Izuku raises his hand, face fully serious, "Can I drop out?"

Midnight looks slightly stunned before laughing, "That depends on why, Midoriya." She smirks, peeking up to the booth where Present Mic and Eraserhead were. "Though I doubt he will allow it."

"I didn't mean to get first place, and I don't even wanna be a Pro-Hero..." Izuku trails off, hearing the rumbling that erupted in the crowds of people. Shinsou places his hand on his shoulder, and Izuku is reminded of the reason he's here. "Uh..."

"Midoriya, put your hand down."

Izuku's eye twitches, "Right. Sorry, never mind, continue Midnight-sensei." He rubs the back of his neck, feeling the stares, which act like daggers, piercing him. He couldn't stop himself from hunching his shoulders, subconsciously attempting to shrink right where he stood. He lets out an aggravated sigh, anxiety and annoyance making him irritated. It felt like junior high and the years before that; the stares, the mumbling, the judgement.

("What even is his quirk?"

"Not sure, he didn't seem to use it in the first round."

"He looks so weak! How did he even make first place?"

"I'm surprised he's from gen ed and not from one of the hero courses.")

The worst part is that they didn't know he was quirkless yet.

"Now then, I will explain the rules of the cavalry battle." Midnight is quick to take back attention, swinging her arm outward, whip following. The screen she was showcasing changed, showing a picture of All Might being lifted by three people (though Izuku could only make out two from where he was: 13 and Present Mic).

"The time limit is fifteen minutes. Each team is worth the total of its members' points, and the riders will wear a headband with that number on their foreheads." A large fifty appears on screen, showing the total points added together. "Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out and try to keep as many points as they can. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up." The screen then shows All Might wearing the headbands as an example. "So the more you steal, the harder it'll be to manage them! And the most important thing is that even if your headband gets stolen, or if your team falls, you're not out!" The Pro-Hero points her whip at the students, grinning.

Izuku peeks over at Shinsou, who also looks at him, and they both nod. Midnight continues, "During the game, it'll be a cruel fight where you can use your quirks. But it is still a cavalry battle. You'll get a red card for attacks that are trying to make people fall on purpose! You'll get removed immediately! Now, you have fifteen minutes to build your teams." The screen turns into a timer, showing fifteen minutes. "Start!"

Izuku quickly turns to Shinsou. "Okay," he starts. "We need at least one other person to join our group. I'm not sure who would be willing to join, considering it seems we're the only general studies students that made it past the first round. All students in both hero courses were able to pass, but there's one spot for someone outside of the courses and us. Maybe we should try to find them and see if they'll join or not."

Just as Shinsou opens his mouth to respond, a random voice butts into the conversation. "No need to search!" Both boys startle at the random appearance of a pink-haired girl with a huge grin. "Team up with me, first place!"

Izuku blinks. "Who...?"

"I'm Hatsume Mei, from the support course!" She raises a hand to her goggles, lifting them on to her head to show her yellow eyes. She confidently puts her hands on her waist. "I don't know you, but let me use your position!" Izuku goes to looks at Shinsou but leans back when Hatsume gets into his face. "If I team up with you, then I'll inevitably become part of the team everyone's watching most, right?" She leans in closer, her eyes bright and wide. "If that happens, then my super cute babies will inevitably be seen by the big companies." She leans in again, and Shinsou has to place a hand on Izuku's back to keep him from falling. "That means, in other words, that those big companies will see my babies!"

"Ba... bies...? Okay..." Shinsou mumbles, brows knitting together in bewilderment as he watches Hatsume gush about how much her babies would help them.

"And I think you guys will also benefit." Hatsume opens up a box, showing off her loving equipment with exuberance and pride. "The support course develops equipment that helps heroes deal with their quirks. I have a ton of babies, so I'm sure you'll be able to find one that you like!" Izuku goes to say something when the girl continues. "Oh, has this one caught your eye?" She lifts one of her creations, carefully holding it up as to make sure it doesn't fall. "I made this based on a certain hero's backpack adding my own original twist to it."

