Cloud and Hammer Calvary
UA Sports Festival Stadium
Of the sixty students who'd gone through the first event, only the top forty-two were allowed to advance. So far, all of class 1A had managed to make it to through to the next event, which was being chosen the same way as before. Clay waited in block formation with the remaining students as the large screen cycled through the titles of one event after the other. 'I wonder if the first event will have any bearing on this event,' Clay thought as the titles scrolled slower and slower until finally landing on an event.
"And for our next event," Said Midnight, "The cavalry battle!" a number of murmurs went through the gathering of students. 'Well that's different,' thought Slade, 'A team event at a sports festival?' "For those of you wondering about the rules, allow me to explain," Said Midnight as the screen shifted, acting as a visual aid. "Everyone here will form a team consisting of two to four members. It'll be much like your normal playground style game, with a slight catch."
'Always a catch,' thought Clay. "This game will involve point values, which have been given to each individual based on the results of the last event."
"Oh I get it," Said Uraraka, "Depending on who teams up with who, each team will have a different amount of points."
"You got it girl," Said Ashido happily, before Midnight cracked her weapon like a whip.
"Why don't you can it and let me finish explaining!" Midnight said, somehow overhearing the two girl's conversation. "Now as I was saying, the assigned points go up by five for each contestant, starting at five for 42nd place, ten for 41st place and so on."
'That makes sense,' thought Clay, 'last place has the least, which means that first place has-wait a minute.' A realization hit Clay then as he finally put two and two together, 'Oh $ $!'
"The one in first place," Said Midnight, "Has been assigned a special value of 10 million points!" 'I hadn't even considered it,' thought Clay as he put his hands to his head, 'By helping Midoriya take first place in the last event, I put a giant bullseye on his back!'
"Way to go a-hole," Slade whispered, easily guessing what Clay was thinking right about then.
"I know alright," Said Clay as he crossed his arms, "No good deed goes unpunished and all that." Slade simply nodded his head as Midnight continued to explain the rules.
"Now each team's total point value shall be displayed by a head band worn by the rider," Midnight said, "Your goal shall be to collect as many of these head bands as possible. All captured head bands will be worn from the neck up, meaning the more you collect, the harder they'll be to keep up with. Something else I should mention, is that even if a team loses all they're headbands or falls down, they can keep playing until time runs out!"
"So it could be anyone's game," Momo thought aloud. Slade nodded his head in affirmation.
"If I'm doing my math right," Slade Said, "There should be about ten to twelve teams total all fighting for the most head bands. So however the teams turn out will basically determine an overall strategy." Momo nodded her head in agreement as Midnight explained the next part of the event.
"You can use your quirks as often as you desire," Said Midnight, "However, there are still rules in this game. Anyone who makes a team fall on purpose shall be immediately red carded and disqualified!" This rule seemed to sit better with some people than others. "Now you have fifteen minutes to form your teams, so I'd recommend getting started."
"Well I guess we better-," Clay was about to say when a number of students surrounded both him, Bakugou, and Todoroki. 'That's gonna be a problem,' thought Slade as he managed to move away from the crowd.
"Just hang in there Clay," Slade called as he made his way over to their friend, "I'll be right back!"
"Just hurry up please-hey, get off my back!" Replied Clay as he was now struggling to yank Mineta off his back in addition to dealing with several other students begging to have him on their team. 'Sometimes it sucks being at the top,' thought Slade. Of course, Clay's situation was the exact reverse of Midoriya's at the moment.
"It seems you're having a bit of trouble finding people," Said Slade as he walked over to Midoriya, "Need any recommendations?"
"Oh, hey Slade," Said Midoriya, who was practically alone on the field right now, "Yeah I could use a few. Since I'm worth ten million points, no one wants to partner with me. That and no one thinks they can trust me because I never used my quirk in the last event."
"There are a few here who trust you," Said Slade, "Like Uraraka and Iida for example."
"Why can't you and Clay help out in this event?" Asked Midoriya, "You both know my quirk's strength and you're my two oldest friends."
