AN: Cover Art made by vivsss_g
Also, Pony's height has been changed to be taller in this story, Aizawa teaches 1B and Inasa is in U.A. and in Class 1B.
Be sure to leave feedback if you please
Chapter 25
As Midnight announced that the second obstacle would be a Cavalry Battle, the screen behind her showed an image of U.A. teachers Snipe, Thirteen, Present Mic hoisting up fellow U.A. teacher All Might as if he was on a chariot. It was a funny picture, but it also shed some light on what the cavalry battle was going to look like.
"Some of you students may have experience with this game during Sports Day at Junior High, but the rules here are different! In a regular Cavalry Battle, if a headband is taken or if someone on your teams falls, then that team is eliminated, but that's not how it is in this game!" Midnight informed the students.
"The headbands that the riders on the team will be wearing will have a number value. The number value is determined by the combined number of points that is given to each student on said team from the results of the Obstacle Course. The student who came in last gets 5 points, and the points for those who finished before goes up by 5," said the Modern Hero Arts Teacher.
The 44 students who was going to be advancing to the next round then began to do the math in their heads to see how many points they'd be receiving.
"While the gears in your young heads are all spinning, let me drop a bombshell on all of you!" Midnight announced, "The first-place winner of the Obstacle Race, Inasa Yoarashi, will be receiving… a grand total of 10,000,000 points!"
"… Huh?" Inasa innocently questioned as he began to scratch his head at his point value.
His reaction compared to the rest of students was jarring as his fellow classmates and those watching was nearly floored at what Midnight announced.
Matvey wasn't the smartest person, but with him finishing second in the race, he figured out that he was going to earn 215 points. So, he and everyone else was confused on why Inasa was getting 10,000,000 points instead of 220.
"The winner of the last obstacle should stand head and shoulders above his peers, so Inasa, that honor grants you 10,000,000 points!" She explained.
"Oh! That makes sense then!" Inasa happily exclaimed as he pounded his fist into his palm to show his understanding, "If that's the case then, I'm ready to get this thing started!"
"Hold your horses! I haven't finished explaining all the rules yet," Midnight informed, "The objective of the cavalry battle is to snatch away the headband of the opposing rider. As stated before, each headband has a number value on it and if a headband is taken off that team is not eliminated. Using your quirks, you all will have 15 minutes to take as many headbands as you can and get the highest point value. The stolen headbands must be worn from the rider's neck up, which means the more headbands you take the harder it'll be to manage. The teams that finish in the top 4 will advance to the next round!"
With there being 44 students there would be at least 11 teams and if they were going to be allowed to use their quirks, it was going to be absolute chaos at the opening second.
"But remember, this is still a cavalry battle, you and your team will be removed immediately if there are attacks of make others fall on purpose!"
A few of students groaned in disappointment at her last piece of instruction. With the use of quirks be allowed, knocking others down would have been a sound strategy.
The vivacious U.A. teacher raised her flogger in the air to get everyone's attention, "Those are the rules for the second round of the Sports Festival! You all have fifteen minutes to assemble a team of 2 to 4 students… starting now!" She finished as she brought down her flogger to create a rippling crack throughout the air.
…
With fifteen minutes to organize a team, it was an overwhelming rush of panic as the students went around and tried to form a team, with most of their efforts going towards those who finished high on the obstacle race.
One of those students that was met with a rush of students was Matvey who had finished second. He was hit with continuous asks of people wanting to pair with him and it was tough for him to think with everyone advertising themselves to him.
He needed to be careful on how he went about choosing his teammates. He would have to specifically choose those who's quirks work best with his Angel Wings and would also protect him if anyone were to go for the headband.
"Pick me for your team!"
"My quirk would work well with your wings!"
"Victory is guaranteed if you choose me!"
All the constant offers were more than grating to the Russian student. He would need a rider first and foremost, and he had the perfect person in mind that would fit that position.
While the students were surrounding him, he looked around and surveyed the rest of field to locate his classmate Jurota.
After a while, he was able to find his furry classmate. All Matvey saw was his back, as he was standing in front of the General Studies student Shinso, listening and nodding his head to whatever he was saying. Among Jurota, was Class 1A's Sero and the fourth place finishing Setsuna. They were all listening intently to everything that left Shinso's mouth, only nodding their heads in response.
This was unfortunate as Matvey wanted to recruit someone like Jurota, but it was also surprising as a full team had already been formed, and the team itself looked formidable, mostly because of Jurota, Sero and Setsuna. Their quirks would be ideal for a cavalry battle like this.
Past that, he found it strange to see them paired with Shinso of all people and from the looks of things he was leading them.
As weird as he found the team, Matvey needed to shift his focus on who else would be best suited as his rider. As he looked around, he quickly found who he thought would be good for the role and they themselves were still looking for a team it looked like.
"Hey Pony! Are you partnered with anyone!?" Matvey yelled from across the Festival Grounds.
The tall blonde girl had her back turned to the voice that called out to her, though she knew immediately who it was from the accent.
"I-I'm still available!" She stuttered out as she turned around and ran over to Matvey.
"Perfect! Looks like I got me a rider," Matvey smiled.
If he couldn't get the help of Jurota, then he was going to settle on the choice of Pony. She has a big body, is strong and is agile while on her hooves and unlike the other big-bodied student in his class, Kojiro, Matvey felt like he can count on Pony to get the job done and get him out of danger.
"Do you have anyone else on your team yet?" Pony asked.
Matvey shook his head, "We probably have room for one more if I'm riding on your back."
The tall American girl then began to look around the vast majority of their classmates to see who would be a great fit for the two of them.
With help from his Angel Wings, Matvey could lift up Pony's big frame (not without struggling, but enough to carry her through the air.) So in his mind, their final teammate should be someone preferably light.
While the two foreign students looked around for who to choose, more and more teams became finalized.
…
The million-point bounty that was Inasa Yoarashi was busy talking to his two teammates of Tetsutetsu and Kirishima.
"So, it's just going to be us?" Kirishima asked.
