Well my vacation is over but chapters must continue. I just wish I had Todoroki's quirk with the weather we are having.

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Comments:

Flashyyyyyyy: Good to hear. It was the first time Izuku got to speak really publicly so it was important for both him and the story.

Chronolocked: Seems unlikely. For someone who hates quirks he really didn't have issue using and relying on both his and his underlings quirks to get what he wanted.

Hmm Xst: Yes, screw him I never really liked him in canon after berating Izuku after Sludge villain incident and giving up being a hero as soon it wasn't glorious and popular anymore.

AnimeFan13579: There would certainly be people interested in offering their quirks, but giving up such inherent part of you or at least one believed to be such would still be a major step. I think some earlier commentator compared it to an organ donation and while the process is certainly easier and safer you'd hesitate to give up an extra organ for some cash unless you were desperate.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom

Chapter 37: The Cavalry Battle

It wasn't loud, Izuku couldn't deny that. With so many people the stadium could never be completely quiet for long, but for a stadium of that size when a winner of a race was declared it could as well have been a library as soon as the echo of Present Mic's voice waned.

Some people cheered, not worrying about more than the resolution of the race. Others were surprised silent, seeing how the number two hero's son was overtaken so… explosively. Many had issues accepting who had done it. Izuku could feel all of the suspicious and even outright hostile stares numbering higher than he could count in a day. He swallowed and hung onto the Calm Mind to remain standing straight and not wither under the pressure of the crowd as soon as he was no longer focused on the race.

He turned to face the entryway he had just come through, focusing his worries at the stream of other students that eventually started coming through behind Todoroki. Surprisingly Tenya did not come third, but fourth. Tokoyami came fifth. Kirishima was not far behind him at sixth. His clothes and especially pants seemed even more worn out than after the robot. Izuku made a mental note to find video of the competition to see if he actually strolled through the minefield without caring about the actual mines. Izuku smirked at the thought, briefly forgetting what little tension Calm Mind couldn't cover.

After Kirishima there were many foreign faces and some familiar ones. Izuku's previous smirk disappeared as the number of students reaching the finish line grew and one specific one was missing from the group. Almost twenty students had already completed the race. How many were going to pass to the next round?

"Hey Midoriya," Dark Shadow shouted, having reached out from Tokoyami to hover over Izuku. He pointed into the tunnel. "Are you looking for him?"

Izuku blinked and followed the shadowy limb until he caught a glimpse of familiar indigo hair behind another student. Hitoshi started running a little faster and passed the other student, coming into full view. Without even thinking Izuku joined the crowd of students cheering and shouting encouragement at their still racing classmates and friends. After passing a few other students Hitoshi finally crossed the finish line around twentieth, maybe nineteenth by Izuku's count. It had to be enough.

Hitoshi leaned his hands against his knees, seemingly unsteady on his feet and gasping for air. At least he had given his all, though Izuku would still have to add stamina exercises to his training. Izuku ran to his side and tapped his back.

"Great job."

"You…" Hitoshi gasped for more air, "think so?"

"There are like 200 students. You got into the top ten percent. That is really good without a physical quirk in a contest like that."

"I guess… Hopefully it is enough."

"There are still two more rounds including the final tournament. They are going to need at least 30 to 50 people to make it interesting."

Hitoshi smiled a little.

"Well, it's not your worst motivational speech. I worried you'd threaten me with more training to be faster."

"You should watch your words, Nostradamus," Izuku said, smirking devilishly. "So far your predictions have come true."

"I knew it."

"You sure did." Izuku grabbed Hitoshi's hand, helping him stand back straight up. It was better not to show any physical weakness to the already biased audience.

"At least that includes predicting the winner."

"You didn't think it would be Tenya?" Izuku asked and glanced at the speedster in question who had joined them.

"Before you got those jets maybe, but the obstacles were a wildcard you were always going to handle better."

"Probably true," Tenya admitted. "The mines completely negated my quirk."

"Well, I thought it was fun," Kirishima said, reminding Izuku of his presence. He turned to face the redhead.

"Are you sure you are okay?"

"Yeah, why you ask? Those mines weren't that bad, kind of tickled."

"Why?" Izuku's voice rose, and he repeatedly poked Kirishima's chest. "You got crushed by that robot, basically got a building dropped on you and just kept running. Forget taking my punches or blasts. That is on a completely different level."

By the time he stopped speaking Izuku had a notebook and pen in his hand, though he stopped to rub his now sore poking finger before he could start writing.

"Where…?" Tokoyami started asking.

"Don't," Hitoshi said. "It will be better for your sanity to not ask."

