CHAPTER 21: I GOT THOSE HORSEBACK BLUES

My POV

I rattled my head and glanced back at Monoma's team. One minute more of being pursued, then it would be over.

I dunno about that other guy, but Honenuki and Tsubaraba were big threats. Monoma couldn't do anything if he couldn't touch me.

"We need to press on. With any luck, we'll lose them." Yaoyorozu glanced at me, her look saying 'Really? Relying on luck now?'. I can't say I blame her.

She reached to her arm, pulling a couple of smoke grenades out of the pink glow and hurling them at the pursuing team. The orbs burst with white smoke, blocking them from view for a time.

Yanagi chose now to speak up. "What is your plan now? We can't rely on your energy field anymore, and Monoma isn't going to give up so easily."

"I'm working on it, I'm working on it. Um…" My mind raced. In my tired state, my brain wasn't functioning fully. But I tried my best to fight through it, screwing up my face and trying to think.

"Hey dumbass, pay attention. Icyhot's about to pull something."

At Grump's warning, I looked in time to see ice erupt from the far side of the field. That could only mean one thing. Todoroki must have trapped Deku in there. Lightbulb.

"Girls, I've got a plan. We need to stick them in place somehow. A glue trap, wires, anything."

Kendo thought for a moment before smiling. "I've got an idea. Bondo was chasing a couple of teams earlier. His Quirk lets him blast glue, and he's likely left a bunch behind in his hurry."

The perks of having 1B's class rep as my friend. Who knew? "Lead the way."

Yanagi looked behind us. Her sleepy eyes widened. "We'll have to do it fast, here they come!"

I turned in time to see the copycat and his team rush out of the smoke, a frantic smile plastered on his face. Crapbaskets.

"This is what you get for not dealing with him sooner, dumbass."

Oh, shut up.

Deku POV

Todoroki's eyes were locked with mine, cold intimidation evident in his eyes. The sticky hairballs littered the ground in a messy fashion, with no easy way of getting through.

I couldn't make out what the heterochromatic boy said to his teammates, but Ashido blasted acid at the hairballs, slowly eating through the accidental trap. Kirishima tensed, hardening up again. "What's the plan, Midoriya?"

I looked at what we had. The ice walls were too sheer to climb… maybe if we use them as ramps? It's dangerous, but with enough speed, we might be able to head out. But Uraraka's nearly at her limit, there's no way she would last long enough. On the bright side, Iida can't just speed ahead for fear of getting stuck, and Mineta's hairballs are quite potent. We might be able to use that. We do have some space to work with as well, so maybe… hmm…

"Tokoyami, I know I said you might not have to attack, but if it comes down to it, running interference with Dark Shadow might be our only option."

The shadow wielder nodded. "Understood."

I need to stall for time while I come up with a plan. Tokoyami's our only reliable ranged attacker. "Todoroki! I've got a question."

My opponent's brow furrowed, but he remained cordial in his tone. "What."

"Your fire side. Why do you keep avoiding using it? Your ice is powerful, but I can think of several different times where a ranged fire attack would have been useful."

His eyes narrowed further as his eyebrows arched in anger. "That's none of your business."

Ashido and Sero glanced up at their team leader, unsure whether to fear him or not. Iida glanced back at him. "Todoroki, I'm sure Midoriya meant no offense. He was simply unaware of your self imposed restriction."

"No, he's been aware. He must be, he's been exploiting it this whole time." The anger faded to contemplation, wondering why I had asked a seemingly redundant question as the teams grew ever closer to meeting. I now had a ghost of a plan, but it was risky.

I crouched down and whispered. "Team, we're standing our ground. Here's the plan…"

My POV

Our pace was evenly matched as we ran across the field, searching for Bondo's debris, or the man himself. Turns out, when you have ten million points on your head, people aren't hard to find.

"Glue Squall!" A cry was heard from the left. I turned to see globs of yellowish paste flying towards my and Monoma's teams, shot from a guy with an inorganic looking yellow head. Kinda reminds me of an Ultra Beast. Tsubaraba blew as hard as he could to block the projectiles with Solid Air and ensure none got through.

"Yanagi!" The girl nodded and flashed her hand, freezing the glue in the air about three inches from us and condensing it into a ball. A high pitched and grating laugh was heard behind us.

"That's your plan? Pathetic! Don't you have a better plan to earn your stupid ego?" His stupid grin was getting on my nerves.

From the angry crackling in my head, I could tell Grump felt the same.

Yaoyorozu opened her shirt and glowed with pink light as she slowly pulled a net out of her gut, keeping pace all the while. She was impressive. "Yanagi, please soak this in the glue and hurl it."