Inasa nodded, "Yep, with my quirk's power, any normal person would get blown away or greatly affected by my winds, but your iron and rock quirks make it so I can make as much wind as I want with no problem!" he explained.
Tetsu gave a flashly smile, "That's a great idea actually! We'll practically be unstoppable!"
"Exactly! And taking away everyone else's headband will be a piece of cake!" Inasa went further.
The three students had conjured up their plan and was eager to start the cavalry battle.
…
The sixth place Midoriya was actually having a hard time in finding a team. Not because he wanted to find the perfect teammate or anything, but it was because no one actually wanted to team with him.
During his time in the school, no one, not even his teacher, was able to get an understanding of how his quirk truly worked. The only one who knew was All Might, who was sitting high up in the luxury boxes with the rest of the U.A. staff.
With his classmates not knowing how Midoriya's quirk functioned, they wanted to pair up with someone they can trust.
He was able to bring his close friend Uraraka as a teammate, but his other close friend Iida decided not to, stating that he wanted to challenge Midoriya. He instead opted to join Todoroki's team, leaving Midoriya with no rider.
Midoriya was beginning to panic as he didn't want to go off into the second round with just Uraraka on his side and no doubt ruin everything for the both of them.
The green haired student began to mumble to himself as he was thinking of ways to make himself desirable as a teammate.
Uraraka observed the field and noticed that things were looking bleak for them as time was only dwindling down and more and more students were getting paired up. With Midoriya's high point value from the last event, he was going to be a nice and easy target if he couldn't find a team.
She was beginning to think she should take the same route as Iida and switch teams. She cared deeply for Midoriya, but she wanted to win as well and with things playing out the way that it is, she would definitely need to find a new team. Friendships at a stage like this can be a detriment as it can get in the way of success, much like how it is in the world of being a hero.
Uraraka sheepishly brought her hands together, "… Y-You know Midoriya… I-I think I should-"
Before she could finish her sentence, she had stopped herself as she felt the presence of someone eying her closely from behind.
"Hmmmmm…" Uraraka heard.
She quickly turned around and saw that the person eying her was none other than the eccentric pink haired Support Course student Mei Hatsune.
She was currently studying Uraraka as if she was an art piece at a museum. The brown-haired girl looked bewildered as she didn't know how to react to her strange behavior.
"Interesting…" Mei said to herself before going over to study Midoriya who was still mumbling to himself.
He was still thinking on how he can bring in more teammates, unaware of Mei's presence.
She was looking him up and down for a while before she clapped her hands together.
"Alright!" She shouted, finally making Midoriya aware of her, "I'll team up with you guys!"
Midoriya and Uraraka both look very confused as they didn't even ask her join, but it wasn't like they can reject her either as they didn't have any luck finding another teammate.
"… O-Okay… thank you… but why us?" Midoriya asked.
"Because!" She yelled, "Everyone else in the top positions already rejected me and that short purple kid who finished third is pretty creepy..."
'She has a point about Mineta… but she's pretty weird herself,' Midoriya and Uraraka both thought.
"Besides, everyone said that you don't like to use your quirk! Which means that I have a great chance on showcasing my babies to these big companies!" She further explained as she showed the two hero students her gadgets and equipment that she called her "babies".
"Oh… right. You Support students deal with developing equipment for heroes, so this would be a great showcase for you," Midoriya went on.
"Exactamundo! Now… I think I have the perfect baby for the likes of you!" She said to Midoriya as he went into her red backpack where all her other "babies" were.
Whatever it was she getting out there must have been big as she was struggling to pull it out from her bag.
"… Do you need any help there?" Uraraka innocently asked.
"Nope!" Mei shouted, as she finally retrieved her "baby", "I bring to you… a Jetpack!"
"Wait? You actually made a Jetpack!?" Midoriya asked, shocked by what she revealed. It was a complete steel made jetpack with twin turbines. It came with straps on the back of it to be worn like a bookbag.
"Yuh-huh! I made this with a little bit of inspiration of the Buster Hero: AirJet."
Midoriya, being the hero buff that he was, gushed over the design of the Jetpack as he saw the resemblance to the hero's gear.
"W-Well… that'll certainly help Midoriya with evading others… but I think we're still missing the Power aspect of the team," Uraraka said, trying to bring her two teammates' heads back to the game.
"Oh… you have a point there…" Midoriya said as he began to think on who else they can bring on their team. With Mei now on their team, he hoped that the other students would be more open to joining them.
…
The fifth place Shoto Todoroki had no problem with finding a team for himself. With how versatile and powerful his quirk is, students were practically throwing themselves at him to join his team. Not to mention, everyone would be watching him so joining his team would put some eyes on them as well.
It was tough, but after thinking over everyone in his class and Class 1B, he chose to select Momo, Iida and Tokoyami to his team. The four of them together are more than capable of finishing on top.
Shoto, the captain of the team spoke.
"Now that the team has been finalized, I'm going to rundown your tasks," he said in a stern tone.
"Tokoyami, you'll be the left wing, using your Dark Shadow to keep the enemies away. Yaoyorozu, you'll be the right wing, you're in charge of defense and movement. And of course, Iida, you'll be in the front, leading the way for us."
"And what will your role be?" Tokoyami asked Shoto.
"My role will be fending off and blocking attackers while up on top with my ice," He responded simply.
With that answer, they had their gameplan and they were all set to go.
The dual quirk user looked up into the crowd and took a quick glance at his father who was in the stands. He was in his hero costume, and he was a giant of a man covered in flames, so he was impossible to miss.
The eyes of the number two hero were glued on his son, watching his every move and taking note of his body language.
Shoto, from just the quick glance alone, was able to tell that his father was upset that he hadn't yet used the fire capabilities of his quirk.
He vowed to never use it and the one time he did use it against Inasa, he felt sick all over from it.
Him choosing Tokoyami to join his team also helps ensure that he doesn't resort to using his fire, as he did not want to ruin Tokoyami's Dark Shadow. He was going to win this whole thing and it was going to be in spite of his father.
