Chapter 9

Midoriya took his headband which read '10000485' and tied it around his forehead. He had Uraraka, Tokoyami, and Killua carrying him from his left to right. He scanned his competitors who were all in one big circle around the space they had to move around in. Kacchan is with Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero. They all placed pretty high in the previous round, so their total points must be high as well. His prediction was right as Bakugo's team had a total point value of 630, which was higher than most other teams.

Todoroki's team is really well-rounded and versatile! Him, Iida, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari… That team's total points was 585. And the last big threat, Gon's team…I don't know who any of his teammates are. Maybe Killua knows. But I know that guy with the silver hair has a Quirk like Kirishima's. He can turn his body into steel.

"Remember the plan, everyone. Don't fight unless we need to. We're going to get a lot of attention for sure," Midoriya reminded his team. All three members nodded in agreement.

"Alright, the cavalry battle will start at the end of the countdown! Get ready!" Midnight yelled into her microphone.

After 5 seconds, she yelled, "Start!" The second round of the Sports Festival had commenced, and the clock began ticking down.

Within seconds of starting, several of the 11 teams rushed towards Midoriya's team. A particular detail caught Killua's eye: the ground in front of them was turning dark. He scoured his eyes to find how that effect was happening, and he caught sight of a very pale-skinned teen from Class B who Gon had told him about. Honenuki! The silver haired teen was alarmed. "Uraraka! Make everyone weightless, except me! Quick!"

The brown haired girl hesitated for a moment before obliging. She did not know why Killua said that, but she went through with it, tapping Midoriya and Tokoyami and making herself weightless as well. Killua focused some Nen in his feet, transforming it into electricity before jumping away into a more open area. After landing, he gave Uraraka the nod to return everyone's weight.

"What was that about?" Midoriya asked.

"Honenuki from Class B," Killua replied. "He can soften the ground into quicksand, or something like that. We would've been stuck, and we would've lost our headband right there."

"How do you know about that?" Tokoyami asked as a follow-up.

"Gon told me. They did a training exercise before, and Honenuki used his Quirk on Gon back then."

"Um, the attention hasn't left us yet," Uraraka pointed out nervously. She stared ahead watched the few approaching teams. "Deku? Should I make everyone weightless?"

Midoriya did a quick count of the teams coming towards them. One, two, three, four. Four teams are after us right now, but I'm sure some others will come after us later. "Yeah, make us all weightless and run. Tokoyami, keep watch on defense, and Killua, scare people with your electricity." The two boys nodded, and all three boys could feel their weight leave them as Uraraka used her Quirk on them.

The brunette girl began running away while Midoriya was busy making plans in his head. I don't know what most of the Class B Quirks are. Maybe Killua knows, but it would be useful for me if I knew more.

While the #1 team was running away and defending themselves from its opponents, Neito Monoma put his own plan to work. "While your team and other teams are after the 10,000,000 points, teams like mine can slip in and take your headband amongst the chaos!" Monoma taunted at Bakugo's team while he held the explosive boy's headband in his hand.

The ash blond was enraged at Monoma's persistent taunts, and the spiky green haired boy who came second in the last round did not go unnoticed either. "Oi, we'll go after Deku later. Right now, I'm going to murder this guy and his team!" He exploded off his three horses, Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero, and wind a punch for Monoma.

Tetsutetsu activated his Steel and caught Bakugo's punch. With his momentum stopped, Bakugo felt his weight falling to the floor. He felt tape wrap around his torso and pull him back onto his spot on top of his team.

"You can't be so reckless, Bakugo," Sero chided and recalled his tape to his elbows. "If we're going to attack them, we should attack as a team."

Monoma was still giving Bakugo a smug face as the ash blond ground his teeth. His lips curved up in a grin in realization. "Alright then. Pinky, throw acid at their feet. Unbalance them. Tape Boy, get our headband back. All three of you, run forward so I can mess up this guy's face."

Sero and Ashido loudly sighed but followed their rider's orders. Ashido created some low intensity acid in her hands and threw it at the feet of Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki. Not wanting to risk taking any damage, both of the Class B students hopped out of the way which put Monoma and Gon off balance.

The black haired boy on Bakugo's team stuck his elbows out in front of him and his tape zipped towards Monoma's head. The blond was ready for it because of Bakugo's announcement of their plan. He reached up and grabbed the tape before it could reach the headband. When he tried pulling his hands away, Monoma found them to be stuck to the tape.

