The competitors take their positions at opposing ends of the concrete arena. Araya stands with the stillness of a lion poised to strike. As the round begins, the boy leaps forward, in one bound transforming into a beast of rippling muscle and gold fur.

Ito shudders across from him, spikes jutting from their back. The protrusions reach upward and spread into spindly fingers. A membrane stretches over them until they become fully formed wings. Ito's bare feet shift into large leathery talons with claws like steel. With a screech, their eyes flare with red light, focusing on the incoming lion like a spotlight.

Valkyrie is in control.

Araya lunges out to claw at the creature, but she is predicting such an attack. Giving one powerful flap, she launches herself into the air, positioning herself above Araya and strikes down with those powerful talons.

She holds the lion to the ground, claws deeply buried in his mane. The cat yowls and tries to slink out, but she has too firm a hold. Valkyrie clenches down on the scruff of his neck and lifts him into the air.

Araya snarls in protest, claws flashing wildly. He reaches up desperately to land an attack before she flies him up, up, up. Be it from calculation or sheer luck, a single claw snags on the membrane of a wing and rips all the way through.

Valkyrie drops the lion with a cold screech. Araya lands softly on his great paws as Valkyrie struggles to no avail to right herself. She crashes heavily onto her back, eyes glowing an even more violent shade of red. The wound bleeds, but under further inspection is found to be much smaller than he had intended, but he'll accept any advantage he can get, especially if it keeps her from getting airborne.

Araya pounces on Valkyrie's prone form. Kicking her legs up, she scratches at the lion's face. She grips his muzzle with her talons, slamming him into the ground to get momentum to propel herself up and over him. Blood splatters on the concrete.

The raptor leaps high above the giant cat and diving into a steep attack. Her claws scratch along his side, and she redirects to jump and evade before he can even turn. She pulls her wings in for yet another dive attack, but Araya jumps to meet her. He grabs one of her spindly legs in his mouth and rotates midair to slam her into the ground.

Disoriented and angry is a dangerous combo to leave a trapped opponent in, but Araya refuses to let go. Even as she lashes out with her other leg, clawing at his face and ripping through skin, he dutifully holds on, blood dripping from his mouth.

Valkyrie extends her wings further to allow for greater gusts of air. Dark blood drips from her slit wing as it fails to pull taut against the air. Araya braces himself against the buffeting winds she kicks up as he begins trudging her to the edge.

The raptor kicks at his face with new vigor, trying to use her winds to change tact. She drags the lion to the side, even as he spreads his limbs on the ground. His paws struggle to gain traction on the ground coated in a mix of their blood. Low to the ground and losing space quickly, Araya gives the raptor's leg a sharp tug, inching back to the edge like a dog playing tug-of-war. Still proving ineffective, he shakes his head from side to side, jostling his opponent around.

Unbalanced in the air for a split second, Araya risks reaching a huge paw up to bat her down. This proves to be the opening Valkyrie needed. Quickly changing course to dive into him, she catches the lion by the shoulders. Already off balance, it isn't difficult for the raptor to force him back and over the line.

"Araya is out of bounds!" Kumarēza exclaims, eliciting cheers from the crowd. "Ito advances!" This round hasn't been as bloody as past rounds with Ito, seemingly a great enough feat to not cause a decline in applause.

Araya shakes his mane as he transforms back to just a human shaking his shaggy hair. Blood cakes his features, and he finds himself falling to the ground. Infirmary robots rush out to cart him off the field.

•°•☆•°•

Takara watches the procession as she makes her way from the locker rooms to the arena entrance. She knows Recovery Girl will do a good job healing him but, at the same time, is grateful he doesn't have to continue in such a condition.

"Ito is a formidable opponent," she hears Chemex say over the loudspeakers. "And yet Araya held his own."

"He did not back down from the challenge, that's for sure," her co-host comments. The audience ripples with murmurs of agreement. "And now, we have two more big contenders, facing off in the first round of the semi-finals!"

"You've watched these ladies excel in the previous events! Let's see how they stack up to each other!"

The roar of the crowd almost drowns out Takara's name, but she walks forward on steady steps. Focus, she tells herself. This is your moment to make an impression. The girl smiles up to the stands and gives a cheerful wave. She notices Kaede on the other end of the arena, doing the same.

"Classmates and good sports," Chemex observes with a smile.

"Opponents ready?" the math teacher calls out. "Begin!"

"You really didn't hold back on your sister, huh?" Takara asks, advancing at a casual pace.

Kaede stands still, biding her time. "She doesn't want me to go easy on her. Why start now?"