"Could all the students currently present gather here to hear the results?" Midnight called. Izuku stopped his note taking while they walked.

"Kirishima," he said quietly to the redhead walking in front of him.

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever complain about your quirk being too simple or weak again, or I'll buy one of those robots and drop it on you again."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Kirishima grinned. Both Tenya and Hitoshi sighed. Soon after Izuku was proven correct in his earlier estimate as Midnight announced a total of 42 students would move onto the next contest. Izuku softly elbowed Hitoshi.

"See, not even close Nostradamus."

"How long are you going to call me that? I'm not sir Nighteye or anything."

"You could have fooled me."

"Since when?"

"Sshh," Tenya hissed. "She is about to tell us about the next contest."

"The next up is…" Midnight declared as the potential competitions rotated on the screen, "a cavalry battle!"

Gears started rotating in Izuku's head as soon as he realized the team nature of this specific event while Midnight started explaining the rules: teams of two to four, one is a rider that isn't allowed to touch the ground, taking points in headbands that were based on the results of the first race, and the winner of the first race started with…

"Ten million points!" Midnight declared.

If people's attention had moved away from Izuku since his win, it now returned in full force and some of the people that had been shocked at him winning mixed an increasingly jeering tone in the cacophony while the other students were already looking for teammates anywhere else, not that that was ever going to be different. Izuku's real problem was that he was already surrounded by more people than he could have in his team. The thought helped him keep standing in the face of all this without relying on the Calm Mind. Kirishima might have been their resident walking shield, but Hitoshi, Tenya and Tokoyami, did a pretty good job too at that moment.

"You have ten minutes to form the teams. Make it count."

Kirishima turned around.

"So, can I team up with you? No one can drop you with me as your horse."

"I'd be glad to, but we really have to think about this. A team can only have four people and we should think how our quirks and skills work together."

"You don't need to worry about me," Tokoyami said. "I don't want to make your team building more difficult."

"Don't even think about it," Hitoshi said. "That's not how this works. You will team up with Izuku."

Tokoyami looked confused and glanced at Izuku who shrugged his shoulders.

"I wasn't asked about this, but it makes sense."

"Dark Shadow and your jets would work well together," Hitoshi interrupted. A light turned on in Tenya's head.

"I see, Dark Shadow could be the wings he needs to balance his flight."

"Exactly, also other reasons," Hitoshi said. "That's two, now we just need to agree on the other two."

Kirishima rubbed his head.

"I guess it is going to be you two then. No worries. I know a couple other people to ask."

Hitoshi smirked and opened his mouth, probably to repeat what he had told Tokoyami.

"Actually, Tenya should go to another team," Izuku interrupted, getting four surprised stares. Izuku gave Tenya an apologetic look. "Your quirk is one of the best for this kind of contest, but it is no use to you if the rest of us can't keep up. If you can find teammates who can, you can show your abilities better. You should ask Yaoyorozu. If she can make roller skates or something, you can pull the whole team along at top speed."

"I understand, that is a good plan."

"Also," Izuku said and glanced at the two-faced classmate who was surrounded by people wanting to team up with him, "see if you can get into a team with Todoroki. He needs someone with more patience than me."

Tenya's expression turned more serious. "I'll do my best, but if we are going to be in different teams you should know I will also have to do my best to beat you. Not doing so would be wrong towards our fellow students."

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't."

Tenya nodded and ran to look for Yaoyorozu. Izuku turned to look at his team: wings, a battering ram, and psychological warfare.

Yes, he could make this work.

"Kirishima, Dark shadow, I can use my jets to move us quickly, but it is going to take a lot of effort to hold us all together especially while evading other's attacks. We'll count on your strength to keep us all together. Can you do that?"

Kirishima smirked and hardened his arm. "You can count on me. Even those robots couldn't pull us apart before the battle is over."

"How about me?" Hitoshi asked and got an evil smirk in response.

"You are our first line of offense. Just hang on and do everything the exact opposite of what you did when we first met, let loose and mess with people as much as you can. I want Ojiro to see nightmares about today for the rest of the school year."

Hitoshi's smirk was, for Izuku, like looking in a mirror.

"Such revelry in the dark," Tokoyami commented.

At the time to start the contest Izuku took his position sitting on the arms of his friends, with Kirishima as his front horse, Hitoshi on the rear right and Tokoyami on the rear left. Kirishima hardened his arms and Izuku felt like he was sitting on a stone throne. Dark Shadow took his position under those arms, twisting his shape to grab Izuku's legs which sunk into the dark mass. That was a strange sensation.