"Gon! Get this off of me!" Monoma commanded in a hurry. Right as Gon was about to hand chop the tape away, Bakugo exploded off from Kirishima's back and flew towards Monoma. At that point, it was too late for Gon to retract his action, so he went through with his chop which removed the tape from his rider.

However, they could not stop the enraged ash blond boy from Class A from grabbing his own headband back off Monoma's neck. He did not have time to steal more before he noticed his opponent's entire team had recovered. Bakugo blasted himself backwards with an explosion by pointing downwards at Tetsutetsu. Monoma had Steel copied in his arsenal from previously and activated it to avoid taking damage from the explosion. Likewise, Tetsutetsu kept himself unharmed by keeping his Quirk activated. Shiozaki hastily put up a clump of vines to protect herself as well in case the explosion was larger than she imagined.

Bakugo landed on top of his riders again and tied his once-stolen headband which read '630' to his forehead. He ground his teeth at Monoma's frown. "We'll take his other headbands later. We got what we needed, let's go after Deku." As soon as he said it, his team of three riders observed the area to find Midoriya and his team.

From their eyes, Midoriya's team could be seen trying to deal with a Pop-Off Mineta had thrown and Tsuyu's tongue lashing out to grab the headband from the cover of Shoji's multiple arms.

"Run at them!" Bakugo suddenly ordered, and Ashido glanced up with a look of disapproval but ran with her team nonetheless.

By the time Bakugo's team caught up to the top team, Shoji's team had given up as they had no more tricks to try against Midoriya. Next to Bakugo's team arrived another group everyone was wary of: Todoroki's team.

"Are you going to get in my way?" Todoroki questioned Bakugo.

"I was just about to say that to you! If you're going to get in my way, I'll crush you too!" the ash blond teen retorted with a grin that confirmed his willingness to go through with his statement.

Within a second, Todoroki had put up an ice wall in front of Bakugo's team and faced off against Midoriya's team, who all widened their eyes at the extremely quick action.

A few cracks in intervals were heard before the ice wall exploded in a hundred directions. Both teams waited for the steam to clear up before spotting a calm Bakugo. "A little ice wasn't going to stop me," the ash blond said with stern eyes.

Todoroki narrowed his eyes, but they widened just as quickly. Bakugo lost his cool and blasted off at the team that still had their headband worth 585 points. He was headed for Todoroki, and with support from Sero's Tape, the heterochromatic teen knew ice would not stop Bakugo if he could blast it apart and not fall on the ground.

Yaoyorozu handed Todoroki a shield she had made earlier to stop Mineta's Pop-Offs, even though there was still one stuck to it. The rider of their team held it up in an attempt to block Bakugo, but he punched it down carefully without hitting the Pop-Off. He snatched Todoroki's headband, and Sero pulled him back to their team.

"We just lost our headband?!" Kaminari exclaimed in fear as he hoped Todoroki would have a plan to get back to the top.

"It doesn't matter if we lose ours, as long as we get the 10,000,000 points from them," he replied, staring at Midoriya's team with piercing eyes. His attention was completely shifted from Bakugo to Midoriya, and a bit to Killua as well.

Midoriya's face was quivering as he looked between two of his strongest classmates' teams. Uraraka was doing the same, but she also looked up to Midoriya in hopes of him having a plan for this confrontation.

"We've prepared for this, let's move as planned," Todoroki ordered his team without batting an eye at Bakugo's furious expression.

"Don't forget I'm here too!" Bakugo roared in anger of being ignored and excitement for the itch he felt to crush Midoriya and Todoroki.

"The top 3 teams at the start of this round are going to clash head to head!" Present Mic shouted out. "They might not all be the top 3 right now, but this is going to be amazing!"

Todoroki's team closed the distance at a great speed thanks to Iida being the primary horse. "Kaminari, it's your turn," the rider whispered coolly.

Yaoyorozu unfolded a thick insulator sheet out of seemingly nowhere and covered herself as well as Iida and Todoroki.

"Sorry Killua," Kaminari said as he began to spark with a smile. "You may be immune to your own electric Quirk, but I doubt you have an immunity to my electricity. Indiscriminate Discharge 1,000,000 volts!" he shouted. Electricity flashed in every direction, even towards Bakugo's team which had stayed back after their rider told them to brace for the incoming attack.

