Another update! You can probably tell I don't have much of a life after exams.

Hopefully this doesn't go too badly. It's a little rough around the edges with some arbitrary hand-waving around the rules, but I hope it's enjoyable regardless. Also a little bit short, but there's already bits in canon of the powerhouses blowing up robots. I didn't want to bore you too much by describing everything happening.

Chapter 7: The First Event

I made my way up to the commentator's desk where Hizashi and Aizawa were already in place at. Already, the stands at the stadium where the festival would begin proper were slowly being filled by spectators.

"Nervous?" Hizashi asked.

"Not really," I shrugged. "I'm not the one competing. Either this event works as intended and gives everyone an equal chance, or it doesn't. Either way, the public would probably still pay attention to the people with flashy quirks."

"That's one way of looking at it," Aizawa commented.

"The Pro Heroes are the ones that really matter here, I think. The serious ones will know what we're planning with this event, and hopefully they'll see just how versatile some of the quirks of the students are."

I had spent the better part of the previous week working together with the teachers to come up with the first two events of the festival. We'd brainstormed, worked out the logistics of the events and the resources available to us, and finally pieced together something that could work.

I had modelled it a little after some of the larger scale battles I'd fought in during my time in Earth Bet, not that I informed the teachers of such. A little bit of Endbringer rescue, the first battle against the Nine, the simultaneous attacks by the Slaughterhouse Nine-thousand, and more. It was going to be a grand event, one that lasted longer than the normal obstacle race.

There were going to be points awarded for students, just like in the entrance exam, except that there was a much broader scope of methods through which they could be earned. Search and rescue, target elimination, target capture, defence, infiltration and more. The scenario was complicated, far beyond what previous Festivals had envisioned. As such, we decided that the first two events would run under similar scenarios to ease the logistics of the Festival. Because of the sheer scope of what we were planning, we'd decided to hold it in an area spanning several training grounds with urban and rural environments.

The initial bit would run for forty-five minutes, with less demanding objectives and lesser competition between students. Following that, the scenario would be briefly paused, and the top fifty students would be allowed to proceed to the next phase. At that point, we would switch it around slightly, make new changes that altered the playing field while keeping the core idea intact, so as to test the students' abilities to adapt and come up with new ideas on the fly. Nezu had taken charge of that bit of the event, leaving me unaware as to exactly how it would be run, but he had assured me it would be interesting . To keep the following tournament exciting, there would be a twist to the rules and scoring system that changed how points were awarded.

Thankfully, Nezu had contacts with rescue training companies. Apparently, that was a real thing in this world, providing actors that would act as civilians caught in the midst of a villain attack. Villains were represented by robots, all of which packed some serious firepower. Ectoplasm had offered several of his clones to represent capture targets to allow students with capture-based quirks to have a time in the spotlight. Cementoss and I had modified the training grounds, creating debris impeding rescue work.

The scoring system had taken some time to work through. We couldn't simply allow for the students to cooperatively carry out tasks, after all, but we still needed a way to reward those that worked well together. In the end, we settled for awarding takedown and capture points individually, rescue points depending on contribution, and area defense points were shared. Hopefully, it would allow anyone a decent chance of making it to the second stage.

Through my power, I was monitoring the movements of students around the school. They were assembled in their classes, waiting for the go-ahead for the opening ceremony to begin. I recognised Setsuna – apparently a self-proclaimed friend – chatting happily with some of my other classmates that I hadn't had the chance to properly talk to, lacking any indication of nervousness. In contrast, Izuku seemed to be having a serious conversation with All Might, but I respected them both enough not to eavesdrop on their conversation. Besides, a gathering of bugs around them would surely be noticed.

"You look deep in thought, Taylor-san," Hizashi noted. "Lighten up! Live a little! Breathe in the atmosphere! Soon you'll see what Present Mic is all about!"

"Remember, if you even so much as say the word 'Zombie', I'm going to send bugs into your food for the next few weeks." It was funny how I'd chanced upon his slight fear of insects during one of our discussions. It was nowhere close to the extent of Koda's phobia, but it made for an effective threat nonetheless.

"You wouldn't!" he gasped jokingly.

I didn't respond. Hopefully, he would keep the threat in mind.

"How much longer?" I asked Aizawa instead.

"Should be any moment now. Nemuri-san will be sending the first group in soon."

I sensed movement through my bugs. Sure enough, the classes were making their way down the corridors leading to the stadium.

"Yeah. They're moving."

"It's really creepy that you can track people with your bugs," Hizashi complained. I shot him a look. "Just saying."

Idly, I looked over the scripts and rulesets for the upcoming events, mentally rehearsing them again. As someone being roped in onto the commentary team, I had to familiarise myself with the final revisions we'd made to the event.

It took a few minutes for the students to become assembled. When they finally settled down, Nemuri stepped up onto a platform to address the students and the crowd.

"Alright, students! Now that you're all well behaved and fired up , let's begin the UA Sports Festival with the athlete's oath! Representing the first year classes will be Bakugou Katsuki from class 1-A, who placed highest in the hero course entrance exams!"