…
Monoma was busy strategizing with his own team of Shihai, Kosei and Hiryu. He finished seventh and had a high number of points. He wasn't the most formidable in terms of offense and his teammates weren't either, but what they lack in offense, he figured that they make up in craftiness.
While Monoma was a petty and egomaniac person, he recognized that his fellow classmate, Shihai was very cunning just like him. With so many people partaking in the Cavalry Battle, there would of course bring about a heaping offering of shadows he can take blend into and he could snatch away some headbands without the opposing cavalry teams expecting him due to the many other teams around.
Of course, Shihai doing this would leave Monoma with one man down, so Shihai was going to have to be quick with his shadow hopping. It was a task that he was confident in doing, but he was still concerned with leaving his team down a body.
"Stealing headbands with my quirk is no problem, but are you sure that you guys are going to be fine without me?" Shihai asked.
Monoma waved a dismissive hand at the pitch-black classmate, "Of course we'll be okay. Did you forget that alongside yourself, I chose two teammates who can perfectly assist with defense?" he asked while gesturing to Kosei and Hiryu.
"Right, I can fend people off with my scales," Hiryu said.
"And I can shield us with some solid air shields!" Kosei added.
"Not to mention, I can also copy their quirks as well. So I can assure you that we'll be fine while you go off, but do try to be quick though, we're going to be in trouble if you get taken out while away from us." Monoma warned.
"Got it," Shihai nodded, understanding that he was going to be the main force behind retrieving headbands. There was going to be a lot of pressure on him, and despite his overly dramatic and mischievous nature, letting his team down would devastate him so he was determined to do his best.
'Alright, this seems like a good enough team that can get me to the next round,' Monoma said in his mind, 'I can't afford to lose. Especially not on this stage…'
…
Since the inception of the first ever Sports Festival, it was always at the end of the first course when most of the students that aren't in the heroics classes dropped out and this year was no different. All 42 students in the hero classes made to Round 2 and dashed away the hopes of nearly all of the other students who wanted to possibly make it to the Hero Studies class.
Sometimes of course, there are some students from different departments that make it towards second round. In this years Sports Festival, Mei Hatsume of the Support Class and Hitoshi Shinso of the General Studies classes were among those students.
Mei had the fortune of using her gadgets as a way of making it to the second round. Shinso on the other hand, had to rely on the help of others around him … even if they didn't want to help. That was because his quirk allowed him to Brainwash people into doing what he wanted.
All he needed to do to brainwash others was get them to communicate with him, after that he can force them into doing what he wants, and that's exactly what he did during the Obstacle Race. He controlled a few of the students out there and had them protect him from danger and get him over the hazards.
He made sure to brainwash students not in the Heroics Classes as he figured that none of them knows what his quirk is and they were all going to beat out the students in the different departments anyway, so he wanted to keep it as hidden he possibly could.
He finished the race in last place. While most would want to avoid finishing last, he at least qualified for the next round and finishing last also meant that he got a great view of everyone's quirks, so with the next round being team-based Cavalry Battle, he already knew who wanted on his team.
As soon as Midnight announced that they would be partaking in a Cavalry Battle Shinso weaseled his way to the Class 1B representative Jurota while Midnight was explaining the rules.
It wasn't hard for Shinso brainwash others, as a simple "Hm?" in response to him saying "Hey," was enough to get them.
He already got himself a great front for the Cavalry Battle and he knew who wanted next.
He sought out the fourth place Setsuna Tokage and Class 1A's Hanta Sero to finish his team. After speaking with them, they all followed him mindlessly with no one paying any mind.
Shinso had no qualms on using his quirks on others, after all, how else is he supposed to compete?
He was a student who attempted the U.A. entrance exam. It was a goal of his to join U.A. as a student in the highly coveted Hero Department but given that the entrance exam consisted of students having to take down machines and he couldn't brainwash them, he had no chance of making it. A cruel and unfortunate end to his dream.
He of course failed and had to settle with the General Studies Course.
Given his quirk, people always joked with him, saying that he was suited for being a villain. He would always be avoided by others out of fear of being controlled, something that fueled him into wanting to attend U.A. as a hero student.
Though he failed the entrance exam, having a great showing at the Sports Festival may have the teachers give him a second look, so he can't afford to mess it up.
The General Studies student observed the teams that were forming and was gracious for the students he decided to pick.
"Looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me… hopefully you all can pull your weight." Shinso said smugly to his brainwashed "teammates".
Though Shinso picked up the best teammates he could get, their road to success was all dependent on him keeping them under his control.
He's trained his quirk well enough to manipulate those that he brainwashed to use the basics of their quirk. Given that their minds are in a fog while brainwashed, they won't be able to operate their quirk to its fullest potential, but Shinso wasn't concerned. With the quirks of his teammate's, he was confident that he was going to be fine.
For Jurota, Setsuna and Sero, they didn't count on something like this happening. They all had something to prove at the event, and this was the last thing they wanted.
Setsuna finished near the top of the obstacle race and she was determined to show everyone why she earned a spot as a recommended student.
As class representative of 1B, Jurota put a lot of pressure on himself to succeed. From the way he speaks and handles tasks, he always wants to leave a positive mark on everything he does.
And for Sero, he wanted to give it his all, simply for the fact that his family was in attendance. He wanted to show his parents what he could really do, but with Shinso controlling him, that wasn't going to be the case.
Shinso could care less how they felt though. The way he sees it, as long as they advance to the next round, then they should have nothing to complain about.
Shinso did some final stretches as his team was all set to start the next round.
…
'Is this seriously fucking happening right now?'
It was a crazy turn of events for Katsuki Bakugo. The student who finished first on the U.A. entrance exams was now having trouble finding a team.
He was close to finishing at nearly the top of the Obstacle Race, but the sly Monoma stopped him from doing so. One errant blast at the minefield section had him from nearly finishing at the top, to finishing near the bottom.
He was furious with the outcome of it all, but he needed to focus on the task at hand now and that was finding a team, which for Bakugo, was proving to be a difficult task.
