"Hey, wake up Eraser! You know you've got to actually commentate at some point, right?" Present Mic-sensei said, pulling his co-host from his nap.
"Interesting team composition," Aizawa-sensei mumbled as the teams took their places around the ring and built their formations.
"Huh? Yeah, we've got twelve teams on the field, but two of them are teams of two. Risky play for them."
Aizawa-sensei grunted. "True. Those teams are going to have a hard time, if there's any hope for them at all, but I was referring to the class lines. Almost every team exclusively pulled from either 1-A or 1-B."
"True, but that's pretty normal for the first years. They haven't had a chance to get to know their sister class yet, which makes coordinating team composition hard."
"Then explain Team Midoriya and Team Shinsou."
Izuku kept his heart rate down and his gaze steady as he glanced over the various teams. Aizawa-sensei was right, every other team was solidly A or B other than his and Shinsou-san's. But that was expected. As soon as Shiozaki-san and Tetsutetsu-san had joined him and Uraraka-san, they had come clean about their class's strategy, and they had shared notes on their various classmates, watching them form their teams and decide who would be best to target.
It also explained why 1-B was glaring harder at Shiozaki-san and Tetsutetsu-san than at Izuku.
It did not explain Shinsou-san. Aoyama-san and Ojirou-san were both 1-A, but Shinsou-san had also managed to get Shouda-san (Quirk: Twin Impact, created a secondary impact that Shouda-san could set of at his discretion) on his team.
"Can you all give me a battle cry!" Present Mic-sensei screamed from the booth, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. "There's the starting signal!"
Midnight-sensei cracked her whip, and the fight began.
Everyone went straight for Izuku and his team, just like they expected.
"You're not gonna get away this time!" Bakugou yelled across the field.
Izuku grinned at him, deliberately turning his gaze from the rest of the competitors. "Is that so, Kacchan? I guess you're gonna have to come over here and prove it."
About half of 1-A stumbled and almost froze slack jawed when they heard Izuku call Bakugou by such a cutesy and childish nickname and Bakugou absolutely screamed as he sparked off several large explosions and urged his team to move faster.
Shiozaki-san drove her vines into the cement, twining around them and digging out the cement under their feet, separating it from the rest before the effects of Juzo-san's quirk could reach them and soften the ground under their feet.
But that left them rooted to the spot as Team Kendo closed the distance, with Yanagi-san's telekinetic quirk pulling the ten million point head band from Izuku and into Kendo-san's reach.
"And just like that the ten million has already changed hands! Team Midoriya is down to nothing and Team Kendo takes the lead!"
"Hnn."
Izuku flashed another grin at Kendo-san, meeting her victorious smile with a wink. "Thanks for taking that off my hands. I hope you have fun with it!"
And in a heart beat, Kendo-san's face paled as she became the first to understand her place as a sacrificial lamb.
"I suggest you move quickly to avoid the loud explody one. He doesn't like settling for anything less than the best."
"Shiozaki-chan, you traitor!" Komori-san cried out as Team Kendo tried to quickly back pedal through Juzo-san's muck.
"We must all do our best to succeed in this world. If that means working with unexpected allies, then so be it," Shiozaki-san answered.
"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver!?" Tetsutetsu-san yelled after them. "We work with what we've got, and this one ain't so bad!"
Izuku laughed. "Alright, is everyone ready for stage two?"
"Ready," Uraraka-san answered, hand on Izuku's calf, ready to activate her quirk.
"Ready," Tetsutetsu-san answered, lowering his stance, ready to take on the world to protect the rest of his team.
"Ready," Shiozaki-san answered, a thin vine gently wrapped around Izuku's waist, as other vines began to spread out through the softened cement and make a web across the arena.
Izuku nodded, surveying the field. The moment his team had lost the ten million headband, the field had erupted into chaos, each team going after ones nearest them, rather than simply chasing after the big points.
"How about we take out some trash first," he said. "Can you get Mineta?"
Shiozaki-san nodded. "He should be easy to reach."
