Collector Hero: Synthesis Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Hey guys, still not 100% but I was able to get this out for you all. I was able to reuse a chunk from the Sun Hero Sports Festival opening, which really helped out today with the feeling off and everything.

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Collector Hero: Synthesis! The Sports Festival begins! How will it go? Things are very different in this fic compared to Canon!

If you’d like to become a patron and get access to these chapters earlier, just head on over to Pat re on and add a /Kairomaru after the com.

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So without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 14 – The Festival Begins

The Sports Festival was rapidly approaching and every student was preparing in their own way for the major event. Izuku was often training with Momo, Ochako, Tsuyu, and Camie, either at the pool or in one of the gyms that U.A. provided for their students to use. Over the two weeks that led up to the festival, Izuku and the four girls had all gotten closer. They all called each other by their given names even!

He’d even gotten acclimated to their desire to touch him and feel his muscles. He would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. Four beautiful girls, all of which he was one hundred percent crushing on, wanting to trail their soft hands over his chest, abs, arms, and back was something Izuku hadn’t ever imagined experiencing. Camie was all for him touching her in return, but the other three weren’t quite as ready as the fawn-haired girl was.

Not to say Izuku couldn’t touch them at all.

He was never so happy that he’d taken his dad’s advice and learned how to give pseudo-massages. Hisashi would give Inko shoulder rubs or foot rubs fairly often to soothe his wife’s stress. Not to mention it was an activity that naturally increased their closeness. Izuku had been taught by his dad and his mother had let him practice rubbing her shoulders. He enjoyed helping out his mom and his dad had promised that the knowledge would come in handy in the future. Izuku was now experiencing that promise first hand!

“Hmmm~” Ochako sighed happily after the fivesome had finished another round of after school training for the Sports Festival. Izuku had offered to give them all what he called pseudo-massages that he’d learned at home. After getting to touch Izuku already, none of the girls would deny him something that was to their own benefit. The brunette was lying on her stomach, poolside, with a soft towel under her. Izuku’s hands were gently kneading her neck muscles and then her shoulders. ‘He’s good at this.’ She relaxed further as the tension in her form bled out under Izuku’s hands.

“You’re awesome, Izukun~” Camie hummed pleasantly from her own towel next to Tsuyu. The frog-like girl was next to Ochako and both she and Camie had already had their own pseudo-massage from Izuku.

“Thank you, Camie.” Izuku smiled with only a hint of pink on his cheeks at the affectionate nickname. She’d taken to calling him that in the last few days and Tsuyu had quickly picked it up too. Ochako and Momo both still called him Izuku, but there was a fondness in their tones that couldn’t be mistaken for just close familiarity.

The warm sun was taken advantage of by all five of them today after their training. The girls relaxed, dried off from the pool, and enjoyed the warmth after their pseudo-massages. Izuku did the same, just without the massage part. Camie had said she’d give him one in return, but the way her eyes drifted down his body had made Izuku hold off. He wasn’t sure his heart could take the kind of massage that Camie was teasing him with.

“Your turn, Momo.” Izuku smiled at the curvy ravenette as he left Ochako nearly asleep on her towel.

“I’m in your hands, Izuku.” Momo returned his smile while resting her head on her crossed arms.

Izuku got started on her slowly, as he did with the three before her. He gently worked on her neck muscles, applying slightly more force over time to loosen them up. Once he felt the tension leave, he moved down to her shoulders and began to work the stress and tension from them. He could literally feel as the muscles relaxed under his hands. It brought a smile to his face to see Momo so relaxed and peaceful.

“That’s wonderful~” Momo praised her crush as he worked on her shoulders. For what he called a pseudo-massage, Izuku was doing remarkably well at loosening her tense muscles. In the span of just a few minutes, Momo was half-asleep on her towel under the warm sun. Izuku was all smiles at seeing the girls relaxed and resting well after their training.

After a while of relaxing, the group would head to their own locker rooms and shower off the pool water before drying off and changing back into their school uniforms. Izuku happily chatted with the four girls as they walked to the train station together, offering them ideas or tips on their Quirks when he could. The four always came to him when they thought up different applications of their Quirks. They valued Izuku’s insight and opinion and that made the verdette teen happier than he could express in words.

-The Next Day-

The bell had just rung to signal the end of the day's last class. As Class 1-A packed up their things over the next few minutes, only a few noticed a muffled sound coming from the hallway outside. When Ochako opened the door to leave with Tsuyu, Camie, Momo, and Izuku, the group was met by a corridor full of other students.

