Chapter 33 incoming. This chapter and the three chapters after it took me awhile to figure out and get everything in order. A lot of prep work had to go into this arc. Anyways I've got one review to reply to.

rsclaymore: Shit, I forgot about Zwei. Thanks for the reminder.

Now, on to the chapter.


Sports Festival Arc

Chapter 33: Off to Battle

"Before we get started, let me explain the rules of the cavalry battle." Midnight began. "The match will last 15 minutes. Each team is worth the total of the members' points. The rider will wear a headband with the teams total points on it. The goal is to grab each other's points while maintaining your own until the round is over. Any headband you take must be worn from the neck up. This of course means the more you have the harder it'll be to manage.

"It's important to note that even if your headband is taken or your horse formation is broken up, you're not out. Quirk use is allowed however, it's still a cavalry battle so attacks meant to knock people down will result in a disqualification."

Damn. Katsuki thought to himself.

"You have 15 minutes to build your teams. Get moving!" Midnight finished.

Immediately everyone went to form teams. Okay, given my point value I can focus on who'll be best to form a team with rather than take into account how many points they have. But that leads me to my main problem. Izuku thought to himself. NO ONE WANTS TO BE ON A TEAM WITH ME CAUSE I'VE GOT TEN MILLION FRICKING POINTS! Izuku was currently standing by himself, everyone going out of their way to avoid him. How am I going to form a team if no one wants to team up with me. What am I going to do?

"Deku!" Ochako called out.

"Huh?" Izuku expressed as he looked towards her.

"Let's team up." She stated.

"URARAKA!" Izuku cried, large amounts of tears spraying from his eyes. "Are you sure about this?! Everyone's gonna be after me because of my ten million freaking points."

"That's not a problem as long as we run away." Ochako pointed out.

"E-e-easier said than done." Izuku replied.

"Who cares how easy or hard it is?" Ochako declared. "Besides, it's always better to team up with people you get along with."

A bright aura seemed to surround Ochako from Izuku's perspective. His heart clenched from the sight, his face heated up and scrunched up.

"Ahhh… Deku your face is all red and ugly!" Ochako exclaimed.

"I'm fine you're just so bright I had to look away." Izuku expressed as he shielded his eyes. "Anyways, I actually wanted to team up with you too. Like you said it's best to work with people you get along with. Now we just need Iida and…"

Izuku looked to see Tenya already talking with Shoto.

"Right, he's also looking to compete with me isn't he?" Izuku expressed with a sigh.

"Midoriya…" He heard a familiar voice call out to him.

He and Ochako turned to see Itsuka walking up to him. She smirked lightly.

"Wanna team up with me?" She questioned while pointing to herself..

"You want to team up with us?" Izuku questioned.

"Yeah, Todoroki is gonna be aiming for ya and I'm itching to face him." Itsuka declared.

"HUH?!" Both Izuku and Ochako expressed.

"What Todoroki said about not being here to play friends really hit me. Even though we haven't interacted too much. I thought there was the start of something between us. I know we're all here to compete and that he didn't say that to me specifically but it still hurt. It felt like he just tossed any notion of being friends or comradery aside like they were worth nothing at all. That's why I want to fight him." Itsuka expressed bodly.

"I see… yeah… this could actually workout pretty well. We just need one more person." Izuku stated.

"Right here Mr. First Place." Mei Hatsume exclaimed, appearing right next to Izuku.

"Gughadspfasdfasf… who are you and where'd you come from?!" Izuku exclaimed.

"I'm Mei Hatsume from the support course and I'm here to be on your team!" Mei exclaimed.

"Wait, aren't you the girl helping Ruby with her sniper scythe thing?" Izuku noted.

"That's right!" Mei exclaimed, moving even closer to Izuku.

"Way too close!" Izuku squeaked.

"I would join up with her, but if I want the big companies to notice my beautiful babies then being on the team who everyone one will be watching is my best shot."

"Well at least she's honest." Itsuka deadpanned.

"Wait… babies, big companies what do…" Ochako began.

"Plus it'll be advantageous for you so it's a win-win." Mei continued.

Aaaaand I'm being ignored. Ochako thought to herself.

"We in the support course build all kinds of equipment to help you heroes with your quirks and I've got plenty of my cute babies on hand for you to use." Mei explained while opening a chest full of gadgets.

She took out a jet pack.

"This one would probably be to your liking, I model it after a certain hero's backpack, with a few modifications of my own." Mei brought up.

"Oh, you're talking about the Buster Hero Air Jet? I love that guy." Izuku expressed.

"Really?" Mei replied excitedly.