Izuku's eyes light up slightly in realization. "You talking about Air Jet?" Hatsume giggles in response, affirming his guess. The green-haired teen turns to Shinsou. "It's up to you if we take her or not. I'm not sure that many people would want to join our team though."

Shinsou shrugs, placing a hand on the back of his neck, "No point in not letting her join. Good thing it isn't just us. I doubt we'd get far with my quirk and your brain."

"Brain?" Izuku gives a lazy grin. "I'm afraid that thing's ran off a long time ago. I'm a certified dumbass working on stupidity at the moment."

"Then I guess we're screwed," Shinsou snorts, shutting his tired eyes in amusement for a long second.

"Excuse me."

The group of three turn to the new voice.

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to have me on your team."

"Now then, it's about time to get started!" The alarm blares, and Midnight stretches her arm over her chest, the separated handcuffs jingling on her wrists.

"After fifteen minutes to form teams and talk strategy," Present Mic exclaims, "twelve cavalry teams are lined up on the field!"

Aizawa's tired voice comes over the stadium as he comments, "There are some interesting teams out there."

"Now, raise those battle cries! It's time for U.A.'s bloody battle! Light the signal fire!"

Izuku rolls his eyes, shifting to get a better hold. He looks up to Shinsou, who is placing the team's point-count of 10,000,270 around his neck, then he looks over to his two other teammates. He takes a deep breath, cooling the nerves that randomly appeared in the pit of his stomach, and exhales, humming slightly. "Y'know everyone's gonna come after us, right?

Shinsou snorts, "And who's fault is that? Last I checked, I only had eighty points, Mr. Ten Million."

"Oh, piss off. I didn't mean to get first place, I was just focusing on getting through to the next round so that I can help you. Technically, this is your fault," Izuku looks off to the side, definitely not pouting. "Thanks a lot, Shinsou."

Hatsume beams, giggling, "Thanks to Shinsou, my babies will get the recognition they deserve!"

"Maybe I should've chosen a less energetic team..." Tokoyami shuts his eyes, Dark Shadow curling out excitedly in front of him.

"Can't go back now, Tokoyami," Izuku smirks, chuckling darkly.

"You're stuck with us until the next round," Shinsou finishes, letting his teeth-bared smile appear on his face.

Tokoyami sighs, "What madness..."

"All right! You've made your teams, right? I'm not gonna ask if you're ready or not!" The audience cheers loudly as the Pro starts the match. "Now, let's go! Counting down to the brutal battle royal! Three!"

Izuku narrows his eyes, "You ready?"

"Hell no," Shinsou responds.

"Two!"

"This is weird to say, but we can do this, guys."

"One!"

Hatsume grins wildly, while Tokoyami nods.

"Aw, he cares―"

"Shut up!"

Midnight finishes, cracking her whip with a yell. "Start!"

Team Shinsou stays in place, watching as herds of teams came running.

"An attack without delay, huh..." Tokoyami muses. "The fate of the pursued... Make your choice, Shinsou, Midoriya!"

Shinsou looks down at Izuku, a bead of sweat dripping down his face. "Midoriya...?"

"We gotta get to somewhere less populated! Too many teams like this isn't good for the plan!" Midoriya narrows his eyes, though they widen in surprise when the ground beneath him becomes soft. "Crap..."

"I won't let you!" The silver guy from earlier shouts, eyes full of determination.

Izuku clicks his tongue, "We're sinking!" He racks his brain for a coherent idea, eyes moving all over the place until they land on Shinsou's back. "Shinsou, the jet pack! Get into the air and fly to somewhere that isn't dangerous! The rules didn't say anything about riders getting into the air."

"Right." Shinsou brings the button upward, then he orders, "Turn your heads!"

The jet pack comes to life, and Shinsou goes up into the air with the grace of a newborn fawn, nearing turning upside-down when he has to avoid multiple green vines. Izuku forces himself to bring his eyes back down to the team closest to them. He shouts to them, "Our points are in the air, away from us! No point in sticking around!"

