All three teams only stared at Maribel, who held her eyes at Todoroki. They skittered between all three of her opposing teams. Without any points, he'd be desperate for an attack, wouldn't he? Even so, I can see Bakugo making a run for it. Midoriya... He's a bit of a wildcard. He still has points, doesn't generally appear to be too aggressive.

If he knows what I can do, then surely he'd like to keep his distance.

The girl took a deep breath.

"Move it! Let's get those ten million!" Bakugo yelled out, his team moved into motions, all with cocky smiles on their faces. The redhead in front yelled out as he pushed on, skin hardening. "Get ready, Hearn-san!"

Maribel frowned as they came running. The two team members on the side using acid and tape to move them along faster than normal, but her aggressive mask didn't betray her relaxed state. Bakugo flew off his horse with a blast, flying on over Sato and almost right up into her face. At the same time, Maribel's body and arm stretched forward after each other, a powerful jab made in reaction and the air whistled. His hands flew to the side the moment he saw her body going into the motion to punch and blew him to the side. Side-stepping her attack in the air. To get close, he moved his arms behind himself again and was just about to fly right into her. Just in time for her purple eyes to catch him in the act, creating a gap to catch him if he so dared to try and fly into her. Forcing him to retreat, not back to his horse, but into the air. His final explosion of this short-lived bout sent him above the scene of combat for the time being.

Her team was too distracted to make any big moves, but Shinso made Jurota rotate the team along with Sato. Whether he knew of his plan or not. Kirishima thus crashed into both Jurota and Sato's sights. It seemed that Kirishima only had intention to take their attention, and thus started struggling with both Jurota and Sato. And Sato, being closer, was forced to deal with him much more. He tried pushing Kirishima away, with mild success, only to be met with a hardened fist. It hurt to be hit by. Jurota wasn't close enough for this to work, but his own effort forced Kirishima to move closer into the front. Where the tangling with Sato turned into a constant short struggles as her main man attempted to lock the opponent down and push him away. But it was hardly successful and repeated itself more than twice.

Sero shot his tape and strung it around Sato's hands, locking him in place for a moment. It immediately began pulling her team close, as Sato was still forced to carry her. "Crap!" The man with the full lips let slip, only to be hit by a punch in the gut. "Goh!" Not as hardened as it should've been, signifying his opponent was holding back. There wasn't much time to react, and Kirishima being in the front had stopped Jurota from helping him. This was the opportune time where Hearn's eyes landed back at the more local conflict, squinting at the trouble and waved her hand in a single motion. For a brief moment, a black streak formed across the tape before being cut off cleanly. Landing right onto Kirishima and instead pulling the enemy team closer together.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry!" Sero apologized.

"Huryah!" Rikido Sato yelled out and pushed Kirishima back, putting a staggering stop to their team as they recoiled. Out of the corner of Maribel's eye, she saw a bright light and made her eerie orbs move their sight to the sky. Keeping a steady poker face in spite of the action. Katsuki came flying down and was just about to pass her with an open palm outstretched. The force behind his explosion was great enough to send him flying past her. He'd have to rebound back to the sky in order not to fall from his horse.

Maribel couldn't even begin thinking about creating a gap as he traveled fast enough for her abnormal reaction time to essentially be nullified. All she could do was let instinct take over, turn to face him as quickly as possible and try and use her arm as an obstacle to deflect him.

It was a hasty move, barely made in time and with mild success. He passed her by, glancing her and bruising both of them a little in the process. With his passage, two of her headbands disappeared and a resounding boom came into existence behind her. Bakugo bounced just before hitting the ground and through a series of blasts landed back down onto the back of Kirishima. Who was done recoiling from team Maribel's conjoined defense. "Ah, you got them!" His redheaded friend let out, the two other teammates kept a watchful eye.

"Of course I would! Dumbass!"

In the heat of the moment, she looked at the scoreboard, which had yet to update. The details didn't matter, but what mattered was she kept the ten million. For her, time almost stood still.

...

...

Whoever was counting the numbers, or whatever algorithm and sensor was, wasn't instant.

...

Her team lost exactly 475 points. Maribel heard whispers tingle her ears, but she couldn't clearly decipher them as she almost spaced out.

