And we are back once again! The first event has been completed and we now move onto the second one. I know that some of you thought Midoriya would not place first but you have to remember, he placed first in cannon without using One-for-All once, he did that quirkless. Sure he admits that it was mostly luck but as long as the job is done right? So yeah, I could envision him placing first here with years of training and specialized equipment of his design. Also, as you must already know, the cavalry battle will not go the same as canon as I've already decided on the different teams and what they'll do in said event.
dmafia ruler – I appreciate the interest but I do have a life outside fanfiction as although the thought of sitting my ass down all day every day working on my stories sounds great, obligations and responsibility come first, someone has to walk the family dog. So sadly, the fastest rate of updates for this story will be about one chapter every week.
Fanboy2000 – Thank you, I was worried that I made it too long but it's nice to hear that wasn't the case.
Yohnos – Only one other person has cracked the first bit but so far, no one had told me turned in suggestion as to what the passcode for 1-B is, I don't know if it's because it's a little vague or because people don't really care enough but I'm still waiting.
Omega Armadillo 300 – Yes, that would be funny as hell but as far as we have seen(though Yu would probably torture him for that by herself, she's happily taken after all), the only other female heroes the prev could intern with would be Midnight(Even the prev has enough sense to not pick her, he won't survive the first day) Ms. Joke(She teaches at another school so may not be an option), Mirko(I don't know if Mineta is into muscular girls and if he is, she'll beat his ass black and blue if he doesn't pay attention to their work) and Ryukyu(that last one would mean he could run into Nejire earlier than cannon and if you think about…he may learn something from them.
Tacktician – Yeah, when you stop to think about it, Bakugo's weakness would be a situation where he can't sweat as much as he'll like such as winter condition, maritime operations if he falls into water, rainy conditions of he's covered with baby powder which now that I think about it, it'll be funny as hell if Mitsuki keeps some in the house for whenever the boy's angry so something. Just think about it, he's raging around the place like a pissed-off bull but then she just walks in, throws baby powder all over him, and there, he can't set off any explosions till he washes the stuff off.
That last bit about the lighter…that's dark man, I mean dark. Not to say the thought hasn't crossed my mind since it's a pretty obvious weakness for others to exploit.
Lix231 – Yes I'm still deciding but you will be happy to know that Kirishima was already in the running for One-for-All, he certainly has the attitude that All Might would look for in a successor, and he and Deku both started with little self-confidence in their abilities for one reason or another, the only difference is that he is much more open and outspoken then Izuku.
Chapter 17: Unconventional problems need Unconventional Solutions!
(On the field)
"Midoriya Izuku, who placed first place in the obstacle race, is worth ten million points!" Midnight announced with a smirk. In her words, it was as if a switch had been flipped as just about every student present burned holes into Midoriya with their eyes alone. It was a familiar feeling but much…much more intense.
'Their eyes… they're different from those of middle school….' Midoriya thought to himself with nervous sweat as he felt every gaze on him. 'They don't see me as inferior. No…they see me as a target to overcome!'
'Your understanding the situation you're in, aren't you young Midoriya?' All Might thought to himself as it was plain to him what Midoriya was going through, something he dealt with on a regular for years.
'The weight of their gazes, it's really heavy.' The boy in question thought to himself as he felt the urge to buckle under the strain but he held strong, if only barely 'Do you have to deal with this all the time….All Might?' He mentally asked as he looked up to the teacher's booth and locked eyes with the number one for a mere second. It was short and almost everyone missed it but in that second, he found enough support to keep going.
"The then, the rules for the cavalry battle are simple." Midnight started as the screen changed to show All Might in his yellow black striped suit being carried by Present Mic in the back and 13 in the front, their stance was the classic one for a cavalry battle. "The event itself will have a time limit of fifteen minutes. Each team will be worth the total number of points of those in a said team and the rider will wear a headband with that number on their foreheads." She explained as the screen changed to add scores to each hero in the picture before they all came together to make the total score headband that All Might wore on his forehead. "The goal of the game is for other teams to try and capture as many points as they can by stealing headbands, while at the same time keeping as many of those headbands for themselves. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up so the more you steal, the harder it'll be to manage them." Midnight explained further as the picture changed to show how the multiple headbands would impede the wearer and to be honest, looked stupid. "Also, it's important to remember that even if your headband is stolen by another team or if your teams fall, you're not out! But if the rider at any point touches the ground, then that's it for you!" Midnight added at the end.
"So that means…" Yaoyorozu started as she adsorbed the rules and come to a conclusion about their odds.
"With 42 people on the field, there be anywhere from 10-12 teams on the field, maybe more of people stick to two-man teams." Sato stated that seemed like a lot of teams to have to worry about.
"Ça va être dur(It's going to be hard)." Aoyama added to the conversation, striking a pose even though he was in pain from overusing his quirk.
"One strategy would be to let someone take you points so that you'll have more free." Ashido said but paused when she realized that was a sort of gambling on the chance your team could take enough points from others to make up for it.
"It'll be hard to say without seeing how all the points will end up split up, Mina." Asui replied as she thought over ways she could win this.
"During the game, it'll be a cruel fight where you can use your quirks but this is still a cavalry battle, you'll get red cards for attacks that are trying to make other people fall on purpose! And will be disqualified immediately!" Midnight announced to the group before most of them could get any funny ideas.
'Dammit, there goes the first three plans I had.' Bakugo thought to himself as he was just gonna trip the lot of them and keep whatever points he could steal.
