CHAPTER 11: ROUND TWO! ALL-TERRAIN MAYHEM!


"The next event is an all-terrain cavalry battle…set in a labyrinth!" the risqué pro announced, cracking her whip. "'All-terrain?' What does that mean?" Uraraka wondered. "So it's a team event…" the purple-haired boy said. "Oh great, something complicated" Kaminari muttered. "Time for the next trial to begin…" Midoriya thought, before glancing to the faculty box. "I'll overcome this too…I have to tell the world that I AM HERE."


Cue: My Hero Academia opening 2 – Peace Sign


"Allow me to explain" Midnight said, pointing to the screen. "The participants will form eleven teams of four, then start in some part of the arena, which will be reformatted for this game. In theory, it's the same as the playground game…but there's a few added twists" she added, licking her lips. "Each player is assigned a point value based on their placement in the race. 44th is worth five points, 43rd, worth ten, and so on…"

"Except for first place, who is worth TEN MILLION POINTS."

Immediately, everyone's heads snapped around to stare at Midoriya. "Oh…Oh crap! I've painted a huge target on my back!" "That's right…it's the perfect chance for those at the bottom to eliminate those at the top!" Midnight said, a look of abject glee on her face. "But wait, there's more! Let me introduce to you some special guests!" The pro pointed to a group of other pro heroes. Notable among them were Cementoss, Power Loader, Kamui Woods, and Pixie-Bob of the rescue team Wild Wild Pussycats. The pros waved, before Midnight continued.

"The first twist is the setting!" A map appeared of the stadium on a hologram screen, showing a large maze inside the arena. Several sections of the maze were open spaces, with one containing a small lake and an island, another with a forest, another with an icy mountain, another with a cityscape, another with a burning village, and one more with a bunch of steaming geysers. "The arena will be reformatted to suit the purposes of this exercise. Let's make this playing field a little bigger, why don't we?"

With that, the entire stadium split apart along certain dividers, the stands moving along underground rails as more barriers rose up to keep the arena's edge continuous. When it stopped moving, the pros got to work reconfiguring the field for the exercise, the students, spectators and even some faculty in awe. "Holy shit" Hanaya said in the faculty box, clearly surprised.

"This cavalry battle will take place in a constantly-shifting maze built around multiple hazardous zones, full of dangerous faux villains in addition to other teams. The headbands of other teams will have point values written on them; collect enough points from headbands and you'll advance to the next round" Midnight said. "This is to see how well you handle coordination within a team during a constantly developing scenario." Awase in 1-B cracked his knuckles. "Great! Who wants to team up?" he asked, before getting a chill down his spine from how Midnight looked at him.

"One more thing: you won't decide your teams. Those will be selected at random; you'll have to prove your teamwork skills are good enough to collaborate with unfamiliar allies to deal with a crisis~" the pro said, as looks of horror spread across the faces of the students. "Now, without further ado, the teams for this round!" she said, pointing to the screen as it ran through possible combinations before selecting the teams.

Team Midoriya (10,000,550): Izuku Midoriya, Momo Yaoyorozu, Kiriya Kujo, Setsuna Tokage

Team Bakugo (720): Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki, Eijiro Kirishima, Ochako Uraraka

Team Kendo (670): Itsuka Kendo, Ryuga Banjo, Tenya Iida, Juzo Honenuki

Team Asui (560): Tsuyu Asui, Ibara Shiozaki, Fumikage Tokoyami, Reiko Yanagi

Team Hojo (555): Emu Hojo, Hanta Sero, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Mezo Shoji

