Symbyosis

Chapter Nineteen: On a Roll

Izuku turned as Tenya walked away, and bid Uraraka to follow him. The two walked in silence until they were well away from where the three had met and Uraraka spoke up. "It's too bad he doesn't want to work with us," she said, "I know we'd have made a great team." Izuku only nodded as he pondered who to approach next. He brought a hand to his chin and began tapping at his jaw with one finger as the possibilities flew through his mind. Given the nature of the event and the remaining contestants, it was going require a fine balance to create a team to pass to the next round.

Uraraka waited patiently as Izuku scanned the area, noting that some clusters had sprung up to request team ups. There was a sizable number of students surrounding Bakugo, and he suspected Todoroki was going to be awash with requests as well. Several members of class 1-B had clustered around the girl from the top of tower three – Shiozaki if he'd read the name right. Of course the winners of the last round would be popular, though he wasn't sure if he'd get many request since his performance had been anything but flashy.

After running through his options and looking across the area, Izuku found what he was looking for and motioned for Uraraka to follow him. "Where are we going Deku?" Izuku simply pointed, and her eyes lit up with understanding and she smiled with approval. It took them a minute to cross the distance but they had timed their approach to catch their target alone. The girl must have sensed them getting closer, because she turned to them almost as soon as they were within a few meters.

"Did you want to team up with me," she said, "Kero?" Asui Tsuyu gave them what might have been a curious look if he had any idea what that would look like on her face.

Izuku nodded. "If you wouldn't mind Asui," he said, "We could use your cool head and well rounded quirk for the strategy I'm cooking up." Her mobility and the versatility of her quirk would give them an advantage when capturing other flags, and if they rotated out offensive and defensive roles she would make a good guardian for the flags they managed to acquire.

"I told you to call me Tsu." While her expression didn't change much, he could tell she was somewhat annoyed at his slip.

"Sorry," he said, "But we really could use your abilities on our team." He braced himself for her answer. He knew that not everyone would be receptive to his advances, but he hoped that someone with Tsuyu's value – both in point value and quirk application – would be willing to work with him.

"I don't mind at all Midoriya," she said, but her head tilted slightly as she continued. "What kind of strategy did you have in mind?" Izuku let out a breath he'd been unconsciously holding int and let the tension out of his shoulders before he replied.

He pointed up at the scoreboard where the timer was running down at eleven minutes and thirty six seconds. "There's a blurry overview of the labyrinth under the timer," both girls looked up to see that while he was right the image was barely discernible under the pixelation. "If I'm seeing things right, each base area only has one entrance into the labyrinth. That should make it fairly defensible, but Midnight said that the rules prohibit rising more than six meters above the walls, which means it's acceptable to go over them when possible."

The girls looked back to them and Tsuyu tapped her chin with one of her fingers, which Izuku took as a good sign. "If that's the case, I was hoping that we could all take turns defending the base when the others are out capturing points. The reach of your tongue and the increased mobility of your quirk would be both a good defense and an incredible offense." Tsuyu looked back to him and she nodded in agreement.

"That sounds reasonable," she said, "But we're going to need a fourth for our team, and the prospects are dwindling as we speak." Izuku was aware of the shrinking pool of recruits, and he had already thought of a number of their classmates that would round out their team. He'd though of asking Shoji to team up earlier, but had noticed the boy already talking to Todoroki when they'd approached Iida. He started wracking his brain once more and turned to scan the area again when he came face to face with a pair of strange yellow eyes.

He blinked once, and then jumped back about a half meter in surprise as he took in the person who had snuck up behind him. "That's where I come in," the girl loudly proclaimed and it took a moment to register that she was referring to their conversation. "All the other winning quirks are too flashy, but yours is perfect for showcasing my babies to the company bigwigs!" Izuku struggled to make sense of what she was saying as he took in her appearance. In addition to the yellow eyes with what looked like cross-hairs in them, she sported shoulder length pink hair done up in something akin to dreadlocks.

Before he could take in any more details she had stepped into his personal space again, "So what do you say Top Four! Let me be a part of your team, and I'll use my babies to help us rack up enough points to be number one!" Izuku could feel his face heating up as the girl spoke, and he wondered if the look in her eyes was the same as the one he got when talking quirks.

"Hold on a second," Uraraka said, "Back up." The other girl was pushed back by a hand with familiar finger pads, and Izuku breathed a sigh of relief at the vacation of his space bubble. "Who are you and what are you talking about?" He couldn't place the look on Uraraka's face but he could tell she wasn't entirely happy about the new girl's intrusion.

