I don't own My Hero Academia or Kill la Kill, please don't sue
Izuku Midoriya's heart started pounding in his chest as soon as he heard his point assignment. 10,000,000 points. That was a lot of points. Enough to make everyone around him stare at him with hunger in their eyes, eager to take him out and seize first place for themselves. What was it that Kacchan said back in middle school?
"You'd never be able to hang with the best of the best! You're just a quirkless wannabe!"
So this was the burden of being with the best of the best. In a way Kacchan was right. Even though things had changed so much since then, Izuku still found himself to be a target. A target who couldn't use his quirk and only came in first place due to some good luck.
"First years, these are the rules you'll abide by!" Midnight announced. "The game itself will last fifteen minutes. Individual point values will be added together to reach your team total. Everyone will know how much you're worth thanks to your headbands. Swipe as many headbands as you can to raise your team score. They're velcro, so they'll come off easily. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up, so the more you steal, the harder it'll be to manage them. And another thing, even if you're headband gets stolen or your team falls down, you can keep playing until time's up! The top four teams will move on to the final round!"
With teams of two to four and 42 contestants, that would make ten or twelve teams on the field fighting it out at any given time. And with that much time, stealing headbands at the last minute would be far easier than guarding one from the beginning. Which meant things would be rough for Izuku.
"You may use your quirks as much as you like, but there are still rules," Midnight continued. "Make a team fall on purpose and I'll slap you with a red card! You'll be disqualified! Now, you'll have fifteen minutes to make your teams, I recommend you get started!"
At least there was a silver lining. Since he had so many points, Izuku didn't need to worry about point values at all. The only thing that mattered was finding people he could work well with. Of course, finding people who wanted to work with him was a problem all by itself. He wouldn't bother with going after people from other classes, since most would rather stick to teaming up with people from their own class. It made sense, since teaming up with someone you didn't know was too risky of a gamble. But even amongst those in his class...
"Hey Ojiro!" he called over to the martial artist.
Izuku didn't even get the chance to ask him to join his team before his classmate walked away. He was hurt by how quick the rejection was, but he could hardly blame Ojiro. No one would be focused on keeping their own headband since it was so much easier to just steal them at the end. And since he didn't show off his quirk in the preliminary event, no one had any confidence in him!
"Hey Deku!" a familiar voice called to him. "Let's team up!"
"Uraraka!" he burst into tears. "Are you sure? Everyone will be after me and my ten million stupid points! Tell me you're not kidding!"
"If we run away the whole time, then we'll win right?"
She did have a point. The other upside to starting out with so many points was that they didn't need to steal a single headband. So their team could forgo offense entirely and focus only on speed and defense. Sounded good in theory, but in practice it would be nigh impossible to hold onto the headband with everyone coming after them.
"You're either overestimating me or underestimating everyone else."
"So? It's best to team up with people you like!"
Izuku's heart squeezed so much he thought his chest would explode for a second.
"Thanks a lot!" he squeaked out. "Actually, I wanted to team up with you too! You're right. For a game that requires so much teamwork, it's smart to team up with people you communicate smoothly with. And speaking of working with people you like, there's two people I have in mind. If we can team up with them, I think I have a pretty solid plan."
"So who are you thinking of?"
"Well, the first one is Iida. You said it yourself, we win if we run away the whole time and his quirk is perfect for that. As for the second, we need someone to act as a strong rider, someone who can take any attack and keep moving. Like the person who could fight Nomu even without a quirk!"
Uraraka nodded in understanding and the two of them broke off to find their prospective teammates. Izuku found Iida and Uraraka brought back Ryuko. The four of them huddled in a circle to discuss their plan.
"So Iida, Uraraka, and I will be the horses, with Iida in the front," he started to explain. "We'll use Uraraka's quirk to make us all lighter and increase our maneuverability. No one will be able to catch us! Ryuko, you'll be the rider. You're strong and you have great reactions, so the role is perfect for you. We'll run away using Iida's speed and fall back on Ryuko's defense when we need to. I know it's not much, but I think we have a good chance at pulling this thing off!"
Izuku waited a few moments to see their reactions. Neither of them were willing to look him in the eye. Was it something he said? Was his plan bad?
"A good strategy, but I'm sorry," Iida apologized. "I'm afraid I must refuse your offer. Since this all started, I've been losing to you. Please don't take this as an insult, you're a great friend. But if I continue to follow you, I'll never get stronger. I see you as a friend, but also a rival as well. Midoriya, I'll try my best to defeat you!"
Iida turned his back to the group and walked away. Right to Todoroki, Kaminari, and Yaoyorozu.
"Sorry buddy, but I'm out too," Ryuko said, also turning to leave.
"What? Not you too!" Izuku exclaimed, grabbing her by the shoulder.
"Are you gonna use your quirk?" she asked.
"Well no, you know how it hurts me when I use it. I have to save it up for the finals-"
"Then I'm out," Ryuko said bluntly. "I can't use my quirk either, so if we team up half our team will be quirkless. You can't afford that when everyone is gonna come after you. We'll both drag each other down."
"Ryuko..."
"Look, I'm sorry. And I do want to team up with you. But I have to win this thing, you know that. I can't risk my chances of winning for anything, even for you Midoriya."
Izuku stared ahead blankly as his friends walked away without even looking back at him. So it already began. The game hadn't even started yet and still everyone was after him. Everyone was an enemy. He was at the top and everyone was trying their best to take him down. He couldn't rely on anyone else this time!
Ryuko Matoi walked away, kind of feeling like shit. Yeah it sucked that she and Midoriya wouldn't be on the same team, but this was better for both of them. If they teamed up, they'd lose for sure. At least this way there was a chance they could move on together.
But that would mean finding a team of her own. 165 points would seem high for someone who didn't show off their quirk. Not as bad as Midoriya had it, but finding a team might prove difficult. There was no point in bothering with the other classes, her tactics during the obstacle course probably made them all hate her if they didn't before. Even most of her own classmates looked like they were on teams already.