Team Jiro (420): Kyoka Jiro, Yui Kodai, Sen Kaibara, Mashirao Ojiro

Team Awase (360): Yosetsu Awase, Mina Ashido, Shihai Kuroiro, Togaru Kamakiri

Team Shinso (260): Hitoshi Shinso, Sento Kiryu, Gentoku Himuro, Mei Hatsume

Team Monoma (245): Neito Monoma, Manga Fukidashi, Parado Doxx, Kosei Tsubaraba

Team Komori (235): Kinoko Komori, Hiryu Rin, Jurota Shishida, Kazumi Sawatari

Team Shoda (155): Nirengeki Shoda, Kojiro Bondo, Pony Tsunotori, Denki Kaminari

"Woohoo! Glad we're on the same team, Mido!" Tokage said enthusiastically, gripping the other greenette in a tight hug much to his embarrassment. Uraraka glowered at the other girl's display of affection towards Midoriya, uncertain of her feelings at that moment. Meanwhile, her teammates…were a different story. "FUCK! WHY DO I HAVE TO TEAM UP WITH YOU, ICYHOT?" Bakugo roared, while Todoroki stared impassively. "If it was up to me, I'd rather not team with you either…but it doesn't look like we have the option" the bichromatic boy noted. "Hey dudes, let's just win this thing, okay?" Kirishima asked, causing a spark of determination and a brief flash of respect to flash in the two teens' eyes. "Yeah…let's win this…Round Face, Shitty Hair, IcyHot…"

"Thank you for having me!" Iida bowed stiffly to the other members of Team Kendo. "It's always good to make new friends, kero" Asui said to Tokoyami, Shiozaki and Yanagi, who nodded in agreement. "Looks like I'm with you guys…Class 1-B" the brunette Business student said, grinning. "The name's Kazumi Sawatari! Let's do this thing!" "R-Right!" squeaked team captain Komori, a short girl with brown hair covering her eyes. "Let's show those Class 1-A losers what we can do!" Monoma said, to mixed reaction from his team. "FUCK YEAH! Let's do this!" Awase shouted, his team cheering in agreement. "Looks like it the two of us again…with these two" Shinso said to his General Studies friend, before gesturing to the two Support Students equipping tech on themselves.

"You all have 15 minutes to strategize before the competition; just know that your strategy may not be effective for very long! Good luck, kiddos!" Midnight shouted, cracking her whip. "Well, this will be interesting" Ingenium noted, Aizawa nodding in agreement. In the faculty box, All Might gritted his teeth. "Good luck, Young Midoriya."


"AAAAAND WE'RE BACK, FOLKS!" Present Mic bellowed, as the audience cheered. "IT'S TIME TO START THE CAVALRY BATTLE! READY, MIDNIGHT?" The risqué pro cracked her whip. "It's time, youngsters!" she said, as the students stood at various points across the field, ready to go. "This is it, guys…let' do our best" Midoriya said to his team. Yaoyorozu stood as his right flank, while Tokage mirrored her on the left and Kujo stood as the 'front horse'. "Let the all-terrain labyrinth cavalry battle…BEGIN!"

*cue My Hero Academia OST – Cavalry Battle*

Immediately, the teams sprung into action as the concrete maze rose up around them and blocked their movements in all but a few directions. "We're coming for that ten million, Midoriya!" Kendo shouted, fire in her eyes. Her team quickly moved through the maze in search of their green-haired friend and his team, adopting a simple strategy to breach the walls, with Honenuki softening some and Banjo outright destroying others, Iida providing plenty of forward momentum for them

"DEKU! I'M GOING TO BLAST THAT SMUG LOOK OFF YOUR FUCKING FACE!" Bakugo roared, before looking to his left. "Round Face! Zero-G me!" he shouted to Uraraka, who obliged. As the boy lifted off, no gravity pulling against his explosions, a massive grin spread over his face. "THIS IS FUCKING AWESOMEEEEE!" His attention was then caught by several 1-B students, led by a short, tubby bluenette boy, who were dealing with…some kind of mud monster? Whatever. Using his explosions to angle himself downwards, he blasted the golem in the face, then turned to the team. "STUN GRENADE!"

In a burst of heat and light, he stole Team Shoda's headband, before flying back to his team, leaving the indignant group to deal with the mud monster on their own. "Dammit, only 155…we need to get Deku's team" he growled, staring at the headband in his hand. "I'm actually impressed. For a while I thought he was all bark and no bite, but he's a ridiculously talented combatant and has surprising leadership ability" Todoroki noted, before throwing up a wave of ice to stave off another golem, which Bakugo then incinerated with an explosion. "Not bad, IcyHot!"

