have you ever thought about resulting to insults?
「侮辱を考えたことはありますか？」
"Now then, here is the second game!" Midnight exclaimed. "I already know what it is, but what could it be? I just said it, and now here it is..." the spinner stopped. "A cavalry battle!"
"Can I fight Blasty here?" Akagawa asked the real questions to himself silently.
"Let me explain. The participants can form teams of two or four people as they wish. It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, but the one thing that's different is... based on the results of the last game, each person has been assigned to a point value."
"Aw, man, that sounds totally one-sided. Look, they even got a point based system like the stupid entrance exams." Akagawa groaned. "That means Midoriya is gonna be everyone's target. No fun at all."
"Shut up, already!" Bakugou smacked Akagawa upside the head, erupting a small "ow" from the redhead.
"I see, so depending who you're on a team with, your team could be worth a lot of points." Uraraka spoke aloud to Ashido.
"You guys don't hold back even though it talkin' huh!?" Midnight shouted in anger, instantly silencing everyone that speaking. "Yes, that's right! And the points assigned go up by five starting from the bottom. So 42nd place gets five points and 41st gets ten points! And the point value assigned to first place is... ten million!"
Knowing who occupied first place, everyone instantly turned toward Midoriya Izuku. Midoriya shook nervously under the stares of hunger, trying his best not to move a single muscle. Midoriya swore their eyes all turned red. Akagwa snickered.
"He's as good as dead." Akagawa stated.
"It's survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top! Now then, I will explain the rules of the cavalry battle. The time limit is fifteen minutes. Each team is worth the total of its members' points, and the riders will wear a headband with that number on their foreheads. Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out, and try to keep as many points as they can. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up. So the more you steal, the harder it'll be to manage them! And the most important thing is that even if your headband gets stolen, or if your team falls, you're not out!"
"That means there are going to be twelve teams on the field at all times." Bakugou smirked. "That's more than enough when I still have a nerd to destroy first."
"How did you count that so quickly?" Akagawa blinked.
Midnight continued. "During the game, it'll be a cruel fight where you can use your Quirks. But it is still a cavalry battle. You'll get a red card for attacks that are trying to make people fall on purpose. You'll be removed immediately!"
Akagawa snapped his fingers. "Rats!"
"Damn." Bakugou huffed at the same time.
"Now, you have fifteen minutes to build your teams. Start!"
People began swarming around Bakugou. Akagawa scoffed and began walking away, until Bakugou gripped his shoulder harshly.
"What? Don't want to be on my team, Cherryblood?" He asked, yet his tone was condescending, as if he was hoping that Akagawa would leave, but wanted to patronize him about it for good measure.
Akagawa smirked. "Come on, look at all these people smothering you! Plus, I wanna destroy you every chance I get, Blasty! I'm gonna team with Midori! He should prove to give me a way more fun time than you!"
Akagawa shook Bakugou's hand off him and began walking away toward Midoriya. Yet Bakugou only smirked, and began listening to his classmates surrounding him and accepting only the ones he thought worthy, while Akagawa approached Midoriya. He was already standing with Uraraka.
"Hey, you two, lovebirds!" Akagawa approached, giving Midoriya a high five on the back of the neck, startling both of them.
"Ah, Akagawa!?" Midoriya questioned.
"Are you wanting to be on our team?" Uraraka inquired, a bit weary. Akagawa smirked and did a classy bow, smirking up at the two.
"Yup!" Akagawa stood straight, a closed-eyed smile greeting his new teammates. "I would add "if you'll have me", but let's be honest, no one wants to team with Mr. Ten Million here."
"He has a point." Uraraka chuckled. "We're happy to have you! Let's crush it!"
Midoriya nodded. "Welcome to the team, Akagawa."
"Wouldn't have it any other way!" Akagawa chuckled. They still needed another teammate, and after consideration, Midoriya knew the person he wanted to have on their team. He approached Tokoyami and asked, and Tokoyami agreed to be on their team.
"Ah, hiya, Tokoyami!" Akagawa cheered, greeting their newest addition along with a warm smile from Uraraka. Tokoyami nodded, just in time for the timer to finish on team selection.
"Now then, time to get started!" Midnight announced. Midoriya put on his headband after climbing on top of the cavalry team position, which was three on the bottom carrying the rider. In this case, Tokoyami was front, Uraraka was left, and Akagawa was right of Midoriya, who was on top. Dark Shadow was in front of Tokoyami and would provide a good shield, while Akagawa was prepared to protect Midoriya and his other teammates by any means with a mischievous smirk.
After getting situated, the countdown began to start. The other teams would prove to be a good challenge, with Team Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, Iida, then Team Bakugou, Kirishima, Sero, and Ashido, and not to mention the unknown kids from the other classes. This wasn't exactly what Akagawa wanted, but he was starting to like this game, too.