“Why the heck are you all here?!” Ochako exclaimed seeing the horde of students just staring at her and the rest of 1-A through the open door.

“Do you all have some kind of business with our class?” Iida questioned the large group as he stepped forward.

“Okay, seriously guys, why’re you blocking our doorway? Do you need something?” Camie cocked an eyebrow at the mass of students.

“They're scouting out the competition, idiots.” Bakugo sneered as he walked up to the door. “We’re the class that got attacked by real Villains. They want to see us with their own eyes.”

The students of Class 1-A, several of them at any rate, showed their annoyance with Bakugo’s normal abrasive attitude in this situation. Ochako frowned at the Explosion User. Iida stared straight at Bakugo while gaping at the rudeness the other teen was showing to their fellow students. Izuku shook his head at the ash-blonde while pinching the bridge of his nose. Momo looked appalled by such behavior. Tsuyu sighed, closing her eyes as she imagined how low the other students’ opinions of Class 1-A had probably just fallen. Camie exhaled heavily while rolling her eyes.

“Well, at least now you all know what a future Pro looks like.” Bakugo stated straight to the faces of their fellow year mates. “Now move it extras!”

“Bakugo, please shut up, you’re so much more tolerable when you don’t talk.” Camie informed the ash-blonde, who predictably snarled at her while preparing to retort.

“You can’t just go around calling people 'extras' just because you don't know who they are, Bakugo!” Iida admonished the red-eyed teen while chopping the air with his right arm. Iida’s interruption was the only thing that stopped the other teen before he could spew his normal vitriol in front of the rest of U.A.’s student body.

“So this is Class 1-A?” A purple-haired male student questioned as he made his way through the crowd. “I heard you guys survived a real Villain attack. But you just sound like an ass.” The teen stared Bakugo dead in the eye as he called him out and then continued as he finally got to the front of the crowd. “Is everyone in the Hero Course delusional, or is it just you blondie?”

“Huh?!” Bakugo growled as a vein became visible on his forehead. Several of the 1-A students were shaking their heads and trying to wave the new person off before he made Bakugo explode.

“How sad to come here and find a bunch of egomaniacs.” The guy rubbed the back of his head, his wild, purple hair moving slightly from the motion. “I wanted to be in the Hero Course, but like many others here I was forced to choose a different track. Such is life.” Bakugo seemed to be getting angrier as the other teen continued to speak. “I didn’t cut it the first time around, but now I have another chance. If any of us do well in the Sports Festival, the teachers can decide to move us to the Hero Course. That means they’d have to transfer people out to make room.” A few of the members of Class 1-A stiffened up at that reminder.

“Tsk!” Bakugo growled and looked a few seconds away from snapping entirely.

“Scouting the competition? Maybe some of my peers are, but I’m here to let you know that if you don’t bring your very best, I’ll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war.” The teen stated plainly and clearly.

‘Where’d this guy even come from?!’ Was the thought running through most of Class 1-A’s minds. The purple-haired guy certainly wasn’t trying to make any friends among the Hero Course students.

“You done?” Bakugo demanded of the purple-haired teen. “Then get the hell out of my way!” He stormed off as the crowd parted around the angry red-eyed teen.

The rest of the crowd began to disperse from there. The students from the other Courses all headed off and went about their own business. With the hallway now clear, the rest of Class 1-A could leave their classroom. Izuku, Camie, Tsuyu, Ochako, Momo, Jiro, Mina, Toru, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Iida walked together as they left the building. The large group casually chatted about the upcoming festival and what kind of training they’d all been working on. As they split up at the train station, each of them getting on the train that would take them home, they all collectively wondered if their efforts to prepare would be enough.

-Day of the Sports Festival-

“Man... I really wanted to wear my costume,” Mina complained as the whole class was in their designated waiting room. Everyone was wearing the standard U.A. gym uniform for the festival.

“It’s to keep things fair, Mina,” Momo reminded the pinkette. “The other classes don't have costumes, so gym uniforms level the playing field, so to speak. Not counting each individual’s advantage from their Quirk.”

“I wonder what the first round is gonna be this year?” Sato pondered aloud as he distracted himself so that nerves wouldn’t build up. “The anticipation of not knowing is the worst.”

“It doesn’t matter what comes. We must face down whatever the organizers have set up to challenge us.” Tokoyami replied with his eyes closed and arms crossed.