"WOW! TEAM BAKUGO HAS ALREADY CLAIMED THEIR FIRST VICTIM! TEAM SHODA DIDN'T STAND A CHANCE!" Present Mic shouted. "Bakugo and Todoroki were at each other's throats in the last round, but it's kind of scary seeing how effectively they're working together right now" Ingenium added his two cents. "Not bad, Shouta, not bad at all." Aizawa sighed.


Team Midoriya managed to escape the concrete maze and entered a wider area full of trees. "It's quiet here…" Tokage said, grinning. "Yeah. Too quiet" Yaoyorozu responded, an edge of wariness in her tone. "Tokage, you know what to do" Midoriya said, looking at the other greenette. The reptilian girl's sharp-toothed smile widened. "Aye aye, sir!" Her right eye and arm both detached and flew off in search of potential threats and targets alike. The girl's remaining eye quickly widened. "On our right – we've got company!"

A nearby concrete wall of the maze exploded in a shower of dust and debris. As the dust cleared, the attacking team came into view. "LET'S MESS THESE PUNKS UP!" roared Tetsutetsu, steel coating his body. "I like how you think, Metalhead!" Hojo said, shifting his feet onto Shoji's massive frame and taking a massive leap towards Midoriya's group. "Dammit! Yaomomo, do it!" Midoriya shouted, as the ponytailed girl obliged by forming a shield on her right arm. The shield blocked the other teen's landing, but in the blink of an eye, he reached out…and plucked the ten million points off of Midoriya's head.

"Sero, do it!" Hojo shouted, leaping through the air and pirouetting into a graceful descent, aided by a strip of Sero's tape. "We got 'im!" the plain-faced teen shouted, as the team captian landed on he and Shoji's shoulders. "AND JUST LIKE THAT, THE TEN MILLION, AND FIRST PLACE, HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY NEW CHALLENGERS! TEAM HOJO LEADS THE PACK!" Kendo, Bakugo and Asui's eyes all snapped to the screen. "New target, extras! We're going after Pogo Stick!" Bakugo shouted, his team nodding in agreement as they accelerated along a path of Todoroki's ice, breaking through walls using Kirishima's hardened body as an anchor and a battering ram; Uraraka's Quirk maximizing the effect of Bakugo's explosions.

As Team Hojo rounded a corner in the labyrinth and made their way towards the Lake Zone, they made one fatal mistake: they let their guard down. As soon as they exited the maze, a concrete wall forming behind them as the whole thing reformatted itself again, a hail of rocks rained down on them…and in the midst of it, a thorny vine swooped in and stole both the ten million and Team Hojo's own 555 points. "Thanks for the points, Emu!" Asui said, holding the band with an uncharacteristic grin on her face. "God dammit, Asui got us!" Sero cursed. "I told you to call me Tsu! Bye!"

With that, the frog girl's team turned and fled, much to the gamer's distress. "We're back to square one…that makes the game more amusing though!" His eyes flashed red, unaware that, on the other side of the arena, so did another student's.


"ANOTHER CHANGE IN THE LEAD! TEAM ASUI STEALS THE TEN MILLION FROM TEAM HOJO!" Bakugo glared at the scoreboard again. "Shit, we're not keeping up. We NEED to get that band from Frog-Face, Birdbrain, Ave Maria and Casper" he growled. "Well, speak of the devil" Uraraka said, pointing to a nearby gap in the concrete walls. Sure enough, Team Asui was fleeing as best they could down a corridor, ten million points around the frog girl's head. "FROG-FACE!" Bakugo roared as they charged forward, intent on finally claiming the ten million points…only to be intercepted from their left by an entirely different group.

*cue My Hero Academia OST – Bombing King!*

"Well, if it isn't the overconfident simpletons of Class 1-A" smirked grey-eyed blonde Neito Monoma. "It seems our strategizing was correct: you all really are too concerned with beating each other and showing off to put up a good fight against a solid team of 1-B superstars." Bakugo seethed. "What was that? Give that back; I'll kill you!" Todoroki raised his hand, the air cooling from the gesture. "I kindly suggest that you return that headband…or else I may find myself agreeing with Bakugo here."

