Affinity

Chapter 6 - Bring in the Cavalry

a/n - happy Saturday, friends :) thanks again for stopping by! <3 

Chapter 6 - Bring in the Cavalry

Emiko took a few calming breaths before stepping up to the wire in front of her, stretching her arms out either side in a practiced motion as her feet felt the ground stop and her bare soles felt the dozens of metal strands braided together in a thick cord pulled taut to link the pillars to the two sides of the chasm.

Just as she'd practiced so many times in the aerial course in the dojo, she maintained perfect balance along the ersatz tightrope, carefully placing one foot in front of the other without compromising on speed, proceeding until her feet felt the embrace of stone on the first pillar. Only once she had both feet on solid ground once again did she open her eyes and take a moment to scout her surroundings to pick out a path.

Straight ahead? No, too crowded. Right.

She wasted no time in lining up her next approach and repeating the process. While she knew time was of the essence, she had enough faith in her muscle memory from her years of doing this manner of tightrope walking to persist with her method, having seen some of her classmates opting to climb the cables from underneath instead of trying their hand at the balancing act. By sticking by her method, she was saving herself precious time compared to caving and employing the method her classmates were favouring. Well, those who didn't have quirks that could totally negate the need for any of these approaches.

The tedious crossing of the chasm finally came to an end and she finally turned her focus on the next stretch of the course. It seemed too good to be true for this last leg to be an open space, and sure enough, she saw the imperceptibly tiny mounds of dirt and her eyes bugged out as she saw some of the students in this section being blown sky high by... land mines?!

Once again thanking her terrible luck for not having her shoes and the extra nimbleness her bare feet afforded her, Emiko treaded carefully between the potholes created by the triggered landmines, dodging ones that had not yet been set off. The earlier section was easier to navigate, due to there being a lower volume of untriggered mines, but as she started to get further in, the safe spots to step became more and more scarce and Emiko's body tensed up in anticipation of misstepping and setting off one of the mines. She spared a glance forward and saw Bakugo and Todoroki sprinting side by side at the pack, fighting each other as they ran when suddenly a loud boom from behind her startled her, so much so that she misstepped and found herself launched into the air.

As her body careened skyward, her eyes widened as she saw none other than Midoriya rocketing through the air above her, clinging to the scrap piece of the robot he'd salvaged earlier for dear life. It seemed everyone else had stopped to take notice of the improvised projectile the determined green-haired boy had become.

What the fuck?

Emiko miraculously managed to land in a way that managed not to set off another mine and send her careening through the air. As she painfully picked herself up off the ground, she saw Midoriya crash down to the ground as well, beyond the end of the minefield and suddenly at the head of the pack, much to the frustration of Bakugo, who raged at the audacity of Midoriya to have taken the lead in a way that didn't involve using his quirk.

His enraged screams could be heard from her position in the middle of the pack, his voice cracking under the strain. His rage was noticeable from here, tainting each breath she took with the taste of iron in her mouth.

Emiko shook her head at the antics of her classmates as she got back to her process of tiptoeing through the minefield until she felt another explosion rock the course. It seemed Midoriya had slammed the piece of metal he'd salvaged from the robots into the ground beside Bakugou and Shoto, throwing them to the side from the explosion and catapulting him further forward. She blocked out Present Mic's frenzied cries commentating the race with Bakugou and Todoroki hot on Midoriya's heels. Yeah, she could kiss first place goodbye, but she just had to make sure she got a respectable finish and stayed in the competition so she could hopefully make up ground in other events where she could make use of her quirk.