Masked Battle [1-A]

100 m, okay. 400m hurdles? Might not be so bad. 4km run? That was going to be trouble. He kept plenty active, running and jumping to get to and up on everywhere, but he wasn’t really built up for long endurance… nor was his body really built to handle it, he was sure. Short bursts of activity was how felines normally hunted, after a long time tracking prey.

Still, no reason not to give it his best. The others may have creative uses for their quirks, depending, but he’d been using his day in and out for all of his life, regardless of his lack of specific physical training. He lined up for the 100m dash with the others, starting out on all fours, legs tensed and coiled. When Aoi called the race he took off at a full-out run, digging in with all four paws for maximum traction as he haled across the track. He blew past the finish line, gradually slowing down to a brisk trot before stopping, panting heavily for breath. Someone was right next to him—right, that kid with the fire. They were practically neck and neck, but he wasn’t sure who actually made it across first. He stretched and then looked over to the teacher.

1st place. He allowed himself a small smirk. Good. Don’t need any fancy emission or transformation quirks for thatnow do I? Would be nice to be able to recover a little faster, though.

Next, the 400m hurdles. A longer run, but the hurdles would barely be an obstacle for hin. Bang! Isamu once again took off at a full out run, barreling down the track. Each hurdle required barely a moment’s hesitation to build up the energy in his legs to go flying cleanly over the hurdles, barely skirting over the tops to reduce his airtime so he could get back to running and accelerating himself. He tore across the finish line again, gasping for breath as he slowed down to a stop.

First place, again. Good. Just one more left.

And it was the one he would be the worst at. A 4km run, where blind speed wouldn’t serve him well. Not without being able to sustain that speed for the whole distance, which wasn’t happening. He wasn’t built for that, and he’d overheat himself if he tried. One of the unfortunate side effects of not having a lot of sweat glands was limited heat management options. Of course, he could regulate his own running speed, it was just going to be a lot trickier over such a long period of time. He lined up with the others, tensed, waiting… and taking off in a sprint to try and establish an early lead before moderating his pace. Still, despite his best efforts he eventually slipped further and further behind, before taking last with a final burst of speed.

Dammit. Winning all three would have been nice. But I still won two, at least. That should be enough to show I’m a serious contender. Afterwards he wandered off to drink a gallon of water from the fountain and recuperate. Note to self: bring water bottles next time.

Finally, it was onto the last event of the day. Either clear a 1.5m high jump, or a 5m pole vault. How he would even carry a pole for a pole vault was unclear, unless the teacher had found a shorter one for him, but that would also mean less height. Besides, it was completely unnecessary. He made his way over to the high jump, scrutionizing the height. “Can you add another half a meter? Might as well make this a little challenging.” After the adjustment was made he crouched low, ready to sprint and then… casually strolled up to the bar instead, crouching in front of it and springing almost straight up, angled just enough to clear over the bar and land neatly on the mat on the other side. “I’d like to see anybody else beat that without shooting flames from their hands.”

Just your normal track day events? well that wasn't so bad. Honestly, from what Sato sensei had said at the start of the class, Ren had been fearing much worse. Of course, it was never nice to hear that you had to do more running while you were still catching your breath, but at least it wasn't something ridiculous, like a twenty mile endurance test or heavy sparring after they'd already been tired out. Well, if push had come to shove he could probably have done those as well, that was the sort of bullshit he'd had to put up near the end of his time with his family anyway.

Having done his best to make use of their brief respite, Ren kept his ice on as he lined up with everyone else at the starting point for the hundred meter dash. Were he using his quirk normally, he could quite easily build up a lot of speed, that was something he'd experimented with a bit in the past, but without relying on active manipulation he'd have to be a bit more creative. He'd have to make something that could help him go faster without direct control, something like.... yeah, that'd work. With a bit of a smirk, he got into position and tensed up, concentrating on his feet as he waited for the signal to start. The second it came, he summoned up as much ice as he could, the rapid expansion launching him forward as it formed into the shape of a tower shield out of his feet. For the briefest of instants, he was out in front, more ice forming around his feet into a pair of rollerblades while he was still in midair. That wouldn't last long, however, since the moment he touched down and lost his momentum, both Isamu and Jun went streaking past. Still, the makeshift skates prevented him from loosing all of his speed, and he easily took third ahead of Raphael and Ryuga.

After the dash was done, it was time to take on the hurdles. This one was a little more complicated, but thankfully part of Ren's strategy for the last event still worked here. Trying to jump hurdles with rollerblades on seemed like a bad idea, but he could still use the act of creating itself to give him a bit of a boost. Whenever he approached one of the obstacles, he made something small, just big enough to give his jumps and forward momentum a bit of an extra push. The end result of this was that the track behind him was littered with frozen shinai, since that was the first thing that popped into his head when he tried to think of something the right size. Of course, both Isamu and Jun once again had him beat in terms of short term speed, so he once again found himself in third.

For the 3 kilometer run, Ren once again donned his rollerblades and pushed himself hard right out of the gate. At first it seemed like it would just be a repeat of the first two events, but Isamu quickly fell behind, leaving Ren and Jun at the front of the pack. His classmate was still faster, but the boy found it a bit easier to keep up this time. Though this was technically a long distance run, the rollerblades actually complemented his sprinting style, since he could just coast a bit whenever he needed a second to catch his breath. Near the end of the run he started to push himself a bit harder to try and catch up with Jun, going so far as to exert his quirk a little and pull himself forward, but it was too little too late and the other blond once again had him beat.

So when everything was said and done, Ren managed to take two thirds and a second, which... was about what he'd wanted; to prove himself without standing out too much, lest he draw a bit of unwanted attention.

For the final tasks, Ren just had to clear the high jump and the pole vault... neither of which proved to be particularly difficult. For the high jump he simply made use of the same technique he did for the hurdles, making something big to launch himself high enough to clear the bar. The pole vault on the other hand was a bit more fun... Running up like normal, Ren set the pole and swung upward before pushing a wave of ice down the length of the shaft. As the frost took hold it carried the boy up further, extending upward almost seven extra meters by the time the momentum finally carried him over top of the bar. Coming down hard on the mat, Ren couldn't help but laugh a bit as he lay there for a few seconds recovering. "Heh, think I got the five meters beat." He mumbled as he climbed off the mat and moved to rejoin the rest of the class.

Aoi watched as her students completed task after task. It really did not interest her if they achieved the guidelines she set(be pretty looses guidelines). It did not matter that they achieved but rather how they felt. From what they students looked like after all events, all of them were some form of tired. Some seemed close to collapse while others looked pretty beat. Waiting a few minutes for them to catch their breaths, Aoi told them to gather around her. Shooting them a grin, she asked "You're feeling good?"

The grin vanished as soon as it appeared, returning to her serious demeanour. She really had no time for jokes. "That was just the beginning of your trials as a hero student. You won't get any breaks being a hero. You will always be under the public eye. One misstep, and you could cost someone's life. Everyone used their quirk today but, with one cat exception, you cannot rely on your quirk to do your work. You need to be physically fit also."

Aoi paused, giving a moment to catch her thoughts. "First thing I learned when I was a hero that a quirk will only get you so far. Lastly, I want to address the situation that occurred at the beginning of the class. While Satou did do the right thing, it was not the the most correct. Sometimes when being a hero, we'll be faced with difficult choices. Sometimes we can chase down a villain but risk the lives of civilians. Sometimes we can't save or stop everyone. We are human, not supernatural beings. Class dismissed, have a good day."

Aoi gave them a nod before picking her belongings and leaving for her office. Maybe they won't disappoint her just yet.