Chapter 22: The Second Event

Izuku cheered and clapped with the rest of the stadium as Moyashi jogged across the finish line. In order to cross the ravine, he had been forced to remove his harness and travel the remaining distance on foot - an impressive feat for someone with his condition.

'And coming in at 112th place we have Moyashi Kimuzukashī!'

The crowds continued to cheer as Moyashi slowed himself to a stop. Slouching over on his hands and knees, he took great gulps of air as he tried to catch his breath.

'You did it!' shouted Izuku as the rest of the support class crowded around him, 'I knew you would!'

Between heavy breaths Moyashi adopted a feeble grin. He wouldn't be competing in the second event, but at the very least he hadn't come in last place. Letting Moyashi recover, Izuku looked up at the jumbo screen which displayed the remaining runners who had yet to cross. Funnily enough Kiska was still running the course, but besides her everyone else was either in general education, the business class, or disqualified.

He considered the names of those who had managed to qualify for the second event. Besides Kiska and Moyashi, all of his friends had managed to qualify.

At least I'll have allies for the second round. I'm going to need them.

To his immense displeasure, both Shoto and Bakugo had somehow managed to secure the 33rd and 34th position on the leaderboards. That put a damper on things as Bakugo would almost certainly do everything in his power to destroy him the first chance he got.

Speaking of enemies, he was getting worried about the number of dirty looks that were being directed his way by class 1-A and 1-B. He had overheard several of them loudly speculating about his less than honourable tactics during the race. At the moment they were voicing their complaints to Midnight. Crooking his head, he perked his ears and eavesdropped.

'How'd that rope break in the cliff obstacle? Gee, I wonder…'

'Midnight? Oh, Midnight? Excuse me, but can we see the footage of when Kirishima and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu got tied together?'

'The mine exploded before Ojiro stepped on it! I swear!'

After listening to their clamouring for a moment, Midnight raised her whip for silence.

'We already viewed the footage of the event as it was happening, and we have determined that there was no cheating. All the equipment that was used in the event was registered before the race and some sabotage of your opponents is allowed in the competition. The current festival rankings will remain.' Midnight said firmly.

The hero classes grumbled, but ultimately accepted her judgement. That didn't stop them from shooting him and the other members of Class 1-H dirty looks though. He did his best to ignore them, but their hostile attitude was not lost on the others.

'I hope there's no hard feelings.' Hiretsuna said meekly, 'It's not like we broke any rules – not technically.'

Mei snorted and tossed her hair, 'All's fair in Sports and Business.' that didn't sound right to Izuku, but there was no point in arguing with her, 'We did what we had to do to get here. It's not our fault they didn't come up with a game plan.'

'Speaking of game plans, what's ours?' Bukimi said and everyone turned to Izuku.

'We need more information.' Izuku said, 'Let's just wait and see what the next event is. We'll come up with something then.'

The five nodded to each other. As they broke apart their huddle, Present Mic's voice filled the stadium.

'And finally, our last contestant finishes! Let's give it up for Kiska Kēki!'

Kiska ran in smiling and waving peace signs to the crowd. Immediately all the other contestants besides support started booing her. She laughed at their taunts and jeers and started blowing kisses. While she was enjoying her accolades, Bakugo came stomping over.

'You cheater!' shouted Bakugo, 'You just had to throw a tantrum and screw everyone else, didn't you? I know you and Deku worked out some sort of deal! I bet you-'

'Bakugo! If you say another word you will be disqualified!' Midnight warned.

Bakugo snapped his jaw shut and worked his tongue behind his closed mouth, his face turning bright red. For a brief moment Izuku thought he was going to explode before he threw up his hands in frustration and turned away. Sighing in relief, Izuku turned back to Kiska.

'I still can't believe how crazy that attack was, Kiska. It's probably because of you that so many of us qualified.' He said earnestly. Though she hadn't managed to knock out Bakugo or Todoroki she had taken out Tsuyu Asui, another one of the class 1-A general purpose fighters. Tsuyu's cold-blooded physiology simply couldn't cope with being soaked in refrigerant.