"AH! Sorry about that." The other girl adjusted a pair of goggles on her head and Izuku was able to finally take in some of her appearance beyond her face. She was strapped down from head to toe with machines and gadgets. She had some kind of backpack, a belt on her hips, peculiar boots on her feet, and a pair of devices on her arms. He could barely see the UA gym uniform under all of that gadgetry, thought what he could see was not somewhere it was polite to look on a girl. They were almost as big as – he switched away from that train of thought to refocus on what she'd been saying.

"The name is Hatsume Mei," she reached out a hand that Izuku reluctantly shook. "I'm from the support course class 1-F, and you sound like you need my babies to take your team to the next level!" She let out a manic laugh that had Izuku a little worried for her sanity. She grabbed at the device at her waist and pulled out a length of steel cable tipped with a weight, the cable was pulled taught by a mechanism in the device and she let it zip back into place as a demonstration. "So how about it Top Four?"

Despite her eccentric demeanor Izuku's mind was buzzing with the possibilities. "I don't know if you'd make a good fit for our team," Uraraka was saying but Izuku raised a hand to stop her. "You can't be serious Deku." He glanced at the expression on Uraraka's face and for the life of him he couldn't understand why she was looking at him that way. He confirmed with a nod that he was more than intrigued.

"I think we can make this work Hatsume," he said, "Welcome aboard." She pumped her fist and let out another manic giggle.

"So what's our plan?" She readjusted her googles and Izuku responded by pulling them into a huddle. They only had about five minutes before they would need to head for their base area, so he proceeded to outline his strategy for the event. It wasn't exactly what he'd envisioned when Midnight had explained the parameters of the contest, but he knew that with this team they could make it through to the next round without fail. He had to ask Hatsume a few questions and it turned out that her actual quirk would turn out to be fairly useful in addition to her impressive array of support items.

By the end of their time limit, they had a solid plan. As they were ushered to their base by yet another Ectoplasm clone, Izuku was starting to feel confident that his team would be just what he needed to succeed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"You were right Top Four!" Hatsume Mei shot Izuku another manic grin from her position. Just a meter short of the limit, Tsuyu's tongue was wrapped around her waist and she was using her quirk – Zoom – to scout out the labyrinth. "Lots of teams are setting traps or defenses with their quirks." She motioned for Tsuyu to turn her slightly and she was rotated by a few degrees. Izuku had been sure that many of the teams would look for quirks that could give them an advantage in defending their flag, while others would be looking for offensive strengths to aid in capturing.

"Good," he replied, "We have about ten minutes until the start of the event." He turned back and took another look at the pedestal in the center of the base area they'd been assigned. The ground was raised about ten centimeters in the center and the pedestal came up to Izuku's waist from the middle of the raised portion of the base. On top of the pedestal was a small rod that was set loosely into a hole in the pedestal's surface. The rod held a piece of cloth about forty centimeters across by twenty centimeters high that constituted the flag. In bright red number it read '1750', the combined total of their points. "We don't have any quirks that work for defending the area or making traps, but most of us have versatile quirks. That will give us some advantage in dealing with the other teams in most situations." He turned back to see Tsuyu letting Hatsume down from her perch.

"And my babies will be useful in all manner of situations!" Izuku nodded and waved everyone in to one more huddle before the event began. Once everyone was gathered around his face set itself in a determined expression.

"Okay," he said, "Todoroki, Bakugo, and Shiozaki's teams will have the other high score counts." Everyone nodded. "Todoroki can easily defend his flag with his ice, so going after him is right out unless we need those points to win. Shiozaki will have a similarly defensible base, but stay away from Yayorozu's base at all costs." Uraraka gave him a surprised look at that but he shook his head, "Her quirk is the best for playing defense in this kind of game. She can make all kinds of traps and gadgets that don't need to be registered like Hatsume's support items because they come directly from her quirk. If you see anyone from her team, be extremely careful because they'll likely be outfitted with gadgets as well."

Hatsume snorted, "It's quality over quantity that will win this day!" She puffed out her chest with pride, and Izuku had too look away to hide the heat rising to his face. He shook himself to get his thoughts back on track and went back to business.