"Well there are two main reasons for that," Said Slade as he crossed his arms and thought about how best to explain it. "First off, it's not just you but nearly all of our friends that are asking us to join them. Now you know how Clay is when it comes to picking from among friends, even for simpler activities, he'd just as soon not do it than potentially hurt other's feelings. That also leads us to our second reason."
"And what's that exactly," Asked Midoriya, somewhat confused at the logic coming from his friend.
"Well, Clay also feels kind of guilty," Said Slade, "He kind of helped you out a bit by giving you an opening in the last event to get first place. And we can all see how that turned out."
"So Clay's basically afraid that he'll only make things worse if he tries to help me out again," Midoriya summed up.
"Pretty much," Replied Slade, "Me and him have both got pretty high numbers from our places in the race. If we team up with you, it's extremely likely every single team will hit us with everything they've got right from the beginning. So Clay and I decided it would just be the two of us for this event."
"I see," Said Midoriya, somewhat somberly, "I guess that does make some sense to a degree."
"But that's why I got some recommendations for you," Said Slade as he held up his fingers, "You see I know I can convince at least a couple people to go along with you."
"Like who," Asked Midoriya, now extremely curious to hear what Slade had to say.
"Well there's Iida and Tokoyami to consider," Said Slade, "Neither of them have a team yet. Also, I bumped into a friend of ours from the support course, Mei Hatsume. She's mulling things over at the moment, but I off-handedly mentioned that her little gadgets would be in the spotlight if she teamed up with Mr. Ten million. Careful though, she has no concept of personal space."
"I know a couple of them could do well," Said Midoriya as he put his hand to his chin, "Was there anyone else?" Slade simply smirked as he pointed at the brown-haired girl walking towards them, Uraraka.
"Hey Deku," Said Uraraka, "Wanna team up?" Midoriya's reaction was priceless as a mass of tears shot out of his eyes. 'Yeah, that should work,' thought Slade as he and Uraraka wiped their friend's tears off of them. Slade then took that moment to look back over at Clay, who was still having a hard time getting the more persistent students off of his back.
"Alright," Said Slade as he turned to leave, "I gotta go get Clay out of that mob over there. So good luck recruiting the rest of your team."
"I appreciate it Slade," Said Midoriya, "Good luck to you guys too." Slade waved back as he continued walking away.
In the span of the next few minutes, the timer finally rang, ending the time for teams to form as everyone was given a headband with their total point value. "About time," Said Clay as he hopped onto Slade's shoulders, his friend's large size easily allowing him to lift him up. "I was afraid I was gonna get dog piled there a couple of times."
"That's what you get for showing off," Said Slade as he adjusted his density to allow him to run with the added weight of his friend, "Even if it's not the most flashy, your quirk's versatility is obvious to anyone paying attention."
"Speaking of attention," Said Clay, "How many do you think are gonna be aiming to get our headbands?"
"Most of them will aim for Midoriya first," Replied Slade as he analyzed their current situation. "A few will aim for other team's head bands until they either get a shot at Midoriya's team or until they feel they've gathered enough points."
"Makes sense," Replied Clay as he examined the team Midoriya had. 'He's got Mei, Uraraka, and Tokoyami backing him up, so his defense and movement will probably be pretty solid.' "What if we changed the number of teams coming after us?" Asked Clay, a bit of an idea forming in his head.
"How so?" Asked Slade as he observed the gears grinding in his friend's cloudy noggin.
"If we put on a good enough show, more of them may come after us, right" Said Clay.
"I thought we weren't trying to help Midoriya," Said Slade, a little confused, "Especially considering how well that's gone so far in this competition."
"But we won't be helping Midoriya," Said Clay, "We'll be helping ourselves by drawing in a larger number of opponents." Slade thought it over for a moment as he started catching onto Clay's plan.
"So you're saying that we give those teams coming after us a little reversal of fortune," Said Slade, "That's kinda sneaky actually."