Being who he was, he actually expected his peers to come flocking towards him with pleas to form a team with them, but that wasn't the case.
There were two factors that were working against Bakugo's favor. One, how low he ranked at the Obstacle Course and two, his capabilities as a teammate.
Since the start of the school year (or in Midoriya's case, all his life), Bakugo's shown himself to be someone who is headstrong on being the best and it shows through the work he does in school and when in battle, but he also shown himself to be a piss-poor level teammate.
Back at the battle trials that took place a few weeks ago, Bakugo broke off from the team he had during the exercise and refused to listen to his teammates suggestions and ideas and as a result it cost his team the match.
So, with them being at the Sports Festival, many students believe having someone like him on the team would be a detriment.
The last thing Bakugo's ego wanted to do was ask around for people to join him, but it looked like that was what he was going to have to do.
Bakugo first went to the closest student that he could call… tolerable, Kirishima. He went to him with the expectation that he would join him without question, but when he asked him, he was turned down. Kirishima had already agreed to join Inasa and his 1B counterpart Tetsutetsu.
Though letdown, Bakugo was sure that there was plenty of more students that could use him.
…
'Manga might be a good fit? But then again, he can only use his quirk a few times…'
Matvey was still deep in thought, thinking about who else could join his team.
"Oh wait! I just thought of something!" Pony shouted, making Matvey break his concentration.
"What?" Matvey asked, eager to hear what she had to say, as he was having trouble with finding another available teammate.
"… With your wings on my back, would I be considered a Pegasus?" Pony questioned with a serious look on her face.
Matvey gave the taller girl an exasperated look before answering her question, "Uh… I-I think so," he answered, just saying anything to her out-of-left-field question.
"Sweet!" Pony whooped, doing a little hop of joy, "Also, what do you think of Togaru?" she inquired.
Matvey raised his eyebrows at her second question.
Togaru sat in front of him in class and from the time that he first saw him on the first day of school, he hadn't conversate at all with anyone.
He didn't even once think about adding him to the team, not that he would've picked him anyway.
"Togaru has a pretty cool quirk… but I don't think that he would gel with us," Matvey brought forth, wanting to reject Pony's suggestion as gently as he could.
Pony tilted her head to the side in confusion, "Why?"
Matvey let out a tired sigh, "Because, his quirk can be dangerous you know? It'll be pretty hectic out there when the battle begins and who knows what'll happen if he's near us with his blades. Not to mention, he's a pretty big guy. I think it will be easier if we get someone smaller, so you don't get overwhelmed with all the weight on top of you."
Pony sent a disagreeing look to the smaller Russian, "I could carry both you… besides, I bet Togaru doesn't weight that much."
Without warning, the tall blonde cupped her hands around her mouth and loudly shouted from across the playing field.
"HEY TOGARU!"
Everyone ceased what they were doing and turned to look at Pony.
With Pony being so tall, she was able to see where Togaru was amongst the silent crowd of her fellow students.
He was busy walking around the field trying to find a team to join. He asked a few teams but they all rejected him or wanted to try their luck with others first.
On the outside, Togaru had a cool and indifferent demeanor about the situation, but on the inside, he was furious. Not entirely at the fact that he couldn't find a team, but more because in the previous Sports Festivals, the team-based Cavalry Battle wasn't at all played. The rounds in the previous years were all played solo, which Togaru was hoping for as he performs better by himself.
Unfortunately for him though, this year wasn't going to be the case.
He let out a frustrated sigh and ruffled his green hair. He figured that the reason why he was getting rejected was most likely due to his quirk.
Not wanting to waste anymore of his energy, Togaru just opted to sit back and wait for a team to approach him at the last second.
That was going to be the plan, until a voice yelled his name out.
He looked to where the voice came from and saw that Pony was coming his way.
'What the hell could she possibly want from me?' Togaru said in his mind.
As the bubbly American approached him, Togaru could also see Matvey following her not too far off.
"Hey Togaru, how much do you weigh?" Pony asked in a very informal fashion.
"… What?" Togaru asked, puzzled by the strange and very blunt question.
Matvey finally reached the two and was taken aback from Pony's choice to approach Togaru.
"Pony! Don't just run off like that!" Matvey reprimanded.
"I just wanted to know how much he weighed," Pony innocently replied.
"You definitely shouldn't be asking stuff like that either!" Matvey snapped back.
Togaru was looking back and forth between the two foreign born students and was about to walk away from them both, not at all interested in being apart of their antics.
"Hey wait!" Pony called out, "We were wondering if you wanted to join our team!"
Togaru stopped in his tracks when he heard her question.
Pony was an oddball… so Togaru was expecting her reason for calling him out was just to see how much he weighed, not if he wanted to join their team.
He was already having trouble finding a team and was just going to sit out until he was chosen by default, but if a team was actually going to ask for him then he had no reason to turn them down.
"H-Hey wait!" Matvey interjected, "We uh… w-we were still going over our options and was just seeing if you would be an available teammate to choose from if the situation calls for it," Matvey lied.
Were Pony not a girl, Matvey probably would've give a swift kick to her shin for what she just asked. He just told her that he didn't want Togaru as a teammate and here she was asking him if he wanted to join.
He had to conjure a half-assed escape route to avoid having him as a teammate and he was pretty sure that Togaru saw right through it.
Which he did.
Realizing that Matvey wasn't onboard with having him on as a teammate, he wasn't going to waste their time or his. It was bad enough that no one wanted him as a teammate because of his quirk, but to have them also get his hopes up like that?
"I'm not interested," Togaru coldly answered before walking away from the pair.
Pony gave a disappointed look as they were rejected and Matvey also felt a little bad himself.
From that time when they both spoke with Mr. Aizawa after the Quirk Apprehension Test, Matvey knew that Togaru was tentative of being around people, mainly due to his quirk.
And in a way, Matvey could sort of relate to it. His quirk, while far from dangerous, wasn't as strong offensively as some of the other students at the festival.
