Izuku was floored…
Almost everyone was looking at him for a split-second…
All because he was given 10 MILLION points…
Suddenly, he heard Bakugo's voice ring in his head from a year ago…
You'll never be able to hang with the best! You're just a Quirkless wannabe!
'This is all way different from my days at junior high…' Izuku thought, 'But everyone's still gunning for me… It's only through luck that I made it this far…' He looked to where All-Might would be sitting, '... now I get what it means to be at the top…'
Then, Midnight began to explain the rules of the Cavalry Battle, "FIRST YEARS! These are the rules you'll abide by. The game itself will last 15 minutes. Individual point values will be added together to make the total score of points for your team. You will know how many points you're worth using your team's headband. Your goal is to swipe as many of the other team's headbands as you can to raise your own team's score. Stolen headbands are to be worn from the neck up, so the more you take, the harder it will be to manage them all. Oh… and another thing… Even if your headband gets stolen or your team falls down… You can keep playing until time's up!"
Everyone began to chatter amongst themselves at this point. Some looked scared, others confident, and a few with critical looks on their faces. Midnight then proceeded, "This is going to be rough, but you can use your Quirks as much as you like! BUT… there are still rules! Make a team fall on purpose and I'll slap you with a red card and you'll be disqualified!" Then, the screed behind her turned into a timer, "Now… you'll all have 15 minutes to form your teams… I suggest you get your butts moving!"
#
"We need to find the right combination for this" Steven said he saw his classmates all join around in groups. "I wish I had more time knowing them, hehehe," he giggled nervously.
"We are kind of the outsiders in this," Connie Added "And right now, I think you're our biggest selling point."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Steven said as he saw some Students pooling around looking for appropriate partners.
One small group was surrounding Bakugo…
"You should team up with me!"
"No, you definitely want me on your team!"
"I don't wanna beg, but please?"
Bakugo merely looked at the group surrounding him before he suddenly ended up having an expression of slight, yet genuine, panic, "Wait, remind me what your Quirks are again! And your names…"
"You're kidding, we're your classmates!" Mina said, now clearly offended.
"Can you really be that self-centered!?" Angrily asked Sato, a large, burly student.
"He's not having trouble at all finding Teammates, How about we stop waiting for the team to come to us?"
"Huh?"
"Let's split up!" Steven Said, "We'll find a partner and reconvene here!"
"Are you sure Steven?"
"Hey, you said I was our biggest selling point right? Well, let's go make some publicity!" and with that both teenagers departed with a mission.
Meanwhile, Izuku was in deep thought. 'Okay… It's like I thought, most of the others have stuck with others in their class for partners. There's no point in pairing up with someone if you don't know what their Quirk is. I need to find a team of my own… and fast…'
He then looked around him… then was in a panic, 'But everyone's choosing to avoid me because I'm worth so much!'
"Hey Ojiro," he tried approaching the tailed teenager.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry," the young man awkwardly turned away from him leaving young Midoriya flustered.
'I-It makes sense, no one's worried about keeping their own headbands the whole game, it's better strategy to just steal as many points as you can at the end! Besides, unlike Steven, Todoroki, or Kacchan, I didn't use my Quirk at all on the first event so nobody had any confidence in me!'
"Hey, Deku!" Slowly, Izuku turned to face the source of the voice. It was the cheerful tone of Ochako Uraraka, "Let's team up!"
At that point Midoriya could not help but burst into tears of joy, "URARAKA! Are you sure!? Everyone'll be after me and my ten million stupid points! Tell me you're not kidding around!"
"Hey, if we run away the whole time they won't be able to get us, right?"
Izuku looked nervous at this suggestion, "Uh, I think you're either overestimating me or underestimating everyone else here."
"Phooey!" Uraraka stated still in her cheerful expression, "Anyway… it's better to team up with people you like!" Suddenly, Izuku's face changed into one that suggested he was gonna cry again. "Uh," Uraraka went, "Are you okay? You look so gross."
Wiping his face of tears, he said, "No… I just thought my chest was going to explode for a second…" Eventually he calmed down and spoke again, "Actually, I wanted to team up with you too. And you're right; in a team up event like this it's best to just team up with people what you know best."
And with that, the two silently agreed to go ask Iida to join their team.
#
Meanwhile Steven was doing something similar, calling out to another classmate, "Hey, Jiro!"
"Steven, Congratulations on making it second, what's up?"
"I wanted to see if you'd like to join my team, we just need a couple more people to go!"