Electricity flooded the bodies of every person nearby, although it was felt strongest on Midoriya's team. You're right Kaminari, Killua thought as he endured the pain and ignored the screams from his teammates. I'm not immune. But I do resist it. Feels just like that wheelchair rookie crusher dude from Heaven's Arena…

Act paralyzed and unable to move, Killua told himself once the attack faded. Then, move when they come here.

Still with the insulator material Yaoyorozu made, Todoroki's team moved forward to steal Midoriya's headband. Right as Todoroki was about to take it, Killua's hand shot up and intercepted. "You really thought, you could take the headband that easily?" he questioned the boy with half-white and half-red hair. Todoroki's eyes opened huge, and he could not break free from the grasp his silver haired classmate held on his arm.

Crap. What do I do now? Killua wondered in panic. Yaoyorozu already draped the insulator around all of them in case I try to use my electricity. I can't like, pull his arm off… He lost his thought process when he felt something nudge into his body. He shot a quick look over and noticed Dark Shadow was moving and so was its user.

"Dark Shadow! Watch out for any of their attacks!" Tokoyami commanded the shadow monster.

On the other side of the cavalry battle area, a team of four flew up into the air thanks to a jet pack and landed on the left side of Todoroki's team. There was a single headband seemingly floating in the air which read '270', but the Class A students knew better. It was Hagakure. Her riders were Sato, Jirou, and a girl they had not seen before with pink hair and wearing eye goggles.

The distraction from the new team's appearance bought enough time for Midoriya and Uraraka to recover from the electricity during which time Killua let go of Todoroki's arm. Bakugo's team moved in from Todoroki's right, and behind Midoriya's team was the boundary. They were cornered.

Midoriya faced all his opponents and rivals and looked at each of their faces. His lips curved up into a grin that challenged all of them. Only Bakugo returned the gesture, but Midoriya noticed Iida harden his stare. "Seems we're not going to avoid a fight," Midoriya whispered to his team while keeping his grin up. "Let's not go down without one." His team silently nodded, agreeing to their rider's statement.

Opposite from Midoriya's team, Monoma's team was fending off against two teams. They were currently the second place team, and they had not gained or lost any headbands since Bakugo took his back. Only five minutes had passed since the second round began.

Gon and Shiozaki both found their feet stuck to the ground due to a well-aimed Pop-Off Mineta had thrown from behind the cover of Shoji's multiple arms. Kendo was in front of Monoma's team, swinging her huge fists to create large gusts of wind and steal her team's 215 point headband back.

Seeing that her fists were not creating enough wind to make the opposing team flinch, she enlarged her fists even more, reaching near her limit of size changes. "Okay, Setsuna, go!" the ginger haired rider commanded.

Using her Quirk, Lizard Tail Splitter, Setsuna Tokage split her arm away and stole a headband off Monoma's forehead while their entire team could not move and was flinching from the strong winds Kendo was creating. She brought her arm back and connected it and looked at the headband. Its point value was 520, which was more than their original 215 points.

Shoji's team was one of those who did not get their headband stolen by Monoma in the beginning, and he charged towards Monoma from Shiozaki's side. Tsuyu's tongue shot out to take a headband, but Shiozaki lengthened her vine hair and used it as a wall thick enough to block the frog-like girl's tongue. "I may not be able to move my feet, but I can still move my vines," she declared.

Meanwhile, Gon was attempting to slide his foot off the Pop-Off. Considering the 'Quirk' they think I have, I don't think it should be too surprising if I break away from this thing, he thought before feeling his foot be free again. "Okay! I got my foot unstuck!" he announced to his team, but his voice was loud enough that the surrounding two teams heard him as well.

"I've used a lot of my Pop-Offs, I don'think I can pull any more without hurting myself," Mineta quietly admitted to Shoji and Tsuyu and made sure the other teams could not hear him. He saw both teammates nod in acceptance.

"Half the time has passed!" Present Mic yelled out in commentary. Gon glanced at the scoreboard. In first was Midoriya's team, still with the headband that included the 10,000,000 points and some more. In second was Bakugo's team with 1,215 points total which included their original 630 and Todoroki's 585. In third was his own team with 1,135 points, which consisted of their own 580 point headband from the beginning as well as 215 from Kendo's team, 155 from Bondo's team, and 185 from Kamakiri's team. Fourth place was held by Kendo's team which just stole the 520 point headband that first belonged to Honenuki's team.

