The second the horn blared, she bolted.

  Just from a quick glance at the entrance, Robinn already knew what the first obstacle was... the students. That choke point wasn’t wide enough. A pileup was inevitable. If she wasn’t first, she’d be swallowed by it. No thanks.

  She shifted.

  Most of her body turned to air, leaving just her head and the loose swing of her ponytail visible. She was a ghost with momentum. Feet light and fast, her body intangible, she tore forward like a sprinting storm front. The crush of bodies barely brushed past her, no resistance. Her half-formed self wove around slower students with calculated agility, just fast enough to avoid the instant glacier Todoroki unleashed behind her.

  She smirked.

  It was a clever play. His ice covering the floor slowed everyone else down, caught the slower ones entirely, sparked outrage and shouting behind her. But it wouldn’t have done a thing to her either way. You can’t freeze air.

  She sprinted on, the tunnel opening to sunlight, the cheers of the crowd washing over her like static. The wind whipped past her ears. Her smile widened... sharp, gleeful, a little deranged. She was in first. At least for the first twenty seconds.

  Then Bakugo blasted overhead in a sharp boom of smoke and fire, heat licking the air. A second later Todoroki slid past on a polished ice trail, balanced and efficient.

  She didn’t flinch. That wasn’t the plan. First place didn’t matter yet. She kept running, kept the pace, her body still half-air, her form still near invisible save for her bobbing head.

  No use burning her stamina early. Just make top three. That’s all that mattered right now. Top three meant control.

  Then came the real first obstacle... robots.

  One of them caught a screaming Mineta mid-air and swatted him into a pile of other students. Robinn raised an eyebrow as she closed in. She’d seen these before, maybe a video or a training scenario, didn’t matter.

  She went full air.

  Gone.

  The change was always jarring. Her body disappeared completely, her senses muffled. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel... not really. But it didn’t matter. The path was straight. She just had to run.

  While others hesitated, tried to fight or dodge or climb, she phased through the chaos, trusting her internal compass and the brief mental map she’d built before diving in.

  Thirty seconds, maybe less. Then she rematerialized her head, gasping slightly, and blinked against the light.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  She was ahead again.

  Behind her, the robots were falling, frozen, blasted, tripped. Bakugo and Todoroki were close, maybe right behind her.

  Present Mic’s voice thundered across the stadium, distorted and half-lost to the wind. She didn’t listen. She caught her name, the phrase “in the lead,” and that was enough to put a gleam in her eye.

  Then she saw the next challenge and the gleam faded.

  A chasm. And not the clean kind.

  It stretched wide, with towering jagged stone pillars scattered throughout it. They were connected by ropes, very thin and fraying, barely wider than her foot. One mistake meant a very long fall. No air tricks here.

  Robinn sighed, slowed down, and shifted fully back to normal. Her skin felt cold from the wind, but her body was steady. She grabbed the nearest rope and climbed, then began shimmying across, hand over hand, her balance careful and practiced.

  She used to be a gymnast. Not a prodigy. Not superhuman. Just solid. It wasn’t exciting, but it worked.

  Bakugo blasted past overhead. Todoroki wasn’t far behind. Others with flight or mobility quirks passed her too. That was fine. She wasn’t built for this obstacle. She just moved faster, adjusted her grip, and kept going.

  By the time she reached the other side, she had slipped to around tenth place.

  No panic. She exhaled once, turned back into her minimal air form, and hit the ground running. Only her head visible. It was eerily efficient.

  This wasn’t about showing off. Not yet. Her quirk had flashier tricks, metal, water, maybe even more complicated forms, but air was fast, cheap, and reliable. And for now, practical won over pretty.

  She gained some places back, passing students who had fumbled past the chasm. She was closing in again on the top five when the frontrunners hit a wall and stopped.

  The third obstacle. A minefield.

  Robinn’s eyes lit up.

  Perfect.

  While the others slowed, analyzing the trap, she didn’t hesitate. Todoroki froze mid-step. Bakugo dropped down, calculating. Robinn leapt forward, light, and barely touching the ground.

  Even if she was technically stepping on the mines, her weight wasn’t enough to trigger them. One of the rare advantages of transforming most of her mass into air.

  She ran.

  Full sprint, no hesitation. She passed Todoroki first. His eyes widened, startled for once. She caught his reaction and grinned. He expected an explosion. But none came.

  Then Bakugo’s explosions echoed behind her. Not the mines... him. He was charging forward, angling toward her right.

  On her left, Todoroki moved again, freezing a wide swath of the field.

  She stayed dead center, breathing evenly, pushing harder. This was it. Top three was practically hers.

  And then...

  BOOM.

  Not Bakugo this time. Bigger.

  Something shot past her in a trail of smoke and a glint of metal. A robot part?

  Midoriya.

  He flew like a comet, riding the metal plate, launched from the back of the pack into the lead. Her eyes widened slightly, her legs pushing harder. She wanted to win. Suddenly, really wanted to win. Her run accelerated, even if she didn’t admit why.

  Bakugo passed her again, rage-fueled and wild. Todoroki was steady. Midoriya stumbled in the air... his momentum dipping. But just as he landed he recovered, striking another mine with the robot part and launching himself again.

  He landed hard but kept running, just ahead of her, chest heaving, tears in his eyes.

  She finished in fourth.

  The stadium loomed again the crowd roaring, and she skidded to a stop, shifting back to full visibility, catching her breath without panting. Bakugo, Todoroki, Midoriya. All ahead of her.

  Her gaze locked on the back of Midoriya’s head, narrowing. He was smiling, exhausted, and crying... proud maybe, but still crying.

  He hadn’t even used his quirk. That made it worse.

  Her eyes shifted upward to the stands. The teacher’s row.

  There he was.

  In his skinny form and beaming with pride.

  That made it worse.