"Now, you have fifteen minutes to build your teams, Start!" Midnight suddenly announced, leaving the students in shock and while most of them were surprised by their time limit, Midoriya was already thinking of a plan of action.
'Points don't matter for me, whatever team I'm the one who is guaranteed to place 1st even if we can only keep a hold of my single headband.' Midoriya thought to himself as he looked over the crowd and saw that some people were already starting to gravitate towards others with higher points. 'I need a team with good mobility and a strong medium to short-ranged defense.' He theorized as he thought about they'll need to defend their 'slice of cake' for as long as possible while being able to snag a few other headbands if possible. 'Yes, yes, defense is good for me. I don't need to take the points of others, just play defensive for the most part.' He corrected himself, deciding they he'll need to play it safe for this round. 'And I know just the perfect people for ask, let's hope they haven't been taken yet.' He finished the thought as his eyes looked onto a certain black-haired 1-B student.
(Staff break room)
"The UA sports festival is more about stimulating the competition they'll face as heroes than seeing how prepared they as heroes." Death Arms stated as he took a puff from his cigarette. He along with Kamui and Lady had been relieved of their shift and were taking a break in the UA-provided staff break area. It was alright as there were water, soft drinks, and energy drinks. There were also light snacks but that was it.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Mt. Lady asked as she waved away the smoke from his little cancer stick, she wasn't a fan of smoking.
"In a world crowded with hundreds of different hero agencies, the only way to put food on the table is to sometimes kick down others to show your stuff." The Punching Hero explained to the two younger pros. He didn't like it but it was a necessary part of their society, he had seen a few pros quit because they either refused to step on others for their gain or couldn't keep it with it. "That was why the obstacle course was the qualifier, wasn't it?"
"Doesn't that just pain your heart?" Mt. Lady replied as she took a sip of her Red Bull, to which Kamui took offense to her words.
"Your one to talk! I clearly remember you doing the same thing!" Kamui Woods said as they all recalled how that day played out.
"It was my first day solo with my agency, I got a little….carried away." Mt. Lady said as she tried to play off her showboating as a simple thing, shame Kamui wasn't falling for it.
"A little!?"
"I said I was sorry, didn't I?" Mt. Lady reminded him as she did apologize….three days afterward…because her secret boyfriend made her because it was the right thing to do…and because he promised to take her out to a new movie….The Point is she apologized!
"On the other hand, even if they're your business rivals, there will be many situations when you will have to work together for a common goal, regardless of your feelings for one another." Death Arms went on before the two would start arguing like children.
"So the cavalry battle's true purpose? Teamwork?" Mt. Lady asked to which he nodded. "If you win, then the team wins. But you would have to think about what you want to accomplish and how well you mix with others, I know that some of those kids won't stand to be on the same team as others." She said as she thought about some of those students who didn't look all too pleased with how the obstacle race went down.
"And what about their quirks? Does that play into the equation?" Kamui asked as he always looked for a chance to learn more about it from a veteran, seeing how Death Arms had been a pro for over 9 years now.
"Not as much as you would think, sometimes in a crisis, you have to work with other heroes even if your quirks don't match up. I've seen more than a few instances where the heroes' quirks negatively affect one another so they have to work around that." Death Arms informed the two of them as he took another drag of his cigarette.
"Coordinating with your sidekicks and joint training with other agencies…" Kamui Woods started he opened his water bottle but was reminded he couldn't drink or eat with his helmet on. "Those kids are doing stuff now that will be their way of life if they go pro."
"They sure got it rough, don't they?" Mt. Lady added as she could only imagine the trouble Izuku was in for if this event was as crazy as the last one.
(Back with the students)
"Team up with me!" Sato yelled at Bakugo, who like many others wanted to team up with not just strong students but those with a good value of points.
"What? Bakugo, team up with me!" Ashido butted.
"Don't you wanna team with me instead?" Aoyama asked even though he looked like he'll sooner collapse than be of any use. The small group waited for the blonde explosive user to reply but when he did, he did surprise them.
"I don't know what quirks you all have! What are they?" Bakugo admitted with no shame whatsoever, shocking the group as most of them were in the dude class.
"What! Not knowing 1-B's is one thing but we're in the same class for crying out loud!" Ashido started as even she knew the names, faces, and quirks of everyone in the class, she even knew a bit more about most of the class than they'll be comfortable with her knowing.
"He doesn't pay attention to what's happening around him." Sato added as she backed away, now feeling like teaming up with Bakugo may not be as great as he originally thought.
"Even though his personality's take that, he still came in third and has 200 points to his name. Combined that the all-purpose use of his quirk it's no wondering why he's popular." All Might thought aloud as he looked down as all the small groups forming up, the only one who didn't have one was young Midoriya but that was for obvious reasons.
"Yo! Tokage chose her team already!" Kirishima announced as he walked over to the small group surrounding Bakugo. "Bakugo, team up with me!"
"Weird hair?" Bakugo asked, as if he didn't know the boy's name and chances are, he probably didn't remember it.
"It's Kirishima! At least try to remember! Besides, my hair is not that different from yours!" Kirishima yelled back as he pointed to the blonde own hair and his own, noting that they did look mighty similar. "You're gonna be the rider, right?" He asked the boy as he dropped the previous topic. When he got the predictable nod-(since there was no way Bakugo was going to be a horse)-he went on.
"Then who'll he the front horse that can take all your blasts?" He asked the boy, getting the group to recall that Bakugo's quick had the danger of catching them in any one of his blasts. "Right here." He finished as he pointed to himself.