"Hearn takes a hit! Now without the air of invincibility, will the other teams take their opportunity!?"

"Todoroki's coming!" Sato called out and her eyes jumped back on target. Iida, who was in front, began to move his legs. She turned her head just as he pushed off, an impressive speed despite having to pull along his team. They moved the entire team to the left, slowing them down a little before accelerating in a line that would let them pass both Bakugo and Maribel.

He's attempting to catch both teams, he needs something to keep him in the game. I'll give them that... but not now, I want to tease him a little, make him stressed. The blonde thought, mischievously and unlike what she would normally think. There was little compassion in her mind at the moment. Wanting to get away, Maribel spontaneously created a gap as she raised her hand, eerie purple eyes briefly flashing as she easily reappeared five meters away from both of their teams. To the right of Bakugo, more specifically.

What she hadn't counted on in these short moments was Midoriya's movements. His team was too close to her left side and moving too. It would seem like they had the wonderful idea of using Bakugo as a distraction.

The rider, Midoriya, turned his widening orbs to her. He didn't expect this, but he'd been ready to act. The team was equipped with support gear that let them glide across the ground, and were passing just by right now. Speedy considering what quirks they had.

Soon, his entire body shined with power, erupting with red shining marks all across his body for a moment. An aura similar to that of All Might. Then his arm lit up and he swung to the side, creating a powerful wind. Maribel was forcefully turned to the side, and though she was quick to start turning back to face him, Midoriya was faster to act. His free hand swung out and grabbed two of her remaining headbands from her neck. The bands rubbing against her throat for a moment before flying away from her and into his hand. Once her eyes had once again landed on him, he and his team passed them and began to turn around.

"Grah!" He yelped for some reason, but what was done is done.

"Midoriya makes a lucky snatch!"

Hearn felt up her neck and her side very quickly. What...

"He used the air pressure of his punch to distract her. This tenacity and thinking isn't something I often see in students..."

She looked down and checked her remaining headband. Pulling it out. 580.

"Watching them match up against each other is quite..."

"EXCITING!" Present Mic overtook his coworker. And the crowd yelled out.

Her purple eyes looked back at Izuku, just at the same where his locked with hers. Deterring his gaze. Her heart began to race and her breathing became heavy. Maribel felt humiliated and much angrier than before. And looked back into his eyes, which met briefly.

Without really thinking, the girl created a gap that let most of her upper body pass through. Her rotation made her long hair wave in the wind. Next to the shining Midoriya, she aimed to easily take all of his headbands and leave him angry. There was no one in his team aside from Ochaco that she had any true bond with, and if there was a failure in her plan, she'd readily accept that it was failing to bring him into the third round.

Reacting in stress and on previous observation, he acted as if he knew where she was all along. Midoriya swung his fist around like a barbarian and with little technique put into it, shining with the bone-breaking power of One for All, as if his skin was filled with power. The curled up hand landed right in her stomach, knocking the wind out of her easily. At the same time, he groaned and held his hand. "Grrngh..."

Stunned, Maribel couldn't quite respond, and for a moment she saw black images flying all around her. "K-k-ah-..."

Oh, you finally returned to the drea- A voice whispered through her head, but was immediately cut off.

Her stressful mind stopped hallucinating as she was socked in the left side of the head, and shortly thereafter her last headband disappeared. "GRYAH!" He screamed, in both pain and exertion. She felt an intense pain coursing through her body, although it was still far from the worst blow she'd ever suffered.

"Uraraka-san! Hatsume-san! We need distance!" She heard ringing through her mind.

"Two minutes left!"

Maribel didn't act. Falling back through her gap and almost slumped over Sato and held her head, closing her eyes. She wasn't hit in the same place as last time, or even close to as violent, but it hurt. And it reminded her. She couldn't act. All she could do was think to herself.

All of this only reminded her of her past vulnerability. Her weakness and poor decision making. Before her quirk started to act up, at the age of 10, she led a normal life with a peculiar yet largely useless quirk.