Kiska blushed at the praise, 'You're welcome. I'm just glad I could contribute.'

Before they could say anything else, Midnight called out to all the contestants.

'All right, can all of those who failed to qualify please exit the arena and go to your assigned seating. Everyone who did qualify, gather around me.'

'Good luck you guys.' shouted Kiska and Moyashi as they went with the other students to the stands. Each class had their own private booth waiting for them up above.

Izuku and his fellows waved goodbye before joining the assembly in front of Midnight.

'All right everyone, gather 'round. Congratulations on advancing to the second event. Now let's find out what you'll be doing!'

At that the holographic screen reappeared and the slot machine began spinning. With the blare of a horn, it stopped. The screen read: "Cavalry Battle".

'Alright, there you have it! The second challenge is the cavalry battle. The rules for this event are simple. To start: each of you will form a team of at most four students.'

The support heroes looked at each other, all thinking the same thing.

Four people? Someone's going to left behind!

'In your group, whichever of you placed the highest in the obstacle course will act as a rider to be carried by your teammates.'

Looks like I'm going to be a rider then. Izuku thought.

'Each rider will be wearing a headband. The goal of the cavalry battle is to steal the other teams' headbands! You may use your quirks, but only to help you move around. You may not attack each other.'

Bakugo let out a low hiss and Izuku felt a relieved smile break out on his face. Hampered by a team, it would be difficult for Bakugo to use his quirk, especially without attacking.

'Each of you are assigned a point value. The person in last place is worth five points and the second to last person worth ten points. Each subsequent increase in placing in the obstacle race denotes an additional five points so that third place is worth two hundred points, second place worth two hundred and five, and first place is worth…ten million points!' Midnight said, a cruel smile tugging at her lips.

Everyone shifted their focus to Tenya who's confident smirk was instantly replaced with a look of pure horror.

It's a good thing I didn't come in first! Whichever team steals Tenya's headband is guaranteed a spot in the third round. Izuku thought with relief.

'Your rider's headband represents the total accumulated points of your team!' continued Midnight, 'You will all have thirty minutes to try and steal as many headbands as possible, and at the end of the time limit the top four teams will proceed to the next round! Beware! If your rider falls off your horse, your team will be penalized five minutes so don't get careless! You all have fifteen minutes to decide your teams. Choose wisely.'

As Izuku, Mei, Hiretsuna, Saigo and Bukimi exchanged glances, an awkward silence settled over them.

'So…' Izuku started tentatively before Hiretsuna interrupted him.

'Here, why don't we just cut to the chase. I'm fine being let out of the team.' she said evenly.

'R-Really? Are you sure?' Izuku asked in surprise.

'Yes, I'm sure. You guys can do what you need to do, but I'll do my own thing.'

'Well, if that's how you feel, then I guess we'll see you in the third event. Good luck, Hiretsuna.' Izuku said uncertainly.

She nodded, before breaking away from the group and disappearing into the crowd of milling students.

Damn. Out of everyone in support she had the most powerful quirk.

Mei was the first one to break the silence.

'Well, what's done is done.' she said putting her arms around Izuku and Saigo, 'Let's get down to business gentlemen. How're we going to win?'

'First we need to know how many points we're starting with. What's our headband worth?' Bukimi asked, peering over at the stadium screen that displayed their ranking in the race.

'Four-hundred-sixty-five.' Mei answered instantly.

'Right, so if we want to advance, we'll need to steal at least one other headband.' Bukimi said, flexing his wings behind him, 'Its too bad I'm not the rider. I'm the lightest and I could just fly away.' he finished pensively.

'How do you feel about being the rider, Midoriya?' Mei asked.

'I think its perfect. I can concentrate purely on defense. Plus, I mean…I'm not trying to brag, but I'm pretty confident that if you get me in arms reach, I can steal a few headbands.' Izuku said carefully.