He felt like his quirk put him under a low ceiling for what he could do with it, whereas Togaru was forced to limit what he could truly do with his quirk out of fear of seriously harming someone.
Though he didn't want to have him join, he wanted to at least cheer him up after passively turning him down.
"H-Hey wait," Matvey said as he jogged after Togaru, "I'm sorry for-"
Before he could get out his apology, Matvey made a startling discovery.
As he was running to Togaru, Matvey extended his hand out and placed it on Togaru's shoulder. As he placed his hand on it, he realized… that he was surprisingly light for someone of his tall frame.
Matvey began to rock Togaru's shoulders back and forth as if to verify the weight of his classmate.
Togaru could only look back in irritating confusion on what Matvey was doing before he snapped, "… What the fuck are you doing!?"
The expletive blurb from Togaru caused Matvey to immediately retract his hand.
"Sorry about that. It's just… you're surprisingly light."
The green haired student narrowed his eyes, "Yeah… what of it?"
"I was trying to see if you being on my back would be too much, but if Matvey says you're light then you can definitely fit on our team!" Pony exclaimed, as she joined up to the both of them.
"And I already told you I wasn't interested," Togaru responded, "besides, I'm sure you don't want me on your team anyways," he bitterly added towards Matvey's direction.
Though he was right about that assumption, Matvey didn't expect to put out on the spot like this.
"Uh… w-well-"Matvey sputtered out.
"That's what I thought," Togaru finished as he began to walk away again.
"Wait listen," Matvey called out as he went after Togaru again, "you're still looking for a team, right?"
The taller mantis student looked over his shoulder, "…Yeah."
"Well… maybe you can team with us then." Matvey said begrudgingly.
Togaru gave a snarl at the Angel student, "I'm not looking to be a sympathy pick,"
Matvey raised his arms up defensively, "It's not that. Listen, Mr. Aizawa said that we both scored as having low potential on that Quirk Apprehension Test right? So, what better way to stick it to him than the both us teaming up and advancing to the next round?"
Togaru gave a quizzical look at the Angel. Now that he remembers it, Matvey also failed the test from earlier in the year. The initial announcement of his name being be read as a student with low potential from still stung with him, so the proposal that Matvey brought up did interest him. The one thing he was concerned about was how he would mesh with Matvey and Pony. With Matvey being placed second, he was going to be a target for all of the other students, so forming the perfect unit was important. He began to think hard over his answer.
"It's not like anybody asking you to join them either," Matvey added as gently as he could, hoping to aid in Togaru's decision to join them.
All it did was make Togaru shoot an icy glare at Matvey for his comment, causing Matvey to flinch.
"… Fine. I'll join," Togaru sighed out.
The two foreign students were happy on finding their final teammate.
Now with the time they had left before the next game begins, the newly formed team needed to strategize how they were going to find success in the upcoming round.
…
"What was that?"
Though Bakugo's quirk may be explosions, to the shorter Mineta, it could've also been something to the effect of one's heart stopping from a glare of his.
Mineta had already formed a team of Tsuyu and Shoji. He and Tsuyu were going to on top of Shoji's back as he uses his tentacles to shield them from anyone trying to steal their headbands. With Mineta's sticky balls, he could use them to stick the headbands to his head and make it near impossible for anyone to take it away.
He had his team setup and wasn't interested in adding another teammate, especially if that person was Bakugo.
"Um… T-This is already a full team. T-Thank you for the offer though!" Mineta replied, bowing his head, hoping the kind gesture would prevent him from feeling Bakugo's wrath.
Lucky for Mineta, Bakugo only sneered at his bowing form and stormed off to try and find another team.
There wasn't much time left and he didn't have much more teams to ask.
He looked around and tried to find the remaining teams that had less than 4 members on a team. He stopped in his tracks when he saw a trio of 1B students conversing amongst themselves.
The group of students that were paired together were Matvey, Togaru and Pony.
The spiky blond had little to no interaction with the three students. He remembers that he had nearly fought Matvey a year ago when he decided to stick up for Midoriya and he remembers clearly when Togaru was able to hold him back with a blade to his neck from the Battle Trials. Needles to say, he wasn't keen on asking them, but they looked to be his best team available for him to join.
He slowly began to approach the three, which they caught.
Before he could get any closer, the pink haired Russian shot out a hand as if to stop him.
"Ah!- Sorry but we're full." Matvey informed, more than happy to reject the 1A student. The snappy rejection gifted Matvey an angry glare from the blond.
Matvey also remembered their brief brush up last year and to him, it looked like Bakugo was still the same guy.
Having a hotheaded Togaru on his team was one thing, but adding Bakugo, someone who might be even worse, was not something he was interested in.
Bakugo, still feeling the sting of getting rejected, scoffed at them.
"Pft, like you losers were going to win anyways!"
He turned heel and walked away, off to look for another team.
'Who'd guess being an asshole would come back to bite you?' Matvey snickered in his mind before he went back to strategizing with his teammates.
…
"What the fuck…" Bakugo mumbled lowly. Time was running out and he still hadn't found a team. The people that he didn't think were total wastes were already on a team and weren't willing to add him on.
Looking around at the remaining teams again, he made note of a few teams that he felt in his heart weren't going to succeed in the upcoming race.
While he may be arrogant and unpleasant to others, Bakugo did have a keen eye for observation. He already knew the ins and outs of the quirks of his classmates, and during the battle trials he got a good view on how the 1B students quirk functioned as well. He wasn't sure if their quirks have evolved since then, but from what he alreadyknew, he began to predict out the quirk synergy of each team.
His predictions however were quickly interrupted by the sound of shrieking from an all too familiar voice.
"AHHHHH!"
Bakugo looked to his right and saw none other than Midoriya flying his way with some type of jetpack on his back. The jet engine sound of the device meant that it was more than likely on, but there was propulsion coming from only one of the turbines which is why Midoriya was having a bad flight. He wildly waved his hand around, trying to press the button that would put his flight to an end.