"Hey Matoi!" Kirishima exclaimed. "Wanna team up?"
Ryuko breathed a sigh of relief. He was just the person she wanted to see right now. And as an added bonus, Mina was with him too. She really couldn't have asked for a better team.
"You know I do!" she laughed. "Looks like the three amigos are back together!"
"Great! This is gonna be so awesome! Let me just tell our rider that we got our last member."
They already found a rider? Oh well, at least they wouldn't have to scramble to fill their team out. Ryuko couldn't help but wonder who it was as Kirishima dragged her along to meet them. Whoever they were, they had to be pretty strong if they wanted her to be the horse instead of the rider.
Kirishima let her arm go, having brought her face-to-face with the team's leader. As soon as she saw who it was, Ryuko's expression immediately soured.
No. Absolutely not. She turned to leave, but Kirishima grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Why the hell did you bring her here Dumb-Hair?" Bakugo growled.
"I told you, my name is Kirishima! And our hair isn't that different!" he protested. "I brought her here because you said you wanted a strong front horse with guts, so here she is! You can't get much stronger than fighting that Nomu thing head-on without injury!"
"You idiot! I was talking about you!" Bakugo screamed, pounding Kirishima on the head. "What am I supposed to do with her? Without that ridiculous swimsuit or that toy sword, she might as well be a quirkless piece of trash!"
Ryuko's eye started to twitch and her blood nearly boiled. If he thought he could talk shit about her like she wasn't even there, he had another thing coming!
"Yeah, a quirkless piece of trash who came in 10th!" she shot back. "Remind me again, what did you get in the obstacle course? Oh right, 31st! That's twenty more than ten, so that means you did twenty times worse than me!"
"That's not how math works idiot! And you only beat me because Monkey-Boy sabotaged me!" Bakugo roared. "Sabotage just like you did. You're not strong, you can't get anywhere without help from others or cheating!"
"Um, it's called winning! And please, we all know you're just mad because you didn't think of that yourself!" Ryuko snorted.
Bakugo pulled on his hair and screamed. Then he started making small explosions on the palms of his hands while still screaming. Finally, he started pounding on the ground and you guessed it, screamed.
"Forget this! Get her out of my sight Dumb-Hair! I'll never team up with her!"
"That's fine by me asshole! Because I don't want to team up with you!"
"No, I don't want to team up with you!"
"No, I don't want to team up with you!"
"No, I don't want to team up with you!"
"So, we're obviously a team right?" Uzu Sanageyama asked rhetorically. "I mean, four people on a team, we're the Elite Four. It's kind of like this event was made for us."
"I dunno, 205 points sounds like an awful lot. I don't know if we can fit that on our team," Jakuzure drawled. "Maybe we're better off as the Elite Three!"
"I take no pleasure in saying I told you so," Inumuta added. "But, I told you so."
"Oh come on! It's not that bad!" Uzu protested. "And your points are so low it won't really matter. At least it's not ten million."
Uzu never thought he'd be glad to lose, but he had to admit that he really did dodge a bullet by coming in second. He certainly didn't envy Midoriya fro having such a giant target on his back. On the other hand, that actually kind of sounded fun.
"A fair point, at 355 points our team would still be below average in score," Inumuta said. "Though our identities make us a target regardless of points unfortunately. That's why we need a four-person team, which is also the most stable configuration. And we do need you to be our rider after all."
"What? I thought I was gonna be the rider!" Jakuzure shrieked. "I don't wanna be stuck carrying his giant ass around!"
"Everyone's ass is giant compared to yours," Uzu snarked.
He didn't even bother moving a muscle as Jakuzure let out a hiss and charged at him. A giant hand held her by the collar and picked her up while she flailed around in the air.
"Jakuzure! You're making a scene! We're here representing Honnouji Academy, at least try to set a good example!" Gamagoori bellowed, making an even bigger scene.
"As I was saying," Inumuta sighed. "We need to have Sanageyama as the rider because that's where his quirk is the most useful. Jakuzure and I can use our quirks regardless of position and I think it goes without saying that Gamagoori can't be the rider. But Sanageyama's Shingantsu is perfect for a rider, as it allows him to see any attempts to steal our headbands and keep track of the entire field at once. On the other hand, he's wasted as a horse since his reactions would be limited by ours and he wouldn't be much of a target in the first place."
"That makes sense," Gamagoori agreed, not paying attention to Jakuzure biting his thumb. "But what about the positioning of the horses?"
"You'll be the front," Inumuta told him. "That way if we ever get in a pinch, you can just grow bigger, moving Sanageyama out of range. And that leaves me and Jakuzure to take the sides."
"Alright, sounds like a plan," Uzu nodded. "So how are we gonna get the ten million points then?"
"We won't. That's what everyone else will do, so our chances of getting it are rather slim. And that's without taking Midoriya's team into account, I doubt he'll make it easy for us."
"Who, that kid with the mines? Please, taking the headband from him should be like taking candy from a baby," Jakuzure sneered, having marginally calmed down. "Just use your nerd magic to triangulate the integrals or something and make up a plan to steal it!"
"My 'nerd magic' only works when I have the data to take every possibility into account," Inumuta corrected. "I don't know if it was intentional or not, but Midoriya didn't use his quirk at all during the first round. So I have no idea what he's actually capable of and thus can't predict what he'll do. He could have All Might's power for all we know."
"I really doubt that," Jakuzure said flatly.
"The point is, going after Midoriya is too much of a gamble. Too many variables, not enough data. On the other hand, I was able to gather the quirks and abilities of everyone else while we waited behind in the minefield. That's where we use the target on Midoriya's back to our advantage. While they all go after him, we steal their headbands when they're not paying attention."
"Scavenging for scraps? Come on, where's the fun in that?" Uzu asked.