"…Someone with guts." Bakugo stated as he turned to face the boy fully, giving him his attention to continuing his pitch.
"Not really but you get the point!" Kirishima said as he brushed aside that compliment for later. He activated his quirk on his arm and within a moment, he had hardened to that of stone. "With my hardening, I'll be the horse that'll waver!" he finished, his words striking a chord with the blonde, from the look in his eye-Kirishima knew that he had been brought.
"You're going for it, aren't you? The ten million?" He asked the boy, the both of them grinning as they both knew the other wanted the glory of taking down their class rep for his headband. Meanwhile, while the two of them plotted his downfall, Midoriya was walking through the different groups of students looking for the people he wished to ask.
'Just as I thought, people are forming teams outside their class. Guess that joint combat training exercise gave them a good grasp of what each other can do.' Midoriya thought to himself as he saw people already starting to branch off into their chosen teams, some of which were only three people instead of four but he figured that they had a reason for that. 'Still, I have to do something about this whole thing where everyone is avoiding me like the plague!' He thought to himself as he looked around and saw that just about everyone he was avoiding him or acting like he wasn't there.
'Here goes…' He said as he reached the person he wished to talk to. "Kodai…?" He said to draw the admittedly, beautiful girl's attention.
"Hmmm?" She sounded as she turned to face him, her face like always, was passive.
"You have a team yet?" Midoriya asked her as he looked around and saw that the other groups were too far away for her to be a member of them.
"No I do not, I was going to approach Kendo but Tokage got to her first." She replied as he pointed towards the group of Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Tokage, that didn't help his odds one bit if those three powerhouses were grouping together but for him but he had other things to worry about.
"Well, would you like to team up with me instead? We worked pretty well together the last time we spoke." Midoriya offered the girl, hoping that she'll say yes.
"You think so?" Kodai asked him, she leaned her head to the side but other than that, she showed no signs of emotion or intrigue.
"Yes, all we need to do is avoid conflict and the other teams. I don't see them chasing after us for more than 7 minutes since no one will devote their entire time limit to chasing down one team, they'll break off and look for other targets." He explained to the girl, hoping that he was right about her not being one for conflict.
"So we just have to last the first 7 minutes and then we go on the offensive?" Kodai asked him to which he nodded a yes so she made up her mind. "Alright, it's a solid-sounding place."
"Great, now we just need two more…and there!" Midoriya said as he scanned the crowd and saw another one of the people he was looking for. He along with Kodai walked up to the boy in question who looked like he was approaching another group.
"Tetsutetsu! You free?" Midoriya asked as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder to draw attention to himself.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah I am. I would have joined up with Honenuki or Awase but they already got their teams." Tetsutetsu replied as he pointed over his shoulder to the two teams his first choices were mingling with.
"Would you like to join us instead?" Kodai asked him.
"Really?" Tetsutetsu asked the girl, surprised she was starting….well anything.
"Yes, we need a strong front horse. Plus your quirk would be perfect for tanking incoming attacks from the front." Midoriya explained to the boy.
"Is that right, well then I am! I little steel can take you a long way!" Tetsutetsu said with a smirk as he flexed his arm, Midoriya smiled at his enthusiasm while Kodai simply nodded her head.
"Now who is the final person you had in mind Midoriya?" Kodai asked him as she recalled him saying they'll need two more, not one.
"A good friend and it looks like we're in luck, he doesn't have a team yet." Midoriya said as he led the small group through the crowd as they looked for their final member.
"Speaking of which, why aren't you picking people from your class?" Tetsutetsu asked it seemed off that he'll approach students he barely knows over ones he does.
"This event is all about building better relations between the classes and helping those in the hero course with impromptu teamwork, it sort of defeats the purpose if you stick with people you already know." The boy genius replied as he looked through the crowd for their target.
"He is not wrong, we still have our internships to worry about after all this. We may need to work together if we pick the same hero as another student." Kodai said in agreement.
"Oh yeah, that makes sense." Tetsutetsu said as he thought to himself as this was a chance for him as well. 'Plus it's nice he chose steel over hardening, I'll show him that I'm better.' The steel user thought to himself as he saw this as a great chance to prove he and Kirishima weren't carbon copies of each other.
"There was another reason though…" Midoriya said, drawing both his teammate's attention.
"Everyone in 1-A, just like with all of you in 1-B. We want to win this. If we just follow our class divisions and never work outside our comfort zone, we'll never grow as both people and heroes." He explained as he looked around and saw all the pros in the crowd, he even caught Endeavour in the back due to his rather unique costume. "Being a pro means being able to adapt to the situation fast enough to keep on top of things, that Is what we need to learn today, we need to adapt and keep everyone else on their toes." He finished as he caught sight of his target.
"So Manly! How are you not in 1-B dammit?!" Tetsutetsu asked as he shook with manly tears at such a speech.
'I'll take that as a compliment.' Midoriya thought to himself as he could see the similarities between the steel user and Kirishima. You would think the two brothers. He placed that thought on the self and reached for the person he wished to recruit.
"Tokoyami, you game?" Midoriya asked as the raven-faced boy turned to see who was speaking.
"Now then, it's time we get started!" Midnight announced just as the timer hit zero.
"Oh, it's time for the next game, Vlad!" Present Mic announced as he turned to look down onto the field at the different and varied teams that had grouped up. "After fifteen minutes to form their teams and talk strategy, eleven cavalry teams are lined up on the field!"
"There are certainly some interesting-looking teams out there." Vlad Noted as he could see his students mixed into teams with 1-A, it was good to see that they could work together even if some of them didn't particularly like class 1-B.