"Ehm well, do you have any plans?" Steven thought about it, and decided to give a small demonstration making hexagons of pink, solid light, and a gem bubble, letting them freely float in the air. "Oohh"
"I can block any attack that comes our way with these, and also," Jiro observed how Steven's arms stretched to almost double their original length "I can reach for the headbands without much problem!"
"Wow, Count me In! Wait, You mentioned you have another teammate already?"
"Yeah! My friend, Connie, from the general course, she should be getting a member too."
And indeed, Connie ran into a pretty big young man walking away from Bakugo's team, as the blond had already assembled it. No matter what kind of quirk he had, someone that strong could be a great addition to their team.
"Hello!" Sato looked at the young woman in front of him, "Looking for a team?"
"Hey, you're the girl from general studies, right?"
"Yup, my name's Connie Maheswaran, what's yours?" I want to ask you if you'd like to be on our team?"
"Rikido Sato," the young man responded, he could see the girl's intentions from a mile away, he had to admit she was good, otherwise she wouldn't have it within the top 10, but, this time they needed to think about their quirks, that's why he had gone to Bakugo in the first place. "I think I am gonna go with a friend on my team," he preemptively said.
"Oh, that's a shame, I was sure Steven would have loved teaming up with you..." Connie turned around and started looking left and right.
The young man reacted at that "W-wait, you're teaming up with him?!" his mind went straight to the previous event, how he got out of Todoroki's trap, or took down that enormous robot, and even how outsped both Todoroki and Bakugo at the literal last second.
"Umm, maybe I'll ask someone from 1-B?" she spoke out loud.
"WAIT!"
"Huh?"
"I-I think we could arrange something,"
Connie smiled "That's Really good! By the way, what's your quirk?"
"Well, whenever I eat sugar, my strength and muscle mass increases temporarily," Sato said, taking out a few sugar cubes from his pocket.
"Whoa… Really?" Connie said, interested.
"Yeah!, though I prefer to use it when the time is right, it's very tiring," he kept to himself the detail that the stronger he gets, the less intelligent he becomes as well. No need to tell a potential rival your weakness just yet.
"Well, If you're interested, come with me, I'm sure you'll do just right!"
"Yeah!" Sato pumped his fist, happy at this development as he followed the girl back to Steven.
#
On the other side of the field, Izuku had to find one last member for his team. His attempt to recruit Iida had failed, as the young hero apprentice challenged him for the event. Fortunately the eccentric engineer from the support course Mei, had chosen his team to make a huge show of her so called 'Babies,' that left them with just one person left to round the team.
'Looks Like everyone is on a team already,' he thought as his sight moved left and right analyzing the competition, 'That's fine! We can work with that!' His eyes darted to the first 3 behind him, he saw Todoroki's team, one of the more balanced ones around, with him at the helm, Bakugo's team looked strong, and Steven's, well he was still an enigma, given how suddenly he turned things around last event. 'I- I know exactly what power our team is missing!'
"Izuku?" Uraraka noticed her teammate walking away "Where are you going?" however the young man didn't answer as he walked, determined towards somebody.
"Join me!" he said as he touched the student on the shoulder. The young man turned around with no word, his bird-like visage remained stoic at the offering of his classmate. Izuku then proceeded, "I know we haven't worked together before, but I have a plan, A plan that will allow us to stay at the top the whole battle, but we need someone like you, someone who can guard our blind spots letting us keep the first place headband."
"Hmm," Tokoyami Fumikage remained stoic at Izuku's proposal.
"I am not gonna lie, we will be attacked from all fronts, and I'm pretty sure that the strongest teams, like Todoroki or Bakugo's will be the first in line for the challenge," Izuku couldn't hesitate right now. He got to the top, now he had to act like it! "So please, challenge them with us!"
Tokoyami took a look at Izuku, he knew the young man was bright, even if he couldn't make the best use of his quirk, that brightness made it surpass some of the best students, and now that he's everyone's target, he remained firm. "Heh, I accept." That was all it took, Izuku returned the smile in kind as he signaled to the rest of his team for grouping.
#
Steven looked around from his position as rider "Everyone Ready?"
"Ready" Connie raised her baton from the rear left.
"Ready when you are!" Jiro gave a thumbs up from the rear right.
"Hmm!" Sato simply nodded,
"Everyone will be going for Izuku's headband, and I think we have to do that as well, but, If we get close to any other team, I want you to go for their Headbands!" the team all nodded. "Sato, when I say 'Charge!' you think you can help us with your quirk?"