Izuku observed the other teams. Most of them were focused on him and especially his headband of more than ten million points. Izuku briefly lit his Dragon Blades, stretching them to their full length on both sides in a clear challenge: 'come if you dare.'

At least Tenya had gotten his ideal team with Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, with an interesting addition of Kaminari. Did they have any specific plan for their electric classmate? At least their team would be a challenge for Hitoshi to mess with as all of them were classmates quite familiar with his quirks.

"Are you ready?" Midnight asked the teams scattered across the arena. A bunch of fools focused on Izuku's headband.

"Get ready Dark Shadow. We are going to move quickly," Izuku muttered just loud enough for his team to hear. The quirk creature spread out wings to each side of their team.

"Go!"

As expected, most of the teams rushed straight towards Izuku's team, though there were exceptions. Izuku paid attention especially to class B's quirk copier Monoma. He hadn't confronted the annoying blonde since their first meeting, but it seemed that might yet be ahead during the festival.

The ground ahead of Izuku's team began glinting and seemed to have waves like it was liquid. Izuku's jets flared and despite pulling his team up he could also feel Dark Shadow pushing him and them up. If that was true, Tokoyami should have been able to fly.

They easily left the ground before the liquefied ground reached them. Kirishima's arms under Izuku didn't even bend at the sudden motion. Izuku leaned forward and they glided over the arena on Dark Shadow's wings. He glanced back, confirming that Tokoyami and Hitoshi were still hanging on for their lives. The initial shock and even a hint of fear soon made room for the thrill and excitement of their flight.

"Toshi, you better get to work. Tail approaching."

A team consisting of Ojiro, Ashido, Sero and Aoyama approached from their side. Aoyama as the rider pushed his stomach out. Izuku twisted to the side, redirecting his jets.

"Incoming!"

Dark Shadow tried to follow his motion and they did barely avoid a direct hit from the laser, but Izuku still had to shield his eyes. Dark Shadow screamed like he had been on fire and the lift Izuku had felt from him disappeared. His jets were still pushing them but now he had to hold his legs around Kirishima's arms while Hitoshi and Tokoyami were really just hanging from the redhead's grip. Also, they were suddenly veering to the left.

"Get ready for landing," Izuku shouted and leaned his body further back to keep Hitoshi and Tokoyami higher, relatively speaking. "Kirishima, it's going to be a hard landing."

"Got it."

Izuku didn't have much control for where they landed, but he was able to make sure Kirishima hit the floor first, cracking the surface as he touched down. He staggered for a few steps but managed to come to a stop. Hitoshi and Tokoyami had their own struggles, but Izuku's seat remained almost still as they found their footing again. He swung his arm, cutting and lighting on fire a tape Sero launched at him. He quickly formed a flaming shield and blocked a second laser burst.

"Turn to face them," he commanded. The others turned just in time for a shot aimed at Tokoyami beyond Izuku's arms reach to hit Kirishima instead. After his earlier false alarm, Izuku didn't even bother asking if he was okay. If anything, the attack seemed to excite Kirishima as he began charging at the approaching team at high speed.

"Let's get 'em!" He declared. Izuku had no issue with that. They didn't need the points but couldn't escape properly as long as Aoyama was after them. With Kirishima and Izuku's fire shields now facing the same direction, the follow up laser shots didn't even slow them down.

"Dark Shadow," Izuku commanded the quirk creature now hiding behind Tokoyami. "Grab the headband while they focus on us."

"No."

Izuku blocked another laser blast on that side.

"We won't let them hit you, but they won't stop until we make them understand they will lose wasting time and losing points on us. You want Tokoyami to win right?"

"Yes, okay."

"Hey Ojiro!" Hitoshi shouted. He probably used also his Surprise quirk considering how their tailed classmate jolted and staggered, almost bringing his entire team down and forcing them to a near full stop. Izuku's team passed them before they could regain their balance. Dark Shadow bounced from Tokoyami like a spring and Aoyama's headband seemed to simply disappear in the blink of an eye.

"Thank you!" Hitoshi shouted after they passed the other team. "If you don't want to get dropped from the contest with zero points you might want to find some easier prey."

"No way, we ar…" Ashido responded, a bad mistake.

"Drop Aoyama," Hitoshi commanded. Ashido let go of her team and then pulled on Aoyama's shirt. Ojiro's tail moved to slap her head to break the brainwashing, but it was already too late. Aoyama fell on her and they both fell on the ground as the whole team collapsed. Dark Shadow handed Izuku their headband.

"Team Aoyama is out!" Midnight declared.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but your quirk can be really scary," Kirishima said as he kept running.

