I own nothing. Warning, may contain Out of Character moments.
Attaching himself to Bakugou was indeed a good idea, albeit borderline suicidal. The robots of the first leg stood no chance as the human grenade blew through or evaded them all together. There were a few moments where he tried to get a robot to swat at the pest that was humping his back…
But Mineta knew how to handle it, moving just enough for the attack to whiff him.
Eventually, Bakugou stopped doing that, seeing that it had zero effect, and went back to getting through the robots. And finally, the two were through the first obstacle.
"Alright, got through that. Now what's the next thing they've prepared for us?" Mineta asked as he tried to observe what's ahead.
"Why should you care? You're getting a free ride while I do all the fucking work!" Bakugou shouted as he continued to blast forward.
"I might as well make myself useful by being your lookout or something."
"I can be my own lookout jack wad. Now shut up and quit distracting me." Bakugou snarled as he continued to shoot ahead. It was here that he and Mineta saw their next obstacle, even if it generally had no effect on them.
This one was a wide and deep chasm with many stone pillars scattered around, each connected by a rather taut rope. Mineta guessed that the normal way to do this was to carefully crawl across and not fall down. But again, this had no bearing on either him or Bakugou.
"Make me fall and I'll drag you down to Hell myself." The human grenade growled as he and the shorter boy easily flew over the chasm. Mineta nodded as though Bakugou had an eye on him and not focusing on not falling. From here, Mineta noted the various others students that was traversing the course. His friends in 1A were there too, all progressing through in their own ways.
And when he finally laid eyes on Midoriya, he noticed that his partner was doing this course in a strange manner. First of all, he was lugging around a metal plate, must have looted it from the robots. Second, the pillars with a short enough gap between them, he tossed the plate across before jumping to it himself. And third, when the distances were too great, Midoriya would simply but slowly crawl across the rope with the plate on his back.
"At least he's making progress… But what's with that plate?" Mineta thought as he continued to observe his friend.
"Eyes forward rat bitch, we've got half and half in sight." Bakugou said as the shorter boy turned ahead. And sure enough, Todoroki was ahead and both of them were slowly gaining on him. But why exactly should Mineta be concerned with that? It was Bakugou would be facing him head on, not him.
"You want to be useful? Slow that fucker with your Quirk. He'll freeze them and get out, but every second counts in a race. Do that, and I'll forget this shit ever happened." Bakugou said as the distance slowly closed. Taking a quick look over to Todoroki, the shorter boy noticed how he had one eye on them. That alone would make things difficult as he would be expecting them soon, making his throws less effective.
And his usual, speedy pitches cannot be done while riding on someone's back. It was a tall order to make…
However, if it could prevent Mineta from dying an agonizing, humiliating death by human explosive… He'll take that chance.
"Alright, just get me a little closer. I'll trip him up with a right hand slider. But the guy's watching us, so it might not work." Mineta replied as he began loosening his right shoulder. Bakugou only gave a stern nod as he continued to blast forward. Mineta began waiting as they reached the third obstacle of the race. And according to the sign, anyone who isn't flying will have a rather tedious time.
"A minefield, perfect." Bakugou said, a smirk spreading across his face. As Todoroki continued to briskly walk, taking care not to step on the mines marked by a small amount of dirt, Mineta raised his arm and plucked a ball from his head. He then pitched it just to the right of his target. As the sticky hair ball went through the air, it began to the left and downward. At the rate it was going, it would land where Todoroki's right foot would–
A small chunk of ice sprouted up just to their dual colored classmate's right, blocking the incoming attack. Mineta stared at the chunk before quickly going to Todoroki, finding him looking back as he continued to step around mines. The shorter boy swallowed the lump in his throat as the icy glare of his classmate chilled his very being.
"Thanks for nothing rat bitch. Now I've got to take care of it myself." Bakugou said as his explosions propelled them even faster. Mineta felt his eye twitch. He said there was no guarantee that his tactic would work and Bakugou had acknowledged that. And yet when it didn't work, the asshole had the audacity to dismiss him like he didn't even try.
If he wasn't so afraid of dying right then and there, he would be force feeding Bakugou dirt and mines.
"Half and Half! You're so fucking slow! If you don't want first, then I'll gladly take it!" The human grenade as he took the lead from Todoroki. Mineta looked over and found Todoroki looking back at the two, eyes focused and ready.