"He'll have to come back sometime!" One of them yells back, though Izuku doesn't know their name. He could tell the team was made up of 1-B students, seeing as how 1-B has a weird grudge against 1-A, but he didn't recognize any of them.

Izuku puts on a smug look, "'He has enough fuel to stay in the air the whole round! You'd just be wasting your time, why not go after another team? Like one of 1-A's?" He bluffs and uses the rivalry against the classes, hoping that it'd be enough to get them to go away. Some of the teams that had charged towards them earlier had already backed off, while some looked on, tense and ready to strike if needed. The team talks to each other, voices quiet enough to not be able to understand most of the conversation, before reaching a decision.

"Fine! Let's go!"

Izuku releases a sigh of relief, watching the team back off. The teams who had stayed seemed hesitant to even still be there, and a few more moved on, perhaps to go after Shinsou or other teams. "I'm surprised that worked..."v

"My babies are amazing, but you know it doesn't have unlimited fuel, right?" Hatsume asks, looking over to Izuku.

"Yeah, which is why we need to get out of here and over to Shinsou. Can't waste too much, never know when we might need him to go off again." Izuku tries to lift his leg out of quicksand-like ground only to be met with resistance. "You think your rocket shoes could get me out?"

Hatsume nods, her dreadlocks flying every-which-way, "Of course!"

Izuku feels the shoes turn on, and he slowly inches upward until he shoots up out of the ground, some of it splashing around due to the force. He drops down on normal ground and makes his way over to Tokoyami. He stops in front of him. "You guys don't have the shoes... can Dark Shadow get you guys out?"

The dark teen puts on a thoughtful expression, "Perhaps. Dark Shadow!"

"Right!"

The sentient being wraps their shadowy arms around their master and pulls. Tokoyami gradually rises out of the dirt and is placed on the hard ground. He praises his guardian before telling them to get Hatsume out as well. They quickly pull Hatsume out, and the Izuku quickly looking into the sky to search for Shinsou. "There!" He points, "He's on the far side, and there's a bunch of teams under him. We gotta go!"

The team hastily make their way to their rider, dodging other teams fighting and anywhere that the ground was messed with. Soon enough, they make it to the edge of the small crowd of teams under Shinsou. Said purple-haired teen was carrying a slightly nervous expression, which makes sense, considering how he constantly had to move away from oncoming air attacks. Izuku takes in the situation, eyes looking over the hero students aiming to get their points. He turns to his group. "Okay, okay, we, uh..." He looks back to Shinsou before shaking his head. "Sorry. Okay, we should probably get away from these teams―sorry, probably should've thought of this faster. We'll get Shinsou to come back to us, and Dark Shadow can make sure he doesn't die, but to make sure no teams intercept him, we need to move away."

"Understood," Tokoyami says, nodding.

Hatsume coos, "Isn't my baby amazing?! Keeping him in the air for so long!"

"Very," Izuku chuckles. "Let's go then!"

The team moves away to a less populated area before Izuku shouts to his friend, "Shinsou!"

Shinsou looks over to Izuku, quickly finding the head of green curls and, soon after, his other teammates. Izuku taps around his neck, making sure the other can see the motion. Shinsou's face twists in slight confusion before it turns smooth with realization. He tugs the headband off and holds it out like he's offering a toy to a pet, to which the groups under him eyeball accordingly. He gives a teeth-baring grin and releases the high point value, letting the slight wind carry it away.

"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! Getting rid of their points? What is Team Shinsou doing?!"

"Clearly, they have a plan," Eraserhead simple states.

Shinsou flies over to his team, but he hovers over them, not knowing how to get down. Izuku looks over to Tokoyami, and the bird-headed male nods, so he yells again, "Turn the jet pack off! We'll get you, but you have to turn it off!" Shinsou looks at him likes he's crazy for a split second. He takes a deep breath, mutters something, and hesitantly presses the button that turns the support item off. Then, he is falling, limbs flailing, while Dark Shadow goes to catch him. Shinsou lands in the sentient being's arms and is brought back down to the those on the ground, who were already in proper formation again.

