The end of the Obstacle Course was a bit of a free for all. Izuku managed to take first place away from both the leaders, Todoroki and Katsuki. In a fiery display of explosions and crash landings, Izuku took the lead, much to the other two's chagrin. Suzuka, who had managed to stay relevant throughout most of the race, ended the race in ninth place, right behind Kirishima. She felt bad because she was certain that if Kirishima hadn't stopped for her he would've placed much higher.
All in all the Obstacle Race was an overall success for their class, as most of the top twenty five spots were taken by 1A. However, that didn't help their relations with the other classes as it was stated that only the top forty two made it through to the next round. So here they all were, tired and hated, waiting to hear what the next event of the sports festival would be.
As Suzuka rested across the quad, she smiled at her brother, who approached her quickly. Kirishima, ever the gentleman, excused himself from her side once he knew she would be okay.
"Suzu!" Izuku shouted happily. Suzuka smiled at him, waving.
"Nice finish!" She told him earnestly. "Very explosive." She joked. Izuku snorted, reaching his hand out to help his sister to her feet. "I only finished ninth."
"Yeah well that may be a bit my fault." He told her guiltily. "I'm sorry I almost blew you up. I didn't think you'd run out there like that." Suzuka shook her head.
"No, we came here to win, so that's what we're gonna do. No easy passes!"
"Right." Izuku grinned at his sister, clapping her hand in his.
"Now the real fun is about to begin! The chance to fully move yourselves into the limelight! Give it your best!" Midnight shouted over the loudspeakers. Suzuka and Izuku both looked up at the stage in the middle of the stadium, which Midnight stood in the middle of, microphone and riding crop in tow.
"Someone should really talk to her about her outfit." Suzuka muttered as Midnight flailed her crop around expertly.
"Let's see what we have in store for you next!" She called to the students as the jumbotron began it's roulette again. Suzuka waited with anticipation. "What could it be? The wait is torture!" Midnight licked her lips as the thing spun, finally slowing before landing on their next exhibition. "Prepare yourselves… for the Cavalry Battle!"
"Wait, a Cavalry Battle?" Izuku asked Suzuka, who shrugged.
"I'm pretty sure those aren't individual events, right?" She returned, her brother looking at her quizzically.
"The participants will form teams of two to four people as they see fit!" Midnight informed the students, answering all of their questions. "In theory, it's basically the same as a regular playground game, but there is one difference. Each player has been assigned a point value based on their placement in the Obstacle Race." She told them matter of factly.
"So that means each team will have a different point value based on which students are on the teams." Suzuka looked at her brother quietly, biting her lip. He's probably worth the most points since he came in first. She thought to herself. It would be an easy win.
"The point assignments go up by increments of five, starting from the bottom. For example, forty second place is worth five points, forty first, ten." Midnight explained, pointing to the screen with her crop. "And the point value assigned to the first place contestant is… TEN MILLION!" Suzuka gasped, as did most of the other students, and she turned to look at her brother with wide eyes. Izuku practically cowered underneath the stare of the crowd, hiding his face in his hands as the entire student body glowered at him. "It's survival of the fittest with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top."
So, just by overthrowing one team we can take the lead. Suzuka wondered quietly as she watched her brother. The only question is; do I want to start with ten million points and spend all game trying to keep it, or do I want to spend all game trying to get it?
"Show us what Plus Ultra means! Pick your teams!"
"Suzu-"
"Dori." Suzuka was pulled from her thoughts as two people spoke her name at once. She froze, realizing who those two people were: Izuku and Katsuki. With wide eyes her head snapped up to find Izuku pleading with his sister while Katsuki glowered at him. Suzuka took a deep breath looking at both of them quietly. Did she want to fight to keep the ten million points? Or did she want to fight to earn the ten million points?
"I-" She stammered as Katsuki crossed his arms in front of his chest. With a sigh, Suzuka bit her lip. She grabbed Izuku's face in her hands and smiled at him, one that Izuku returned. "You know I love you, right?" She asked him quietly.