"Now, raise your battle cries! It's time for UA bloody battle!" Present Mic called out as the crowd started to cheer louder for the upcoming game. "Light the signal fire!"
"Kodai, are you ready?" Midoriya asked the girl who stood to his left, Midoriya himself was the right horse for their formation.
"Hmmm." Kodai responded as she had one hand in her pocket, playing with some items he had given her beforehand that she shrunk.
"Tetsutetsu?" He asked the man playing their front horse and main source of strength holding up their formation.
"Ready." The boy said as he prepared to activate his quirk at a moment's notice.
"Tokoyami?" He asked the boy who was given the role of rider. The headband with their 10,000,475 points safely wrapped around his forehead while he also wore Midoriya's signature winged jetpack.
"Ready and waiting." Tokoyami replied as his job was to use dark shadow to both attacks and defense, as well as snag any other bands if the chance presented itself. They had also come up with a unique game plan which was sure to give them the upper hand. It was a gamble yes but both himself and Tetsutetsu voted for it with Kodai not caring about it so long as they knew what they were doing.
"Let's see if they're prepared for what we got in store." Midoriya said as he smiled to himself as he couldn't wait to see the faces everyone made then they enacted their plan.
(5 minutes before the announcement)
"Alrighty then, we already know each other's names so we'll skip that." Tokage said to the small of Kendo, Iida, and Todoroki. "I chose all of you because you all would make the best team for offense and defence in my eyes."
"I'll be left-wing, with my quirk, we can snag headbands without anyone being the wiser or attack a team from multiple directions. I can't be the rider because if a single piece of me touched the ground, its game over for the team." She explained as she pointed to herself, knowing that they knew how potent and useful her quirk was in this kind of situation.
"Iida will be the front horse. Your strong build means you can help keep the rider stable and your quirks will give us an edge in speed and mobility, sadly that also means that any attacks that get through are gonna hit you." She pointed towards the taller boy who nodded at his given position though the look in her eyes put him off somewhat. That was the kind of look Mineta had all the time. Before he could call her own for it, Tokage turned her attention away from the very fit eye candy of an Iida to her classmate.
"Kendo, you're the rider, those man hands of yours will be our chief way of attacking teams that Iida can zoom us towards and you can also protect yourself pretty easily with them, so it'll be harder for others to snag out points." She explained, missing the part where Kendo mouthed 'man hands' in the offense. She sometimes forgot that Tokage was a massive tease who loved to get under people's skin.
"And lastly, Todoroki. You're with me as the right-wing. With your ice, we can slow down other teams, make barriers to protect us, and immobilize them long enough to grab their headbands or retreat before we're overwhelmed. She explained to the last person there, who simply nodded his head. He would have preferred to have been the rider but Tokage's plan was solid and her quirk versatile and as a result, he couldn't find a flaw in the fellow recommendation student's logic.
"Couldn't Todoroki, use both his ice and fire?" Iida asked as he knew of the boy's duel quirks, unlike Tokage.
"Wait, you have two quirks?!" She asked the duel-haired boy, this was the first she was hearing of it. She didn't recall him using fire at all during their exam or the combat trial.
"That may be the case but…"Todoroki started as he turned his attention to the stands, particularly to his father who was standing by his lonesome in the back. "In battle…I never use my left side."
'Okay….There are some deep issues he needs to sort out. I would swap him out with someone who isn't having a problem but all the good people are already in teams.' Tokage thought to herself as she could tell there was some serious beef going on here she didn't want a part of, not when the frickin number two hero was involved. 'Oh what the hell, he did hold first place in the qualifier for the longest out of all of us and got 6th place overall, that's gotta count for something.' She thought to herself as she stuck with the plan and hoped for the best.
(Present time)
"Aright folks, my hearts pounding right now, let's see those teams!" Present Mic announced as all the different teams got shown on the big screen. The teams organized from the lowest point value to the highest.
Team: Kosei. Members: Kosei Tsuburaba of 1-B; Togaru Kamakiri of 1-B; Manga Fukidashi of 1-B. Total Points: 135
Team Kinoko. Members: Kinoko Komori of 1-B; Mina Ashido of 1-A; Kyoka Jiro of 1-A. Total Points: 200
Team Hagakure. Members: Toru Hagakure of 1-A; Mashirao Ojiro of 1-A; Jurota Shishida of 1-B; Rin Hiryu of 1-B. Total Points: 235
Team Shinso. Members: Hitoshi Shinso of 1-C; Mezo Shoji of 1-A; Shihai Kuroiro of 1-B; Nirengeki Shoda of 1-B. Total Points: 275
Team: Mineta. Members: Minoru Mineta of 1-A; Neito Monoma of 1-B; Sen Kaibara of 1-B; Koji Koda of class 1-A. Total Points: 350
Team: Yanagi. Members: Reiko Yanagi of 1-B; Yuga Aoyama of 1-A; Pony Tsunotori of 1-B; Ochaco Uraraka of 1-A. Total Points: 415
Team Asui. Members: Tsuyu Asui of 1-A; Kojiro Bondo of 1-B; Denki Kaminari of 1-A; Juzo Honenuki of 1-B. Total Points: 445
Team Yaoyorozu. Members: Momo Yaoyorozu of 1-A; Ibara Shiozaki of 1-B; Hatsume Mei of 1-H; Rikido Sato of 1-A. Total Points: 455
Team Bakugo. Members: Katsuki Bakugo of 1-A; Eijiro Kirishima of 1-A; Yosetsu Awase of 1-B; Hanta Sero of 1-A. Total Points: 640
Team Kendo. Members: Itsuka Kendo of 1-B; Setsuna Tokage of 1-B; Shoto Todoroki of 1-A; Tenya Iida of 1-A. Total Points: 680
Team Tokoyami. Members: Fumikage Tokoyami of 1-A, Yui Kodai of 1-B; Izuku Midoriya of 1-A; Tetsutetsu Testsutetsu of 1-B: Total Points: 10,000,475
"Alright folks, I'm not gonna ask if you ready or not since you all should be by now!" Present Mic stated as the countdown begun on the big screen.
