I am going to get on a consistent schedule someday, but for now, I'm uploading what I have, then I'll continue writing this cus man did I miss this amazing show! :)

Hope you all like this series as much as I live writing it!

Once again, the Teichidas are my best friend, Hardygal's OCs. They are hers, but she's super sweet and letting me borrow them for this story! Hope you like them!

God Bless and Good Day!

~The Lupine Sojourner

"You better hope your stupid boyfriend doesn't mess this up for us, Yamada." Hiyoko snaps, crossing her arms, nodding toward Katsuki's team.

I blink, looking back at Katsuki's team despite myself. "What?" I ask, raising a brow, then blush a little and scoff. "He's not my boyfriend!" I then decide to change topics. "Just because we're in the same class doesn't mean-" I catch myself and clear my throat. "-we have more important things to discuss, like Quirks and strategy."

I then blink. Did she always have cat ear-looking whisps of hair? And whisker-like markings on her face? Guess so…and she has a medial cleft that adds to the cat-like thing she's got going on. I suppose that's also part of her Quirk. Huh…

Hiyoko sighs. "Fine. Obviously, I got cat-like looks. And I have a solar panel on my back that I can use to store up energy and release it in claws of hardened light. I can use just my fingertips or my toes or both if I want. I can shoot out beams from these three middle fingers," she holds up the three middle fingers on her left hand and I notice she's wearing a glove made to fit over the fingers, with metal claws on the fingertips. "but it hurts a lot to do that and it drains my stored energy to almost nothing. That's about it." I nod, ignoring the odd, knowing look Ryuji gives me like he saw through my facade of not caring what team Eijiro ended up on.

I clear my throat "I can go next. I have two Quirks, actually; I control earth and water. Not great at moving earth, but I can track people using vibrations in the ground, so we won't be caught off guard. Water is much easier, and I can do a lot with it, except change the temperature of it, but my Quirk uses my blood sugar, so I can't do it forever, and earth takes more blood sugar. That's about it, really, besides having about a 10-meter radius if I really try." I turn to Ryuji. "What's your Quirk, Ryuji?"

Ryuji scratches the back of his neck. "Well, nothing fancy like yours. I can read people's emotions, and if I directly tell the person what they're feeling, it intensifies the feeling. And when I do that, it's kind of like manipulating them into feeling more than they normally would."

Hiyoko scoffs. "Yeah. Super annoying when he just spouts off therapist garbage at you because he can tell what you're feeling." Ryuji sighs, choosing not to rise to his step-sister's bait.

"Plus, I can't turn it off. It's not really my fault, Hiyoko-nee." I nod. Oh geez. Despite not being able to turn it off, his Quirk is kinda cool!

"Dude, that's pretty cool!" I reply, smiling.

Ryuji smiles, probably sensing my genuine interest in his Quirk. "Thanks." He turns to Chiharu. "What about you, Chiharu?"

She gestures to her ears. "Well, I got the wolf Quirk, like Ami, and I can do a really loud bark, but it takes my breath away to do it. And that's pretty much it."

I nod. "That's awesome!" I praise, smiling at her.

She grins back. "I know." She teases with a wink. "Anyway, um, I know you're in class 1-A, and Ryuji's in my class in the General Studies course, but which class are you in, Hiyoko?"

"I'm in Class 1-B." Hiyoko replies, crossing her arms. "I wanted to get into 1-A, but it didn't turn out that way." She seems pretty upset she didn't get into 1-A, so I smile at her.

"You know, this whole rivalry between the hero classes is pretty stupid. It's not like we meant to be attacked by villains or whatever, and Katuski is the only asshole in my class. The rest are good people." I then decide to change topics. "Anyway, let's talk strategy real quick. I know Hiyoko's the rider, but who's the front horse?"

Ryuji puts his hand up. "I know my sister the best out of the three of us and I am most likely the strongest- -no offense- -so I'll be the front horse and Takara can be right and Chiharu will be left."

I nod. "Sounds good. Now, do we want to run or try to grab headbands?"

Hiyoko scoffs. "Obviously, we need to play both defense and offense, Yamada. Defend the ones we have and grab a few more to ensure we place well. You all good with that?"

I nod. "Personally, I am. As I said, with my vibration tracking, I can tell where the other teams are and if they're coming up in a blind spot. Plus, if I get some water I'll be able to keep them at bay." I then bite my lip.