"And I'm going to take full advantage of that," Hitoshi responded, breathing a little harder.

"Just make sure you can keep talking," Izuku said. "Dark Shadow, how are you feeling?"

"Better now that that sparkling guy went away."

"Good, get ready to fly again. Tenya is comin…" Izuku paused mid-sentence as a shadow blocked the sun. He flared his jets to move them to the side just enough to avoid Shoji's extending arm as he fell from the sky. His six arms had spread out so that the skin between them formed simple wings and with Uraraka accompanying Asui on his back it was no wonder he could launch such a surprise attack. They would all have been effectively weightless as long as Uraraka could use her quirk.

Shoji's arm was followed by Asui's tongue slashing out like a whip. Izuku instinctively raised his arm with his flaming shield lit but resisted the battle instinct to slice straight through the offending appendix. Yelping, Asui pulled her tongue back just before she could properly hit the shield and seriously burn herself. Part of the tongue was left hanging as she seemed to breathe a little faster.

"Sorry!" Izuku shouted genuinely as they kept running away from the trio. "Got to fly!"

During the incident Dark Shadow had once again taken his original place and with a burst of his jets they left the ground just as a wave of ice from Todoroki covered the whole area where they had been standing. Shoji got frozen to the ground but raised his hands up to create a cocoon that completely covered his passengers and the headband Uraraka was wearing.

That was until Kaminari reached out to him. Yaoyorozu created some kind of sheet between Kaminari and the rest of their team. Even from high above Izuku could distinguish the sparks of electricity as Shoji got shocked and the resulting spasms forced his arms open. A few seconds later their points were gone.

"Tenya seems to be doing well for himself," Izuku said.

"Yeah," Hitoshi agreed in a bit of a strained voice as he hung from Kirishima's stone grasp with nothing under his feet again. "Too bad he can't reach us here huh."

"That's the plan," Izuku said but he had hardly finished when his eyes widened and he suddenly jolted their whole team to the side. An ice pillar tens of meters long appeared where they were moments before.

"What the…" Kirishima shouted just before they avoided a second similar attack. Izuku directed them across the field to get more distance between them and the attacks stopped at least for the moment as Todoroki's team chased after them. Izuku could only salivate following their approach.

"Should we keep running or…?" Tokoyami asked.

"No, it is a competition. We should do our best," Izuku said, raising his hand. "I hope Tenya made enough progress in our training."

Fires lit on the back of Izuku's hand. He drew down the heat and intensity, leaving the flames orange and then fired the arrows in three hit bursts. Tenya saw the first two series of flaming arrows, jolting to the side to avoid them. For the third burst Todoroki whipped up an ice wall between his team and Izuku. The weakened flames did nothing to the wall and a new pillar of ice launched from it at Izuku's team. It got dodged like all the previous ones.

"Two minutes left!" Present Mic announced in the background.

"I guess we could just hang on up here a little longer," Izuku concluded, moving them back across the arena. "How are you holding up Kirishima, Dark Shadow?"

"Heh, I could keep going 'till dinner."

"As long as he doesn't let go of Fumi I'll be fine… What are they, AIEEH!"

It was suddenly a lot brighter. Squinting his eyes Izuku could barely distinguish large mirror behind the bright light coming from below.

"She made a giant mirror!" Hitoshi said as they started falling. "I really didn't want to do this again."

"I guess we'll have to face them on the ground," Izuku said. "Kirishima, get ready for an emergency landing. Dark Shadow, focus on defence."

The landing was just as hard as before, but they managed it just the same and turned to face their approaching opponents.

"I'd rather neither of our teams drop at this stage," Izuku said. "There isn't much time left. Try to evade them."

"Okay," Kirishima responded and started running to the side. He had to stop after just a few steps as a wall of ice grew in front of them, blocking that side of the arena off from them entirely. A quick glance confirmed that the same had happened on the opposite side. They were trapped in a funnel with ice on two sides, the edge of the arena on one and Tenya's team on the fourth.

"What now?" Kirishima asked. Meanwhile Izuku met Todoroki's cold confident stare and Tenya's more nervous but determined one.

"Now we give people the show they came for, a head on charge. Isn't that the manly thing to do?"

"For sure. Let's go."

Both teams ran towards each other, but Izuku knew it wasn't that easy. Their opponents' mobility came from Tenya and he had clearly resolved to give his best. Izuku drew on the Calm Mind and let it encompass him. Other teams were outside the ice walls and Dark Shadow was watching their back. They didn't need to exist in Izuku's consciousness. He followed every little motion and twitch of Tenya. Tenya's expression tensed. There was a near imperceptible glow coming from his engine exhaust. Izuku started leaning to the side.