“He’s right, we have to show that we can handle whatever comes our way like real Heroes.” Shoji agreed with Tokoyami as he sat at one of the tables.

“Is everybody ready? We’ll be entering the stadium soon.” Iida announced as he watched the clock. One by one the class stood up and prepared to head out to the field. It was time to prove their worth as future Heroes. However, Todoroki approached Izuku who was quietly talking with Camie at the time.

“Midoriya.” The red and white haired teen spoke up. Izuku turned to look at his classmate while everyone else watched the, arguably, two most powerful students in their class talk directly for the first time.

“What’s up, Todoroki?” Izuku questioned as he looked at the ice and fire user. He was still kind of curious as to what Todoroki had against the Fire Half of his Quirk.

“Looking at things objectively, you and I are the strongest people in this room, right now. You might even be a bit stronger than me,” Todoroki stated bluntly, not caring about the rest of the class clearly listening to their conversation.

Bakugo bristled at the perceived slight and looked half a second away from yelling at Todoroki.

“What about it?” Izuku quirked his eyebrow at the dual colored teen’s words. Todoroki had barely said two words to pretty much anybody in their Class since day one.

“Regardless of your power, or your multiple Quirks,” Todoroki continued to stare at Izuku. “I am going to beat you.”

Everyone else in the room was rather shocked at the bold statement, particularly when it came so suddenly from one of the quietest members of their class.

“Didn’t see this coming at all.” Kaminari blinked, looking back and forth between Izuku and Todoroki. Some of the other students looked uneasy at this sudden declaration.

“Hey, hey, hey! Why are you trying to pick a fight now of all times? We’re about to begin the Festival!” Kirishima tried to ease the tension that was building in the room.

“I welcome the competition, Todoroki.” Izuku exhaled before giving the other teen a lop-sided smile. “But you seem to forget that you have more competition than just me. If you don’t keep your eyes on the rest of our class, then any one of them could pass you by in this festival.”

Every student in the room perked up at this indirect pep talk from the, probable, strongest member of their class. Except Bakugo who just quietly muttered about murdering them all in the festival and winning the whole thing. Mineta, who was the closest to the Explosion Quirk user, slid away from him a quickly.

“That was so manly, Midoriya!” Kirishima fist pumped excitedly. There was a wide smile on the redhead’s face.

“It’s time to go! Everyone, let’s make our way to the field in an orderly fashion!” Iida declared as he marched to the door and left the room.

“He’s always so stiff!” Mina laughed brightly and the remaining tension in the room vanished as Toru and Camie joined her in laughing.

“HEEEEEEEY!” Present Mic shouted from the announcer’s booth, causing the crowd to cheer loudly. “Make some noise, sports fans! Get those cameras prepped media hordes! This year we’re bringing you some of the hottest performances in Sports Festival History, guaranteed! I’ve only got one question before we start this show! Are you ready?! Let me hear you make some noise as our students make their way to the big stage!”

“How did I get roped into this?” Aizawa grumbled from his seat next to Present Mic. He was fully healed now, thanks to the early healing he’d gotten from Izuku and then Recovery Girl treating him afterwards to speed up the healing of his left arm. That had apparently made him eligible to be co-announcer with Mic for the First Year stadium. ‘Maybe I should have just stayed injured?’

“Time to welcome our students to the field!” Mic announced loudly as the First Years began to emerge from the tunnel and onto the field. “Going in alphabetical order we start with our two Hero Course classes! Give it up for Class 1-A and Class 1-B!”

The crowd exploded into cheers as Class 1-A appeared along with Class 1-B. After the news of the attack on the USJ broke, people had wondered how U.A. would respond to such a bold Villain Incident. Seeing all twenty students of Class 1-A on the field and ready to compete went a long way to showing the public that U.A. was fine. The future of Heroes wouldn’t be thwarted by a group of Villains.

“Damn, this place is completely packed!” Sero mentioned at seeing the massive crowd and all of the cameras flashing as they walked across the field towards a raised stage.

“Next up we have the students that keep U.A. High as one of the top three Academic Scoring High Schools in Japan every single year! They’re our General Studies Classes 1-C, 1-D and 1-E! Watch out Hero Course! Some of them are aiming to take your place in one of those forty seats!” Present Mic hyped up the crowd while praising the General Studies students for their hard work. Izuku briefly noticed a few of the Gen Ed students start walking a bit taller at the Pro’s praise.

