Chapter 21 - Surely, you Joust
As Team McIntyre and Team Shemesh charged at each other, everything seemed to go into slow motion! In that moment, both sides activated the quirks that they used to move quickly; Team McIntyre with the 'INSTANT TRANSMISSION', and Team Shemesh with the 'Momentum Conversation'! The quirks blasted both teams forward, and they passed each other!
McIntyre and Cain attempted to hit each other with their lances, but both dodged their attacks! The two teams ran away from each other, and then came back around, ready to attack again! Cain then dissipated his lance, letting the dirt crumble and fall away!
"Uh, wha-wha-what are you do-do-doing?" asked Malachi.
"I have a plan to knock this team out of the competition." Cain replied. "Shay, get ready to charge again!"
"Got it!" said Shay. "Hold on tight!"
Team Shemesh began running again, while Cain allowed some dirt to form around his right hand and arm, turning into a small disc-like shield. Shay then activated her quirk, blasting all three of them at Team McIntyre, who used the 'INSTANT TRANSMISSION' again!
The two teams got close again, to which McIntyre came up and, thinking about how much he wanted to defeat Cain, jabbed him in the right arm, right on the shield! Cain wanted that, and as the team was running away, he quickly detached the dirt shield from his arm, and flung it at Team McIntyre as hard as he could! The shield went flying, got close to the back of Team McIntyre, and exploded, showering them with clouts of dirt and surprising them!
"We got them now!" Cain yelled. "Go around and ready to charge again!"
Instantly, Malachi and Shay slowed down, turned around, and began running at Team McIntyre! As they were doing this, dirt came out of Cain's shirt and formed around his right hand, readying into a large fist of dirt!
As they came up behind Team McIntyre, Cain wound back and punched at McIntyre as hard as he could! McIntyre turned in that moment, but it was too late to block, and he was sent flying off of his team! He then hit the ground, rolled for a little bit, and then stopped; Shay McIntyre, and his team, were eliminated.
McIntyre lifted his head, groaned out a curse in Irish, and fell back to the ground. Hatake, Kamui, and Nami quickly rushed over to him, helped him to his feet, and quickly got off the playing field, while Simba made the announcement that Team McIntyre had been eliminated.
"Looks like McIntyre's team is eliminated." said Matthew. "That's a real pity; Kamui was on that team."
"I think we've got bigger problems, mate!" Ruby spoke up. "Watch out!"
Matthew looked, and barely dodged a lance attack from a random Australian team that came charging out of nowhere! With quick movements, the random Australian team's rider, a male student with a grey-furred koala head, jabbed and hit at Matthew, trying to knock him off! But Matthew was able to counter his attacks and shove him and his team back! Realizing that his plan wasn't going to work, the koala-head rider decided to make a run for it, and he and his team turned tail and ran!
"After them!" Matthew yelled, like a knight chasing a retreating enemy. "Advance!"
Shiozaki, Ruby, and Charlotte obeyed, running as fast as they could after the random Australian team! Matthew readied his lance, preparing to hit the koala-head rider, as his team came alongside them! The koala-head rider saw Matthew coming, and the two began fighting each other with their lances, both attacking and blocking each other's hits!
Then something crazy happened: Matthew attempted to jab at the koala-head rider for all that he was worth, and his opponent dodged! Matthew began falling forward, and Shiozaki, who was on his right, quickly put her right arm out to catch him! Saying a prayer for strength through gritted teeth, Shiozaki caught Matthew, who quickly pulled himself back up to his rider position! The koala-head rider attempted another attack, but Matthew was ready for him, and he dodged his opponent's lance, before beginning his own attack! Putting all his strength into it, he swung the lance and hit the koala-head rider in the stomach, who was a few seconds short of blocking the attack! The koala-head rider was sent reeling, his team lost balance, and all four were sent crumpling to the ground; they were eliminated!
"That was a 'ripper' attack, mate!" said Ruby, her tone excited, as they moved away from their eliminated opponents. "We're doing pretty good!"