Seriously? I looked at Aizawa. "Did you really think this was going to be a good idea?"

He shrugged, seemingly uncaring. "He did place highest. It should be entertaining, at least."

And it was. His speech consisted of a single line, proclaiming his declaration of taking first place. It was simple, direct and effective, leaving the crowd silent for a moment.

Then came the jeers.

"Alright, alright!" Nemuri shouted into the microphone. "Settle down, everybody! For this year, we've decided to switch up the events a little! Without further ado, I'll let Present Mic and the commentary team take charge of explaining how the event will work!"

"WHAT'S UP, DEAR LISTENERS!" Hizashi practically screamed into the microphone. So that's what he meant by demonstrating what Present Mic was about. "TODAY ALL OF YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT! THE FIRST EVENT WILL BE ON A SCALE NEVER BEFORE SEEN IN UA!"

There were scattered murmurs among the audience and assembled students. Hizashi pressed on, regardless. "Joining me here on the desk are my fellow commentators and organisers of this event! Most of you already know Aizawa Shouta, one of our most esteemed teachers in UA! Now, for the first time ever, we are joined by a teaching assistant, Taylor Hebert of class 1-B!"

I saw as some of the spectators turned to face me, no doubt wondering why a first year was a teaching assistant. Down below, I could very distinctively hear Setsuna shouting. "WOO! GO TAYLOR-CHAN!"

I gave her a quick glance, which she very enthusiastically returned with a wave, Itsuka and Kinoko by her side. In the adjacent class, Izuku and those that I'd finally carried out a training exercise for waved at me as well.

"Today's events have mostly been planned by Taylor-san, and boy are you listeners in for a treat! Today, every one of you students have the chance to proceed on to the next set of events! So listen up and listen well, because this briefing will be important for your performance!"

Power Loader had very helpfully put together an infographic presentation that was now being displayed on the large stadium monitors. Aizawa began the explanation.

"Today's first two events will be based around the same scenario, but will be very different in execution. The premise for the event is that a city and its neighbouring area have been attacked by two different villainous groups, leaving destruction in their wake."

The presentation moved to highlight the map of the playing field. "This first task will span Training Grounds Beta and Gamma and the areas in between. Ground Beta has already been destroyed by villains, with scattered pockets of them defending the area. Civilians are trapped in buildings, blocked by rubble, or otherwise captured by villains. Ground Gamma is under siege by another villain group, employing robots to attack the industrial area and its surroundings. Robots roam the surrounding fields, destroying everything in their path. The villains controlling these robots are hidden away in areas within Ground Gamma and pockets between the two training grounds."

He shifted a few pieces of paper, as the infographic detailing the points system appeared. "Students may choose different ways to earn points. Points are awarded individually for destruction of robots, depending on their quality. Tier one robots are worth one point, tier two three points, tier three five points, and the large tier four robots are worth twenty points a piece."

They corresponded to the one-pointers, two-pointers, three-pointers and zero-pointers used in the entrance exam. I still had no idea how Nezu was able to spend that much money replacing them every time they were used as part of school events.

"Points can also be obtained by rescuing civilians. This may be done by locating trapped civilians, removing debris, escorting them, providing aid, or taking out villains holding them hostage. A successful rescue is worth a minimum of five points, with more depending on the effort required. Importantly, this can be done cooperatively, and points will be discretionarily awarded by our panel of judges depending on how much has been contributed."

He looked toward me. Right, I was supposed to explain some of it too. Hastily, I spoke into the microphone.

"Capture points can be awarded individually by successfully capturing enemy villains controlling the robots attacking Ground Gamma. This can be done by use of a capture tape or other equipment, the use of quirks, or any other method you can think of. The enemy villain must not be harmed beyond surface injuries. Failure to do so would result in a lower amount of points awarded. Alternatively, information can be retrieved in the form of datapads found in hideouts manned by these villains. For the successful tracking of one of these villains, three points will be awarded, a further seven on capture, retrieval of information is worth three points and another three if the captured villain is brought to a Capture Checkpoint."

On the screen, the locations of said checkpoints were being demarcated. "You can recognise these villains as clones of Ectoplasm-sensei or actors wearing a red armband. I stress again – do not cause unnecessary injuries."

Not just because it would be a pain for Nezu to deal with injured actors, I also wanted those with more destructive quirks to stay away from obtaining points through this method. This was supposed to allow those with more utility-based quirks to have a chance to showcase their talents.

"Next, you can obtain points by defending Training Ground Gamma. Regular attacks will be staged on predetermined locations. You will not only be required to defeat incoming villain robots, but also ensure that the surrounding city is not damaged. Points will be deducted for collateral damage dealt to buildings or excessive damage to the landscape of the training ground. Each attack can last five to ten minutes, with points being awarded depending on the number and type of attacking robots and duration held."

