Dante's group was chosen, he was against Izuku, Mina, Iida and Sero.
Dante himself was crouched on a pipe scaffolding, visibly swaying. His eyes were half open, body still thinner than usual beneath the sports uniform. Everyone else was pumped up while Dante was barely standing.
"Try not to collapse!" Sero looked at Dante, smiling at him like Dante didn't beat the shit out of him on the first day of hero training.
Dante gave him a weak thumbs up, barely lifting his head.
Across the labyrinth, All Might's voice echoed from a speaker.
"I'm ready! Come find me!"
A deep air horn blasted.
Dante hesitated for a moment.
Everyone else launched into action.
Iida burst forward, speed being his whole thing and all. Mina was gliding across the pipes. Sero was in first place, using his tape to swing from the pipes.
Dante blinked, rubbing his eyes. "I am seriously not in the right condition for this."
He took a deep breath and recounted his fight with Shigaraki.
Then—snap!—he fired two sludge tendrils forward. They latched onto twin beams and he launched himself through the air, amping his speed with Pyroclast via fire coming from his elbows behind him. Mid flight, he detached, twisted and shot two more tendrils forward.
He didn't bother using any finesse or even trying to get ahead, he was just trying to keep up.
Once he had a line of sight down a long stretch of open scaffolding, he yanked all four limbs back and ignited them.
*FWOOOOOM!*
Flames burst out from his hands and feet, using Pyroclast to fly. As he started to descend, his wings burst out of his back, through his uniform and angled to stabilize his flight, giving him some control. The wings keeping him up and the fire pushing him forward.
He was catching up pretty quickly.
Until a green blur caught his eye ahead.
"Izuku?"
But… not quite the same Izuku.
This Izuku was way too fast. Extremely fast. And his arms weren't broken? His legs weren't trailing behind him like dead weight. He was actually controlling it? Every step he took sparked a mini shockwave and Dante could see an aura of green lightning sparking here and there.
His eyes widened. "The hell? Since when did he stop breaking his damn bones…?"
Dante angled his wings and used a pipe to ricochet around a corner. He pushed himself a bit harder, using more fire. The veins in his arms bulged, but he didn't care. A competitive spark was lit by Izuku.
Dante saw Mina slithering down a pipe and launching herself upward with acid, narrowly missing Dante. Iida dashed by on a lower level and Sero zipped past again, laughing and swinging like a weirdo.
Dante groaned. "Come on, I don't wanna lose to that…"
He surged forward again, twisting midair, using another sludge tendril to latch onto a crane arm and swing himself into a sharp upward launch. He landed on a higher catwalk and paused for a moment to catch his breath, his flames were starting to diminish and sputtered slightly.
He looked up, he saw All Might, standing atop a tall container tower, waving.
Dante squinted.
Just as he jumped down to start his flight up again, his fire stopped completely.
"Huh?"
The burst of fire that should've carried him forward stalled and gravity kicked in.
"What?—no, no, No—!"
He tumbled midair, wings flapping open in desperation. His back slammed into a pipe, scraping across it before he caught himself with a last ditch tendril, swinging low.
By the time he scrambled up to All Might's position, two others were already there.
Izuku was on the floor, face first, slightly winded but he was smiling.
Sero leaned against the railing nearby with the winners belt around his torso, one leg kicked up, trying his best to look cool.
"I guess I'm first?" Sero sighed. "Just as I thought."
All Might laughed, clapping his hands. "A fantastic effort! Well done, everyone!"
Dante dragged himself up and slumped onto a crate, wings sagging behind him, refusing to dissipate.
"…I'm gonna throw up," he muttered.
Izuku offered him a bottle of water. "Are you okay? You seriously don't look too good…"
Dante took the bottle but didn't answer straight away. His gaze lingered on Izuku for a bit, his limbs were fine, he was breathing fine, he even seemed more energetic.
He finally asked, voice flat. "How come you can use that quirk of yours without turning your bone to mush?"
Izuku blinked, caught off guard. "Uh… since the internship. Gran Torino helped me figure out how to concentrate it on my whole body more evenly instead of one place, why?"
Dante didn't even reply. He just stared at the water bottle, his jaw clenched tight.
'What's with me? Everyone's doing their best and I'm struggling to keep up? Why now? All I did was use a bit too much fire power, surely it's not that bad to use it all at once?'
All Might stepped forward, addressing the whole group.
"You all showed incredible progress. I'm proud of each of you! Speed, awareness and adaptability were all crucial here, and I saw plenty of all three. Well done!"
Dante didn't say anything, he just sat there, jaw tight, fingers twitching slightly.
"Our time here is done. Why are you still here, we have a job to do."
'I don't know, okay? Who knows? Maybe I'm still here because I don't want to fall into that kinda life, I want a peaceful life, I can't have that if I have the police on my trail. Maybe I'm here, because someone can save me, maybe that's why I'm so drawn to being a hero! Ever consider that? You're not the only one struggling.'
Little Dante just looked at him, then disappeared without a word.
Dante's eye twitched and he crushed the bottle of water.
His fire had cut out. He came in third?
And now Izuku? Izuku was finally getting the handle on All Might's quirk.
The gap was shrinking and Dante hated being outpaced, he needed to do something, and fast.