"The 'fun' is in advancing on to the next round so we can fight Matoi and get combat data for our Goku Uniforms. Once we're in the finals you can have all the fun you want."
Uzu reluctantly conceded and the other Elites nodded in agreement. Maybe it wouldn't be as glorious as taking the ten million headband, but Inumuta did have a point. It wasn't like anyone would be able to challenge him anyway.
"Almost everyone in the audience is foaming at the mouth for Class 1-A. Why is that?" Neito Monoma monologued. "They're just a bunch of jerks with their heads up their own asses! And the worst one of them all is Ryuko Matoi! She looks at us all and she doesn't see human beings deserving of respect, just stepping stones to her own goals! She flat out ignored Tetsutetsu and refused to even acknowledge our existence in her ego-driven excuse for a speech! And if that wasn't bad enough, she had the nerve to take three of our classmates out of the festival in the first round!"
He grinned wildly as his teammates and other classmates responded with cheers for him and boos for Matoi. But not everyone was on board yet.
"I dunno about this Monoma," Tsuburaba spoke up. "I mean, you know what happened to her father. That's gotta be hard on her and this festival is her way of getting closure. Maybe we should just have some empathy."
"That doesn't excuse how she treated our class!" Neito snapped. "Do you think Matoi even bothered to learn the names of those she eliminated from the competition? Of course not! Just like everyone in Class 1-A, she only cares about herself!"
Tsuburaba quickly shut up.
"Our classmates, our brothers Hiryu Rin, Jurota Shishida, and Nirengeki Shoda unfortunately no longer have the chance to compete with us!" he continued. "They won't get the opportunity to show off their quirks or get scouted by pros! Their dreams were cut short just so Matoi could continue to throw her childish temper-tantrum! And she's hardly the only one either. Katsuki Bakugo is just as bad, going on and on about how much better he is than everyone else! But why is that? Because he fought a few villains?"
Neito quickly paused his speech to make sure that Kendo wasn't listening. If she heard, she'd shut him and his plan down for good while saying something about "getting along with them". He respected his class rep, but she just couldn't see the big picture. This Sports Festival was supposed to be their chance to get noticed but all anyone cared about was Class 1-A and the Elite Four! They were being forgotten!
"It's about time we showed those jerks that just because we're Class 1-B doesn't mean we're second-rate!" Neito declared, having made sure the coast was clear. "Now who's with me? For Rin! For Shishida! For Shoda!"
"For Rin! For Shishida! For Shoda!" his teammates echoed.
Perfect. Karma was coming for Ryuko Matoi!
"No, I don't want to team up with you!"
"No, I don't want to team up with you!"
"Are you two done yet?" Mina groaned. "We get the point, you guys hate each other."
"Alright I'm done," an exasperated Ryuko Matoi sighed. "Sorry Kirishima, I'll just have to find another team."
"Good. Now get the hell out of here!" Bakugo growled. "This team is for winners only. Me, Dumb-Hair, and whoever the pink chick is. We sure as hell don't need you!"
"My name is Mina-"
"Don't care!" he cut her off.
Ryuko didn't rise to the bait as she walked away. Not because she was the bigger person or anything, she definitely wasn't, but because she had to find a team before time was up. But again, Kirishima stopped her from leaving.
"Come on man, I don't want to work with him," she told him. "I already told you, I'll find some other team."
"No you won't!" Kirishima suddenly shouted, startling both Ryuko and Bakugo. "You won't find another team and you won't be able to find another horse! You wanna know why? Because everyone else finished making their teams while you two knuckleheads were wasting time with another stupid pissing contest!"
Ryuko looked around to see what he was talking about and sure enough, he was right. Everyone had already gathered into groups and there was barely a minute left on the clock. Even if there were people left it would be impossible to make a coherent team.
"Wait, what do you mean by 'another' stupid pissing contest?" Mina asked. "You two have done this before?"
"You didn't know? I must have forgotten to tell you!" Kirishima laughed forcibly. "While we were stranded in the USJ with no backup, these two morons thought that fighting each other was a better use of their time than fighting the actual goddamn villains!"
Ryuko and Bakugo stared at the ground, unable to come up with a response. That was pretty stupid. Sure it all worked out in the end, but they had no way of knowing that at the time and they put Kirishima in danger as well. But this wasn't like the USJ, it wasn't like they needed to work together or that anyone's lives were at stake!
"Look, I get that you two hate each other," he said more calmly. "But right now you guys need each other! Ryuko needs a team to join and we're gonna need four members if we want a chance at getting the ten million points. Do you really hate each other so much that you'd rather give up winning the festival than play nice for fifteen minutes?"
Alright, so he did have a point. As much as she hated it, teaming up with Bakugo was her only chance at moving on to the next round. And that meant she had to do it if she wanted to find out who killed her dad. The old man had better appreciate the shit she had to do to avenge him.
Bakugo on the other hand, looked like he was seriously weighing the two options.
"Alright fine! She can be on the team," he relented. "But only if she does what I tell her to do!"
"What? Hell no! I'm not following this asshat's orders-"
"Matoi will follow the plan our team comes up with. We need a leader and the members need to listen to that leader," Kirishima cut her off. "But if that leader is gonna be you, you need to respect your teammates. That means being respectful and calling us by our names."
"Tch, fine," Bakugo grunted. "What were your names again?"
"I guess that's a start," Kirishima mumbled. "Now, shake hands and make it official."
Ryuko looked into Bakugo's eyes and scowled, but reluctantly held out her hand. With even more reluctance, he took it. Not even a second into their handshake, Bakugo started squeezing her hand as hard as he could. It was barely noticeable to her, but it was still enough to piss her off. She crushed his hand in her grip, which just made him respond by squeezing even tighter and shaking as aggressively as possible. Not willing to be one-upped, Ryuko suddenly pulled him in towards her and patted his hand with her free one. Both of them forced a smile during their violent handshake, but Ryuko could see the blazing hatred in his eyes. She just hoped that he could see hers.
