Chapter 5

(Apologies for a short and uneventful chapter)

"The first game for the first years is finally over, and what a game it was!" Midnight announced over the speakers from her spot on the stage, several minutes after the race was completed and all remaining competitors had finished. "Now let's take a quick look at the standings, shall we?"

The screen began to scroll, and everyone looked to see their positions in the race.

1. Oliver Rowe

2. Shoto Todoroki

3. Izuku Midoriya

4. Katsuki Bakugo

5. Ibara Shiozake

6. Juzo Honenuki

7. Tenya Iida

8. Fumikage Tokoyami

9. Hanta Sero

10. Ejiro Kirishima

11. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

12. Mashiaro Ojiro

13. Yosetsu Awase

14. Tsuyu Asui

15. Rikido Sato

16. Mezo Shoji

17. Ochako Uraraka

18. Momo Yaoyorozu

19. Minoru Mineta

20. Mina Ashido

21. Koji Koda

22. Kyoka Jiro

23. Sen Kaibara

24. Kosei Tsubaruba

25. Denki Kaminari

26. Kojiro Bondo

27. Reiko Yanagi

28. Hitoshi Shinso

29. Itsuka Kendo

30. Jurota Shishida

31. Shihai Kuroiro

32. Yui Kodai

33. Hiryu Rin

34. Nirengi Shoda

35. Kinoko Komori

36. Togaru Kamakiri

37. Neito Monoma

38. Pony Tsunotori

39. Toru Hagakure

40. Setsuno Tokage

41. Manga Fukidashi

42. Mei Hatsume

"Only Aoyama didn't pass the race in time," Kirishima said.

"Man, that's gotta suck," Jiro said, Midoriya nodding.

"Only the top 42 will advance in the next round, but don't feel too discouraged if you didn't make the cut!" Midnight said. "We prepared other opportunities for you to shine. Now the real fun is about to begin. The chance to finally move yourselves into the limelight! Give it your best!"

She raised her cattails whip and announced the next event. "Cavalry Battle!" she yelled. "The participants will form teams of two to four people as they see fit. In theory, it's the same as a playground game. However, each player has been assigned a point value based on their position in the obstacle course."

As the class began to chatter among themselves, Midnight cracked her whip, silencing everyone. "Perhaps you should all shut up and let me explain things to you!" she yelled, clearly ticked off. No one said a thing as she proceeded to explain how the points worked, how each position up in the race got you a multiple of five.

"And the amount of points assigned to the person in first place is...ten million!"

Everyone went quiet, and Oliver could feel the eyes of everyone in and out of the stadium falling on him. As the murderous intent grew and grew, Oliver began to sweat horribly, and his skin went clammy. "Oh no...I'm gonna die..."

"That's right. It's survival of the fittest where those at the bottom have a chance to overthrow the top!" Midnight cheered as Oliver's panic only worsened. He couldn't even hear the rest of the instructions as his vision began to blur and he began to feel cold.

"No...I'm gonna be alone...I'm so dead!" he thought as he squeezed his hands together until they were whitened by the amount of force he was using. Soon, everyone was scattering to make teams, and Oliver was looking around for anyone willing to help him.

And for several minutes, no one would come near him. "I'm gonna be screwed if I wait for people...I have to reach out."

"Hey, Ojiro. Do you have a-" Oliver said before Ojiro sheepishly apologized and walked away.

"Ashido, can you-" he tried before the pink girl whirled around and went back to talking to Bakugo.

"This is already a waste of time...no hope for me, I guess..." Oliver mumbled before being tapped on the shoulder. Turning, he spotted a girl with long green hair...no, thorny vines for hair.

"Excuse me," she said in a soft voice. "I couldn't help but see you are alone. Perhaps you need a team?"

"Why do you care? No one wants to team with me," Oliver whispered as he looked down.

"Because I cannot ignore a soul with so much fear and lost hope in his eyes. So I will team up with you," the girl said, smiling kindly. Oliver's eyes widened as he realized her words were truly genuine. "She's...an angel..."

"T-thank you!" Oliver cried, bowing multiple times over. "Thank you so much!"

"O-oh, it's no problem at all," the girl said. "I'm Ibara Shiozake from Class 1-B."

"Oliver Rowe from Class 1-A. Though...you probably already knew that. Oh, I know someone who would definitely be up for teaming up! Hey, Yaomomo!" he called excitedly.

His excitement soon died when he saw Yaoyorozu already with Todoroki, Kaminari, and Iida. "Oh..." he said. "Ah well..."

"It looks like everyone's already formed teams of two. That's a shame," Shiozake said. "By the way, what's your quirk?"