"The other teams will be using every trick in the book to get headbands," Said Clay. "So if we're gonna make it through this event we need to hit 'em with some tricks of our own." Slade nodded in agreement.
"Alright, the 12 cavalry teams are all assembled!" Present Mike practically yelled over the speakers, "So give a shout out for some arena busting, team battle action!" The crowd cheered in response as Present Mike began the count down. Every team tensed up as the number went down to zero. "BEGIN!" Yelled Midnight. The teams all rushed at once, most of them in the same direction.
"So freakin' predictable!" Clay exclaimed as he produced a large amount of his cloud quirk, covering most of Slade as they charged forward. His friend lowered his density to the point that Clay was barely weighed down, allowing them to glide across the field at a fast pace. 'Let's see how good of a show we can put on,' thought Clay as he steered them towards their first target, Tetsu Tetsu's team.
They, like just about everyone else, were headed for Midoriya's team and opened up by using a quirk which turned the ground into quicksand. But their friend had chosen his allies well as he used a jetpack supplied by Hatsume to escape and jump right over Tetsu Tetsu's team. 'There's an opening,' thought Clay as he used more of his quirk to form a shield, lance and helmet out of his clouds. "Let's make this a real cavalry battle!" Exclaimed Clay as they charged forward at Tetsu's team. They noticed in the next instant as Tetsu used his steel quirk to harden his skin, which caused the cloud lance to break up on impact.
"You really think something like that can take me down?!" Yelled Tetsu Tetsu as Clay and Slade passed right by them.
"Wasn't supposed to," Replied Clay as he reached his hand through the dissolving cloud, snatching Tetsu Tetsu's head band as they went by. "It was just to make an opening."
"Hey you give that back!" Yelled Tetsu as one of his teammates, a girl with thorny vines for hair, shot a tendril at them. But Clay raised up the cloud shield he'd formed, deflecting the thorny hair as they were turning and rushed out of range.
"That's a start," Said Slade as they continued to glide around the field, "Where to next?" Clay looked around, making sure to keep a look out for any other teams approaching from their peripherals. It was then that he spotted Shoji, with his large, wing-like tentacles covering something on his back. His team was heading for Midoriya's team as well. Go figure.
"Why don't we see how much extra weight Shoji can hold," Said Clay as he directed his cloud towards the other team. Circling around, they approached from behind Shoji, aiming for his blind spot. As they did so, Clay noted that purple, rubber-like balls and a long frog tongue were shooting out at Midoriya's team. 'So that's your game,' thought Clay as he readied his cloud. "Here we go," he said as he used his quirk to catapult them into the air.
Two surprised voices joined Shoji's as Slade and Clay landed on top of the large, dupli-arms. "You forgot to cover your rear flank," Said Slade as he increased his density, using his newfound weight to push apart the enemy horse's arms.
"Hey what the heck?!" Exclaimed Mineta as he and Tsuyu were revealed to be hiding under Shoji's arms, covering their eyes at the sudden light shining on their faces. Using the half-second of surprise to their advantage, Slade reached down and snatched Mineta's head band before jumping off and back on the ground.
"If he'd created a couple of eyes on those arms of his, he might've seen us coming," Said Slade as he decreased his density again while handing Clay the head band.
"That's what you get when you focus all your efforts on offense," Said Clay as he reformed his cloud beneath them. An explosion above them drew their attention as they saw Bakugou falling away from Midoriya in midair without the rest of his team. Sero reeled him back in with his scotch tape quirk a moment later.
"Is that even legal," Asked Slade. His question was answered a moment later as Midnight declared that since Bakugou didn't hit the ground, it was a legal maneuver.
"Guess that answers tha-," Clay was interrupted by a tug on his head as he felt someone's fingers dig into the cloud helmet around his head.
"It seems your efforts on defense weren't as focused as you thought either," Said a student with short, blond hair, a number of captured headbands around his neck and a $ ^-eating grin on his face. But he wasn't the only one grinning. "Wait a minute, what's going on?" The blond student tried and tried but he couldn't pull his fingers out of the cloud formation around Clay's head.