"Shishida," Monoma asked his classmate whose team was next to his own. "No hard feelings?"
"Agreed." Shishida shortly answered as he turned to face the rest of the competition.
"Now let's go! Counting down to the brutal battle royal!" Present Mic announced as the crowd started to cheer even louder as the countdown reached completion.
"Three!"
"Remember, we're aiming for…" Bakugo reminded his team as he eyed the boy he wanted to crush right about now.
"Two!"
"One thing…" Tokage said as she looked over to the team where her friends were but she wouldn't let that stop her.
"One!"
"Start!" Midnight called out as reach and every team started to move in one direction.
Towards Team Tokoyami.
"It's a battle for the ten million points!" Kirishima yelled as his team charged them. "Sorry bro but we're gonna have to take that 10 million!"
"Sorry about this Tokoyami but I'm taking that!" Hagakure laughed as her team charged as well, though all three boys had the peace of mind to blush as the only article of clothing their rider was wearing was pants, so it was understandable why carrying around a topless girl was somewhat of a new experience for the trio.
"A frontal attack with delay, it appears that you were correct, my friend." Tokoyami stated as he observed the incoming threats without flinching. "The fate of the pursued."
"So…do we begin?" Kodai asked as she readied the objects in her left pocket.
"Let's," Midoriya replied before he gave an order that had many wondering for his sanity. "Lose the headband!"
"Got it!" Tokoyami answered as he ripped the headband from his head and threw it into the air, shocking both the students and audience.
"What…wait?!" Vlad King said as he wondered if he saw and heard that right.
"Did Team Tokoyami just throw away their first-place lead?" Present Mic asked, equally as confused.
(With the Bakugo and Midoriya's)
"Son, what are you doing?!" Inko screamed as she saw her son just throw away his first-place lead, dropping to dead last in an instant.
"That was stupid." Mitsuki stated as she folded her arms, she wasn't expecting that from the lad, that's for sure.
"…Maybe…maybe not…" Hisashi said as he caught the girl in his team fiddling with something in her pocket. His boy may have a plan in the works.
(On the field)
"The fuck is Deku doing?!" Bakugo yelled as his group sped up to catch the headband before anyone else could.
"Kodai!" Tokoyami yelled as he saw everyone was in place for the plan. In an instant she threw out the little object she was playing with right into the center of the crowd, she quickly let go of Tokoyami, relying on Midoriya and Tetsutetsu to hold up their rider for a moment before she brought her hands together in a familiar motion. As soon as her fingertips touched, the object enlarged to its normal size, revealing it to be one of Midoriya's flash grenades which went off before anyone could prepare for it, blinding the pursuing students.
"Arggg, not this shit again!" Awase swore as he closed his eyes and resisted the urge to use his hands, otherwise his rider may become unstable and fall.
'Another one of his bomb!' Eraser thought to himself as he recalled that the boy loved using such tactics, though personally he hated them because they messed with his eyes.
"Dark Shadow, quickly!" Tokoyami shouted as he saw the brightness start to fade to a level Dark Shadow could manage while still giving them an advantage over their opponents, like himself, his whole team could still see because they had closed their eyes and looked away just before the thing went off.
"On it!" Dark Shadow loudly replied as he formed out of his stomach and launched itself towards the two closest teams. It didn't take long for the shadowy entity to grab two headbands before circling back and grabbing their own before it hit the ground.
"Kero!" Asui let out as she left her headband being snatched away before she could even see who did it.
"The Hell was that!" Mineta yelled as he felt his headband ripped off his head.
"I should have known he'll do this…" Tokage muttered to herself, forgetting that she saw Midoriya and Kodai use a similar tactic during their battle trial. Soon after she said this, the blinding light ended and the spent flash grenade was left on the floor. Allowing the teams to see that Tokoyami not only had his team's headband safely around his forehead again but also had two others around his neck.
"Damn that was bright." Tetsutetsu said with a smile as he saw how everyone was dumbfounded by their little surprise and was happy he wasn't one of them.
"Thanks for the headbands! See you later!" Midoriya thanked them before his team booked it out of there, running away from the bulk of the competition.
"When did they-!" Kendo asked as she and her team got their barring and went back to the chase.
"And just like that, team Tokoyami not only recaptures their headband but capture team Mineta's and team Asui, bring their score up another 795!" Present Mic announced as the crowd cheered for that cheeky little stunt.
"Clever, they used their false surrender as a diversion to get the others to move in closer before using a flashbang to blind them all." Vlad noted as it was a gamble that paid off quite nicely.
"Are those things even legal?!" Kaminari yelled.
"Yes, Midoriya put in the required forms about a week ago. Everything he had on him was his work so he had the right to use them however he sees fit as long as he doesn't seriously injure another person." Midnight clarified for both the students and the audience.
"Mother-! After them!" Bakugo yelled at his team as they went back on the offensive.