How was I gonna get more water? I doubt Oba will let me run to a vending machine or something. My range doesn't reach the stands, either. Shit!

I then decide to try to suck any water I can out of the ground. I find piping below but can't burst them as they are part of the school and I can't damage school property, right? There's not much, but I do add a tiny bit of water to my stash and sigh. I also need food. This game will be rough…I just hope I do well.

I then feel a puddle a little ways away. Izuku is standing by it talking to Ochaco. I raise a brow, but pull the water to me sneakily. Unfortunately, it attracts Mineta's attention. He looks over and motions for me to walk over. I flip him off and scoot closer to my teammates.

We didn't have long till the game started, so we wait for the headbands to be passed out and we can get into formation.

Hiyoko wraps the headband around her head and takes her shoes off. "Alright, you guys. Don't screw this up!" Hiyoko calls as the countdown reaches thirty seconds.

I smile. "We won't. Just climb up already." She does and Chiharu and I offer support as well as Ryuji.

To our right stands a girl with black curly hair and a burly man with a weird bell-like face that looked like some odd helmet. I could see Izuku a little ways away, getting into position with his team.

"Alright! This'll be fun!" Chiharu purrs, snapping me back to reality, as we make final adjustments to positions and the timer rings.

Oba stretches her arms. "Oh, goodie! It's time to get this party started!" She cheers.

"Hey, hey! Look alive!, love" Dad prompts and I hear mom groan as she wakes up. I smile at the thought of Mom napping for fifteen minutes as I prepare to run wherever Hiyoko directs us. "After fifteen minutes to form teams and talk strategy, twelve teams are prepared to go head to head!" Dad cheers.

Mom hums. "I'm seeing some unexpected student combinations." She notes. I bite my lip. Did she not approve of my team?

"C'mon! Everyone, get your hands in the air! It's time for an arena-pumping UA Battle Royale!" Dad continues. "Lemme hear yah scream!" The crowd cheers eagerly and I sigh, trying not to think too much about the crowd watching. I just had to do my best and hope I make it to the next game. "One final countdown before the game starts! 3…2…1…"

"Begin!" Oba Nemuri calls, and we're off.

Hiyoko leans over toward me so we turn that way as we run, away from Izuku and the spotlight. Smart. It appears some other teams have our idea, running from the huge fight and focusing on keep their headbands and stealing if the chance arose.

Once we get settled a bit away from everything, I see Izuku and his team take off into the sky!

"Whoa! What the hell?!" I exclaim, shocked. I then see a girl with pink hair I don't know on Izuku's team and a backpack on Izuku's back. The flying suddenly makes sense, if the pink-haired girl is from the support course.

The support course students are allowed to bring their inventions, right? That's the only way Izuku's team could have those support items.

I then have to refocus on our team as we near the team with Tetsutetsu, who was running after Izuku's team, which was still airborne, and we nearly bump into Hagakure's team, Kyoka sending her earphone jacks after Izuku, as well. Tokoyami is evidently on Izuku's team because next second, Dark Shadow (I'd seen the bird-like thing a few times while we were training. He's cool!) swats the jacks away.

"Stupid bird!" Kyoka exclaims in frustration.

I smirk as we run away.

No one in our immediate area was concerned with any team but Midoriya. Thus, as a team with a red-head rider was distracted, I get Hiyoko's attention and nod to the team.

"I'll grab their headband." I whisper.

Hiyoko nods, so I grab one of the girls' two headbands off with a hook of water.

"Hey, what the- -give that back!" The rider cries as we dodge her team's attempt to get the band back I stumble a bit as I run and my head feels a bit dizzy. Crud! I had to be careful how much I use my Quirk because I don't have unlimited blood sugar here, especially since I had to use my Quirk a lot in the obstacle course. Crap!

Wait, what the–Shoji's with Mineta?! And Tsuyu?! How'd that pervert manage that?! Well, with Shoji's arms protecting them, it's not worth trying to grab their headband, besides…we had a good amount of points. As long as we kept this number, at least for now, I think we'll be okay.

An explosion rattles the ground and I see Katsuki soaring after Izuku's team, who had taken off again. "That can't be legal!" I growl as Dark Shadow blocks an explosion.

