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Chapter 22: Circus Maximus
🕑 Added 2024-04-26 16:59:09 +0000 UTCI wrote this on my birthday; well, I started writing it on my birthday, which was pretty neat. Went out and had some fun with a couple friends; it just sucked that a movie I wanted to see, Fall Guy released the next day, so we just went out go-karting. I even managed an extra serving at the restaurant once they learned it was my birthday. When I came home and started working on this, I was in a pretty darn good mood.
The chapter depends on how things go; it might need to be cut into two chapters, with the final bits placed in the next chapter. Hopefully, that's not an issue that needs to be addressed. But the concept I drew up in the last chapter was hella fun. I'm eager to get into it as I only recently heard that motorcycle chariot racing was a thing, a pretty niche thing, but a thing nonetheless. Frankly, after Phineas and Ferb did it, I'm surprised we don't see it more often.
Chapter 22: Circus Maximus
(Previously)
“However, first place was as special, worth 5000 points!” Midnight’s announcement was made with silence, both from the students and the audience, with Kendo’s name appearing and just as she said, Bakugo who came second had a value of just 310 but Kendo’s blew that out of the water.
“5,000?!” The winner of the first event repeated before she felt the eyes of the rest of the students on her back, friend and foe alike.
"That's more than every other score combined," a dark-haired girl with a large ponytail said, having quickly done the math in her head.
"In other words, to hold it is a guaranteed win.” Midoriya surmised, thanking the school for this chance as he already wanted to get back at her.
“Which means that gunning for number one is the best play.” The rest concluded as their gazes became hungrier and more demanding. Kendo felt the weight of their gazes and wondered if this was something All Might dealt with, sitting at the top.
Midnight’s smile didn’t bode well for her, as she knew what this did and seemed to enjoy it. “That’s right. To stand at the top means to face all adversaries and conquer them all! But to a challenger, it’s the golden ticket!” She told them that she couldn't wait to see what came during this second event, as the first round was already an excellent opening showing. Still, she and the rest of the viewing audience wished to see more.
Line Break
Shortly after that announcement, Midnight also added that to maintain safety, any student who fell off their chariots would immediately be marked, and Cementoss, who was on standby, would alter the track to give them a chance off it if the need arose, also if a member of the team touched the ground, the entire time would be eliminated, but that they'll be watching them to ensure that no-one purposely caused such an incident, as if they did, their team would face a automatic point reduction of half. With that said and done, she snapped her whip, and the timer appeared so they could get to work.
In the time given to the students to build their chariots, some heroes brought in as extra security took the chance to have a little break. At one table sat the long-time local hero Death Arms and the up-and-coming rookies Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods. The three had been placed together partly because he was an elder pro who could teach them a thing or two and partly because he assumed that whoever organized the teams had a sense of humour at his expense.
Taking a drag at his cigarette, he looked to the nearby TV that listed their individual scores of the 32 and the total scores for the teams that made it through. "Normally, the U.A. Sports Festival is about simulating the competition they'll face as heroes. It's all fine and dandy that so many want to be pros, but the fact is, it's not an easy job." Death Arms stated as he puffed out the nicotine smoke to the side.
"What are you talking about? Danger comes with the territory. I'm sure those kids know that by now." Mt. Lady asked him if anyone had entered the hero course and somehow hadn't realized that they were either idiots, arrogant as hell, or some combination of the two.
Death Arms scoffed. “Maybe they understand, at least on the surface, that they can lose life and limb, but what about water and bread? With so many heroes and hero agencies out there, you need to fight for work, else you'll end up barely making anything. Perhaps they can get sponsorship deals, but only active pros or pros with already established brands can make anything from that."
"So, you're saying that they need to fight each other to do good in the world, or else they'll face financial hardship?" Kamui Woods asked, his brow creased. When their senior pro nodded, he shook his head in disgust. “What a hypocritical system.”
Taking another drag, Death Arms conceded that, but it wasn’t a system without merit. "It's not a walk in the park, but it does have the benefit of keeping the number of lazy bums that try and coast by without doing real work to a minimum, and it encourages the rest of us to do our best." He had seen more than a few rookies who thought just having the training and license would be enough, only for most to retire less than 9 months in once the cheques that the commission wrote every rookie hero dried up.