The 'real' dreams began and took over her life. For someone at that age, being forced to live with constantly vivid, yet life-like nightmares every night would be quite terrifying and scarring. It led to bad sleep and by extension, depression. Maribel hardly understood how exactly it made everything into what it was. But it was then she started becoming withdrawn, shy and a prime target for the popular girls in class to pick on. Those who had decent or flashy quirks, money, an easy life and lots of friends with no threat of bullying. Human nature it might be, she hated them still. Most of everyone ignored her and her grades plummeted despite the aid of her best friend. She was perfectly capable of holding a conversation and reacting to queues, but the introversion all of this bestowed rejected her from most people.

Through it all, Renko remained her best friend and did her best to help her. The moments with her were the happiest, and Maribel felt fine telling her about the dreams. But for every time she tried to help and rebuild Maribel's confidence and help her with schoolwork, she felt more and more inadequacy.

Frustration born from both of these factors did nothing to help her. And eventually she retreated to her room quite often instead of going to school, spending the day sobbing and crying. What help her parents gave her didn't help much. She was almost completely broken. The thing that saved her was ironically...

Her quirk. Perhaps it had matured, or perhaps a changing state of mind had wrought it. That's what she personally wants to believe, it makes her feel better about herself. Boundary Manipulation was the true ability of her quirk. A powerful, versatile tool. A warp gate quirk, one of the rarest kinds of quirks. Perfectly controllable. In tandem, the nightmares began ceasing, turning into more peaceful dreams and even into the usual things she hadn't experienced since she was young. And with the help of Renko's comforting and reasoning, she found herself increasingly hopeful in dealing with the 'real' dreams. Maribel knew it was because she became much more accepting of advice.

The girl became popular. A quirk capable of creating warp gates was extremely rare, there wasn't even a hero in Japan with one and very few in the world. Everyone told her to become a hero. Everyone wanted to know her. And of course, with such potential, everyone would want to be her friend in case she found success.

There was only one year left in Junior High, a year that she'd dedicate toward making things right for herself. She would have many 'friends' and acquaintances. Talk as much as she wanted. No one would ever pick on her again. Maribel was extremely self-conscious and made sure nobody would get such an opportunity. Once she knew what the class liked to talk about, she flowed easily between cliques and people. It was what Hearn had wanted for so long. The only people she truly rejected were the popular girls, they were all so quick to turn, but she wasn't quick to forgive.

But despite all of this, the boys who liked her, the parties she went to with classmates and the after-school shenanigans. None of it made her feel the way it felt to be with Renko. Maybe it was their shared interests and emotions, their far more personal history and the fact that Maribel entrusted Renko with her most valued secret.

Moving to U.A. was more difficult than she had expected. She just didn't know the people, their preferred conversation or their ambitions. The school wasn't local. They barely met after it was all over for the day and her quirk wasn't so special among the presence of Todoroki, Bakugo and so on. Even if despite this she managed to make some friends, she just couldn't feel satisfied.

Maribel just couldn't, her quirk worried her too much to feel safe in this new environment. Acting strangely since the entrance exam, forcing her into bouts of mania, delirium, malice and more at seemingly random. At home, she felt like she just wanted to be angry at times. Maribel couldn't explain it to herself, but it was like her quirk had a personality of its own. Focus was something the quirk did by itself, giving her terrifying eyes and wrestling her control of the aforementioned bouts. It made her stick out in ways that she absolutely abhorred. Worrying her father, making her look like a fool in front of her classmates at times. Making her act irrationally during combat. All it did was remind her of the old days, and she didn't like it, even if it made her much more valuable in a fight at times.

The cherry on top of all of this was USJ, after being struck by Noumu she often relived the experience, sometimes at random and sometimes in a similar situation. Its name, pain in the forehead and so on. Maribel could only describe it as post-traumatic stress disorder. She felt it in her mind, those agonizing seconds were burned into her memory. Fear and helplessness. The only help she'd found was... Her quirk, especially when it was focused like it was now. Anger is what she felt.

Having Midoriya, Todoroki and Bakugo before her couldn't help but make her project her previous issues onto them. What she hated most about herself was having these flaws on her mind, an issue they only exacerbated.