The white haired girl nodded, and a pink glow surrounded the net before it disappeared into the ball of liquid. A couple seconds later, the ball flew towards Monoma's team, unfurling like a sopping wet flower.

"Tsubaraba!" The boy blew, creating solid air in front of them.

I acted quickly, holding one hand like a telescope and pressing it to my other palm. I meant to develop this later, but as it stands now, this move will do.

"AP Shot!" I rapidly and repeatedly fired, the blasts warming up my hand as the explosions impacted against Solid Air haphazardly, shattering the glasslike substance and making room for the glue ball.

Before Tsubaraba could blow another barrier, the mostly liquid projectile splashed onto the group, the net firmly sticking to all four team members and holding them in place. The glue that was now on the ground helped too.

Kendo smiled. "You're pretty smart, Yaoyorozu. And Bakugo, what is it with you and improsiving the perfect moves?"

The black haired beauty smiled. "Thank you. But we need to move-"

Globs of glue flew at us again, but this time I was ready with an explosion. The liquid was incinerated in the ensuing blast. "Yeah, what she said. Onward!"

Deku POV

We braced ourselves in our section of Todoroki's frozen cage. Everyone was ready.

Ashido disintegrated the last hairball as I braced myself on the shoulders on my team. It was time to act.

"Recipro Burst!" They rushed towards us quickly, Iida's engines speeding them up. I activated Full Cowling and moved, batting aside the offending arm of Todoroki as it whipped by, faster than my teammates could react. Training with Kacchan for years had boosted my reaction speed to crazy levels, but that engine rush came close to stealing the headband.

Once my team realized what happened, we made our move.

"Dark Shadow!" The beast emerged, ready to block an attack as we went in. Todoroki's team had stopped at the back of the section before they could crash into it, meaning we had just tricked them into standing against the wall.

I lunged for the headbands around Todoroki's neck, eyes on the prize. The bicoloured boy caught my hand, and went for my headbands. I caught his hand, locking us into an endurance match. Green lightning sparked as he pushed with all his might.

"Todoroki, hang in there!"

"Deku, don't let him steal your headbands!"

Ashido and Uraraka looked on, clearly not wanting to lose here. Kirishima and Iida were too busy holding us up, the girls couldn't reach, and from the sounds I could hear of to my right, Tokoyami was keeping Sero busy. So it just came down to this.

Todoroki was getting angrier, his Quirk activating on instinct. My left hand felt like it was being clamped in a freezer, while my right felt like I was sticking it in a campfire. Even with my durability boost from One For All, I was starting to feel the pain. "Urgh… you really want to win this, huh? Ow."

Todoroki pushed harder, our hands locked in a battle for dominance. Neither of us could keep it up much longer.

"TIME'S UP!"

With that shout, we released each other, backing off and panting with exertion. Full Cowling dropped. That especially took a toll on me. I had no idea I was using it that hard.

Todoroki looked and my right hand, seemingly shocked that he had burned me. The flesh of my palm was red and schorched, red burn lines between my fingers. Angry red and soot black darkened my hand, drawing concern from Uraraka "Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

"Tis but a scratch." Compared to the 100% attacks, this wasn't too bad. I'm definitely going to need to pay Recovery Girl a visit though.

My POV (a minute ago…)

Kendo glanced in another direction before jostling me to get my attention. "We've got company!"

I looked where she did. The look revealed multiple green tendrils fanning out from the head of a girl. Right, that was… um…

"Shiozaki. She has a spooky Quirk." Yanagi's monotone reached my ear. I turned to Yaoyorozu.

"Hate to ask so much, but I'll need a sword." She didn't complain and reached for her gut again, pulling out a simple two-foot katana with a rubber handle.

"Why didn't you didn't have her do this to start?" Grump grumbled in my head

I tried not to glare as I gripped the sword. He had a point, but I didn't think of it until now because of all the panic.

The tendrils lashed towards me as I ignited the blade. "Tachyon Breathing: Fourth Form! Devouring Heat!"

The katana ignited, I slashed rapidly like a defensive storm, rotating arcs of light flashing to slice and burn up the vines headed my way. "I have had it with these motha cluckin snakes on this motha cluckin plane!"

Kendo had time to raise a brow at my line before she enlarged her other hand and swatted away the tendrils I missed. "I'm not going to let her get to the headband! Come on team, defense!"

Yanagi thrust her hands forth, wrapping tendrils around each other to tangle them up.

Yaoyorozu spawned a shield, but didn't move against the tendrils. Instead, she leapt behind me and swung the shield arm, swatting away a pair of familiar looking earphone jacks.