Sato swallowed a couple sugar cubes and sped in at a fast pace people did not expect him to and dragged his team along for the run. Hagakure reached out an invisible hand at Midoriya's forehead, but the curly green haired teen told his team to move out of her reach before they got too close.

Todoroki put up a wall of ice in front of him separating Midoriya's and Hagakure's teams. While he did that, Bakugo exploded forward with aid from Sero. Bakugo reached down to grab the first-place headband off Midoriya's forehead, but Dark Shadow intercepted the attack by rising up as Tokoyami commanded it. Having lost momentum, Sero pulled his rider back to the team.

"Everyone, I have a special move I can use," Iida told his team. "I can force my engines into overdrive, but it will leave me immobile for about 10 seconds. Using that right now does not sound like a good idea as there is still a lot of time – but I can use it at the end to steal the top headband."

Todoroki raised his eyebrow in a mixture of being impressed and skeptical. "That could be promising. We'll wait out the timer a bit, then."

"Should we go after Bakugo's team?" Yaoyorozu asked. "We can get our headband back, and perhaps theirs as well."

"Kaminari, you still have electricity left to use?" Todoroki thought ahead about a plan which confirmed that he agreed with Yaoyorozu's suggestion.

"Yeah, I can manage a bit. I didn't go all out last time," the blond replied. His face still looked normal as it usually did, showing that he was indeed not too close to his limit yet.

"Alright, let's move a bit closer to Bakugo's team and take his headbands." The team currently with zero points moved closer to the team that took their original headband. Bakugo and Sero noticed them approaching. "Kaminari, zap them!" The blond teen yelled out his attack's name and released his remaining electricity to reach his limit.

"Kirishima, harden yourself!" Bakugo roared. "Turn around quickly, all of you! Kirishima needs to face them" The redhead was so surprised Bakugo called him by his real name, and he just barely got the chance to activate his Quirk to defend a bit against the electricity. Their turn around had little effect to Todoroki's team as the rider with half red and white hair snatched both headbands from Bakugo's forehead with little trouble. Kirishima tried grabbing hold of Todoroki's hand before it was too late, but Iida intercepted and allowed the smooth steal.

"WOW! The team with Todoroki as a rider just ascended from tied for last with zero points all the way up to 1,215! They took both headbands off Bakugo's forehead!" Present Mic shouted out.

"That was a smart move to get back into the game. Todoroki's team could have continued going after the 10,000,000 points, but instead, they decided to play it safe and get points that were easier to guarantee," Aizawa analyzed. "Especially after their first attack for the 10,000,000 points didn't go as planned."

A vein popped in Bakugo's head as he internally roared at what his homeroom teacher announced to the country. 'Easier to guarantee?' Calling me easy? I'll show them something that's easy to guarantee. His eyes set on Midoriya's forehead and his lips curved up into a dangerous grin.

"Everybody, if we can make it through this here, we should be set to maintain first for the rest of the round!" Midoriya shouted to his teammates. He eyed Bakugo setting up some sort of plan in motion, and it seemed directed at his team. "Turn around a bit. Kacchan's doing something, and I want Killua to be closest to them to zap them if necessary. Tokoyami, I want you to defend against any attacks as well. Uraraka, because Killua and Tokoyami will be busy defending with their Quirks, I want you to make us all weightless and be our mobility if we need it. I'll give you a signal before I want you to do so. We need the most mileage we can get!"

"Right!" Uraraka shouted out with a look of determination, and Killua and Tokoyami nodded their heads.

A sound of explosions blasted from the side as Bakugo propelled his team forward with his Quirk, and his team ran with the pace. Killua was positioned at the side to electrocute them again after Kaminari already did, and Tokoyami's Dark Shadow was ready to act as a shield for the team.

"Let's run in," Todoroki quietly told his team. "Now's our chance to take the 10,000,000 while they're distracted by Bakugo. Go."

The single word was enough for Todoroki's three horses to run at Midoriya's team. Todoroki readied his ice to split Bakugo's team off from his and Midoriya's so that he could take the 10,000,000 points.

Bastard, I knew you'd come in! Bakugo grinned as he noticed Todoroki's team taking the bait from the corner of his eye. Now I'll take all three headbands!

Crap! I can't direct electricity to both Bakugo and Todoroki without using a bigger area attack, and that might hurt my own team, Killua thought in panic.

"Killua! Hit Todoroki's team! Tokoyami, defend against Bakugo!" Midoriya shouted out. "We're cornered! We can't move!"

