It was nearly time for the start of the second event of the 1st year's sports festival. Me and my team were ready to go, a plan in mind that will make sure they don't rely on me and so they stand out and get some good internship offers.
Rin will be on defense, making sure that no attackers are able to reach us from the front. He can shoot off his scales at any attackers to ward them off, or coat himself in them to make sure we don't take too much damage.
Komori will make the headband as unappealing as possible, coating the headband in mushrooms to hopefully dissuade others from trying to take it. Also, if we are in a dire situation, she will surround us with hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Unfortunately there isn't much Kodai can do with her quirk in this situation so I decided to outfit her with a shield. [Millennium Shield] to be exact. Turns out that Kodai was able to use her quirk on the monster. No idea how, but that gives us an extra layer of defense I guess.
I'll be ready to summon some more monsters to block our opponents, nothing that will be destructive, I'm planning to use tokens if I need to do it at all. Cards like [Scapegoat] will do, so I have a couple ready just in case I need to bring them out.
As we're discussing a few more details about our plan, a boy with slicked back, blonde hair walks past us and bumps into Rin. He gives a small apology before walking away, getting weird looks from our group as he continues bumping into people.
"Alright, so we're going to snag a couple of bands from 1-A then we're on defense, right?" The team nods to my question, good we have the general plan down. I give a quick once over of the teams that the other students have made.
The green haired boy who didn't use his quirk in the race teamed up with the bird-headed boy, the Komori fake and the support course girl. Strange, I would've thought that they would've teamed up with the Iida boy, from seeing them at lunch they always sit together.
Todoroki has teamed up with Iida, Yaoyorozu and a boy with blonde hair that has a black lightning bolt in it. If I remember correctly from the day I went around collecting data on their quirks, his name is Kaminari and he has an electricity quirk.
Boomie managed to get a team as well, rip off Tetsutetsu, Ashido and Sero. They have high mobility thanks to Ashido and Boomie, as well as a strong defense in the form of the fake Tetsutetsu. Sero might be there as a long range supporter?
Most everyone else made teams with their classmates, except for the general studies students. The boy with the slicked back hair ended up on a team with two people from Class 1-A while the other ended up on a team with people from both classes. Shoda is part of the group as well, though he looks a bit out of it.
I look to the timer once again, seeing that we still have a minute left before the round is going to begin. We do one more rundown of the plan before we get into position, me resting a hand on Rin's shoulder and connecting my hand with Rin's to form a platform.
After Kodai mimics my position we bend down to allow Kodai easier access, her resting on mine and Kodai's shoulders. She wraps the headband around her forehead, ours displaying a combined score of 10,000,145.
"ALRIGHT, THE TIME TO MAKE YOUR TEAMS IS UP! WILL ALL TEAMS PLEASE GET INTO POSITION!" Present Mic comes back to start commentating on this round of the competition and the other teams follow suit.
The teams began to look around their positions, eyeing their potential competition for the top points. Everyone also eyes our group, narrowing down on the big headband. I smile a bit at seeing just how many people think they are going to be able to snag the headband from us.
"Are all the teams ready?" Midnight gives us one last glance before she nods her head. "Then, ON YOUR MARKS… GET SET… GO!"
And without a moment to waste all hell breaks loose. I see a purple aura appear over our headband, but before Yanagi can take it Isummon [Holding Arms] and attach it onto Yanagi, disabling her quirk from working but not restricting her movement so she still has a chance to move on with her team.
Ice also covers the field, trapping a few teams in place and essentially knocking them out of the running for the last event. The green haired boys team is also targeted by Honenuki, but they manage to evade capture by taking to the sky with a jetpack. Cool.
The sound of an explosion grabs my attention, causing me to see Boomie flying across the field straight to us with an incredibly angry expression on his face.
"Rin, knock him off target!" I give some orders to Rin and he proceeds to aim one of his arms at Boomie and force him to change course. None of his scales manage to hit the boy, but that was never the point.
"You think that will stop me, you damn extras!" Just as he was about to go for us once again, he ended up smacking into an enlarged solid shield. Kodai enlarged [Millenium Shield] using her quirk, and the monster then proceeded to shoot into the path of Boomie.
"We need to move!" I advise the team and we end up moving away from Boomie and his temper tantrum for not being able to break through the shield. From what I can hear from Present Mic, Boomie ended up grabbing onto the top of the shield and is blasting it with everything he has, shouting about breaking it or something.
I continue watching the rest of the field to see what teams are a danger. Team Awase (Containing Awase as the rider, Tetsutetsu as the front horse, Honenuki as the right horse and Shiozaki as the left horse) were continuing to use Honenuki's quirk to immobilize any competition while sending Shiozaki's vines to snag the headbands. If we end up tussling with them I think I would need to intervene.
Team Yanagi (Containing Yanagi as the rider, Kendo as the front horse, Tsunotori as the right horse and Tokage as the left horse) had sent out one of Tokage's hands to grab the headbands right from peoples foreheads. Since Yanagi couldn't use her quirk, their team had to rely on Tokage to get the headbands from a distance.
