Midnight continued,
"Those who reach th top merely encounter fresh new hardships. And the kids who have enrolled here will hear it countless times. Plus ultra. The time limit is 15 minutes. The point value of each group's headband is worth the total point accompiuation of each of the horse's members. The one to wear the headband will be the rider. Think of them as a standard bearer. Until time is up, you'll all be fighting and stealing as many of each others' headbands as you can. You may not equip your headband on any area besides above your neck. As more and more headbands are taken, maintaining control of the situation will become more and more demanding. And the most important aspect of the game is that even if you should lose your headband or break configuration, you're still not out of the game. Quirks are of course allowed," continued Midnight, "so I want to see some fine brutality out there! That being said, this is still just a human cavalry game! If you attack any other group to break them up on purpose, that's a read card and you'll be forced to sit out the rest of the game. All right, you now have 15 minutes. Start your teamups!"
The extras surrounded me, demanding that I pick them, all shouting out "Pick me, pick me!"
"Hey Bakugou, do you mind teaming up with me?" said Raccoon eyes.
"You have to team up with me right?" said Glow boy.
Team battle, huh. For that though, there was a bit of a problem.
"What are your quirks again?" I asked.
They got huffy and offended. "Forget Class B's quirks, he doesn't even know his own class's! Is he that self-absorbed?"
"Todoroki's already got himself a full team," shouted to Weird Hair, headed over to our group. "Bakugou, let's team up!"
"Ah, Weird hair," I said. He looked annoyed. "It's Kirishima! Remember my name, dammit! And my hair's not that different from yours. Waddya say? Wanna play rider?! Who here's the one who can withstand the recoil of your explosions ,after all?"
"I need somebody with guts," I told him, unimpressed.
"Yeah, sure! Me with my hardening! " he jammed his thumb at his chest. "I'll be a horse that can't crumple, and we'll definitely get those points, won't we?" Then he leaned in and said softly, "Midoriya's ten million."
Sounds good.
Raccoon Eyes quirk was some kinda melting acid. That'd be good against IcyHot. Finally I grabbed onto Tape Arms. Our team was complete.
I watched to see Deku's team. He'd grabbed onto Glasses and Round face immediately. But Glasses blew him off to join IcyHot. They were joined by some girl I didn't know and Bird Head.
"NOW TIME'S UP! RAISE YOUR WAR-CRIES AND FIRE HTE SIGNAL" Boomed Mic's voice. "LET'S START THE COUNTDOWN! 3!"
"We've all got only one target," I said, perched atop my team's horse.
"2…1…START!"
All at once, every team on the field was headed straight for Deku's.
In what seemed like seconds, his team went airborne. Some combination of weird support gear they were wearing and Round Face's floating quirk. Any attacks aimed at them up their got blocked by Bird Face's quirk. Not a bad strategy. But as they kept landing, it was clear they couldn't stay up there for that long.
"HAVE AL OOK, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! NOT EVEN TWO MINUTES HAVE ELASPED AND ALREADY WE HAVE A MELEE OF TUMULTUOUS PROPORTIONS ON OUR HADNS! ANYWHERE YOU REST YOUR EYES, THERE'S TWO TEAMS VYING FOR AND STEALING EACH OTHER'S HEADBANDS! AFTER ALL, IT'S A FINE STRATEGY TO AIM FOR 2ND TO 4TH PLACE INSTEAD OF THE BIG 10, MILLION!"
As Deku's team went airborne again, I saw the best chance for me. I blasted up off of the horse straight at Deku's floating team.
"Riding real high and mighty, aint'cha, ya damn nerd?" I called at him.
Deku called "Tokoyami!"
Bird Head's shadow quirk popped up in between us and stopped my blast from hitting em.
"What the hell?" I cried out. Tape Arms grabbed me with tape and pulled me down back to the horse.
"WHAT DO WE SE HEERE?!" CalleD Mic. "THE RIDER CAN DETACH FROM THE HORSE, THAT'S ALLOWED?"
"it's only a technical, so it's ok! The riders just not allowed to plant their feet on the ground," said Midnight.
Weird Hair said "Nice catch, bro" to Tape Arms as I landed.
