs, which exploded as they traveled through them and kept others back.

"Forget it. Remember, we have ice shields protecting us. We can't have 2 fire users sending out blasts whenever they please; otherwise, we'll need to stop to create more." Monoma stated, giving Todoroki some breathing room. He could recognize that he wasn't happy already, and the last thing their team needed was him flying off the rails like Bakugo was.

“Still…” Ashido noted.

"Enough. Should his flames come in handy later, we'll talk. Right now, let's focus on not getting bogged down." Shishida cut things short as Shiozaki connected their current position to another with her vines.

“Another has been created, though I wish we didn’t have to destroy them.” The girl frowned as Monoma took things from there, touching the vines with his right hand, ice shooting across the vines towards the other side.

"Sorry about that, Shiozaki, but it has to be done. This is a competition, after all." Monoma told her, though it didn’t make her feel better.

“Looks at it this way, we’re doing the least damage to the course, so whatever means the teachers planned for us to get through still remain…provided the others don’t wreck them.” Honenuki patted her shoulder.

“I need 2 new shields,” Yanagi called out.

“Todoroki?” Monoma was still busy reinforcing their bridge; besides, what Yanagi asked wasn't something he could control.

“I’ll handle it.” Todoroki quickly got to work.

Line Break

“Of course, everyone else is having an easier time than us. Why? Because they don't have a rogue teammate." Fukidashi complained as he and his team hid behind a sound effect for 'thud' he had created, paintballs painting the other side of it a rainbow of colours.

“It’s not all bad.” Uraraka chirped back.

“We’re in last place.” Sato reminded her, as Present Mic and the rest of the teacher's commentary didn't paint a good picture of the situation. No one knew where Tokoyami's team was, only that they and many team Golds had gone into the tunnels. Kendo and Yaoyorozu's unit was smashing through the course like a drill, allowing plenty of the Sunsets to follow after them, slow as it as the remaining paintball guns fired on them, and with Monoma and Todoroki, they were also making good time.

In their face, they had started out pretty fast, thanks to Hatsume's tech. Iida was given leg braces and an auto-balancer so he could zip ahead, drawing fire from their turrets while marking them, allowing Uraraka, who had rendered herself weightless, to use Hatsume's jetpack. Along with her was Kamakiri, who was also rendered weightless. He used Hatsume's wire arrows to zip around the place, laughing the entire time he sliced through obstacles. Aoyama was also in the mix, skating around with Hatsume's hover shoes, giving him extra jumping power to clear greater distances faster.

It had been an effective strategy, even if Hatsume had taken to announcing such through the speakers she had installed…somewhere on her person, but it wasn't the best. While Rin and Tokage could lend support, many of them were still unable to help. As they got deeper in, the routes became much more treacherous and confusing, and Hatsume's Zoon quirk was only so helpful in picking which path seemed least dangerous.

Now, they were being forced to stick to cover while their forward units tried to thin out the turrets, which seemed to increase in number.

"Okay, that's a little harsh. There are still people behind us," Uraraka pointed out.

"Don't know, being the last of the hero course in an event meant for the hero course still feels a little dirty," Fukidashi noted, as most of those behind them had been from the other courses or their teammates waiting on them to clear the path.

"If you have time to complain, you have time to help us correct that. The others are moving slowly, so we'll have to smash our way through." Tokage's mouth moved, though the upper half of her head was missing, and the girl had sent it ahead to help spot obstacles along with Hatsume.

“As much as that feels counter-productive,” Rin pointed out as he peeked over the word wall and fired his scales towards a turret, drawing its attention and allowing Uraraka to take off and handle it. With her back in the fray, he ducked behind cover and took a breath. “It’s an idea with merit.”

Line Break

Navigating through the dark should have been an issue for them, but now that they didn't have to worry about getting shot, they had turned off their shield generator. A couple of the support and general studies had taken point, their quirks creating much-needed light.