"Now, was that really so hard to do?" Kirishima asked. "Now you two have a truce!"
"A ceasefire," Ryuko corrected.
"A stay of execution," Bakugo joined in.
"Eh, good enough."
"Hey hey! Look alive!" Present Mic nudged his fellow commentator.
Shota Aizawa woke up from his short nap. What was he doing here again? Oh right, the first years were picking their teams for the cavalry battle. He had some ideas for teams that would work well together, but he was interested to see if his students would be able to form cohesive teams while also balancing point costs. In Shota's opinion, the points weren't worth worrying about. A well-made team needed to focus on stealing and defending headbands, not worrying about the one they were assigned at the start of the game.
"After fifteen minutes to pick teammates and talk strategy, the cavalry teams are ready to take the field and go head to head!" Present Mic announced.
Overall, the teams were as he predicted. Everyone stuck to their own classes, since they'd work better with people they knew. It may have prevented some optimal teams from forming, but the students had no way of knowing that. The rivalry the other classes had with 1-A only made that division more extreme. There was only one exception, which was Mei Hatsume joining Midoriya's team. It was definitely odd, but there was one team that stuck out like a sore thumb to him. Now this would be interesting to see.
"I see some unexpected student combinations," Shota noted.
He was too tired to talk much, but unexpected was just about the understatement of the decade. Never in a million years did he think that Ryuko Matoi and Katsuki Bakugo would willingly be on a team together. Normally, it would have been a sign of great growth to see two rivals team up, putting aside their vendettas to achieve a common goal. But Matoi and Bakugo weren't rivals. They were enemies.
Shota wasn't sure what started their animosity, nor did he care all that much. It didn't matter how it started, what mattered was that they hated each other. And he could tell by the way they bickered in class that they both had a great deal of maturing ahead of them before that ended. At least this was a step in the right direction. But teaming up was the easy part, they still needed to actually work together. Especially since their team wasn't all that great.
The main issue with their composition was that it was overwhelmingly focused on offense. Not surprising considering who its leader was, but they had no way of defending the ten million point headband if they got it.
The second issue was that Matoi and Kirishima on the same team was redundant. They both served almost the exact same role, a strong all-rounder able to win matchups with physical strength alone. Matoi was faster, but it would be negated by her slower teammates. Kirishima could harden, but it wouldn't allow him to defend the headband since he wouldn't be a target anyway.
If they wanted a chance at getting to the finals, they needed to be perfectly in sync. And Shota just couldn't fathom what would make that happen.
"Come on! Everyone get your hands in the air!" Present Mic announced. ""It's time for a UA battle royale! Let me hear you scream!"
Ryuko Matoi tuned out the screams of the crowd as she walked up to the edge of the arena, carrying Bakugo alongside Kirishima and Mina. Now if only she could do the same for her rider's screaming.
"Do you extras remember the plan? We're going straight for Deku, don't you dare screw this up!" he barked. "If you do, I'll kill you myself!"
"Gee, thanks for the info!" she replied sarcastically. "It's not like you haven't said that a hundred times already, Bowling Ball-Butt!"
Alright, Bakugo did do a bit more than just rant about how was gonna "destroy that damn nerd Deku" for the little time they had to come up with a strategy. If she was being honest, there was one maneuver that was actually really clever. Not that she'd ever tell him that to his face.
"Let's get this party started! One final countdown before the game starts!"
As Present Mic counted down from three, Ryuko looked over at Midoriya's team for a last-second assessment. Fortunately for him, he had managed to find two more teammates, Tokoyamin and that Hatsume chick from support. Well that was just perfect, now they had no way of knowing what kind of gadgets they could pull out of their asses.
"Begin!" Midnight shouted, officially beginning the cavalry battle.
The instant the sound reached her ears, Ryuko took off running towards Midoriya's team. And so did everyone else. So the whole thing was just gonna be one big battle for the ten million points. Oh well, it wasn't like she was banking on a brilliant and original strategy to win. Unfortunately, starting on opposite ends of the field put her team at a disadvantage. While she could run extremely fast even without Senketsu, Kirishima and Mina couldn't. Though it wasn't like their target was going anywhere.
Even as every team on the field charged for his team, Midoriya was staying still in his starting position. There wasn't anywhere for him to go since he was being charged on all sides, but he could have at least been a little more mobile. Now he was sinking into the ground, courtesy of one of the Class 1-B kids. It looked like it was all over for Midoriya. Now they'd have to take the headband from Kirishima's annoying twin.
And then he flew.
Ryuko almost stopped in her tracks when she heard the jetpack whir to life. Midoriya and his team blasted off from the ground like a rocket, flying high above the arena and the other teams. Damn support course and their fancy gadgets. She wished that she could fly like that. But how the hell was that thing supporting the weight of four people? They had to have been using Uraraka's quirk to make them all weightless.
"What the hell are you doing Matoi!" Bakugo screamed, pounding the top of her head. "Go after them!"
"Do I look like a fucking bird to you? What do you want me to do? Jump really high?"
Ryuko grabbed Bakugo's arm before it could hit her head again and threw it back behind her. She must have squeezed a bit too hard, because Bakugo snarled in response and tried hitting her again, this time with an explosion. The blast barely stung, but it was more than enough to piss her off.
She turned around and grabbed his face, while he did the same to hers. Without her holding Bakugo up anymore, he was precariously balanced on Kirishima and Mina's shoulders. But that still didn't stop him from letting off a series of weak explosions in her face.
"Bakugo! What the hell are you doing?" Kirishima exclaimed.
"Seriously guys, now is not the time!" Mina joined in, trying to separate them.
"What's this? It looks like Team Bakugo is caught up in a mini civil war! Save it for the other teams you guys!"