"THAT'S RIGHT, WHETHER IT'S THE FIRST PLACE WHO'S BEING CHASED, RO THE REST OF CLASS A, NOW DOING THE CHASING THIS HERE'S A VERITABLE CONGREGATION OF TOP DOGS! LET'S BRIEFLY CONFIRM THAT BY CHECKING THIER POINT VALUES!"
There was a gasp. "WHOA, DAMN! JUST ONE GASH SECOND! YOU MEAN CLASS A AREN'T TAKING IT BY A MILE? WELL, APART FRMO MIDORWYA, AND BAKUGO U - WHAT HAPPENED?"
My headband slipped from me, grabbed be some punk from Class 1B.
"We've been had!" cried Raccoon eyes.
"Like taking candy from a baby, class A," said the rider.
"WHAT THE FUCK, FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT, GIVE IT BACK!" I shouted. "I'LL KILL YOU."
The blond rider looked awfully smug, I wanted to fucking punch him. "The minute Midnight called a first event the preliminaries, don't you think it would have been strange to assume they'd thin the herd drastically? obviously there would be more events. Think about what would have been the rough number of places they'd advance to the next round, in that race here nobody could let themselves fall below the passing line? It had to have been around 40 or so for this to be a festival. The whole event was just a chance to observe the quirks and personalities of one's rivals from the rear. Anybody with a brain would've aimed not for first place, but for a more measured excellence, don't you agree?"
"The whole class is surrounding us!" cried out Weird Hair.
"Well, it's not as though we were all in total agreement or anything, but it's a fairly good plan nonetheless, wouldn't you say?" said the blond boy. "Instead of say, scrambling for some dumb strictly temporary point summit like dangling carrots over horses. AH, come to think of it, you're already somewhat famous yourself aren't you? You're the victim of the sludge incident! Tell me all about it next time. How it must feel to be attacked by villain every year."
I felt it boiling up. The rage. The outrage. The sheer damnable outrage and frustrating from everything that had been piling up so far. "KIRISHIMA, CHANGE OF PLANS. BEFORE DEKU, LET'S SEND THESE GODDAMN SHISTANS TO SOME EARLY GRAVES!"
"Quit getting them so riled up, Monoma!" said some redhead ponytail from Class 1b. "We're all sharing the same arena here!"
"Ah, you're absolutely right," smirked the stupid blond shitrag. "How un hero-like of me. I'll heed your words. You always hear about those heroes who spark grudges in villains and get attacked in reprisal."
You implying I'm some kinda villain asshole?! My breath was starting to come in real fast.
"Get it together, Bakugou!" yapped Weird Hair. "If you don't calm down, we'll never be able to take those points back!"
I slammed my fist into my hand with an explosion at the ready. "Push forward, Kirishima," I told him. "Right now I'm mad fucking calm."
"Please, dude, we gotta do this right!" he begged.
We headed in for the kill on Blonde Ahole's team and I threw an explosion at him. Somehow the idiot managed to dodge and parry. And then threw an explosion right back at us!
"Wow, amazing!" he cried. "This really is an ice quirk!"
"My quirk?" I said, thinking it through quickly.
"Bakugou, they're pasting your power!" said Weird hair, stating the fucking obvious. I threw another explosion at Blondie and he somehow dodged it again.
"Though my quirk is better," he said. Smirking. Pissing me the fuck off.
"Huh? My quirk too!?" said Weird Hair, still not getting it. "They're taking everything!"
"That ain't it," I snarled at him. "This guy has a fucking copy power."
"Correct," smirked the blond. "Well, I suppose even an idiot would get it right away."
Another kid from class B vomited up some kinda glue onto the ground beneath our feet, in between us and the blond.
"Bondo!" he cried. "So you've come to fight?"
"Monoma," said one of the blond's horses, "all we need to do now is keep away! With this score, we'll be within the top 4 for sure!"
"It hardened crazy quick! I can't move!" cried out Weird Hair.
"Hold on, I can dissolve it!" said Raccoon eyes, using her acid quirk to break through the glue shit.
"Quirk, we're at 0 points!" said Tape Arms.
"Don't get mad," said Monoma as he rode away. "You're the one who fanned the flames, remember? What was it you said at commencement again? That embarrassing line? Ah well, no worries. Take a nice rest."
I felt the r age build up and seethe within me.