"Yeah his agency is fairly close to me. I've been on a tour of it before." Izuku added.

As Mei and Izuku gushed about heroes with each other. Ochako looked on with seeming dispassion. They're getting along fairly quickly.

"No need to be so jealous, Ochako." Itsuka stated.

"Huh?" Ochako expressed with a red face. "What… I'm not… I'm not jealous. Me… jealous… of what? There's nothing to be jealous of. I don't know what you're talking about. It's not like I have a crush on Deku or anything, nope, definitely not, we're just friends you hear me, friends. I have no reason to be jealous of him and Hatsume getting close."

Itsuka rolled her eyes.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that." She replied.

"Alright, I think this can work. Now here's how we'll form up." Izuku declared.


A little later…

A buzzer announced the end of the team building phase.

"After 15 minutes, the students have formed a total of 16 teams who are lined up and ready to go!" Mic announced.

Qrow shook Aizawa awake.

"What do you guys think of the teams formed?" Mic inquired.

"I dinks da writer gave himselfs a headache sorting dis all outs." Splinter noted.

"Don't know what that means, but we do have some interesting combinations here." Qrow noted.


|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Team Kendo -|||||||||||||||||||||- Team Rin -|||||||||||||||||||||- Team Tsunotori -||||||||||||||||- Team Kodai -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Itsuka Kendo[165] -|||||||||||||- Hiryu Rin[75] -|||||||||||||||||- Pony Tsunotori[45] -|||||||||||- Yui Kodai[80] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Mei Hatsume[20] -|||||||||||||||- Jurota Shishida[90] -||||||||||- Togaru Kamakiri[55] -||||||||||- Manga Fukidashi[30] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Ochako Uraraka[265] -||||||||||- Total: 165 -|||||||||||||||||||- Total: 100 -||||||||||||||||||||- Kojiro Bondo[110] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Izuku Midoriya[10m] -|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 220 -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 10,000,450 -|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Team Mineta -||||||||||||||||||||- Team Shinso -||||||||||||||||||- Team Rose -||||||||||||||||||||- Team Monoma -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Minoru Mineta[150] -||||||||||||- Hitoshi Shinso[100] -|||||||||||- Ruby Rose[260] -||||||||||||||- Neito Monoma[50] -|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Mezo Shoji[175] -|||||||||||||||- Mei Amai[160] -||||||||||||||||- Shun Usagiyama[225] -||||||||- Shihai Kuroiro[85] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Tsuyu Asui[180] -||||||||||||||||- Flash Dallas[145] -|||||||||||||- Ibara Shiozaki[245] -|||||||||||- Sen Kaibara[125] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 505 -|||||||||||||||||||||- Nirengeki Shoda[70]-|||||||||||- Yuga Aoyama[15] -||||||||||||- Kosei Tsuburaba[120] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 475 -|||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 745 -|||||||||||||||||||- Total: 385 -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Team Tetsutetsu -|||||||||||||||- Team Bakugo -||||||||||||||||||- Team Todoroki -||||||||||||||||- Team Hagakure -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu[195] -|||- Katsuki Bakugo[250] -||||||||||- Shoto Todoroki[255] -|||||||||- Toru Hagakure[40] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Juzo Honenuki[235] -||||||||||- Eijiro Kirishima[200] -|||||||||||- Tenya Iida[230] -|||||||||||||||- Kyoka Jiro[130] -|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Rikido Sato[170] -|||||||||||||- Mina Ashido[140] -|||||||||||||||- Momo Yaoyorozu[155] -||||||- Koji Koda[135] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Yosetsu Awase[185] -|||||||||- Hanta Sero[210] -|||||||||||||||- Denki Kaminari[115] -|||||||||- Jaune Arc[220] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 785 -|||||||||||||||||||- Total: 800 -|||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 755 -||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 525 -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Team Mizu -|||||||||||||||||||- Team Tokage -||||||||||||||||||- Team Kumoko -|||||||||||||||||- Team Ren -||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Chihiro Mizu[10] -|||||||||||||- Setsuna Tokage[35] -|||||||||||- Kumoko[95] -||||||||||||||||||- Lie Ren[205] -|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Jun Sutoretchi[5] -||||||||||||- Kinoko Komori[60] -||||||||||||- Karen Mitsudo[65] -||||||||||||- Nora Valkyrie[240] -|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 15 -||||||||||||||||||||- Reiko Yanagi[105] -|||||||||||||- Hans Erfinder[25] -||||||||||||||- Fumikage Tokoyami[215p] -||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 200 -||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 185 -|||||||||||||||||||||- Mashiro Ojiro[190p] -|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||- Total: 850 -|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||


"Interesting indeed, we'll have to see how this all plays out." Aizawa added.