"Right," he said, "Just be aware is all." He looked over at Tsuyu and Uraraka, "You two will be on offense first," he pointed at them in turn. "Remember that class 1-B teams will be out to get us, and there's nothing in the rules that say disabling or trapping a teammate is prohibited. There are at least three quirks that can immobilize you, and Mineta's is one of them." The two girls grimaced at the thought of being trapped by Mineta's hairballs. "If you meet Bakugo anywhere out there do not engage. His natural combat ability is going to be hard to counter, so unless your defending our flag he is to be avoided like the plague." The expression on his face hardened.

"If you can capture a flag get out of dodge as quickly as possible and come tag out one of the defenders so you can hopefully catch your breath." He looked at each one of them in turn and gave each a nod. "Remember what we decided on." He was referring to their strategy for protecting the flags they captured, but he didn't want to say it out loud when quirks like Shoji's or Jirou's could be lurking around. Everyone gave him an affirmative response and he gave them all a determined smile. "Lets win this!"

A chorus of "Yeah" erupted and fists were pumped into the air. Then the all took up places around the base. Izuku planted himself directly in front of the flag, ready to fend off any attackers. Hatsume was in front of him, but off to his left, and she started fiddling with her support items the moment she was able to. Uraraka and Tsuyu took up positions near the entry to their base, Uraraka stretching idly as they waited and Tsuyu stood calmly by. They were ready. Then Midnight's voice rang out into the arena.

"BEGIN!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

As soon as the signal came Katsuki exploded into action. Propelling himself just above the walls he whipped his head back and forth, looking for the best opportunities. To his immediate right, there was a dome of ice covering a section of the maze that told him Freezerburn was under it. To his left he could see all kinds of dumb contraptions, so the human 3D printer was in that area. He kept looking around as he controlled his descent with minor blasts of his quirk to keep him fairly stabilized as he fell. "Jackpot!" A huge grin plastered itself across his face as he found his number one target. Almost directly across from his home base was Deku and his team's base.

He could always spot those stupid blue-green scales, even when he didn't want to.

But he didn't head directly for the nerd's flag. It would just be the cherry on top of his victory. There were other extras to crush first. He veered off to his left, maneuvering to land in one of the passages that had no obvious traps. He knew he had too look out for a couple of those 1-B assholes and their tricks, especially Overbite and his quicksand shit. Then there were a few of his own classmates that would make his life a hassle if he ran into them, like Freezerburn or Balls for Brains.

Almost as soon as he touched down, he had to dodge a projectile of some sort, though it wasn't exactly hard. Horn Head was charging at him full speed and he had to dance around a couple more of her horns to avoid being knocked about. He leaped forward and twisted to one side, setting off a blast that sent his assailant skidding to the ground. "Outta my way Cowgirl!" He wasted no time on the girl and charged off again, using his explosions to course correct around corners and through intersections.

After running a fair bit he took back to the sky, being careful not to exceed the height limit. After a brief period of recon, he touched back down and charged head first into a base. The two extras from the non-hero courses were easy pickings, a boy with his eyes stretched out to stalks above his head and another with paper for skin. This kind of defense was nothing compared to having Shitty Hair and Tape Face guarding their flag. Raccoon Eyes had demanded to be on offense, so he had told her she'd better not screw up.

"Your doom approaches weaklings!" In spite of himself, Katsuki was having fun. There was a thrill when he blasted the paperskin boy across the area where he lay with a singed arm. A quick blast close to the eyestalk boy's head and he backed away trying to clear his vision. His joy faded a little at how easy it was to beat these extras and take their pitiful five hundred point flag. There was no challenge here, and he knew he'd have to take on some of the hero course teams if he wanted a real fight.

He shoved the stick of the flag down one pant leg and launched himself back into flight looking for his next conquest. As he looked around, he noticed that the whole arena seemed to be awash in fights and chases. In his suspended position he could see Frog Face heading off towards a base that wasn't well protected, probably another non-hero course team's flag. Down another passage he could see Cakebrains lumbering toward the center of the maze, but he wasn't moving very fast. Maybe he'd eaten too much sugar already.

As he descended into another corridor he noticed someone was following him, and when he landed he turned back to find some blond Assface and a bugfaced boy heading straight for him. A wicked grin crossed his face as he turned and caused a few small pops in his hand. "You wanna dance Asshole?"

"Don't mind if I do!" As soon as they got close both boys sprouted blades from their arms and charged him. He maneuvered away from their attacks and unleashed a large explosion at each one in turn, but to his annoyance they seemed mostly unaffected. They had each raised their blades to block, and it seemed that they were blast resistant to some extent. He jumped back as they recovered and he saw the blond boy's fingers start to rotate and it finally clicked that he was copying his classmates' quirks.

