All the festival participants lined up in front of the huge, bright red gate that served as the start for the obstacle race.
The air was tingling with tension and anticipation. Sonic, taking his place in the crowd, scrutinized the starting area. His gaze stopped on the narrow passageway that led outside the gate. The passageway was incredibly cramped, clearly not designed for the simultaneous passage of so many people at once.
"Eh, reminds me of the past... only without the lost cities."
"This is a start," he thought, analyzing the situation.
"If everyone rushes to the exit at the same time, it's going to be a monstrous jam. It won't be a race, but a real meat grinder." He imagined the picture: so many students huddled together in a narrow aisle, losing precious seconds and wasting energy fighting for space.
It wasn't just running, but a real tactical game, where you had to not only have speed, but also be able to anticipate the actions of your opponents and choose the right strategy.
"First test, and immediately such a trap?" - ran through his mind. It looked like an attempt to weed out a large part of the participants at the start, without even giving them a chance to show their true abilities.
A smirk stretched across Sonic's face.
"So, this is going to be interesting," he muttered, preparing himself for an unpredictable and exciting race.
Of course, he could easily break through the narrow passageway first.
His speed allowed him to do so effortlessly. But where was the fun in that? Where was the excitement?
He decided to slow down a bit, limiting his speed, and observe his classmates and the other participants. It gave him a chance to evaluate their skills, strategies, and abilities. It was also a great opportunity to understand how this race worked, what obstacles lay ahead and how best to overcome them.
Winning the race was a matter of technique for him, he could win it at any time, but now he wanted to get something more than just another first place. Now he was interested in the race itself, its unpredictability and the opportunity to evaluate his rivals, because the real victory is not just to finish first, but to enjoy the process, to demonstrate his skills and show himself in all his glory.
Three green lights went out, and in an instant all the participants rushed forward to the narrow exit. As Sonic expected, a real crush began.
The students were pushing and kicking, trying to make their way forward, but the narrow passageway would not let everyone through at once, creating a chaotic crowd. Sonic, watching this scene, felt a slight disappointment.
"So what kind of spectacle is this?" - he thought.
No interesting rivalry, just a goofy crowd.
He decided it was time to inject some drive. He needed to give them an incentive, get them moving. Sonic nodded to himself, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
"Time to get ahead and show them what real speed is all about," he decided, getting ready for the dash.
Sonic sprinted forward like a fired arrow, accelerating to unbelievable speed. He easily jumped over the jostling students and began to climb the wall, intending, like an acrobat, to deftly grab onto the ceiling of the narrow passage and leap through the chaos below.
But the moment his feet left the wall, he felt an icy coldness piercing him, as if a thousand sharp needles were digging into his skin. Everything around him exploded with a blinding white light, and the world, for a moment, seemed to freeze in a white flash.
When Sonic, stunned, opened his eyes, he saw that everything around him was covered with a thick layer of ice. He was surprised to find himself frozen to the ceiling, hanging upside down like a bat. He tried to move, but his ice-bound limbs wouldn't obey.
"What the hell is this?!" - ran through his head as he looked around, trying to figure out what had happened.
Sonic, hanging upside down and trying to free himself from his icy captivity, noticed Todoroki striding forward with confidence.
"That's it!" - Sonic thought.
"So his quirk is ice!" Everything fell into place now.
Sonic also noticed his unusual hair - white on one side and red on the other.
"And the other half is apparently fire," he suggested. That explained his unusual appearance. As Sonic analyzed the situation, he noticed his classmates rushing forward, deftly sidestepping Todoroki's trap. Most of them, thanks to their quirks, were able to overcome the icy obstacle.
"Well, at least someone didn't dumb it down!" - flashed through Sonic's mind, though he was slightly annoyed that he himself had fallen into this trap. But he wasn't going to give up, and his brain was already starting to generate options on how to break free of the icy captivity and get back into the race.
Sonic, hanging upside down, was already starting to feel dizzy from the rush of blood to his head. He didn't waste time trying to find a more elegant solution, but simply started pounding the ice with his hands.
His gloves, though they reduced the force of his blows, but at the same time, thanks to their special properties, reduced the effect of the cold on his skin. Still, due to the combination of these factors, he fiddled with the ice trap for several seconds. The cold shackles did not give in so easily, and Sonic had to put in considerable effort to break through the ice.
Finally, Sonic managed to break free of the ice trap. Free from his shackles, he plummeted downwards without a second's hesitation.
Because he could not build up inertia, his fall was not smooth and controlled. The force of gravity pulled him downward with double the force, and he slammed onto the icy surface with a thud. Pain shot through his body. He felt his legs buckle from the impact.