Izuku kept his eyes moving, tracking fights. Todoroki was starting to bear down on Team Kendo, though Class 1-B's president was doing an admirable job of fending him off.
And, of course, Bakugou had gotten into a fight with Monoma-san. Shiozaki-san had said he had a chip on his shoulder in particular with 1-A.
And then there was Team Hatsume, giving several teams the run around, while they managed to make off with Team Rin's headband.
Izuku scowled at that one. It wasn't worth much, but he had been hoping to count it as easy points.
A thin vine rose from the ground, pulling a headband worth 270 points with it.
"Thank you, Shiozaki-san," Izuku said as he tied it around his neck.
"We're sitting ducks here," Tetsutetsu-san said. "Let's go for something bigger."
"Kamikiri-kun looks distracted," Uraraka-san said.
Kamakiri. Where was he?
His team was one of the ones chasing after Hatsume-san. Distracted indeed.
Izuku didn't even need to say anything, Shiozaki-san was already moving the vines in that area of the field.
"And the ten million changed hands again! Team Todoroki has made of with the points, but they've been so kind as to leave Team Kendo in the game with their original 225 points!"
Izuku's head snapped over to that fight. Sure enough, Team Todoroki was running away with a new head band around their neck, leaving Team Kendo frozen to the ground with Kendo-san shaking off the effects of Kaminari-san's electricity.
Another chain of explosions drew Izuku's attention to the other side of the arena where Bakugou had taken to the air to chase after Team Monoma.
"What the fuck, he can fly!?" Tetsutetsu-san asked, gobsmacked.
"It was always an option," Izuku answered. "But I've never seen him pull it off before. Not to mention how risky it would be for him to leave his team in a Cavalry Battle."
"Is that even allowed!?" Present Mic-sensei asked.
Midnight-sensei cracked her whip. "Since Bakugou-kun didn't touch the ground, I'll allow it!"
"Well, that's good, right? It means we'll be clear too," Uraraka-san said.
Izuku nodded. "It was kind of him to test that for us, wasn't it?"
"Man, you are creepy," Izuku heard Tetsutetsu-san mutter to himself.
"What's this? Team Midoriya is back on the board with 685 points without having moved even once!?"
"Shit. Fuck subtlety, just get the points and get them back," Izuku ordered as Shiozaki-san tightened her vine holding Team Kamakiri's headband, reeling it in as fast as she could.
"Here comes Kendo-san," Tetsutetsu-san warned.
"Our next highest is Hagaku- Fuck!"
Todoroki-san had just snatched Hagakure-san's headband, further padding his lead.
"The only one we planned for left is Team Kodai," Shiozaki-san said.
"Take it, then go by whatever opportunity you see."
"Shinsou-san and Hatsume-san are coming for us as well. And since when do ikemen swear?"
"Not the time Uraraka-san. Make me weightless."
Uraraka-san nodded behind him and activated her quirk as Izuku felt Shiozaki-san's vine tighten slightly around his waist.
Izuku kept his eyes focused on the teams bearing down on them. All they had to do was protect their headbands. None of these teams had flight, so technically it would be better for him to take off now, but it would make better television for him to wait. And better television meant it would be more memorable, which meant better scouting.
Izuku put one hand on their two headbands as Team Kendo closed in, his other clamped on Tetsutetsu-san's shoulder to hold him steady.
"Mido-kun…"
"We'll be alright. Just a bit closer."
Shinsou-san shouted something to Kendo-san, and she turned to look at him confused.
A clamp attached to a metal cable flew by Izuku's head, as he dodged out of the way at the last minute before launching himself into the air. He traced the cable back, following it to Hatsume-san.
A support course student.
That was why they had wanted to avoid her in the first place. It was too hard to predict what she would have in her belt.
"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami-san shouted, his quirk rising from his shadows and flying straight for Tetsutetsu-san, who activated his quirk and took the hit head on.
The metal clamp flew past Izuku again, but this time, he reached out and grabbed the cable trailing behind it and yanked.