'Well that's good to hear.' Saigo said, 'What do you think we should do?'

'I think you should focus on keeping us moving so we can avoid getting trapped and we should definitely stay away from Tenya.' Izuku said and the huddle broke so they could stare at him. The champion's face was sheet white and his glasses askew as he scrambled around the yard trying to scrounge together a team. Reforming the huddle, Izuku shrugged, 'Sucks to be him, but whatever. Hopefully while everyone's busy beating him up we can sneak by. If not though, let's not worry about a little combat.'

'Maybe we should ambush the people going after Tenya?' Mei said, smiling deviously. 'We can probably rack up quite a few points that way!'

'We'll see how it goes…uh, just a heads up: I guarantee Bakugo is going to be after us and by us, I mean me. He'll want to knock me out as soon as he can. In fact, I bet in the first minute of the race he's going to be blasting us.' Izuku admitted regretfully, rubbing the back of his head.

'Will he?' Mei said in a surprised tone, 'If *I* were him, I'd let you advance to the third round so I could grind you into paste, mano a mano. Y'know, really put on a show for the cameras.' she said thoughtfully and Izuku felt his breath catch in his throat.

'Shit…' he muttered. That was exactly the sort of thing Bakugo would do.

'Well that's one less thing for us to worry about!' Mei said brightly, 'So, what should our team name be? Can we be called "Team Mei-o-maze"? See, it's like me, but even more amazing. Get it? No? How about…'

Izuku clambered up on his teammates shoulders while they hoisted up his legs. Swaying slightly, he experimented with his balance by moving from side to side.

'How's your balance, Midoriya?' Bukimi asked from his right.

'Perfect.' Izuku replied grinning, 'You guys are doing great.'

While many of the other teams seemed to be struggling somewhat with achieving a secure position for their rider, Izuku felt quite at ease atop his teammate's shoulders. His balance would be even better if he were barefoot, but he didn't want to even attempt that conversation. Looking around, he saw that most teams were of four members, but there were a few teams of three (including Tenya who sat uncertainly on the shoulders of Ochaco and the flamboyant Class 1-A transfer student named Aoyama) as well as a couple teams of two.

As everyone finished getting organized, Izuku took a deep breath and prepared himself.

I can't afford to get cocky. If I make it to the third round then I've already won my one billion yen and I can track down the League of Villains. Don't screw this up!

As the final students finished seating their riders, Midnight called out across the arena.

'Your fifteen minutes are up!' she shouted, 'Everyone, go to your starting positions!'

The stands roared as the ungainly cavalry teams began to move. After they had parked themselves into evenly spaced increments around the circular colosseum a small drone came flying to them and delivered their headbands.

Snatching the headband from the drone, Izuku tied it firmly to his forehead. It had occurred to him that he could just tie it to his palm and use his super grip to make it all but impossible to remove, but he decided against it.

Once everyone had tied their headbands, Midnight raised her whip.

'Begin!' she shouted and her whip cracked.

As soon as the call was given, Izuku Immediately spotted three teams galloping their way. Unsurprisingly, they had decided that the support heroes were easy pickings and they wanted to claim their headband before anyone else.

'Looks like we've got company.' Saigo started uncertainly, 'What should we do Mido-'

'Let's meet them head on!' Izuku shouted eagerly, 'They're weak!'

'Oh! Well okay then Conan, let's go!' Saigo said with giddy enthusiasm.

Izuku and his team rushed over to the first squad of three. Izuku didn't know their names so they had to be in general education or the business class.

They're going to regret underestimating us!

The students charged at one another. Coming within reaching distance, the girl riding on top of her two classmates lunged out, her fingernails suddenly shooting out to snatch at Izuku's headband. With a twist of his hips, he dodged around her grasping hand easily. Fast as lightning, his own hand darted out and neatly pulled the fifty-point headband off from around the girl's head. Still blinking in surprise at her failed attack, Izuku gave her a sharp shove high on her chest with his other hand. The blow sent her flopping off her riders to the ground below.