Shinsou lets out a puff of air, "Holy sh―I do not recommend that. Fuck, zero out of ten, would not do that shit again."

"There are children around, Shinsou, language!"

"Shut the fuck up, Midoriya. What do we do now?"

"Thought that was obvious." Izuku looks up at him, grinning, "Time to show off that wonderful quirk of yours."

Shinsou secures another headband around his neck as his team quickly scurries away from the one they stole from. He calls back, "You might wanna give him a little shove!"

Izuku chuckles as he hears one of the blonds scream at them in displeasure. "Super glad we have Tokoyami and Hatsume on our team, or you definitely would have gotten K. by one of those long-range quirks."

"Happy to be here!" Hatsume beams, elated to have the chance to present her beautiful babies.

Before Tokoyami can get a word out, someone screeches, "DEKU!"

Izuku flinches, his smile stiff. "I really should've expected this." He hangs his head and sighs, looking defeated, before looking over to the voice. "Bakugou! Hey, man! It's been a while, how have you been?" He watches for a full second as Bakugou gets close. "We may wanna start getting away. This probably isn't gonna―move!"

Izuku pulls on Shinsou's arm, bringing him down and to the side, as Bakugou suddenly reaches a hand towards their headbands with a shout. The blond is brought backwards, a white tape-looking rope wrapped around him, and Izuku releases Shinsou quickly ordering, "Shinsou, use your quirk! We need to get away, and Dark Shadow isn't good with Bakugou's quirk, so we don't have a good defense!"

Shinsou pushes himself back up and turns, yelling, "Hey! Mr. McBlasty!"

"Haaah?" Bakugou growls, "What'd you just―" His face smooths out, his eyes blank. It is certainly a strange site to see.

"Bakugou!"

"Gooogogogo!"

Suddenly, there are multiple explosions, and Izuku peeks back before turning back, his eyes wide. "Oh my god, go!"

"Class A is too simple-minded."

"He got us!"

"What'd you say, bastard?"

One of 1-B's teams had snagged Bakugou's points, and Izuku didn't want his team to be next. Team Shinsou manage to get some distance away from the fight happening behind them when a wall of sharp ice juts out in front of them.

Izuku mutters, "Crap..." Before them stood another team, and the one leading them was the guy Izuku recognized to be the one he has been calling Elsa in his head. Around Elsa's head was the original point value Shinsou had around his neck. "We're gonna have a hard time getting out of this one, guys."

Shinsou sucks in a deep breath. "Wow, I am not at all surprised that someone from 1-A has the ten million points?" He glares, slightly bitter. "All the better that it's Endeavor's amazing spawn."

Elsa's eyes narrow and his frown deepens, but he doesn't utter one word.

"What? Not gonna talk to someone from 1-C? Are we too low-class for you to say anything?"

Izuku also frowns but he knows his friend is trying to rile the other up into speaking. He goes on to the balls of his feet in order to get as close to Shinsou's ear as he can. "I don't know how we're gonna get out of this, considering we have less than half of the original time left, but if anything, make sure to stay on his left side. He hasn't been using the other half of his quirk." Of course that fact makes him a bit angry, but he's not gonna think about that right now. Elsa's eyes lock on to him; he must've heard Izuku's observation.

There is the sound of feet hitting the ground, which makes everyone look behind Elsa's team. There were multiple groups of people running towards them, most likely after Elsa's points. Izuku groans, "This just so much worse."

"Iida," Elsa commands, leaning slightly forward, "forward!"

The teen, Iida, in the front activates his quirk, which looked to be engines in his calves, "Right!"

Elsa continues to order his teammates, and Izuku can't ignore the mention of electricity. He quickly looks over at the guy on Elsa's left and deduces that he's the one with the electric quirk. "They're gonna shock―"

"―1.3 million volts!"