"I saw her in the infirmary. It must have been some fight." The brunette shakes her head.

"Now isn't the time to get into all this."

Takara sighs, cracking her knuckles. The jade causes a loud pop against the bones. "Actually, I think it's the perfect time to clear the air," she replies, chipper as ever.

"I'd prefer to clear the field," Kaede quips, leaping forward to spatter pixie dust over Takara.

The girl doesn't flinch as the pixie flutters just before her. In fact, she even cracks a small smile, unconcerned by the golden specks settling over her. "I thought you'd have realized by now, Kaede: I don't float."

With a battle cry that can be heard even outside the stadium, Takara activates an Ultimate Move, rapidly growing her jade as long as it can go. Her muscles scream. She can barely hear the crowd over the rushing in her ears. The craggy rocks extend far past her skin, turning her into a bulky stone golem.

Despite the protesting in her joints, the girl leaps up. Though unable to get very far, she hops as high as she needs. Takara grabs Kaede's braid and yanks her down to the arena floor. The pixie lands on her wing with a yelp.

Kaede pushes herself up onto a knee, face inflamed with anger. "Don't you ever go after my wings!" she cries, swiping her hands in a cross motion and throwing more pixie dust at Takara.

As the brunette advances, her heels begin lifting off the ground. She hopes Kaede doesn't notice, but it's already too late. The pixie stands, her left wing hanging mangled behind her.

Takara advances on Kaede, ready to knock her out, but the pixie runs backward, keeping her eyes on the golem as she continues to douse her in dust.

"What a game of cat and mouse," Kumarēza exclaims from his podium.

"But who will hold out longer?" Chemex muses. "They've each inhibited the other's movements."

Takara lunges forward but, without the normal amount of weight on her feet, doesn't get as much leverage as she wants. This leaves her stumbling forward. Kaede throws another handful of pixie dust on the brunette, sidestepping around her again.

Takara's feet barely brush against the arena floor, and Kaede decides to make her move. The shorter girl strains to grow more jade and possibly get herself back to the ground with the increased density, but her muscles are too fatigued to push out any more. Sweat glimmers on the stones as the redheaded pixie runs up and easily pushes Kaede over the line.

Her heart drops in her chest as the loss rushes over her. Kaede is going into the finals.

•°•☆•°•

The last two matches progress just as fast as the previous. Since Takara isn't injured, she rushes up to the class spectator box to watch.

Despite the powerhouse Ito is, they are no match for Hirose. With all those tiny shards, he is simply able to slice through their wings, eliciting shrieks that cause Takara to cover her ears, and fly them over the boundary.

Similarly, against Kaede, there isn't much she can do. Her pixie dust has no effect and, even with her healed wing, pushing her out of bounds is too easy for the boy.

•°•☆•°•

Takara stands on the podium next to Ito of 1-B as the crowd cheers for the award ceremony. A shared third place, that's what they called it. The girl turns to offer her congratulations to the student.

"You had really good sportsmanship," Takara commends them. "I think you'll have good options for your internship."

"Thank you," Ito replies. Their eyes take in the cheering crowd before them, and they swell with pride. They open their mouth to say more, but a huge blast ripples through air and shakes the ground. Into the arena drops the pro hero Dynamight. He buffets his landing with another large explosion.

"Heh," he chuckles, examining the winners before him. "You all kicked some serious ass out there. I remember my first Sports Festival." The hero gives them a devious grin, relishing in the memory.

A podium with the awards rises at his side, and he takes the two bronze medals. Approaching Takara and Ito, he tilts his head almost imperceptibly down, implying they should be bowing. They both catch on and bow their heads for him to loop the medals over. The bronze is cool against Takara's chest, even through her jacket.

"You both have fire," Dynamite comments, though his eyes land on Ito. "But don't let this stop you from striving to be better."

He goes over to the opposite podium to give Kaede her silver medal, whispering something to her that Takara's ears can't pick up. She can only barely hear when he moves to the center podium to give Hirose the gold medal and says, "Don't let this go to your head and get lazy. You gotta work to keep this."

With a cocky grin at the audience, the hero steps aside and gestures at the four on the podiums. Cameras flash, and Dynamight announces in a voice full of bravado, "The First Year winners of the Sports Festival!"

Thank you for reading the Sports Festival Arc! Tune in next week for the Balance the Scales Arc!

Featured Character: Hayate Ito
Quirk: Raptor
Likes: Strawberry Ice Cream

Note: To clarify, Ito's quirk was inspired by Venom and is a corporeal being that lives inside of them. Ito uses they/them pronouns, and their monster, Valkyrie, uses she/her pronouns.