Still, Tokoyami, while never one to dismiss another's abilities, felt like being able to make your fingers glow or create tiny balls of lights that hover in the palm of your hands wasn't enough to really help in this situation as he could feel Dark Shadow growing stronger in him, and getting far too excited to be set free for his liking.

Midoriya tapped his shoulder, and the boy dropped his quirk forms entirely to exchange energy. “Tokoyami, are you holding up okay?” He asked.

Tokoyami nodded and replied after taking a breath. "It's just a little darker here than I imagined, nothing I can't handle."

"You're having trouble seeing or something? Midoriya can light a fire," Awase pointed out, misreading the situation. Though Tokoyami couldn't blame him, maybe they figured out that he was weakened to light thanks to Bakugo's earlier attack, but they couldn't have known it wasn't just that.

“No, it won’t be needed.” He politely refused it.

“Guys!” They stopped when they saw another group approaching, Kirishima and Sero getting ready to fight them. They quickly spotted the gold that the group wore and relaxed. Another one joined them soon after.

“Or, thank goodness we found you!” One of the newcomers sighed.

"It was a gamble heading in here; we would have gotten lost if not for these," Another held up one of Tsunotori’s horns, the sight of which made the American girl smirk as one thing people tend to forget about her quirk was that while she couldn’t control that many, she did have a general idea of where they were all were.

She didn't know the basics, but she liked to imagine her horns, each having a weak form of radar that painted a picture of their surroundings. This was why she could fire them and keep them on target even if she couldn't see the horns. It was also how she could send them out to their teammates and use them as a homing device.

“Did anyone follow any of you?” Shoda asked.

“Not that I saw?” One of the people shook their heads.

"Most seemed to avoid it; they probably thought we were crazy to take this path." The other joked though she could admit it had scared her. She was glad she trusted them on this.

“How do you plan on leading us out, then? The horns just said to enter along with you, " the same person asked, holding up the horn to show that it had a crude message on it.

“The same way we got you here,” Midoriya replied, Tsunotori raising her hand.

“That’s it?” They asked, expecting something…more, especially after the hoover craft and shield trick.

"Hey, if it works, why worry about it? Besides, we have the element of surprise on our side." Kaminari shrugged.

“Everyone else probably thinks we’re running around like headless chickens and are focused more on each other. We can use that to take the lead.” Awase punched his palm, the discussion ending there as they took off, Tsunotori now at the lead as she used the 2 horns she still had outside the labyrinth to guide them through, though it was a little complicated, needing to use the overlap of the two, as well with the horns she could shoot ahead to get a detailed image of where the twists and bends to them.

“Furasu, how’s the generator?” Midoriya slowed down to ask their chief support engineer, using a headlamp, to see what she was doing as she tinkered with her creation.

"It's a little worn out, but I expected it to be a lot worse so that's good," Furasu replied as Midoriya's efforts to keep it cool meant that the damage it suffered from being used over such a large area for that long hadn't been crippling. However, she wished she had been able to make something that didn't have such limitations to begin with.

“It really saved our asses out there, I can totally see how you managed to get into the support course if that is something you could cook up in just a couple weeks.” Awase nodded towards her, which only made her blush as she started to rapidly deny it.

"I-it's not such a big deal! Some of the others made 4 times what I managed to make, and I worked really hard just to get-” Tsunotori also slowed down and latched onto the taller girl, scaring a little.

“Nope! No, absolutely not!” She started in English. “We're not letting you talk down your work. So, what if others got you beat in quantity? Are they managing to make as much progress as us? I don’t think so.”

"She's right. You gotta believe in yourself, you know. We certainly believe in you," Kirishima told her. Others also voiced their belief in her, complimenting what she had been able to do for them and how she shouldn't be so nervous about things.

"It's a team exercise, and you're more than pulling your weight, Furasu. Keep that in mind.” Shoda told her.