"Try us, 1-A scrubs!" the bug-eyed boy on Monoma's left scoffed. At this, the four 1-A students charged, but the 1-B students dodged at the last second, Monoma running a hand through Bakugo's spiky blonde hair. The team about-faced, only to receive an explosion for their troubles. "My, my, what a nice Quirk you have. It's a shame it's in the hands of someone as barbaric as you" Monoma gloated, not realizing he'd just hit one of Bakugo's biggest berserk buttons. "DIE!" he roared, swinging at Monoma. An explosion ripped through the air, but when the smoke cleared, Monoma was unharmed, protected by Kirishima's Hardening Quirk.

"And what about that two-faced rich brat on your left? Daddy Endeavor must have bought him an express ticket into UA" he continued, before targeting the other one. "And speaking of which, look at that lower-class country girl on your left. Are you sure you're not too good to be around someone like her?" Monoma sneered. "And the cowardly lion in the middle; he really is just a discount Tetsutetsu."

Neito Monoma didn't realize until later, when he was nursing multiple explosion burns, several large bruises, a significant concussion and freezerburn, that he'd messed up and pushed the berserk buttons of EVERY SINGLE MEMBER of Team Bakugo. "IcyHot…Round-Face…Shitty Hair. We're going to kill this guy. Understand?" the blonde bomber growled in a low, guttural tone. He glared down at them only to discover that his teammates all bore similar glares. "Are you kidding? You'd better believe we're going to take him down…" Uraraka said. "And utterly humiliate him and his team" Todoroki finished. "We're kicking his ass; no two ways about it" Kirishima growled.

The team charged into action, Bakugo launching himself off of the back of his 'horse' and swooping in for the kill. "Tsubaraba!" Monoma shouted, as the bug-eyed boy took a deep breath, then pursed his lips and exhaled, a solid wall forming in midair near him. Bakugo hit the wall with a loud thud, clearly taken aback. "Gotcha!" the boy snickered.

Kosei Tsubaraba. His Quirk: Solid Air! He can make any air he exhales into a solid wall!

Bakugo was undeterred, and as the 1-B team turned away, he drove a fist through the shield and ripped both Team Monoma's headband and his two stolen headbands off, before rocketing back to his team. "No!" the annoying blonde shouted, but it was too late. "Now…how shall we teach this B-list dickwad a lesson?" Bakugo hissed, his teammates hungrily staring at Monoma and his team. "Tsubaraba…can you block anything they send at us?" Monoma asked his bug eyed teammate, who shook his head. "Parado, any ideas?" The dark-haired boy shook his head, then whistled. "Negative on that front. Currently estimating a…wow, a 103.3% chance of failure. Impressive." "…Fukidashi?" The bubble-headed boy's face simply read "We're doomed." And for the first time in his life, Neito Monoma had to verbally curse his rotten luck.

"Fuck."


Itsuka Kendo was a patient woman. She could wait for good opportunities to come to her, but the clock was running out. Her team had a respective total of 1,325 points, having nabbed Team Jiro's headband and stuck her team in the ground with Honenuki's Quirk, much to the punk girl's anger, and apologetically stealing Team Komori's headband after trapping her team in a ring of fire (it turned out that the Business Course student's grease was easily ignited by Banjo's flames, but not as easily extinguished. At least they'd be safe from the beastly golems roaming the maze though. They'd also snagged a headband from Team Shinsou, running away as soon as they could. They didn't want to fight an opponent with two insane Support students and unknown Quirks on their side.

"HALFWAY THROUGH, LADIES AND GENTS! LET'S SEE THE RANKINGS! IN FIRST PLACE, WITH THE TEN MILLION, TEAM ASUI! HOT ON THEIR HEELS IN SECOND IS TEAM KENDO, FOLLOWED BY TEAM BAKUGO, TEAM AWASE AND TEAM SHINSO! NOBODY ELSE HAS ANY POINTS!" Mic yelled. "Keep an eye on the Support Kids; I think they've hacked the speakers-!" Aizawa began, only to be cut off by an enthusiastic yell of "COMING IN HOT WITH THESE NEW BABIES! INTRODUCING THE BLD RABBIT SHOE AND HATSUME HOVER PACK!" Team Shinso dove into the fray once more, bouncing off the ground and floating over the battlefield thanks to the aforementioned inventions.

