CHAPTER TWELVE

      All the first year classes were assembled at the starting line at the stadium gate. Everyone buzzed with anticipation as the three lights at the top of the door lit up.

      The first light turned off.

      'I can do this!' Megumi murmured silent words of encouragement to herself. 'I know exactly what to do. I can do this!'

      The second light turned off.

      Next to Megumi, Natsume was stretching his arms, ready to get into his running position.

      The third light turned off.

      With a resounding yell, Midnight yelled, "START!"

      Every single student ran towards the gate, ready to pass through it and move beyond. But with too many people rushing through, a crowd started to form and all the students were struggling to move out of the hallway beyond the gate. It was almost like the media fiasco a few weeks ago, only this was much worse. In the chaos, Megumi ended up being jostled and pushed away from Natsume.

      And as much as she would have liked to stay with her cousin during this race, it was a fight she had to win on her own.

      Out of nowhere, the temperature suddenly dropped. A freezing gust of wind blew past the feet of students, freezing them all in place as Todoroki dashed past, leaving them behind and taking the first place for himself (for now).

      But something as simple as ice couldn't stop someone with a fire based quirk. With ease, Megumi summoned her white flames through her feet and easily pulled herself out of the ground. She started running ahead, realising some others in her class had also managed to free themselves, among them Yaoyorozu, Aoyama and Bakugo.

      Megumi summoned her flames through her feet once more, using them to give herself a speed boost, essentially rushing further than those who had escaped the ice. Behind her, she could hear Bakugo's angry screams about her and Todoroki, but she chose to ignore those. The only thing on her mind was catching up with Todoroki and passing him to win the race.

      She continued to run forward, reducing the extent of the flames on her feet.

      Then, she saw the robots.

      And mind you, not just any robots. These were the same robots from the entrance exam. As Megumi stopped, so did other people, all staring at the giant robots with a mixture of awe and horror. Over the many speakers that littered the course, she heard Present Mic call this the first barrier; Robo Inferno.

      Megumi scanned the crowd. No one looked ready to move yet though she had a feeling that Todoroki was about to use his ice again.

      'There's no way else,' She thought. 'It's the only way I'll get a headstart.'

      She cracked her knuckles and closed her eyes, pushing all her energy to her back. Judging by the scrambling noises she could hear, her wings had already appeared. White Flame: Wings. Her favorite (and also the most difficult) move.

     "Sorry, people!" Megumi declared loudly. "But I am going to win this!"

     "Flame Wings, give me your strength!" Using the power of her wings, she shot straight up into the sky, well above the target level of the robots. As she flew away, she could hear the screams and the surprised gasps from multiple people. But she didn't look back. In battles like this, looking back could be a curse on your victory.

      "Oh my, looks like Megumi Okumura from 1-A just flew right over the robots! She's effortlessly gained the first position, folks! She's the first one through!." Present Mic's commentary made her feel giddy with joy, but she pushed that feeling away.

      She landed on the ground, at least twenty feet away from where the robots were and now continued running with her feet. If she ended up overusing Flame Wings, she would incapacitate herself for the rest of the Sports Festival and there was no way she was going to let herself lose this chance.

      Suddenly a loud crash erupted from behind her; judging by the cold breeze that was blowing her way and the dust wave that was about to hit, Megumi knew Todoroki must have done something to make the robots crash. But she didn't even look back to see what it was.

      'He must be right behind me; I can't stop running!'

      Megumi pushed all her energy to her feet, using her flames to run even faster. Behind her, she could hear Todoroki and the ice forming beneath his feet. Unfortunately, she couldn't be bothered to look at him right now.

      "Looks like Okumura and Todoroki are tied for first place now!" This time, Present Mic's commentary made her stomach drop.

      Megumi didn't have to glance rightwards to know that Todoroki was now toe-to-toe with her. She mentally cursed herself but continued running. She only stopped when both of them came right up to the next barrier.

      The Fall. Rock pillars, but with a drop so steep, Megumi knew if she accidentally fell off the ropes, it would be her loss. And her death (though U.A. would not let that happen).