Ryuko continued to grapple with Bakugo, ignoring the stinging in her eyes from the bright light his explosions made. She tried to punch him in the face, but it was stopped by a rocky arm. Kirishima and Mina seized their opening and threw her away from Bakugo.
"Come on guys, you can't fight like this if we want to move on! Look!" Kirishima said before she and Bakugo could start fighting again, pointing up at the sky.
Midoriya and his team were about to fly right over them, but something was different. One of his boots was broken. Ryuko recognized that boot, it was one of the Hover Soles that Hatsume used on the obstacle course. They must have been using it to stabilize their flight! So without it they wouldn't be able to fly anymore. If there was any time to go for them, it was now. She and Bakugo reluctantly got back into formation and ran after Midoriya, but they were getting away.
"Matoi, throw me at them," Bakugo ordered in an eerily calm voice.
"What?"
"Just do it!"
"Alright, you asked for it!"
It wasn't like she was gonna turn down an opportunity to throw Bakugo. Ryuko picked her rider up and held him over her shoulder. She squinted at Midoriya's team, taking aim. When she was ready, she let out a scream and launched Bakugo as hard as she could like a human javelin. Right as he reached the peak of his flight, he made a massive blast with both hands, propelling him like a rocket booster.
"Don't think for a second you're safe Deku!" he roared. "I got you!"
"Kacchan?" Izuku Midoriya exclaimed in shock from seeing his childhood friend rocket towards him.
He wasn't surprised that Kacchan was targeting him, it would actually be more surprising if he didn't. It was just that he didn't realize that he could fly so high. And with only a single blast to propel him, he had to have help from someone. But he certainly didn't expect who he was getting help from.
Far beneath him, Ryuko was running after Kacchan with Kirishima and Ashido in tow. Izuku wasn't there to see it, but he heard from his classmates that the two of them had a pretty nasty fight. Ryuko didn't strike him as the forgiving type and Kacchan most definitely wasn't, so seeing them working together was unexpected to say the least. And pretty terrifying too now that he thought about it. But he couldn't think about that now, he needed to protect his headband!
"Tokoyami!" he exclaimed.
Hopefully their planned super move would work! Izuku's bird-headed teammate nodded in acknowledgment and sent Dark Shadow rushing toward the conflict. But not at Kacchan. Instead of blocking the attack directly, Dark Shadow completely enveloped Izuku's top half. Its head formed a makeshift helmet and its claws acted as gauntlets. The sensation of Dark Shadow on his skin was a weird one, kind of like cold jello.
Right before Kacchan could make contact, Izuku tucked his head behind his arms, hiding behind his improvised armor. Dark Shadow grunted in pain from the explosion, but Izuku didn't feel a thing! As an added bonus, Dark Shadow's head covering his own meant that the headband was almost completely concealed.
"Whoa what's this? Bakugo's been separated from his horses and Midoriya's using Tokoyami's quirk for himself!"
"What the hell?" Kacchan grunted. "What is that thing?"
"It's a new move that was inspired by how Matoi uses her quirk," Tokoyami explained. "Up until now I've only used Dark Shadow as a tool or a weapon. But I was too small-minded. Matoi sees her Senketsu as a partner, a second skin. If she could do it, why couldn't I? And if I can use it on myself, why not Midoriya? I call it, Abyssal Black Body!"
"Amazing! A flashy new super move from Team Midoriya's Fumikage Tokoyami makes its debut in the heat of battle! Might need to work a bit on the name though."
"Goddamn bitch!" Kacchan cursed. "Even when we're on a team she's still screwing with me!"
"I feel so powerful now! And if we need to, we can still use Dark Shadow for omni-directional mid-range defense!" Izuku exclaimed. "Tokoyami, your quirk is amazing!"
"Hey! Don't forget who's the one doing all the work here!" said quirk cried out indignantly.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as Kacchan fell back to the ground, his teammates running underneath him to catch him. It wasn't long before he and his team would be forced to make their own landing, but at least they survived their first few minutes on the field.
"Nicely done Uraraka!" he complimented his teammate on her landing.
"It's gonna be hard to control where we're going with only one foot. I don't know if we can risk flying again!"
"I understand!"
Losing a Hover Sole to one of Mineta's balls was a huge blow. Avoiding the other teams with flight was the core component of their strategy. Now they'd have to rely on Dark Shadow's defenses and their increased mobility from Uraraka's Zero Gravity. Getting through the second half of the game would be tough without flight though, especially when the other teams refused to give them a second to breath. But not all the teams.
For some reason, Team Sanageyama didn't chase after him at all. Neither did Team Monoma for that matter. Come to think about it, it was almost like the Elite Four threw the first round on purpose! Was this a continuation of that strategy? And was Monoma doing the same thing?
"Now who wants to take a look at each team's points so far? It's been seven minutes now so lets get those rankings thrown up on the screen! Hold on here, this is an unexpected turn! Other than Midoriya, Class 1-A's not doing so hot! Even Bakugo's losing! Team Midoriya's holding onto first place, followed by teams Monoma, Tetsutetsu, and Sanageyama!"
What? Kacchan was losing? Izuku looked over at his team and saw him caught up in a standoff with Team Monoma. So they must have stolen Kacchan's headband. There was no way he'd be happy about that. And neither would Ryuko. Fortunately for him, that just meant two teams would be off his back for a considerable amount of time, maybe even the rest of the game if he was lucky.
"Everyone don't worry, I think we're okay!" he assured his teammates.
He just had to open his big mouth, didn't he? The instant Izuku finished his sentence, their path was cut off. His teammates stopped in their tracks and nearly spun out of the arena. When they got their bearings, their opponent started right into Izuku's eyes.
"I'll be taking that now," Todoroki said calmly.
