The students who made it to the next round barely had time to catch their breath before Midnight was calling their attention again. "Our next event will be the cavalry battle! You'll all form teams of three or four and attempt to steal the other team's headbands. These headbands will all be worth different points! How are these points determined? By where you placed in the obstacle race! Starting from the bottom each place has five more points then the last. Except for first which is worth 10,000,000 points!" Midnight explained excitedly.
All eyes turned to the team; specifically to Shinsou who had managed to get first in the last round. "Well now I feel like a target…" He attempted to joke, but it was clear he was uncomfortable.
Katsuki cracked his knuckles. "Don't worry Eyebags we'll kick their asses." He managed to catch Todoroki's eyes in the crowd and sent a glare his way, as if inviting the challenge from him. Todoroki seemed to glare back slightly before turning away.
"The four teams with the most points at the end will move on to the final round. You have 15 minutes to form your teams. Your time starts now!" Midnight announced.
The other students started scrambling to form teams. Katsuki grinned. "A team event? We're really gonna kick ass. These other extras aren't used to working with others like we are."
Shinsou nodded, though he still seemed nervous. "Everyone will be gunning for us though. How do we wanna play this?" he asked.
"We play defensive. We win this thing if we keep the 10,000,000." Izuku said, putting his hand on his chin in thought and looked down. "As far as I know there aren't many people here with quirks that let them fly. If we can stay in the air for most of the match we should be able to hold onto it just fine." he looked up at them. "With a combination of Kacchan's quirk, and everyone else's support items we should be able to keep in the air for a while." Izuku twirled his staff. "I theoretically should be able to mimic how Kacchan uses his quirk to fly with this. It uses the same material to cause explosions after all." Izuku smiled at Katsuki.
"Still fucking weird you using my own sweat to do that." Katsuki complained.
Izuku frowned. "You're the one who suggested the idea in the first place Kacchan. You said 'it'd be fucking cool if we could reproduce my quirk with a support item'."
"Whatever nerd." Katsuki grumbled, turning away.
"Not that this conversation isn't interesting but what do we do in the moments we're on the ground?" Shinsou asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We make sure those other idiots stay off us. We can keep em at a distance till we get airborne again." Katsuki answered, turning back and letting a few small explosions pop off.
"My babies won't fail us! Everyone will see how amazing they are!" Hatsume chimed in.
The four talked some more strategy till it was time to start. The teams all mounted up and prepared for the signal to start. Hitoshi sat on top of their formation, a determined look set on his face as he decidedly tied the 10,000,000 point headband around his head. He was nervous sure, but they had a solid plan that he knew they could pull off.
"GO!" Came Midnight's signal to start.
The field erupted into chaos as seemingly every team was after them.
Team Shinsou wasted no time taking to the air via Katsuki's quirk and the combined support items of Hatume and Izuku. The force from their liftoff was enough to blast back some of the closer teams. The other students stood frozen on the ground for a moment before they got over their shock and started going after other teams while team Shinsou was temporarily out of reach. "Hell yeah!" Katsuki yelled, clearly thrilled by their explosive escape.
"How long can we stay airborne?" Izuku asked, taking in the chaos of the field below.
Both Izuku and Katsuki let off blasts, Izuku via his staff and Katsuki via his quirk, to help them gain some altitude. "Probably not too long! You two can keep us airborne forever and we aren't the most stable structure. I'd give us five minutes max before we have to land again!" Hatsume answered happily.
True to what Hatsume said they landed approximately five minutes after their initial take off. "Now we keep them off till we can get airborne again." Shinsou said, eying the teams that had noticed their return to earth. "How long till we're good you guys?"
Katsuki flexed his hands. "Give us a couple minutes." he said glaring at the approaching teams.
Izuku removed the spent cartridges of Katsuki's sweat from his staff and loaded new ones. "I'm ready when Kacchan is." He said, a determined look on his face.
Hatsume let a wide smile spread across her face as she pulled out one of her support items. "Let's see if we can net some teams with this baby!" Hatsume said as she handed the large net gun up to Shinsou. "You just aim and pull the trigger! One of my simpler babies but it gets the job done!" she explained.
Hitoshi nodded. He took stock of how many, and what teams were coming for them. There weren't nearly as many as before. Seems people realized that only one team could have the 10,000,000 points and went to pick off other teams. Hitoshi did his best to aim in the direction of a couple incoming teams. He winced slightly from the kickback after he pulled the trigger, but true to what Hatsume said it was that simple to use. Hitoshi had managed to net two teams and it seemed the display left other teams more weary to approach.
It seemed one was not phased by it at all and continued their charge. Atop the formation sat a smug looking blond who none of them recognized. "I don't like the look on that smug bastard's face." Katsuki said, glaring in his direction.
