Izuku ducked just as a hidden mortar fired a bean bag round, the air ruffling his hair as it passed.
Monoma however, was not as lucky, collapsing to the ground after it struck his head.
"Monoma, get back up and walk it off." Sekijiro-Sensei ordered, watching from above.
As their first ever lesson at UA Academy, Sekijiro-Sensei had decided to go easy on them, throwing the class into the Labyrinth.
The Labyrinth was a training arena constructed by Power Loader and Cementos designed to test students reaction times and combat instincts. It was filled with an uncountable amount of traps and weapons, each one designed to hurt a lot, but not cause any lasting damage.
Sekijiro-Sensei had decided to up the difficulty however, pairing the students up and locking them together with large manacles around their waste. The keys to said manacles were in the centre of the Labyrinth.
Monoma rose to his feet, mumbling under his breath.
"Are you okay?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah, my head's gonna hurt a lot." Monoma replied. "Anyway, do you have something that can help us get out of here?"
"I've got this?" Izuku said, holding his left arm up. "What about you?"
"Eh, depends what your Quirk is. Mine allows me to copy a Quirk for about five minutes."
"I.. I don't have one." Izuku replied, shrinking into himself.
Monoma stared at Izuku for several seconds.
"Okay. I have a few questions for you later." He said, finally speaking. "However, right now you and your gauntlet is going to carry us to victory."
The two boys continued running through the Labyrinth stumbling across dead end after dead end.
They were constantly battered by an endless amount of bean bag rounds, causing more then a few bruises to form.
As the pair turned a corner, Izuku's instincts took over and he threw himself to the ground, Monoma following suit.
Mere seconds later, dozens of cylindrical objects flew past clattering onto the ground behind them.
"That was close." Monoma said as they stood back up.
"Yeah..." Izuku agreed.
"Monoma and Midoryia. Congratulations on getting this far." Sekijiro-Sensei said. "Here's a fun little tidbit about UA as a reward. David Shield, the world's best Support Gear manufacturer attended UA as a wee lad, much like the pair of you. As a student he devised a way of combining machinery with certain Quirks, such as Midnight's Somen- Somenabulst- Some..."
Whilst their teacher struggled pronouncing the name of Midnight's Quirk, the objects from before opened and a purple mist began seeping out.
"Fuck it." Sekijiro-Sensei declared. "Midnight's ruphy gas."
Realizing that neither party had a gas mask on, the two boys bolted whilst the purple mist began to fill the Labyrinth.
Eventually, when they decided that they were safe from the gas they slowed right the way down.
Monoma collapsed, struggling for breath. "I'm.. going to.. to kill the bastard..." He huffed.
"Yeah..." Izuku replied, once more agreeing with him. "Any.. idea on.. how to get out.. of here?"
Monoma shook his head, and the pair reamined stationary for a few minutes.
Then, Monoma's eyes lit up as he perked right the way up.
"Greek mythology." He said, almost as if he thought Izuku would know what he was thinking about. "Theseus, the guy who killed the Minotaur did so in a Labyrinth. To do so he had to travel to the centre of the maze in order to fight the beast. He navigated his way to the centre by keeping his left hand on the maze wall, whilst unraveling a ball of string given to him by his lover."
"Well, let's give that a try."
The two boys then stood up, and slowly made their way to the centre of the maze, Monoma keeping his hand on the wall at all times.
Izuku would use his gauntlet to deflect any bean bag round aimed for Monoma, or blast any cylindrical objects, destroying them completely.
He did have to pull Monoma away from the wall a few times as one of them accidentally set off a trap with their feet.
Eventually, they reached the centre of the Labyrinth, at the exact same time as two other teams.
Momo Yaozarouzu was paired with Ibara Shiozaki. The two girls were standing on Izuku's side.
Minoru Mineta and Kinoko Kimori stood on Monoma's side.
The three groups gave each other exhausted nodds and were about to entre the centre most room when Sekijiro-Sensei made one more announcement.
"Now that there are multiple teams in the centre, allow me to explain the second half of this exercise. Inside is a single gold medal. Whatever team can grab that and bring it back to the entrance of the Labyrinth win an ice block. Have fun."
All three teams were now looking at each other with suspicion, each waiting to see what the others would do.
Ultimately, it was Shiozaki who made the first move.
"Sorry Green Bean." She apologized, whilst launching every vine on her head at them.
The two boys, lurched forward, stumbling into the centre room leaving Mineta and Kimori to take the blunt of the attack.
Positioned nicely on a table was the gold medal mentioned by their teacher. As one, the two boys grabbed it and bolted out the back door of the room.
Right out the back door into the waiting arms of Kinzoku Tetsutetsu and Ejirou Kirishima.
"Thank you-" Kirishima began, as he reached out trying to take the medalian.
Izuku simply fired off a shot from his gauntlet, causing the red haired boy to stagger backwards.
Unfortunately, the gauntlet began to smoke and spark.
"God damnit!" Izuku yelled as the pair bolted down through the maze.
This was the second iteration of his gauntlet, the first one dying during the Entrance Exam. He should not be having difficulties with this version.
Suddenly, an oversized blade burst through the wall, giving the boys a hair cut as they past under it.
"Kodai and Kamikiri." Monoma stated, touching the blade with the tips of his fingers.
Seconds later a blade erupted from Monoma's palm as he deflected a second attack from the other team.
Twenty minutes went by as Izuku and Monoma defended themselves from the other teams, whilst they slowly inched their way to the exit point.
Every shot Izuku fired with his gauntlet only caused it to smoke more and more. Pretty soon it was practically billowing smoke into Izuku's face.
Finally, the pair of them made it to the exit of the Labyrinth, only to find Shiozaki and Yaozarouzu waiting for them.
"Hand over the medal, Green Bean." Shiozaki ordered, holding her hand out.
"I think not." Izuku replied, holding his gauntlet out at the ready.
"That thing looks like it's ready to explode." Yaozarouzu stated. "There's no way you'll fire it."
"Oh, really?" Izuku replied with a smirk. "You think I wouldn't do this?"
As Izuku fired the gauntlet at the women two things happened simultaneously.
One, a vine that had snuck behind the two boys, slipped the medal out of Monoma's hand.
Two, the gauntlet on Izuku's arm erupted into a ball of fire.
YOU ARE READING
A Different Path.
FanfictionIn a world where eighty percent of the population has some kind of unique power called a Quirk, Izuku Midoryia was born without one. Powerless to defend himself, Izuku spent his childhood being mocked, bullied and assaulted by his classmates. Howeve...
