Protecting You (Katsuki Bakugo x Reader)

Chapter 9- Competitors

You had some definite competitors.

You were steadily catching up to Todoroki when Mineta of all people started to get closer as well. He made a direct bee-line for Todoroki, only to be completely decimated by a gigantic green robot enemy...the first major obstacle. Todoroki fought the monster robot but you kept going, not needing to fight since you went right through them. You could hear Present Mic get real excited over the stadium wide announcements.

"WOW Todoroki from Class 1A has officially been overtaken by our new student (y/n), also from Class 1A! She didn't even flinch at those crazy robots! What nerves of steel!" You smiled at the compliment but kept going, deactivating your quirk to conserve your energy once you passed all of the robots. It wasn't before long that you reached a large canyon with various ropes and methods of getting across. You took half a moment to breathe and activate your quirk, knowing that teleporting yourself that far across the gap was probably going to hurt.

But you wanted to prove to All Might that you were worth his time...that you appreciated his care for you.

You were completely focused as you locked onto the other side of the canyon, activating your teleportation quirk. You appeared on the other side and held your eyes, clearly experiencing a sharp pain in both of them. Your vision was a little fuzzy and so you recognized you needed some more time to rest...overusing your quirk in round one was not something you wanted to do. You still had plenty of stamina, but there was no need to kill yourself over something like this.

You kept running, your endurance was not a problem after an entire childhood of training in the northern mountains. You have survived days without food and water, hours of low oxygen mountain climbing, a month being alone in a forest known for ferocious bears.

This was nothing to you.

"Wow! (Y/n) is holding the lead...but Todoroki and Bakugo from Class 1A are hot on her heels! Will we see an upset folks?!" You didn't realize that your biggest competitors were that close behind you. Maybe winning this will be a bigger challenge than you thought.

You glanced behind you to see Todoroki making it across the canyon using his ice, and Katsuki went and used his explosions to fly through the air like a rocket. They really were catching up to you quickly.

Did you really want to go all out? You weren't used to using your quirk for long periods of time thanks to the quick nature of your missions. Perhaps this was exactly why you didn't think you could handle the pressure of being hero.

You kicked your running into high gear, hoping that the temporary advantage you had would hold out strong to the end.

You came across the final trial of the obstacle race: a minefield. You could clearly see where the mines were buried and this reminded you of the time you had to train by jumping from wooden peg to peg in a mountain river. You were terrible at it at first, but it was all about light footing.

Big toe first, a light tap, bounce to the next place.

You squatted down before jumping to the undisturbed dirt, hopping quickly from one patch to another. You heard an explosion behind you, the quicker students catching up. A drop of sweat dripped down your forehead in anxiety. You tried moving faster but saw that Katsuki and Todoroki were right behind you.

"I FINALLY CAUGHT UP TO YOU!" Katsuki shouted in your ear. You turned to look at him and went ghost just in time for Katsuki's arm to go through you, attacking Todoroki who you didn't even realize caught up to you on your other side. Katsuki got the drop on him, punching Todoroki through you.  This didn't stop anyone, the three of you still rushing at the same speed. You kept ghost activated, your eyes focused only on the finish line, the entryway in sight.