On the field…

"Can't wait to get out there and show these guys whose boss." Shun exclaimed.

She took the lead in the formation.

"Hell yeah. Let's go Team aahhh… let's see uuhhhh… hm… maybe… hm… hey guys what's something that either is or relates to a color that we can sound out from 'R, S, Y, I'?" Ruby asked. "It has to start with 'R' BTWs. Oh and we can use the first letter of our family names if we have to."

Ibara, a girl with long vines for hair, looked up to Ruby in confusion. She was on the left side of the formation from Ruby's perspective. Shun had convinced her to join.

"Is that something we should concern ourselves with given the match is going to start soon?" She questioned.

"I think it'd be fun. Oh… let me try ahh… oh… if you use mine, Aoyama's, and Shiozaki's family name, we can make team RUSA(rosa), which kind of sounds like rose."

"R, U, S, A combined can sound like 'loser' you know (R and L sound similar in Japanese and the U is pronounced "oo")." Ibara pointed out.

"Let's not dwell on that and go with what I said. Besides with Ruby's family name and your hair it's the perfect name for our team." Shun pointed out.

"Do not forget zat it pairz well with what our team iz. We are like the rose, Beautiful and deadly." Yuga added.

Yuga was on the right side of the formation from Ruby's perspective. He's only there because Ruby saw he didn't have a team and felt sorry for him.

"Anyways thanks for team up with me Ruby. I thought for sure you'd go with one of your other friends since we haven't known each other that long." Shun noted as she turned her head to try and look up at Ruby.

"No problem I figure because we haven't known each other for too long. This would be a good way to get to know each other better." Ruby answered.

Also I wanted me, Jaune, Ren, and Nora to split up as best we could so there's more shots for one of us to get seen during this event. She mentally added.

"I'm kind of surprised you didn't want to team up with your classmates. Weren't you guys doing some kind of strategy to pull one over on us?" Ruby questioned.

"You knew about that?!" A multitude of voices questioned.

The voices came not just from Ibara and Shun but from the members of Team Shinso and Team Monoma.

"How do you know about that? Did you guys tell her?" Neito, a boy with short blond hair, questioned.

"Hey I'm a rabbit not a rat! I didn't tell her Monama! Were just as surprised as you are!" Shun shouted.

"Even if I don't agree with such devious tactics, I would not jeopardize the success of our classmates by revealing it to her until the start of the match." Ibara added.

"Then how'd she know?" Neito questioned.

"I figured it out." Ruby answered. "Class B should be even with Class A. Even if one is better than the other, there's probably not that big of a difference. So I thought it was weird when I saw so many of you guys placed low. I thought that maybe you guys were planning something and it looks like I was right."

Neito's mouth dropped, shocked by Ruby's deduction.

"Hint, my friend Jaune probably has the same line of thinking going on. He's better at strategy than me." Ruby admitted. "But I've got other skills that make me the better leader."

"Sounds like you and this Jaune are quite the power couple. How long have you two been dating?" Mei questioned.

Ruby's face turned beet red.

"W-w-w-what are you talking about? Me? Date Jaune? Now way! We're just friends!" Ruby replied.

"We'll see how long that lasts." Mei pointed out.

Longer than you'd think, with what happened to Pyrrha he's… wait… the way I'm thinking implies that it will happen… and I'm excited and hopeful about it… oh gods… Yang was right… I would start being into other kinds of swords as I got older… gods… I still can't believe she said something like that around me! I had the purity of an innocent child for pete's sake! That reminds me… how did Uncle Qrow end up on that windowsill?

While this was going on, Izuku and his team stood ready for the match to begin at any moment. For their formation Itsuka was the rider with Izuku taking the front of the formation, Ochako on the left, and Hatsume on the right. Itsuka had Hatsume's jetpack on, while Hatsume and Ochako had footwear to help with landing in on the ground movement. All eyes were fixed on them, like predators waiting for the moment they could pounce on their prey. Calm down Itsuka, remember the plan…


Earlier…

"You want me to be the rider?" Itsuka questioned, somewhat surprised.

"Yep, it's the best choice if we want to win." Izuku answered.

"Not that I doubt you Deku but why? I figured you want to be the rider. Especially since you're the reason we have a million points." Ochako brought up.

"Two reasons, one, with this set up we can maximize our speed and defense all in one go. Having Itsuka as the rider frees her up to use her enlarged hands more freely, while having me in the front will allow us to make up for our lack of speed." Izuku explained. "The second and, in my opinion, more important reason is countering enemy speedsters."