"That was probably the rationale behind the first event, to cut out the weak links." Death Arms gestured to the screen, which showed students hard at work building their chariots for the next part of the festival.
“Doesn’t that just break your heart?” Mt. Lady shook at the head at that, which Kamui Woods took offence to.
"You're one to talk; you shamelessly stole my capture in your debut." He was reminded of the purse snatcher incident and how shamelessly she advertised herself while he was left in the dirt despite having done a lot more than she did.
Lady took a moment to think about it before she replied. “I did that? I don’t recall.”
“You little-” Death Arms stepped in before he had to deal with them arguing like siblings for the 20th time.
“I say that is their normal modus operandi, but this year is different. As that first event, while it was largely based on the mentality of first-come, first serve, it was in service of a team. With this second event being team-centric, I would bet half my paycheque on trying to instil in them a sense of comradery and respect for others early." His explanation of things moved their attention away from each other and to him.
"That makes some sense, as I recall that a few of my classmates were more of the lone wolves type," Kamui noted.
Death Arms thought it foolish to isolate oneself from others. “In this environment, going in alone makes some sense, but anyone who studies people and animals can tell you we're more successful in groups. That is especially critical for heroes since we could be called to the same situation and be required to work together as seamlessly as possible. We don't get the luxury of ego-driven drama."
Early man didn't just survive but thrived because of luck and cooperation. Even the king of the beasts, lions, had better luck when in pride when alone. Even today, with quirks and all the technology that thousands of years of development have led to, that truth hasn't changed. Of course, there were always outliers, the biggest being their number one who worked alone for most of his career. However, he had the power of 20 pros in one hand easily; he could afford to make that decision. The rest of the mere mortals had to make do with what they had.
"But didn't Midnight say they had the chance to make teams beforehand? That removes the element of how spontaneous co-ops can be," the Lady asked.
"The chance to make teams, not the instruction. If students were willing to take that step, it'd benefit them now, but if not, they're fighting uphill." Death Arms replied as he recalled seeing some students sweating at that. It's a shame, but kids were taught teamwork as far back as elementary school. The teachers shouldn't need to spell that out for them now that they're in high school.
“They also didn’t know about this, so they couldn’t have focused too much on quirk synergy either," Kamui added, as that must have been a purposely ploy by the school, as while agencies could plan those kids out, this was more meant to simulate what it was like to work with others on the fly.
"Either way, this won't be easy for them. But then again, that is the life they're signing up for." Death Arms hummed.
Line Break
It might have only been a few minutes on the field since the build time started. Still, the remaining teams were furiously working on their individual projects. As promised, they were all provided the essential supplies and tools, delivered by a small army of robots. Still, there was also a large pile of specific goods, which teams that had support students regularly visited to grab something, running off beaming as this was their time to shine.
“We need more screws!”
“Dammit, there’s that blasted piece!”
“Shit, shit, what are we gonna do? I don’t know how to make a chariot!” Kaminari yelled, gripping at his hair as he freaked out, he was on one of the teams that didn't have a single support student, and he had thought it wise to join up with Bakugo. After all, he might have had a personality he described as sewage-soaked garbage soaked on fire. However, he was still the arguably second strongest person in the class, behind Kendo.
“You’re asking me? I’m using the instructions and still having issues!” Sero kept referring to the manual for the thing, but he hasn't been able to start work on anything other than a part of the chassis.
“Just shut it and keep working! I’m not letting that asshole, Deku get away with disrespecting me!" Bakugo yelled at them both, his mood even fouler than usual as not only did he come in second again to Man-Hands, but thanks to Deku letting that sleep-deprived looking extra ride him like a fucking horse, their team had a higher score than him.
Team Midoriya: Izuku Midoriya(Hero Course); Ibara Shiozaki(Hero Course); Hitoshi Shinso(General Course); Aoijin Kyūryū (Support Course); Jikakamo Kingen(Business) – Points 570
Team Bakugo: Katsuki Bakugo(Hero Course); Hanta Sero(Hero Course); Eijiro Kirishima(Hero Course); Mina Ashido(Hero Course); Denki Kaminari(Hero Course) – Points 520
That 50-point divide pissed him off, and he would be damned if he didn’t correct it.