Dark Shadow reaches out in front of the group as bolts of lightning strikes the multiple teams. Izuku scrunches his eyes closed, the electricity being too bright, and he could feel the tiny hairs on his arms rising from the slight voltage that made it past Dark Shadow. His hair is going to be a frizzy mess once this was over and done with. The bright attack finishes, and Elsa tosses the blanket he used to keep safe and leaves a huge trail of ice, leaving those teams stuck.

"What? What'd he do?" Present Mic questions, his voice loud. "Todoroki took care of that crowd of teams in an instant!"

"He froze them after Kaminari's shock stopped them... I guess it should be expected, but he took into account how a lot of people avoided it in the obstacle course."

"Don't we love a smart boy?" Izuku asks rhetorically, panting and wishing he was at home instead of dealing with this. Him and his teammates were currently running away, while Shinsou kept an eye from behind, watching as Elsa's (or Todoroki, but Izuku likes Elsa more) team stole points after points and leaving an ice wall to keep the teams from getting to them and to keep their team from going so far. He growls as the other group kept getting closer and closer.

"If only Hatsume's shoes were faster!"

Said girl whines, "I wanted to, but I didn't have enough time!"

"Shoot―turn around! We can't get away!" The teams makes a quick U-turn, the rocket shoes still keeping them moving, and Dark Shadow gets ready to defend in front of them. "Midoriya, what do we do?!"

Izuku's mind goes blank and he struggles utter any good or bad idea, "I... I―I don't know!"

"I'll restrain them!" Tokoyami shouts, and Dark Shadow goes forward, reaching out towards the approaching team with a sentient claw.

"Yaoyorozu!" Elsa raises an arm, making sure to protect the headband.

The girl, Yaoyorozu, on his right instantly creates something to bar the attack. The metal item is discarded to the ground, Dark Shadow is sent back. Tokoyami scowls, while Yaoyorozu proudly smiles.

Izuku notes, "That girl, Yaoyorozu's, quirk is too hard to deal with!"

"No," Tokoyami denies. "Kaminari is worse." He quickly explains. "With that level of armor, if it had been sunlight, Dark Shadow would've been ripped apart."

"Lovely," Shinsou groans, remembering Dark Shadow's weakness.

"With your quirk, it'd be best to devote yourself to defense, rather than offense." Izuku muses aloud. He was carefully putting on his pair of rocket shoes, while Hatsume was helping Shinsou put on the jet pack.

Tokoyami nods, "Indeed. My quirk's offensive ability increases the darker it is, but it becomes fierce and difficult to control." He continues. "On the other hand, under sunlight, it becomes possible to control, but its offense becomes below average." He closes his red eyes before opening them, lowering his chin a bit. "It's a very odd choice, under the circumstances of not being able to attack with my quirk, but please try using me."

"'Kay." Izuku simply says and stands, brushing off any dirt that may have clung to his pants. "Your quirk's pretty interesting to me, and I'm sure having Dark Shadow's defense will be good for us. That good with you, Shinsou?"

Shinsou grunts, giving a thumbs-up as he straightens his posture (he had to crouch slightly so Hatsume could reach the top of the jet pack; stupid tall boy).

"As long as he keeps discharging electricity, attacking will be difficult." Tokoyami looks at his partner, who had a scared expression. "Dark Shadow will become timid."

"I'm against violence," Dark Shadow sniffs.

The team suddenly ceases to move as they realize they've reached the border. Izuku stares at the oncoming team. "Do they... do they know about the decreased offense?"

Tokoyami shakes his head, "The only person I've told about this weakness is Koda, USJ, and he is a man of few words."

"Our only option is to bluff then." Izuku shares a short look with the dark teen. "If they don't know about it, then we can use it to hold them back." He narrows his eyes as he looks at the large scoreboard. "We have enough points to make it to the next round, but if we lose any headbands, we're screwed."

