𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 ᵏ. ᵇᵃᵏᵘᵍᵒ

.37.

THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL OF SHOVING AND SNAPPING AND GENERAL FOOT-STOMPING.  Everyone crowded into a tunnel that led to the starting line. Kendria managed a spot at the front, watching everyone else bottleneck behind her. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, trying to keep her hands busy and ignore the prickling stares she got from the strangers around her.

A traffic light flashed red at the top of the tunnel. She shifted, hands out to her sides.

Yellow. Shields formed beneath the soles of her sneakers.

A horn blared as the light turned green, and chaos was unleashed.

As the tidal wave of competitors shoved forward, she jumped, forcing the shields to launch her upwards. She soared over the crowd, and when she started to drop again, she threw her hands out. Blue discs hovered in a stepping-stone path, and she sprinted her way out of the tunnel into the sunlight.

I didn't think that would work so well. Bakugo and Todoroki had pulled ahead of everyone else, Momo and Kirishima behind them, but a few of the others were catching up. She ran above them, smirking at the surprised yells of her friends. There were some tricks she hadn't revealed specifically for this reason.

Present Mic's voice boomed over the stadium, words warbling in the roar of the crowd and the pounding of feet. She was sure he was commenting on those in the lead, but it was hard to hear over her own frantic heartbeat. I can do this. I'm already ahead of a lot of them, right? I just have to make it to the top forty, or something. Midnight must have said what the rankings had to be, but she hadn't been paying much attention.

Rumbles and creaks broke her thoughts.

A zero pointer rose up from the ground.

Her steps faltered, sneakers sliding on her shield platform and she had to curve the edges up to catch herself. Memories of the entrance exam sped through her mind like a PowerPoint. Her palms twinged with ghosts of cuts and bruises.

Breathe. Just go around. She inhaled, decided the school was officially crazy, and shoved the platform forward. Hard.

A short scream bubbled in her throat as she whizzed forward, clutching the edge of the shield as she whirled around the grasping claws of the robot.

... Maybe a little too hard.

A yawning canyon glared up at her as the platform slowed. Her back ached, her palms felt like she'd been handling rusty metal. And while she would have preferred to keep her little bumper-car-hoverboard-thing, she wouldn't be able to keep it up long enough to get over the canyon.

Back to the stepping stones, then. A single step put less strain on her shields than carrying her weight the whole time. Better than plummeting to an inevitable death. Uncle Shota wouldn't let that happen, right?

Iida zoomed below her, sliding down a wire that stretched across the abyss. Wires? There were a lot of them criss-crossing in every direction, as well as stone platforms at varying heights.

Oh. That would work, too.

She could hear Present Mic's commentary this time, louder and clearer as she set to work. "Todoroki and Bakugo in the lead! But that doesn't stop everyone else from getting creative!" Her feet landed on solid blue, the canyon floor miles beneath the see-through material. "One of Class 1-A's students is building bridges between the canyon stones!" She rolled her eyes. Of course, just reveal her plan to everyone so they could try and use her Quirk to better their performances. Kendria released the shields behind her before anyone could step on them.