Izuku took a deep breath as he sized up his opponents. Iida was in the front and Yaoyorozu had equipped her and Kaminari with roller skates so they could all benefit from his speed. If he had to guess, he suspected that Todoroki would try to distract him with ice, baiting Dark Shadow into ranged mode. Then he'd have Iida rush in to swipe the headband.
As soon as he saw Iida's engines fire up, he had Dark Shadow activate Abyssal Black Body again. He scanned Todoroki for the slightest movement, his fingers twitching at every breath. This was it! He had to be ready for anything! Like Todoroki's headband being ripped right from his head while he was distracted.
"Uh dude, your headband is gone!" Kaminari exclaimed.
"What? Where the hell did it go?" Todoroki shouted, nearly losing his temper.
"Oh man, stealing the headband while you two stared at each other like kids with a crush, that was too easy! I guess you could say that you need to check your blind spots!" Sanageyama chuckled, making his teammates groan.
"Don't engage with them Sanageyama, we still need at least 500 more points to lock in a spot in the finals," Inumuta said.
"Yeah yeah, I know," he groaned, adding Todoroki's headband to the growing collection around his neck. "You hear that? There's no need to worry Izuku Midoriya, I'm not coming after you. We'll fight in the finals, not here. Sayonara!"
"We're now at the halfway point and Team Sanageyama has just made a huge score, pushing them up to second place! It's still anyone's game though!"
The Elite Four sped away, leaving Izuku and his team alone with Todoroki's. That was unexpected, but it probably didn't change much for him. Hopefully Todoroki would just give up and chase Sanageyama to get their headband back. But if they didn't, they wouldn't have anything to lose when they came at him full force.
"Todoroki, what should we do?" Iida asked his leader. "If we leave now I think we can catch up to him!"
"There's no need," Todoroki responded. "We have all the points we need sitting right in front of us."
So they were going to stay on course. Izuku should have expected that, they were never planning to protect their own headband in the first place, they wanted to steal his. It looked like the real challenge was still ahead of him!
Ryuko Matoi watched with awe as she saw Dark Shadow emulate a Kamui by covering Midoriya. Now that was pretty badass. And she felt a bit of pride knowing that she and Senketsu were the ones who inspired the move. What was she supposed to be doing again?
Oh shit, she had to catch Bakugo! He was slowing down his fall using explosions, but he was too far away for her to make it in time. If she was being slowed down by her teammates at least. Ryuko picked up Kirishima and Mina and put them on her shoulders, making them yelp in surprise. She took off after Bakugo, positioning herself right underneath where he'd fall. Her team set back up in formation and she reached out with both arms to grab her rider. By some miracle, they didn't collapse under the force of the impact, but it still wasn't exactly pleasant.
"Well that worked out just perfectly," she snarked. "You seriously couldn't have at least come up with a plan for landing before you did that?"
"I had a plan. I'd go up there and steal the headband from Deku, and you idiots would catch me!" he retorted. "And besides, charging in without a plan is more your thing anyway. Now get moving! We still need to go after Deku!"
Ryuko suppressed the urge to try hitting him again. Deku this, Deku that, it was all he ever talked about. Or more accurately, screamed about. Sure she wanted to take the ten million points as well, but only because it was the best way to ensure a spot in the finals. Beating Midoriya was just the means to an end for her, but Bakugo had some psychological need to prove his dominance over her friend. And that really pissed her off.
Before she could reluctantly follow his orders, she felt a slight shift in balance above her.
"Your class is too small-minded," a new voice spoke. "Think bigger!"
"He got us!" Mina exclaimed.
"What did you say? Come back here!" Bakugo roared.
What? Their headband was taken? A team of Class 1-B kids were now standing in front of her, their leader twirling Bakugo's headband on his finger before putting it around his neck. He had neatly combed blonde hair, pale blue eyes, and just oozed sliminess and condescension. Ryuko instantly took a disliking to him. His smug aura mocked her.
"Midnight said the obstacle course was just the first game. And we figured that they wouldn't cut that many of us right off the bat," the arrogant jerk started talking. "Assuming they kept at least 40 contestants for the next event, all we had to do was make sure we stayed within that group as we ran. From our spots in the middle ranks we could observe the quirks our rivals had and judge their capabilities. We came up with that plan before even the Elite Four did! Only a fool would obsess over the preliminary round, wouldn't you agree? We only ran into a slight hiccup when one of you decided to take our classmates out of the running, Ryuko Matoi."
"I guess it's possible I knocked out some of your classmates. They were in my way," Ryuko snorted. "Eliminating them meant less competition for me later on. Like you said, I was planning for the next rounds."
The smug bastard clenched his fist in rage and his face contorted into a scowl. But it disappeared as quickly as it showed up and he went back to a shit-eating grin. He turned his focus back to Bakugo, doing his best to ignore her. Ryuko could tell that he was riled up under his smug facade though.
"While I have your attention, you're kind of famous aren't you?" he continued. "For being attacked by that sludge villain! You'll have to tell me about it some time, it must be strange to always find yourself in the role of the victim!"
"Matoi," Bakugo snarled. "We have a slight change of plans! Before we take down Deku, we're gonna kill every last one of these B-list idiots!"
"Oh come on man!" she exclaimed. "You're not really gonna fall for this twerp's bait are you? What happened to 'destroying Deku' no matter what?"
It was already too late though. Bakugo's eyes had gone completely white with rage and he was seconds away from screaming. Ryuko could almost detect a fiery red glow coming off of him. Unfortunately, her ceasefire with him would mean that she'd have to do what he said, which would definitely involve hunting down these idiots.
"Monoma! Don't provoke them man!" one such B-list idiot said. "That's the kind of thing they would do!"
"Yeah I guess you're right, it's not very heroic of me. Besides, you know how these things work. Heroes are always being hounded by moronic villains desperate for some kind of revenge!"
No. He wouldn't dare. Not if he valued his life.