I paused, giving some time for the students and audience to take in that chunk of information. "A full five-minute defence without collateral damage is worth beginning from twenty points each depending on difficulty. The total amount that the defeated robots are worth is then divided between the group. To promote cooperative play, points are awarded based on participation and a discretionary cooperation score. You are not allowed to stand around and let others do the work or otherwise interfere with other teams. Doing so will result in a penalty."

I nodded at Present Mic, giving him the chance to talk again. "ALL RIGHT, LISTENERS! No doubt that that's a lot of information to take in, but do not worry! Taylor-san foresaw this, and has requested for the support department to build a communications armband that you can ask explanations from! In addition, there is a map of the area displayed on the screen of the armband, displaying attack locations and more information as the event plays out!"

Then, he paused for a moment, and coughed into the microphone. "I am required to inform you that this device was the brainchild of Taylor-san and built by Hatsume Mei of the support course. Please send all relevant business enquiries to Hatsume Mei if interested."

I smiled. That girl was just like every Tinker I'd seen on Earth Bet, even if her quirk wasn't the source of her ideas. She'd taken my ideas of the Dragon's armbands used during Endbringer attacks and come up with something in the short time frame I'd given her, not to mention the other devices I had requested for. She really was something else.

"ALRIGHT!" he recovered. "Student representatives, please come up to Midnight-sensei and collect a box of armbands and capture tapes to be distributed to your class! Each member will receive one of each piece of equipment!"

I took the chance to observe the students. Many were confused, as expected, but even the students from other courses seemed excited. Most would probably go off to help in the rescue efforts, seeing as they weren't really going to be useful in the combat-heavy aspects, but that would also test the ability of students aiming for rescue points to delegate manpower. I was interested in seeing how that turned out.

"STUDENTS! You have five minutes to discuss among yourselves and plan where you want to begin. Choose well and choose smart! After that, there will be a fifteen-minute intermission while you are led to your starting locations. Remember, this event will last for forty-five minutes. The top fifty students will advance to the next round! PLUS ULTRA!"

"PLUS ULTRA!" students and spectators echoed. At least the plan seemed alright so far.

Hizashi turned off the feed to the microphone. "That went well," he said.

"They weren't as confused as I thought they would be. Are all the actors and staff in place already?"

Aizawa nodded. "Everyone is in position."

"Good," I said, taking a look down below. Setsuna, Pony, Itsuko, Ibara, Kinoko and Neito were grouping up together, just as I'd expected. They would probably go for the area defence method of scoring points, given their experience in my classes. Nearby, other classmates were discussing between themselves.

Over in 1-A, I noted Izuku, Ochako, Shoji and Jirou grouping up together. More than likely the four of them would head off for Ground Beta. Not a bad idea, they had a fairly well balanced team for rescue work. Tsuyu, Mineta, Sero and Toru were already at the station where they'd be taken to capture checkpoints, a sound decision given their quirks. I didn't know where the rest would go, but more than likely they'd be heading for defence or simply picking off robots, depending on how well they could control collateral damage with their quirks. As for the other classes, I didn't have enough information regarding their students.

"Might as well take a break for now, they'll take some time to get in position," Hizashi yawned, stretching his arms out.

I leaned back into my chair, idly ordering some bugs around. Hopefully my new friends would do alright at this.

Midoriya Izuku walked alongside Shoji, Uraraka and Jirou as they were led toward Training Ground Beta. They were by far the largest group, with most members of the General Education, Management and Support courses following them. They didn't really have much else to do, after all.

It was only when they'd been left at the entrance to the training ground that Izuku realised just how much damage had been dealt. Walls had been broken down, entire buildings destroyed and wrecked, streets flooded and blocked by debris. This was going to be a lot harder than he initially thought!

The official they'd been following looked to his watch, then pressed a communicator on his ear. After a few moments, he nodded, then announced to the students, "Alright, we're here a bit early. You have two minutes before we begin proper."

Izuku looked at his classmates. "Anyone have any ideas?"

Uraraka was still staring disbelievingly at the destruction. "We're supposed to go past that ?"

"We've got Jirou-san's quirk to help minimise the amount of work we need to do in finding civilians," he reassured her, looking at Jirou for confirmation. "With your quirk and Shoji-san's, we'll be able to move debris along."

She still looked nervous, while Shoji was the image of calm.

He took a look around. The other students are all idly standing around, chatting happily to one another. Were they not worried about the task? Or did they just not care about the Sports Festival?

"Let's come up with a plan. Jirou-san, could you use your quirk to locate trapped civilians? Shoji-san and I can move some of the small debris, while the Uraraka-san can handle the heavier ones. We can't overwork her quirk too early on," Izuku proposed.

"Sounds good to me," Jirou agreed, twirling her earlobes. "I can already hear some of them moving around in the rubble."

"You'll direct us, then. We can use the communicator to talk to each other, if needed." They had been given some brief instructions on how to use it.

She nodded, then pressed a button on her armband. "Testing. Send message to Midoriya Izuku."