Scratching his chin, Kaminari asked, “But, didn’t you place sec-” Only to stop when Bakugo turned to him, looking like he’ll jump him there and there, consequences be damned.
“Say it, I fucking dare you.” He snarled as he had spent the last couple weeks since he saw Deku walking around U.A. like the piece of quirkless trash belonged having nightmares, back to that punch, to him taunting him with that reminder that he wasn't the top dog yet, each time he called him 'Number 3'. At the same time, he referred to himself as 'Number 2'. He might have beaten him this time,, but he wouldn't be satisfied until he took the crown from Man Hands.
"Dude, if you're upset about our points, you shouldn't have left me behind; it was a team event." Kirishima pulled him off Kaminari's case, as he had been doing that much lately. Baku-bro's been in a mood since class B came to visit. He didn't know much about this Midoriya person, and looking at where the green head's team was building their chart only added to that confusion. Still, he seriously doubted that what he and Bakugo's past was anywhere close enough to warrant such aggression.
“You shouldn’t have kept up!” Bakugo retorted in his face, but at this point, he just sighed and returned to trying to assemble their chariot. If they got disqualified for not having a complete one in time, he felt they wouldn't have peace in class for a while.
“Is his default mood just angry?” Mina whispered to Sero, watching their resident douche simmer in internal rage at…she didn’t know, Bakugo seemed like the type that would curse out the morning sun.
"Seems like it," Sero replied just as quietly.
As Bakugo's team floundered in the water, team Midoriya was going strong. With Kyūryū leading them, they were making good progress as Midoriya returned from the supply pile with a bunch more wood. They had been sceptical of building their chariot out of wood when others were taking more durable materials, but he and Shiozaki assured them it would be very much in their favour.
“Is he always that loud?” Kingen asked, as even with power tools being used all around them by others, he could still make out Bakugo’s yelling over it all. It was like he had a damn megaphone right above his voice box.
“Trust me, he can be worse just to be a petty little bitch.” Midoriya gently put the supplies down before he got back to assembling the wheels.
“Midoriya, please don’t curse.” Shiozaki sighed, the girl growing out her vines to act as accessories for the finished product.
"He doesn't seem the most pleasant person; I doubt he spoke with anyone during the grace period." Shinso stated, carefully measuring something before grabbing a saw and cutting the wood into the right pieces.
“I saw a couple of my classmates try, but he chased them off like they had insulted his mother or something.” Kyūryū hummed, looking over some nuts and bolts, trying to pick the most optimal for this build.
“What did they say that could get that response?” Shinso asked, thinking a guy like that would love people feeding his ego. Did they call him out for it?
"I'm not sure. One said he freaked out as soon as they mentioned that he came third in the entrance exam," she explained. But she heard Midoriya giggling, who was soon joined by Shinso. “What’s so funny?”
“Midoriya here taunted him with that when they spoke, and with how prideful he is, it must have really got to him.” Shinso explained, getting an eye roll from Kingen while Shiozaki frowned.
"He gets that vulgar and violent. Is it ever such a trivial thing?" she asked as she finished growing out vines. Their master builder gave her further instructions to help Midoriya make the wheels.
"Shiozaki, as someone who had the misfortune of schooling with him for years, I can tell you that Bakugo's ego is the size of the moon and as fragile as a cheap balloon." Midoriya gave her a flat look. While he enjoyed messing with his former friend and bully, he would rather not need to entertain him, but life was full of compromises. Shiozaki wasn't sold, but with how serious Midoriya looked, she had to accept that.
"How in heaven's name did he even get into U.A.?" She asked as if their fellow schoolmate was such…that she wondered how he cleared the high standards as U.A. was the best; it was why she decided to study there. Indeed, they didn't just allow such misbehaviour and disrespect, right?