"Jiro!" Kinoko yelled as they saw they were the closest ones to the retreating leaders.
"I know!" Jiro replied as she extended one of her ear jacks towards Tokoyami, hoping to snatch one of his headbands.
"I think not!" Unfortunately for her, Tokoyami saw her attack coming and deflected it with a counter from dark shadow.
"Dammit, Tokoyami!" Jiro cursed as she saw there was no way she would be getting past that shadow of his, they'll need to find a way to distract it somehow first.
"Excellent, Dark Shadow, keep watch over our blind spots." Tokoyami thanked his quirk as they saw that the rest of the teams were starting to give them distance, most likely in caution for another one of their plans.
"You got it!" Dark Shadow replied as she started to look around them for any threats or potshots aimed towards them. Giving them a 360-degree view of their surroundings.
"I gotta say, stealing those bands was a ballsy move." Tetsutetsu stated as they moved away from the rest of the competition.
"You're telling me, you two are the ones who voted for it." Midoriya said as he looked over to the steel user and Tokoyami.
"Hmm." Kodai sounded in agreement.
"Incoming!" Tetsutetsu yelled as they saw incoming projectiles, coming towards them fast.
"Dodge it!" Tokoyami ordered as they evaded to the left.
"Was that?" Tetsutetsu asked as he recognized their projectiles, they looked a lot like horns.
"Yeah, I got eyes on team Yanagi, closing fast!" Tokoyami answered as they saw the enemy team dashing towards them at speeds he was having trouble believing was possible for such a group.
"Too fast, how are they moving so quickly?!" Tetsutetsu asked as they were forced to retreat to keep the distance between them.
"It must be Uraraka, she must have used her a quirk to make them all weightless." Midoriya said as she saw that Uraraka looked like she was disturbed, meaning she was using her quirk.
"So basically, it's as if Tsunotori isn't carrying them?" Kodai asked as they saw that even with their retreat, the distance between them was still decreasing. They couldn't match that speed.
"Must be, we gotta move! Tetsutetsu, get ready to tank, Tokoyami, offense is yours! Kodai and I will focus on agility and mobility." Midoriya answered as they saw that they only could fight their way out of this.
"Alright! Bring it on Tsunotori!" Tetsutetsu yelled as he activated his quirk, making him a steel shield for his team as they geared up for another encounter with their fellow students.
"Come on guys, we gotta catch up!" Hagakure yelled as they chased after the fleeing team.
"Wait a minute! Hagakure, where's your headband?!" Hiryu asked as he looked up and didn't see it. They stopped for a moment as they imagined Hagakure felt around her forehead just to be sure it wasn't there.
"What! When did they even take it!?" She yelled as she didn't even feel it being taken for goodness sake! Meanwhile, team Mineta moved away from them, with Mineta placing the stolen headband around his neck.
"Good job Mineta, for once those perverted hands of yours did a good thing for us." Monoma both complimented and mocked their rider.
"Say what you like but my experience makes it near impossible to feel my hands." Mineta replied, creeping out the entirety of his team at his response.
"Should we be worried about that?" Monoma asked his classmate.
"I think we should be, I don't feel like testifying in court." Kaibara answered as they went on to look for another team to ambush, not caring that Mineta looked like they stuck his heart at their callous words-(though some part of him knew he'll wind up in court if he didn't watch it.)
"Now them, even though two minutes have barely passed since we started, it's already turned into a free-for-all!" Present Mic said as most of the teams broke off from the chase of first place and started to go for the other headbands. "Fights over the headbands are breaking out all over the place! Ignoring the ten million and going after second to fourth place isn't a bad idea either!"
"It looks like not everyone is aiming for that." Vlad said as he looked down and saw that first place still had three teams after them.
"Stand still, we want headband!" Tsunotori yelled in broken Japanese as Aoyama fired off lasers at them while Yanagi tried to take the headband with her quirk, though team Tokoyami managed to dodge all the blasts while Tokoyami himself held onto the headband with his hand to keep it in place.
"Sorry, Tsunotori but I can't let that happen!" Tetsutetsu said as he was forced to take a blast from Aoyama but he wasn't too hurt by it, his steel protected him from most of the damage.
"You don't have a choice." Aoyama said as he fired off more lasers, he purposely kept them low-powered to increase the rate of fire without giving himself another stomachache. The trade-off was that each laser wasn't very strong and against the defense that Tetsutetsu quirk gave him, it was nearly useless.
"Dammit, not on my watch!" Dark Shadow yelled as it came around for another attack, forcing team Yanagi to back off.
"What's this? It looks like team Yanagi is on the offensive!" Present Mic called out as the big screen changed to show how the two teams were duking it out.
"And they're not the only ones, team Asui is hot on their heels." Vlad said as another team had broken off and was racing towards them again.
"Wait, wha-Shit!" Midoriya started to ask but was forced to move out of the way to avoid being struck by a tongue, Tokoyami nearly lost his balance because of it but Kodai was able to give him enough support to stay on top. They quickly looked around and saw that true to Vlad King's words, team Asui was coming towards them.
"You have something that belongs to us, Tokoyami." Asui said as Honenuki tried to use his quirk to soften the ground they stood on, forcing them to retreat once more while keeping team Yanagi at bay with dark shadow. The twin assault was proving effective as they were being forced back without a chance to counter.
"Shit, Tokoyami, take flight!" Midoriya yelled as his friend. He nodded his head before the wings on the jetpack deployed.