She hated cowering, and despite his bursts of courage the messily haired boy kept doing it and did little to help his image. Good conversation, confidence and a constantly outgoing, yet flexible personality would win him more favors than acting like a hero whenever someone seemed to have it tough. Helping to uplift ones mood is far easier and more comfortable than helping someone's issue directly, because such a mood could solve it with little risk and effort. He kept nosing into hers, like a reckless and inexperienced pilot, as if he actually understood any of it.

She hated isolation. Something that Todoroki displayed much of, his attitude made it clear that he wasn't making friends and he only talked to her to know her secrets. She didn't know what he sought in it, but it'd only bring him more irritation. What makes people truly happy is other people, and obsessing over defeating her or someone else isn't going to win him any favors in public. He needs more than that to find satisfaction.

And finally she hated being clawed at by someone egotistical and rabid, Bakugo could scarcely take hurt without bursting and always sought to protect his status. He didn't try and elevate anyone along with him using his knowledge and intuition. He's nothing like Renko. He's doing almost the exact same thing the girls used to do at her school.

All the while, she hated the attention the media had wrought her. She didn't want to be famous, or a celebrity, she wanted a happy and calm life with many friends. Not to be extremely valued because of money, her weird feats or publicity, but because of her personality.

At least, that's what she felt.

Opening her eyes, Maribel straightened out. Eyes wide and gaze unfocused as she clenched her fists, seething with rage and irritation.

I don't know what to think, I almost want to kill something. I don't care.

"Merry?"

Maribel turned her head to look at Shinso with a torn expression.

"We're short on time, do you want to win or lose? Because I didn't come here for the former. I joined with you because I believed you were capable." Shinso calmly and seriously told her.

Maribel took a deep, calming breath. "...I AM!" She shouted angrily and turned around to look back in front. The enemy team was just putting on the headbands they had stolen. Pulling her hair back behind her ears and letting it flow through the air. "I definitely AM!"

"They can't stop me...!" The blonde clenched her teeth, looking the most serious she had been in a while. A single drop of blood ran down the side of her chin, indicating the damage the bearer of One for All had made. "MIDORIYA!"

Izuku's eyes widened as he heard her. She had changed character quite a bit in a few seconds, and he couldn't help but think he did something wrong. In the little time he had to think, he couldn't help but notice she relied mostly on herself in this battle. It was logical, of course. Her versatility could make up for everyone else.

"Let's go, everyone!" Midoriya threw his hand forward and his team began to move back as quickly as they could, gliding as they did. The mechanical assistance that Mei had given them made their acceleration almost unmatched. They made sure to make a turn to the right, so they could avoid Todoroki and Bakugo.

Maribel lowered her head a little and shouted again, tapping Sato on the shoulder quite clearly. The team's feet got into motion. "Forward!" And then turned her hand into a blur, disappearing into a gap swiftly and hitting Izuku in the face with a mighty backhand. Breaking any kind of focus, he might've had, her strength was already impressive without outright punching anyone. Moving the gap in tandem with Midoriya's team, her hand spun around elegantly and tore off all of his headbands. Then her arm shot back through the gap before he could respond and gently held them up before her.

"And an immediate comeback." Eraserhead noted.

"STOP!" She yelled to her team. Staring at Izuku, who now had a bleeding nose. The little blood that running down the side of her head and her youkai eyes were quite intimidating, even if she wasn't being looked in the eye. Maribel checked through the headbands he carried, easily finding the winning number. Ten million.

Maribel drew it out with her right hand and raised the hand with all the other headbands into the air. "Here are your pity points. Midoriya." She said with venom. To which the entire enemy team was puzzled.

A pause made the tension between Bakugo and Todoroki in the background all the more noticeable. The two teams finished up and broke off, leaving Todoroki with one headband. Outside of the other two team's attention.

The blonde let all the headbands in her left hand fly with the wind, journeying through the air and landing on the ground.

"What the hell!?" Ochaco let out.

Midoriya was dumbfounded at what she did. Bending forwards with a gaping mouth. "Why!?"

"The hell are you doing, Merry!?" Sato asked out loud.

Supporting her statement came her other teammate. Whilst Jurota remained oddly silent. "I'd ask the same."