"When you have power, people can ignore every red flag." Midoriya's answer didn't help her confident in that, but the rest picked up a deeper meaning to it, as it was tinged with deep-seated resentment, so clearly whatever beef the two had was mutual; Midoriya was just less violent about it.
"I feel like a piece of meat thrown to the sharks," Kendo said as her team worked. Whenever she or Agoyamato went to fetch more stuff for their demanding support engineer, Hatsume Mei, she felt the eyes of the entire field on her.
“Well, you’re kinda are, Ms 1st Place." The taller general studies student flatly told her, handing Hatsume a tool, the girl working on adding some extra stuff to the chassis of their chart.
“Don’t remind me, I almost wish I let Bakugo take first…almost.” Kendo stated that though she cracked a smile at the end there, as she liked to think herself above whatever petty things their resident bomber was involved with, she would be lying if she said that claiming first over him didn't feel good.
"Yeah, if he won, he might be more insufferable than normal." Uraraka replied as she had tried to talk with Bakugo on the first day, even the second, but after he refused to address as anything other than 'Round Cheek', which she wasn't even sure if he was just being a dick or was a pervert like Mineta, she gave up on that. How Mina could manage was beyond her.
“If nothing else, my respect for your guys has gone up if you deal with that,” Agoyamato glared over at Bakugo, same as others who were getting sick of his yelling. “Every day.”
“Some days are better than most," Asui noted, thinking her experiences as the eldest sibling might help her. However, neither her younger brother nor sister was anywhere close to the bag of trouble that was Bakugo. More than once since school started, she wondered how his parents handled that.
Hatsume giggled as she picked up a blow torch, lit it, and pulled down a welding mask. “Just you wait, Ms 1st place, with the number of babies I can fit onto this thing, you'll keep that spot and show off how ingenious children are to all the big support companies!" She went to work.
"I feel like she's taking the lion's share of the work," Kendo noted as outside just getting supplies, she had barely done anything.
“(Kero)That’s because she is, but that does give her time to figure out riders. We only have the 3 spots." Asui told her, as Hatsume seemed like she enjoyed doing this. While she thought they should help, Hatsume wasn’t the best at communicating what she wanted or needed from them.
"Count me out, I wouldn't be much help, and honestly, I'm not all that hot about this." Agoyamato stated that he only joined them because he talked with Uraraka in passing during the grace period.
“Hatsume?” They looked at the girl, who turned away from the freshly welded piece of metal; thankfully, she had the mind to shut off the blow torch.
"Hmm? Oh no, I couldn't care less about that. I just decided to bother to show off my babies. I was gonna forfeit when I finished that to get back to improving and making more." She waved off the chance of a lifetime for the hero course. Still, Kendo supposed it made sense since even with the team set-up, it was clear that the Sports Festival was just for the hero course, the rest there mainly to make them look good and stretched this out, as bad as that sounded.
"So that leaves just us, then?" Kendo asked, as she didn't want to think about how biased this event was or her suspicions about Midoriya. But, looking over the cat boy, she couldn’t help but wonder.
Line Break
Around an hour later, a siren announced the end of the build time. For those that were watching at home, it was time to tune back in as U.A. used the time to air a crap load of commercials Superbowl style. It was time for those in the audience to return from partaking in other events and stalls around the area. “And the time is up, folks! Let's look at what our gloriously magnificent students have created!” Present Mic started, with his co-commentator groaning at how energetic he was.
“You didn’t need to say magnificent if you already said gloriously, Mic.”
“Hmm, a fine line-up of chariots, wouldn’t you say?” Present Mic ignored that as the camera went over the 16 chariots on the track. Some were pretty flashy in design, as was the case for the one with a blonde posing on it. Some had a little more flair to them, even if it was mainly cosmetic, as was the case with Tokage, Kodai, and Fukidashi's.
Others were bare bones thanks to a lack of creativity or a support student, such as Bakugo and Kuroiro. Others were fitted with an assortment of goodies and gear, such as Kendo and another class A student, their vice rep, if Midoriya wasn't mistaken. He was most weary of that last one since he and everyone else saw her creating most of that added stuff, which didn't cause any issues with the teachers. Still, it did mean she had access to things they didn't.