Between Shiozaki and Jiro, the team and I may have just bitten off more than we could chew.

I slashed like a madman, cyan meeting green and severing the vinelike hair. The was working but how long could we keep this up?

"TIME'S UP!"

A collective sigh of relief came from my teammates. Thankfully, not long at all.

I hopped out of Kendo's hand, smiling like a complete nutjob. "Girls, you performed beautifully!"

I grabbed Yanagi's hand and shook it. "Yanagi, your telekinesis was a great defensive power."

The quiet girl nodded with a smile as I shook Yaoyorozu's hand next, even harder. "Yaoyorozu, your strategic mind helped where mine fell short, and your creations were perfect."

Yaoyorozu seemed a little surprised at the sudden contact, before recollecting herself and nodding, seemingly unsure of herself. Then I pulled Kendo in with an over the shoulder hug. "And Kendo, you took the situation in stride magnificently. Without your power and reasoning, the outcome could have been very different."

She playfully elbowed me. "Don't go getting all mushy on me. Everyone did their part. Especially you, Mr. Improvised Special Move."

"Hey, just because I came up with the Howitzer on the fly, that doesn't mean that this is a regular thing for me."

"Yeah, but I heard you. Coming up with a name that fast? Dude."

"Stealing it that fast, maybe." Okay, perhaps I underestimated how much of a pain Grump would be.

I removed my arm and shrugged. "First name that popped to mind. I'll come up with something better later."

Yaoyorozu nodded, a thoughtful look on her face. "It seems I underestimated you. I'll need to work harder."

I chose not to comment. Yaoyorozu had great tactical ability, the question was just whether it would speed up with her.

"IN FIRST PLACE, WE HAVE TEAM BAKUGO!" The crowd went wild. I shared a smile with my team. Oh yeah, we nailed it!

"IN SECOND PLACE, TEAM TODOROKI!" I looked to see the stoic elemental glaring holes in the leader of the next team mentioned.

"IN THIRD PLACE, TEAM MIDORIYA!" Deku looked relieved, trying to hold back tears as he wiped sweat from his forehead.

"AND IN FOURTH PLACE WE HAVE TEAM SHINSO! WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?!" I stared. Shinso made it… with a different team? He still had Ojiro and Aoyama, but the other kid was replaced by Tetsutetsu. Weird. I thought metalhead would be able to resist Shinso somewhat. Guess I thought wrong. Either way, the final lineup is going to look way different.

Rassin frassin Dimensional Barrier crack making things trickier to predict!

Toga POV

Wow! Izuku is so tough! To power through the other guy's attack like that is incredible! And he looks so dreamy… and I'll bet his blood is good too… drooling? I'm not drooling, you're drooling!

I glanced over at Katsuki. His team heaved a sigh as they all relaxed. Katsuki leapt off the redhead's hand, saying something to each of his teammates with a smile on his face. They're all amazing! To think I might work with them one day. Maybe.

All of those students tried their best, but Katsuki and Izuku just can't be beat! Katsuki's smart, and he tells me Izuku is really smart too, so it's no wonder their teams won! I grinned a happy grin. Was this what it felt like to be normal? Feeling happy for someone else? It felt… nice.

As everyone gathered together down below, I began thinking. If I saw how all of these Quirks worked, I could use them when I drank their blood, if I ever did. But if I drank their blood, that would mean I had to fight them for it. Unless they offered it to me? But then, what reason would they have? To them, I'd just be some monster. But Giran didn't think I was monster in any sense-

I shook my head. Those thoughts weren't good on a day like today.

"LET'S TAKE AN HOUR LUNCH BREAK BEFORE THE AFTERNOON FESTIVITIES!"

Oh, that's perfect! I can head down and find Katsuki to congratulate him. And then question him about his apparent holding back with me.

Deku POV

I was so happy! My team and I managed to make it through the Cavalry Battle without any show stopping injuries. I ws about to visit Recovery Girl and head to the cafeteria, but I was halted on the way by an all too familiar form.

"Midoriya, we need to talk."

So now, I find myself being stared down by Todoroki in a hallway, who's all cold intimidation, nothing like Kacchan when he gets mad.

His face was partially obscured in shadow as he gazed at me intensely. This pressure wasn't like anything else I'd ever felt. Since he had invited me down, I waited until he said something.

"I was overwhelmed. Because of that, I broke the promise I had made all those years ago."

That power struggle did get pretty intense.

"In that moment when we clashed, none of the others could sense your true power. But I did. And it reminded me of something. Experiencing All Might's Quirk back at the USJ."