"I can see two objects or people and switch their position. I can use it on myself, though it gives me headaches if I try overusing it. What about you?" Oliver asked.

"My hair is made of extremely durable vines, which I can individually control," Shiozake explained. "It's ideal for defense and close range offense."

"Hmm...I have an idea. You're my rider. I'll focus on long ranged attacks and defense and you can focus on close ranged defense," Oliver suggested. "It won't work if I'm on your back. N-not that I'm implying that you're weak, but my body would get in the way of your hair."

"That is a sound strategy," Shiozake said. "I trust you won't do anything lecherous?"

"N-no! I promise!" Oliver squeaked. Shiozake smiled.

"Then that's good enough for me."

Soon, the headbands were passed out. Shiozake was being carried by Oliver on his back, her arms on his shoulders and her legs under his armpits and over his arms. Shiozake had a headband labeled "10,000,195 Points" on her head.

"Well...they're all looking at us. Are you ready, Rowe?" Shiozake asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Oliver said. "I can't use my quirk to make the others topple, right?"

"Correct, that would be shameful. We're only allowed to go for the headbands."

"This will be tough..." Oliver groaned as Present Mic began to count down the match. "You know, you're really light."

"Thank you. A healthy workout plan and diet helps me maintain my body," Shiozake said.

"BEGIN!"

At once, everyone rushed the pair as fast as they could. Oliver was fast, but dodging blows and ranged attacks was difficult with someone on his back. "OK, this is hard! This is really hard!" he yelped as Tsui's tongue grazed Shiozake's cheek, and Sero's tape barely missed Oliver's thigh.

"Get back here you bastard!" Bakugo roared as he leapt off of his team's backs and flew towards Shiozake and Oliver, propelling himself forward with his explosions.

"This is too much!" Oliver cried, dodging a swipe from Tetsutetsu.

"Shiozake, you traitor!" the silver steel student yelled as Shiozake slapped his arm away with a bundle of vines. Shiozake said nothing, turning the other cheek as Oliver jumped back, avoiding a large explosion Bakugo managed to land. The blast propelled him up before Sero launched a strip of tape that grabbed him and pulled him back before he could hit the ground.

"Dammit! Lemme try again-" Bakugo growled before Kirishima gulped.

"Hey, your points! They're gone!" Kirishima cried. Bakugo stopped and felt his head before hearing laughter from behind him.

Meanwhile, Midoriya atop Uraraka, Hatsume, and Tokoyami was watching the battle from afar. "Oliver's choice to go with only two people is actually pretty smart. He's much more mobile without needing to synchronize with two other people. He has a mobility advantage..."

"That just means we have to work even harder!" Uraraka declared.

"Correct," Tokoyami said. "I can use Dark Shadow to grab that headband and move on."

"No, everyone else is still going after them," Midoriya interrupted. "And that one team from Class 1-B is taking everyone else's points while they're after Oliver, That'll make surviving even harder with that desperation the other teams have. We have to focus on making sure we're in the top four teams."

"Does this mean we won't get to use my babies?!" Hatsume cried in dismay.

"We will!" Midoriya assured her. "We'll focus on flying around and going after that 1-B team who's got all the headbands!"

"I hope you know what you're doing. Because Bakugo has the same idea!" Uraraka pointed out, where indeed Bakugo's team was standing off against the 1-B team.

Midoriya gulped down his fears before frowning. "It's our only chance at making sure we advance to the final event," he said. "If that means facing Bakugo, we'll do it."

"At least we won't have to face Todoroki," Tokoyami said. "He's preoccupied with Oliver and the others."

"I hope no one gets hurt," Uraraka said nervously, looking up to the timer. There was only eight minutes left in the match.

Meanwhile, Oliver and Shiozake were struggling badly against the other teams. A few had been eliminated when their riders had fallen off thanks to the massive struggle between teams. Now, there were only eight or so teams remaining, teams Shiozake, Todoroki, Midoriya, Monoma, Mineta, Tetsutetsu, Bakugo, and Shinso.

"Shiozake, can you try and snag Mineta's headband from between Shoji's arms?" Oliver asked as he jumped to avoid an ice blast, right into Tsui's waiting tongue.

"I don't know," Shiozake said as her vines smacked the tongue aside. Oliver slid to a stop, before leaping to the side, both him and team Tetsutetsu split up from that ice.

"You've managed to survive this many attacks for a while now," Todoroki said. "But I will beat you."

Oliver said nothing, only dodging a salvo of Mineta's glue balls. Shoji was rushing at them full tilt. "I've got you!" the multi armed mutant yelled as he reached.

