The Apex Hero: Bioterror

Chapter 13

When the preparations were over, Izuku was in his Croaker form, wearing a backpack made of thick, thorny vines. Uraraka, Rin and Shiozaki were all inside, assigned various tasks. Uraraka would wear the headband, and her task was to keep the three of them as light as possible in order to keep from hindering Izuku in any capacity. She didn't make him weightless because his density meant his weight exceeded her current limit and he doubted sloshing around in a pool of her own vomit would be pleasant.

Shiozaki's job was to keep everyone secure so they didn't get tossed around inside the vine pod and to keep the pod sturdy so no one could swipe the 10 million. If anyone managed to get past Izuku and cut or burn their way through it, Rin would spook them off with his scales. It was a solid plan.

When the event started, everyone immediately bolted for Izuku. His response was to leap as high as he physically could and use an air dash to add even more height to that, effectively putting him out of range of basically everyone.

While he was falling down, he briefly locked eyes with Todoroki who was in the ground, who's mismatched eyes briefly went to his vine backpack before seeming to scoff and lead his horse in another direction. 'Odd. His fire should be able to burn through these, but he's just giving up on taking me out of the running? Something weird is going on with him.'

Several contestants clumped together beneath him as he came down, determined to grab his headband when he hit the ground. That was a grievous and collective mistake.

When Izuku touched the ground, the combination of his density and speed created a shockwave that cracked the ground beneath him and sent everyone in the immediate vicinity flying back, knocking a few riders from their horse configuration. That seemed like a solid motivation for most of them to back off and try for other headbands. Not everyone though.

"Deku!" Izuku turns to see Bakugou's team charging at him. There was no one who could fly or jump at Izuku's level on Bakugou's team so evading should have been relatively simple. He underestimated how insane Bakugou was. "You're not getting away from me that easy you fucking loser!"
Izuku looks down to see that Bakugou had abandoned his horse and was using his explosions to fly towards him like he did during the obstacle race. "Is that even allowed?"
Midnight answers using a megaphone. "As long as he doesn't touch the ground."

Thankfully after displaying his abilities during the obstacle race and the shockwave from before, Bakugou seemed to be his only real issue. Unfortunately he proved to be a rather stubborn issue, never staying on his horse for long and pursuing Izuku like a madman. Rather than using the air dash to gain more speed or height, he had to use it to rapidly change directions when Bakugou closed the gap between them.

Time dragged on and Present Mic displayed the leaderboard. Since he was relentlessly pursuing Izuku in the air, Bakugou had he'd onto all his headbands and maintained second place, while everyone on the ground was constantly changing their placement, with few exceptions.

As the chase continued, the constant movement meant Bakugou was sweating more and more as it went on, able to propel himself faster and farther each time. As powerful as Bakugou's quirk was at baseline, he was built for endurance. Izuku needed to change something before he got his hands on the pod.

Then he heard something that gave him an idea. Moaning from within the pod. "Midoriya, can we slow down for a bit? I'm not feeling so good."
Rin voiced his opinions on that. "If you puke inside this thing with me inside, I will slap you!" Izuku would smirk if he had a mouth right now. The subtle tensing of his face would have to suffice as a substitute for a grin.

After hearing that, he moved much more erratically, both on the ground and in the air, even incorporating a few flips into his movement despite the protests from his teammates.

Bakugou came close a few times, his explosions just barely singeing the edges of the pod. Time was almost up and Bakugou had a solid chance to grab the pod when Izuku heard his cue to slow down and let Bakugou get close. "Oh man, I'm gonna hurl."
"Oh hell no! Fuck the strategy, Shiozaki, open the vines!"

As Bakugou drew near, his manic grin widened, and it widened further when Uraraka's pale and sweating face came out from between open vines. It disappeared rather quickly when she power vomited on his face.

When they landed one last time, Present Mic announced that the event was over. "Times up folks! And would you look at that! Izuku Midoriya has placed first two events in a row! Can he keep this streak going? I think so!"

Izuku put the pod down and it unraveled itself, revealing his teammates. Uraraka quickly crawled a few feet away and start yarfing over the ground while Izuku addressed the 1-B students. "Thank you both for your help."
Rin rubs the back of his head. "I didn't really do anything."
"Even so, you put our faith in me and agreed to help if it was needed, and I appreciate that."

"You're not really as arrogant as Monoma described."
Izuku didn't know who Monoma was but that's not too important. "If you're talking about what happened with that purple general guy, that wasn't arrogance. I just don't like people that talk shit and won't back it up. It's disrespectful to people who actually put the work in."
"That's a mentality I can get behind."

Izuku nodded. "If you'll excuse me, I should get Uraraka to Recovery Girl before the next event."
"Before you go," Izuku turns to Shiozaki who detaches a vine from her head "as promised, a vine for your studies."
Izuku takes it, examining it closely. "Fascinating. Despite being called a vine it more closely resembles the stem of a rose with these thorns." He pulls it in two directions gently. "And this tensile strength is impressive. Thank you very much."

He bows respectfully and loops it around his shoulder before picking up the weak Uraraka and walking to the infirmary. "I didn't notice this during the entrance exam because of the giant robot, but did you just vomit rainbows and sparkles?"
"Yeah, it's a random mutation."
"...can I get a sample?"