“Some of our Hero Course students could benefit from following their example on grades.” Aizawa spoke dully and a few of the Hero Course students from both classes flinched slightly.

“Now we have our talented students that produce the Gear that gets things done! Support Course Classes 1-F, 1-G and 1-H! Make some noise!” Mic shouted as the Support Course students, some of them decked out in their own self-made Gear, walked onto the field.

“Anyone that wants to go Pro needs to make connections with Support Gear Designers. Quality Gear can be the deciding factor in the field.” Aizawa remarked and several of the Support Course students grinned or chuckled at the Underground Heroes words.

“And last, but certainly not least, the ones who learn the ins and outs of our economy and how to market the Heroes and their causes! Business Course Classes 1-I, 1-J, and 1-K! If you want to be an independent Pro you better make some friends here, Hero Course!” Present Mic declared loudly as the crowd’s energy kept building. The Business Course students smiled and chuckled at the Pro’s statements. He wasn’t wrong though. Any Pro that hoped to go independent in the Main Stream of the Hero industry needed to have good Marketing and Representation. Many of the Pro Heroes that became so-called ‘Eternal Sidekicks’ did so because they failed to cultivate good working relationships with Representation Firms to get their name and image out there. With no Marketing or Representation, going independent was much, much harder.

“Huh, that was actually a pretty fair introduction for all of the Courses.” A brunette girl from the General Studies Course mentioned just loud enough for Izuku and some of the others in 1-A to catch.

With all of the first years gathered in the middle of the field, a loud crack caught their attention. From up on the stage appeared Midnight in all her voluptuous glory. Almost every man in the audience grinned or smiled at the beautiful Pro.

“It’s time for the Opening Speech!” Midnight announced into the microphone with a grin.

“Please welcome this year's chief umpire for the First Year Tournament, the R-Rated Hero, Midnight!” Present Mic presented to the cheers of the crowd, especially the male section.

“What about the Principal?” One of the attendees asked another.

“He's always at the Third Year stage, every year!” The guy next to him answered back, not taking his eyes off Midnight. “The other stadiums don’t know what they’re missing!”

“Someone might want to talk to Miss Midnight about what she’s wearing.” Kirishima mentioned with his cheeks slightly red. Midnight’s Costume was basically a modified Dominatrix outfit after all.

“Yeah, that costume should definitely come with a warning label.” Kaminari agreed even though he hadn’t taken his eyes off the Pro since she appeared. Teenage hormones were a powerful thing!

“Is that really appropriate apparel for a High School Sports Festival?” Tokoyami questioned as Midnight prepared to start the Festival properly. He was glad that his physiology allowed him to hide his own blushing at their teacher.

A few of Class 1-A noticed Mineta giving very enthusiastic thumbs up. He was also staring hard at Midnight as if trying to grope her with his eyes. He received several disgusted glares from the girls of 1-A.

“Silence, everyone!” Midnight yelled, whipping the air to get everyone's attention. “For the Student Pledge we have Midoriya Izuku of Class 1-A!”

Every eye turned to the verdette teenager. Izuku knew this was probably because he had scored the highest during the Hero Course Entrance Exam. Camie nudged him forward and Izuku gave her a quick smile. As he walked up the stairs to the stage he heard the murmuring of the crowd. As he headed over to the microphone, Midnight gave him a gentle nod of support.

“I’m pleased to be representing my fellow First Year students.” Izuku gave a nod to the crowd of students on the field. “I know that some of you probably aren’t really into this event, while others are gunning for one of the forty seats in the Hero Course. No matter how you feel about this event, let’s have some fun! But for those that are after one of our seats, I have only one thing to say. Bring your best! We all earned our seats in the Entrance Exam, if you want to take them from us; then earn that seat here at the Sports Festival! We all welcome your competition! Let’s all push each other higher towards our goal of being Heroes!”

The crowd exploded into raucous applause at the short speech! Cheering and cries of motivation rang out from the crowd. Midnight squealed and hugged herself from the ‘youthful passion’ as she called it. All of the First Year students began to clap for Izuku’s words. With a short bow, Izuku quickly walked back down the stairs towards his class and the smiles of his four crushes.

“What a Pledge! If that hasn’t roused your spirit and fired you up, you must already be dead!” Present Mic blasted out through the speakers. “With that awesome Pledge and the spirit of competition blazing, let’s reveal our first event for this year’s Sports Festival!”