Izuku's own armband chimed and lit up, followed quickly by a message. "Testing," came Jirou's voice. He flashed her a thumb's up.

"Alright, time's up. Go!"

With that, they rushed to enter the gate.

"Civilians trapped inside that building, second floor, some rubble in that way. Another one blocked just behind here," she pointed out.

Shoji went into the building, shoving aside fallen beams and other miscellaneous debris. Izuku continued on, moving with Jirou and Uraraka. There was a large slab of concrete blocking their path where Jirou had said the civilian was.

Izuku tried to move it, but it didn't budge at all. He could try to use One for All, but was it worth the risk? Wouldn't he be crippled for the rest of the task? "Uraraka-san, can you move this one?"

She nodded, placing her hand on the concrete. Slowly, it rose, just enough for Izuku to rush in.

"Hurry! It's really heavy!"

There was someone cowering over in the corner between two buildings. On the side opposite from where Izuku approached there was a second roadblock keeping him trapped. "Don't worry, sir! We're here!"

The actor sniffed, drying some tears from his eyes. Wow, they were really good actors!

"T-Thank you," he said, limping slowly toward Izuku. Izuku supported his weight, moving as quickly as he could while being careful not to injure the actor.

The moment he crossed the threshold of the concrete, Uraraka released her quirk, doubling over, face slightly green. That wasn't good; they'd just barely started!

"Jirou-san, where to next?" Izuku asked.

"There's a few more over in that direction, but are you okay to continue, Uraraka-san?"

She looked a little ill, but she managed to push herself to stand. "I can keep going!"

"Okay, but don't push yourself," Jirou warned.

This really wasn't sustainable. There had to be some other way.

He looked around. Shoji was just returning with another actor, letting him make his way toward the exit. The other students were still languishing about, joking with one another. A few were seriously trying to engage with the task, but making very slow progress moving blindly around.

Izuku had an idea. He wasn't sure whether it would work, but an idea nonetheless.

"Hey, keep going on without me for now. I want to try something," he told the rest.

Without waiting for a reply, he walked up to the students from the other classes moving some debris around where Jirou had said no one was trapped.

"Hey!"

Some turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. "You're from the Hero Course, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Midoriya Izuku. What about you guys?"

A round of introductions followed. Right, time to get to the main part. "Want to work together? What are your quirks?"

They looked at each other, shrugged, then turned to face Izuku. "Nothing fancy, really. I can make my hand glow, he has mild telekinesis, and she can jump high."

"How bright can you make it? How much can you lift? How high can you jump?" He asked each in turn. Wordlessly, they demonstrated their quirks.

It wasn't bad. It was about as bright as a street lamp, he could shift small piece of debris around, and she could jump about twice a regular person's height. Alone, those abilities wouldn't be suited for hero work, but here…

"Okay, guys. I think we can work together. Jirou-san there can locate trapped civilians, but we won't have the lighting we need to see where they are if she just points them out. Can you come along with us? Same with you two, we can use the help moving debris or moving over them."

The one he'd been talking to looked amused, shrugged and agreed. Their exchange had caught some attention from the other students standing around bored, waiting for the task to end. "Hey, do you need any more help?"

Izuku looked at them. "We do, but you might not receive that many points if we all work together since it's based on contribution," he said worriedly.

The one who had asked laughed. "We were planning to slack around anyway since our quirks are pretty useless. Might as well do something useful if we're not making it through, right?"

"What are your quirks?"

One by one, they explained their quirks.

A quirk to displace an object two feet, one that gave night-vision, one that stretched his arm to three times its normal length…

There were nine non-hero classes, with most of their students choosing to come to Ground Beta since they couldn't really do the other tasks. Individually, they were near useless, but together?

He led those that were willing to take part in the exercise back to Jirou. "Hey guys! I've brought some people with me!"

Together, they were going to get through this.

Setsuna detached her fingers, sending each one at the joints of a tier three robot villain. Curling them around wires, she pulled as hard as she could, and was rewarded with the sound of them snapping as sparks flew from the inner circuitry.

Kinoko's mushrooms were blocking off two of the entry points to the designated location that they had to defend, a giant wall of mushrooms that forced robots to circle around. Ibara covered the remaining two paths, her thick vines creeping over the ground and tripping robots. Spores had been deposited onto the vines, that twisted into the joints of the robots where Kinoko could activate her quirk and grow more mushrooms from within, breaking the robot's circuitry.

Meanwhile, Pony, Setsuna and Monoma had been designated to take out the stronger robots, tier twos and threes that were too heavy to be tripped and restrained by vines. Itsuka took care of the ones closest to them.

"Time remaining for current attack?" Setsuna asked.

"Current time: Eleven minutes, four seconds since start. Current attack will last for another one minute and seventeen seconds," a robotic voice informed her from the armband.

"Keep going, team!" she encouraged.

They were lucky. So far, they'd dealt with one other assault, finding it surprisingly easy to deal with the attacks. It wasn't too much different from Taylor's methods, with the weaker of her mock-villains taken out by the Shakers and stronger ones engaged by the other members of the team. Fortunately, they hadn't come face to face with a tier four robot yet. Those were some serious business.