"But we're not out of the woods yet, Ruby, so let's just be careful." Matthew replied, his tone calm and collected. "What we need is some support, so that I don't end up falling over again like what just happened. Charlotte, think you can use your webbing to make sort of 'bungee cords' between the three of you, so that you're all stable?"
"I can do that, but we'll need to stop running around for a few seconds." Charlotte spoke.
"Then let's find an empty spot and hang out there." said Matthew.
Team Noble obeyed, and they went over to an area where there weren't any other teams fighting. Once they stopped, Charlotte went to work, using her webs to make 'bungee cords' between her, Ruby, and Shiozaki. The 'bungee cords' were webs in between them and wrapped around their waists, so that they had some form of support and protection, just in case they got hit.
While they were working on that, Team Noble saw something that was both comical and unusual. Leon, who had teamed up with Randall, had used his quirk to shift into a pure black Thoroughbred horse. And Randall, who was riding bareback, was having the time of his life. There was a look of great delight on his face, as he was pretending to be a knight in battle, with his lance in his right hand, and one of his force-field shields on his left hand.
Both of them weren't taking the event seriously; Leon would gallop around the arena like a show-horse, often rearing up on his hind legs, like how a knight's horse would do. And while Randall was letting out hoots and hollers of pure joy, the two of them were not bothering to attack any of the opposing teams. The opposing teams who weren't fighting watched this spectacle, with looks of both amusement and confusion on their faces.
"Uh, should we be worried about those two?" Matthew asked, his tone confused.
"Nah, they're fine." Charlotte replied, her tone kind. "They're just having some fun; they'll tire themselves out eventually."
Many of the teams that were competing stayed out of the path of Team Shemesh, as anybody who dared crossed them (or was dumb enough to try) would get eliminated. And it just so happened, that many of the teams were already out of the competition, so now all that was needed was one more team to go. So, Team Shemesh set their sights on one team that wasn't exactly paying attention to the whole thing: Randall and Leon.
Readying his dirt lance, Cain motioned for his team to sneak up on the two unsuspecting participants. Then, he motioned for them to speed up, and now they were at charging speed! But at the last few seconds, Randall looked, and activated force field shields around himself and Leon, causing Team Shemesh to run right into them! Cain would've been sent flying, if it wasn't for the reinforced dirt around his feet and the hands of Shay Adam and Malachi.
"Looks like they caught onto us." said Cain. "Fall back and retreat; I've got a plan."
Shay Adam and Malachi obeyed, pulling back and going around. As for Randall and Leon, they came up with their own plan of attack; Randall jumped into the air, while Leon turned into a rhinoceros! When he landed back on his friend, Leon began charging at Team Shemesh, who let out yelps of surprise!
"Wow, that is impressive." said Cain, his tone amazed as he looked back. "That's guy got's some next level quirk."
Team Shemesh began running as fast as they could, trying to get away from the giant rhino! However, being in rhino form, Leon was a lot faster than they were, and he rammed right into them! Malachi, who was behind Cain, quickly ducked, and the rhino horn went right in between Cain's legs, who quickly moved himself upward to avoid getting horned in the rear! Then, Leon threw his head up, hitting Cain in the groin, and throwing his opponent into the air!
Cain went up into the air, and his dirt lance evaporated. If he didn't have his 'Dirt' quirk, he would've definitely hit the ground! But he used his quirk to catch himself, without letting his feet touch the ground, and he had Malachi and Shay come around again, so he could get back on them.
"Okay, now it's personal!" seethed Cain. "Get them!"
"Are-are-are you nut-nut-nuts?!" Malachi stuttered out. "We're gonna-gonna-gonna get cru-cru-crushed!"
"No, we're not!" Cain replied. "I'm going to have myself a rhino head on my wall!"
"Cain, whatever you do, just don't kill them." Shay Adam spoke up, sounding somewhat worried.
"Just ready your quirk and stand by, Shay." said Cain, readying his right hand into a large fist of dirt. "I don't plan on killing them; just going to teach them not to stick that horn in a certain place."
Leon, with Randall still riding on his back, was now several meters away from Team Shemesh! He began swiping his feet for a few seconds, like how a rhino does before it's about to charge, and then he stampeded forward!
"Now!" Cain ordered.