When Assface reached at him, Katsuki avoided him like the mosquito he was and his previous smile dropped from his face. No way he was letting this freak use his own quirk against him. He shoved his arms behind him and performed a blast enhanced front flip over their heads. He landed in a crouch and shoved his hands behind him once again, setting off another large set of explosions between the three of them and a pair of yells told him that they hadn't been able to guard from that one. "Better luck next time suckers!"

Katsuki took off down the corridor in the opposite direction he'd been going before, and hooked a right around a corner and launched himself skyward again. He didn't stay in the air long, as he knew where he was going and dodged an incoming swipe from Bird Boy's shadow puppet as he fell. A quick blast sent the dark mass retreating back to where it had come from and he felt the smile return to his face as he corrected his position and direction for landing with a few small bursts. He hit the ground running and charged back into his home base just in time to catch Tape Face chasing off Fusebox from their flag. He and the other blond traded blasts and electricity, but Katsuki sent him running back out into the maze.

He walked over to where Shitty Hair was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "That was so manly!" Katsuki wasn't even bothered by the other boy's weird crap anymore. They'd been training together for the last two weeks, and he found after so long he didn't really mind him too much, as long as he didn't talk about Deku.

"Save your weird shit for after we win," he pulled the spoils of his battle from it's place in his pant leg and tossed it to Tape Face. "Watch this while I go scare up some more points for us." Both of the others grinned big at him and he found himself returning it with his own fierce grin.

Then he turned and launched himself back into the fray.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Izuku was making his way down one of the passages in the labyrinth, shirt and jacket once again discarded back at base. Tsuyu had already returned from her turn out with a five hundred point flag and had tagged him in for his own run. While he had been defending their flag, he had been going over the layout of the maze with Hatsume. Her mechanical and procedural memory was astounding, which surprised him when he thought about how hard it had been for him to get her to call him by his name instead of 'Top Four'. She had done a great job memorizing the passages that lead to each base and had been able to help him construct a mental map of the branching passages, so he wasn't getting held up at dead ends.

They had managed to defend their flag from a couple of 1-B students that had attempted to take it, and Izuku had been left in awe at how versatile the equipment Hatsume had brought with her could be. One of their attackers had been literally lurking in the shadows, and with a quick flash of a spotlight attached to her belt she had tore him from his hiding place and together they had sent him on his way. Likewise, the furry boy had once again attempted to take him on, but Izuku had kept him away from their flag while Hatsume had wrapped him up in a capture tape she produced from one of her arm mounted devices. She had flung him over the walls and into another section of the maze in a move that Sero could probably use.

Izuku refocused on the present when he rounded a corner and had to stop to keep from stepping on one of Mineta's hairballs. The passage ahead was littered with them and he forced himself to slow down and pick his way carefully to the other end. What struck him as odd, was that Mineta's team base was off in another direction so this was fairly out of the way for a defensive trap. He thought for a moment that it was an ambush setup, but no attack came while he was in the middle of the trapped section. It was almost as if it was randomly laid here for no reason, no thought put into it at all. "Very strange..." he muttered as he exited the other side of the area.

He would have to take a different path back to his own base, but that would come later. He continued running down the passages until he hit another roadblock. This time he was standing face to face with one of his own classmates. Ojiro Mashirao stopped at the same time he did at the opposite end of a short passage. The two boys took a moment to take in the situation, and Ojiro seemed to be just as surprised to see him as he was to see the other boy. "Don't suppose you'd let me through without a fight," Izuku motioned vaguely, "Would you?"

A chagrined grimace took the place of his surprised look and he gently shook his head. "Afraid not Midoriya," he responded, "TetsuTetsu is the only one guarding our base at the moment, so I have to deter people wherever possible." The boy took a martial arts stance and his tail flicked in anticipation of the upcoming fight. "No hard feelings right?" Izuku nodded as an apologetic smile popped up in place of his neutral expression.

There wasn't much time to think as Ojiro slapped his tail on the ground and launched himself at Izuku's position. Izuku extended two shields from his arms and blocked several strikes that the other boy aimed his way, and Izuku was amazed at the punch that tail could pack. It wasn't enough to crack any of his plates, but it was close and repeated blows to the same scales might do the job. Izuku switched tactics on the fly and started dodging and weaving around Ojiro's attacks. He wasn't as fast as Bakugo in his movements, but he was more flexible and Izuku found himself just barely keeping up with his classmate.