"Monoma-san! Take over for me, please!" Ibara said.

He nodded, moving over to touch the back of her neck, switching over from Pony's power. It had been something they'd discussed, using Monoma to switch between their quirks if they needed time to recover and if he wasn't already overburdened. Her vines retracted, allowing a few smaller robots to temporarily pass unhindered, but Monoma's own hair quickly grew out to send them sprawling to the ground.

"You doing alright, Monoma-san?" Itsuka asked, tearing an arm off a nearby three-pointer that had made it past Pony and Setsuna.

"I can keep going, don't worry. Focus on the bigger ones!"

"Kinoko-chan, how are you doing on spores?" Setsuna asked.

"I've got more than enough, don't worry! I'll make my mushrooms GROW! MUSHROOMS!" She laughed maniacally, using her quirk to tear apart the wires behind the arm joint of a nearby robot by the sheer pressure of growing mushrooms.

The girl had a serious obsession with mushrooms. Setsuna wondered what she would do in a proper fight against another student.

"Tokage-san!" Pony shouted, pointing behind her. She turned, coming face to face with something she really didn't want to see.

There was one of the tier fours, the zero-pointer that she'd seen Taylor fight against two weeks ago. It was moving toward them, still more than a hundred metres away, but gaining speed. She really shouldn't have tempted fate.

"What do we do?" she asked, sending some fingers moving toward the exposed joints while it was still advancing. Likewise, Pony's horns flew into the joints, repeatedly jabbing in and out. Some of the wires were taken out, but there were a lot of wires.

"This statement is false!" Monoma shouted.

Huh, smart! She'd almost forgotten about Taylor having done that.

The robot continued moving. "PARADOX ISSUE RESOLVED IN PATCH 1.02. HA. HA. HA."

"Damn it!" he swore, looking around. "I've got another plan, but I have no clue if it'll work!"

"Just do it!" Setsuna ordered. Seventy metres away.

"Keep hitting at its joints! Komori-san, grow some mushrooms in its path and slow it down! Shiozaki-san! Get on the left side of the street, I'm taking the right!"

Ibara was moving before he'd even finished, trusting in whatever plan he had. Setsuna hoped it was a good one, because the robot was starting to get uncomfortably close. Fifty metres. Its speed was slowed somewhat by the mushroom field that sprouted into existence.

"Link half of your vines to mine!" he shouted, growing his hair to the middle of the street. Ibara looked confused, but did it anyway.

"Wrap a quarter around anything solid to stabilise yourself. When it gets close, wrap the other quarter around its leg, I'll do the same on my side. Kendou-san, hop onto our vines!"

Wait, this plan –

"You're going to throw me?" Itsuka asked, already enlarging her hands

"Yeah, get on! Hurry!"

It was nearer now. Thirty metres. One arm had been taken out, but the other was aiming right at them. Vines were wrapping around its legs, kept taut.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" Itsuka shouted.

"I don't! Shiozaki-san, on three, launch for its head. Kendou-san, Tokage-san, Pony-san, hit at the same time! Shiozaki-san, when they hit, pull! Komori-san, stack mushrooms! One, two, three! "

Itsuka was catapulted out of the hammock of vines. With a battle-cry, Itsuka reared her enlarged hands back, swinging them forward just before she collided with the robot's head. At the same time, Setsuna sent any detached parts of her body she could spare slamming into the very top of the robot's face, while three of Pony's horns were drilling and pushing in the same direction. Itsuka flipped as she bounced off the robot following her attack, grabbed onto the last one of Pony's horns, and was midway being brought back toward them in case they needed a second salvo of the human catapult.

Any of their attacks alone wouldn't have made it budge. But with the restriction placed by the tower of mushrooms growing at its legs, the tension of the vines pulling it in from below while Itsuka, Setsuna and Pony pushed from the top?

The moment of the two forces was sufficient to generate a large enough turning effect that caused the robot to tip over backwards. It was just like how Taylor had defeated that three-pointer back during her demonstration, except now they were up against something far stronger. Unlike her, though, they had quirks with decent physical force.

The vines tugged harder while the robot was already off balance, signing its death warrant. It fell over, hard, the force of its own weight sending its head flying off. Behind it, a few of the advancing robots were crushed by their giant brethren, a bonus as far as Setsuna was concerned.

"Monoma-san, did I ever tell you that you're a genius?" Setsuna said, sending her separated parts back to join her head. Itsuka let go of Pony's floating horn, moving to stand beside Monoma who was panting slightly, retracting the hair he had grown from Ibara's quirk.

"Continue telling me that, preferably in front of 1-A," he said jokingly. "Was that the last of them?"

The armband chimed. "Area successfully defended. For five-minute complete defence against medium grade assault, thirty-five points have been awarded. Fifteen tier one, ten tier two, five tier three and one tier four robots defeated. Ninety points total, split between six members. Total points awarded: fifty. Current total: Eighty-five points."