The pros stood off in a corner of the arena, watching the events unfold. "It's getting to be time, Principal. Should we…?" Cementoss asked, manipulating the ever-shifting maze as he spoke. The small humanoid animal squinted at the battlefield, regarding it with interest, before sipping his tea. "Yes, I believe it is time. Let the second phase of the Cavalry Battle begin!"

All the walls dropped away and the golems melted into piles of mud as the pro heroes deactivated their Quirks, leaving a wide open field with all the teams in it. Some of them were in no position to compete, such as Team Monoma, who were presently frozen in a huge chunk of ice, or Team Komori, still surrounded by a ring of fire. However, others, like Team Jiro and Team Shoda, had lost their headbands and were itching for a chance to try again.

"FROG-FACE!" Bakugo roared as he launched himself towards Team Asui, his team charging behind him. "You have something that belongs to us!" Hojo shouted, crouching and ready to leap, before he and the explosive blonde made eye contact. "DON'T GET IN MY WAY, POGO STICK!" Bakugo shouted. "YOU stay out of MY way, Blasty McSplode!" Hojo shouted in response. Bakugo's anger bubbled again, and he changed course to intercept Hojo near Team Asui's position. An explosive palm met a meteoric kick, and the two were forced apart, both returning to their own teams.

"Tsu, we're coming for you!" Midoriya warned as his team charged forward. "We've got trouble! Team Jiro at three o'clock!" Tokage shouted, as the punk girl's earlobe jacks shot towards them. "Yaomomo!" Midoriya cried. "On it!" The raven-haired girl produced a concussion grenade and threw it in Jiro's direction. "Kaibara!" Jiro shouted. "You got it!" the dark-haired boy yelled, before rotating an arm at incredible speeds, generating a gust of wind that returned the grenade towards Team Midoriya. "Crap!" Midoriya cursed, before spotting a window of opportunity. "Move to the left, now!"

Sure enough, the concussion grenade exploded where Team Midoriya had stood just moments prior…but was now occupied by Team Awase. "Dammit, that hurt!" the headbanded boy cursed, seemingly unharmed. "Luckily, I'm made of some pretty stern stuff!" By then, however, the greenette's team had moved closer to Asui's team. "Kujo!" Midoriya shouted, as the speedy teen rotated on is left foot and threw a high kick in an attempt to snag the ten million back…only to be intercepted by an explosion, which then snagged the ten million points and Team Asui's 560 points.

"GOT THE FUCKER!" Bakugo shouted, before hitting Asui's team (and Midoriya's by extension) with a Stun Grenade. "NICE TRY, DEKU!" The blonde landed with his team, Uraraka returning gravity to him. "TEAM BAKUGO SUDDENLY PULLS INTO THE LEAD!" The blonde grinned devilishly. "Now…who else wants to end up like those extras?" he said, jerking a thumb towards the frozen forms of Team Monoma. Team Awase and Team Jiro charged forward, intending to take the ten million. "IcyHot, you know what to do!" Bakugo shouted. Todoroki inhaled, then shot a massive wave of ice, freezing both teams in place up to their necks. "You've got nothing for me, Earlobes…so I'll take yours, Headband!"

Unfortunately for Bakugo, he quickly discovered that Awase's points weren't moving at all. "Surprise, motherfucker!" the boy laughed. "I welded it to my forehead!" "AWESOME!" Ashido squealed.

Yosetsu Awase. His Quirk: Weld! He can fuse any two objects together at the molecular level as long as he's touching both of them! Pretty rad!

"Tch. Waste of my time!" Bakugo snorted, before setting off a Stun Grenade just to vent some anger on that team, before returning to his own trio. "Anyone else wanna try?" he glowered, explosions popping in his palms. "Bondo! Cemendine!" Shoda shouted, as his tall, quiet teammate shot a grey liquid from his eyeholes. "Kaminari! Do it!" The electric blonde grinned, now knowing his teammates were safe. "INDISCRIMINATE SHOCK…1.3 MILLION VOLTS!" he shouted, sending a wave of lightning across the ground. "Crap! Yaomomo!" Midoriya shouted. "One insulation sheet, coming right up!" the rich girl said, producing a silvery blanket and throwing it over her team just in time, as a wave of electricity rolled over them.