"Counting down to the brutal battle royal!" Present Mic announced. "Three! Two! One!"
"Start!" Midnight finished.
Teams started running instantly. They all had their sights set on Midoriya and his team, and for the first time, Midoriya didn't feel like shaking as all of their sights were set onto him. While his heart was beating, he wasn't too scared to think.
"It's basically a battle for ten million points!" Tetsutetsu said, his team running toward them, him being on the top.
"An attack without delay, huh." Tokoyami trailed. "The fate of the pursued… Make your decision, Midoriya!"
"Of course, our move is to run away!" Midoriya responded.
"I won't let you!" Tetsutetsu shouted. Suddenly, an invisible liquid surrounded their feet, and they began sinking into the ground covered in it.
"We're sinking!?" Midoriya exclaimed. "It's no use… I can't get out! Akagawa—!"
"On it!" Akagawa smirked, licking his lip a bit as he created an object, a platform that lifted them out of the liquid and launched into the air, given how he burned an extra amount of energy so that it would blast them into the air. Not to mention help from Uraraka's Quirk.
"He flew!?" Tetsutetsu shouted. "It was that red dude's doing, huh! Follow them!"
As they were flying overhead, Dark Shadow smacked back Jirou's ear pieces that attempted to snipe them from below. "Dark Shadow, watch over our blind spots!" Tokoyami commanded.
"Got it!" Dark Shadow responded.
"Wow, that's so cool!" Midoriya praised. "We lacked some defense before, but you more than make up for it with your omnidirectional defense! You're amazing, Tokoyami!"
"You're the one who chose me." Tokoyami responded.
"Thanks to Uraraka, I could keep us up, but my energy is depleting rapidly now! Initiating landing sequence! Man, that sounded so cool!" Akagawa exclaimed, the platform slowly going down until it disappeared and they stepped back onto the field grass.
"Now then, even though barely two minutes have passed since we've started, it's already turned into a free-for-all! Fights over the headbands breaking out all over! Ignoring the ten million points and going for second to fourth places isn't bad, either!"
A wailing laughter caught Midoriya's attention, and when he looked back, he saw Shouji running at them at full speed. While Midoriya wondered why Shouji was seemingly alone, Tokoyami noticed Tetsutetsu and his team approached them rapidly from the right.
"Let's put some space between us for now." Tokoyami called. "We can't be caught standing still against multiple opponents!"
Uraraka attempted moving, but was harshly pulled back when she tried moving her left leg. Looking down at her shoes, she saw a sticky ball made of mush underneath her foot.
"What's wrong, Ururaka?" Midoriya asked.
"I'm stuck!" Uraraka cried.
"It's...a ball?" Midoriya questioned.
"Haha! That's right! With my sticky ball baby, you're not going anywhere! And the agencies will know that it was I, Hatsume, who brought down first place!" the pink-haired chick from before, from the support class, shouted within Shouji's arms, which were encased around her like a blanket.
"No worries!" Akagawa called, about to use his Quirk to create something to slice through the slime and free Ururaka, if it wasn't for a long pink tongue to slap the newly made knife out of his hands, throwing it off to the side.
"I didn't expect anything less from you guys." Asui called, also within Shouji's protective bubble. Team Midoriya began dodging all of Asui's attempts at slapping them with her tongue.
"Team Hatsume makes use of the overwhelming difference in their sizes! They're like a tank!" Present Mic announced.
"Midoriya, get away!" Tokoyami shouted as Asui and Hatsume relentlessly attempted to use their abilities to snatch the headband from his head from so far away. Dodging Asui's tongue and a machine that went long distances with a grabber on the end from Hatsume, Akagawa created as many barriers as he could with Dark Shadow.
"I've got us!" Akagawa shouted, already having sliced the sticky ball from underneath Ururaka. Ururaka used her Quirk on her teammates again as Akagawa began lifted them into the air with his platform as quickly as he possibly could.
Suddenly, an explosion from underneath grabbed their attentions. Soaring through the sky towards them was Bakugou. His headband hadn't even been touched, yet he was alone, with his team down below.
"Don't get carried away!" Bakugou shouted, soaring up to them in the blink of an eye. He was right beside Midoriya before they knew it, ready to grab his headband, and all Akagawa did in that moment was watch him momentarily.
"Tokoyami!" Midoriya shouted, leaning back to try and avoid Bakugou's hand. Dark Shadow acted quickly in providing a shield for Midoriya, but instead of doing a grab, Bakugou instead blew up Dark Shadow's side. Just as Bakugou blew away Dark Shadow and went for the headband, Akagawa dropped off from his team and blocked Bakugou's hands by positioning himself between him and Midoriya.