"Sweet!" Setsuna said. "We good to continue?"

While the rest were clearly beginning to tire, they nodded nonetheless. She smiled.

"Alright, armband! Where's the next attack?"

"Upcoming attack location: Ground Gamma, coordinates CD-2. Assault beginning in one minute, twelve seconds."

With that, the team set off to the next location.

I heard the crowd roar as the tier four robot fell, and I couldn't help but smile at the sight. One of the cameras had changed to focus on them, displaying them on one of the six large screens of the stadium to give them their moment in the spotlight. If nothing else, this should be enough to attract some attention from Pro Heroes. They had worked remarkably well together, coming up with something I hadn't seen in their training exercises.

"AND THE TEAM OF TOKAGE, SHIOZAKI, MONOMA, PONY, KENDOU AND KOMORI TAKES DOWN THE ROBOT!" Present Mic shouted into the microphone. "WITH THAT, EACH OF THEM ARE UP TO EIGHTY-FIVE POINTS, PLACING THEM BACK IN THE TOP TEN!"

"You're looking happy," Aizawa said, looking over at me. "Proud of your students?"

"I'm just an assistant," I told him.

"I'm fairly sure they learnt that from you," he countered. I raised an eyebrow. "Kan-sensei told me about how you performed during your assessment."

He counted off on his fingers. "One: tried beating the robot with a paradox. Thanks for that, by the way, I loved Power Loader's reaction when we told him what happened. Two: abused physics and the robot's own weight to destroy themselves. Three: used their quirks to restrain their movements. Need I go on?"

"They're stuff that they learned themselves," I dismissed. "Some stuff they mimicked, some stuff they practiced during my exercises. That one was completely original."

"So they're your students, aren't they?" he said with a lazy smile. "Or is it true as I've heard through the grapevine that you've become friends?"

"Who even told you that?" I asked. As far as I was aware, none of them had mentioned it.

"It's called being observant," he snarked. "You should try it some time."

Was this how it was like dealing with myself?

"Anyway, your students are pretty impressive as well. Todoroki and Bakugou are maintaining their lead fairly comfortably. Tokoyami, Iida and Yaoyorozu aren't slouches either."

They'd elected to go down the path of destroying robots, along with most of the other Hero Course students. Without some kind of prior discussion, many had tried to take on area defence but couldn't withstand the number of robots on their own, falling back to taking out isolated robots instead. The heavy hitters couldn't really use their quirks without causing damage to the surroundings, and instead hunted for high value tier four robots.

With their quirks, Bakugou and Todoroki had pretty much been able to demolish just about every robot they could find, with Todoroki even being able to freeze a pair of tier fours at the same time. That was pretty impressive.

"They're going to slow down once fewer robots stay on the field. Soon they'll have to compete with each other," Aizawa said.

"You don't think they'll try to earn points some other way?"

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. "You think Bakugou would go rescuing civilians?"

"Point," I conceded.

"You must be proud of them, all six in the top ten."

"It's mostly from the thirty-five point windfall from successful defence. The others will catch up very soon," I said. "Take a look at Izuku. They're organising up quickly. Once he gets a system together, he'll be catching up with the rest. He's pretty good at working with other people's quirks."

As it was, the four from class 1-A that went to the rescue zone were positioned in the twenties and thirties. At some point, Mei had joined up, using her support equipment to mobilise around and break her way through debris. I had no idea how she managed to bring that much equipment with her, but it was helping immensely in the rescue efforts.

A few from class 1-B were with them, including Kuroiro, with his Mover quirk saving them some time in scouting and trying to find ways to get civilians out. Juzo's softening was also immensely helpful in shifting debris around, greatly reducing the time taken for the rescue team.

With the way things were going, it looked like most of the Hero Course students would be able to make it to the next round. I eyed the standings once again. There were some outliers, of course.

The purple-haired student from the General Education course was someone of interest. Early on, he'd elected to go for capture points. When he'd finally found a target to capture, the camera feed didn't completely show just what had happened, but it seemed like his target simply allowed himself to be bound by capture tape and followed the boy to the capture checkpoint.

Hitoshi Shinsou. I didn't quite know what his quirk was, but just from observation it seemed like a Master power.

"Thinking about him?" Aizawa said, eyeing the scoreboard.

"Yeah. Is he a Master?"

"That's one of those that controls people or minions, right? His quirk Brainwashing lets him issue orders to people who respond to his voice."

Hmm. That was a lot less versatile than I'd originally thought. "A decent Master power, but with some serious limitations, then."

"You think it's weak?" He sounded surprised.

"It's limited in its use, if it requires conditions like those. I can't be sure until I know the full scope of his abilities, but compared to some powers from my world it's quite a bit weaker."

Of course, I was comparing him with the likes of Valefor, Regent, Cherish, Heartbreaker and Khepri.

"What kind of powers did your world have?" he asked, bewildered.