"You're picking Katsuki, aren't you?" He said finally. Suzuka said nothing, but she didn't release his face. Beside them Katsuki inhaled sharply.
"I want to prove to myself that I deserve to be here, so I'm going to earn those ten million points from you." Again she smiled. "We can't depend on each other our whole lives. No easy passes."
"No easy passes." He replied, putting his hand on hers and squeezing it. He pulled Suzuka close to him, hugging her tightly, one that Suzuka returned in earnest.
"I love you." He whispered through tears.
"It's going to be okay, Izuku." She told him, pulling away. "Go pick your team. Uraraka is looking at you!" Suzuka teased her brother. Izuku pushed her shoulder, giving Katsuki a hard look. Katsuki returned it with a glare as Izuku excused himself to find Uraraka in the crowd.
"Why me?" Katsuki asked finally.
"I didn't pick you either." She shot back, earning a challenging glare from him. "I'm not just a stepping stone, Katsuki, and I'm going to prove it to you." Suzuka hissed.
"Then who?!" Katsuki raged. Suzuka really had no idea, to be honest she hadn't thought that far ahead. She could always asked Shoji? He'd likely make room for her to be on their team-? Just then a fourth option stepped from the body of students, his icy hot stare finding Suzuka almost immediately.
Todoroki. With a nod, they both communicated the same thing, they were teammates now.
"Are you fucking serious, Dori?!" Katsuki howled. Suzuka watched him sadly, but only for a moment before heading off towards Todoroki.
"I'm sorry Katsuki, but I don't know how else to teach you that I'm worth something." She shrugged, disappearing into the crowd. Katsuki could feel his blood boiling and he stifled a scream. She was going to pay for picking that Icy Hot bastard over him. And he was going to pay for taking her!
"The sports festival isn't really about seeing how prepared they are at being heroes." Death Arms said cooly, taking a drag of his cigarette. He watched the small TV in the break room, slowly taking another hit. "it's more about simulating the completion they'll face if they go pro."
"What are you talking about?" Mount Lady asked, crossing her arms across her chest. For the first time since their break she looked away from the TV, watching Death Arms with a raised brow.
"We all know this country is overrun with agencies right now." He said matter of factly. "If you want to put food on the table, you've gotta be willing to step on top of other Heroes. That was the whole point of the first round." He told her, extinguishing his spent cigarette.
"That's such a sad way of looking at our job." Mount Lady gagged, fanning the smoke away from her face with her hand.
"Seriously?" Kamui woods sputtered, nearly spitting out his water. "You've never had a problem stealing the spotlight!" He told her bitterly. Mount Lady blushed, poo pooing him and his accusations.
"But on the other hand, if you're battling each other for popularity, there are plenty of cases where you have to work together." Death Arms said, with and emphasis towards Mount Lady.
"Just like this Cavalry Battle!" She agreed, ignoring the dirty looks she received from both of her fellow heroes. "Every point you score is not just for you, but for your teammates as well! Plus you have to think about how your quirks work together, compatibility…" She began to count off on her fingers.
"It's like coordinating with your sidekick or training with other agencies." Kamui interjected.
"I'm sure at least some of the kids have figured it out." Death Arms told them, putting his cigarette out.
"Speaking of sidekicks, have either of you seen any students you're going to extend an invitation to?" Death Arms pried, earning a dirty look from both of his heroes friends.
"You're supposed to wait until the festival is over!" Kamui scolded him.
"I for one definitely have my eye on a few." Mount Lady purred, ignoring him. The two heroes looked at Kamui Woods expectantly and Kamui sighed, giving in to them. "There's a few I was looking at. The girl from 1B, with the foliage hair, she isn't bad."
"And the other?" Death Arms grinned. Kamui glared at her, sitting back in his chair.
"The girl who went toe to toe with Todoroki's son wasn't too shabby either. She seemed to have an excellent handle on her quirk."
"The telekinetic one?" Mount Lady asked nonchalant.
"Yeah, her, why?"
"Oh because she's already got a few fans of her own on Chatter- and her own hashtag has been started!" Mount Lady told him, thrusting her phone into his face.