"Cherryblood!" Bakugou barked with a wide grin, matching that of Akagawa's. Akagawa could feel Explosion nip at his fingertips.
"Hey, I said I'd have more fun on Midori's team!"
"Damn…!" Bakugou breathed as he was losing air and began falling back to the ground. He gave one last glare at Akagawa before he began plummeting to the ground, until white tape covered him, Sero reeling him in so that his team could catch him, saving them from being disqualified. However, his headband was stolen by a blond kid from Class B, and it was revealed that their plan was to sit back and wait to try their best. This pissed off Bakugou, so Team Midoriya hopefully had more time to waste, since Bakugou was no going to let that slide.
"So, I think we need to stick to the ground now." Akagawa called. "Being airborne like that isn't my speciality, and I'm only burning energy in the process. I'm already running on half a tank here."
"We can stay on the ground, and use Dark Shadow for protection, and Uraraka's Quirk for mobility…" Midoriya murmured.
"I can still use adrenaline for mobility, but in terms of making more platforms, or anything big, I don't think I can." Akagawa called. "This isn't even the last event, I want to be well rested for one-v-one's…"
"While we run away, Akagawa can-" Midoriya was stopped abruptly by Tokoyami harshly turning them to a halting stop. Todoroki was blocking their path, and he was panting a bit, but otherwise, he looked as angry as ever.
"Less than half the time is left now!" Present Mic declared.
Midoriya took a deep breath. "It won't be that easy, huh?"
"The cavalry battle is about to enter the second half! In this unexpected rise from Class B, who will wear the ten million points in the end!?"
Todoroki spoke calmly. "I'll be taking that now."
"I thought we wouldn't have a confrontation until later in this contest." Tokoyami said. "He seems to think highly of you, Midoriya."
"Only half the time is left! Don't stop moving." Midoriya called.
"Iida, forward!" Todoroki instructed, and Iida wasted no time in fulfilling Todoroki's request, charging toward Team Midoriya as they began running away. "Yaoyorozu, prepare to guard us and conduct electricity. Kaminari, you-"
"I know what I have to do!" Kaminari smirked.
"Watch our surroundings! It's not just one group that's coming for us!" Midoriya exclaimed. They noticed Yaoyorozu dragged a stick, and Todoroki wielding a blanket of sorts, before the sound of electricity filled the air.
"Kaminari is gonna use his Quirk!" Akagawa called, but all Midoriya could do in time was block as the widespread electricity soared straight to him. Dark Shadow took the hits for Midoriya, but all those around Kaminari, besides his teammates in the blanket, got electrocuted.
After the onslaught of electricity, the stick Yaoyorozu had was covered in ice by Todoroki, using it to stun those who got hit by electricity, trapping them in ice. Todoroki continued to advance away with the competition and toward where Team Midoriya had ran off to.
"What? What'd he do? Todoroki took care of that crowd of teams in an instant!" Present Mic exclaimed.
"He froze them after Kaminari's shock stopped them…" Aizawa spoke. "I guess it should be expected, but he took into account how a lot of people avoided it in the obstacle course."
"Nice commentary!" Present Mic awed.
Akagawa continued to be the mobility for his team, everyone but Uraraka's bodyweight being manipulated by Uraraka's Quirk. But not even Akagawa could hope to outrun Iida at this point, his energy usage was about up just from creating so many objects up until this point. Team Todoroki was catching up to them.
"I'll restrain them!" Tokoyami shouted, Dark Shadow stretching out and advancing toward Todoroki, who shouted for Yaoyorozu. Yaoyorozu blocked Dark Shadow with a shield she created.
"Yaoyorozu's creation is too hard to deal with!" Midoriya breathed.
"No, Kaminari is worse." Tokoyami corrected. "With that level of armor, if it had been sunlight, Dark Shadow would've been ripped apart."
"You don't see the dude that literally turns whatever he wants into ice? That might be the worst problem here—" Akagawa trailed.
"I see...Kaminari's lightning…" Midoriya sprouted.
"As long as he keeps discharging electricity, attacking will be difficult. Dark Shadow will become timid."
"I'm against violence…" Dark Shadow mumbled, just before they all winced as they were harshly nudged forward by halting. Akagawa groaned.
"The white line is behind us, we have nowhere to go!" Akagawa called. Team Todoroki continued to advance onto them.
"Decreased offense…" Midoriya began mumbling. "They don't know that, do they?"
"I don't believe so." Uraraka replied.
"The only person I told was Kouji." Tokoyami responded.
"If they don't know about it, then we can use it to hold them back. It's fine. No matter what, we will hang on to the ten million!" Midoriya called. As Todoroki got closer, that's when Dark Shadow shielded them, and Todoroki halted. However, Iida didn't want to wait, with just a minute left on the timer.