The entire stadium was roused by this strange course of action. "Oh... This isn't what I expected! Maribel lets go of the points- but will the other teams take their eyes off of her for them?!"

Maribel didn't care what anyone thought. This was a good way of justifying her plan. She wanted all four teams in the fight, no matter what she thought about them. "Todoroki's team will be approaching. Get ready." She ignored the cries of her team, moving them ten meters away from the ongoing action. Both Midoriya and Todoroki would approach, but thanks to Iida. She knew what would be coming first.

"Oh, one minute left!"

The enemy team approached fast, snatching two headbands from the ones that were still settling on the ground. Passing Izuku without much of a care, who seemed reluctant to approach.

Her eyes fell on Iida in front, and their eyes met for once. He looked so confident, and she loved it, truly. And for once, it didn't seem like he had to look away. Maribel held a hand in front of her eyes, still glowing. She smiled happily and wiped away the blood that had run down the side of her face. The bruise had dried.

"Todoroki, you won't be able to use me after this, so I'm counting on you! Be ready!" Iida's exhausts suddenly flared with fire as he kept running. His constant work with his legs offered enough warmth to power his engine up.

"What do you mean, Iida?" Todoroki trusted his teammate's words and held his hands up in readiness.

The flame turned blue as he flew across the distance, accelerating at an impressive pace. Even Maribel's eyes had trouble keeping up, but he did not become a blur to her as he did to everyone else. Twenty meters easily crossed in a second. "Torque over- RECIPROBURST!" He yelled. Within that time, they had an arms reach, and Todoroki really tried to aim for her only headband.

As if to show off just how quick she was, Maribel turned her head to meet Todoroki's as they flew past. Something Todoroki noticed, but had no time to put into expression. His hand came and passed through, her upper body had gone through a gap that quickly moved away to reveal her again. Making their pass ultimately pointless. She used her quirk to reorient the team to face Todoroki's.

Todoroki clasped for nothing in his hand and turned to face Maribel, stunned.

"Quick on their feet, but what kind of drawback could it have?" Eraserhead vaguely implied a weakness to Iida's ability. It was something he'd say to make people think.

"Believe what I'm saying, that speed holds a candle to All Might! Good going, Iida-kun!" She cheerily told him. Lightening the tension and making his face drip with sweat as he looked at her, confused, if anything.

"Ehm... Todoroki-san, I've exhausted myself. I can't move." To which Todoroki only nodded.

Maribel chimed in. "I've decided I've no reason to fight anymore. As long as the other teams are constrained to their horses, they will never hit me." And Todoroki couldn't help but agree, the team before her couldn't do anything but hopelessly watch. "You'd need a better trick than just speed."

Bakugo isn't distracted, he'll surely come over here within the seconds. And if he wants to make effective combat with me, he knows that he can't stay on his horse. It's too immobile. Maribel thought to herself. "Shinso, tell me if anyone's coming." She said, creating a border space high in the air. Two meters in a radius and six deep, but it filled exceptionally quickly. The two entry and exit points contracted quickly.

"Now."

Her focus remained steady as she began to look behind her. Bakugo shot off his horse with a loud explosion, uncaring that both Shinso and her had glanced back at her. He flew toward her, quickly.

Fyuuuuush. Pwop. The high-pitched sound of air flooding in stopped, something that could barely be heard in this open stadium.

Bakugo came closer. "Stop hogging the winning ticket!" He yelled at her. Within a second, she had moved one end of her border space right behind her. Creating a weird image of the sky to cover the back of her team. He wasn't prepared for this in particular as a gust of wind was released. Nullifying his momentum and sending him flying back. He managed to catch himself once he'd flown far into the air and blew himself back onto his horse, landing with the help of Sero's tape. They all rode toward her as quickly as they could though, once again, Sero and Mina's combined quirks gave them increased mobility.

"Did Bakugo blast himself away too soon?!"

"No, that's one of her super moves. Double Boundary, she used it to save me a lot of trouble at USJ."

"...Shinso, Bakugo's yours." She said, which seemed to please him. At first, Maribel looked back at Todoroki and his team, who didn't seem to be doing anything. They couldn't move, so why would they? Their range was limited, unlike hers.