"Eh, I'm gonna need a little help, but, I think so!" he said "Just point me in one direction though, don't try anything too complicated afterwards!" He quickly gave his rider a small sugar packet "and give me this before you yell!"
"Right!" Steven immediately addressed Connie and Jiro, "You guys are in charge of looking for incoming attacks, just say the word and I'll shield that position!"
"Yes!"
"Well, this it guys, let's win this!" Steven said to the loud YES of his team as the clock approached 0, Steven made sure his headband, emblazoned with the number 630, was secured.
The buzzer rang out signaling that time was up to look for teams. Stretching, Midnight said, "Oh goodie, it's time to get this party started!"
Prescient Mic over at the announcer's stand said, "After 15 minutes of choosing teammates and talking strategy, around 12 cavalry teams are all prepared to go head to head! Now come on everyone! Get your hand in the air! It's time for a full on UA battle royale!"
The crowd cheered as the riders each placed their headbands on their heads. "Alright first years!" Mic said, continuing, "I hope you're all happy with your chosen teams! … And now! One final countdown before the game starts!" Suddenly a giant screen appeared, slowly counting back from, "5!"
"4!" Bakugo was looking serious at the other teams, popping his joints and preparing for a battle…
"3!" Todoroki remained calm, being confident that his team would overtake any and all obstacles…
"2!" Izuku's face however had a look of sheer determination. Gone was the stuttering fanboy and in his place was the visage of a hero…
"1!" Steven was also focused as well, immersing himself in 'Serious Steven' mode.
Then…
"BEGIN!"
"Let's go!" Steven and his team began running towards Izuku, and along with them every other team that looked for that 10 million points headband.
"We're running away!" Steven heard Izuku's order loud and clear for the rest of the competition.
"Don't Think so!" Tetsu from 1B yelled as his teammate used his quirk, the floor in front of them turned into an unstable swamp that started sinking the green haired boy's team into the ground, Steven was surprised with how easy was Midoriya getting immobilized only to hear a powerful engine go off! "Wha! He Flew!" Indeed, aided by a jetpack Izuku's team took to the skies and escaped Tetsu Tetsu's trap.
"Well, now's our chance!" Steven signaled to his team, Tetsu immediately felt his headband slid off his head.
"What the-!?" the Steel Quirk-bearing teen looked around in shock upon noticing his headband was gone! His whole team frantically looked around only to see a long arm, retracting back towards the curly haired teem.
"Guess we'll take this!" Steven said with a smile much to the irritation of Tetsu.
"Hey!" forgetting about Izuku, the teenager changed course to pursue Steven and his team "Don't let them get away!" Immediately Juzo prepared his quirk once more, not knowing the other team was expecting it.
"Everyone get ready!" Steven yelled noting how the floor behind them started becoming soft "Jump!" all 3 of his teammates jumped as high as they could to avoid the wave of softened floor.
"Can't Be!" Juzo growled when he saw they not only avoided his quirk, they were standing on a solid pink light hexagon!
"Okay, everyone, let's move forward!" Steven pointed as a chain of interlocking pink hexagons materialized in front of the one they were already standing on, making a way forward. This allowed them to step away from the quicksand-like section of the ground.
"Izuku is landing over there!" Sato pointed out as the green haired teen had just made his landing pretty close to them
"Well, let's go say Hi!" Steven said as they approached Izuku's team.
#
Izuku at the same time was extremely grateful for his team, not only Uraraka and Mei had given them an amazing mobility, but Tokoyami's Dark shadow was one of the best defenses they could ask for. "This is amazing!" Izuku said, "Everyone of us is pretty much in sync!"
"Heh, you're a pretty good team leader yourself, Deku!" Uraraka stated.
"My Babies are doing pretty great too, right?" Mei asked in her typical shameless manner.
"Your Babies are amazing Mei!" Izuku answered grateful.
"Izuku!" Uraraka interrupted calling his attention, and not a moment too soon as he could barely evade a long arm reaching for his headband.
"What!"
"Hey Izuku!" Said Steven while grinning, and preparing for another assault.
"Steven?!"
"We gotta move!" Tokoyami yelled among the Chaos only for them to run into a little snag.
"Wait!" Uraraka tried moving her foot, only for it to remain stuck to the ground
"Now, Let's get Closer!" Steven's team moved a single pace forward, only for Connie to end up with the same problem.