Thankfully (mostly in Midoriya's case), Midoriya found the button and pressed it, stopping the propulsion from the jetpack flight which then had him crashing face down to the ground, stopping a few feet in front of Bakugo.
Midoriya was thankfully okay from the harsh landing and the jet pack wasn't damaged during the crash. With shaky arms, he lifted his head up from the ground and saw his "childhood friend" staring at him with his all too familiar look of contempt.
"H-hey Kacch- I-I mean Bakugo. Hope I didn't startle you there," Midoriya said sheepishly, inwardly kicking himself for crashing in front of Bakugo of all people.
Bakugo didn't answer Midoriya he only deepened his look of contempt.
Since the start of the school year, Bakugo made no attempt to interact with Midoriya and the times when their schoolwork required them to, Bakugo still held a deep resentment towards him, making sure to show it in everything he did. He doesn't know how or why Midoriya is here in U.A. He's known Midoriya for almost all of his life and he knew since a young age that Midoriya was quirkless, so it was a huge shock to have learned that Midoriya was actually accepted into U.A.
Them also being the same class felt like an extra backhand to the explosive blond, but with that came the opportunity for Bakugo to observe Midoriya. Soon after watching him, there was another shocking revelation for Bakugo. The feats and acts that Midoriya was performing during their Hero Classes together, couldn't have been done by someone that was quirkless. Though he would be greatly injured after doing so, he was able to do things like jump to great heights, exert absurd amounts power into a punch and lift up heavy objects.
Bakugo thought it was dumb luck that got Midoriya accepted into U.A., but it wasn't. Bakugo was convinced that Midoriya was lying to him and everyone about not having a quirk, which only made him more irate with Midoriya.
"Oh my gosh! Are you okay!?" asked a very concerned Mei, running frantically over to where Midoriya landed.
"Y-Yeah I'm fine-" Midoriya got back up to his feet to answer Mei, but while answering he was cut off.
"I wasn't talking about you, I was talking to my baby," Mei corrected, snatching the jetpack off of Midoriya's back.
"Oh. Well I landed on my face, so the jetpack should still be fine," Midoriya assured, hoping to make his wellbeing a bigger priority to Mei.
The pink haired Support student looked all over the jetpack and was relieved to see that Midoriya was right, "Jeez Midoriya, you need to press both buttons to start it up."
Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck shamefully, "I did… it's just… my left thumb slipped off the button and I guess it only started the right turbine."
Bakugo could only roll his eyes at what stood before him. He felt embarrassed at the fact that he finished the last course below Midoriya.
He was about to turn face and walk away, but he was stopped by the pink haired girl.
"Hey wait! Are you on a team? Do you want to join ours?"
The question caused Bakugo to slowly turn his head around and look at the two. He didn't even consider Midoriya's team as being an option for him to join. He was actually surprised that Midoriya was able to recruit one person.
And like Bakugo, the same feelings were reciprocated on Midoriya's end. Midoriya gave no thought of asking Bakugo of joining his team, he actually assumed that he had already found a team.
There were many responses Bakugo could have given to Mei's question, but the easiest and snarkiest response he could muster was: "Psh, I'll join a team with that skill-less loser when food starts to fly."
With that denial being said, the explosive blond turned his head back straight and was about to walk away once more when something stopped him in his tracks again.
It wasn't someone that said anything or did anything that made him stop, it was instead a something floating in the air right in front of his face.
Bakugo looked at the floating object and quickly discovered that it was a floating keychain of sorts. He couldn't exactly make out what keychain was supposed to depict, it was a small yellow fabric ball with black beady eyes and a "w" shaped mouth.
"Oh, there it is!"
Bakugo looked over to his side and saw a girl who was from his classmate rushing over. She grabbed the small keychain and placed it back into the pocket inside of her U.A. gym uniform jacket.
"My lucky mochi keychain! S-Sorry about that Bakugo, it must've slipped out of my jacket when I tried to show off my quirk," Uraraka explained before she turned her attention back to her teammates, "Have you guys had any luck finding anyone?"
Mei flashed the brunette wide smile and went over and placed a hand on Bakugo's shoulder.
"We sure did! Mr. Explosivo over here is going to be joining us!"
Bakugo's face contorted into pure confusion at what he just heard.
"What!? I told you morons that I wasn't going to join you!" he roughly shouted as he shoved Mei's hand off of his shoulder.
Mei bent over and wagged a corrective finger in Bakugo's face, "Noooo~ you said that you'd join us if food starts to fly and just now you happened to have seen mochi floating right in front of your face, so that means you're joining our team!"
Bakugo's eye was beginning to twitch upon realizing what he had just said prior. He had zero problem being blunt to everyone and the one time he tried to be a smartass is when it comes back to stick him.
"… I said if it was food! What was floating in my face was round face's keychain!" Bakugo snapped back.
His response fell on deaf ears as the Support Student just dig her fingers in her ears and began to make loud noises to drown him out.
"La La La La La! I can't hear my new teammate speaking!"
Bakugo was beginning to turn red at this point. There was a lot of things that made him tick, but there wasn't a lot of people that would deliberately go out of there way to make him so. So far during his time in U.A. though, including this girl that he didn't even know, there was a lot of people who had no issue with upsetting him. Way more than he'd like.
"So… does this mean you're joining us, Bakugo?" Uraraka asked, curious on as to what was going on.
Bakugo snapped his head towards Uraraka's direction and gave her a frightening glare.
"Hell no! Besides…"
As he trailed off, he turned around and stared back at Midoriya who was silent while all this was going on. With his eyes now on Midoriya, Bakugo sent his intimidating glare towards Midoriya and tried to scare him into submission.
"I'm sure Deku wouldn't want me as a teammate anyways… right?"
And luckily for Bakugo, his plan had worked.
Midoriya was nearly scared frozen from Bakugo's glaze, much like a rabbit coming across a venomous cobra.
While Mei was going back and forth with Bakugo, Midoriya found himself too small to speak up. He was usually scared and intimidated by the much bigger and confident Bakugo which is what causes him to clam up whenever he's around him, but for some reason it wasn't the case this time.