"There was someone a bit similar to him, I guess. He could issue commands to anyone he made eye contact with."

"How did you even manage to beat someone like that?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I evaded. "Doesn't matter, anyway. He's not here now."

Aizawa scrutinised me carefully. I still wasn't sure just exactly how much he trusted me. I knew he had some doubts after our initial meeting, but it had simmered down since I began assisting in some classes.

"Fine," he said finally.

With that, we both continued looking at the screen. Bakugou destroyed a tier three robot just before Todoroki could attack, taunting him all the while. "They really don't fit together."

Aizawa sighed. "It's a work in progress. Both of them have some deep-seated issues."

"Anything I can help with?"

He looked carefully at me once again, considering. After several seconds, he spoke. "I heard about what you said in All Might's class. You didn't hear this from me, but Todoroki-san has some issues with some heroes you talked about."

"I guessed that was the case, but wasn't completely sure. Anyone in particular?"

Again, he paused. "It might be pertinent to your knowledge of this world that you look up some of the top ten heroes. Endeavour's career is particularly illuminating."

Endeavour? Wasn't that Todoroki's father? That explained a possible personal element.

"Will do," I said.

"Oi!" Hizashi shouted, temporarily turning off his microphone feed. "Stop slacking off! I'm not running a one-man radio show here!"

I sighed, looking back to the screen. There haven't been many new developments for some time.

The six of my friends were midway through another invasion, working their way through the robots quite comfortably. Todoroki and Bakugou were still destroying their competition, while the other robot-hunters struggled to keep up in the tens to thirties positions. Izuku was mobilising rapidly, swapping Ochaco out for another group of students while she took some time to recover from the use of her quirk. Shinsou, Toru, Tsuyu, Sero and Mineta were still hard at work finding and capturing the villains out in the open areas.

All in all, the identities of the ones progressing to the second event were quite set in stone. With the cut-off being the fiftieth position, most of those in the top thirty could quite comfortably stop in about another five to ten minutes. I wondered whether anyone would catch on to that fact and take some time to recover before moving on to the next event? Or would they continue accumulating points to keep their advantage in the second event?

After all, the second event was a continuation of the scenario of the first, only Nezu's involvement would make things a lot more interesting. He'd kept me away from some of the finer details, just in case I let details leak to my students. All I knew was that the two events were going to be extremely similar, but evaluated completely different things of the students.

"Do you know what Nezu has in mind for the second event?" I asked during a lull in the action.

Hizashi turned to face me, then shrugged. "I suppose you'd find out eventually, anyway. Remember when you were talking about that idea to test their adaptability? And that idea of facing an unstoppable threat? That other plan of a fighting retreat? And that other idea of forcing the students to think of whether cooperation or a group effort was best? Turns out, he wants to combine them all together. Crazy, isn't he?"

That sounded… complex. "How is he going to manage that?"

Now, Aizawa spoke. "Seems like he was inspired by your Endbringers. He's going to ride a giant untouchable robot, and anyone hit by his attacks is out of the event. Everything else will continue as before, only slightly harder and with different ways of earning points. Those choosing to work in groups need to decide how they want to split their points between themselves. They'll also be able to transfer points or attack and steal points from one another. Their armbands keep track of the score."

Seriously? That was really complex. Not only was there an element of tracking his movements and running away from the 'Nezu-bot', those working in teams may also face the possibility of splintering if they couldn't decide how to divide up their points.

It was almost like how it'd been during Scion's rampage. Capes that banded together fractured after the failed oil rig battle, choosing to selfishly carry out their own goals during humanity's final hour. The Irregulars had stormed Cauldron's base, Teacher did what he did best, and the Yangban had sealed themselves off. Presumably, this event would leave students running from the giant death-robot, while competing among themselves to take points while still engaging in the tasks available to score more points.

"Do you think the students will realise what he's trying to test?"

"What do you think he's testing them on?" Aizawa asked in return.

"They'll need to figure out whether to make this an individual or group effort. Those like Todoroki and Bakugou with a good lead in points would probably do fine on their own, but those working on their own in the twenties to thirties are going to either have to step up a lot or find ways to get points quickly. Would they raise their own points or try to get the rest out of the event? Those already in groups have a decent shot at making it through to the tournament, but probably only if they transfer their points to certain teammates. As it is, even those six are going to be falling behind the rest. They're already out of the top ten."

"You came up with that analysis in that short period of time?" Aizawa said, eyebrows raised. "I'm impressed."

"It's going to depend on how the rules change, obviously, but I can see a large shift in how things will work," I waved him off. "If Nezu is going to be running around, working on rescue points may become harder. They won't have quite the same manpower either. Same goes for defence, if Nezu chooses to rush invasion points they'll have to abandon the area. Students are going to come into contact more frequently if he forces them out of certain zones. That's even before factoring how the ruleset changes."

"True. You can read the rules here, if you want," he said, handing me some sheets of paper. I was impressed; Nezu had made them very detailed.

"You alright to do the commentary without me?" I asked.