Hiyoko scoffs as Katsuki begins falling, only for Hanta to send tape out to grab him and yank him back to his team.

I raise a brow. If they planned that out, they're really smart. More than likely, though, Katsuki acted without thinking and Hanta had to save his ass.

"Is that even allowed!?" Dad asks incredulously.

Katsuki lands gracelessly on his teammates' arms, awkwardly shifting back into position and glaring at everyone.

"He never touched the ground, so technically it's okay." Oba Nemuri replies with her thumb up.

I roll my eyes. Of course she'd be ok with it.

"Oh, hey, Yamada. Your boyfriend's on that blonde asshole's team."

I blush scarlet and refuse to look over, feeling more annoyed and irritated than I should that Hiyoko had brought up Eijiro being my boyfriend again after I told her he wasn't. I knew he was on Katsuki's team already.

"He's not my boyfriend and I already knew that." I growl.

"Calm down and focus on the game, Yamada. Hiyoko-Nee didn't mean anything." Ryuji murmurs calmly.

I take a breath. Eijiro…wasn't my boyfriend, much as I'm beginning to want him to be…so there wasn't any point allowing myself to entertain that fantasy by responding every time someone teases me about it.

Refocusing, I feel a two-person team rapidly gaining on us and slam a platform up as they leap at us. They stumble and nearly fall, and I smirk as they regain their footing and we keep moving.

It was worth the loss in blood sugar.

"Ooo-hoo-hoo! A nice defensive move from Tik- -I mean, um, Takara Yamada of Class 1-A! Nicely done!" Dad gushes and I blush, smiling widely in pride.

"Hizashi, you're supposed to be unbiased." Mom chides.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Dad replies, and I can practically see him pouting.

Reality snaps back in, with that red-head running toward us all of a sudden, raring to grab her headband back.

"We got a team coming up behind us, Hiyoko." I warn.

"So? Use your earth Quirk!" Hiyoko snaps back.

"I told you, controlling earth is harder." I reply, trying not to get mad at her again. "We'll just have to avoid them. I can't use either of my Quirks too much here. I didn't get any food after the race, so I'm about half-empty right now." I explain.

Hiyoko huffs. "Fine. Thanks for the heads up." She says, looking around and directing us away from the other teams.

Ryuji grimaces a little and looks like something's hurting him, but before I can ask what's wrong, Dad's voice booms out over the crowd.

"Now, who wants to take a look at each teams' points so far? It's been seven minutes since the game started, so let's get those rankings thrown up on the screen!" I blink. It'd been seven minutes already? I glance up and see that we're between Shoto's team and Team Kendo, whichever team that is, but…whoa… "Hang on; this is an unexpected turn! Other than Midoriya, Class 1-A's not doing so hot!" I shrink a little in embarrassment. We weren't in the top four. Dad obviously saw that, so he's probably talking about my team as well as the rest of 1-A. Crud… "Even Bakugo is losing!" I feel a tiny little bit better that Dad didn't single me out, but have to refocus as that red-head comes back around for another try at her headband. We barely manage to get away. Ryuji is definitely pained now, and he's trying his best, but he's not as fast as he used to be, so once we've gotten fairly clear I decide to ask.

"Hey, Ryuji, what's wrong? Did you twist an ankle or something?" He forces himself to look more normal.

"No, it's nothing. I just get headaches if there are too many intense emotions around me. The more intense, the more my head hurts."

I wince. "Eesh. Who's giving you a headache?"

"Team Bakugo." He replies. "Specifically Bakugo."

I snort. "Yeah, I'd imagine so. He's…very intense."

"Whatever! Focus!" Hiyoko snaps, not noticing that two-person team from before when they change course to come after us, and I look over my shoulder to see that the horse is a girl with ram-like horns and is bounding over the field on all fours, and the rider looks startled that Hiyoko used her claws. I couldn't do another earth wall, so I settle for warning Hiyoko.

"Close your eyes!" She hisses at us, then when we obey, she uses her sunlight as a kind of stun ray, and we run past them, snatching a headband for good measure while they were still reeling from the bright light.

Before they recover, we're a good distance away, dodging Tsu''s tongue and Mineta's balls.

I can hear him cackling and saying something, but I don't care enough to pay attention, focusing on dodging. Then, once we're settled in the clear, Ryuji bites his lip to muffle a groan.