"It's about time," Said Clay as he reached up and snatched the other student's head band, "I was beginning to think we'd be ignored this whole game." The blond student tried to reach up with his other hand, only for it to be engulfed as the clouds surrounding Slade's legs moved up and wrapped around his arms. "Do it now Slade!" His larger friend complied as he reached up and grabbed the solidified clouds, increasing his density as he did so. Then, with planted feet, he twisted around and yanked their blond opponent's whole team around.
They slid several feet away before a black-haired student used a quirk to solidify their breath, creating a wall which stopped the sliding team. "Neito Monoma, right," Said Clay as the two teams faced each other down, "The one with the copy quirk?"
"You know who I am?" Questioned their current opponent, "And you know of my quirk."
"After you jack wagons crowded the entrance to our class, we got to researching everyone in class 1B," Said Slade, "Did you really think you were the only ones scouting the competition?"
"That's how you knew to avoid physical contact," Neito mused aloud before ordering his team to charge forward. "But that doesn't change the fact that you're still a bunch of overrated first years!" Clay and Slade tensed up as they noticed another team coming up behind them, led by a big, yellow guy who had multiple holes on his face for eyes and a mouth with teeth resembling a jack-o-lantern.
"Get ready to move," Said Clay when their large, yellow opponent fired some kind of glue-like substance. Clay deflected the majority of it, but enough still covered Slade's foot to stick him to the ground. "Not good," Said Clay as he was about to use his clouds to free Slade.
"No, I'll use my trump card," Said Slade as the two enemy teams closed in on them, "Just get ready to jump and form the hammer." Clay wanted to argue, but there wasn't time as the two teams were hardly a few feet from them. "Now!" Ordered Slade as he immediately went to decreasing his density. Clay gathered clouds to his hands and used them to pull him off of Slade and over Neito's team. As they tried to right themselves, Slade suddenly phased through them like some kind of ghost.
The two teams were so surprised by this that they had no time to slow down as they barreled into each other. Clay was almost laughing as he floated down to Slade, who'd raised his density back to high. "Didn't know I could do that did you," Said Slade as Clay landed on his shoulders, "And I'll bet you also didn't know we practiced this move." Clay hopped off of Slade as he gathered all of his current clouds around himself, forming them into the shape of a hammer as Slade grabbed the 'handle' which had formed beneath Clay's feet.
"Try not to let go this time," Said Clay as he finished forming the hammer around himself.
"You know I wouldn't let go in this kind of situation," Said Slade as he grinned with a rare glint of glee in his eye, "Especially not when we finally get to debut Slade's cloud hammer!" The other teams who'd gathered around them gasped as the density quirk user lifted the large hammer off of his shoulder and swung it downwards towards the nearest group.
"Retreat!" Yelled the small girl atop the yellow giant as they quickly changed direction. Slade was all too happy to give chase as he swung and swung his new, giant weapon.
"Muhahahahaha!" Slade laughed like a madman as he continued to swing the hammer around wildly. "Yes, run and cower in fear for the hammer man has come a-knocking, HAHAHAHAHA!" Another team, consisting of a green-haired student riding a blond girl with dragon-like horns attempted to tackle Slade from behind. But the density quirk user picked up on them pretty quickly as he turned around and started swinging at them.
'Sheesh,' thought Clay as he fought off the rising tides of motion sickness from within the cloud hammer. 'I thought his odd enjoyment of this was bad during training. But he's having so much fun swinging this hammer right now that he doesn't care who he's chasing.' Indeed Slade switched his attention from one team after another until a flash of electricity followed by a large wave of ice suddenly came rushing out of nowhere. Reacting quickly, the 1A student leapt up as high as he could, managing to avoid getting his feet frozen as their attention was directed back towards Midoriya's team.
Or at least it would've been if not for a large number of ice spikes obstructing their view. "I think it's time for us to move on the remaining big shots," Said Clay, peeking out of a whole he made in the hammer as Slade turned to the ice wall.