"I'll be the #1," I told him. Feeling that motivation return. That determination. "And it won't be just any first place. I'm gonna be #1 by annihilating everyone!"
The announcer chimed in right then, "THERE'S ONLY ABOUT A MINUTE LEFT! AND TODOROKI HAS SET HTE FIELD! ALL THAT'S LEFT NOW IS TAKING THOSE TEN MILLION POINTS! IT'LL BE SWIPED IN AN INSTANT! OR SO I MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT FIVE MINUTES AGO! BUT MIDORWYA HAS KEPT AWAY DURING ALL THAT TIME, EVEN IN THIS CONSTRICTED SPACE."
That's right. If Deku's still in first place, no way in hell am I letting this idiot give me trouble.
I felt that announcement push me off of the horse and straight at the blond idiot's team. Right towards those headbands around his neck.
"Wait, I said wait!" yelled Weird Hair.
"My, you lot are something else," said Blondie. "Forget heroics, that persistence is unbecoming as pe- "
He'd wasted time talking and given me a chance to get in close.
"Tsuburaba, guard!" he yelled at one of the extras underneath him, who blew up some kinda sphere of hard air. I kept punching at it, until I got through and grabbed the headbands right off a blondie's neck.
"AND WITH THOSE 2 HEADBANDS TEAM BAKUGOU HAS SHOT BACK UP TO 3RD PLACE! EVEN IN THIS FINAL STRETCH THE SCOREBOARD'S IN A LIVELY FLUX! AH, TO BE YOUNG AGAIN!"
Tape Arms had pulled me back to formation. "WE told you to warn us when you jump!" he reprimanded. "But at least now we'll definitely place high enough," said Weird Hair. Like some kinda lame-ass extra.
"IT'S NOT ENOUGH!" I corrected 'em. "I'm gonna be #1 and leave a bound of bodies in my wake!" If I go it alone like just now it won't be enough! Now go! We're gonna get our points back too! And then it's on to the 10 million!"
And I had a plan of how to get it.
"Yo, soy sauce face, tape!" I told him.
"It's zero!" he said, but did what I told him to..
"Raccoon eyes! Cut off their way forward with your acid!"
"Mina Ashido!" she said, but followed my order. We flew towards that idiot blond's horse and in no time at all I'd swiped the rest of his headbands, leaving them with nothing and us with everything.
"Next! Deku and Todoroki!" I reminded em as we headed back towards the ice prison. We'd made 2nd place, but that wasn't all. We're taking #1. Deku's 10 million. Or maybe IcyHot's? The announcement I'd missed, but it sounded like it'd said IcyHot had gotten the 10 million.
"IT'S NEARLY OVER! NOW FOR THE COUNTDOWN! EVERYBODY SAY HEY!" Cried Mic's voice. I started blasting through the ice wall.
"10! 9! 8!"
I made it in to see that Deku and IcyHot's teams were facing off. IcyHot's team didn't seem to be moving at all, while Deku's was charing straight at him.
"7! 6!"
Which one has it? Which one, dammit?!
"5! 4!"
Deku or IcyHot? Which one had the 10 million?! The scoreboard - IcyHot was in first, he had it - I headed towards him -
"3 - 2 - 1! TIME UP!"
I hit the ground, with no headband. No victory.
"NOW WE SHALL SEE WHO OUR TOP 4 ARE! IN 1ST PLACE, TEAM TODOROKI! IN 2ND, TEAM BAKUGOU!"
DAMMIT. DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT 2ND PLACE DAMMIT DAMMIT…
"IN 3RD PLACE TEAM TE - HEY, IT'S TEAM SHINSO! "
Even beating Deku wasn't enough…dammit -
"AND IN 4TH PLACE, TEAM MIDORIYA!"
Last I'd seen the scoreboard they had nothing. But at the last second they'd grabbed something from IcyHot. So Deku was in the final round too. Still there.
"THE 1ST FOUR TEAMS WILL MOVE ON TO THE FINAL EVENT! NOW STEP FORWARD! THE EVENT WILL BE AFTER AN HOUR'S LUNCH BREAK! SEE YOU TEHN!"
As I watched, IcyHot went up to him. It looked like he was asking him to go someplace private to talk. I'd miss some of the lunch break…I thought about it for a second, but no way was I letting them go off and talk in private without me.