"And another thing! You challenged the wrong person!" Bakugou shouted as he aimed one palm at Todoroki. And explosion rang out, enveloping their classmate in a flash of light and smoke. Bakugou stopped flying and began running along the dirt, side stepping mine after mine. The shorter boy knew that he was trying to preserve his strength for whenever someone else was going to over take him.
"Sorry, but I'm not giving up so easily."
From behind, Bakugou moved away a step as Todoroki tried to grab them. Looking behind, the shorter boy saw that their classmate was hot on their heels. Now, more than ever, Mineta had to be alert. Otherwise, a single grab and he would go straight to Hell from the resulting detonation of Bakugou Katsuki.
And as expected, Todoroki began to reach for Mineta, seeing that he was the easier target. However, it was this moment that time slowed as another idea became conscious. It was an idea so stupid that it equates to covering oneself with meat and running through a carnivore enclosure. And no matter what he would say or do, Mineta knew Bakugou would comprehensively erase him from existence should he do this…
"This is beyond stupid… But I'll at least die in a blaze of glory…" Mineta thought as he began saying his final prayers. God, whoever you are, please have mercy on this poor Sinner. For his display of valor was both inspiring and whole heartedly foolish.
At the last moment, Mineta moved out of the way of Todoroki's grab and reached over to grab his sleeve. Once having a good grip on it, the shorter boy pulled his dual colored classmate's arm right into one of the balls stuck onto Bakugou's back. Todoroki's eyes widened as Mineta angled himself before yanking on Bakugou's collar, causing the human grenade to slow down.
The shorter boy jumped away as the much faster moving Todoroki crashed into Bakugou, somehow landing on a patch of dirt free of mines. And observing the two he left behind, Todoroki was now stuck to the balls he left behind on Bakugou. The two, now stumbling awkwardly due to differing movements, wandered into a mine and was promptly blown away.
"Now's my time to go…" Mineta said, doing the one thing he hasn't done in a long time… And that was running away like a coward. He didn't bother to look back as he knew the two of them weren't having a good time. Bakugou was yelling while Todoroki was no doubt trying to remove the balls off of them one by one. There were about six or seven balls that connected them, so it would take at least a minute or two to freeze off.
Just enough time to get away from the scene.
"If I make it to the end, I'll be golden… For now…" Mineta thought as he finally got past the last of the mines. Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard behind him, one that was different from Bakugou's usual outbursts. And only a few seconds later, Midoriya rolled onto the ground next to Mineta.
"Hey Mineta-kun…" Midoriya greeted as he began running again. The shorter boy said nothing as he quickly caught up to his partner. And while he wanted to overtake Midoriya, seeing that it was a race… He decided that Midoriya could use the ego boost seeing that this would be the first race he'll be placed first in. And Mineta smiled, that Quirkless boy he meet three years back had grown so much. Although, there was something a little off right now.
"Hey Midoriya! You're not going to keep showing off your power!?" Mineta asked as finally realized that his friend was running like normal.
"I only use it when I need to! Seeing that this is the last leg of the race, I'll save that energy for later!" Midoriya shouted back.
"Isn't that a bit presumptuous?"
"It is! But I'm ready to activate it should I need to! I'm not that–!"
"You fucking rat bitch! You'll be less ash when I'm through with you!" A shout roared over them as the sound of explosions began getting closer. Midoriya and Mineta warily turned around and their minds shared the same overwhelming thought. Oh shit.
Behind them were the rapidly approaching Bakugou and Todoroki. The two was still stuck together, but they were using their Quirks to easily compensate. The latter was freezing the ground in front of them, providing a smooth surface to glide across, while the former was using his explosives to propel them. They effectively became a human rocket sled!
"Well I'm dead. It was good knowing you Mido–"
"Mineta-kun! Get on!" Midoriya shouted. The green haired boy then positioned himself in front of Mineta and slowed down just enough so that they were but a step apart. The shorter boy quickly removed two balls off his head and jumped, latching himself to his friend. And without missing a beat, Midoriya began to enter a state of intense focus.