“Get your foot off the desk.” Aizawa admonished Mic, whose boot was literally on the desk as the blonde man nearly jumped on top of the furniture in his excitement. The tired voice of the Underground Hero was barely heard as the crowd continued to roar and cheer.

“Time to discover the first game of the Sports Festival!” Midnight cried out as a display lit up behind her and began spinning through options. “This is when our students start experiencing the pressure for the first time! This year’s first event is…”

The display stopped on the words ‘Obstacle Race’.

“An Obstacle Race!” Midnight cracked her whip while giving a somewhat sadistic smile.

“Here we go!” Present Mic yelled loudly while all the students looked on at their first event.

“Before we begin we’ll give out the rules for this event!” Midnight informed the students with her microphone. “The course will be one full lap around this stadium! The total length is four kilometers! As you all know, U.A. High’s selling point is freedom...” Midnight gave a sadistic look as she licked her lips. “There are only two rules; first, you have to run the entire course. Going out of bounds by leaving the track is strictly prohibited! You must face each obstacle in order or you’ll be deemed as having gone out of bounds and be disqualified!” The Pro cracked her whip towards the First Years. “The second rule, no attacking other students! Messing with the field to your advantage is fine, direct attacks are not! Anyone attacking another student will be disqualified then and there! Other than those two rules, anything goes!”

“You know the rules now, little listeners! Play fair and get back here first to be the winner! Break either of the two rules and you’re out of the Festival completely!” Present Mic called out through the stadium speakers.

“Now, then, take your places, everyone!” Midnight yelled, making the crowd cheer as the first event was about to begin. The students began to move to the tunnel that marked the starting line.

“Let’s do our best guys!” Camie beamed at her friends.

“I’m gonna do my best!” Ochako pumped her fist into the air. The normally carefree girl had a fearsome aura around her.

“Indeed, we’ll all strive to make it to the next round!” Momo was giving strong smiles to them all.

“See you all at the end of the race, kero.” Tsuyu croaked cutely.

“You’ll all do great, I know it.” Izuku gave all four girls a warm smile. Even Ochako’s competitive aura was no match for it. All four girls smiled happily at Izuku for his confidence in them and their skills.

“You’ll probably win the whole thing, Izukun.” Camie grinned at him.

“I could see it.” Tsuyu nodded at Camie’s words.

“You do have a Quirk or two that would make this event rather easy for you, Izuku.” Momo stated thoughtfully. “I’m sure you’ll finish first.”

“They have a point.” Ochako smiled at Izuku. “I bet you’ll ace this Race just like the Entrance Exam!” The brunette was punching the air in her building excitement. Izuku supposed excitement was much better than being nervous.

“I’ll do my best.” Izuku smiled back at the four girls. It was so amazing having this many people believe in him and his skills. He was so used to only having his parents growing up. Now, in the last two years, he’d found dozens of people that wanted to help him become a Hero. Offering up their Quirks to be copied just to help him reach his dream and help countless others.

As the First Years all got ready to run, Izuku adopted a determined face. His analytical mind taking in everything he could see. The countdown lights turned on, two red lights and one green waiting to start the race. The roar of the crowd increased in volume. Izuku noted that the corridor was shaped oddly. It was much narrower towards the outside end.

‘Wait a minute…’ Izuku blinked as he put two and two together. ‘Crap! The corridor itself is the first obstacle! Everyone is going to bunch up and be unable to advance at the same time!’ He quickly realized the problem and began trying to work out a solution.

“Are you ready? The Obstacle Race is about to begin!” Mic hollered through the speakers.

‘Think! What can I do to get through this obstacle the fastest?’ Izuku was going through various scenarios and Quirk combinations in his head. ‘Wait! Can I see the end of the corridor?’ Looking ahead, Izuku grinned at seeing the light at the end of the long tunnel. ‘If I can see it, I can warp to it!’ The verdette now had a plan, one that would let him get an early lead in the race. ‘I’m glad I practiced so much with this Quirk!’

The first red light went out on the countdown. The Obstacle Race was a go!

-End Chapter-

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First Obstacle realized and a plan to deal with it has formed! Izuku is playing to win!

How will this race differ from the one in Canon?

Besides getting comfortable with each other and swimming, what else did Izuku help the girls with as they trained together? What did they help him with?

It’s going to be a VERY different Sports Festival!

What happens next?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!