He charged forward, ignoring the possible danger and running straight through within the blink of an eye, allowing Todoroki to steal Midoriya's headband right off of him, and running away until they were nearly half the field away.
"Wha-What happened? So fast! So fast!" Present Mic shouted. "Iida, if you could accelerate that fast, then show us in the prelims! The tables have turned! Offense and defense right at the edge! Reining that in, Tosoroki gets the ten million! And Midoriya is suddenly left with zero points!"
"Get back in there!" Midoriya shouted.
"As long as they have Kaminari, we'll be at a disadvantage if we attack!" Tokoyami reminded. "Won't it be better to try for other points right now!?"
"The hell with that!" Akagawa growled. "I'll use my creation! I'm pissed! I want my ten million back, damnit! If I don't, it's over for me and Blasty!"
"But, Akagawa, you can—"
"I will get back those points! Just trust me!"
Uraraka was first to nod. "Right!"
With her Quirk on them, Akagawa created adrenaline to soar through the field toward Todoroki. Both teams were encased to an area due to Todoroki's ice.
"Come here, you easy baked oven bitch!" Akagawa roared, putting all of his energy into charging up. What he didn't expect was to see Midoriya's arm begin changing colors, that scarlet color entering his veins and his fist readying into a punch. Todoroki gasped, Iida not being able to move due to his acceleration prior.
Just as Midoriya's punch was about to land, fire erupted from Todoroki's left side, meeting Midoriya's punch. But instead of punching Todoroki's arm, he swishes through the air, making Todoroki's arm fly off to the side due to the force of the wind Midoriya created. With Todoroki vulnerable, Midoriya took the headband back.
"Wait, Midori, that's the wrong headband!" Akagawa shouted.
Midoriya gasped, it was only worth 70 points. "They got us!"
"Just in case, we changed the position of the headbands. You're naive, Midoriya." Yaoyorozu told them.
"That's it, I'm killing them." Akagawa spoke, knowing their team was now in 6th place. "If I just didn't have you guys to carry around, my scythe would be up their asses! Why is it so hard to work with others…?"
"Time's just about up! Start the countdown!" Present Mic exclaimed, ten seconds showing on Midnight's screen.
"Tokoyami!" Midoriya called, Dark Shadow going to Todoroki. Kaminari blocked Dark Shadow with electricity. And from the ice, an explosion and someone flying toward them grabbed their attention, Bakugou flying straight toward the crossfire.
Ururaka used her Quirk and allowed Akagawa to increase their mobility as Todoroki got a pole Yaoyorozu created, while Bakugou tried figuring out who had the ten million points now. Akagawa ran straight toward Todoroki, Midoriya holding out to him to attack.
"Half n' Half Bastard!" Bakugou cursed, changing his course to Todoroki to steal the ten million points. Todoroki encased the pole with ice readying for their attack.
"Time's up!" Present Mic called, halting Todoroki and Midoriya's teams, while Bakugou was still midair and had nowhere to go so he just faceplants into the ground before the two teams.
"Normally that would be really funny and I would bully Blasty about it for the next month but I'm really pissed right now." Akagawa spoke, dropping Midoriya and having Midoriya cling to Tokoyami instead.
"That's the end of the second round, the cavalry battle!" Present Mic exclaimed. "Now, let's take a look at the top four teams right away! In first place, Team Todoroki! In second place, Team Bakugou! In third place, Tetsute- Huh? What, it's Team Shinso!? When did you come from behind!?"
"Um… I'm really sorry…" Midoriya trailed, apologizing to Uraraka and Akagawa. Uraraka smiled and pointed behind them at Tokoyami while Akagawa just sat on the ground with his eyes closed.
"Todoroki was clearly shaken by your first attack." Tokoyami began. "I had hoped to get the ten million points, but things don't always go as you wish. Even so, I got one."
Dark Shadow held up a headband. "I took the one on his head where his guard was the weakest. Midoriya, this was thanks to the opening you created with your last spurt."
"In fourth place, Team Midoriya!"
Midoriya looked like he was about to cry while Akagawa sat with a closed-eyed smile on the field, humming a little tune to himself before turning toward his teammates.
"Just so you know, if Tokoyami and the wonderful Dark Shadow didn't save our ass, I would have you all punched and sent home." Akagawa smiled cheerfully. "Thankfully, now I can just not do that!"
Midoriya suddenly let out his tears, which would not be an exaggeration to say that crying could be considered his real Quirk. Akagawa consoled Midoriya by slapping him on the back harshly a few times until he stopped crying.
"These four teams will advance… to the final round!" The teams began leaving the field. "Now then, we will start a break for lunch before we start the afternoon festivities! See ya! Hey, Eraser Head, let's go grab food!"
"I'm going to sleep."