"What the-!? Both girls yelled out as they tried to lift their feet, only to see something sticky and purple holding them to ground.
"Wait," Steven said, "Aren't those...?"
"Those are Mineta's! But where did they come from!?" Izuku completed the thought from his side
"HAHAHAHA! This is too Easy! This is no fight, this is a MASSACRE!" Both teams saw Shoji Mezo running towards them, as a hail of purple sticky balls flew from over his head, which were otherwise covered by his multiple arms! The sticky balls were being thrown from a small opening in the front, leaving Mineta completely covered from all sides!?
"What!?" Izuku said in shock, "Is that even allowed!?"
"Judges say Yes!" Midnight announced for the public.
Steven immediately shielded his team with a barrier, sticky balls impacting the walls and getting stuck there, while watching Izuku both evade them with great agility, as well as evading Tsuyu Asui's tongue who made another attempt at Izuku's headband.
"Wow, Midoriya can move!" Jiro mentioned, Izuku's team made a quick retreat as he activated the jetpack once more leaving a piece of the special boots Uraraka was wearing broken in the ground.
"Ah screw it!" Connie yelled in frustration as she pulled her foot out of her running shoe. "Let's go now befor- huh?" Connie saw a small pink bubble encase her foot, Steven winked then looked at the approaching Team, raising a both Long and tall wall in front of Mineta's team, enough to separate them long from this side of the competition.
"Hey No fair!" Mineta yelled
"Sorry," said Connie with a smirk, "You owe me new shoes by the way."
"We will have to go around this wall ribbit," Tsuyu put her hand on the light construct "No way are we all gonna climb it so easily."
"Hrrm," Shoji just grumbled and immediately started running, this would definitively cost them valuable time.
"Okay, After Midoriya!" Steven pointed as his team prepared to run towards Midoriya's team one more time, however before they could make it far, another team decided to block their path. "Huh?"
"So, you really think you'll catch the 10 million headband?" the boy with dark blue hair stood there defiantly. Connie Immediately recognized him from class, while Steven couldn't help but notice something weird was happening with this boy's team.
#
Izuku Midoriya was in trouble. The competition was halfway done, and they had already lost an important amount of mobility thanks to Mineta, not to mention that both him and Steven got really close to taking his headband, he had to think of a way to help his team as soon as they touched the floor.
"DEKU!"
"K-Kacchan!" Izuku heard the unmistakable explosion as Bakugo flew right towards their position.
"Don't think for a second that you're safe!" Bakugo grinned as he extended his hand, "I GOT YOU NOW!"
"TOKOYAMI!" Izuku yelled almost in a panic as Dark Shadow moved, blocking one of the blonde boy's inches before they reached the team!
"What the hell..." Bakugo said as he plummeted back down, only to be caught by his team in a matter of seconds. The whole public cheered at that amazing display of ability, the competition had just been kicked into high gear as every team tried their best to reach the top, every team but...
'Wha.. What's happening' Steven felt his headbands as they were swiped off of his head. 'I- I can't move!' Steven tried to scream but no voice would come out, 'Co-Connie, Jiro, Sato! Do something!' However, no response would come out of his team mates, as they remained as frozen as he was.
"Thank you" Shinso whispered to the team as he signaled his own to move away.
Steven could see, through a clouded vision, how the rest of the teams moved around him, how the public went wild and the attention had gone towards Izuku in the defense of his headband, while his team was getting lost in the shadows. 'I-Is this it?'
*"We didn't make waves on this event, but, let's blow them away on the next one!"*
Connie's words resonated on his mind, 'I can't give up! If we're gonna shine a spotlight for the gems to find, then I just CAN'T let this stop me!' unknown to Steven, the gem in navel started to glow 'If I can't move my body, then I will have to move something else!' Steven could feel time slow down to a crawl.
#
Shinso held the headbands in his hand, this was enough to pass to the next round without a doubt. "I don't need to aim for the top," he said to himself "I just need them to see that I can be a Hero, huh?!" Shinso felt something fly close to his head "What the?!" before he could take a look he felt something take a hold of his hand, "It, It can't be!" his hand had been held in place by an ethereal bubble, a pink bubble at that, "What!? But…! He's supposed to be-!" he couldn't move forward anymore as a wall of light sprouted in front of his team, and slowly pushed them back.
'Give it BACK!' Steven's skin glowed in a bright pink as he commanded his light constructs, he could feel Shinso struggling as he held dearly to the headbands he took from them.