This was a mistake as that shift exposed the purple head of a pervert. And the headband on it.

"Now!" Oliver yelled, and Shiozake acted. Multiple vines reached out and grabbed Mineta's headband quickly, yanking it off as Oliver swerved to the side. Shoji barreled past them and plowed right into Tsunotori, both teams crumbling to the ground and eliminating themselves.

"That was close," he sighed. "Now we have two headbands."

"I don't think so!"Tetsutetsu yelled, his team rushing them quickly. Before anything could happen, however, they were struck by a massive wave of freezing air.

Teams Shiozake and Tetsutetsu were completely frozen in ice as Todoroki's team walked over to them. "It's over," Todoroki said, his right arm completely encased in freezing ice. "I'll take your headband first, then go right after Midoriya."

"Right, your declaration of war," Oliver said. "But why make it so personal?"

"You wouldn't understand the expectations I have to uphold, or the point I have to prove. All that matters right now is that I beat him," Todoroki said before grabbing Shiozake's headband.

Yaoyorozu looked to Oliver's distraught expression from behind Iida, before looking away, either from shame or indifference, she wouldn't know. Oliver gritted his teeth and sighed as Shiozake looked away. "I'm sorry...if I tried anything, he would've frozen my vines and taken it anyway," he said.

"No, it's OK," Oliver assured as he watched Todoroki's team turn around and rush for Midoriya and Bakugo. "Looks like it's down to those three."

"It ain't over yet!" Tetsutetsu yelled. "Honenuki!"

"Right!" the white haired student with skull teeth said. At once, the ice in front of them began to melt into a slush like substance, and the team all stepped out as if they were in water, before rushing towards Todoroki. "You get back here you two toned bastard!" Tetsutetsu yelled.

"Wait...I have a plan. But we need to get this as late as possible," Oliver said.

"What's your plan?" Shiozake asked. Oliver gulped before looking away nervously. "What is it?"

"Umm...what are you wearing under your P.E. jacket?" Oliver asked sheepishly.

Minutes later, teams Bakugo, Midoriya, and Todoroki were all in one corner of the battle grounds, Bakugo in the air ready to slam down as the other two teams rushed for each other, Midoriya's arm glowing, Todoroki's right half freezing, and Bakugo's hands smoking.

Shiozake counted down the last remaining seconds on the clock as the three rushed for each other. "Eight...seven...six...five..." she said.

"Here I go," Oliver muttered.

"Four...three...two...one!" Shiozake cried. Oliver snapped his fingers, and Shiozake was engulfed in light, as was Bakugo in the air.

"Time's up!" Present Mic yelled as the light died down. Bakugo face planted, his face covered in a P.E. jacket. "The hell?!"

"It looks like team Todoroki is in first place! Team Midoriya in second, team Bakugo in third, and team Shinso in last! Teams Tetsutetsu and Shiozake have been eliminated!" Present Mic cried.

Oliver gasped and looked up. Shiozake, wearing a sports bra, held the headband in her left hand. It was a measly 95 points. "Dammit..." he whispered.

"It was a very good try," Shiozake comforted. "But I suppose we lost."

Oliver sighed. "Yeah. Thanks for pairing up with me," he said, looking up to Shiozake with a smile. "It means a lot that you went out of your way to help."

"Of course. What kind of hero would I be if I didn't help someone who looked so sad?" Shiozake said. Oliver blinked. "Did I really look that depressed?"

"Anyways, let's go get some lunch, heheh..." Oliver said. "As soon as I get my feet unstuc-whoa!" The ice under his right foot shattered, and he toppled forward without control. Soon, he was lying face first on the ground with Shiozake lying on his back. "Sorry..."

"It's quite alright. Though it's very cold," Shiozake said as she and Oliver got up.

"O-oh! Here," Oliver said, taking off his own P.E. jacket and giving to Shiozake. He wore a white sweaty T-shirt underneath. "It's my fault you had to lose yours."

"Thank you very much," Shiozake said, Oliver putting it over her shoulders. "You are very kind." Oliver blushed at the praise before Midnight spoke up.

"Well well well, love is in the air folks! Looks like Rowe and Shiozake are sharing a rather intimate moment!" Midnight said. The screens cut to Shiozake and Oliver, who were rather close together.

"Uhh..." Oliver said, looking up. His eyes went wide upon seeing everyone cheering, and his own dumb face on the massive screen, which was certain to be live all over the world. Blushing so dark red he might as well have blood colored skin, he squeaked and fainted right into Shiozake's arms while Mineta screamed in envy from a distance.