"Isn't that right Matoi? Chasing after some petty and delusional desire for vengeance like a feral animal!" Monoma taunted, completely ignoring his own safety. "Is that really why you want to win the festival? That's your grand ambition? Not to save people or become a great hero, but just to throw a tantrum over your daddy issues? I wonder what your precious father would say if he could see you now!"
That was it. He was a dead man.
Ryuko howled in anger alongside Bakugo and started seeing red. Literally. Everything she saw was now in shades of blood red and she felt steam building up from under her skin. It was like her blood was actually boiling. Her teeth clenched together so hard it was like they were locked together. In fact, opening her mouth was pretty hard and she felt something sharp poking the roof of her mouth. Kirishima and Mina were trying to say something, but Ryuko couldn't hear them. Or she just didn't care.
"Shut up! I've never been calmer!" Bakugo roared. "Now get after them!"
She didn't need to be told twice! Ryuko charged forward at top speed, dragging Kirishima and Mina behind her. There was no way she'd let anyone slow her down, not before she turned that prick into a bloody smear on the ground!
"When I'm through with you they'll have to stop the festival to clean up your remains!" she screamed. "Now die!"
Bakugo lunged for Monoma's head with an explosion, but he tilted his head out of the way and slapped Bakugo's arm. Before they could turn around for another attack, Monoma hit Bakugo in the face. With an explosion.
"Wow, I see why you like this quirk!" Monoma laughed, touching the tips of Kirishima's hair.
"What the hell?" Ryuko exclaimed. "He has your quirk!"
Bakugo screamed and went for another attack. The hit landed this time and both Ryuko and Bakugo were eager to see Monoma's face burnt off. But he was completely unscratched, his face and arms looking like they were made of rock. Just like Kirishima's quirk!
"You both have impressive powers, but I think you'll agree mine's better!"
"The bastard, his quirk lets him copy other powers," Bakugo realized, speaking calmly now. "But he either can't use two quirks together or can't store multiple at the same time."
"Very good! It's nice to see that one of you has at least a few functioning brain cells!" Monoma taunted. "Now if you don't mind, I'm feeling in the mood for some acid spray!"
He lunged for Mina, but Ryuko stuck her arm out and intercepted him. A smug grin formed on her face. Without Senketsu, he might as well have copied nothing! For once not having a quirk paid off!
"Ha! How do you like that? My quirk is useless without a Kamui!" she gloated. "Now who's the idiot?"
Monoma clearly didn't appreciate the situation. He sat on top of his horses holding his head in his hands. After a few moments, he started screaming and violently shaking. It looked like he was... writhing in agony?
"It- it burns!" he shrieked. "Every cell of my body feels like it's on fire! My heart feels like it's about to explode! What the hell are you?"
"Monoma! Swap it out for my quirk!" one of his teammates offered.
What the hell was that? Ryuko assumed that her quirk was just the ability to talk to Senketsu, so why did copying it hurt Monoma so much? Not that she was complaining though, he just provided her with the perfect opening. A merciful person would have given Monoma and his team some time to recover. Ryuko was not a merciful person.
And neither was Bakugo for that matter. While their mutual enemy was still reeling in pain, she and Bakugo rushed in for another assault. Only to be blocked by a wave of sticky white gunk.
"Nice one! Thanks for the save Bondo!"
Another Class 1-B team had gotten in the way. Damnit, so he had backup from the rest of his class of assholes! Monoma and his team ran away as fast as they could and Ryuko tried to pursue them, but something was stopping her. It was that gunk, which had now hardened around her leg into some kind of cement.
"Don't worry! I can melt through with my quirk!" Mina assured her, spraying acid onto the cement to try and free Ryuko.
"No hard feelings! After all, you were the ones who provoked us!" Monoma turned around as his team widened the distance. "It was you who refused to see our class as equals! What did you say in that speech of yours again? Oh right, you said that the rest of us didn't matter as long as you got what you wanted from Satsuki Kiryuin!"
Ryuko picked up Bakugo without warning and threw him at Monoma, just like they did earlier. To his credit, he was able to roll with it and launched himself even further with an explosion. He would have been able to grab the headbands if it weren't for a sheet of solid air that blocking him. He pounded away at the barrier, but it wouldn't budge.
"You look pretty stupid fighting with air!" one of Monoma's teammates laughed.
"Not as stupid as your face is about to look!" Ryuko growled.
Mina had finally freed her from the cement and she was able to catch up to Monoma and his team. She scooped Bakugo up and put him back in formation. He was a pretty good distraction. With only a single punch, her fist went right through the air shield and connected with its creator's face. His nose was squished like a mushy tomato and blood spurted out all over her arm, filling her with a cruel sense of satisfaction. The force of the punch was so great that her arm had dislocated from her shoulder, but oddly enough she could still move it.
Bakugo seized the opening she created and jumped out of formation again. He grabbed all but one of the headbands around Monoma's neck and ripped them free along with a large wad of Monoma's hair. Ryuko grunted as she had to catch him yet again.
"Team Bakugo steals some headbands and slides into third place!"
"I thig my noth ith broketh!" the hard-air guy cried.
"Suck it up! Now let's get out of here!" Monoma yelled, ordering his team to retreat. "We're still in fourth! We just need to defend this last one to the death and we'll move forward!"
"Alright! Looks like we'll be advancing!" Kirishima celebrated prematurely.
"No, that's not enough!" Ryuko snarled. "It's not good enough to just win, we have to make that jackass lose!"
"We're gonna take all of these idiots' points!" Bakugo joined in. "He'll regret ever messing with us! Matoi, it's time for our special maneuver!"
Ryuko nodded affirmatively. She thought he'd never ask! She let go of Kirishima and Mina's arms while Bakugo shifted himself over to Mina's shoulders. At the same time, Kirishima climbed on top of Ryuko's. Now in pairs, the split-up team continued to run after Monoma.
"Split Formation!" all four members announced in unison.