Lastly, Midoriya's team seemed like they were championing nature as it was mainly made from wood and covered with Shiozaki's vines, the two, along with Shinso, having been picked as the riders. Frankly, while others that had gone the extra mile had gone so with a modern sense to it, it seemed like they were fully embracing the theme of the event as their primarily wooden and vine-covered chariot seemed like the sort of thing that could have been used in those bygone times.
The only real thing they all shared was the flag poles, fastened in place in the middle of their chariots, each bearing a flag bearing their score.
“As long as they’re functional.” Midoriya pretended that he was mildly insulted by the sleepy man's lack of reaction to their master crafts.
“Oh, but where's the fun in that? Come on, this is U.A. We don't do this halfway. We go so far we'll be in the next town over. Isn't that right, folks?!” Present Mic asked the crowd.
“Yeah!” Which cheered so loud that for those with sensitive hearing like himself and a girl with wire-like earlobes, it was a bit uncomfortable, but it wasn't the first time the place got so loud that it nearly hurt. They doubted it would be the last.
Stepping onto a stage set up to the side, Midnight addressed them. “Now, we have a little surprise for you, our chosen charioteers! I can bet a few wondered where you were going to race? Perhaps outside again, perhaps inside here, but as you can tell, there isn't much space inside, so outside feels like a safe bet, right?” That was an understatement, as the students had been lined up on a track in groups of 4 due to a lack of space.
The smile she gave them wasn't comforting as she whipped out a small remote from somewhere on her person cause she sure as hell didn't have pockets. “Well, we thought of that, and this was our solution! If we've already chosen A and B, which are boring, do what every 6th grader who doesn’t know the answer does and pick C!”
With that, she pressed the button, and almost immediately, the stadium started to shake, as if she had set off a localized earthquake. Looking around, they saw the place falling apart…wait, no.
Things weren't falling apart. They were shifting! In a feat of engineering that would have the great minds of the 20th century having happy accidents in their pants, the students and audience experienced the building around them, the floor shifting as if the place were a transformer. The stadium's walls lifted and extended outwards, or at least part of it did as the students saw that the stands to their side remained where they were, but to their fronts and rears, they shifted outwards and from the nearly freed space, more track came up, fitting into place like it were puzzle pieces and not what must have been hundreds of tons of concrete and steel.
“What the hell?” Midoriya used tenet to keep his balance, holding onto his teammates simultaneously.
"The stadium is moving?!" Shiozaki asked, her eyes as wide as dinner plates as they watched the ever-lengthening stands, even the seating shifting as people found themselves being shifted and moved about like products on a conveyor belt; sometimes, it was just a single person; others, it was two, and then there were entire groups. Did… the U.A. take into account people who came in groups and families to keep them together? How did you even begin to calculate that, and what sort of system could run on this.
"Witchcraft, witchcraft, I say!" Another student, a dark-haired boy riding with Bakugo, yelled, and for once, the blonde wasn't yelling at them all to shut up, as he was as slack-jawed as they were.
“Where does U.A. find the time or the cash? This is crazy!” Midoriya dealt with crazy; he dealt with a cat, youkai, for months, who he wasn't sure was sane, but it seemed their principal was cut from the same cloth.
But the time the shifting ended, and they managed to gather themselves from what should have been impossible to achieve on an engineering scale, they looked on at how the place had changed. As before, the stadium had been big; it had to be to house the 120K spectators, but it was built in the traditional style, where the main structure was a circle surrounding the pitch, a large pitch but a pitch nonetheless.
What they saw before them was something closer to an elongated oval-like design, as the stands that had been 20 tiers before were now just 5, as the extra space meant they could bring the people to the action. The chariots themselves had also been shifted, so the 16 now stood shoulder to shoulder in a single line, with Midnight standing on a piece of evaluated land that separated the two stretches of track, which had to be at least 500m from corner to corner.
Midnight seemed far too pleased with how dumbstruck they were, but could one blame here. It wasn’t often that one managed to pull such a stunt like this. “You're not seeing things, our dear audience and charioteers. We went above and beyond to ensure this year's Sports Festival tops all others in the past decade. Our U.A. stadium was modified to change its shake, everything from seating to bathroom placement to ensure that we could perform some truly jaw-dropping stunts like this.”