"C'mon, Ryu-boy, man up! Don't let your headache stop you!" Hiyoko growls.

I frown. "Ryuji, is it getting worse?" I ask.

He nods. "Yeah. Bakugo's so pissed off right now, I can't focus! It's really ramping up my headache."

I bite my lip. "Hang on. We'll try to put some dist- -holy shit you're right!" I look over and flinch when I see Bakugo's pure rage, directed at a boy I think is from Class 1-B.

"Monoma you ass, stop taunting him!" Hiyoko calls as we keep running.

"You in his class or something?" I ask.

"Yeah. I told you, remember? Keep running!" Hiyoko replies. Despite the distance between our teams, I see the boy, 'Monoma', not listening to Hiyoko, twirling what I assume is Katsuki's headband on his finger and saying something to Katsuki, who's getting increasingly pissed off, much to his teammates' concern and fear.

But 'Monoma' doesn't seem to mind. He simply keeps speaking, sealing his fate.

Honestly, I pity the guy. He picked the wrong person to– I feel a team approach and I recognize it as Shoto's team. Before I can even properly react to that, however, I suddenly feel very tingly, painfully so, and the pain increases as every muscle in my body seized up and I shook as electricity coursed through me. Damn Kaminari and his stupid electricity!

As our team reels back, groaning and aching, my feet suddenly feel icy cold. I try to walk to a warmer area, but I find my feet encased in ice.

I blink. Shoto, you ass! Smart move, but still!

"Shoto!" I growl. The teams in the vicinity are frozen to the ground.

"Would you look at that!" Dad calls excitedly. "He's stuck all those teams cold in their tracks!"

I pout a little. Way to state the obvious, dad.

"But only after Kaminari had immobilized the students using his electricity. In the obstacle course, Shoto was surprised at how many people avoided his attack. He's adapting his strategy." Mom replies thoughtfully. I had to hand it to Shoto; he was a great strategist.

"Nice commentary, hun!" Dad praises.

"Yamada, melt the ice!" Hiyoko snaps.

I look at her in irritation. "Weren't you listening?! I can't! I use liquid water! I can't move ice! Defrosting ice takes too much of my blood sugar, and I can't create ice, either. I'm stuck with liquid water!" I reply.

"Ergh! Fine! Cut the ice with the water, then! Hurry!"

I nod and begin cutting us out. Chiharu also uses her bark on the ice around her feet, and that helped a lot.

In our haste to get out of the ice, however, I dropped my guard and didn't hear or feel a team approach till it was too late.

Just as I was about to finish smashing a long-handled hammer of water against the last few spots of ice still stuck to us (Ryuji and Chiharu supporting Hiyoko while Chiharu regained her breath after her bark), I hear Hiyoko curse, feel the balance shift, and chuckling I knew all too well.

I look up and see Shinso's team jogging away, Shinso fixing the headband around his neck.

I glare at him, feeling angrier than I should at the fact that he stole one of our headbands. We were now below Team Tetsutetsu, and Hiyoko leans forward.

"Shinso, you ass!" I bark, still feeling mad. "Get back here!"

He just looks over his shoulder. "It's a competition, Yamada." He places emphasis on my last name, smirking as he does. "We can't be too friendly here."

My eye twitches. "Shinso, you better giv- -waittaminute…you did not!" I just notice that Shinso's horses all look listless, eyes never closing…just blank slates. They were under the influence of his Quirk! That asshole brainwashed his teammates into being his horses, and then steals our headband?! No way!

There were less than six minutes left in the game, as I heard from Dad. We had to get our points back and then grab another headband in that time if we wanted to get into the final game. "Yamada, this isn't the time to get upset!" Ryuji barks. "Focus!" I hardly heard him, whipping the water forward, but Ojiro was on Shinso's team and his tail shattered my formation. I stagger a little. "See?" Ryuji adds.

I grit my teeth, summoning the water back to me. Crap! I can't lose my cool! He was right! I take a breath.

"Ryuji's right, Takara. We have to get our points back, but if we lose our cool, that's not gonna happen." Chiharu adds. "What's got you so bent out of shape, anyway? You know that guy?"