The wave of electricity passed by Team Asui, who were defended by a wall of Shiozaki's vines and Tokoyami's Dark Shadow. "That was close, kero" the frog girl sighed. Team Hojo wasn't nearly as lucky, as the electric attack hit them head on, stunning them. "IcyHot!" Bakugo shouted. "Coming right up" Todoroki responded coolly, a wave of ice shooting out again to block the attack while freezing Team Shoda and Team Hojo in place. "Sit back and watch the show, extras!"

Just then, a long crane arm shot out of the ice and snagged two headbands off of Bakugo's head. "Dammit!" he cursed, as the arm retracted through the hole it created. Team Shinsou admired the reach of the "BLD MULTI CANNON!", as the user so helpfully described it via the speaker system. "This is terrible. We didn't get the ten million" the dark-haired boy using it said, sighing as a section of his hair stood up. He stared at Team Asui's 560 point band and Team Shoda's 155 points in his hand, before giving them to his purple-haired captain.

Sento Kiryu. His Quirk: Big Brain! He's really freakin' smart…in fact, he, Mei Hatsume and Nariaki Utsumi are known as the Support Department's Terrible Trio…and they've barely been here a month!

"No, that's fine. We're just fine with this…although getting our original headband back would be nice…" the tall boy in the center said, his eyebrow raised. "Leave it to me!" the pinkette – Hatsume – said, a long cable shooting from beneath her huge…tracts of land, snagging a headband from Team Kendo. "HEY!" the indignant orangette shouted. "God dammit, Sento!" Banjo cursed his friend out. "Sorry Banjo…but we've got a game to win!" the dark-haired boy said, before Team Shinsou turned and ran off. "Oops. I got Team Komori's band" Hatsume said, handing the 235 to Shinsou. "Perfect" the purple-haired boy said, as his team rounded an iceberg and vanished.


*cue My Hero Academia OST – Jet Set Run*

Midoriya stared at Kendo for a few moments, watching the orangette's body language. "They're about to attack…we should use this as our window of opportunity and do so before they do." Looking to his team, he nodded. "Any of you extras wanna fight-!" Bakugo began, before a war cry cut him off. "ABOUT FUCKING TIME, DEKU!" the blonde roared, as his greenette foe's team raced towards him. "IT'S DOWN TO THE WIRE! THERE'S ONLY 30 SECONDS LEFT IN THE CAVALRY BATTLE!" Midoriya's eyes widened. "Only 30 seconds! This had better work, then!" he thought. "Kujo!" he shouted. The dark-haired boy grinned. "Took you lone enough to tell me! RACER RUSH!" he shouted, running forward in a sudden burst of speed, the explosive blonde now in striking distance.

"Kendo, there is something I should tell you. I have a move that, while it may render me useless afterwards, should allow us to win" Iida said, getting into a sprinter's stance and readying himself to run. He relayed his plan to his teammates, who nodded in agreement. The boy's engines began to shoot blue flames, as he prepared to dash forward.

"TEN SECONDS LEFT!"

Midoriya focused One For All and swung…not at Bakugo, but at Todoroki. The boy's eyes widened, and his left arm briefly caught fire, before Midoriya swung his hand upward and grabbed at the ten million points hiding on Bakugo's forehead. "Dammit, Deku! Lie down and die already!" Bakugo shouted, swinging down…only to be interrupted.

"TORQUE OVER…RECIPRO BURST!"

And in a sudden burst of speed, Team Kendo had stolen both the ten million points and Team Bakugo's original 720 points off of Bakugo's forehead, leaving Midoriya to grasp at thin air. "Wha-?" both of the childhood friends gawked, before springing into action. "GIVE THAT BACK, HANDSY BITCH!" Bakugo roared, launching himself towards Team Kendo. "I'm taking back the ten million!" Midoriya said. Just as he got within striking distance however, a buzzer sounded, and Present Mic's voice cut through the battle.