"What commentary? You haven't said a word since the event started. Just a moment," Hizashi said, turning to the microphone. "AND SHINSOU HITOSHI OF CLASS 1-C FROM THE GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE CARRIES OUT ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL CAPTURE! WITH THAT, HE ADVANCES TO THE SEVENTEENTH POSITION!"

Then he looked at me slyly, a clear devious ploy in his mind. "A truly remarkable performance! What do you think about that, Taylor-san?"

I half-considered ignoring him, but eyes were now on me. I didn't have much of a choice but to play along. "An excellent execution of his quirk. It's well suited for such capture-based tasks and has remarkable utility. My only criticism is that his tracking skills are slightly subpar compared to those of the hero courses, forcing him to spend a longer time finding the hiding villains. It would do him some good to improve a bit on that aspect."

With that, I turned off my own microphone feed. "There. I've fulfilled my quota. I'm going to read now."

Ignoring my two fellow commentators, I began perusing through Nezu's notes. The second event was shaping up to look like something interesting.

Hitoshi Shinsou didn't know much about Taylor Hebert. Sure, he knew that she was the strange teaching assistant that had come up with the Zombie exercise, but nothing concrete beyond that fact. Regardless, he was thankful that she had changed up the events of the Sports Festival.

Like almost everyone else in Japan, he had religiously watched the Sports Festivals of previous years. The first event was almost always an obstacle course, and while he could perhaps order someone to assist him in the event, there really wasn't a guarantee that he would finish high enough to advance further. Worse, that might paint his quirk in a villainous light, further enforcing the prejudiced views he had endured all his life.

He was sure that this event could at least force some people to rethink their views. When the rules had been explained, he had immediately homed in on how perfect his quirk was for obtaining points by the capture route. His targets were uninjured, he could force them to hand over any information datapads they had, and they wouldn't struggle all the while. It was only a pity that his quirk couldn't get them to perform higher order functions; he had been forced to manually search for the hideouts where these villains were operating from.

He heard another rustle of grass nearby. Normally, it would have been drowned out by other sounds, but with how large the playing field of this event was, most of the other students were off hunting elsewhere. Slowly, he moved forward to where he heard the sound.

Peeking just behind a rock, he came face to face with a startled villain wearing a red armband.

Bingo.

"Hey!" he shouted. The villain began running away.

Ah, one of those types of actors then.

With how his quirk worked, he had to know of ways to catch people off guard and force a response. So far, only about half of the actors and Ectoplasm's clones had responded to his initial greeting.

"Does farting burn calories?" Message sent.

The man paused, turning to look at him incredulously, temporarily forgetting his role in the event.

"What? Listen, are you alright -" Reply.

He felt the buzz of his quirk, and acted on it.

"Stop. Don't struggle. Let yourself be captured, hand over any datapads you have, and follow me to a capture checkpoint."

Wordlessly, the man dug into his pocket, handing over a single device. Then, he brushed across the grass, displacing some dirt to reveal another one of the objects. Shinsou collected them, placing them in his own pockets, then wound the provided capture tape around the man.

"Armband. Nearest checkpoint?"

"Nearest checkpoint is one hundred and twelve metres away. Highlighting area on map now."

He took a look. There was still only just slightly longer than a minute left for the exercise. It seemed like this would be the last villain he could capture.

"Follow me. We're running to the checkpoint," he ordered.

With that, the two of them began to move. They encountered no resistance, although Shinsou could see students desperately trying to destroy the last few robots that they could before time ran out, intervening with the efforts of competitors all the while.

He smiled. With the conditions set upon the task, there were only very few others attempting the capture route. As they reached the checkpoint, his armband chimed again. "Successful tracking and capture of villain. Two datapads retrieved. Villain brought to capture point. Nineteen points awarded to Shinsou Hitoshi. Current ranking: eighteen."

Eighteenth place. That was good enough to advance to the next event, but not to the tournament. He balled his hands into fists. He needed to try harder. No matter what, he was going to prove himself here today. He was going to be a hero.

"Ugh… what happened?" the actor asked, blinking uncomprehendingly as he looked at his bound hands.

"Sorry. I used my quirk," he said unapologetically, while an official helped cut the capture tape off him.

The armband came to life again, but this time Present Mic's voice called out. "AND THAT'S THE END OF THE EVENT! Congratulations to all students, and I hope you had great fun! Please make your way back to the stadium, where we'll brief you on the next event! PLUS ULTRA!"

Even from where he was, he could hear the echo coming from spectators in the stadium. He began making his way back.

Plus Ultra.

So there's that. Looking back now, I should probably add one or two more scenes to give it some more substance. Hopefully it was at least semi-believable. Next chapter the rules of the second event get explained properly rather than the handwaving bullshit here, Nezu gets to wreck things, we see some friendly competition between students, and look at how Team Izuku and Team Setsuna adapt to things.

...probably.

Hope it at least got the essence of what I was thinking about a few chapters back. Otherwise, well, oops. My bad.