"You aren't supposed to be using your phone!" Kamui said, exacerbated, though he took it from her anyways.
"How else am I supposed to see who's trending on Chatter? It helps me with my picks!" Mount Lady pouted. Kamui rolled his eyes, pressing the play button on the video of the telekinetic girl. It was footage of her using her quirk to get over the canyon part of the Obstacle Course. "They're calling her The Sugar Glider. How cute is that?" Mount Lady gushed.
"This is your own post!" He shouted at her, to which Mount Lady shrugged. Kamui Woods hated to admit it, but he was impressed by the young student, and thanks to Mount Lady she now had quite the viral following.
"Her name is Suzuka Midorya, former middle schooler at Aldera Junior High." Mount Lady told him, hand on her chin as she watched Kamui, pleased.
So it was said that the individual team's scores would be added up to equal a single score per team. Suzuka was proud of herself, as she made up at least one hundred and sixty of her team's total points, not bad for ninth place if she did say so herself. But still, it was nothing compared to Izuku's ten million. Suzuka frowned, turning to look at her brother's team once. He'd managed to make a good one; Uraraka, Tokoyami and, to Suzuka's surprise, Mei Hatsume.
As for Katsuki, he didn't seem to be talking strategy with his team, he was too busy seething in Suzuka's direction. He was obviously still sore about her dissing him, but she knew she had to stay strong. Despite him losing his first pick, Katsuki managed to corale a very offensive team as well with Denki, Kirishima and Aishido. They were definitely not a lot to be trifled with, especially with the way Katsuki was glowering at her own team.
The headbands would have to be worn from the neck up, so no hiding them in inconspicuous places, which would be pretty hard once they had acquired a few of them. If it we're up to her, the team would just go after the higher point headbands, but she was not the strategist. It was pretty clear that Todoroki would be the team's strategist from the beginning, and nobody on their team had argued with him about it. He was the son of a pro, so they we're willing to take what he was offering.
"I chose three of you because I feel like we'll make the most stable team." Todoroki told them smugly. "Midorya, I'll need you at my right wing, you can use your quirk offensively to keep enemies at bay, but you can also move defensively if need be. Yaoyorozu, I'll need you on my left focusing on defense and insulation." Todoroki said. Yaoyorozu and Suzuka both nodded, looking at each other intently. She could definitely blow some of their fellow classmates out of the way if need be. "Iida, you will be the head horse, maneuverability for the team. With your engine quirk we should be able to change directions pretty quickly, despite no one else having a speed quirk, and you're strong. Yaoyorozu is going to make us skates and you'll pull us around like a trolley. We'll be much faster and more versatile." He told them. Yaoyorozue modded, from her belly producing several pies of skates.
"Right, and you'll be creating diversions of ice and fire, is that right?" Iida asked earnestly.
"Not quite, when I'm in battle I never use my left side." Todoroki told them glaring up towards the crowd. Suzuka followed his glare to find that he was glaring at his father, pro hero Endeavor. She frowned, wondering what exactly he had against him. "My plan is to corner Izuku Midorya, and when the time is right, Midorya I want you to use your energy to produce a kinetic blast big enough to knock most of the teams down, or at least to unsteady them. Yaoyorozu, you're going to be the anchor for our team for this blast. You'll need something strong to hold us down for Midorya's blast."
"Times up!" Midnight shouted from the stage. Suzuka frowned, she didn't feel like they were the least bit ready for this. She was okay with the placements in theory but now she was wondering exactly how her and Yaoyorozu were supposed to hold Todoroki up for that long. Could Iida really act as their rudder in the front? It just seemed like they would be tripping over each other at that point-
"We're going to be fine, Midorya." Iida said suddenly.
"Was I that obvious?" Suzuka asked with a frown. Iida nodded and Yaoyorozu put a hand on Suzuka's shoulder.
"You were practically wearing the word worry on your face." She then did something that Suzuka hadn't quite expected from the girl. Despite the competition, Yaoyorozu gave Suzuka a bright smile. "We can do this, I know we can!"