"A bit too much like looking in a mirror?" Hitoshi couldn't pass up the prime opportunity to tease him. Izuku seemed to choke on air and Katsuki sputtered indignantly. "Look sharp though they're close. Can we get off the ground yet?" Hitoshi asked.
"Yeah, but I wanna wipe that smug look off his face first." Katsuki practically snarled.
"Kacchan-" Izuku started disapprovingly.
"Don't fucking 'Kacchan' me nerd. Let's kill this guy." Katsuki cut him off. "We charge them before they can get here; they won't be expecting that."
With brief acknowledgements from the others team Shinsou rushed forwards. The approaching team seemed momentarily startled at their sudden movement and recovered quickly. Team Shinsou found themselves quickly diverted thanks to one of the other teams quirks; which created a solid barrier of air between them. The other team used the brief distraction to get close to them. Their rider tapped both Katsuki and Izuku in the head before team Shinsou managed to back off.
"So this is the team made up of the front runners in the last event? Even one of the top students from class 1-a? How sad." The blonde began. "Is running all you can do?"
Izuku briefly gripped Katsuki's shoulder in an attempt to calm him. It didn't do much but it did stop the boy from trying to charge the other team, so Izuku counted it as a win. "You're dead bastard!" Katsuki said as he rushed forward, thus forcing the rest of the formation along with him. Or maybe there was no win cause here they were charging the other team. The blonde smirked and as they got close let loose an explosion that Izuku thought was strikingly similar to Katsuki's. Then it clicked.
"We need to back off! He can copy quirks!" Izuku yelled. Katsuki side eyed him but relented.
"Well that was quick! I wasn't expecting you to figure out my quirk so fast." The blonde praised mockingly.
Hitoshi pat Katsuki's arm and started to speak. "Thanks. He has a bit of a talent for it. Are you in the hero course? I don't recognize you."
"Of course! Only from the bes-" the blonde froze mid sentence as Shinsou smirked.
"Get off your formation." Hitoshi ordered. The blonde did just that, much to the dismay of his team, and seemed scandalized when he snapped out of the mind control.
Before any other team could work up the courage to confront them they were airborne again. The next time they landed the match was almost over; unfortunately though practically as soon as they landed they were walled in by ice on all sides.
Across from them stood team Todoroki. Todoroki himself exhaled a cloud of cold breath. "There's nowhere to run now. And based on what I saw earlier you shouldn't be able to take off again until the end of the match." Todoroki explained calmly.
Both Hatsume and Izuku checked over their support items while Katsuki flexed his free hand. "Half n half is right. Unfortunately." Katsuki reluctantly admitted.
"We just have to hold them off till time runs out." Izuku said as he loaded more cartridges into his staff. "We've fought against worse odds and been fine."
Shinsou glanced down at Katsuki and Izuku. "Do I really wanna know?"
Izuku shook his head. "Probably not. At least not right now."
The stare down lasted for what seemed like hours, though in reality likely lasted under a minute. There was no time to waste after all. Team Todoroki charged. They approached faster than anticipated; likely due to the use of Iida's quirk. Team Shinsou barely managed to react in time to dodge out of the way, via Katsuki's explosions, as Todoroki managed to graze the headband around Shinsou's head. They were given no time to breath as ice rushed forward in an effort to trap them. Both Izuku and Katsuki wasted no time in exploding the ice as it reached them. As team Todoroki attempted to skate forward on the remaining ice Hatsume shot a grappling hook at the team and managed to catch who Katsuki recognized as Kaminari and swung the team off course.
The more exchanges the two teams had the darker Todoroki's expression seemed to get. Finally as the clock was about to run out team Todoroki gave one last desperate push. They managed to get in close but Izuku managed to catch Todoroki's extending arm with his staff. The two locked eyes and Izuku swore he saw a flicker of light from where Todoroki's left arm was in contact with his staff. It was then that time was called and the match was over.
Todoroki reluctantly lowered his arm and dismounted. Izuku watched him walk off staring at his left hand. Izuku frowned but decided to ignore it for now. The teams that had made it to the final round were announced. In first team Shinsou, in second team Todoroki, in third team Uraraka, and in fourth team Kendo.
Midnight announced that they would have a break for lunch and some recreational activities before the one on one matches started.
Not long after Izuku, Katsuki, Shinsou, and Hatsume had sat down at a table Todoroki approached them. Katsuki glared at the approaching boy. "What do you want half n half?" Katsuki demanded before anyone else could speak up.
Todoroki frowned slightly. "Ah..." he paused looking at Izuku. "Deku I believe? May I speak with you?"
Izuku nearly choked on his food at the sound of someone else calling him Deku. "A-ah it's Midoriya Izuku not Deku. I guess you must have gotten that from Kacchan." Izuku corrected.
"I see. Midoriya then. May I speak with you?" Todoroki glanced at the others at the table. "Privately?"