"Not a problem," Said Slade as he charged forward. As they approached the ice wall, Slade began spinning, increasing his density as he went to gain even more momentum for the strike. Clay braced the clouds around himself to as dense as they would go without suffocating him. 'I'm gonna be sick,' thought Clay as his friend slammed the cloud weapon into the ice, bashing through it with maximum force.
Ice shattered before them as a large opening was created by the blow. "It's time for a countdown!" Exclaimed Present Mike suddenly, prompting Slade to check the timer. ' $ $, only ten seconds left,' he thought as he rushed forward towards the two teams at the edge of the field, Midoriya and Todoroki's. 'Gotta make this one count!' A blast from the other side of the ice wall announced the entrance of Bakugou and his team as the explosion quirk user came flying into the fray.
All four teams were on a collision course as Slade made a split second decision for where to aim his strike. Just as the hammer was about to meet with the other team, the bell rang. "And the time is up!" Exclaimed Present Mike, prompting Slade to stop his strike in mid-swing. Bakugou, however, couldn't stop his flight through the air as he slammed right into the cloud hammer before falling back to the ground.
"Well that's it then," Said Slade, calming down from his excitement as Clay dispersed the cloud hammer and landed, or rather stumbled onto the ground.
"I think I'm gonna hurl," Said Clay as he tried his best to maintain his balance. 'Man that combo always makes me dizzy as $ $.' He thought as he managed to get his footing by placing his hands on his knees.
"And now, to announce the top five teams that will be moving on!" Said Present Mike as the score board erased all the other teams. "In first place is team Todoroki!" 'Crap,' thought Clay, 'they managed to get the one million points from Midoriya didn't they.'
"In second place is team Bakugou, and in third place, team Clay!" Continued Present Mike.
"Look at that," Said Slade as he patted his friend on the back, "We made it to the next round. I'll admit, I kind of stopped keeping track of where we were when I started swinging the hammer."
"Yeah I noticed," Said Clay as he finally managed to stand up straight, a little less nauseous than before.
"And in fourth place is team Tets-what a minute, it's team Shinzo, when did they jump in the rankings?" Said Present Mike, clearly as surprised as everyone else. Clay was starting to get worried at this point as he checked the rankings. His green-haired friend seemed in the dumps, but after looking at the board, Clay grinned.
"Hey Midoriya," Called Clay, "I'd save the long face for when they're done announcing." This statement seemed to confuse Midoriya quite a bit until Present Mike spoke again.
"And in fifth place is team Midoriya!" Announced Present Mike, prompting a cheer from the crowd. The green-haired boy was more than a little confused until the rest of his team pointed towards Tokoyami, who'd managed to use his shadow to snatch Todoroki's head band at the last second. Midoriya was so overjoyed that he shot out tears like a blasted fountain. Clay coulda sworn he sunk into the ground a little bit too.
"Whew," Said Slade, "I guess he didn't really need any help after all."
"Guess not," Said Clay as he turned to head out of the stadium with everyone else. "Come on, we got an hour lunch break. Best make the most of it before the next event."
"I second that," Said Slade as he moved to follow, "Swinging around a large cloud hammer really builds up an appetite."
"Well at least that makes one of us," Said Clay as they exited the stadium. "Just don't go so crazy next time we use that combo, please."
"No promises," Slade said with a laugh as he put his hands behind his head, "No promises."
The winners of the cavalry battle stand tall as only a handful of students are left standing for the next event. But the last event will be the longest, most grueling and painful one of them all, and only one can come out on top. But enough of the serious stuff for now. After all, I still need to thank all of my readers, reviewers and commenters who've kept up with this story so far. And a slight request, if anyone sees anything that can be improved in this story or have any ideas they'd like to throw my way, don't hesitate. After all, it's only because of you, my fellow readers and writers that I've been able to make my stories as good as they are right now. Be sure to stop by as the final event of the sports festival begins, by pitting everyone against each other. 'Til next time.