"One minute!" Present Mic continues to say more but Izuku ignores him, only listening to the important information. One minutes left. Dark Shadow stands guard before them, seeming to get ready to attack.

Izuku looks at Elsa and ponders, ' He's purposely not using his left side, but why?' The scar on the other's face is most likely a large clue. 'It has to have something to do with that. What happened to you, Elsa?' He taps on Shinsou's leg to get his attention. He tells him as quiet as he can with Shinsou still hearing, "Stay on his left side, so right for us. Stay right."

Shinsou nods and passes the message on to Tokoyami, while Izuku gives it to Hatsume. The team inches slowly to the right, keeping on Elsa's left, which the male quickly notices and glares. Iida says something to his team before kneeling slightly. Fire abruptly spews out of his engines as he shouts, "Make sure you get it, Todoroki! Torque Over―" The team shoots forward, and Izuku stares with wide eyes, stunned. "Reciproburst!"

"What..." Izuku looks up and his eyes widen even more. "They took our points!"

Shinsou scowls, "After them!"

"As long as they have Kaminari, we'll be at a disadvantage if we attack!" Tokoyami protests, and Dark Shadow shakes his head. "Won't it be safer to try for other points right now?"

Hatsume nervously smiles, looking to both Izuku and Shinsou.

Izuku objects, "No! We don't have time and the ice blocks any way out. They're our only chance!"

"Go!" Shinsou orders, and no one disagrees this time. They race over to Elsa's team, getting closer and closer before―

"Oi!" Elsa turns his gaze towards Izuku. "Why aren't you using your left side? It really pisses me off that you're only using half your quirk! People who half-ass like you don't deserve to become Heroes!" Elsa glares, his eyes piercing.

Shinsou catches on to what Izuku is trying to do. "Endeavor's spawn... I bet you get anything you want! Perfect quirk, perfect life... everything's perfect, isn't it."

"Don't act like―"

"Got him," Shinsou pants, and his teams rushes forward, not letting a second be wasted. Elsa's team tries to back up but Shinsou is able to grab on to a few headbands. He tears them off, accidentally jolting Elsa and making his left side flare up in flames as a reaction, however the purple-haired boy's team is already running away with their prize. Shinsou looks down, and shakily grins, "Hello, old friend." It was the 10,000,270 points.

After a slight moment of hesitation, Elsa yells, "After them!"

"Time's just about up! Start with the countdown!" Ten seconds left.

"Kaminari!" Nine seconds.

"Dark Shadow!" Eight seconds.

"Half-and-Half Bastard!" Seven more to go.

"Shinsou!" Six more.

"Right!" Only half left.

"Yaoyorozu!" Four.

"Damn Deku!" Three.

Two.

One.

"Times up!"


12.7 pages · 4,316 words


January 30, 2021


Hahhahahhaa i am in pain.

Hello! I live! Somehow!

I wanna apologize for this taking forever to get done, and I promise to do my best to get the last two chapters of the arc finished! I know I said I would get this chapter out in January at the latest, and I did, but boy did I not expect to lose so much motivation because of school. Man, I am so glad that you all waited patiently for me. Thank you!

I hope everyone is doing well, and if you're not, I hope it gets better soon! I honestly have like no words rn lol. I never do when I get to here, and then I post the chapter and right after I'm like "oh wait that thing whoops." That just me?

Y'know I've seen comments that people really like how I portray Izuku in this, which I am very glad lol. I kinda (unknowingly) based him off myself a bit, at least with the sarcasm (all his comments are made by me sooooo).

To be honest, I'm not too happy with this chapter. It's kinda bleh. It was a struggle to write because I had to change quite a few events since the team was slightly different and all that, which was slightly hard to do, but I did it. Please, let me know what you think about it. I really hope it was enough to please you all, especially because of my long absence. Thankfully, I've mostly gotten over Autumn being gone so... yeah lol.

I like have nothing else to say, so goodbye! Thank you for reading! I love you! Byyyeee!