Before Izuku could answer for himself Katsuki spoke up again. "And why the hell do you need to talk to the nerd huh?"
Todoroki focused his gaze on Katsuki. "That's none of your business Bakugou."
This only served to anger Katsuki further. "None of my bus-"
Izuku slapped a hand over Katsuki's mouth and sighed. "Sure. We can talk Todoroki." Izuku stood up, careful to keep his hand over Katsuki's mouth. He turned to look at Katsuki. "Behave, ok Kacchan? I'll be right back." Katsuki glared at Izuku but seemed to decide to leave it for now.
Shoto turned to leave the room as Izuku came up by his side. He led them to an empty hallway. Shoto took a deep breath and leaned up against a wall. Izuku leaned against the opposite wall. He looked around nervously before letting a more calm expression take over his features. Silence settled over the two and neither seemed keen to break it. "During the calvary battle-" Shoto began "-You made me break a promise to myself. A promise I made a long time ago."
Izuku looked at him confused, but didn't say anything. "I swore to never use my left side. I would rise to the top without the use of that man's quirk." Shoto's face grew darker as he glanced down at his left hand. "Somehow you made me feel threatened enough that I instinctively called on that power. No one from my class has been able to do that. Not even when I fought the villains at the USJ did I feel the need to use it." Shoto's gaze left his hand and locked with Izuku.
"You seem far more skilled than most students I've seen. The way you conduct yourself speaks of experience and yet you're in general studies instead of the hero course." Shoto said calmly. He managed to catch a brief flinch from Izuku and narrowed his eyes. Clearly he understood his amount of skill was strange though he wasn't really trying to hide it. "Coincidently you also are one of Bakugou's few friends. He also shows a strange level of experience. During the battle trial he completely turned my expectations for the match on their head. From what I've seen from you both of you think in a similar way."
Izuku stiffened ever so slightly. If Shoto wasn't hyper aware of what the other was doing he would have missed it. "You two…" Shoto started as Izuku began to shift uncomfortably. "Are you two related?" Izuku froze. Shoto allowed himself a silent celebration; seems like he got them.
"T-todoroki?" Izuku said, completely lost.
"You two seem very familiar with each other. Though Bakugou has never mentioned you once. You don't look too similar but..." Shoto paused. "Are one of you maybe the result of an affair or something? It would explain why you two don't publicly share your relation." Shoto finished frowning.
Izuku collected himself. "Todoroki… that's… not what I was expecting from this. But uh that's not it. We just trained together before coming to UA. We've known each other since we were kids so I guess we're kinda like adopted siblings? But uh not biological."
"Hm, I see." Shoto said disbelievingly. Silence once again fell over the two. "You know, my father wants nothing more than to surpass All Might. Eventually he realized he would never be able to do it himself, the gap between them was too wide." Shoto stopped to gauge the reaction from Izuku.
"Uh ok?" Izuku said, clearly confused. "Why are you telling me this Todoroki?"
"My father decided to switch strategies and managed to buy my mother from her family. Quirk marriages are an old practice but with how much money and influence my father has it was easy to get her. He eventually had me so I can surpass All Might in his place." Shoto looked away. He wasn't sure why he was sharing so much with Izuku; he just felt compelled to share. It was easy to talk to him and so Shoto decided to push on. "My father trained me practically every day since I first got my quirk. My mother…" he trailed off for a moment before shaking his head. "My mother was pushed to a breaking point. She saw too much of my father in my left side." He put a hand over his left eye. "She called it unbearable before pouring boiling water on it. I'll never forgive my father for what he's done, and that's why I'll rise to the top without his power." he allowed his hand to slowly fall back to his side.
Shoto looked away; he'd shared more than he'd originally intended but there was no taking it back now. "Todoroki…" Izuku said, a concerned look on his face. Shoto raised his head to meet Izuku's gaze. "I'm sorry. I-" he paused sucking in a breath to calm himself "-I can't claim to completely understand how you feel but I can sympathise. My childhood was… rough. Being quirkless isn't exactly easy."
Shoto frowned. He'd heard it was rough for the quirkless but hadn't ever met one. Izuku smiled sadly. "For a long time it's only been me and Kacchan and that wasn't, uh perfect at first. We didn't used to get along at all. It took us years to get to where we are now." Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "But we stuck it out cause we were all we had back then you know?" Izuku sighed. "We should probably head back now. We need to make sure we eat something before the one on one matches right? If you want you can sit with us?"
Shoto looked at Izuku thoughtfully. He shook his head before walking away. The mystery of Midoriya Izuku and Bakugou Katsuki kept growing. "Todoroki!" Izuku yelled after him. Shoto turned around. "Make sure to do your best out there ok? Don't hold back cause I won't! No one will!" he shouted, a genuine smile on his face.
Shoto blinked. "Mmm. You as well Midoriya."