MHA: Crystal Clear

Gang Orca's sharp gaze swept across us.

"On my mark. Three… two… one… go"

The moment the signal was given, I launched forward, crystal spikes erupting beneath my feet, propelling me ahead of the others.

A massive 10-meter-high wall stood in front of us, its surface constantly shifting. Some parts became slippery, others crumbled when touched, and sections randomly retracted. Most of my group hesitated, looking for the safest route.

Not me.

With a flick of my wrist, sharp crystal platforms sprouted from the wall, forming my own path upward. Instead of searching for footholds, I created them myself, sprinting up the wall effortlessly.

"Damn it, he's already halfway up?!" Daichi cursed behind me, inhaling deeply before blasting a small tornado from his mouth. The wind force pushed him upwards, giving him quick bursts of height, though he struggled to control his movement.

Mayu simply cracked her knuckles. "Tch. I don't need fancy tricks." With raw power, she dug her fingers into the wall and started climbing, tearing through the unstable surface like it was nothing. Chunks of rock shattered under her grip as she climbed with brute force.

Behind her, three other students were pushing through.

One of them had quirk, which let her phase through solid objects for a few seconds. She timed her jumps carefully, phasing through retracting parts of the wall before solidifying again.

Another had a Quirk, allowing him to create flowers under his feet. He bounced off the unstable surfaces, landing precisely each time.

The last one in our group, had a quirk, allowing him to turn his body into, partially some part of its body in that of a lizard. He flashed upwards in quick intervals but had trouble staying in control.

I reached the top first, landing smoothly as the others were still struggling.

"Too slow" I muttered, already running to the next obstacle.

As soon as I entered the next section, I saw it—mechanized turrets lining the trees, launching rapid-fire projectiles. Some were rubber bullets, others small energy blasts. The key was speed and precision.

I barely had a second before the first volley came.

"Tch." I flicked my hand forward, crystal shields forming in front of me to block the incoming shots. The bullets pinged off my barriers, but I didn't stop moving.

Behind me, Daichi blew a tornado at the projectiles, causing some to spin off course, though he still had to dodge the ones from other angles. He struggled to move forward while blowing.

The girl flickered in and out of her phase form, phasing through bullets, while the Lizard guy zigzagged, avoiding every shot with precise movements.

I clenched my jaw. 'I need to put even more distance.'

I extended crystal plates from my arms, forming a protective armor, and charged forward at full speed. Bullets shattered on impact, but I didn't slow down.

Within seconds, I cleared the forest, dashing towards the next challenge.

Ahead of me, the labyrinth of towering walls constantly moved, blocking off paths and creating new ones. If I wasted time searching for a route, the others would catch up.

'Not happening.'

I slammed my foot down, and a massive crystal pillar erupted beneath me, launching me into the air. In the air I could see the others behind, the flower guy was really having trouble with the projectiles.

Below, I could see some others entering the maze.

"Damn it, he's skipping the whole thing?!" The girl yelled.

"Of course he is" Mayu scoffed, punching straight through a moving wall, opening a gap for the others.

Daichi tried to blow himself over with a tornado, but a shifting wall caught him mid-air. "Agh—! Okay, that was a bad idea"

The pasing girl simply phased through walls.

While the Lizard turned into its shape, speeding through before the walls could even close.

From the air, I spotted the exit and formed another crystal platform, pushing myself forward before landing gracefully.

The finish line was just ahead. I glanced back, no one behind me.

I thrust my hand forward, forming a long crystal slide, then jumped onto it. My momentum carried me forward far beyond what anyone else could manage on foot.

In seconds, my feet touched the ground beyond the finish line, and I let my crystal formations shatter behind me.

Silence.

Gang Orca, arms crossed, nodded. "First place."

I turned back to see who would arrive later.

The girl who phased, came out of the labyrinth followed by Mayu, who had smashed her way through the maze. The others weren't far behind.

The lizard passed the two girls on the straight and placed second.

Mayu finished third and the other girl fourth.

Daichi arrived quite close to them, but for the last one we had to wait a long time.

Gang Orca's eyes scanned all of us before he spoke.

"Good. Some of you showed creativity. Some of you showed brute force. Others relied on your instincts."

He paused, then let his words settle before adding.

"The ones who ranked lowest will fight in one-on-one duels. If you don't want to be weak, prove it in battle. So for your group Arashi Daichi and Hanabira Haruki it will be you."

'So the guy with the flowers is called Hanabira.' He seems rather calm, in terms of his appearance he has long light green hair tied in a ponytail, he has very pale skin and he seems to be 1m80 tall. 

Gang Orca say "next group it's your turn"

So we leave to go back to where we were earlier before doing the race.

"How do you feel Daichi?" Mayu asks him.

"That should do it, he didn't look good during the race even if I wasn't exceptional myself." He responds in a confident tone.

"You should be careful, I know Hanabira and he's not here for nothing, sorry to interrupt you, my name is Kata Jun, but you can call me Jun." She's the girl who was in our group.

She has wavy platinum blonde hair that is styled in bushy pigtails with parted side bangs on the right side of her face, bright blue eyes and she is rather small, around 1m65.

"I see if you say so we'll see" Daichi replies.