"One for All, Full Cowl…" He muttered as his body began to emit green sparks and a soft light. And that was when Mineta experienced it first hand, the strength of his partner's new skill. While he wasn't moving as fast as Bakugou, Mineta could still feel as though he could go flying if he wasn't hanging on properly. And it was a good thing too, seeing that Todoroki and Bakugou would've caught him by now.
"Deku! You drop that fucker down or I'll give you Hell too!" Bakugou screamed. Mineta turned around again, despite not wanting to, and paled to see how close death was to them. Todoroki and Bakugou were but a few meters away and any slow down would allow them to catch up instantly.
"Fuck me! I need to slow them down before they catch up!" Mineta thought as he began chucking balls towards their pursuers. But the moment the first set landed, the shorter boy began to see the problem with his strategy. The balls that landed away from stuck duo were frozen by Todoroki's ice. But the balls that were closer to them were evaded all together when Bakugou changed their course with a precise explosion.
A second volley from Mineta only confirmed that Todoroki and Bakugou was more than able to evade them. The shorter boy could only gape as he turned back to Midoriya. "Hey man… I know you've got a lot on your plate already… But do you think you can go a little faster?" He asked.
"I'm already at my current limit. Anymore and Full Cowl will start damaging my body. Is Todoroki-kun and Kacchan that close to us?" Midoriya asked, concentrating on maintaining speed.
"Yeah, and I can't slow them down either."
"… I'll see what I can do." Midoriya said before the light around his body intensified slightly. Mineta, through instinct, tightened his cling on Midoriya. And sure enough, the jump in speed was tremendous. But before he could fully grasp the speed, they stopped… Right in the middle of the UA Stadium field. The shorter boy could only look around in confusion as the crowd roared around them. While he knew that they were on the last leg of the race…
They traveled the remaining distance in less than a few seconds.
"OW! OW! OW! Cramps! Cramps!"
Mineta immediately turned to Midoriya as his partner was scrunched up in pain. Despite that however, the green haired boy remained standing as it wouldn't look good to suddenly collapse after one event.
"I'm really sorry dude; I'll make it up to you somehow." Mineta said as he clapped his hands together and bowed.
"It's… Fine… What are… Friends… For…" Midoriya said as he continued to recoil in pain. But before Mineta could say something to try and ease his friend, he heard the next person cross the finish line announced.
"Third and Fourth place belong to Todoroki Shouto and Bakugou Katsuki!" Present Mic shouted as the crowd applauded with a roar. But despite the noise surrounding him, Mineta could hear nothing but the sound of his palpitating heart. And while a part of him hoped that his heart would give out right then and there to spare him of the approaching war… The shorter boy knew, this confrontation would be inevitable.
"Rat Bitch… Deku…" A demonic voice said with a horrifically thunderous rumble. Neither Mineta or Midoriya could turn around, not that they had any choice in the matter. With a strong grab, both of them were spun around and their collars were grabbed. And sure enough, it was Bakugou that was currently man handling them. But all the malice that he was emitting was slightly undermined by the fact that Todoroki was still attached to him.
"Hey Bakugou... Uh… Nice weather we're having?" Mineta asked, fully aware that there was nothing he could say to stop this bomb from going off.
"P-Perfect for today… Right?" Midoriya added nervously, instantly forgetting the bodily pain he was experiencing.
"Yeah, absolutely picturesque. Better remember what that feels like CAUSE I'M SENDING YOU BOTH STRAIGHT TO HELL!"
"Could you at least wait until we've separated before going on your warpath?" Todoroki commented as he broke three frozen hairballs.
"You got fucked too Half and Half. So feel free to join me as I rip them a new one." Bakugou said, looking over his shoulder.
"No, I'm good." Todoroki replied before breaking free from Bakugou. The human grenade just scoffed before turning back to his hapless victims, anger returning full force. The two looked to their dual colored classmate for help but he simply walked off without another word. And so, with all that said, both Mineta and Midoriya finally resigned themselves to their agonizing fate…
Or they would have, had it not been for several voices proclaiming their objections.
"Bakugou! Let's not do anything stupid!"
"You're understandably upset. But you shouldn't be acting this violent."
"So please unhand those two and let's discuss what happened in a civil manner, Bakugou-kun!"