Team Boomie (Containing Bakugou as the rider, Kirishima as the front horse, Ashido as the right horse and Sero as the left horse) were just standing near our shield. Their rider had practically given up on participating in the event and decided that it was his life's mission to break [Millenium Shield].
Most of the other teams are trapped in what seems to be ice, some trying their best to break out of the ice while others have just accepted that they are out of the competition. One team though is making their way towards us and ignoring the rest of the competition.
Team Todoroki (Containing Todoroki as the rider, Iida as the front horse, Yaoyorozu as the right horse and Kaminari as the left horse) was charging at us, a pole in Todoroki's hand that was letting him send ice to the ground without touching it physically.
"Hey guys, we've got company." I announce the presence of their team and the others look towards them, gaining expressions filled with worry. "Don't worry, we got this. Kinoko, make a field of mushrooms in front of us, it will stop them for a bit and let us prepare for a battle."
"R-right!" Komori listened to what I said and activated her quirk, spreading her spores in front of herself, and a couple moments later a field of mushrooms appeared startling Iida and stopping him in his tracks.
"Back up a bit, we need space in case they send a barrage of ice at us." We backed up even more, reaching the edge of the arena. Team Todoroki ended up releasing ice from themselves to the edge of the arena and locked us in with them.
"You won't escape, hand over the points and I'll let you go." Todoroki spoke, trying to get us to give the points to him, however, we wouldn't give up that easily.
"Hey Komori, can you spread your spores into Iida's engines?" I whispered my question to the girl and she nodded her head, determined to try. I turned back to their team and started speaking for us. "A kind offer, but I'm afraid we aren't going to give you our points that easily."
Todoroki narrowed his eyes, annoyed but not surprised by the refusal to end this peacefully. "Fine, Yaoyorozu, Kaminari." With his command, a light shone from Yaoyorozu's body and from it a sheet of insulation appeared and covered the rest of her team except Kaminari.
"I hate to do this to pretty ladies like you, but gotta follow orders. Indiscriminate Shock 1.3 Million Volts!" Yellow electricity covered the body of Kaminari before it was sent out in random directions. Some of the electricity was heading towards our group but I was prepared for something like this.
"I activate the trap card [Negate Attack]!" A red swirling vortex appeared in front of our group, the electricity that was being launched at us then changed direction and was swallowed up by the vortex before disappearing.
Kaminari, who was barely keeping his cognitive thoughts, was surprised to see this and stopped his attack. The rest of their team uncovered themselves but had wide eyes at seeing us still standing not looking the slightest bit hurt from their friends quirk.
"Komori, how's the spores?" I whispered to the girl who had her eyes covered by her hair. She gave me a thumbs up, signaling that she succeeded in getting spores in there. "Nice, with their main mobility down we just need to get out of here now. Let's go!"
We moved to the wall of ice that they put up, causing the team to get out of their stupor quickly, but when they tried to follow, Iida stood still, something wrong with the engines in his legs.
"There's something in my engines!" He shouted the problem and the others were confused about what it could be. Me on the other hand was laughing and shaking my head. It's like he forgot how to use his legs without his quirk, just run normally.
We reached the wall and Kodai touched it, shrinking it down enough so we could just walk over it, then when we were past it she released her quirk and grew the wall back, trapping team Todoroki in their own trap.
"Good job, there shouldn't be much longer left in the round. As long as we can survive a few more minutes then we can get through to the next round." We continued running from the wall, not wanting to be near them when they eventually break free from their trap.
"FIVE MINUTES LEFT IN THE SECOND ROUND!" The sound of Present Mic calling the time left put smiles on our faces, while also causing the other teams to get a bit panicked. Even Boomie was knocked out of his blind rage and stopped attacking the Millenium Shield and hopped back onto his horses and ordered them to chase us.
We kept running until we were cornered again, this time by two teams at once. It was once again team Boomie on our right side and team Midoriya on our left side. Team Midoriya (Containing Midoriya as the rider, Tokoyami as the front horse, Hatsumei as the right horse and Uraraka as the left horse) were the first to make a move, shooting what looked like a grapple gun at our headband that was quickly slapped aside by Rin.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Deku! Those points are mine!" Bakugou shouted at the other team before launching at us. We just once again sent the Millenium Shield to stop his progress, causing him to blow up and start attacking the shield again.
"Now then, let's deal with them." We turned our attention to team Midoriya, the greenette with nervous sweat falling down his face.
"Tokoyami!" Despite being nervous, Midoriya continued his plans of getting the headband from us. The bird headed boys quirk started attack us, forcing Rin to use his scales to keep the bird back.
"Guys, I can stop them until the event is over, but only if you want me to." I gave the option to the others who looked at me with contemplative eyes. "I've barely done anything in this match so no one is going to accuse you of relying on me. But if you want to continue doing this on your own then I won't intervene."