Killua swung his arm out further to his right to aim at Todoroki's incoming team. A wall of ice was instantly put up as the electricity crackled at his fingertips, and more ice came down to cut Bakugo's team off at the last second. The electricity shattered the walls of ice all around him, and he made sure to direct it in a direction that would not affect his team. "Uraraka, make yourself weightless and return my weight!" he shouted out to be heard over the sound of breaking ice.

Just as Uraraka made herself weightless, a white tape shot out and attached itself to Killua's leg. Sero, Killua thought with a small frown. I could cut this, but that'll seem a little odd – oh well, they got us here, I guess. Maybe if they come closer...?

Bakugo blasted out of the steam, and Dark Shadow intercepted his reach for Midoriya's forehead. Todoroki also came through with a thick insulator sheet wrapped around the whole team to protect against Killua's electricity. Nothing I should really do here, Killua thought as he watched Todoroki's hand sail over his head and steal the 10,000,000 from Midoriya. In response, Bakugo launched himself over Dark Shadow which was blocking him. By the time the ash blond got to the teen with dual-coloured hair, the 10,000,000 point headband was already tied around his neck. Thinking the top one had to have been the jackpot, Bakugo yanked it off, and Killua felt Sero's tape leave his leg and watched it attach to Bakugo and pull him back to his team.

The ash blond was grinning wildly, but when he checked his headband to tie it around, he noticed it was the 585 that originally started off with Todoroki's team.

"We purposely switched up the order of the headbands, so even if you took one, it would be at random," Yaoyorozu explained to Bakugo's gawking face.

"We're going to take that BACK!" Midoriya bellowed at Todoroki's team. He spared the quickest glance he could at the timer. There were only two minutes left. He grit his teeth in frustration.

"What's the plan, Deku?" Uraraka asked anxiously. After their headband was stolen by Todoroki, she returned the weight to herself and her two teammates as Killua was the one keeping them down for the last few seconds.

Tokoyami and Killua shot a quick glance at their rider as well who looked so defeated. "Kacchan's going to try for the 10,000,000 as well. We have to wait a minute at least. We need to take it at the last possible second – and if not the 10,000,000 at least the 630! We have nothing! If we take the 630, we can still make third or fourth place, but I want first!" He checked the scoreboard to see the current standings. Todoroki's team was obviously first, and Monoma's team was in second, still keeping their 1,135 points for this long. In third was Bakugo's team with 585, and fourth was Honenuki's team with 520 which they stole back from Kendo's team.

"How do you plan on taking a headband from their team now?" Tokoyami asked. "They will be on their best defense."

"Kaminari looks pretty drained after his first two attacks," Killua noted while looking at the team in first which was currently running away from a couple Class B teams he did not recognize. "He told me he can barely do anything if he crosses his limit. I think that's what happened. Todoroki and Yaoyorozu seem like their main defense right now, and maybe Iida's speed to run away."

"I didn't want to resort to this," Midoriya suddenly said. He was looking down at his fingers, and Uraraka's eyes widened at the implications. The green haired teen lowered his hands and glared at Todoroki who was not making eye contact with him. "But it might be the only thing we have left."

"What are you planning?" Killua asked with narrowed eyes.

"If I flick my fingers, I can make huge gusts of wind to put them off-guard," Midoriya explained. "My fingers will break, because my Quirk is too powerful, but with that distraction we should be able to take at least one headband. Uraraka, make everyone weightless except Killua. Tokoyami, be prepared to use Dark Shadow to steal a headband as I most likely will not be able to take it myself with broken fingers. Killua," Midoriya stared at the last of his horses with a look that was both commanding and pleading. "I want you to run in as fast as you can immediately before I launch my attack." Midoriya paused to check the time again. "We're doing this at the 20 second mark. I want to do it even later, preferably at 10, but this is for contingency in case something unexpected happens. It's pretty much all or nothing at this point. We're left with a minute and 10 seconds. Everyone clear?" He was met by three determined head nods.

"We're going after IcyHot, and we're getting that 10,000,000 point headband," Bakugo spat in a tone that left no room for argument. Ashido and Sero sighed at his sides, and Kirishima looked fired up for the last bit of time left in the round.

"What's the plan for this last attack?" Kirishima asked.

"We need a lot of speed for this. Raccoon Eyes, use your acid to run faster," Bakugo ordered in a no-nonsense tone. "Shark Teeth and Soy Sauce Face, run as fast as you can to keep up with her. I'm going to blast off at the last second and steal that headband from him."