“And if you feel like you’re not enough, you can lean on us as we lean on you. That’s why we’re on teams, isn’t it?” Midoriya smiled at her, leaving her to return to her work, the girl being carried, like the projector, so she could work without pause.

“Y-yeah.” She managed, her face still red as Kirishima's hair.

"We'll work on that, a girl like you needs to smile more-OWW! What was that for? It was a compliment." Kaminari’s laugh turned into a pained yelp as one of the female business students pocked his side.

“I can see through you; you just want to ask her out on a date.” She said that deadpan and several others nodded along with her.

“Wha-me, no, nononono!” Kaminari quickly denied it. “But if she’s interested-I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” He changed his tune when that same girl activated her quirk, turning her hand into a bone-covered gauntlet with very pointy fingers.

“Is he always like this?” One of the general students asked.

“He’s not as bad as you think. Certainly, more well-adjusted than someone else we know….” Shoda muttered that last part, thinking of how competent Mineta could be but also how much of a pervert he was.

“He’s dumb, but okay," Kodai added.

“Okay, how is that not a backhanded compliment?” Kaminari complained, to which Awase said Kodai probably meant it as a back-handed compliment.

“Eyes front, we’re coming out of the entrance, people!” Tsunotori told them, as she could see that maybe another two turns, and they'd be able to spot the light of day again.

Midoriya nodded, his face shifting back into game mode. “Depending on what we see out there, Sero, Shoda, Tsunotori, Tokoyami, Kodai, here’s what we’ll do…”

Line Break

“And look at that, Bakugo clears the jungle!” Present Mic's announcement was met with cheers from the audience. The screens changed to show that Sapphires were now in the lead, followed by the Sunsets, who were fighting it out with the Swifts for second place, though the position of the Golds remained unclear.

While the spectators cheered, the teachers remained calm as they watched the action. "With a quirk as versatile as that, along with his skills with it, it was a good bet that he would get through, and he only got tagged six times!" The supercharge was added, but with the others still handling the maze, the time that would be added to the Sapphires' total shouldn't be an issue—that is, if Bakugo wasn't delayed.

On the field, putting evermore distance between him and that confusing and annoying mess that U.A. called an obstacle, Bakugo growled to himself. “I wouldn’t have been hit if I wasn’t tricked by Deku and those extras…”

"They're all performing well, though I will admit that Bakugo being the front-runner is a surprise," Snipe noted.

"Perhaps he feels like he has something to prove; as awful as the USJ incident was, the fact remains that his classmates all got the experience of handling actual villains and…" Thirteen stated but paused. They might have had privacy in their booth, but it wasn't wise to casually discuss that second part so openly.

"Still, it's concerning. We changed things to make it more team-orientated, and he's still treating this like a zero-sum game." All Might, still in his weakened true form, added that he had been worried about young Bakugo for a while now, which wasn't helping to lessen those concerns.

“Considering his issues, that should have been clear from the jump. Aizawa, you think you’ve managed to learn anything from his time with Supercharge?” Ectoplasm asked.

“Why are you asking me?” Aizawa answered with a question, but Ectoplasm didn’t back down and with a sigh, Aizawa answered. “Fine, I can’t speak for what she thinks, but if I had to describe it, I would say he's learned little. He's probably the most arrogant student we've had. Far too used to being a big fish in a small pond. It doesn't help that his social skills, or lack thereof, have made him a pariah among his peers."

Vlad nodded. "I would say that he's a hard worker when his head isn't up his ass, but that only means he sees the current issue as something he can brute force."

"Well, it's not a mindset that will get him far as a hero and certainly won't get him far here," Lumiose stated as Bakugo came up on the second obstacle.

Line Break

“The hell is this?” Bakugo landed on a clear patch of the field, one much wider than the rest, with tracks painted onto the ground like this was a typical sports field. With his arrival, a 3-pointer like the ones he had seen during the entrance exam came barrelling towards him.