At first, nothing happened, and then he felt something give out and the line jerked back a few centimeters. "Damn it," Hatsume-san yelled.
Izuku smiled and made a show, holding his arm out and casually dropping the limp cable, then took a moment to survey the field again.
Team Kendo was stopped several meters away from Izuku's team, and Shinsou-san and his team seemed to be leaving. Dark Shadow was still attacking Tetsutetsu-san while the rest of Team Hatsume closed the gap. Most of the other teams were trying to close in on Team Todoroki.
Or, they were. Before Todoroki-san threw up a massive ice wall to keep them away.
A thin vine followed the one connecting Izuku to his team, carrying Team Kodai's headband up to him.
That would bring them to 850 points. Checking the score board, Izuku's team was sitting comfortably in third. Unfortunately, everyone that still had points was someone they had decided to avoid. And everyone else was likely to be turn on them in a moment.
Izuku tugged twice on the vine at his waist, Shiozaki-san quickly pulled it taught and reeled him back in.
Dark Shadow screeched and launched himself up at Izuku as he came down. Izuku twisted in the air, ducking under the grasping arms and kicking off the quirk as he flew past.
"Phase three?" Shiozaki-san asked.
"Unless you think you can get a headband off of Shinsou-san."
"Two minutes left!"
"I say we don't risk it," Uraraka-san said. "We have the points we need, now we just need to keep them."
Two minutes. They cold make that.
With phase three.
"You got an opinion Tetsutetsu-san?"
"Yeah. My opinion is that I can't fight all these people at once with my hands behind my back."
Izuku nodded. Watching the mob reconverging on them. "Then phase three it is."
Shiozaki-san nodded, her vines growing and weaving together, a large thorny wall growing around them and up over their heads until they were fully encased.
"That should hold long enough."
"And now we wait."
Tetsutetsu-san turned to look up at Izuku, now that the threat of attack was gone. "Is this really the only way?"
Izuku shrugged. "You said it yourself, you can't fight everyone at once, and I don't have a quirk that can really help you with that. Even Todoroki-san decided to go on the defensive against Bakugou's maneuverability."
"I mean, yeah. I get it. Better to advance than not, but this still feels cowardly."
"Looks like Team Midoriya has decided to take a page out of Todoroki-kun's book and is hunkering down to wait out the final stretch! But will they hold out against so many attackers?"
Glancing down, Izuku noticed Shiozaki-san wincing under the barrage from outside.
"How are you holding up?" he asked.
"We are lucky we only need a few minutes."
Uraraka-san's grip tightened on his ankle.
A loud boom followed by a crack and crash filled the space, pulling their attention back to the outside.
"Bakugou-kun has broken through Todoroki-kun's ice wall! That is an amazing amount of force!"
"Which one of them wins depends on how Team Todoroki responds to this."
Tense second after second passed before the buzzer finally sounded.
"And look at that speed! Iida-kun carries his team to victory in an astounding burst of power!"
A cheer rose from the crowd and Shiozaki-san released her vines, unwrapping their cocoon. Several of the class B students that had been trying to break through the vine wall gave Shiozaki-san and Tetsutetsu-san dirty looks as they turned to stalk off the field.
"In first place, Team Todoroki has managed to hold the ten million head band till the end for a total of ten million one thousand five hundred!
"Second place with a strong showing start to finish is Team Bakugou with nine hundred seventy points!
"Third place, the team that kept us guessing! Team Midoriya with eight hundred fifty points!
"And Fourth place is… Team Shinsou? Where did they come from?
"Everyone give a hand to our sixteen finalists!"
"Can I please take a nap now."
Izuku snorted at his teacher's voice. Normally he would have put good money on Aizawa-sensei sleeping through the events, but sitting next to Present Mic-sensei would have made that next to impossible.
Izuku gently climbed down from his perch and turned to his team. "Thank you for trusting my plan," he said, bowing to them. "Without your faith I would not have been able to proceed."
"Oh, it wasn't that big of a deal," Uraraka-san said, trying to wave him off. "You've already done so much for me, it was easy to follow your instructions. It was a really good plan too."
