Feeling the blast impact his chest he was thrown back against the wall. Concrete shattered behind him but he managed to shield his back with the plate-like armour. Breath kicked from his lungs he barely had time to bring up a wall of concrete before him that was instantly blasted to rubble. Using that chance he fell into the floor healing himself. Removing the armour that was hastily made on his chest and back to block the oncoming blast.
Dwelling beneath the surface he let out a deep sigh, at least the mental equivalent of one. Having healed he got ready to go back up. Nejire was a strong opponent and was a decent counter to him. She could fly out of his attacks and her blasts couldn't be overhauled. She was really good at fighting too.
It wouldn't be hard to beat her if he was going all out, but what was the point of training if he just beat everyone else? No, he would limit himself and see how well he could do when weakened, hopefully improving his best.
Bursting from the ground the entire air was filled with coiling stone tendrils that lashed out towards the flying Nejire twisting through the air as she tried to rise out of their reach. Seeing her blast one away from her. Sending rubble raining down onto the ground beneath. He had just made it harder to get to her, shit.
He was currently not using any explosive power that would damage his body, if he was he could have just jumped up there while she was distracted. But he couldn't.
Running forward he started to jump off the tendrils, each time his foot impacted them they all attacked or defended, creating a path into the air as she tried to push herself higher and higher.
Leaping off one of them he landed on another as the one he was standing on was decimated by a wave of her energy. Blasting the ground to little more than gravel he felt a wave of it pepper his skin like the blast of a shotgun.
Leaping through the air one more time she darted up into the air but felt something wrap around her ankle, a thinner line of concrete that had risen behind her. It wasn't nearly as big as the others and through all the dust had managed to get behind her.
Pushing her hands towards it she prepared to blast it off before she felt a hand on her back. Standing on another one she realized that in the brief moment of shock, Nick had come up behind her. Controlling the concrete tendrils with surprising dexterity and speed.
"My win…" He said his voice panting as he was out of breath from the leaping climb he had made towards her. They were both already tired so he had no doubt that her performance was as good as it could be. He had seen her do better.
"Ah you got me… how come you're so strong! You're meant to be my junior!" Her voice was a bit annoyed. She had made it a personal goal as the only one that could possibly beat Nick to be the one to do so. And she had been trying very very hard.
Lowering them both down as the floor flowed back to a normal smooth surface.
They were currently in a large concrete area outside Gamma gym for those that wanted to practice flying, the roof of the gym normally puts a height limit. Having removed that limitation from Nejire she was getting a lot harder to beat without drastically altering his body like creating longer arms or tendrils or using explosive power.
Simply getting as high as she could, it was harder for her to hit Nick because of her slow blasts, but it also made it a lot harder for Nick to get to her since if there was nothing around, he couldn't just grab her from behind with something.
Still, he managed to do so by just using enough distractions.
Walking towards the gym he heard the fight from inside. Going through the door Nejire and Nick watched the fight between Tamaki and Mirio. Honestly watching Tamaki impressed him, the speed and amount that he manifested was truly shocking. Nick doubted he could do anything like that, although then again his quirk only had so much that it did for him, the rest he had to build himself.
Tamaki had shown him a few things about his quirk, such as how he made shells for armour and grew his normal octopus arms which were a favoured manifestation of his.
It had helped Nick a lot. Tamaki's quirk was able to make manifestations by changing his DNA around to modify his body without rejection. But his body needed to have a sample of the DNA which was why he had to eat something and could no longer do so when he no longer had the sample. It was simple and amazing and just what Nick needed to get to the next level.
Although he was prepared to wait for Tamaki to offer more help, after all, he was valuing his friendship with the trio more than he valued what he could get from them.
Seeing the fight come to conclusion with Mirio's win he just shook his head, the boy wonder was amazing, being able to dodge and predict so many attacks.
Hearing Nejire clap excitedly next to him he made his way forward with her, "Amazing job guys! It always is awesome watching you two fight." A smile was unable to stay off his face.