Ashido and Sero sighed again, this time at Bakugo's nicknames. "You're never going to use our real names, are you…" Ashido asked glumly.

"Shut up! Get ready! Only a bit of time left!"

"When are we making our move?" Sero asked.

"I know Deku's planning something too. We'll go right as he goes," Bakugo replied firmly, eyes piercingly watching everything his childhood friend's team was doing.

"Iida, I know Midoriya's planning something," Todoroki whispered to his centered horse. "Bakugo too, probably, because he can't stand not being first. I want you to be ready with your overdrive speed. If they make even the slightest movement, I want you to run away. Yaoyorozu, get a shield ready for defense. I'll use my ice as well if I need to." The two horses nodded while Kaminari stuck out a thumb as he had been doing at random intervals since short-circuiting his brain from his electrical attacks.

The timer hit 30 seconds. "ONLY 30 SECONDS LEFT! GET THOSE HEADBANDS WHILE YOU CAN!" Present Mic screamed, and the crowd cheered accordingly for the students. Midoriya and Todoroki tensed, one getting ready to launch one last attack and the other preparing for the inevitable final attack.

"By the way, when I activate electricity around my body, it's probably going to sting you if you touch me," Killua warned at the last second. "It might hurt. I can use it on just my legs, though, but I don't think I'll go as fast if I did that." That was a lie. He knew he could go just as fast with or without his electricity in any part of his body.

Midoriya laughed dryly. "That sounds like nothing compared to what I'm going to put myself through right now." He regained his seriousness. "Okay! Uraraka! Do your part!" Midoriya ordered with more resolution than his team had ever heard him speak with. Uraraka made herself, Midoriya, and Tokoyami weightless. Killua readied his legs to sprint forward and summoned his electricity for display with a few words of 'ouch' from his team. Tokoyami got Dark Shadow ready for the steal, and Midoriya readied his fingers and mentally prepared himself for the pain he was about to feel. Here goes nothing, he thought. "Go," he commanded in a low voice as the timer hit 20 seconds.

Killua shot off towards Todoroki's team faster than anyone was expecting. Iida had been readying his engines in his calves for a few seconds now, and the moment he noticed Midoriya's team rocket off, he launched ahead. "RECIPRO BURST!" he shouted and blasted off.

"Let's kill them!" Bakugo shouted angrily but with a competitive grin all over his face. His team shot forward as well.

Midoriya steadied his hands and felt his Quirk coursing through his fingers. "Ahhhhh!" He flicked two fingers on both hands. They instantly broke, and he screamed in pain. The blast of wind that hit the surrounding teams was so powerful it made them shake and stumble. Even Killua found himself losing his balance after the flicks.

That's, actually incredible, Killua thought in awe as he regained his footing and continued sprinting at Todoroki's team. Insane power, just from a few fingers. Too bad he breaks his bones.

Midoriya's team was catching up to Todoroki's when another huge blast of wind, maybe even more powerful than the first, struck them from the front and slowed Iida down considerably. Killua pushed through and spotted the source of the wind with wide eyes.

A few seconds ago

Gon glanced at the scoreboard. He was happy that his team was in second place, even though he wanted to be first, but Monoma refused to go after Todoroki's team. Killua's team has no points? He frowned. That's not good. I want him to make it to the next round. At that moment, he saw the preparations Killua's team was making, and the team they were targeting. I'll get ready too!

He gathered Nen in his right hand which was free from not holding Monoma. He aimed it at Todoroki's team which was headed in their direction, and the wind from his attack should work against them and slow them down. It'll work against Killua too, but I know Killua's strong enough to run through it. Even if he holds back, he should be fine.

And then he punched.

The wind from his punch blasted his team backwards as they were caught completely unaware, and several nearby teams lost their footing too. Gon could see the center horse of Todoroki's team struggling to get through his wind, and Killua was slowly but surely catching up. Bakugo's team had gotten blown away, but still together and on their feet, behind and to the side of Midoriya's team.

Present

Of course, you had to help, Killua rolled his eyes with a small smile. With one last stride, he pushed ahead, and Tokoyami was within range to use Dark Shadow to grab a headband. Todoroki's defenses had completely flew apart after Gon's punch. Yaoyorozu had been able to hold her shield through Midoriya's flicks, but Gon's punch sent it flying backwards over and beside Killua's head.