"Well, that's done, I'm gonna go eat," Tetsutetsu-san said.
Shiozaki-san bowed back to Izuku. "You made good on your promise, though I had hoped for a better showing in this round. I should go do some damage control with my classmates."
Uraraka-san nodded. "We should go eat too. And congratulate Iida-kun on his win! I wonder what he did in that last minute. It sounded like without him Bakugou-kun would have gotten the ten million point headband."
"You go ahead," Izuku said. "I'll meet you there. I should stop by Recovery Girl first. I got some nasty road rash in the first event."
"Oh, yeah. You should go do that. Well, come find us once she lets you go."
Izuku nodded and disappeared down the halls. He detoured to the 1-A prep room to grab his phone then continued to his destination.
His phone had predictably blown up with texts over the first two events. One of the early ones seemed to be a badly zoomed in picture of him from above. Specifically an angle that was unlikely to be shown on TV, so at least a few of Izuku's end class compatriots were somewhere in the stands. Not that it meant much during the first event.
The obstacle course hadn't really seemed to impress 3-E very much. Or at least. The Robo Inferno hadn't. They just immediately started listing off weak points and making strategies to take the robots down. The tight rope canyon also didn't impress them. The mines didn't really either, but they did acknowledge that it would be effective for slowing people down.
And then there was Karasuma-sensei asking someone to tell him he was hallucinating. And Ritsu telling him that he wasn't.
Bitch-sensei actually bothered to put the cackling in the chat while Karasuma-sensei mentioned needing to run Izuku through appropriate risk taking again.
Karma pointed out that it was clearly working as intended.
Which. It had. Mostly.
The second event required more commentary from the ones in the stands because Izuku hadn't spent a whole lot of time as the center of attention.
"Midoriya Izuku. I was wondering when I was going to see you."
Izuku shoved his phone in his pocket. "Eh, it's really just some scrapes and bruises. But it's best to go into one on ones in top shape."
Recovery Girl-sensei raised an eyebrow. "That was extremely reckless of you, young man. Sit down."
Izuku sat. "It really wasn't that bad."
"You skidded across at least five meters of mine field and track."
"It could have been worse," Izuku pouted.
"And that is exactly my problem! You could have broken bones! You could have concussed yourself. And for what!? A stupid school competition? A shiny medal?"
"I knew what I was doing. I can take care of myself. I didn't break any bones, and I don't have a head injury."
"I'll be the judge of that."
Recovery Girl-sensei runs him through a battery of concussion tests, then spent some time poking and prodding, recording every injury she came across. Which, as Izuku had predicted, included no broken bones.
Recovery Girl-sensei humphed, and released Izuku with a kiss on the cheek, her quirk spreading through his body and wiping the scrapes and bruises from his skin. "You're very lucky, young man. That could have been a lot worse. Now go find your friends and eat. And no more stunts like that, do you hear me? I don't want to see you back here today. I swear, you're too much like Toshinori for your own good."
Izuku smiled on his way to the door. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."
"I don't want you turning out like him, Midoriya-kun!" she called after him. "Or Aizawa-kun! Or heaven forbid, both of them!"
Izuku laughed. He didn't think he was that bad just yet. His phone buzzed in his pocket as he rounded the corner.
Maehara: "Yo. Izuku. Are you going to come eat with us?"
Izuku: "sorry. promised some classmates i'd meet up with them"
Izuku: "and i need to find out what iida-san did in those last seconds"
Maehara: "All good. You mean you've never seen him do that before?"
Izuku: "don't think so. he's fast, but i never thought fast enough to out maneuver bakugou while dragging three other people with him"
Maehara: "Pretty sure most people wouldn't have been able to see him move with that burst. Looked like it might have had a cool down time though."
Izuku: "i'll have to ask him"
Izuku: "see you guys after the festival?"
Maehara: "Yeah, see you then."
Well. Now all he needed was some food and some information and he was going to be in good shape for the last event of the Festival.