Shay Adam obeyed, and she activated her quirk, sending Team Shemesh charging forward! Cain reared back, ready to punch Leon, and it was then that everything seemed to go into slow motion again! Leon swung his horn at Cain, attempting to knock him off, and when that didn't work, Randall attempted to jab at Cain with his lance. Cain dodged both attacks, and punched Leon in the nose as hard as he could. Because he was in motion when this happened, Leon found it hard to stop, and he slipped over his two front feet and front flipped! Randall was sent flying, dropping his lance in the process, but he put out a force field around himself, so that he wouldn't land on the ground. However, what he did not expect was for Cain to have a dirt trap laying on the ground, and it closed on him like a hand!
"Let's see how those force fields stand up to the pressure." said Cain, holding up his right hand and closing it into a fist.
The dirt surrounding Randall began closing in, tightening and crushing against the force field he used to protect himself. Randall fought back against the dirt by putting more power into his force field, but the pressure was soon too much for him! His force field began weakening, and he silently began hoping that Leon had recovered and was coming for him!
Suddenly, the dirt surrounding Randall dispersed, and Randall saw Team Shemesh dodging Leon, who was barreling at them in his rhino form! Once Team Shemesh had moved out of the way, Leon morphed into his stallion form again, and came over to where Randall was. Randall quickly turned off his force fields and climbed onto Leon's back, then the two turned around to face Team Shemesh, who were lining themselves up again for another charge!
"Here they come again." said Randall, his tone somewhat annoyed. "My lance's lying on the ground; gallop past it and I'll pick it up."
Leon let out a neigh of reply, signifying he understood, and he darted forward at Team Shemesh. Randall slipped down to the side, keeping his legs wrapped tightly around Leon's horse abdomen, and picked up his lance. He then got back into the original riding position, and ready himself to joust with Team Shemesh! They both got closer and closer and-
Next thing Randall knew, Leon had stumbled forward and Randall was sent catapulting at Team Shemesh; Cain had laid down a long patch of dirt in front of them, which they didn't notice with all of the adrenaline pumping through their veins, and he had suddenly used the dirt to grab hold of Leon's horse legs. Now, Randall was flying through the air, but he figured that if he was going down, he was going to at least take Cain with him! He pulled back and readied his lance, like he was a baseball player about to hit a home run! But, Cain had other ideas in store, and he readied his large fist of dirt, now with added indents on the knuckles for an extra kick. He pulled back and hit Randall, sending him flying! The blow caused Randall to lose his wits for a brief few seconds, and he hit the ground hard, not turning on his force field and sliding for a few seconds! When he came to a full stop, Leon quickly turned back into his human form, and ran over to check on his fallen friend.
"Fifteen competitors have been eliminated, which means the remaining thirty-seven will be moving on." Simba announced over the mic. "Let the battle for first place commence."
And that was when all teams turned on Team Shemesh; they had nothing to lose except for the first place position in the calvary battle, so they all were going to try their hardest to take out and eliminate Cain!
But they all were going to be in for one of the most vicious fights of their lives…
Author's Notes: HELLO BOYS (AND GIRLS)! I'M BACK!
If you're all wondering where I disappeared to, I was taking a hiatus for the summer. But, now that September has come around, I am returning from my time off. And do I have a story to tell!
To begin, I went to Comic-Con, which was held in August. It was a lot of fun; looked at the different booths, looked at some awesome artwork, talked with some comic book writers, saw the DeLorean from BACK TO THE FUTURE and took a picture with it, bought some comics and some custom-made LEGO minifigures and saw a whole slew of cool costumes.
But the best part was that I got to meet Caitlin Glass, the English voice actress for Mina Ashido, my favorite character in My Hero Academia. She was very kind, courteous, and quick-witted; definitely one of the sweetest people I have met. She autographed a FUNKO POP figure of Ashido that I bought, and I was able to take a picture with her. Needless to say, that was the highlight of my time there.
And that's what I was doing on my time off.
Special thanks to 'bluebarnowl' for the idea where Randall and Leon act like knights in battle, and for the idea of Charlotte creating 'bungee cords' to help her team.
R&R,
Heroboy005