"TIME'S UP! LET'S SEE THE RESULTS!"

Midnight cracked her whip. "IIIIIN FIRST PLACE, WITH 10,000,550 POINTS, NONE OTHER THAN TEAM KENDO! Iida adjusted his glasses, before being surprised by a massive celebratory group hug. "Woohoo! We actually did it!" Banjo shouted in joy. "IN SECOND PLACE WITH 1,225 POINTS, TEAM BAKUGO! The explosive blonde yelled incoherently in anger on the ground while Kirishima and Uraraka laughed and Todoroki stared impassively. "IN THIRD PLACE, TEAM SHINSOU WITH 825 POINTS! WHAT A SURPRISE!" Shinsou and Himuro smirked, while Hatsume and Kiryu geeked about…something in the background.

"No…we didn't make it…" Midoriya said, trying not to cry. "I dunno about that, Mido, I think our lady friend may have something to say about that" Kujo said, a massive grin on his face. Tokage stood nearby, her right arm conspicuously missing. "When you rushed Itsu, that gave me the window I needed…to grab this!" As the lizard girl flashed a sharp-toothed smile, her arm floated up from behind her…with Team Bakugo's 720 point band in its' grasp. Midoriya's eyes widened with joy. "IN FOURTH PLACE, WITH 720 POINTS, TEAM MIDORIYA!"

"IN FIFTH PLACE, WITH 555 POINTS, TEAM ASUI!" The cocoon of vines and shadows that had surrounded the team in question opened up. "Not bad, kero" Asui said cheerfully. "AND IN SIXTH PLACE, THE ONLY TEAM TO RETAIN THEIR HEADBAND THE WHOLE TIME, WITH 360 POINTS, TEAM AWASE!" "FUCK YEAH!" the headbanded boy yelled. "BRO HUG!" With that, he pulled Ashido, the dark-skinned boy and the mantis boy into a joyful group hug.

"This officially concludes the second round of the Sports Festival! We will now break an hour for lunch. Good job~" Midnight said, before walking offstage to grab a bite to eat. "I can't believe he forced me to use my fire, even for a moment…this will not stand!" Todoroki thought, glaring first at his hand, then at Midoriya, then finally at the stands, where an imposing man covered in fire glared right back at him. He then turned to the massive sheet of ice covering much of the ring and started thawing out the teams trapped in it.

"Dammit…he was so much faster than me…" Kujo moped, while Yaoyorozu and Tokage tried to cheer him up. "Hey, Baku-bro! I'd say we did pretty good!" Kirishima said, waving at his team captain. "Sure, whatever…I'm still pissed we didn't win though" the blonde grumbled, before walking away, smoking in fury. "Looks like our marketing strategy was a success!" Hatsume said, turning to her partner and their taller friend, who was holding a tablet with inventory orders on it. "This is awesome…" Kiryu trailed off, his hair still sticking up. "What a bunch of weirdos…" Shinsou muttered, only for Himuro to pat him on the back. "You get used to it eventually."

As the students left the building for food while the entire arena was reformatted again for the final round, Uraraka looked around. "Hey, where's Midoriya?" she asked. "I dunno; why are ya asking?" Tokage responded, before slyly winking, causing Uraraka to start blushing.

In a side entryway, Shoto Todoroki glared at one Izuku Midoriya. "Wh-Why did you bring me here?" the greenette asked. "Izuku Midoriya…we need to talk."


TO BE CONTINUED…

NEXT TIME ON GAME START! HERO ACADEMIA:

The final round of the Sports Festival begins! Who will start the festivities off? What does Todoroki want to talk about? Stay tuned for more!


NOTES:

And now it's time for the tournament itself! Who will stand at the top? Can't tell yet! For the team game, I was inspired by both the Vytal Festival from Season 3 of RWBY, where the student combatants fought in multiple simulated environments, and a part of the fourth book of the Percy Jackson series, where a game of capture the flag is played involving the Labyrinth of Greek legend itself. It added a certain element of uniqueness to the battle, I think.

Originally I did Capture-the-Flag, but I liked the Cavalry Battle more by the time I rewrote things, so that's where we're at now.

Thanks for reading!