The Next Generation

C19: The Sports Festival

Bakugo walked up to the stage and approached the microphone. "I only have one thing to say... I'm going to win." Bakugo then turned around and walked back down.

Optimus started clapping, but then his classmates glared at him, so he stopped clapping.

After the fancy bit was over and UA faculty stopped parading them around, they went to a gate to wait for the first part of the competition to begin. Optimus was a little nervous, so he repeatedly checked to make sure his newly repaired wrist blades were working properly, and he tried to avoid eye contact. It wasn't because he was intimidated by the trials ahead of them, but more so that his classmates would get too vicious.

Todoroki and Midoriya had already declared their newfound rivalry. Class 1B was ready to tear their throats out. Bakugo was oddly calm and that was oddly terrifying. Everyone had gotten serious, even Uraraka, who was usually so nice and sweet. The sports festival wasn't a life or death situation, so Optimus was a little disturbed by how intense everyone was getting.

There was a moment where he'd tried to quit, just because his classmates really wanted to win and Optimus was worried they'd kill him in his recharge if he got in the way. Unfortunately, the moment he brought it up, Bakugo had assaulted him, yelling about how he wanted the glory of killing him in fair combat.

So... here he was, getting prepared to die.

He sent in a request to wear his hero costume, but Nezu had denied him everything but the forearms where his swords were kept. Optimus figured that was okay, but he would have been more comfortable with his armour. Still, he had plenty of practice moving around in normal human clothes now, especially his gym uniform.

The gates opened and Optimus ran through. It was a race, but a long one, and Optimus didn't want to be caught off guard. He used the same strategy as the one he had during the entrance exam, watching his opponents and reacting accordingly.

Todoroki started the race off with a blast of ice along the ground. Optimus jumped up and avoided getting stuck to the floor, like some of the others around him. He landed and slipped, falling on his aft and sliding for a moment. Optimus scowled and tried to stand back up, but again. His aft kinda hurt now.

Optimus looked around. Plenty of people were using their quirks to get through the icy ground, but more often than not, they were just running. Optimus cursed himself for not knowing how to run on ice. He ejected his sword, stabbed it into the ground, and then just propelled himself forward.

"TODOROKI'S HEADSTART SEEMS TO HAVE NO EFFECT ON BAKUGO, WHO FLIES OVER THE OBSTACLES USING HIS EXPLOSIVE QUIRK! A SURPRISING AMOUNT OF STUDENTS HAVE EVADED THE ICE AND ARE MAKING—" Present Mic's commentary was cut off as he started cracking up laughing over the speakers.

"Prime," Mr. Aizawa sounded exasperated. "What are you doing?"

Optimus felt his helm heat up, but he pushed forward anyway. 

"ANYWAY!" Present Mic continued to give a report on the festival. "IT SEEMS THAT THE ROBOTS HAVE BEEN RELEASED!"

A robot crashed down ahead of him, shaking the ground and most of the ice on it shattered. Optimus stabbed the ice under him again and then booty scooted the rest of the way to the robot. He slipped and tripped until he managed to climb on top of it.

Solid ground at last!

Optimus started to run over it's back. He noticed that he was falling behind by a lot, but there was nothing he could do about it. He reached the end of the robot's leg and thankfully, there was only one trail of ice, so he could actually run toward the next part of the race. Optimus made it to the mine zone, where students were crawling forward and getting blown up. He looked over it just in time to see Midoriya finish in first place.