Looking back, Shinso put on an aggressive face. "The time's up! You'd been better off going for the points lying around!"

"Uh..." Sero let out, stopping. So did Mina, although she couldn't even hear her saying anything.

"As if-!..." Kirishima shouted out. Body freezing in place as best it could while carrying Bakugo.

"Who do yo-!..." Bakugo blasted explosions from his hands as a way of intimidating those he approached. The constant sound it created wasn't the most welcoming, after all. But it did not stop Shinso's quirk, Bakugo stopped dead. His entire team was under his spell, and Midoriya was too far away.

Maribel took a calming breath. Looking at the scoreboard. There wasn't enough time to do something meaningful anymore. She estimated roughly ten seconds.

"Wha-wha-wha?! Bakugo's team just stopped! This isn't her quirk, is it?!"

"No... It isn't." Eraserhead commented, sounding more curious than she'd ever heard him.

"Anyway, time's just about up! Start the countdown!"

Maribel glanced at the countdown, and then at the scoreboard. The first four teams would get to enter the third round.

First Place - Team Hearn - 10,000,000 points.

Second Place - Team Todoroki - 1235

Third Place - Team Midoriya - 980

Fourth Place - Team Bakugo - 965

Sixth Place - Team Kendo - 665

Sixth Place - Team Tetstetsu - 320

7... 6... 5... 4... 3.. 2... 1...

"Time's up! That's the end of the Cavalry Battle, the second round!"

"Now, let's take a look at our top four teams right away!"

"In first place, Team Hearn!"

Shinso smiled almost wickedly. Maribel was satisfied for the moment and a wonderfully warm smirk spread across her face. Sato made a sigh of relief. And Jurota just stood there. His participation was mainly to hold weight and give a strong base to the team, surely he'd be disappointed if he remembers anything of the battle.

They broke up their formation and stood by each other. Maribel took off the ten million point headband that she had on her head and held it out to the rest of them. Shinso undid his brainwashing, and Jurota started moving. He was utterly confused, disoriented even, to which Sato came to help him.

"We won the battle. You okay?" The big-lipped man asked his fellow student, putting two hands on his shoulders as if to help him stand.

"...Ah, where am I?" He asked, looking tired.

Shinso turned to Maribel. "Thanks for having me and thanks for the win." He said and walked away towards one of the exits. Maribel had waved him off happily before he left.

Sato and Jurota talked for a moment, seeming to get along well. "What? You don't remember any of it!?"

"This guy went up to me, introduced himself. Hitoshi Shinso. And then asked me if I wanted to join his team, I let out a single syllable and then I was here."

"That's like some mind control. So you had to join us against your will?"

"Indeed, you're right!"

"He seemed off to me when we teamed up, that bastard... It's like he's a villain or something."

Maribel didn't care if her team ended up breaking apart at the end. At least she knew she wouldn't get the blame. And Shinso would be satisfied like this, he had made it to the final round of the most watched event in Japan. If he used his quirk again in a one-on-one, it'd definitely catch some interest.

"In second place, Team Todoroki!"

"If she was serious about winning, she would stay with her points. I guess she wanted to make a big impression by making it difficult for herself." Todoroki talked to himself. Then muttering. "Damn... I'll show my old man in the next round, now that I know more of her tricks."

Yaoyorozu responded leisurely. "She said the principal wanted her to win. Merry must be taking that very seriously. Still, we were on the verge of losing there. Why did she let go of all those points?"

Tenya almost spaced out and then looked over at Maribel's team. The girl standing confidently and putting her arms under her bust as she waited for the announcing to be all over with. Her eyes too, wandered, and now they were golden. He twitched his arms erratically up and down as he voiced his opinion. "I think she wanted us to win." Pausing and then speaking a little more loudly. "Merry is my friend, after all!"

Shaking his head, Kaminari looked around, moving closer to Iida. "She seems pretty into you, though." He said, to which Iida ignored with a very slight flush on his face.

Clenching his fist, Todoroki explained his own reasoning behind her behavior. "She must've wanted us to win, yes. Merry knows our quirks better than she does class 1-B after all. And she's bound to have more tricks that we can't deal with."

"In third place, Team Midoriya!"