"How is Itsuka a counter to speedsters? It's not like she can slow them down." Ochako brought up.

"I get what Izuku's getting at. Me and Ruby trained at the same dojo about seven months before the Entrance Exam. Since I've spared with her a lot, I'm better equipped to handle faster opponents in combat situations." Itsuka explained. "So if someone like Ruby or Iida comes charging at us, with me we'll have a better shot of avoiding their steal attempt than if we had Izuku in as the rider."

"Exactly…" Izuku replied. "Our plan is simple, me and Uraraka combined with Hatsume's gadgets will focus on evading as many people as we can. We'll have Uraraka make everything but herself, our clothing, and our equipment weightless to let us move a little faster and take to the air. If anyone does manage to catch us Kendo will fend them off while we focus on getting out of there. Sounds good?"

"Yep!" Ochako cheered.

"Sounds like a plan." Itsuka replied. "I'll call out things as best as I can."

"Right," Izuku replied. "Hatsume?"

"As long as I can show off my babies I'm okay with it." Hatsume stated.

"Then let's do this!" Izuku shouted.


Present…

Everything sounds good on paper, let's put it into practice.

"Three!"

Everyone got ready.

"Two!"

Tensions rose.

"ONE!"

All eyes fixed on their targets.

"START!" Midnight shouted.

Seemingly every team charged at them.

"Right off the bat huh?" Itsuka muttered.

She smirked.

"Bring it. Let's get up into the air!" Itsuka ordered.

A kick from Izuku combined with a blast from Itsuka's jetpack sent them high in the air. All eyes went to them. Itsuka looked down, only to see Kyoka's earphone cables extending up towards them. She enlarged her hand and swiped them away.

"Tch…" Kyoka clicked in annoyance.

She formed the front of her team's formation. Jaune was on the left with Koji on the right. Toru was the rider. Everyone on her team but herself was noticeably blushing due to the fact that she was topless.

"Don't let up, let's keep after them." Toru ordered.

Jaune, who had remained aware of his surroundings noticed a team coming up on them.

"Hagakure duck now!" Jaune shouted.

"Huh?" Toru replied in confusion but did so.

Because of this, she narrowly avoided an attempt at her headband.

"Aaaahhh… close one. Thanks Jaune." Toru expressed as she shot back up.

"No problem, but looks like my guess was right. 1-B purposefully threw the first round to make themselves look less threatening to keep them off our radar while enabling them to gain knowledge of our moveset." Jaune noted.

"Not bad!" Neito called out. "I'm guessing your Jaune. Ruby did mention how you also were likely to figure out our plan."

Suddenly a red blur of roses flew by him and then his headbands were gone.

"HUH?!" He expressed.

Ruby landed back on her team's arms.

"Thank you." She stated as she put them around her neck.

"Oh come on, is that even allowed?!" Neito questioned.

"She didn't touch the ground so it's okay on technicality." Midnight called.

"Ha ha looks like your own strategy got used against you." Toru pointed out.

Neito clicked his tongue in annoyance before he noticed something.

"Might want to check your own headband." He replied with a smirk.

"Huh?" Toru questioned.

She felt for her own head band, only to find it missing.

"WHAT?! When did I lose it!" She exclaimed.

"Too easy." Hitoshi muttered as he and his team snuck away.

Across the field, teams competed with each other to grab each other's headband.

"Looks like a lot of teams are opting to not go for the ten million points but try and grab other headbands." Mic pointed out.

"It makes sense. You don't have to get first place to move on. Going for second, third, or fourth is a perfectly viable strategy." Qrow added.

"But because of that, we've got an all out brawl going on down there!" Mic shouted. "What kind of twists will happen. Will Team Kendo hold onto first place or will someone steal the crown? Will Class B's strategy work out in the end or will something unexpected throw them off? Who will emerge from this event as the victors and what will happen to those who don't?"

"Finds outs nexts chapter." Splitter added.

"What?!" Qrow questioned.


Ruby: Well looks like Present Mic did our job for us.

Izuku: Not complain!

Itsuka: Izuku run faster!

Izuku: I'm running as fast as I can! Wait we're flying right now.

Shun: Ruby focus you just lost our headband!

Ruby: A crap!

Ibara: Worry not I've got it.

Ruby: Thanks Ibara.

Weiss: You guys focus on the event I'll wrap this up.

Everyone: WHEN DID YOU GET HERE!

Weiss: Two chapters ago. Anyways, Next time Chapter 34: An all out Brawl. Look forward to it.


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