"Right, Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami said as he jumped off his 'horse' but took to the skies before he could touch the ground, avoiding a laser blast from Aoyama and allowing his team to more effectively dodging the assault from the other two not that they didn't have a rider to balance.
"Tetsutetsu, Kodai." Midoriya said as they saw an opening to charge and took it.
"We're ready for it." Kodai said as she saw Tetsutetsu brace himself.
"Here goes…" Midoriya said to himself as he lifted his foot and fired a full-powered shockwave towards Team Asui, knocking them back though they manage to stay up.
"Kodai!" Tetsutetsu yelled as she saw team Yanagi trying to surprise them.
"Hmmm!" She said before she saw Tokoyami take off the 350 points headband and with Dark Shadow's help, tossed it towards Team Yanagi who didn't see it was Tokoyami was above them.
"Take it!" Tokoyami yelled, grabbing their attention as they looked up and saw a headband falling towards them. They thought it was another flashbang and turned their heads away and closed their eyes out of instinct, which unfortunately for them was the wrong response as once more, Kodai let off of Midoriya and Tetsutetsu and brought her hands together. The result?
The headband growing to the size of a full-blown parade banner, blocking out the sun above team Yanagi's heads who at that time, chose to look up to see what was blocking out the sun.
"The hell!" Uraraka yelled as they got buried in this massive cloth, knocking both Aoyama and Tsunotori down but luckily for them, Uraraka was able to keep Yanagi afloat with her quirk, so they were still in this….as soon as they got out from under this thing.
"And team Tokoyami knocks team Yanagi off their tail with some unconventional tactics!" Present Mic said as he watched the covered team struggled to get the banner-sized headband off them. He wasn't expecting that but hey, it worked! Didn't it?
"Unconventional problems need unconventional solutions, I suppose." Vlad said with a laugh as that was a funny way of slowing them down, bury them in points!
BOOM!
"Incoming!" Midoriya said as he saw a familiar blonde blasting his way towards his rider.
"I see it." Tokoyami replied as he shakily turned around in the air to meet the new threat, how Midoriya did this so easily was something he would never quite get.
"Don't get cocky you bird-brained extra!" Bakugo yelled as he blasted himself right towards Tokoyami. Though behind him there was something else heading towards him.
'And is that a hand…must be Tokage!' Tokoyami quickly observed as he recalled seeing how her quirk worked in the obstacle race. "Dark Shadow, the hand!" He ordered his quirk who quickly jumped to action to knock back the before mentioned appendage as Tokoyami himself moved to avoid Bakugo and kick him back. The sight of the actual avian-headed student, flying and using his feet to knock back a threat was not lost on Tokoyami and the crowd who were already making comments about him looking like an actual raven or crow.
"Fuck!" Bakugo yelled as he kicked back and was forced to used his quirk to compensate to keep himself from a harsh landing, at that same moment, the tape that was attached to his back reeled him back towards his team.
"And with some excellent flying, Tokoyami avoids the onslaught from team Tokage and Bakugo! But how long can he hold out?" Present Mic said as the crowd was loving this aerial battle.
"Still, why'd they separate from his horse? That was a big gamble on their part." Vlad commented as he saw both sides returning to their horses.
"You still have him?" Kirishima asked Sero who was pulling Bakugo back towards them.
"Yeah I do, bring him in." Sero said as Bakugo came in for a rough landing but it could have been worse.
"It's a technicality but they didn't touch the ground so it's legal." Midnight explained as she carefully watched over all the teams for even the slightest rule-breaking.
"Even with everyone turning on each other, there's still a good portion after our heads." Midoriya said as Tokoyami landed back into his spot, though he would have missed it if not for the group moving to catch him.
"The price of your previous success, I'm afraid." Tokoyami answered as the winged jetpack powered down.
"You still avoided that attack like a champ man, where you learn to fly like that?" Tetsutetsu asked him as he turned his face to face him.
"I didn't, I was barely able to handle the controls of such a device. How Midoriya can do so with such ease is a testament to his years of practice." Tokoyami replied as he recalled that Midoriya was only able to give him a quick rundown of how the controls work.
"So we should avoid having Tokoyami use it to avoid having him crash." Kodai said as she could see that if he had to take to the air again and Tokage wised up to his lack of skill in the air, they would be toast.
"Agreed." They all said as they looked for another spot to run to and avoid any more needless fighting.
(With the Pros)
"As expected, everyone after the first place slot is in hot pursuit! These kids sure have some serious skills!" Present Mic announced as all the pros on break watched the event going on the smaller than average TV set(you would think the break room would have a 40-inch flat screen)
"Looks like both 1-A and 1-B have a good line-up this year-round." Death Arms noted with a smile as he was quite enjoying the festival.
"Yes, they certainly know how to work with each other's different skills and quirks." Mt. Lady agreed with him as she enjoying watching how all the teams went about the challenge. Though some were doing quite poorly.
"I wonder how first place is gonna handle everyone gunning for them." Kamui Woods added as it was clear that first place wasn't out of the woods yet.
"And it seems we have another upset, team Bakugo has just stolen team Kinoko's headband, adding 200 points to their score!" Present Mic called out just as Bakugo blasted his way toward team Kinoko and managed to steal their headband before they could do anything about it.
(With the teachers)
"Now why don't we have a look-see at each team's points? It's been about seven minutes so their bond to be some changes to the scoreboard." Present Mic announced as he was quite curious to see how the points had changed hands throughout the event so far.
"Here are the current rankings on the screen!" He announced as the screen changed from a view of the field to one of the current rankings, though the actual standing surprised most.