I felt a small pit form in my stomach. If Todoroki could figure it out, that meant that others could too. He pulled his left hand out of his pocket and stared at it. That's right, he didn't use his fire until the reflexive use against me. Even though it would have given him a huge advantage.

"Midoriya… are you All Might's secret love child or something?"

…

Am I… WHAT?! I mean I can see why he'd think that, but…

I probably looked absolutely flabbergasted. "That's not it at all! Though I guess I would be expected to say that, so you wouldn't believe me no matter what I say."

Todoroki's expression remained neutral. "'That's not it at all' is interesting wording. It implies there is something between you two that you're not supposed to talk about."

I gulped. Oh dear. Todoroki continued. "My father is the hero Endeavor. Surely you've heard of him."

I nodded. Who didn't know the #2 Hero?

"That means if you're connected to All Might in some way… I have even more of a reason to beat you."

Okay, that took a different turn than what I was expecting. "What are you trying to tell me, Todoroki?"

"Have you ever heard of Quirk marriages?"

Wow, this was throwing me for all kinds of loops. Quirk marriages… oh, that's right. "Um, yeah, I do. In the first few generations, people looked to get married just to have powerful kids, like a different kind of arranged marriage."

Todoroki's face was unchanging as he continued. "As the #2 Hero, my father had a lot of money to throw at his problems. So, he bought off my mother's parents to get his hands on her Ice Quirk."

Oh… oh… that's where this was going. I can't imagine he had the happiest home life.

Staring at his left hand, he continued his monologue. "In every memory of my mother, I see her crying. She called my left aide unbearable… before she poured boiling water on my face."

His hand covered the scar. My mouth opened in a silent gasp. My eyes widened marginally. His mom did that? I just assumed it was something to do with his flames and didn't want to pry.

He pulled his hand away, a new intensity in his eyes. "That's why I picked a fight with you. I'm going to show my father that I don't have to rely on his damned fire. I'm going to win this festival only using my mother's power."

With that, Todoroki exited into the light and began to walk away. I stared down at my right hand. His life has been so drastically different from mine. A hero trying to escape his dark past. He was born with everything but with no one to support him, I was born powerless but had people supporting me every step of the way.

I followed him, jogging to catch up. "Wait a sec!"

Todoroki stopped, his back still turned. I looked right where I thought his eyes were. "I don't know what your life is like, but I know that through mine, I've had people by my side who have supported me all throughout my journey here. I'm doing this for them. I won't disappoint them!"

He turned his head, vague interest mixed with apathy on display. I continued. "You want to declare war, right back at you. I'm going to win, because I don't want to let them down."

A touch of respect flickered into his eyes, vanishing just as quickly before he turned and walked away. Whatever happened next, this was going to be one intense fight.

My POV

I stretched a long and hard stretch as I exited the stadium. My team had already left, so I was planning to head to the cafeteria, since I knew Deku would be held up by Emo McAngsty.

"Icyhot's gonna spill his guts to Deku, but since you already know what's up, I don't care to see it again." Grump's words were harsh, but he had a point. That was a private matter.

I could hear footsteps jogging towards me, but I paid them no mind. That is, until I felt something try to tackle me from behind with a hug.

"Katsuki!"

I turned and looked to see Himiko with a smile on her face. "I seem to have a Himiko attached to my back. Did I win the game?"

She backed off and smiled even bigger. "You were amazing out there! That sword bit at the end was really cool… though I have to wonder why you never used that against me? Actually, you've shown off way more power than you ever have with me."

I held up my hand and raised my fingers accordingly. "Two reasons. One, you would get hurt pretty bad if I went crazy with a sword. Two, if I use it for too long, I'll fall asleep. Even after that round, I could curl up right now and clock out."

She nodded, though the look she was giving me said she wasn't happy about it. "I see what you mean, but it's annoying to know that you're not going all out in our fights. How am I supposed to toughen up?"

"Good point, and I admit I could be taking you more seriously, but there is in fact a reason for that." I admit, I have been going easier with her than Deku, but he has durability and experience with me that she doesn't. Still, I suppose I could start taking those matches more seriously.

I gesticulated as I ran down the list. "First, your Quirk can't really match mine in terms of raw power. Sure, you can transform and use the powers of others-"

"Only if I see someone use their Quirk. Even then, if I don't know what activates the power, I can't use it."

"Good to know, but not my point. Even if you copy stronger powers, the opponent has a mastery of them that you don't. You would probably work best as an ambush attacker, wielding the element of surprise and the fear of the unknown to catch someone off guard. Using mind games to play on someone's fears."

She seemed to think about that. "Makes sense, but what about when stealth doesn't work?"