"We went to middle school together. He's my friend. Let's just go." We go after him, then Hiyoko leans toward a struggling team with a kinda werewolf-looking front horse. I see that they have more than two headbands and send the water to grab one as we pass. Now, all we had to do was get our headband back. In just over four minutes. I look over and see that Shinso's gotten a good distance away. "C'mon! We gotta move" I exclaim and race after my middle school friend.

We got closer and closer just as I begin to feel woozy and lightheaded. Not good!

I stagger on, though, gritting my teeth and pressing forward.

"Hey, Yamada! You okay?" Ryuji asks.

"Y-yeah, I…I'm okay," I mumble. "Just getting low. Running also takes energy and I'm almost on empty here." I explain further.

"It would help if you didn't waste your energy on useless attacks." Hiyoko snaps.

I feel my cheeks heat in embarrassment. "Fine fine, whatever." I reply. We didn't have a lot of time to catch up to Shinso.

"Only one minute left!" Dad exclaims. "Team Todoroki has cornered the 10 million point team and is poised to seize the ultimate prize!" I blink. Oh shit! Izuku better hope he can keep his headband for this last minute! "At least, that's what I would have predicted five minutes ago!" Dad adds, laughing.

I then shake myself and try to keep running, but the world was spinning now and it was hard to go in a straight line.

"Guys, Takara's getting worse! We gotta hurry!" Chiharu notes, voice rising in concern.

"There's less than a minute left! Hang on, Yamada!" Ryuji and Hiyoko reply almost perfectly in sync.

I grit my teeth and keep running.

"Unbelievably, Team Midoriya has managed to avoid the ice master for the last half of the game!" Dad continues. I try to keep running, but it's hard when your legs feel like they're dragging weights behind them. We run by a huge ice wall just as we're about catch Shinso.

Guess Shoto didn't…want…interruptions…gotta get the headband…Shinso…gotta…gotta focus! I reach out desperately with my water as the time ticks closer to ending. The world starts to go black and all I can think of doing is getting my team to the next game. As if from a distant tunnel, I hear Dad speaking and some commotion, but I can't focus on that.

Gotta…reach…a little…further….just…

"Tak- -" The world fades as I hear Oba call out the end of the game.

=#=#=#=#=

I come to on the ground, my team around me, looking at me in concern.

"–ney, I think, uh, Team Teichida is having some kind of difficulty there." I distantly hear Dad saying.

"One of the members passed out, it seems. She looks okay, but still. She shouldn't have pushed herself so hard." Mom replies. I feel embarrassed that Mom and Dad were criticizing me in a roundabout way.

"Are you okay?" Chiharu asks, shaking my shoulders.

I groan sluggishly. This was not how I wanted to make an impression. As long as we advance, though, it's worth it. "…Did…did I do it? Did we get the band?" I mumble, sitting up and holding my head.

"…um…well…"

I pale and feel ready to pass out again. No, no, no! "We didn't make it to the final game?"

Ryuji looks at me sympathetically. He knew how I was feeling. "No, but we tried our best. That's what matters." He says consolingly.

It doesn't help at all.

Hiyoko sighs. "Yeah, you tried damn hard, we all did, but it just…just wasn't…" She swallows thickly. "It didn't happen." Shinso is suddenly behind my teammates, looking at me in concern.

Chiharu and Ryuji scoot aside a little so he can help me up.

"You shouldn't have pushed yourself till you passed out, idiot." He says.

I nod. "Yeah, but I wanted to get into the next game so bad…I didn't think straight."

"Hmm, and I probably shouldn't have targeted your team like I did. Sorry."

I shake my head, ignoring the way it made me feel dizzy. "No, no. Like you said, this is a competition. Congrats." I'd glanced up after he stole our headband and saw that he was in the top four.

He nods. "Thanks. Let's get you some food."

I shake my head again. I was feeling stronger now, and could make it to the vending machines alone. I…I needed to be alone right now. Luckily, it seemed like Mom and Dad had moved on from my passing out, so I was okay to sneak out and get food. I didn't want to face anyone right now.

"I'll be okay, Shinso. I'm gonna go to the bathroom and get myself some food."

"Food first, Yamada." Shinso says, understanding why I declined his escort offer and walking away.

Chiharu grabs my arm. "Yeah, let's go."