(With the Shields)
"What? When did that happen?" David asked as saw a team in the last place that didn't quite fit.
"I didn't see it." Mellissa agreed with she didn't recall seeing them drop to their position at all.
(With the Bakugo and Midoriya's)
"That's certainly an upset." Masaru said as he looked over the current results.
(With the Pros)
"When did they even…?" Kamui asked in confusion, he is the only one to voice the thoughts of most of the pros watching this.
"What? Wait a minute." Present Mic paused as he looked over the results again to make sure he was seeing this right. "When did Team Kendo…?"
1st Place: Team Tokoyami 10,000,920 points
2nd Place: Team Minoru 915 points
3rd Place: Team Bakugo 840 points
4th Place: Team Yanagi 765 points
5th Place: Team Yaoyorozu 455 points
6th Place: Team Shinso 275 points
7th Place: Team Kosei Points 135 points
8th Place: Team Kinoko 0 points
9th Place: Team Hagakure 0 points
10th Place: Team Asui 0 points
11th Place: Team Kendo 0 points
"You left yourselves wide open." Monoma said just as Mineta snagged the headband right off Kendo's head.
"Shit, Monoma!" Kendo cursed as she and her team turned around to see who just took their points and left them in dead last.
"More like team Mineta but you get the gist." Monoma said as Mineta quickly put the headband around his neck.
"We got more heading right for us, we gotta hurry." Kaibara said as he looked to the side and saw more teams heading towards them, most likely after their 2nd place standing.
"Right, right. Sorry about this Tokage, Kendo but we gonna be holding onto this for a while. Be sure to cheer for us once we clear this round!" Monoma couldn't help himself as he used their remaining time to taunt them before they turned around to make a break for it but not before Koda could say something.
"Sorry." The large and quiet boy said as they ran off.
.
.
.
"Guys…. Change of plans…" Tokage said, catching her team-mates attention who all turned to look at her and flinch back when they saw the predatory look of anger and slightly crazed excitement on her face.
"We gonna teach those guys a lesson they won't forget!" Tokage ordered as they raced after the team of thieves to make them regret ever picking a fight with them.
'That's good for us, Monoma's natural affinity for pissing people off has gotten one of our more dangerous opponents off our backs for the most part but that still leaves one more.' Kodai thought to herself as she had a feeling that sooner or later, the blonde loudmouth would anger someone to the point where whatever team he was on would become a prime target.
"Midoriya looks like we're sitting pretty on the top spot, there's not much time left, and as still have one last contingency left just in case." Tetsutetsu said as they looked around that they lost most of their tails with that last one.
"Agreed, our foes may little time left to launch any sort of counter-nonetheless, we should exercise caution." Tokoyami noted as he held onto their single remaining stolen headband.
"Hmmm, we need to stay vigilant, look out!" Kodai yelled for the first time as she saw an advancing team closing on them fast from her side. They were able to avoid the quick assault but then the new team stopped right in front of them, blocking their advance.
"Less than half a minute is left on the clock!" Present Mic announced as all the eyes in the stadium locked onto this new threat to number one, including All Might and Endeavour who both narrowed their eyes on this change in pace.
"Of course….I was wondering when you'll show up." Midoriya said as his team faced their new threat, one that they had managed to avoid for the most part but it looks like their luck just ran out.
"The cavalry battle is about to enter the second half! With all the upstarts and twists we've seen today, who will wear the ten million in the end?" Present Mic hyped up as the crowd went on cheering louder and louder for this new challenger. The Team Yaoyorozu.
"You have something we want." Yaoyorozu said as she gripped onto her metallic bō staff while each team member was decked out with some kind of support gear, Yaoyorozu herself was wearing a jet-pack-looking device on her back while Mei ginning all the while as the left horse with Shiozaki the right horse. Both of them were wearing the same type of boots Mei had demonstrated in the race. Finally, Sato as the front horse was wearing some sort of torso armor but since Mei was on their team, he wouldn't pass her to have done something to make that particular piece of body armor much more effective.
And that's where I'll end this chapter, been a while since I ended one on such a cliff-hanger but what the hell. As you all just read, I swapped around the teams a bit and gave Midoriya and his group a pretty risky but sound strategy. I've thought about how these two teams will fight it out and I can tell you, it'll be quite an entertaining thing to see since I wanted to still include Mei in the spotlight but I didn't want her on the same team as Izuku for already mentioned reasons so this was the result.
For Monoma not going after Bakugo, The teams are a mix of 1-A and 1-B unlike cannon so he couldn't target an exclusively 1-A team if he tried as no such team exists. There's also the fact that he chose Bakugo not only because he comes off as arrogant but because he had 2nd highest score therefore by taking him, he would have assured himself and his team a place in the finals if not for his shortcomings in pointlessly egging on a guy you know to have anger management issues and a good head on his shoulders. So sadly, that whole battle between Team Midoriya and Team Todoroki does not happen but I've replaced it with another one I hope that'll be just as entertaining.
Just so we're clear, the teams here were named after the riders, not the person with the most points as in cannon, some of the riders had lower points than others in their teams or the team was named after another person in the team, regardless of actual points they were worth. So in this story, I made it that Present Mic was the one who decided the team names since the riders are easier to identify from a distance, something the audience would appreciate. While I wrote this chapter, I was listening to the Fairy tail soundtrack, particularly Masayume Chasing by BoA and Strike Back by Back-On(Maybe I should rewatch some of those episodes.) so I tried to make the actions seem more appealing.