Midnight saw the team's defeat and called out:

'Rider down, five-minute penalty!'

Izuku tied the new headband around his neck.

Five-hundred-fifteen!

The next cavalry team came rushing forward, whooping excitedly. The boy atop his mount eagerly swung his cloven hand out, but Izuku defeated him in the same way - snatch and shove. The boy fell heavily atop his three mounts, knocking them all face first into the dirt.

Six-hundred-ten!

The third squad approached them more cautiously. It was a team of two, both class 1-A. The rider was the purple haired boy Mineta. His mount, the silent giant Koda. As soon as the two teams approached one another Mineta began to pluck the fist sized purple globules that were sprouting from his scalp and began throwing them.

'Feel my sticky justice!' he yelled manically, showering the support squad in purple blots. Izuku managed to dodge the attack but his fellow teammates weren't so lucky. Bukimi got two matted into his leathery wings and Saigo was hit in the arm and stomach. Mei was hit the worst of all, getting a sticky purple ball right across her cheek.

'Ha! Money shot! Mineta shouted.

'Get me closer!' Izuku shouted and his teammates obliged.

Weaving between the barrage of purple blots, Izuku waited for his chance to counter while his team closed the distance. As they got closer, Mineta became increasingly panicked as he failed to land a hit. Finally, he was in arms reach and Mineta screeched as Izuku loomed over him.

He swooped down on the smaller, purple haired scoundrel. With one hand he grabbed the boy by the collar and tore him off Koda's shoulders. With his other hand he snatched his headband. Izuku let gravity do the rest and the boy fell to the ground with a thud. Before Mineta could scurry away, Mei's steel booted foot came down on his groin and the crowd let out an audible "oof!".

'Whoops. Sorry!' Mei said callously as they left the pair in the dust.

Seven-hundred-forty-five! Just a few more points and we're guaranteed to advance! Izuku thought as he tied the ribbon around his forehead.

Far above the grassy floor of the arena and the throngs of cheering spectators, Power Loader and Thirteen sat side by side behind the glass of the box seats, sipping iced tea while they observed the cavalry battle unfold below.

'Ha! That's another team down for the count.' Thirteen said savagely as Mineta and Koda were given a five-minute penalty for losing their rider, 'I must say, your class is doing exceptionally well, Higari. I confess I had my doubts when you were telling me how talented they were.'

'Hmm…yes.' Power Loader simpered, swirling his glass elegantly, 'Well talent recognizes its own of course. So, I forgive you…'

'Oh, quit gloating!' Thirteen said angrily, but he knew she was smiling behind her mask, 'They haven't lived up to the hype yet! The second event has only just begun after all.'

'True, anything can happen although they've already done much more than I asked for. I wanted them to put in an honest effort, and here they are trying to take first place. This is a…special group. Have you ever seen a first-year class this promising?'

Thirteen went into a thoughtful silence for a few seconds as she thought it over, 'Maybe your expectations are too low. If you have a high-quality class like this you should really push them. Who knows what they could be capable of?'

'Oh, I know.' Power Loader said as his students managed to defeat another team, 'I've got some plans in the works. I want to see how strong they really are.'

The pair resumed spectating, silently appraising their pupils as they snatched headband after headband.

Izuku and his team watched the other teams warily. A sort of stalemate had arisen from the four leading teams.

Tenya's team had lost their first-place headband quickly to Sero and his squad only to recapture it moments later. Sero had redirected their energy to Izuku only to be defeated in close quarters. Now Izuku, Mina, Momo, and Tenya were carefully avoiding each other as they tried to run out the clock.

'How…come…I…always…end…up…carrying…you…Izuku!' Mei said grimacing as she shifted his weight from one arm to the other.