When he was about to fight it, it stopped and popped out…a rope?

“Our front runner Bakugo has made it to the second obstacle, a test of creativity and raw power! Tug-of-war!” Supercharge explained, which infuriated Bakugo, saying this was just a joke! Where was the action of the previous festivals? What was U.A. trying to pull.

“If you want to get past this part of the course, you need to grab onto that rope the robot has generously provided and pull them 100m. Of course, this is tug-of-war, so they'll fight back the entire time.” Inversal added the map clearing on the screens to show the audience this, with students shown working in teams to pull along a struggling 3-pointer all the way to the other side.

“Don't worry, the ropes are some of the toughest on the market, made by our support graduates as a winter project. They can take the strain of All Might pulling on them as he plays tug-of-war with a 0-pointer.” Present Mic added, with a picture of All Might appearing on the screens, showing the smiling symbol of peace giving a thumbs up, his stamp of approval, though for most on the ground, the rope's tensile strength was the least of their worries.

Midnight, who remained in the stadium, drew attention as she added. “And unlike the past part, where students were allowed to destroy anything in their way, if you damage your opponent, that'll be considered a foul, and you'll be forced to start again. The same is true if you damage someone else-no sabotage will be tolerated here!”

"What the hell? I can't drag that stupid piece of metal 100 meters." Bakugo growled as his plan to break the stupid thing and drag some pieces had been shot to hell.

“You're just weak, human. Upgrade those tiny meat legs, and maybe we can talk.”

“What was that?” Bakugo yelled at the 3-pointer, who was getting too smart with him.

“Seems like you need to upgrade your audio receptors as well," Bakugo answered that with an explosion that took its head clean off, another 3-pointer appearing to replace that, and just like the first, it was just as cocky with him as he yelled out in anger.

Line Break

To Bakugo's rear, his dilemma hadn't slowed down the others as a team finally made it through the jungle. “Hol-up, second place has revealed themselves to be the Golds? Where do they come from?”

Midoriya's team didn't just exit but also led over 30 others through, a surprising feat.

“What?” Kendo asked, seeing that they were in the final stretch but still got outplayed.

“They managed to get through the maze that fast?” Monoma, whose team was close to Kendo, asked.

Midoriya shifted back into his base form after getting the last of their team through. “Now!” Midoriya quickly aimed his hands towards 3 of his teammates and used Betterment on them, increasing their strength.

“Understood!" Tokoyami, feeling more power in him than he would on such a sunny day, let loose Dark Shadow, who came roaring out of him, smashing into several of the paths, laying waste to them. Tsunotori and Kodai followed suit as 4 of her horns, enlarged to the size of people, joined in the mayhem, smashing up whatever Dark Shadow touched.

“Release!” Kodai called out, bringing her hands together so that her quirk's effects would fade, and Tsunotori’s horns, now regular-sized, dropped into the pit, their job done as Dark Shadow was called back.

“And in one swoop, the Mighty Golds smash half the routes! It’s gonna be a while before anyone can give chase!” Supercharge called out as the other teams started yelling at the 2nd placeholders, who didn't stay long enough to get yelled at and bolted as fast as they could.

"Let's move; we have to get to that tug-of-war before one of the other teams with power members gets through," Midoriya called out, as with people like Shishida, Sato, Shoji, and Uraraka on other teams, any tug-of-war would be so easy for them.

“It’ll be real hard if they also bring numbers like us," Bondo noted.

Another chapter and this week is sure to be jam-packed as I have a Thursday submission to worry about. Still, my assignments aren't going to be as draining as the other time, though I pray that my power doesn't get cut AGAIN. I need all the time I can get. As for this chapter, as the last chapter might have shown, things will be very different, and I can admit that, at times, they'll seem random as hell. I ask that you stick with it till the end as I have a really fun time planned for this; in fact, I got the idea got it as I was brainstorming stuff for More than You Think.