“And with that, I present to a stage that would make the Circus Maximus blush, the Circus U.A!” She waved her hands as fireworks shot out. Most of the students were still digesting that their school could pull this hat trick, while the spectators lost their collective minds. Their screams and cheers were the loudest they've ever been, as Midoriya could only say one thing.
“…I guess we know why they wanted us to build these things.”
“This is too mentally exhausting, I wanna take a nap," Shinso muttered.
"I, too, need a minute to take it all in…" Shiozaki noted as she wished that Vlad had given them some sort of warning. She could understand that part of the job was expecting the unexpected, but she doubted that they'd ever again find themselves in a transforming building.
“It was a great investment, wouldn't you say, Eraser ole buddy?” Present Mic asked his co-commentator.
“No comment.” For his part, Eraser sounded as done with this as they were stomped that U.A.'s credit score wasn't in the negative triple digits with how crazy they were with their spending.
“Well, we'll just have to change that, won't we, folks?” The crowd answered that one quite positively. “But have a track worthy of this great event. From the start, it's over 2km long!” That… was impressive, as the students could see the other end, but that was quite a ways away from it.
“The first event was a 4km race, but since you'll be motorized for this one, the race will have 4 laps, equalling 10.6km!” Midnight told them, which to the more fitness-loving students made a 10km run seem all that bad, while to others, it made them grateful that they didn’t need to run.
“As the rules have been explained, let's take the moment to highlight the teams, shall we?” Midnight said as the screens flashed to show each chariot team along with their score at the jump.
Team Kendo. Riders: Itsuka Kendo(Hero Course); Tsuyu Asui(Hero Course); Ochaco Uraraka(Hero Course) – Total points 5230
Team Midoriya. Riders: Izuku Midoriya(Hero Course); Ibara Shiozaki(Hero Course); Hitoshi Shinso(General Course) – Total 570
Team Todoroki. Riders: Shoto Todoroki(Hero Course); Tenya Iida(Hero Course); Maina Furasu(Support Course) – Total 560
Team Bakugo. Riders: Katsuki Bakugo(Hero Course); Hanta Sero(Hero Course); Mina Ashido(Hero Course) – Total 520
Team Honenuki. Riders: Juzo Honenuki(Hero Course); Pony Tsunotori(Hero Course); Togaru Kamakiri(Hero Course) – Total 490
Team Tokoyami. Riders: Fumikage Tokoyami(Hero Course); Mezo Shoji(Hero Course); Toru Hagakure(Hero Course) – Total 430
Team Tetsutetsu. Riders: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu(Hero Course); Kosei Tsuburaba(Hero Course); Neito Monoma(Hero Course) – Total 390
Team Yaoyorozu. Riders: Momo Yaoyorozu(Hero Course); Kyoka Jiro(Hero Course); Koji Koda(Hero Course) – Total 290
There were others, but that didn't register with Midoriya; his sight had been on the most threatening of those teams, from his class and their sister's class, but out of all, he wanted to take on Kendo the most. Even if she wasn't the ticket to victory, he felt a part of him demand that they battle, not out of rage or hatred but out of friendship. Twice now, they've locked eyes in the heat of tense moments. Twice now, he's seen a kindred spirit, if not in form but in ethics and drive. It might have been selfish of him, but he wished to face off against her again, to feel that spark.
“Alright, people, help me with the countdown to this bloody race of champions!” Present Mic yelled, the screens changing to showcase the starting number.
“5!” The students started their engines.
“4!" The ones controlling the reigns gripped them tight, having never done this before, but none were willing to back down.
“3!" They eyed one another, those whose job was to snatch points.
“2!” Midoriya took in a deep breath.
“1!” Kendo let one out.
This took way too long because I had to do something at that damn bank. After all, a family member called out of the blue and needed it, but then the bank queues were just as long and exhausting as I feared. Those things tend to wait till you need something, even on days when they shouldn't be.