"Ah!" he involuntarily burst out as he tried to get up.
"How humiliating!" - flashed through his mind. He realized that this was an extremely ridiculous situation. His ridiculous fall certainly didn't add to his confidence. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the passageway was empty and there were no CCTV cameras in sight.
"At least no one saw," he thought, rising to his feet and shaking off the ice chips. Needed to pull himself together and catch up.
Sonic, trying to ignore his aching back from the impact, jerked forward, leaving the poor souls stuck in the ice behind him. He quickly passed the crowd and began to pick up speed, trying to make up for lost time.
Suddenly, up ahead, giant, intimidating robots appeared on the horizon. They looked so huge and powerful that Sonic thought for a second:
"Is that Eggman's?!" He squinted his eyes, trying to get a better look at them. But at that moment, the loud voice of the announcer rang throughout the stadium, and Sonic realized his mistake.
"All right, contestants! It's time for the first real challenge! This is... Robo Inferno!" - proclaimed the announcer, and his words echoed throughout the stadium.
Sonic, rapidly approaching the robots, noticed a massive wave of ice covering them.
"Todoroki, the devil doesn't waste any time," he thought as he assessed the power of his opponent's quirk. It was truly impressive.
Sonic ran up to the rest of the contestants already frozen in front of the robots. He saw the giants breaking through the ice shackles and starting to fall, creating a dangerous situation. Without wasting a second, Sonic pushed away anyone who stood in the path of the falling robot with lightning speed, dragging them to safety. Kirishima was among the rescued, covered in a dense layer of stone, apparently he had activated his quirk for protection. Next to him was another metallic-skinned student, he looked quite surprised but unhurt.
"Good, at least someone knows how to react quickly," Sonic's mind raced.
After pushing everyone to safety, he faced a new problem. The fall of the giant robot had caused a huge cloud of dust to rise up, covering everything around him.
He lost his bearings for a moment, but immediately gathered himself, realizing that he needed to move on.
Many huge red eyes looked at him through the shroud of dust. He realized that there were more behind the first row of robots!
"Is there more of these!" - Sonic thought, feeling the excitement overwhelm him with renewed vigor.
Without wasting a second, he used his crowning trick, the Spin Dash. He curled up into a tight ball and began to spin rapidly in place, gaining tremendous energy. His spinning was so fast that it seemed as if he had turned into a blur.
Many students, including those who had just gotten out from under the ice, watched stunned. The commentator, noticing Sonic's unusual actions, immediately started commenting, marveling.
"Unbelievable! Look how he's gaining momentum! What on earth is he up to!" - he exclaimed, as if anticipating a spectacular performance. But no sooner had the commentator finished his sentence than Sonic, like a cannonball, burst from his seat, leaving only a swirl of dust behind him.
He crashed into the leg of the huge robot like a torpedo and began to smash through the metal body, climbing higher and higher to the mechanical giant's head, leaving a mess of mangled metal behind him. As it flew out the opposite side, out of the robot's head, it left behind only a pile of smoking debris and a lifeless robot.
"That's it?" - he thought, smirking slightly.
"Even Eggman's weakest robots were a far greater challenge than these tin cans."
He looked at the defeated giant, and a slight boredom read in his eyes. Without wasting any time, he dropped onto the robot's arm and began to slide down like a snow slide, enjoying the fleeting pleasure. Finishing his descent with a spectacular somersault, he landed on the ground with ease, ready to continue the race.
"Guess I'll have to have a little fun on my own," he thought, preparing himself for more adventures at this, as it turned out, not so difficult festival.
And then, as if out of the blue, came the voice of the commentator, who, amazed by what he had seen, commented emotionally on what had happened:
"Wow! Amazing speed and power! It looks like Todoroki has a serious competitor! This young man, with incredible agility, has just demonstrated his skill!" Sonic, upon hearing those words, involuntarily smirked.
It was certainly nice to have your strength noticed. But before he could really savor the moment, there were loud explosions from behind him.
It was Bakugo, blazing with anger and shouting at the top of his voice:
"Hey, bastard! Don't think I'm going to lose to you! I'll show you who's the best around here!" Sonic grinned even wider.
"That Vulcan needs to temper his fervor," he thought, but he just threw it over his shoulder:
"Heh, well, well, well, Vulcan, try to catch up to me at least!" With those words, he picked up speed, leaving behind a furious Bakugo and an enthusiastic commentator.
Sonic, picking up his cruising speed, quickly shortened the distance to Todoroki.