Dark Shadow reached for Todoroki's forehead, and Present Mic called time a moment later. "IT'S OVER! TIME IS UP! Let's see what the results were, right now!"

"In first place, we have the team of Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Iida, and Kaminari with 10,000,485 points! In second, we have Monoma, Tetsutetsu, Shiozaki, and Freecss with 1,135 points! In third is…wow! Midoriya, Uraraka, Tokoyami, and Zoldyck!" Tokoyami held a headband which read '630' on it for his team to see. Midoriya began crying, but Present Mic continued. "And in fourth we have Bakugo, Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero with 585 points! And, in fifth is Hon – wait, what?! The team of Shinso, Aoyama, Ojiro, and Kuroiro somehow snuck the 520 point headband in the last second to place fifth! Incredible!"

"But, unfortunately, only the top four teams will advance, so we will have the final bracket containing 16 students," Aizawa concluded.

Midnight cracked her whip and got the stadium's attention. "Now then! With the second round of the first year Sports Festival complete, it is time to announce the third and final round! The third round this year will be one versus one battles in which you are free to use your Quirk. More specific rules will be explained later, but for now we will set the bracket. There are 16 students total, which makes this nice and easy." All 16 students' names and pictures were displayed on the big screen in the arena. "The bracket will be randomized. Here it is!" The students and the crowd watched as a randomized bracket was created. The fights were:

1: Tenya Iida vs Ochako Uraraka

2: Neito Monoma vs Killua Zoldyck

3: Denki Kaminari vs Fumikage Tokoyami

4: Shoto Todoroki vs Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

5: Ibara Shiozaki vs Izuku Midoriya

6: Gon Freecss vs Eijiro Kirishima

7: Mina Ashido vs Momo Yaoyorozu

8: Hanta Sero vs Katsuki Bakugo

"Now that the bracket has been finalized, we will have a break! Feel free to relax, eat lunch, and students can go see Recovery Girl if they have any injuries! We will be back here later for the final round, so don't miss it!"

Midoriya breathed a huge sigh of relief. His fingers were still hurting a lot, and he immediately scurried off to find Recovery Girl. Shiozaki…she looks like she can do something with her hair. Control it, I think? I saw her do something like that in the first two rounds so far.

"Damn, I really had to face you first round, huh Bakugo?" Sero asked with a sad smile and a shake of his head.

"Tsk, you better put up a fight, Soy Sauce Face," Bakugo grumbled as he walked past the black haired teen.

"Killua!" the silver haired teen heard Gon's voice.

"Yo!" Killua responded to him. "You're excited, aren't you?"

The teen with spiky green hair nodded. "I'm fighting Kirishima…I think he has a Quirk like Tetsutetsu from what I could tell."

"Yeah, something like that," he responded nonchalantly.

"Listen, Killua," Gon spoke in a serious tone. Killua focused his attention immediately at the use of that tone. "Monoma's Quirk is Copy. He can copy other people's Quirks and use them. I don't know what will happen if he touches you and copies yours."

The former assassin narrowed his eyes. "You were on his team just now. Are you seriously saying he never once copied you?"

Gon shook his head. "He never needed to, or at least that's what he said. I'm nervous about what'll happen if he copies you, or me. What will he copy? Our Nen? Or something else? Or nothing noticeable?"

Killua pondered over the questions for a bit. "In any case, I can beat him without him touching me, which is how I'm assuming he gets to copy a Quirk?" Gon nodded. "Yeah, well I can beat him. Although, I'm curious what would happen if he does copy me. Maybe national TV is not the place for that, though. I could get exposed easily."

"Well, it's up to you, Killua. You're the one fighting him," Gon shrugged.

The silver haired teen smirked. "Cool that we're on opposite sides of the bracket. See you in the finals, Gon."


Sorry for the long wait again! Got busy with school because second semester started. Although, this chapter was a little hard to write because I wasn't too interested - I'm waiting for these final round fights, hope I can write those well and make it enjoyable to read. Hope the bracket isn't a problem, but as I already explained, I wanted to make it different. Writing fighting scenes is cool, I like it, so the next chapter will come out sooner...most likely. Also, in case you were wondering, the points of each headband is completely different from in canon. I actually updated the rankings based on Gon and Killua being here, and Koji Koda and Nirengeki Shoda not. And because Gon and Killua placed well in the first round, everybody below them was bumped down 10 points from their canon point value.

Thanks for reading!