It's a strange feeling, it's something he's never experienced before… but he felt as if… he had the upper hand on Bakugo.
Bakugo couldn't find a team and obviously with his attitude, no one was going to accept him. He was going to have to wait until the end of the planning stage and randomly join a team that has less than 4 people. Along with getting rejected by everyone, something like that would've been a mortal wound to his ego.
Midoriya wasn't in a much better position himself, he still needed to find another person to join him, but at least he found people that wanted to work with him, whereas Bakugo couldn't.
In Midoriya mind, in order to spare Bakugo from even more humiliation, he needed to have him on his team.
"… I… I actually would like to have you as a teammate… Kacchan," Midoriya said, with no stutter in his words.
As Midoriya gave his answer, Bakugo's glare soon disappeared after. He wasn't expecting that response from Midoriya.
He then gave a bewildered look to Midoriya, "… You what?"
"I said… I would like to have you as a teammate," Midoriya repeated, "we were looking for someone with great offensive power… and you certainly fit the bill."
"That's right! Though people are rejecting you based on your cooperativeness, from what I've seen from you, you're always headstrong about winning!" Uraraka chimed in.
"And the conditions on joining us was met, so you can't back out now!" Mei added.
Bakugo was taken back by what was said. He originally thought that he would be getting showered with requests to join a team for the next round, but the only team that actually made an attempt to get him was the team of Midoriya's.
The kind words of praise made began to make it's way into Bakugo's emotional core, and it made him… enraged.
He tightly clenched his fist and gave a beast like snarl at Midoriya, "You… useless piece of trash. Who the fuck are you to look down on me!?"
The hopeful faces of the three students fell once Bakugo replied.
He then tightly grabbed Midoriya by the collar to further drive home his point, "It doesn't matter if we're both here in U.A.! You will always be Deku! Understand!?" He shouted at Midoriya.
If it wouldn't be seen as a strange thing to do in this particular situation, Midoriya would have slapped himself for actually believing that he would be able to recruit Bakugo onto his team. It was a foolish thought, a thought that came to an realistic end from Bakugo's usual name calling to him.
Uraraka and Mei looked at Bakugo with looks of abhorrence. Even after they praise him to try and fan the flames of his mountain high ego, he still went on to disparage Midoriya.
They were about to speak on Midoriya's behalf, but the green haired student lowly spoke up first.
"I-I understand Bakugo," Midoriya replied with an apologetic bow, upsetting Mei and Uraraka for giving into Bakugo's remarks.
The blonde let go of Midoriya's collar and dug his hand in his pockets when he heard what he wanted to hear.
"Good… Now then… I'm assuming you're going to be the rider, right?" Bakugo asked.
"…"
"…"
"…"
There was a confused silence between the three. Was he still talking to them?
Midoriya fixed himself out of his bowing position to join Mei and Uraraka to stare confusingly at Bakugo.
"Uh… W-W-What was that?" Midoriya asked.
Bakugo furrowed his brow and glared at the shorter boy, "Are you going to be the rider for the chariot battle in the next round numbskull! Open up your damn ears!"
Midoriya flinched at Bakugo's loud voice, officially losing all the confidence he once had before, "Y-Yeah. I plan on riding for my team."
"Hm…" Bakugo replied, rubbing his chin while in thought.
The three were even more confused by Bakugo's behavior. Before, he was talking down Midoriya, now he was asking Midoriya about what he was planning for the next round.
"Uh, what are you thinking ab-" Midoriya was about to ask before he was cut off by Bakugo.
"You, what are going to be doing during the next round?" Bakugo asked to Uraraka.
"Um… I-I plan on using my float ability to help Midoriya fly around with the jetpack," Uraraka answered, unsure of why Bakugo was asking so many questions.
Bakugo rubbed his chin again after hearing Uraraka's response. He then turned to Mei.
"What about you?" Bakugo asked.
Mei flashed a toothy grin his way before lifting up her backpack full of tools and gear, "I plan on showcasing my babies to the entire world!"
"… So what are you going to be using?" Bakugo inquired further.
Mei begin to dig around her backpack to show what she would using, "I plan on using-"
"Wait hold on," Midoriya interjected, "W-Why exactly are you asking us this?"
Bakugo rolled his eyes and glared at his once childhood friend.
"So I know what I'm dealing with," he replied irritated, "now from what you're all saying, your main plan is to stay as airborne as possible so nobody can get to Deku, right?"
All three nodded.
"Well in that case, I think we're going to be better off if you give roundface those jet boots then," Bakugo suggested.
"W-Wait a minute!" Midoriya interrupted, "We're better off!? D-Does… does this mean… that you're-" Midoriya stumbled out.
"ZIP IT! There's not much time before the start of the next round! Don't waste it being a stumbling and mumbling little dweeb!" Bakugo snapped.
Midoriya let a huge sigh of relief, too happy to let Bakugo's insults phase him. He knew that recruiting Bakugo was going to go rough so he should've expected for it get tense with him.
He had open ears as he listened to his teammates strategize all while giving out suggestions of his own on how they handle the next round.
…
"2 MINUTE REMAINING BEFORE THE START OF THE NEXT ROUND!" Boomed the voice of Midnight on the megaphone.
Thankfully, everyone was situated into a team.
The planning stage was about to reach it's end and the next round was soon set to officially begin.
With there being only 4 teams that can advance out of the 13 that was formed during the planning stages, every team was going to have to go all out if they wanted to advance.
Each student have their own motivations and they didn't want their time at yearly Sports Festival to end now.
And that feeling was felt even from the usually confident Matvey who was still somewhat shaken up from seeing the full-frontal capabilities from the last round. He did his best though to put on a brave face for his team, not that they would be seeing it from where he was now anyway.
Matvey and Togaru was currently riding on top Pony's back as she was on her four hooves moving around, trying to get used to their weight.
The taller mantis student was riding up front while Matvey was going to be in the back. Luckily for the two, Pony had brought a saddle to make the ride a little better for the two boys on her back.