After a few more moments of back and forth with no success, Izuku swiped at Ojiro to create an opening and when the other boy dodged he hopped back a few times to put some distance between them. His opponent stepped back a few times as well, taking a moment to catch his breath. "That tail of yours is no joke Ojiro." He didn't respond to Izuku's compliment other than to nod with a slight smile. "I'm going to have to step up my game if I'm going to get past you, huh?"

"Not if I take you out first." Ojiro's words almost took him by surprise, but Izuku was ready when his opponent leaped at him once more. As soon as Ojiro was in the air Izuku flexed his arms and spread his legs, pushing his plates out all over his body and in only seconds he was fully surrounded by scales. The only holes in his barrier were two spaces for his feet. It had taken him a while to figure out how to angle his plates so that he could cover the parts of his body that didn't have scales to use as part of the barrier, but in time he had discovered the mechanism to do so. He felt a few attacks connect with his plates but not with enough power to break through. "You cant hide in there forever Midoriya."

A wicked grin made it's way onto Izuku's face. "I don't have to!" With a only a twitch to betray his effort, several plates retracted to give him line of sight and he quickly detached the rest of his plates. Having put enough pressure between the plates, they would stay together even wen detached and they all curved just enough to make the outer surface smooth enough to roll. He saw the shock on Ojiro's face as he stared out of his orb and pushed off the ground with one foot, using the other to start the ball of plates rolling in the other boy's direction. "Barrier Boulder!" Izuku shouted as he picked up speed.

He was careful to place his feet in just the right place to maintain his direction and he briefly saw Ojiro leap up to avoid being bowled over by the rolling shell barreling at him. Izuku just kept on rolling by and stepped to his right several times to sharply change the direction of his roll, only losing a little of his momentum with the turn. He could faintly hear Ojiro shouting after him as he made his way down the passages, careful not to hit the walls as he navigated the twists and turns.

"Who brought the hamster ball to this party?" Present Mic's voice was just barely audible over all the noise, and Izuku chuckled a bit at the comment. He had been paying some attention to the commentary, and he was sure his teacher was having a blast making jokes and puns at his captive audience. Tuning out the chatter for the moment, he checked his mental map again and changed his direction at the next intersection. His rolling barrier careened down the passage and he could just about make out the base he was approaching through the little windows he'd made. He caught a glimpse of someone standing in front of the barrier as he picked up even more speed, and to their credit they stood their ground.

Izuku waited until he was just a few meters from the defender – Tetsutetsu if he remembered what Ojiro had said – and stomped down on two plates adjacent to one of his windows. The plates popped out of the barrier with the application of pressure in the right way, and Izuku allowed his body to roll with the motion of the orb. He extended his arms above his head and once he was free of the confines of his barrier, he tucked and rolled to curb his own momentum. He lurched back to his feet just in time to see his barrier ball slam into the base's defender with enough force to shatter into broken pieces.

The force of the impact was enough to send the boy flying off to the side and he hit the nearest wall with a sound that made Izuku wince just a bit. The other boy's skin color was changing back to normal from it's previous silver-gray hue as he lay dazed against the wall. "Sorry!" Izuku yelled while dashing forward. He swiped the flag from it's place and pivoted on his left foot to sprint back out of the base. He passed the first intersection again and had to put up a shield to protect himself from a spray of scales that came flying at him from his left side. He heard some garbled words that sounded vaguely Chinese as he ran back down the passage that would take him around the traps and back to his own base.

A/N: So the second event has officially begun, any thoughts on team comp or the like? I may have had the classes stick together a little too much for this but I'm rolling with it. Class 1-B should have enough time to shine in the CTF event even if I don't show much of it here, so nothing to worry about. I like how I handled this chapter and the next one, though it took me some time to figure out how to follow them up. Working on the tournament rounds now, and I went with the most interesting matches I could think of. Did you guys like Izuku's new maneuver?

It will probably be several more chapters to finish up the sports festival, and post festival events will be interesting as well. Look forward to the internships, as Izuku will be intering with a high ranking hero in this story. Akuto will make a reappearance after the festival settles down, and he'll be running across some characters that have yet to show up in this story. I might even have Aizawa follow up on his promise of ambush survival training. Hope that all sounds entertaining!

Always welcome thoughts and comments!

~AQ