MHA: A Cat's Way

Ch 78 The Obstacle Race

I Cat Up'd the two of them.

Shinpo's purple hair is hidden by the dark blue of a mage cat's hat, the claws extending from its feet easily finding purchase on the ice. Meanwhile Kitten is wrapped in a brawler cat, whose much sharper claws are digging furrows into the ice, the now damaged terrain adding another challenge for those behind us to deal with.

It's actually super difficult to maintain, and costs an extra two cats each to coat them like that, leaving me with only five to use for whatever the next event is unless I can get a cat nap in. Hopefully I don't have to summon anymore for this event, or else I'll be fighting purely physically. Not that it will be a problem, but it will be annoying.

Up ahead Todoroki freezes one of the zero pointers from the exam just long enough for him to pass before it starts to topple over. "Keep going, nya! The cat's will protect mew!"

"The power of nya compels us, huh?" My ear twitches at Shinpo's snarky remark, and I can even feel Kitten nodding along with him! I am so going to get them back for not letting that die! And what's even worse is some of the audience are still saying it!

At least they manage to avoid getting crushed by the falling robot, and the other zero pointers are too slow to catch us and instead focus on the slower or dumber students who are fighting them. The two of them aren't having too much trouble getting around the smaller bots, though the rockets from the three-pointers are close calls. Thankfully, with my cats boosting their physical abilities we're nearly out of here! Until a one-pointer pops out in front of us. "Shinpo, yowl!"

"What!?" He yelps in confusion, but that's all it takes for him to unintentionally utilize the benefit of Cat-ing Up with a mage instead of a brawler. A small hairball builds up in the cat's mouth before shooting forward, obliterating the robot's head. He stumbles at how unexpected it is, but thankfully falls back into step without any of us falling. He takes a breath before speaking in his usual bored voice, though it's tinged with confusion. "How the hell did I do that? And did you just call me Shinpo?"

"Mage cats nya up hairballs. Since that's what I Cat mew Up'd in, so can mew."

"...You called me Shinpo."

"Oh look, rope bridges, nya!"

I click my tongue in dissatisfaction seeing Todoroki already halfway through the obstacle. It consists of a series of ropes tethered between each pillar that we have to climb across. And if we drop we're out.

"Feline balance, don't stop nya!!" I shout at the two of them, and I'm pleased to see that they take my words at face value. Even if I do choose to ignore Shinpo grumbling something about making me jump in a lake. Luckily he stops when we actually start crossing, seemingly pleasantly surprised at how easy it is. Which is good, because if he kept it up I would have punted him into the abyss below.

""The power of nya."" The two say as we make it to the other side, and I let go of Shinpo with one hand to smack the both of them. That's never going to go away, is it?

We finally reach the final obstacle, a minefield!? "The mines aren't strong enough to seriously hurt you, just make you pee your pants!" Oh... Still.

Todoroki isn't too far ahead of us, but as we're standing there trying to think of an easy way through Bakugou launches himself above us using his quirk, landing just behind Todoroki, who he starts attacking.

I blink, looking down and meeting Shinpo's eyes. "We can attack each other, nya?"

"Guess so." We hold eye contact for a second before we sport matching savage grins. His resemblance to Aizawa is uncanny.

We look forward, and I stretch out a hand to point to the two who haven't realized the danger they're in now. "Longer and louder, makes the hairball larger. Fi-meow!"

"SSSCCCRRREEEWWW YYYOOOOUUU!" Wow, his voice is strong. And that hairball is huge! While we start picking our way between the mines, putting that feline balance from the Cat Ups to good use, the hairball casts a shadow over the two students, causing them to look back.

I see Todoroki's mouth drop open while Bakugou yells in outrage. "WHAT THE FU-" His curse is eclipsed by the sound of an explosion, followed by a series of smaller explosions as the hairball sets off the surrounding mines.

"WHAT THE HECK!? WHAT ARE YOU TEACHING THESE KIDS ERASER!?"

"That's all her. Not only is this student a part of 1-A, which was attacked by the League of Villains, but she also provided valuable support on a recent hero raid. What we're seeing is her own accumulated skills and experience."

"You heard it here first folks, Eraserhead is a terrible teacher!"

"I will hang you from this booth."

We slow down after passing the minefield, looking back and seeing the two former front runners picking themselves up from where they'd been thrown. They look dazed and pretty beat up, but not seriously injured. That's good. Looks like not telling him how to increase the power was the right call. It would have been bad if one of them died.

"So," I start conversationally, "is this the part where mew try and betray me to steal furst fur yourself?"

To his credit, Shinpo hesitates before he speaks, and we stop just in front of the finish line. "No... You kept up your end of the deal, so I'll keep up mine."

"Good choice, nya." So I hop off, the sudden disconnect from their power source forcing the cats around them to dissipate. One thing I didn't account for?

Backlash.

I stumble forward as I'm suddenly hit by an intense feeling of nausea, unable to hold back the rising bile I fall to my hands and knees as my breakfast makes its return. But even when my stomach is empty, the nausea doesn't pass, and judging by the retching sounds coming from the other two I'm not the only one suffering.

"Uh, should we call Recovery Girl? That doesn't look good."

"I already did. The medical bots are already on their way."

Thankfully the nausea abates enough that I can look around before they get here, and I can take in the crowd of people trickling in. A number of students I don't know are looking on with worried looks, though my clanmates surround me. Rubbing small circles on my back are Minya, Tormew, and Purrny. A small way off I see Midorinya doing the same for Shinpo.

Uraraka, looking a bit awkward, is holding Kitten in the air using her quirk, who looks like she fainted.

What the nya is going on?