      Other people had already started to reach the cliff. In her moment of hesitation, Megumi didn't even realise that Todoroki had already moved ahead.

      "Shit, shit, shit!" Megumi swore loudly, before she jumped on the tightrope, extending her arms to the side to maintain her balance. Then she jumped on top of one of the rock pillars.

      'I can't use my wings now; so I'll have to use my feet to propel myself to the end of this barrier!'

      Megumi pushed every single bit of her energy into her feet. White flames erupted around them, covering them completely. With one final push, she jumped straight into the air, landing on the next rock cliff.

      Behind her, other people, including Tsuyu, Mina and Uraraka were already making their way across this obstacle and as were the people from other classes. But because of her head start, Megumi was still comfortably ahead, with a second position right behind Todoroki.

      With three more jumps, she had scaled the ropes and was now rushing towards the pink steps, right behind Todoroki.

      "Damn it!"

      Megumi heard Bakugo yell. Nothing new, but somehow, he had come pretty far and that too very fast. He must be one of the slow starters; people who put in minimal efforts in the beginning of the race, only using their powers in the final legs of the race.

      She shook the thoughts out of her head and kept on running; there was no use thinking about other people. For now, she had to concentrate on herself. After another two minutes of running, she was at the last barrier.

      "And now the final obstacle! Everyone tread carefully; you're stepping ONTO A MINEFIELD. If you look carefully, you can see where the mines are buried, so walk carefully folks!..."

      Megumi tuned out the rest of his commentary, quickly scanning the ground. Circles were visible in the mud and there were hundreds of them across the ground. Those must be the mines, Megumi thought.

      She extinguished her flames and started running, carefully, around the circles. Avoiding all those that she could see, Megumi picked up her pace, almost catching up with Todoroki once again. But her speed had slowed down considerably.

      Maybe, that was the intention of this last obstacle; to slow down those in the leads and provide some entertainment for the viewers. Explosions taking place behind her told Megumi that others had already started to arrive at the last barrier.

      She was right behind Todoroki, only a few feet behind him.

      But then Bakugo came forward, yelling threats of his own. "I've got you both now!"

      And all three of them were locked in a fight. Todoroki, Bakugo and Megumi all attacked each other, each wanting to keep their own place.

      "...However, as they push and pull at each other, can the three at the top remain in the lead?"

      Megumi swung her fist into Todoroki's face, but he swiftly dodged, freezing her arms in the process. But she easily melted his ice and swung for both the boys again.

      All of a sudden, a massive explosion erupted at the back. A huge pink cloud arose from the sky; the resultant shockwave from the explosion was disrupting everyone's balance on the ground. As Megumi continued running, she saw a figure emerge out of the dust cloud. Even with the massive piece of armor he was holding, she could recognize the green hair with ease.

      "1-A's Midoriya is suddenly in hot pursuit of the leads! Scratch that! The lead is now his!" Present Mic exclaimed as Izuku flew right past the three, who were in the lead.

      "Oh damn it!" Megumi cursed loudly. Once again, she summoned her flames to her feet, using them as a speed boost like Bakugo was doing with his explosions. Next to her, Todoroki was using his ice for the very same purpose.

      "The three formerly in the lead have stopped trying to slow each other down and are chasing Midoriya! Now that they have a common enemy, they have stopped fighting! The fight's not over yet though!"

      Right ahead of Megumi were Todoroki and Bakugo and even ahead of them was Midoriya. The green haired boy landed on the ground, kicking both Todoroki and Bakugo in the face. As the piece of armor he was carrying slammed into the ground, more mines detonated, propelling him across the minefield and towards the finish line.

      "Midoriya has now zoomed past everyone! Would you believe it? He cleared the minefield in an instant!"

     Megumi, Bakugo and Todoroki kept on running even as clouds of pink smoke surrounded them. All of them only thought one thing.

     They had to defeat Izuku Midoriya.

     But it was already too late for that.

      "Who knew the first round of the Sports Festival would be this exciting! The first person to return to the stadium is the first place winner! Izuku Midoriya is the champion of this race!"

