A Machine's Purgatory

TRAIN TIL' YOU DROP: SPORTS COMMENTARY

Today was the day, the event that V1 had been anticipating since it joined UA nearly two weeks ago: the Sports Festival. While V1 did want to watch the festival, its job of providing commentary was a major gripe on the machine. Since it had arrived after the festival was planned (apparently like All Might), V1 had a minor job to help out where it was needed, else it would give commentary with an eager President Mic and emotionally dead Eraserhead.

Currently Todoroki had just exited the bottleneck start of the first trial, and stood in front of three 0-Pointers from the entrance exam. He stared at them for a moment, before- "Look at that! Todoroki just froze the zero pointers like it was nothing!"

"It looks like it was done in a specific way too. If the others aren't careful then-" The robots then crashed down where the other students started appearing, crushing Kirishima and a 1B student who were able to escape thanks to their very similar quirks. "That can happen."

Todoroki had glided across the pits with a very aggressive Bakugo flying behind him. V1 was impressed with Bakugo, since he adapted his quirk to work in any situation he needed. 'Not just strong, smart too.' As other students crossed in various ways, including someone using a jetpack, V1 watched as Todoroki and Bakugo were neck and neck, before an explosion so loud sounded that it even rang in the sound-proofed booth the three commentators were inside.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?"

"It seems Midoriya has improvised a strategy to get to the front of the race, seeing as he struggles to control his quirk still." Midoriya shot ahead of the two, who had both slowed slightly in their shock, allowing him to secure a first-place victory. "It seems Midoriya's strategy worked as well. I commend him."

As the remaining students finished the course, V1 took a count of what classes the kids were in. All of class 1A and 1B made it, which was expected, as well as five general studies kids and one support course, 46 total. Since Midnight was taking over to explain the cavalry battle, V1 took this time to step out and walk the perimeter of the arena. After it recalled one of its memories V1 felt a pull towards the outside, finding it more beautiful than it was described by one of its fathers. The birds chirping, the laughter of people, the grass. It was so different than where V1 had come from. Different from the endless ash desert, the gigantic monoliths to Mankind's greatest sin, the red fuel that had been drained by machine-kind.

V1 hadn't realized it was at the door to the commentary booth until it heard the squeak of the door opening and the greeting from President Mic. It had taken longer than it wanted as the cavalry battle had started 30 seconds ago, with Bakugo staring at a blonde from class 1-B murderously. V1 just observed, not bothering to give commentary. There was a still group whose rider had wild hair, Shoji was protecting two unidentified classmates with his quirk, and Todoroki constantly threw ice towards his opponents. V1 started judging their actions in combat, given there wasn't much to do since Mic handled commentary flawlessly and didn't need any help.

The still group had a sound strategy, silently collecting headbands that others would assume had been lost in combat by other louder teams. The only problem was that this strategy wouldn't help get them any attention from scouting heroes, though looking closely showed that most members didn't look like they were thinking, just staring blankly. Todoroki's team was smart to throw ranged attacks, yet it still left them open from a sneak attack from a 1-B group. Bakugo was violent, offensive, and ridiculously mobile, which reminded V1 of its rotting rival. He was effective securing points, but his behavior could be read as villainous and opposite of what society looks for in a hero.

Before V1 could make any meaningful notes of Midoriya's group, a quick burst of fire escaped from Todoroki's left arm. No one in the stands or commentary booth noticed it, but V1 did. And judging by Todoroki's expression, he was shocked it happened. As the cavalry battle ended and the winning teams were shown, V1 excused itself from the booth and walked towards where it assumed Todoroki would be. V1 wanted an explanation, it knew that Todoroki could produce flames but never had a reason for why he never did it. Something must have happened to scare - or encourage - them out. V1 was about to turn the corner before it stopped, hearing the voice it wanted to hear.

"Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?"

As it listened to Todoroki, V1 was completely still, processing what it was hearing. Shoto Todoroki acted cold to his classmates because it was the only expression he ever knew. He was well suited for battle because he was created so, almost bio-engineered. If V1 wasn't sworn to secrecy it would have pushed Midoriya away and told Todoroki how they were similar, been mistreated and neglected by their creators. This was the closest it had felt to kinship besides its sibling, a relationship that had ended with V1's bloodied hands and two of its sibling's arms stolen, her head the only thing not combusted from the fall in Greed.

V1 heard heavy footsteps approach, an orange light approaching. It turned to Endeavor, hiding the disgust it felt towards the pro. "I'm sorry sir, but you aren't allowed down here, even as the number 2 hero."

"And who says I'm not allowed down here? I've not seen you before, are you even part of UA staff? I should turn you in for impersonation."

"I am a part of UA staff, do you need identification?" V1 pulled a card out of its wing and showed it to Endeavor without letting it close enough for the hero grab it. "I'm the new Head of Security, a position created after the USJ incident. You may not have heard of me because I am an underground hero that has recently become active for this job."

Endeavor stared at the card, suspicion evident in his face. "I need to see my son, Shoto. May I not go see him?" After a quick denial, V1 heard him leave before hearing the voice of All Might, ensuring Endeavor's departure. It made a quick stop where the students rested, over hearing something about Aizawa allowing 1-A to cheerlead for students in the extra games. After a quick text exchange (done entirely without a smartphone, V1 created a messaging software for itself to not be encumbered with a phone) the machine approached the instigators.

"Yaoyorozu, there is no need to create those cheerleading uniforms, you two follow me." V1 grabbed Mineta by the scruff of his neck after a failed attempt at fleeing, and Kaminari followed it in fear. V1 brought them to the commentary booth and Aizawa, who promised to deal with them.

Hey, so I have some explaining to do. I love this book, I really do, but writing it can be a pain at times since I prevent my internet and personal life from mixing whenever I can. I've had this done and really wanted to do a longer chapter, which then turned into double feature. Unfortunately, it won't happen. Between school getting out and spending this week in Boston with my family, I've been enjoying a break from my regular everyday and the internet, and I encourage you to do the same if possible, it can do wonders.

I'll do my best to get the second half of this done (I've been thinking of just updating this chapter once it is done, let me know if you would prefer that or a separate one). The rest of this A/N is from when I was planning for this to be a long chapter.

I've been thinking of going back to older chapters and cleaning them up a bit, getting rid of the author's notes and maybe thinning chapter names, but I want to hear what you all think of that first.

V1's arsenal is going to upgrade to the latest patch soon, keep in mind it doesn't have the red variants or the alternate shotgun yet.

I do plan on actively getting better at writing (like developing a process instead of voting in my screen one afternoon and hitting publish) and developing some sort of schedule for at least the summer so the story can stand on it's own feet if I need to be gone for months again.

Now, I hope all of you have a good day/afternoon/night.