Air whooshed against Izuku's hair and Tenya's team was suddenly behind him. It had been too fast to evade after Tenya started his Recipro Burst.

But Izuku had started dodging before that. He released the Calm Mind and his hand went to his forehead where the ten million point headband was still firmly held around his head. Turning to face his opponents Izuku found Todoroki and Tenya both equally stunned at the failure of their attack. Tenya's engines were smoking.

"Are you going to be okay by the next round?" Izuku asked.

"Yes, but, how? Even you…"

"I'm no Toshi, but it wasn't that hard to predict. You should have gone after someone who doesn't already know all of your special moves. Anyway, how is melting the ice queen going?"

"Enough!" Todoroki shouted. There were light sparks of fire along his left hand and cheek. "We can still get them."

"Then come and show what you are capable off," Izuku shouted back, lighting a Dragon Blade on his left hand, the shining blue vibrating blade that could cut through almost anything. "Just don't expect to achieve anything with a mere half of your power."

A more pronounced flame flashed across Todoroki's sleeve, surprising everyone, most of all himself by the look of things. Staring at your own arm wide eyed when it was on fire might have been a reasonable reaction for most people for a few nanoseconds before the screaming started, but Todoroki was clearly not harmed by his own flames and kept staring for several seconds before he started patting it with his other hand and the flames got extinguished. Izuku wanted to smile thinking Todoroki hadn't completely supressed that side of him, but he wasn't sure if he was making any positive progress with Todoroki this way.

Also, he really wanted to have a taste of that quirk.

"TIME'S UP! The cavalry battle is over!" Present Mic screamed.

"WE DID IT!" Kirishima somehow managed to outdo the pro hero in volume. Izuku slipped down from his arms and their team finally got to separate. Part of Izuku didn't want that to happen, but a larger part didn't want to make them carry him any longer than they had to.

Todoroki did the same but the expression on his face was darker. Meanwhile Present Mic started announcing the results.

"In first place, team Midoriya!"

The declaration got some mandatory cheers, but much of the audience were still at least hesitant.

"In second place, team Todoroki!"

It wasn't a bad result, but Izuku couldn't help but wonder how Endeavour had to feel about it. Izuku almost wanted the man to face Hitoshi to find out how many ways he could find to irritate the so-called hero with son-of-number-two-being-number-two type remarks after Todoroki had come second twice.

"In third place, team Monoma! In fourth place, team Tetsutetsu! These sixteen students move on to the final competition. Now, we'll take an hour's break for lunch before we start the afternoon festivities!"

"I can hardly believe it," Kirishima said, tearing up. "We are in the finals for the UA sports festival."

Hitoshi next to him seemed more stunned at the idea while rubbing his wrists that had red marks on them from hanging from Kirishima's grip. Tokoyami tried to hold down Dark Shadow who wanted to celebrate, and Tenya joined them, being greeted by Izuku's smile.

"Great job getting to the final round," Izuku said. "That Recipro Burst almost got us."

"I know, but I'm actually happy it didn't since we all got to move on."

"Me too, but it doesn't change what happened. Almost isn't good enough for a move you can only use once."

"Are you talking about that super speed?" Kirishima asked. "I could barely see you coming before it was already over.

"Yes, that was what Tenya couldn't have done with us," Izuku said. "Did you get a chance to talk with Todoroki at all?"

"I'm afraid no. He wasn't any more willing to talk than usual, but I think it was still worth it."

"Seems so," Izuku said, leaning to look past Tenya at Todoroki who was walking toward them.

"Midoriya, we ne… Can we talk, privately?"

Izuku looked at Todoroki for a moment. The choice and tone of his words at least showed some progress. He kept a neutral expression, even let it soften a bit.

"Sure, but can you do us a favour first?"

"What kind of favour?"

"That last move took a lot out of Tenya. His engines need to cool before he can fully recover. You can use your quirk to do that without freezing him right? He did it to help your team."

Todoroki held up and looked at his right hand and then kneeled, reaching for Tenya's legs. There was something akin to steam as air cooled around his hand and Tenya's legs. Tenya hissed quickly but it soon changed into a relieved sigh.

"Thank you, that helped a lot," Tenya said as Todoroki got back up. Todoroki didn't respond, he just looked at Izuku while taking a few steps away from the group.

"Why don't you guys go on ahead," Izuku said. "I'll find you soon."

Hitoshi nodded. "We can check out the festival area and go get lunch together when you're done."

Izuku nodded before following Todoroki.