Togaru had a tight grip on Pony's horns as he was going to have to switch his grips from her horns to her shoulders whenever she needed to shoot any horns.
Matvey had one hand grip around Togaru's shoulder as he was wielding a horn that Pony had shot off for protection.
"You guys feeling good up there?" Pony asked, moving around at a much faster pace now.
"I'm good," Togaru responded.
"Same here but I'm sure things aren't going to be going this smooth when it all starts," Matvey added.
"That's true… but as long we can keep a close grip on Pony then we should be fine," Togaru said.
"Aww~ look at you being all optimistic. ~" Matvey teased.
The Angel's teasing earned him another snarl from the taller student up front.
"S-Shut up! Just make sure you keep a tight grip and don't get tossed off of her!"
Matvey released his grip from Togaru shoulder to wave a dismissive hand at him.
"Don't worry about that. Even in the small chance that I do get thrown off, I can just fly back to you all," Matvey assured.
The three students were getting into the swing of things and were fully prepared for the next round.
"30 SECONDS REMAINING!"
Togaru and Matvey hopped off of Pony's back to give her a brief time to properly stretch.
"Um… Is it alright to say that I'm feeling kind of nervous?" Pony bashfully asked her two teammates.
"Yeah it's alright to say that, I feel like practically everyone else here is somewhat nervous," Matvey assured.
"It's all about having a good poker face, when shit gets started then we'll know who's a serious threat to win," Togaru added.
"And that'll be us!" Pony blurted out, trying her best to put on a game face. She put a confident fist out as if to show her determination.
"Damn right!" Matvey shouted while joining Pony's fist with his own as a form of camaraderie.
The two foreign students looked over to Togaru, silently expressing their desire to have him join their fist bump.
Togaru just narrowed his eyes at the two, totally indifferent to their wish.
The green haired student sighed and lazily slapped up an apathetic fist to meet his teammates, none too keen to join them in their antics.
"Давайте сделаем это! (Davayte sdelayem eto-Let's do it!)" Matvey exclaimed.
"TIMES UP! THE SECOND ROUND WILL BE STARTING PROMPTLY! ALL RIDERS TO COME UP AND RETRIEVE YOUR HEADBANDS!" Midnight instructed from her bullhorn.
The designated rider for each team went up to the Modern Arts Teacher and were told to list their teammates to add up the points. From there each rider was given a number on a white headband.
Inasa- 10,000,315
Todoroki- 675
Shinso- 550
Matvey- 480
Midoriya- 445
Mineta- 445
Monoma- 430
Kojiro- 335
Reiko- 260
Mina- 240
Sato- 240
Awase- 180
Kaminari- 125
They took the headband and went back to their respective teams.
Inasa looked at the headband and took in the high number value. He was set to be a high target, not that it bothered him. Like he told Matvey back at the tunnel, students were going to be looking to make a name from him.
The shaved head student wrapped the headband around his head and allowed Kirishima and Tetsutetsu to hoist him up over their shoulders.
"It's gonna be a pretty chaotic 15 minutes out there," Kirishima spoke up.
"The time should fly on by when the action starts. It'll be over before we know it," Inasa claimed.
"Yep! All we have to do really is make sure we keep the million headband and we're guaranteed advancing," Tetsu chimed.
Inasa nodded his head in agreement, "Right!"
"Also… try not to lose sight of the end goal Inasa," Tetsu added.
Inasa quirked an eyebrow at what his classmate warned.
"Lose sight of- oh…" he trailed, "R-Right, well the battle trials are in the past now! I'm dead set on making sure we pass this round!" Inasa assured with a wide grin.
The two students on the bottom gave their rider a grin of their own, both confident that they were going to win.
…
The seconds before the start of the next round was dwindling down now and everyone was getting into position.
"There we go…" Kendo said with a strain in her voice, "that should be good."
Kendo backed away from what she was doing to see the work she's done. The orange haired student was paired together with her classmates Ibara and the towering and docile Kojiro.
Given the size and strength of Kojiro, he was a good choice as a rider and his quirk was going to be key for their success.
They were going to use his Cemendine quirk to glue the headband to his head. An ingenious and simple plan.
"Are you sure of this? How long does it take again for your glue to dry?" Ibara asked.
"Instant," Kojiro said as he knocked his giant hand against the dried glue across his forehead.
"Good! Now let's get in formation!" Kendo called.
The vine haired girl wrapped her vines around Kojiro's massive frame and tightly latched herself onto Kojiro's back. She was going to take the position of defense for Kojiro back.
Kendo hoped up to Kojiro shoulder using the vines wrapped around him. She sat atop his shoulders and was going to aid him in combating anything coming in his front.
"And we are good to go!"
…
Matvey wrapped his 480 point headband around his head and hopped behind Togaru. With one of Pony's ejected horns in his hand and an arm wrapped around Togaru, Matvey was all set for the Cavalry Battle to begin.
He took a deep breath and was about to deliver a final pep talk to his team, but Togaru spoke up instead.
"You all still feeling nervous?"
Both Pony and Matvey raised their eyebrows at Togaru's question.
"Well… don't be. We're more than capable of beating all of these jackasses in our way," Togaru assured.
With Togaru's position, he couldn't see Matvey's or Pony's faces, but if he could, he would see brand new and actually genuine looks of determination and confidence.
Midnight made her way to a safe distance away from the battle grounds.
"Ladies and Gentleman! The second round of the U.A. Sports Festival is now underway!" She announced to the massive roar of cheers from the audience at the stadium, "As mentioned before, the second round of the Sports Festival will be the Cavalry Battle! Thirteen teams will have fifteen minutes to snatch and gather as many headbands as possible! The four teams that finish at the top will advance to the next round!" She explained for the last time.
"Now… the battle will commence in 3… 2… 1… GO!"
AN: Hello there everybody! It's been a while but here is the newest chapter. Pretty lengthy chapter, hopefully I did a good job of highlighting every major characters motivation and reasoning. Next chapter will be a doozy, as the chaotic chariot battle begins!
See you all then! Please leave a review/comment.