"I don't know what made her react like that, but she became way more aggressive after you hit her, Deku." Ochaco explained. "Granted, I did see her being a little violent at USJ. But it's just a little weird."

"Now that you say it, after I hit her in the head... I guess that's a bit of a dirty move." Midoriya wiped the blood away pouring from his nose. Maybe I deserve this.

Tokoyami stood with arms crossed and chimed in a few words. "She was a bit like that at the trial of battle, too. Not as much, though. Maybe the fighting just fires her up."

"Let me take my babies off of you Midoriya-san! I think we did quite well with them, though there's still room for improvement!" Mei chimed in and came upon Midoriya.

"Hey-hey, Hatsume-san...!" He let out as she invaded his personal space without any permission and tore off the gear he was wearing. Leaving him with just the U.A. gym outfit.

"In fourth place, Team Bakugo!"

Bakugo slammed his fist into the ground hard and unleashed an explosion big enough to create a large dust cloud. It made him fall onto his back. He rolled onto his chest and began to smack his fist into the ground. "Damn it, damn it, damn it! I knew she'd be a huge pain in the ass, but with that half-and-half bastard in the way...!" He ranted and then screamed at the top of his lungs. "WATCH YOURSELF IN THE NEXT ROUND, BITCH! I'LL GET YOU, AND NO AMOUNT OF WARP GATES ARE STOPPING ME! I'LL LEAVE A GAP IN YOU THIS TIME!"

"I don't really think we had the chance for first place, but we did our best." Sero shrugged. He then smiled and looked at his other two teammates. "At least we won."

"Bakugo's probably not going to agree, but after seeing Hearn in action, I can't really disagree. I'd say that all of our teams here in 1-A had some pretty nice teamwork, though! We were all so... manly..." Kirishima responded, wiping his eyes with his knuckle.

"We've got another round ahead, so if we get some easy opponents, it's a good time to show off! What happened during those last seconds though? I just kind of lost my memory." Mna asked.

"He did it!" All Might told himself and looked down at Izuku. He was very close to knocking Hearn out of the game and was caught in multiple impressive performances. Looks like he's able to control his quirk a little too. If he's come this far, I think it's quite possible he can finally show the world that he's here... The future symbol of peace!

He smiled, and Izuku looked up at him. Joining in revelry once again.

A pair of girls sat together on one of the rows. Brown hair and reseda green hair, purple and green eyes. "She's using master's power to keep going, right?" Mai Tereida asked, one of the backup dancers that served Okina.

"We're not making her stronger, so yes. That power is just for stamina at the moment. If she used the trick I taught her, she'll find more use of it." Satono responded. Both of them wore modern and very casual clothing, so they didn't stand out. Not to anyone but one of the other spectators.

Kasen clapped and smiled. "What a show." She said to herself. Staring over at the two dancers who were sitting almost an entire kilometer away. And why are they here? I don't suppose it's strange someone like her would take interest...

It didn't seem like anything strange occurred with her over the course of the fight. That aura just became more vicious and youkai-like by the second, it might just be the effect of a 'quirk' that's causing it. Either way, I think I'd learn more if I met her. I think I'll just have to avoid running into too many other heroes in the halls.

The famed Ibaraki, whom none knew the identity of at the moment, stood up and walked away. Joining together with the crowd of people as she walked down and outside of the arena.

I am far more satisfied with this chapter than the last one. Though I do wish I had the dedication to make the strategy more intricate, but I think including literally everything happening between the main four would just clutter the chapter.

Maribel's character is now more open, despite what she thinks, she also acts a lot spontaneously. She doesn't think consciously about making friends a lot of the time and isn't a keikaku master at it, comes naturally most of the time.

Shinso rolled with Maribel in large part because she was very friendly, and had no issue putting his quirk aside, even agreeing with him on his issue. He's still pretty torn on her though. He'll focus on his usual agenda once he enters the next round, and I think I'll give him a bit of a break so he actually gets somewhere.

And there'll be some background tension going on before we get into the final round, and I hope I'll have more fun writing this last act. My plans (the ones I keep in my head anyway) feel way more concrete than they've been for the rest of the sports festival.