Looking towards the source of the voices, Mineta and Midoriya could only sigh in relief as their classmates began to show up. One by one, amidst the other students, 1A began to arrive in the stadium and immediately went to the conflict Bakugou was stirring up. The human grenade stared at the clearly disproving looks of his classmates, brows furrowed and eyes twitching.
He then proceeded to aim and shake Mineta at the group, as though Bakugou was trying to prove something. "You all realize what this piece of Imp Shit did to me, right!?"
"Who doesn't? We all saw what happened at the last leg of the race. It's a pretty shitty thing to do, but you have to admit it's a good strategy." Kaminari said.
"If this bolt dolt could see that, then you should too. And it's a race where anything goes, so you should've expected something like this to happen." Jirou added with a nod.
"Oh, so it's MY fault I got tricked by this slimy rat!"
"But isn't it though? I mean, people who get conned are just as much to blame as the con man. If gullibility wasn't a thing, then we wouldn't have scam artists and pranksters." Uraraka argued. It was surprising to hear something like that out of a normally peppy girl. And what's more is that Mineta senses a sort of tension between her and the subject.
"It's a tale as old as Human history, Bakugou-san. I mean, didn't Aizawa-sensei trick at least half of us with expulsion on day one?" Yaoyorozu asked. Mineta groaned to that, not wanting to remember the day where it almost ended for him and his partner. But then, a terrifying realization dawned on the short boy.
"Oh no… I've become him…" Mineta muttered to himself.
As for Bakugou, he continued to glare at the others before tossing Mineta and Midoriya aside. He did, however, growl one last thing at his classmates. "Fine, take his side. See if I care when he pulls this shit on you."
And with that, he wandered off to somehow isolate himself from the crowd. Kirishima proceeded to break himself from the group and went after the human grenade. He said something along the lines of 'not wanting to leave a friend alone and behind'. Weird flex but sure, Mineta could see Kirishima being that one guy capable of bringing Bakugou back.
They were all still classmates, after all.
"Alright! We have our 42 qualifiers! Don't worry about your place; our next event will give you an extra chance to show your stuff! So be ready give our guests a show! For this will be our main selection course!" Midnight announced, drawing in stadium's attention once more. A holographic screen appeared and numerous events began to cycle through at an incredible pace. Mineta gulped as the tension continued to rise with every tick of the even roulette.
And it then stopped.
"Looks like we'll be doing a Sports Festival Classic! Let's prepare for a Cavalry Battle!" Midnight shouted, causing the crowd to roar in excitement. Mineta could hear his classmates asking various questions amongst themselves about how to approach this event. And the shorter boy began wondering about that too… At least, until Midnight cracked her whip to get everyone's attention again.
"Settle down! I was getting to the details! Now, each of you kids will be forming a team of your own with whoever else is here. Once you have a team of two to four people, you will get into the horse and rider formation. Now fundamentally, our cavalry battle follows mostly same rules except for a few exceptions. The first is that, even if the rider falls off or loses their headband, the team can continue to compete until time runs out." Midnight explained as the graphic on screen changed to a rather amusing image of the teachers in cavalry formation.
"Ah, so the action will stay constant for the audience. And keep the teams on their toes." Mineta whispered to Midoriya.
"It's definitely the minimum to be a Hero, overcoming challenges and appealing to the crowd." Midoriya whispered back.
"The second exception is the headband itself! Instead of just a regular headband, it will have point value assigned to it based on how well you did in the obstacle race! So each team will have a different total than everyone else! Now from 42nd to 2nd place, your value goes up by five points each place. 42nd is five and 41st is ten, and so forth. The value of first place, however, doesn't follow this rule; it has a set value. A value of ten million points!" Midnight continued, snapping her whip to emphasize that last point.
Mineta froze as the air surrounding him chilled to the point of a deep Winter. He began turning slowly to look at his partner and immediately did he catch Midoriya's spooked face… Then there was also the fact that every other student participating in this event was staring at Midoriya. Even their classmates in 1A were looking at the green haired boy rather ominously.
What pressure… But looking at Midoriya again, Mineta saw the unyielding fire burning in his eyes and his ever reliable back straighten. This wasn't like it was in Middle School, Midoriya was going to challenge this head on.
"This event will last fifteen minutes and you can use your Quirks! However, remember that this is still a Cavalry Battle. Any attacks with malicious intent will get your team red cards and you'll be forced out of the game. Now, start preparing your teams! You've only got fifteen minutes!" Midnight concluded, snapping her whip to start the timer.