"Hmm, well-"

"Hey Bakugo, the cafeteria's probably gonna start filling up- oh, sorry, didn't realize you were talking." Kirishima walked up, seemingly confused by the presence of the unknown girl next to me.

"It's fine, Kirishima. This is Toga, she's a friend of mine."

Kirishima's grin returned as he held out his hand. "Nice to meetcha. You liking the festival so far?"

She shook the offered hand with enthusiasm. "You bet! These events all look like so much fun!"

Kirishima's smile faltered a little bit at that. "Well, I dunno. Midoriya really sounded like he was hurt from that last bit. Todoroki really wants to take him down for some reason."

I nodded. "Yeah, he's pretty intense about it. At least as far as I can tell."

I glanced at my wrist before speeding along the conversation. "Regardless, we should probably head off to lunch. You'll see a lot more of us in the fights, I'm sure."

Toga cocked her head. "You're not wearing a watch."

"Around this time, it's always time for lunch."

"But you still can't see what-... (sigh) alright, see you later." Toga rolled her eyes playfully and elbowed me in the arm before walking off.

"Smooth. Couldn't possibly have made it less subtle."

Silence, Grump.

Kendo POV

That had to be one of the most luck based wins I've ever been a part of. And yet, it somehow worked. How on Earth did it work out? I knew Bakugo could improvise like nobody else I knew, but still.

"Kendo, over here!" I glanced up to see Setsuna waving me over. I took a seat next to her. Yanagi and Tetsutetsu were also there.

Tetsutetsu was the first to speak. "Kendo, you rocked out there! You literally carried that team!"

I cracked a smile. "In a physical sense, yes. But it was Bakugo's ability to form a loose plan and improvise that got us through. How precisely he does it is a mystery to me."

The metalhead folded his arms. "Why are you giving credit to that arrogant jerk? After the way he talked to me and the others in front of the door, the only thing he's done is paint a target on his back!"

I let my forehead fall into my palm. The dweeb. The moment I heard about it those weeks ago, I knew Bakugo could have gotten himself in over his head. "That was probably his plan. He likes an even fight, so if everyone is gunning for him, he'll be able to go all out with no regrets."

Setsuna shrugged. "Regardless, you and Yanagi deserve at least half of the credit. You two really pulled your weight out there. Literally. Sure, Bakugo may have stopped me, but that was only with your intel and strategy."

I nodded. "Yaoyorozu is pretty smart too."

Yanagi pausd at that. "She seems to lack confidence though. If she had the guts for it, she easily could have been another leader. Kind of like you."

It was my turn to pause. Yaoyorozu and I… huh… I didn't really consider that.

I shrugged after a moment's thought. "Well, I hope we each become our own Heroes. I don't really want to be seen as a knockoff of her, and she probably feels the same."

I planted a fist in my palm. "Either way, I'm gonna throw down like I never have before. You all better be ready."

Yanagi looked a little scared at the prospect of facing me. Can't say I blame her.

? POV

I had the Sports Festival on one monitor and the readings for the Project Anomaly on the other. The project's base was complete. Testing wouldn't be particularly simple, as this was unmarked territory in the field of neurotechnology.

I adjusted my goggle as I glanced back to the tank situated in the center of the room. A suit floated there, black in colour with orange and red accents. The overall appearance was very barebones at the moment, made of kevlar and carbon nano-fibers, but again, this is new ground for me. I still need to perform some modifications and add some technology to make it viable and dangerous, as well as additional armour, but progress is going swimmingly.

Looking back at the monitor, Subject Lamda's readings were consistent with what I had theorized. The pieces of the original soul were awakened now. Vitals were stable, soul remained intact even with awakening of a second consciousness. If only I knew what it was saying, but the subdermal implant was doing its job of monitoring the subject.

Master told me he didn't see a lot of the future from the boy, but that begs the question of what did he see? Did it affect his choice of Subject Lamda somehow? He's never told me the details, or precisely how much. Perhaps he simply doesn't want to discuss it?

My professional curiosity would have to wait, however. Walking over to the main stasis tube, I took a moment to glance around the room. Black monstrosities stood dormant, suspended in the fluid with dead eyes. They weren't complete yet, but once they were, they would be a devastating force. And Anomaly would lead them.

Staring into the eyes of the suit, I began the activation chant for what felt like the hundredth time since the suit's inception.

"Change, change, o form of man, guard the prince who leads the damned…"

And that's a wrap! The Cavalry Battle has finished, and what a finish it was. I tried to land equal time between Deku and SI-Bakugo, and there's a lot to cover at this point in the story. The Sports Fest finals are going to be way different this time around, so expect the unexpected.

Please review or drop a PM, I always enjoy hearing from you. See you next time!