'I'd swap with you if I could, Mei.' Izuku said absently, carefully keeping his eyes on an approaching team. He glared at them and they appeared to rethink their approach, going after Mina's team instead. 'Just another minute.'

Mei moaned, but hoisted him up higher nonetheless. He looked down at her appreciatively before he remembered he was still mad at her for humiliating him and he shifted his gaze back up to the other teams. The first twenty minutes had been hectic as everyone tried their luck at taking him down. However, after he and his team had knocked the challengers down one by one, the challengers had decided they weren't as soft as they looked and backed off.

Just a couple more seconds. Come on. Come on!

He felt a thrill of nerves run up his spine. Someone was coming. Twisting around, he spotted Hiretsuna goading her team onward to intercept them. Izuku felt a swell of adrenaline. This would be the last engagement.

'Heads up guys, Hiretsuna's inbound at seven o'clock.' Izuku said.

'What?! Hiretsuna?' Saigo said in dismay, 'But why?'

'Hey, she wants to win. I can't blame her.' Bukimi grunted as he turned them around.

'Let's..do…this..' Mei panted.

As the two teams charged at each other they suddenly heard Present Mic shouting.

'And Tenya is down! He's lost the number one headband to Shinso of general education with less than a minute left!'

Izuku didn't bother looking over. He couldn't afford to get distracted now. Reaching into his utility belt, he popped in a pair of specially designed ear plugs. They would block out anything that operated at a dangerously high decibel. He had initially designed them to fight against Bakugo, but they would work equally well against Hiretsuna's shockwaves. With grim resolve the two teams faced each other.

'Eu tu, Brute?' Saigo shouted over at Hiretsuna as the two came within reach.

The words whipped across Hiretsuna's face and for a brief moment she looked visibly upset before she regained her composure. Drawing in close she brought her hands down together in a light clap. However, before her palms could touch, Izuku thrust out his hand between hers. She looked down at her hands in surprise then up at Izuku. She opened her mouth to say something but before the words could leave her mouth, he had pushed her. Flying off her horse, she landed on her backside with an undignified bounce. After a moment her expression changed from surprise to resignation. Putting her hands on her knees she just sat still.

Before Midnight could even call out her team for losing their rider, an airhorn blared. The event had ended.

'Damnit!' said one of Hiretsuna's teammates rounding on the girl, 'Some leader you turned out to be!'

Hiretsuna said nothing as her teammates went marching past her, leaving her behind in front of Izuku and his squad. They all stood there staring for a moment.

'Er, well it was a good try!' Saigo said uneasily.

'Yeah! I would've done the same if I were you.' Mei said in agreement.

Izuku hopped off his teammates shoulders and landed next to Hiretsuna.

'You almost got me there.' Izuku said, extending his hand.

After a moments hesitation, Hiretsuna took the offered hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

'Thanks.' she said quietly, 'I thought it was worth a shot. I didn't want to just give up, y'know?'

Mei nodded in agreement and gave her a thumbs up as Izuku thought of something to say. Instead he just nodded.

'We had the better teammates, Hiretsuna.' Bukimi said.

Another uneasy silence descended on the group for a moment, but it was thankfully cut short by Present Mic.

'What a finish! Incredibly, Hitoshi Shinso of general education takes first place! Followed by Izuku Midoriya of the support department! In third is Momo Yaoyorozu of the hero program and in fourth place is Mina Ashido also of the hero program. What is happening?! How are the heroes losing?! Are their teachers to blame?! You know, I always say: spare the rod-'

Suddenly there was a scuffling sound at the microphone. Everyone glanced at each other as they heard what sounded like a chair being knocked over and glass breaking. After a brief scratching sound, a voice was once again heard on the speakers. It was Aizawa.

'That concludes the second event. All students may leave now for their lunch break. You are dismissed.'

Izuku let out an excited cheer alongside his teammates.

I've done it! Win or lose, it doesn't matter. I'm a billionaire!