Immediately did people begin breaking apart to find teammates, crowding around people like Bakugou and Todoroki. On the other hand though, nobody wanted to be part of Midoriya's team, being the golden goose of the event. But no matter, Mineta knew his partner was going to have a team in the end. This was mainly because Midoriya had the greatest wingman ever by his side.
So with that, the shorter boy began to approach his friend… Only to stop himself when he saw Midoriya interacting with Uraraka, looking all sorts of happy and relieved. This brought back an old memo from the corner of his brain, one made when he and his partner first acquainted themselves with the girl. The shorter boy began to flash an impish smile as he began walking in the other direction.
"Let's have those two interact a bit more…"
"Mineta-kun! Wait!" Midoriya shouted over the noise of the crowd.
Mineta froze and immediately did he begin to rack his brain for an excuse. He didn't really like going around Midoriya's back like this, but the shorter boy knew this would only benefit his partner. So when Mineta turned to face his friend, the face of apology he put on was completely honest… Despite having dishonest reasoning behind his intentions.
"Hey man, I see you got one to your team."
"It could be two if you're willing to join." Midoriya said, holding out his hand. Mineta wanted to take it, he really did. But the agenda must be fulfilled and it cannot happen when he is with them.
"Sorry dude, but I think I'd like to try my luck with my own team…" Mineta said, clapping his together hands in apology.
"Aren't you two partners in crime though?" Uraraka asked before Midoriya could speak.
"I did say that… But because me and Midoriya have been friends for a long while, I don't remember the last time we competed against each other. And given what's going right now, I want to take this time to test myself against the person I trust most." Mineta answered, the weight of his words coursing through them.
"… Yeah, it's been a while since we honestly fought. And thinking about it now… During the Hero vs. Villain practice battle at the start of the year, I had this feeling that I wanted to fight you. I think I wanted to show you, my very first friend, how much I've grown since we first met. But Kacchan happened and Uraraka-san and I lost… So this time…" Midoriya began. His tone started out rather soft. But on his last three words, Mineta was caught off guard by the sudden spike in determination.
"I want to challenge you with everything I've got. To show that I'm worthy to be called your partner." Midoriya said as he turned his still outstretched hand to an outstretched fist. Mineta boy had to use all of his will to withstand the roar of his partner's words. It was something he should be saying to Midoriya, but here they were.
So without having to think about anything else, Mineta held out his own fist and bumped his partner's
"Same. Don't let me down, partner." The shorter boy said before walking off. He could hear Uraraka gushing about how cool the two of them were, with Midoriya immediately reverting back to his nervous state. Mineta could only smirk as his agenda was now underway. For a whole five seconds before someone else, a girl with pink dreadlocks abruptly approached his partner and asked to join his team.
Oh… Right… This was a TEAM event…
"Next time… But for now, I need a team of my own. Let's see now…" Mineta thought as he began scanning around for any interesting candidates. And that's when he saw Shouji Mezo and Asui Tsuyu standing together, seemingly looking around for another teammate. The shorter boy stared at the two, sorting through the various ideas in his head before landing on one that was particularly mischievous.
Mineta's mouth was pulled into a sly smile as one word escaped his lips.
"Perfect."
And that was Chapter 21! A whole lot of stuff has happened and I'm still trying to find my footing writing action scenes. But hopefully, by the time of the tournament, I'm able to figure out more about how to effectively describe battle.
"And it will be legendary!"
That it will be. But what do you, dear reader, think about how things are going down? While part of the second half is going back into canon territory, just know that how Mineta approaches the Cavalry Battle in a different way. And if you remember how twisted his tactic was in canon, I'll warn you that his new tactic here will be worse.
"It's so diabolical that even the devil wouldn't want anything to do with it."
It's hard to deal with, but I wouldn't call it so bad that even Hell hates it. I just remembered something. As of last update, The Saint and The Sinner has a TVTropes page. Though small, I appreciate it and hope it will expand in the coming future.
Anyway, that is all I have for this update. Tune in next time for crafty schemes and the mauling of a man who risked everything.
"Just saying, it's quite the sight."
So with all that said...
Until Next Time. T1.