"Thanks, Nick! How did your fight go!" Mirio responded as Tamaki looked away.
"He won again! No matter how high I get he always manages to catch me somehow… I don't know how. I need to work on my spacial awareness. When I am in the air I let my guard down without even thinking." Nejire started talking.
"Yeah, I mean it is getting harder and harder to win. Your shells really helped a lot, Tamaki, honestly I never thought I could make something so smoothly and quickly." Nick said to Tamaki, his voice earnest, he knew the young man had a lot of trouble accepting praise, so Nick had gotten used to complimenting the both of them to lessen the awkwardness a bit, he hoped that it was working.
"You're welcome," Tamaki responded simply.
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, it was Saturday afternoon and Nick was planning on doing nothing tomorrow, getting ready for the festival that was starting Monday. After quick goodbyes and good lucks he left for the train. Nejire actually went the same way as him but normally was driven. She wasn't from an extremely wealthy family but her dad normally picked her up.
With that the week was almost at an end… the sports festival was starting soon.
---
The Class 1-A waiting room was full of life, with people eagerly chatting about everything to do with their training from how far they wanted to make it to how they wanted to wear their costumes. Having just changed into his P.E. uniform and made his way into the room he saw Ida yelling, "WE'RE SET TO ENTER IN NO TIME!" Finishing his sentence and being promptly ignored by most of the class.
Smiling in dull amusement he heard Eijiro speak up from next to him. "You excited man! I am gonna make it as far as I can! You aiming to win!" His voice was full of eager excitement.
"Yeah, of course, I am. I don't see why not. I have been practising hard so I hope I have a chance to push myself in today's events." Nick responded, turning to face the shorter redhead.
As Eijiro was about to respond he looked up to see Todoroki staring at him. Wasn't he meant to confront Midoriya about now about something? I Guess Nick had gotten in his sights enough that he didn't care about whatever All Might had with Midoriya, or maybe since All Might was healed the interaction had lessened somewhat.
Just as he was thinking that he watched the boy walk over. Eijiro stopped speaking as he saw this, watching what was happening.
Getting in front of Nick Todoroki said, "Nick… I think that you are stronger than me in terms of practical strength. I'm going to beat you though. Prove that I am stronger. Unlike the battle training."
Hearing the excited chatter around the rest of the room as most eyes looked towards Hendrix and Todoroki.
Speaking up Eijiro started to say, "What's with the belligerence all of a sudd-"
"It's alright Eijiro." Nick cut off the boy as he smiled at him. Turning back to Todoroki he said, "Then do it Todoroki, beat me if you can. If you give me your everything I will show you the same respect. So come at me with all you have alright?" Nick said as he smiled down at the boy.
Scoffing Todoroki turned away and walked back to whatever he was doing before. Sitting on a bench and glaring.
---
Walking towards the end of the tunnel light washed into the hallway that they travelled down. At the head of the class, Midoriya walked with fire in his eyes, All Might must have talked to him. Nick was looking forward to this, even if he wasn't challenged it would be fun. So he would do his best to enjoy it.
The cheers of the crowd got louder and louder as they echoed into and through the hall.
"THE U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL!! WHERE THE HERO WORLD'S INCHOATE LITTLE EGGS AIM FOR THE EACH OTHER'S THROATS – AND FOR THE TOP! OUR YEARLY GRAND MELEE!!" Present Mic screamed at the top of his lungs. The sound of thousands of cheers thundering in response rattling the stadium.
"AND LET ME GUESS, ALL YOU MISCREANTS CAME TO SEE THEM RIGHT!? THE FRESHLY-FORMED MIRACLE STARS THAT SHRUGGED OFF A MASS VILLAIN ASSAULT WITH WILLS OF STEEL!" Present Mic continued building up the tension as he spread his arms out and cried at the top of his quirk-enhanced lungs! "THE DEPARTMENT OF HEROICS! FRESH-MAN CLASSSSS!!!" His words met with a roar of cheers that rattled the ears of everyone who heard it.