I feel my emotions rising and pry her hand off reluctantly. "I really appreciate it, Chiharu, but I'll be fine…" I assure her. "I'll be back in a sec." I walk away before anyone can call me back and somehow manage to make it to the bathroom before the dam bursts and suddenly I'm sitting on a toilet sobbing my heart out. I didn't make it into the final game…I failed.

What would Mom and Dad think?! Oh dear Lord I can't face them! They're already disappointed, I know it! I tried my hardest and I failed! Thoughts lost all reason and sense at that point, flooding into me and back out again too fast for me to process. After what feels like forever, I manage to get myself together and shakily get to my feet, wobbling as I walk out and find a vending machine. Shinso was waiting.

"You forgot your wallet, Takara." He says, giving me a small smile over his shoulder. He knew what I'd been doing. It wasn't like you couldn't look at me and tell I'd been crying. I instinctively lean my head on his shoulder tiredly as he inserts a bill and presses the buttons for gummies. Those gummies had a lot of sugar. Good. He lets my head lull to the side while he grabs the gummies and hands them to me. He then walks over to the drink machine and gets himself and I water. He then walks over to a bench and I follow.

"…Thanks, Shinso." I mumble around a few gummies as we sit down.

"Don't mention it. Now we're even, right?"

I chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so." I lean on his shoulder again. "Can I stay here a sec? I don't want to go back yet."

He nods. "Not too long, but yeah. Get yourself together." I chuckle again and eat more gummies in silence.

Why was he different than Eijiro? Why can I lean on his shoulder and not get super flustered?

Maybe it's just that Shinso's been around too long. I never grew attracted to him romantically because he had been there since before I thought of boys like that. He'd been my friend so long it was hard to picture him as anything else.

Regardless, it was nice that he knew he didn't have to give me a pep talk. He just had to be here, letting me lean on his shoulder for a moment. This was a moment I needed to collect my thoughts and composure.

Not getting into the final game had been a blow.

I tried as hard as I could, but couldn't quite get that headband we needed to get into the next game. That was that, no need to get caught up on other thoughts.

"Oh, good. You're feeling a little better." Comes Ryuji's voice as he rounds a corner.

I smile at him. "Yeah, a little. Sorry for worrying you guys." I mumble.

Ryuji smiles. "Sorry I didn't stop you using your Quirk sooner. That last formation took too much out of you. I should have said something."

"Nah, I'm the idiot that made the formation despite knowing it really wasn't my best move. I just really wanted to grab our headband."

Shinso sighs.

"And I really wanted to get into the next game."

I chuckle. "I know. I don't hold it against you. Oh, by the way, this is Teichida Ryuji. Ryuji, this is Hitoshi Shinso, a guy I- -"

"Went to middle school with." Ryuji interjects, smiling. "You mentioned when he stole our headbands."

I frown, munching on the last of the gummies. "Oh. Really? Sorry."

He shakes his head. "No worries. You wanna head back or do you want me to bring someone here? You still seem pretty upset." I sigh. While I did want to hug Eijiro right now, I'm not sure I want him to know how badly I reacted. "I mean, um, I- -" Ryuji looks flustered, waving his hands around a little frantically.

"It's fine, Ryuji. Um…I think I'm okay to walk back, slow, but I don't really want everyone knowing what I did, so…"

"You look like shit, Takara. That's not going away easily." Shinso quips, crossing his arms.

I sigh. "Thanks, Shinso…"

Shinso points to the bathroom sign. "Go back in there and splash your face with cold water a few times, don't rub your eyes, and pat it dry." He then holds up my water bottle. "Then chug this."

I nod. He had probably done this before and knew how to hide it. I feel horrible I couldn't always help him when he got depressed and felt awful, but I do what I can.

I walk in and the water feels great on my face. I splash it a few times and gently pat my face dry.

I feel better and come back out.

Immediately, Shinso hands me my water. I chug it and feel even better. I start walking back and side-hug Shinso when he catches up.

"I really appreciate this, Shinso." I tell him.

He nods. "No problem. Just don't mention it."

I nod in pretend sobriety. "Riiight. Can't let anyone know you actually feel things." I tease.

He chuckles, knowing I didn't mean it literally. "No, not at all." He replies, then leaves me to walk the rest of the way over to my teammates.

I wasn't totally better but I was coming to grips with not being in the final game and I guess that was about all I can do at this point.

I can't change the past. I can only live with it.