      Megumi entered the stadium right after Todoroki and Bakugo, earning herself a high enough position. She put her hands on her knees, panting heavily. Even with all the effort, she couldn't really come first, could she? But hey, she was happy with the effort she had put in. At least, she was assured of a high enough position in the rankings.

      She stood up straight and walked towards Midoriya, joined at the same time by Uraraka and Natsume.

      Oh right, Natsume.

      In her rush to finish the race, she had forgotten that her cousin was a part of it too.

      "Deku-kun, you were amazing!" Uraraka exclaimed. "First place is amazing! I'm so jealous of you!"

      Midoriya stuttered out a quick answer, looking embarrassed.

      Then she turned towards Megumi. "Even you were amazing, Megumi-san! Especially at the beginning of the race, with the way you dealt with the robots!"

      "True true! Both of you were amazing in the race!" Natsume grinned at them, offering the two people, in question, a thumbs-up.

      Megumi rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish smile before saying a quick thanks to both Uraraka and Natsume.

      Cheers echoed throughout the arena as the other students returned to the main stadium grounds.

      "The first game of the first year stage is finally over. Now, take a look at the results!"

      Midnight pointed to a screen behind her. It was there the results appeared.

      Megumi let out a relieved sigh, seeing the number 4 against her name. After taking a second to breathe, she scanned the board, seeing Natsume's name at number 11.

      "Hey, not bad," Megumi said, lightly shoving Natsume's shoulders. "You did pretty good."

      "Says the one who got fourth position," Natsume answered, lightly shoving her back. "You did amazing, you know? You were seriously so cool."

      Then, Midnight continued to speak. "The Top 42 made it through to the next round. It's unfortunate but don't worry even if you didn't make it. We've prepared other chances for you to shine."

      After a moment's pause, she continued speaking. "The real competition begins next!"

      'I wonder what it's going to be,' Megumi thought. The slot machine appeared on the screen behind Midnight again and started spinning.

      "And now, here's the second game!"

      The slot machine stopped spinning, revealing the next game.

      "A cavalry battle?" Megumi said out loud, reading the words written on the screen.

      "It's not an individual type event," Natsume tapped his index finger on his chin. "So then, are we going to be paired up?"

       The other students in the crowd also had similar thoughts.

      "Let me explain," Midnight said. "The participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish. It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, but the one thing that is different is based on the result of the last game, wherein each person has been assigned a point value. And the points assigned go up by five, starting from the bottom."

      Megumi did a quick mental calculation. "So I have 195 points, if I'm not guessing wrong."

      "You aren't," Natsume answered. "You definitely aren't. I've got 160 points, so in total, we have 355 points."

      "And the point value assigned to first place is...ten million!" Midnight finished with a dramatic flair.

      Midoriya went still.

      Everyone turned towards him, dark, intimidating auras surrounding them.

      "Poor him," Megumi mumbled under her breath.

      Catching her words, Natsume nodded in agreement. "Yeah, poor him. But we are not pairing up with him, alright?"

      "Oh hell yeah, we'd be slaughtered in the game."

      "True that, Gumi. Sorry to Midoriya though."

       With her speech finished, Midnight stared at the crowd of students with a satisfied smile. "That's right. It's survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top!"

     Megumi couldn't help but agree. This exercise was going to be a lot more fun than the race. And coupled with Natsume's almost non-existent (he was very fleet-footed) footsteps, the two together had a fighting chance.

      'So let's see how this one goes.'

I would like to confess that this was my favorite chapter to write so far. I usually hate writing big scenes/events like this, but there's just something about the sports festival arc that makes me wanna write for it. I really enjoyed writing Megumi into the race, especially giving her that first position, even if that was for a short while. Also I actually calculated all the point values (and I mean all of them) just to make things more accurate lol

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

On a more important note, I have multiple carrd links in my bio that you can check out to keep yourself informed about issues that are happening around the world. Make sure you keep on signing petitions, donate if you can and just do what you can do to help