The others looked at the two teams that were attacking us (well, attacking us and the shield I summoned) and started contemplating relying on me or relying on themselves. They all were about to come to a decision, but one thing changed their mind. The explosion at the ice wall and the speeding team that was charging at us.
Iida had somehow managed to burn away the mushrooms that were inside his engines, using a technique that is sending plumes of fire from his exhaust ports.
"DO IT!" They all yelled their answer at me and I happily obliged them, activating the spell card as fast as I could.
"I activate the spell card [Swords of Revealing Light]!" From the sky, many swords made of green light appeared around the other teams, even the ones that had resigned to not making it to the next round.
The other contestants and crowd were shocked to see something like this happening, but my team was still nervous because the other team was still speeding at us without slowing down. Another ice attack was charging at us as well, but before it could get close, it was stopped by one of the swords that had fallen from the sky.
"I'll explain to everyone about the effect of this spell card." I raised my voice, making sure that everyone could hear me including the audience. "For the next three minutes, no one is able to attack except me and team. So that means, no one can get any more points!"
The crowd was silent at the revelation of the spells effect, but then burst into cheers at the sudden turn of events. The other teams became wide eyed at the explanation, some even going so far as to test the effect of the spell, but just like I said, they couldn't attack anyone without being interrupted by a sword.
"And guess what! There's only two minutes left in the game!" The teams that were attacking my team before made their eyes go even wider. They had ended up losing to the other class, though they still had enough points to qualify. All except team Boomie, who had lost his headband earlier in the round while he was attacking his new rival, the Millenium Shield.
"WELL FOLKS, WITH THIS REVELATION IT LOOKS LIKE THE SCORE BOARDS ARE SET FOR THE NEXT ROUND! IF THERE ARE NO MORE POINTS TO BE GAINED THEN WE CAN END THE EVENT EARLY AND GET READY FOR THE FINAL ROUND SOONER!" Present Mic announced the end of this round and the crowd cheered.
With the event over, all the teams got out of their formations and started celebrating or lamenting their failures in the event. It seemed that even though the teams resigned to their fate, they still were upset about not being able to move on to the next round.
"AND WITH THE SECOND ROUND OVER LETS FIND OUT WHICH TEAMS ARE MOVING ONTO THE NEXT ROUND." Present Mic spoke out once again, getting the attention of the crowd and the students. "IN FIRST PLACE TEAM KOMORI WITH 10,000,765 POINTS!" The crowd cheered loudly at the announcement of the first place team.
Me and Rin stepped up and started waving our hands at the crowd,Komori and Kodai didn't wave though, one not caring for the attention and one being too shy and embarrassed to handle the attention.
"IN SECOND PLACE, TEAM MIDORIYA WITH 2840 POINTS! IN THIRD PLACE WITH 2500 POINTS, TEAM TODOROKI AND IN FOURTH PLACE… WHERE THE HECK DID THIS TEAM COME FROM?!" Present Mic was looking at the scores once again and making sure that he was reading them right. When it was confirmed he continued. "IN FOURTH PLACE WITH 2350 POINTS IS TEAM SHINSO!"
Everyone looked at the fourth place team, confused as to how they managed to make it into the final round after not having stood out at all during the first or second round. Standing with his arm crossed and disinterested eyes was a purple haired boy, along with Shoda and two boys who happened to be from 1-A. They all wore confused expressions on their faces, and were looking at their hands and the boy.
"And that's a wrap!" With a crack of her whip Midnight caught the attention of the crowd and the students at once. "With these teams moving onto the next round we will have a one hour break to get the stage ready. And for those of you who didn't make it into the last round of the event, don't worry, we have other events to participate in. This is a sports festival after all."
And with that I walked away to the waiting room of my class. The rest of the team followed me, though they remained silent until we arrived at the room and I had sat down at the table to relax for the rest of the break.
All three of them instantly did a 90 degree bow to me before they spoke. "Clay, we don't know how to thank you for helping us get this far in the festival." Rin was the first to speak for the group, Komori following after.
"If it weren't for you then we probably wouldn't have made it this far. Also, because of you we managed to keep the points at the last moment before anyone was able to take them." Komori spoke with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes, though we couldn't see them because they were covered by her hair.
"Because of you I was able to show my quirk, if it had been any other team I wouldn't have been able to do that. Thank you." Kodai also spoke, shocking Rin and Komori a bit. There was even the faintest hint of a smile on her face, though it was really hard to make it out past her stoicness.
"Guys, there's no need to thank me, I'm your class rep so I'm gonna make sure you can all stand out. Now then, let's go over the quirks of the guys who we're gonna fight in the next round." I pulled out the notebook with the quirks of the other class and we began discussing possible strategies for what we could do if we had to fight those people.
And before we knew it, the time for the final round of the festival arrived.
Hey everyone!
I'm back with this, sorry for the wait.
I have to say, I didn't really enjoy writing the cavalry battle but I am looking forward to writing the fights so hopefully they will be out sooner than this was.
Anyway, hope you are enjoying the story so far.
Peace!