"What is even happening right now? It looks like Team Bakugo has split up into two groups! Is that even allowed?"
"I mean, I guess so," Midnight shrugged. "It was deemed that they were allowed to launch Bakugo as long as he didn't touch the ground and Team Mineta was allowed to have two riders, so this isn't any different from that. Actually, why does that even matter if a team is allowed to continue even if the rider falls? We really need to go over the rules for this thing again."
Without any other horses slowing her down, Ryuko was able to run at top speed. She easily caught up to Monoma and cut him off in front. Now she just needed a way to attack him. And she had the perfect weapon with her.
"Kirishima, straighten up and harden your entire body!"
"Uh sure, but why do you want- Agh!"
Ryuko grabbed Kirishima by the ankle and held him like an improvised club. She swung her friend at Monoma's face, who hastily tried protecting himself with a solid air shield. But Kirishima was harder and Ryuko was stronger, so the shield shattered upon impact and Monoma was sent flying back.
Bakugo had fallen quite a bit behind due to only being carried by Mina, but that didn't matter when Monoma was flying right towards him. He smiled like a maniac and hit Class 1-B's ringleader with a massive explosion, launching him back to Ryuko. When she realized what he was trying to do, she couldn't help but share his grin. Now this would be fun!
Recalling what little experience with tennis she had, she gripped Kirishima with both hands and backhanded Monoma over to Bakugo. He returned him above her head with another explosion which she managed to get by reaching as high as she could with Kirishima. As they continued their brutal game of tennis, Monoma's teammates frantically tried to rescue their rider. But at that point he was moving too fast for them to catch. Ryuko and Bakugo were practically showered with his blood, but they kept hitting him back and forth while screaming with rage.
"In only a few minutes, Team Bakugo has gone from fighting each other to fighting in sync! They've even turned Monoma into a human ping-pong ball! A very bloody ping-pong ball at that! Seriously, to all the parents in the audience, don't let your kids see this! Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm gonna hurl."
"Monoma had a reasonable strategy, but he made one fatal mistake: He made Matoi and Bakugo hate him more than they hate each other."
Monoma was now flying between them so fast he was practically invisible to the naked eye. Ryuko was starting to get a little bored though, it was time to finish him off. She whacked him as high into the air as she could.
"SET!" she yelled.
Bakugo launched himself from Mina's shoulders, right above Monoma. His hands started to smoke and spark with tiny explosions, something he only did when he was about to unleash the biggest explosions he could.
"SPIKE!" he responded.
Almost everyone on the field was nearly blinded by the light from Bakugo's massive explosion. Monoma was blasted downwards with the full force of the explosion, directly onto his still panicking team. A giant cloud of dust erupted from where he hit the ground. When the dust settled, Monoma and his team were lying in the middle of a crater. His teammates were unconscious, but they were the lucky ones. Monoma was barely recognizable. His perfect blonde hair was now a charred mess, his face covered in his own blood, and even a few teeth were missing.
"Ugh," he barely managed to groan before passing out.
Ryuko's vision returned to normal and her teeth stopped feeling like they were locked together. She set Kirishima back down and grouped up with Mina so that the three of them could catch Bakugo. The landing wasn't any smoother than before, but Ryuko wasn't gonna complain. She walked over to their defeated opponents and together with Bakugo, spit on Monoma's face.
"Holy sh- that has to be against the rules, right?"
"The rules only say that we can't purposefully knock another team down," Ryuko said. "But Monoma was in the air the entire time, which means that he was never knocked down."
"And when I blasted with my last explosion, I wasn't trying to knock them over. I just wanted to return him to his team. They're the ones who fell over," Bakugo finished for her.
"Do you two really expect to get away with this?" Midnight asked. "Because you will! That was really hot, so I'll allow it!"
Ryuko sighed with relief when she heard that they wouldn't get disqualified. Wait did she say that she thought it was hot?
"We're not done yet!" Bakugo reminded her. "We still have to go after Deku and Todoroki! We're gonna be the indisputable champion of the game!"
Ryuko and her teammates nodded in agreement. Off in the distance she could see a giant wall of ice sectioning off a large portion of the arena. It was pretty obvious who was in there. She and her team ran to the ice wall, but there was still something on her mind.
"That's it? You're not gonna mock me for how petty my ambitions are or anything?" she asked Bakugo.
"Why the hell would I do that?" he replied to her surprise. "I don't give a shit about why you fight, just as long as you do it. Don't get me wrong, I still hate you. Really hate you. But not because of that."
Ryuko just grunted in response. She still hated him too after all, this was just one thing they wouldn't fight over out of many that they would. But for now, she had to admit that they made a decent team. And they still had a little bit of time to get as much as they could out of that temporary teamwork.
They were rapidly approaching the ice wall and Bakugo was preparing to blast his way through. But before he could, they ran straight into a massive wall of a body. Gamagoori. And that meant the other Elites were with him.
"Ah, Ryuko Matoi!" Sanageyama laughed. "Going after the ten million points are we? Now I hate to do this to you so early, but that means we'll be taking your headband."
A/N: Oh Monoma, you poor idiot. That was a truly inspired moment of stupidity. Ryuko and Bakugo won't be friends again until much later, but it was fun to have them work as a team for a little bit. As for why they got away with beating him to a bloody pulp, one, he totally had it coming, and two, the teachers just don't care about their students' safety if it doesn't involve villains. You've all seen season 5. This was honestly pretty tame compared to some of the JT matches.
I also really tried to rush the cavalry battle and squeeze it in one chapter so we could get onto the fights next chapter, but there was a lot more content than I expected. So next chapter will wrap up the cavalry battle, have Ryuko hear Todoroki's backstory, and reveal the finals brackets. I'm sure you can guess who will be in the finals, but I want to hear your guesses for how the finals will go!
If you're enjoying the story, please consider leaving a review. Like just seeing a single new review is enough to make my day.