"HOW!" Shinso yelled, yet not receiving any answer from the opposite team, his arms were trembling, fighting the very pull Steven was exerting on but it was too much. "Hehe, so this is how it ends right?" he turned around to see Steven's body emitting an intense pink glow, even through his blank expression, the boy's intention was clear. "Steven, you don't know how lucky you are..." with those parting words, the boy let go of the headbands as the bubble shot out of his hand, taking the headbands with it.
*SMACK* "Ow!" the bubble hit steven in the head, freeing his body from the trance and dropping one of the headbands to the floor "Huh? Hey, I can move again!" he said, opening and closing his hands as if testing their mobility for the first time, he immediately made a dome around his team to protect them. "Guys Guys!" Steven shook the rest of his team to jolt them awake.
"Eh? What, What happened?" Jiro touched her forehead as she tried to make sense of her missing time.
"Steven?" Connie rubbed her eyes as if waking up from a nap.
"Whaa?" Sato was just confused by the missing time.
"We gotta go!" Steven said putting on the headband hanging from his shoulder "Jiro, please help me pick up that head ba-"
"That Headband is out of play!" announced Midnight.
"What!" Steven's whole team responded in unison.
"If a headband falls to the ground during a struggle, nobody will get its points, so better think of another way to go forward!" she said with a bit of sadistic glee. Steven looked at the board, their current score had landed them lower than expected!
"Only the best 16 will get to go to the last event," said Sato.
"Let's go for some of the stragglers, we can make it!" Jiro Added while looking for the closest team, only to find a very determined Steven looking forward to where the biggest battle was being fought
"No."
"Steven, are you sure?"
"We were so close to losing a few seconds ago," everyone in the team lowered their sights, "Jiro, Sato, We need to make a small change!" Steven stood up making a pink platform appear beneath his feet.
"Okay?" Jiro asked, a bit confused.
"Sato, keep Holding the front, Jiro you hold the back, Connie," Steven smiled, "Will you grant me this dance?"
"Dance?!" Both Jiro and Sato exclaimed in confusion, what kind of plan had Steven made?
#
"4 minutes left and the competition just got fiercer!" Present mic addressed the audience. "Not only Todoroki was able to stop most of the remaining competitors but now he faces one on one against Midoriya!"
"Hmm, it seems he's having trouble with the defensive playstyle of Midoriya's team," added Eraserhead, "I gotta hand it to him, he is a good strategist."
"Wait a minute, it seems we have a team about to enter the fray and they are, huh?" Present Mic immediately noticed the Universe team making their way towards the space of Todoroki and Midoriya team duel, he also noticed the fact that they had now two riders that seemed to be, "Dancing?"
"What are you planning Universe?!" Aizawa was as desconcerted as Mic. Steven and Connie danced to an inaudible tune as Sato and Jiro Ran forward.
"This team lost more than half their points in a very confusing play I have to add, now they seem to be… putting on a show to all of us? This competition has gone Wild!"
Jiro was a bit embarrassed by all the attention drawn to their little performance, "Well, you wanted the attention, I hope you have something better in mind!"
"Don't worry," said Steven while keeping their moves "We gotta time it just right!"
"We're getting close to Todoroki, so if you're doing something, get to it right now!" Steven and Connie smiled, as they closed their eyes, Sato and Jiro would stop just outside of Todoroki's ice cage and get into position, so for now they'd just trust the plan that, as the exchange students said, 'would be a doozy.'
"We're stopping NO-eh?" Before Jiro could continue, she saw both kids be enveloped in a bright light, the silhouettes of both phased into each other and reformed in front of the surprised eyes of the team mate.
"Izuku Incoming!" Mei yelled.
"Todoroki!" Denki also warned his team as they both moved to avoid what looked like flat pink hexagons crashing into the ice wall
"What -?!" Before Izuku could finish his sentence he felt something fly so close to his head, "TOKOYAM-*slip*" he felt his headband slide off his forehead to the collective gasps of everyone, not waiting a second, the shadowy creature launched itself towards the intruder only to crash against another pink light barrier.
Using the pink hexagon as a footstool, the mysterious person bounced back to the equally shocked Sato and Jiro's platform. They were tall, their sports uniform looked a few sizes too small for that body, dark skinned, and spotting a long yet curly hair that moved with the wind. "Told you it would be a doozy!" the figure whispered towards Jiro, whose jaw was now so close to the floor.