And they emerged into the stadium, the loud cry washed over them, stiffening their backs. The bright lights and the sea of people applauding their entry in the thundering matching of thousands of hands clapping.
"YOU'RE HERE FOR CLASS 1-A RIGHT!?!" Present Mic said finalizing the introduction of their class.
Seeing the scale of the event that was kids fighting Nick couldn't help but grin in dull amusement. The crowd truly was massive. An uncountable wave of people shifting and moving with colours and cheers. It was amazing to stand before them.
Seeing the kids start to talk Nick just looked over the crowd. His eyes wandered as he smiled to himself. He didn't really want fame or attention but he had to say, being in the middle of such a large event was a first for him. And it made his blood boil.
Eijiro spoke up to his side saying, "Look at you finally showing excitement! This is getting me riled up! Kind of nervous though!" His face also darted around at the crowd.
Seeing Midnight standing centre stage he looked at her. Wondering how she was the teacher given to the youngest year of students…
"NICKLAUS HENDRIX OF 1-A!!"
Knowing this was coming as he was told about it before he made his way to the front as he heard the mumbles of the other classes behind him and the encouragement of Eijiro behind him.
Making his way up the stairs he stood before the crowd of students as he finally arrived at the mic.
He had honestly been thinking about what he was going to say but he didn't have much to say at all, nor much he wanted to say.
Opening his mouth Nick said, "May the best win." Before turning around and making his way off stage. He didn't like giving speeches, nor did he want to, so he didn't. He had tried to think of something but had come up blank so that was all they got.
With a bit of confusion from the other students at the very short statement, Midnight proceeded without hesitation.
"All right, with that, we can move directly onto our first event! Onto the 'preliminaries,' as they are called! Lots of folks end up choking on their tears here every year!! And the first round of destiny is..... THIS!!" Midnight announced as she motioned to the bold letters on the floating screen.
[OBSTACLE RACE]
"It's a race between all 11 classes! The course makes and nearly 4 km ring around this stadium! We always sing about our freedom on this campus," Midnight said with a small chuckle. "Well, this is what it's all about! You're free to do anything, so long as you remain within the course! So let's get cracking…" Midnight finished as she started to get set go.
"On your marks!"
Midnight said, raising her whip into the air as she looked at the lights, red blinking out.
The steeled faces of the contestants all gathered up lowering their stances and getting ready to dash.
Orange blinked out.
Bodies tensed, the nerves making sweat run down some people's foreheads. The crowd was silent, waiting for that final light.
Green blinked out.
And everything went wild. "START!" Midnight yelled as the crack of her whip set off the crowd as they roared and stood up from their seats. Everyone who had stood at the ready dashed as fast as they could towards the thin filter of a door.
With his legs bulked up Nick jumped. A crack sounded out as students near him were knocked over, the explosive power blasting from his legs as he was suddenly sailing over the top of the crowd, the ground he had been standing on now a small crater from the leap. Todoroki's ice only a moment later washed past the feet of most students freezing them in place as he started to dash ahead.
Soaring past the half-and-half boy Nick met his eyes as he spun through the air. A grin on his face as he crashed into the ground ahead. A robot emerged from his right just as he did so.
Putting his hand on it he felt the mechanics flow into him bulking his legs up as he dashed forward once more. Leaving the class in the dust as a furious Bakugo used blasts to try and catch up. Todoroki running but not nearly fast enough to catch up.
Getting to the first barrier Nick grinned at the giant robots as the crowd behind him started to gain, his leap and legs having put him well in front of the other students.
Grinning wildly Nick crouched down ready to really start this race.
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Thanks for all the support! Once more back onto the actual story!
Reviews and comments are always welcome! Thank you for all the advice that has been given from the last couple of chapters, I really do think that it is helping grow as an author! I am still really enjoying writing this fic as well!